Zelir once again carefully observed the entire Demon Ape Tribe.

He then confirmed that all present were ordinary Demonized Forest Apes, with no abnormally large leader or other types of mutated Demons.

"Well then, there’s nothing more to say..."

Zelir poured his Magic Power into Night Peace, which began to exude a faint, fluorescent glow.

"Prepare to die."

In the woods.

The Demonized Forest Apes were enjoying a leisurely afternoon, some grooming each other’s fur, others playfully fighting over a wild fruit.

A few young Demonized Forest Apes swung from vine to vine, letting out cheerful cries.

Suddenly, a sharp sound of tearing air rang out.

"SWOOSH!"

A Demonized Forest Ape on lookout in the fork of a tree suddenly stiffened.

Immediately after, its furry head separated from its body, spiraling into the air before landing in the bushes below.

The headless corpse swayed for a moment before tumbling from the branch, gushing blood that stained a large patch of leaves red.

This sudden scene brought the Demonized Forest Apes’ playful cries to an abrupt halt.

"SKRAW?! GAK GAK!"

The Demonized Forest Apes were stunned, as if they hadn’t quite processed what had just happened.

After several seconds, they finally reacted, and a chorus of furious screeches echoed through the woods.

The small tribe of Demonized Forest Apes erupted into chaos, scanning their surroundings, trying to find the culprit.

In this brief moment of chaos, invisible Wind Blades continued to assail them!

"SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!"

The sharp whistling sound was incessant. Two more Demonized Forest Apes on the periphery were cleanly decapitated or sliced in half, their dying screams cut short.

Finally, the remaining Demonized Forest Apes locked onto the enemy’s position!

A human holding a black Magic Wand was standing in a nearby clearing—it was he who was casting the Magic!

"SKREEE!"

The Demonized Forest Apes’ roars grew even more piercing. After confirming that the enemy was alone, their rage intensified.

’This human is too arrogant!’

’Daring to provoke us all by himself!’

Zelir, however, was unaffected. He continued his methodical, long-range reaping.

With the Night Peace Magic Wand, his Magic Power was greatly enhanced.

Zelir could now cast the Wind Blade Technique in just one second, and its power was far greater than before!

The Demonized Forest Apes were practically living targets before Zelir.

Once targeted, they had no chance of dodging. One shot meant one life.

Mutilated bodies, carved up by the Wind Blade Technique, continuously fell from the trees. At the same time, the surviving Demonized Forest Apes finally organized a counterattack.

These creatures had some sense, it seemed. They didn’t all rush forward in a suicidal swarm.

The majority of the Demonized Forest Apes roared, grabbing crude Stone Axes or Stone Sabers from tree hollows, and used the trees as cover to rapidly approach Zelir.

Meanwhile, a smaller group of Demonized Forest Apes nimbly climbed into the high branches, taking the high ground.

They held Stone Spears with sharpened tips, preparing to turn this detestable Human Mage into a pincushion with a volley of throws!

As the main force of Demonized Forest Apes charged, a rain of Stone Spears was unleashed.

It was one of their signature moves.

Thanks to their unique physiology, the Demonized Forest Apes possessed incredible throwing strength.

A Stone Spear thrown with the full might of an adult Demonized Forest Ape could even punch a bloody hole through the thickest-skinned wild boar!

Now, several Stone Spears shot toward him from all directions, effectively cutting off all of Zelir’s escape routes.

In their eyes, a fragile Mage without a shield-bearing Vanguard for protection, daring to appear here alone, was simply courting death!

The Demonized Forest Apes even felt their comrades’ charge was redundant; they could just go collect the corpse later.

However, what happened next was a bizarre scene that none of them could comprehend.

The powerful Stone Spears, in the instant before they were about to hit the Human Mage, seemed to collide with an invisible wall.

Without exception, all the Stone Spears were deflected by a strange force, grazing past the Human Mage’s body and sliding to one side.

’Wh-what is happening?!’

Zelir didn’t even spare a glance at the Stone Spears stuck in the ground at his feet. He raised Night Peace again and continued to unleash his firepower, sending out a relentless barrage of Wind Blade Techniques.

Of the dozen or so Demonized Forest Apes that had charged, only eight managed to get close to Zelir.

And that was with plenty of trees and rocks for cover.

Otherwise, Zelir could have annihilated all of them within that short charging distance!

"GAAH!"

The strongest-looking Demonized Forest Ape used a vine overhead to swing down from the sky.

It swung directly over Zelir’s head, raising a huge Stone Axe with its other hand and bringing it down with vicious force!

But it was useless!

"BANG!"

The Stone Axe’s attack was once again easily blocked by the Fog Flowing Gauze, the immense force instantly and completely neutralized.

What greeted it was Zelir’s already-drawn Foil.

A precise upward thrust!

The sharp blade stabbed directly through its lower jaw and pierced its entire brain!

Blood splattered.

The Demonized Forest Apes were more intelligent than goblins; they at least understood tactics.

The remaining seven Demonized Forest Apes immediately fanned out, surrounding Zelir in a semicircle, and launched a coordinated attack from different angles at almost the same time!

Faced with such a formation, any lone Junior Adventurer would likely have met a dead end.

But Zelir’s Fog Flowing Gauze was the bane of all physical attacks. Instead of retreating, he advanced, stepping forward with a Front Slash!

The Foil in his hand aimed straight for the neck of the Demonized Forest Ape in front of him.

However, due to his inexperience, the slash was slightly off, leaving only a wound on the creature’s shoulder.

