Magic world

After partying with Mai Kuraki and others, Ito Cheng's life returned to peace once again without socializing. Every day he would either stay at home and read a book, or go to the Meilin Grand Library in [Demon Realm] to secretly record notes, or he would realize something in the dead of night. Modify the rules so that you can quickly enter S level.

"Chen?" That day, just after Ito Cheng walked out of the Meilin Library after copying the books, a familiar female greeting suddenly rang in his ears.

Ito Cheng, who looked slightly confused, immediately turned his head and looked at the voice. In an instant, a young woman with a height of 1.7 meters, a slim figure, and a dress that was considered trendy and avant-garde in this very retro [Demon Realm], with short golden brown hair, caught his eye.

"Betty?" Ito Cheng greeted with a confused tone after seeing the appearance of the visitor.

The person who came was none other than Betty Arnold, one of the three mages hired by Ito Cheng in the name of a magic consultant through Maria of Firth Magic Agency. She was a cheerful and outgoing person with a one-star mage ability.

"I didn't expect it was really you. I thought I was wrong just now." Betty, who strode to Ito Cheng's side, smiled.

"What are you...?" Ito Cheng asked, smiling in agreement.

"I suddenly became interested in potions recently, so I came here to buy some materials for cultivating potions." Betty explained. Then he looked at Ito Cheng and smiled and said, "By the way, I forgot to congratulate you."

"What?" Ito Cheng, who didn't realize that he had anything worthy of congratulations recently, was stunned when he heard this and asked subconsciously.

"I heard from Ingrid that you have obtained the official rank of mage." Betty explained quickly.

"So that's what happened. It's all thanks to your help. Without you and Ingrid's careful teachings, I might not have been able to pass the formal mage examination so quickly." Ito Cheng, who suddenly came over, said modestly.

"That's because you work hard enough. I can't stand this kind of thing like going to the big library to read books every day." Turning to look at Betty, who had a faint magical glow behind Ito Cheng, said.

"Oh, by the way, since I met you here, I don't have to go to the association to find someone to form a team. How about you, would you like to accompany me to the Tapei Forest to collect some potion materials?" It seemed like I remembered Betty looked at Ito Chengxiao again and asked.

"It seems that we shouldn't go to that kind of place?" Ito Cheng said hesitantly.

Ito Cheng knew that the place represented by the name Tapei Forest was a special forest located in the south of [Demon Realm]. It was originally the secluded place of Tapei Clari, a master of both alchemy and magic. But in one of his special experiments. The experiment failed due to the unexpected intrusion of the enemy. Not only did Tarpe Clari, a spellcaster, suffer from magical backlash and nearly died, but the attacker was also seriously injured by the tide of magical elements generated by the failed experiment. But the most dangerous thing was the special summoning circle set up by Tapei Clari during the experiment, which was connected to an unknown dimensional plane when the magic was out of control. While releasing a large amount of magic energy elements. It also attracted a group of powerful exotic monsters. The entire Tapei Forest has become extremely dangerous, and people without the strength of a two-star mage or above cannot penetrate it at all.

It's just that every loss brings a gain, under the influence of the magic elements released from the alien plane. Most of the plants in Tapei Forest have mutated, turning from ordinary plants into abnormal plants with magical properties, becoming a paradise for some magic potion development enthusiasts.

As for the foreign portal in the forest that was originally opened by Tapei Clari's magic failure, it had long been sealed by the legendary mage stationed in the [Demon Realm]. However, Tapei Clari and his family were involved in the incident. The enemy was bitten and devoured by the monsters that rushed out later, and they turned into unknown things.

"Don't worry, we are only wandering around the periphery, not going deep." As if she had expected Ito Cheng to ask, Betty replied with a smile.

"Okay." Ito Cheng nodded hesitantly and agreed.

Seeing that Ito Cheng agreed, Betty laughed happily and called for Ito Cheng to walk towards the shared teleportation magic circle set up on Merlin Street. But Betty, who was walking in front, didn't notice that Ito Cheng, who was following her, had a serious face and was staring at her back with flickering eyes, observing something.

When Betty turned around to talk to him, Ito Cheng's expression returned to its original appearance. He and Betty came to the public teleportation circle while chatting and laughing, and took out his bank card to pay the teleportation fee very proactively and like a gentleman. , activated the magic circle to teleport them to a small formation not far from Tapei Forest.

"This is still some distance from Tapei Forest. We can rent two good horses there for transportation." Betty, who walked out of the teleportation array, pointed to a location not far away where a dozen horses of various colors were stored. .

Ito Cheng, who looked in the direction Betty pointed, nodded and went to the horse rental office with Betty.

