The Mysterious Black Magician

Gath Rainripper was said as the irregular of this competition. After assassinating a bunch of participants last night, his name also gathered a lot of attention. Now everyone questioned who will be the champion in this competition! The current number of participants dropped to 800. Last night about 50 participants were killed by him.

Another day had passed and another had come. Inside the tunnel, the group continued their search for an exit.

But at this moment, Cinder mumbled some words while walking beside him.

"I taught the beast how to become a monster — I taught the beast how to become a monster….." she mumbled repeatedly with a ghastly face.

The three people with them showed tired faces.. They never thought that this guy was so crazy to burn himself in the flame. But what made it more unbelievable, he wasn't even a bit hurt by it. Is he an immortal? They asked in their minds.

Nonetheless, what made them to show such faces was that this guy was able to succeed in just a night! He could even summon fire now without the need of [Mana Coating] ability.

Yman was able to summon his fire like it was a part of him but he was still in the process of creating his own form of fire.

As usual, like what happened the other day, they encountered lots of monsters. However, unlike the other day, the guy with them seemed so hyper. Like a kid who got his new toy.

They were watching him with a 'can't be helped' expression on their faces. Cinder on the other hand still couldn't believe this guy. The whole process of creating a deep connection with his element was done in one night! Whereas she did it for her whole life. On top of that, she was a genius from the Lupine family.

However, the person beside her was just too much for succeeding in just a night. He was above her comprehension level.

Sigh. She gave up thinking about it and let a breath permit her mouth.

Her nose picked more presence ahead. Before she readied herself for the coming battle, a deform fire was shot ahead. And followed by an explosion then howls of pain followed closely.

"Ahahaha…" she laughed descendingly. 'Looks like this guy was not too excited right?' She thought.

For the whole day, they were advancing to search for the exit. They encountered fork passages that they had to change the route a couple of times.

Many monsters were on their way, but each of them was no ordinary magician. 

Yman on the other hand felt so excited with the new strength of his fire element. With this, he was finally able to fire a long-range attack! But he was not satisfied with it. He needed the last aspect, which is the aspect of 'own'.

Another night blanketed the world in painting. It was the third night.

Yman was sitting on top of a big boulder of rock. His whole being was being illuminated by the moonlight coming from the hole on the cave ceiling.

He was in a meditation posture while his hands were enveloped by fire. He needed to concentrate and create his 'own' fire. Cinder just finished giving him some tips and now she was sitting beside the bonfire about 200 steps away from him. She probably was tired. This afternoon they were surrounded by hundreds of Rank A beast. Known as [Gnoll]. Everyone did their best. The battle had lasted for 1.5 hours. 

It caused unwanted attention from the other monsters. And more came to join. She must have exhausted her mana. Not only her, but even the three people with them weren't in good shape also.

Aegor was slightly better than the other two.

A piece of dry root was thrown and landed on the fire, then blaze in a second.  "Lady Cinder, it's better for you to take a little rest. To properly regenerate your lost mana," Aegor suddenly spoke after feeding the fire.

Her eyes were fixed on the person sitting on top of the boulder a couple of steps away from them.

Cinder turned her eyes to the bonfire, "No, I'm still fine, Mr. Aegor. You perhaps should take your rest. Especially now that our tank was being ruled by excitement and changed his role into a range type magician. It is not good if our only vanguard is enfeebled in the battle. Please do take care of yourself," She politely replied.

"Fufufu, don't mind me Lady Cinder, I wish to tire myself out for my near promotion," he replied with a tinge of excitement.

Cinder gasped in a slight surprise. "Wow, do you mean The False Path? Hehe, congrats in advance to you Mr. Aegor!" Cinder exclaimed.

"Yeah, it is. Thank you Lady Cinder."

"Mhm."

Cinder eyed him slightly as she mulled, 'there were 5 promotion paths that every magician would experience when they grow stronger. These five were the False Path, Real Path, Hegemon, Heavenly, and Immortal.  Each promotion needed 10 levels. And the 10th level was the promotion period. This is also true to the humans.

In the human race, they called it 'Level' but to us Demi-Humans, we called it 'Star Level'. In the human's perspective, Aegor would be undergoing a Level 10 Advancement. So at this moment, he was already a Level 9 magician.

After they were promoted to the False Path, they would be called as Experts and not magicians. At this very moment, most of the participants from the great family of the empire were already at the False Path.'

She ended her thought with a slight smile. Her eyes felt heavy as the sleepiness sneakily attacked her.

Right at this moment, Roman as the 5-Star False Path has a higher level among the other Expert participants who joined this competition. This was also equivalent to Level 15 in the human's perspective. At such a young age but already in the middle of False Path and Real Path was really commendable for him.

While they were discussing it suddenly, Aegor cried out, "Eh, w-what is that thing?!"

Cinder's sleepy eyes eyed him with a knitted brow and saw him staring to the distance with wide eyes, to that person sitting on top of the boulder.

While sitting on top of the boulder, he slowly lifted his hands at the chest level which his palms were facing above. On top of each of his palm, deform balls of fire were trying to take a form.

They were squirming like soft fluffy objects.

Cinder and Aegor were staring with their eyes like seeing something beyond their imagination. 'How come such a thing! What was that squirmy fire over there!' In their minds.

The next second, from a soft deform-shape fire, a tine figure of a leg had taken a shape. It was followed by another leg and another. Eight tiny legs in total were formed. The next to make a form was the body part of it that looks like a bulb on its back. But before the thing could complete, it suddenly exploded into a 'bang' and damaged his hand. But his hand healed sooner. Cinder and Aegor already stopped getting surprised at this. 

Yman frowned. He almost succeeded. He then tried the other ball of fire on his other hand. The first to form from it was a beak. A bird beak! Followed by the head, then the legs.

However, when it comes to the body, it also explodes. 

"Tsk!" He clicked his tongue in annoyance for failing continuously. And always the body parts that troubled him. The most simple of all.

Wait, maybe he was too full of himself and too lax in his concentration for it as being the simplest part.

He condensed another deform ball from both hands. They have the size of a volleyball.

Once again, after several minutes, the deform balls of fires squirmed.

The ball sunk slightly at the same time. Then both heads came out from it the next second, legs were taken a form and followed by heads.

The next morning,

"Fufufu, these things look so cute," Tiafel exclaimed, seeing two crimson bats hovering overhead.

Taflas was so focused staring at the two crimson ants and spiders moving ahead of them. They were kissing the ground as the real one would be. He was wondering how in the world such a thing possible!

On top of that, the ants were a small version of [Shelled Ants] that attacked the Sitona Town on the Outerworld. And the spider was a small version of [Mustang Spider]!

Aegor and Cinder had black circles below their eyes. They could not fall asleep. Cinder repeatedly chanted the words again, that she taught the beast how to become a monster…. 'This is too much!' She shouted in her mind as she tried to swallow the reality unfolding in front of her. And thought to herself that she would never be as surprised as now anymore.

However, 

When a monster leaped in front of them, those tiny crimson spiders simultaneously fired fire magic at it! And they roasted it in just a second.

Everyone's jaw dropped on the ground. Wondering what kind of nightmare was this! They were not even a real thing! How are they so powerful!

What the hell are these dolls!