The injured Demonized Forest Ape cried out in pain and swung its Stone Saber wildly in retaliation, but it was still useless.

In the next second, Zelir’s second slash came from the side, cleanly severing its throat.

The other Demonized Forest Apes were about to swarm him.

Before they could get too close, Zelir gave the Magic Wand in his left hand a gentle wave.

A close-range Wind Blade Technique directly sliced the foremost Demonized Forest Ape in two.

But that wasn’t all. The powerful aftershock even cut the unlucky one following too closely behind it in half at the waist!

While casting the Wind Blade Technique, the Foil in Zelir’s right hand didn’t stop either.

He followed up with a Thrust, plunging the blade into another Demonized Forest Ape’s eye socket, then twisted the hilt, scrambling its brain.

Not even a minute had passed, and of the eight Demonized Forest Apes that got close, Zelir had already taken down five!

The three remaining Demonized Forest Apes fell into a panic. Their fearless, charging momentum from before was completely gone.

’This human... he’s terrifying!’

’What is that hazy mist around him?!’

’Why can’t our attacks get through?!’

Overwhelming fear spread through their hearts. They couldn’t move forward another inch and began to subconsciously retreat.

But they had forgotten they were facing a Mage.

Putting distance between yourself and a Mage meant death.

The three Demonized Forest Apes had no time to find cover behind trees before Zelir followed up with his Rock Bullet Skill, blowing their heads apart one by one.

"Hoo..."

After finishing off the Demonized Forest Apes that had gotten close, Zelir looked back at the ones who had been throwing Stone Spears from the high ground.

They were now scared stiff, any thought of charging forward to provide support having vanished completely.

’We’re no match for this human!’

A single thought appeared in their minds without a shred of hesitation—escape!

The Demonized Forest Apes let out terrified screeches and prepared to scatter.

But they had only taken two steps when a roar full of malicious intent echoed through the woods.

"ROAR!!!"

This roar contained immense Spiritual Power, which violently assaulted the Demonized Forest Apes’ already fragile minds.

Such Low Level Demons had practically no resistance to Spirit Magic.

Compared to Vine Entanglement or the Frost Technique, the Evil Words Skill was a more efficient area-of-effect Control Magic.

The bodies of the fleeing Demonized Forest Apes suddenly went rigid, and they fell straight from the tree trunks.

A few more flashes of the Wind Blade Technique, and the battle was brought to a decisive end.

A Demonized Forest Ape tribe of nearly twenty was thus single-handedly annihilated by Zelir.

Level 10 (110/325) -> Level 10 (156/325).

The Experience Points gained this time weren’t enough to level up.

The Fog Flowing Gauze shrouding Zelir slowly dissipated.

’It feels so good to have a defense that others can’t break through,’ Zelir couldn’t help but smile.

He checked the remaining Magic Power in his body.

Although the Fog Flowing Gauze’s defensive effect was excellent, it consumed a significant amount of Magic Power.

During the battle, Zelir had used about a third of his Magic Power, most of which went to maintaining the Fog Flowing Gauze.

’I’ll have to be more conservative with it sometimes...’ Zelir thought to himself.

Demonized Forest Apes didn’t have Demon Cores, their corpses had no practical use, and even their meat was bitter and tough due to Magic Power corruption.

They were basically the type of creature that no Adventurer would bother provoking unless the Association issued a bounty for them.

They were a losing proposition, on the same level as goblins.

"I should have checked the Adventurer’s Association for a related quest first..." Zelir muttered, looking at the corpses littering the ground.

He walked toward the few special fruit trees. The Flame Blood Fruits were hanging high in their branches.

The trees that bore them had a strange red hue, and their bark was even slightly warm to the touch.

Zelir cast a Vortex Skill at his own feet.

Using the upward-spiraling wind, he leaped lightly and easily landed on a branch several meters high.

Zelir skillfully repeated this process, and after a few leaps, he reached the highest level of branches where the Flame Blood Fruits hung.

The fruits were about the size of a fist, shaped like apples, and their skins emitted an enticing red glow.

There were two in total. Zelir picked them both.

With that, his quest from Instructor Manlin was successfully completed.

...

「Mage’s Guild.」

Zelir knocked on the familiar door.

Manlin was standing by the window, carefully trimming the leaves of a potted plant with a pair of scissors.

The afternoon sun shone through the glass, making her gentle profile look even more serene.

"Instructor Manlin, here are the three plants you wanted." Zelir placed the cloth bag on the table.

"Good."

Manlin put down her scissors and came over. She opened the bag to inspect its contents, then nodded in satisfaction.

"The quality is excellent. You didn’t run into any danger on the way, did you?"

"Not really dangerous, no."

Zelir said casually, "While I was looking for the Flame Blood Fruit, I ran into a small tribe of Demonized Forest Apes, so I cleaned them up."

"Cleaned them up? That’s a rather confident thing to say."

With an indulgent smile in her eyes, Manlin patted Zelir’s head. "You’ve worked hard, little one."

"It was nothing. I should be the one thanking you; you’ve helped me a lot too, Instructor Manlin," Zelir replied with a smile.

"Oh, right."

Manlin put the plants away. "There’s something else I need to tell you."

"What is it?"

"In about a week or so, after the autumn harvest festival in Black Stone Town ends, the Mage’s Guild is organizing a Monster Hunt," Manlin said.

"At that time, Instructor Marvin, another instructor named Lena, and I will be leading a team deep into the Gray Wood Forest to clear out the Demons that have taken root there."