The method of leasing a horse is very simple, as long as you pay a certain amount of deposit and leave a magic badge imprint that represents your personal identity. The money will naturally still be paid by Ito Cheng, the sponsor.

"Drive!" Betty and Ito Cheng, who each selected a good horse among the horses, got on their horses and mounted them, shaking the reins and shouting.

Amid the stinging pain of the reins, the two good horses neighed and sprinted forward at high speed.

…

"Huh..." Just when Betty and Ito Cheng were halfway there, Ito Cheng suddenly tightened the reins and stopped the horse.

"Why did you stop?" Betty stopped the horse after running a certain distance, turned the horse's head and moved back slowly, asking with confusion.

"There is no village in front of this place, no store in the back, the surrounding environment is empty, and there are no people within a radius of ten meters. It is a good place to solve problems." Ito Cheng, who did not answer Betty's question, turned to look at the people around him and said.

Betty's eyes flickered almost imperceptibly when she heard what Ito Cheng said.

"Let's be honest, who are you?" Ito Cheng asked quietly as he retracted his gaze and fell on Betty.

"Chen? What are you talking about? Why can't I understand?" Betty asked with a confused look on her face.

"Although your disguise is almost fake, and if you don't observe it carefully for a long time, or know some secret information, it is almost impossible to tell the difference between you and the real person, but it happens that I know something, even Betty herself It’s a habitual action that I haven’t even noticed. So there’s no need to pretend.” Ito Cheng, who summoned dozens of transparent air bombs around him using spell-free magic, said softly.

"Chen? You say I'm pretending!? Are you crazy?" Betty looked at Ito Cheng with an expression of disbelief and a look like a madman and said.

"Tsk, as expected of a professional, he has a strong psychological quality!" Ito Cheng looked at Betty with disdain and said, "But unfortunately, I don't have time to talk nonsense with you. I don't want to be entangled by your personnel who came over after being discovered in an accident." live."

After saying this, Ito Cheng ignored Betty in front of him and ordered the air bombs to fly towards Betty.

"Bang bang bang bang..." In an instant, a series of explosions were heard, and a large amount of smoke and blood-colored liquid splashed from Betty's position, spreading on the surrounding loess road.

Regardless of whether the blood on the ground was human blood or horse blood, Ito Cheng immediately waved his right arm, and several long and narrow wind blades flipped and flew into the white smoke caused by the explosion of the air bomb.

But the next moment the wind blade flew into the smoke, a gray ribbon of air flew out of the smoke like an arrow, flying straight towards Ito Cheng's body.

Although I didn't know what kind of magic the aura belt was, Ito Cheng, who was definitely not a good thing, flashed and appeared directly behind the smoke, that is, behind the Betty.

The next moment, the horse, which sensed danger due to its animal instinct, screamed and kicked forward, and was instantly hit by the gray aura. I saw that the muscles of the injured horse's body shriveled up at a speed visible to the naked eye. After a while, it turned into a horse corpse with only fur and bones. It fell to the ground with a "plop", causing a stir. Large amounts of dust.

"Necromantic magic?" Ito Cheng thought secretly when he saw this. At the same time, he was a little confused as to whether the other party was a killer sent by the church.

Although there were differences in his heart, Ito Cheng still kept moving. First, he clasped his hands in front of him and quickly pressed them on the ground paved with loess. In an instant, a large amount of blue and white electric light flew out from Ito Cheng's hands, almost instantly covering the feet of Betty, changing the terrain, causing huge rectangular stone pillars to rise rapidly from the ground. The corners are connected to each other, forming a rectangular column with only an opening for the top cloth, confining Betty inside.

But before the square pillar could rise to a certain distance, a figure stepped on the top of the earth stone pillar that was rising from the center of the square pillar at a faster speed. He chanted a simple mantra and cast several jets of black color and exuding a cold atmosphere. Strange arrows flew down towards Ito Cheng.

Ito Cheng immediately wanted to jump back without thinking, and then glanced at the hole on the ground corroded by the black arrows, then jumped straight towards the woman who still maintained Betty's appearance, while holding both hands He grasped his fingers into tiger claws and fired several lightning spears at the woman.

What was surprising was that Betty actually floated and used magic to fly in the air. It's just that her flying speed is not a little slower than Ito Cheng who uses telekinesis to fly, but it is more than twice as fast as the flying speed of ordinary two-star mages using spells such as floating and flying.

Upon seeing this, Ito Cheng sneered and once again provided his forward speed, he instantly appeared in front of Betty and punched her.

"Poof!" The next moment, accompanied by a slight explosion, Betty, who was attacked, suddenly turned into a ball of smoke and disappeared from Ito Cheng's eyes... (To be continued...)