Quill stared at the mage's group.

  There were four of them in total, with the bald man and one other holding swords that seemed to radiate with mana, while the other two drew Scripts in the air.

  Two melee and two ranged mages. The ones holding the swords were most probably Fighter Archetypes, and the others Casters. It was an even distribution of roles, a perfect composition of mages.

  Quill then turned to his own team. Rognor was the only melee mage here, and with three ranged mages relying on a sole vanguard, their formation wouldn't last long. Even if they weren't as strong as Rognor, the two opposing melees could just brute force their way through him two against one.

  What was more was that these mages seemed to have full mana in store. There was not a speck of dust on their clothes, not a blood stain on their hands. They were effectively ready to fight. Meanwhile, Quill's group was running empty from the fight with the Greencats.

  Quill clicked his tongue. Only he had full mana capacity because of his cycling technique, but even then, his fatigue was creeping in.

  Quill cast a Quickscript, the air around him heavy as chunks of stone materialized and formed into the two Constructs. They pushed forward with Rognor, and the tension in the air rang static in Quill's ears before he breathed another Quickscript.

  White mire swirled around him, a sludge that was heavier than it seemed to be. It stirred and rumbled, forming a dome of flowing stone mass that ebbed and flowed like tides on water.

  Rognor slammed his shields, and Narrah readied her bow. Gerald produced water droplets over his head, not having enough mana to create another elemental.

  And when the mage behind the bald man conjured an ice spike above his head, Rognor and the Puppets charged in.

  The ice spike struck Rognor's shield, ringing the metal before breaking off into pieces. More ice flung overhead, and for each of them, Rognor shielded the Puppets as they drew closer. His body took on the sheen of dull stone, a walking golem in his own right, bleeding the color of the Orange Aspect.

  Gerald and Narrah let loose their spells, arrow and speeding rain smashing against the group in front of them. The ground then rumbled, and a thick wall of earth rose and barred the spells. Ice and earth, Blue and Orange Aspects.

  Their composition was so perfect that it almost seemed that their group was deliberately handpicked.

  Rognor and the bald man clashed, shield against sword as the second one traded thrusts and slashes with Quill's Puppets. Pen and Notebook were nowhere near the skill of experienced combatants, but their hardy bodies more than made up for it.

  Quill raised the Liquid Stone, forming a wall of marble in front of Narrah and Gerald to block the coming barrage of ice spikes. Past the marble wall, Gerald conjured another set of raindrops before bending them around the wall, arcing through the air before landing a blow on the still-fighting bald man.

  “Fuck!” Blood gushed out of the bald man’s shoulder. Even before, he was hardly matching Rognor's strength, and that was with him at full strength. Against the giant’s looking body and towering shields, he looked nothing more than a bleeding pig against the butcher.

  But the pig had a trick up its sleeve. Red aura bloomed from the bald man, seething like anger manifested before his body doubled in size. He roared and rampaged, swinging his sword with no skill but pure strength, pushing back Rognor a step or two.

  But that was the extent of what he could do. Even with the man’s surprising power up, he was nothing in the face of the blue giant. Rognor's shields were more than enough to block the man’s onslaught, and sooner or later, the man's body would crumble from fatigue with all the moving he was doing.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Quill could trust Rognor in handling that.

  Behind, an arrow loosed from Narrah, zipping through the air before the opposing earth mage conjured another earth wall–but this time, Narrah's arrows split. Three duplicates of her arrow splintered, wrapping around the earthen wall before each landed a hit on non-vital spots on the opposing team's numbers.

  Narrah was the type of person to hesitate, but Quill was the opposite. The moment the opposing group’s ranks faltered from their wounds, he immediately broke his Liquid Stone into chunks in the air before he sent it flying as needles the size of swords. One by one, the opposing mages fell with each part of the spells, sending blood gushing and screams echoing.

  And with the of Rognor's shield ramming against the bald man’s face, the fight ended with silence.

  Quill cautioned the others before he took a step forward, reaching Rognor by his side. Looking at the mages bloody and beaten before him now, he didn't realize it until then.

  They were pathetically weak.

  Even though Quill's group had just brushed with the Greencats and were almost at their limits, the bald man’s group could hardly do anything against them. He had taken multiple precautions against them, but looking at them now, groaning and crying, maybe he overestimated them.

  It should've been obvious if he thought about it more. His group was made up of the academy's highest-ranking mages, after all. He hadn't even seen this bald man until now, now that he thought about it. He was worried for nothing.

  Threats usually come from strong individuals and mages, so he’d half expected them to be stronger. At least, that was a fact in all the mages he fought in the past.

  “Get up.” Quill kicked the bald man. He was playing dead, and when he heard a whimper, he kicked harder than he should've. These pampered nobles running their mouths were getting annoying.

  It would be unwise to kill them, so he had to do the next best thing.

  “Listen to me, and listen closely.” He pulled the bald man by his beard, pulling him up to float over the ground. With his height, it wasn't exactly hard to do so. “I want you and your friends to pick yourselves up and get out of here.”

  “You stupid shit, you’ll hear from my–” Quill dropped him to the ground before he then kicked him again, earning a whistle behind from Gerald.

  “I could kill you right here, if that's what you want?” Quill stared at his eyes. “I already killed five City Watch guards, after all. What's one more small, fat, bald noble?”

  “No–please.” The bald man curled into a ball and started sobbing. For the first time, Rognor's face soured to a frown, and Narrah looked like she was about to say something but kept her mouth shut.

  “Once you go out,” Quill added. “You're going to report every single thing that happened to the overseer. If I hear a single lie from your mouth…”

  Quill motioned a finger passing over his throat.

  After Gerald checked the other mages of their wounds–none too fatal or too serious–they let them go. They picked themselves up, stumbling and groaning, before they then fled back the way they came from with tails between their legs.

  If Quill had it his way, he could've killed them on the spot. If it weren't for their nobility and status as academy Initiates, he may as well have. But it would serve his reputation to spare them, even when they were the first to attack his group.

  Quill had paid for the consequences of killing the City Watch guards, and he wasn't so reckless as to do it a second time.

  “Well, you sure showed them.” Gerald patted Quill's shoulder before he beamed a smile. “You think they'll tell the truth?”

  “They have to.” Quill brushed Gerald's arm off him. “I wasn't joking when I said I’d kill them otherwise.”

  “You're kind of funny when you try, Fenith.” Narrah eased a sigh.

  “I… don't think he was joking.” Rognor said.

  “Well, whatever happens will happen.” Gerald threw his hands up before turning back. He fished the Ratlizard’s eggs, all theirs for the taking now. “Let’s hurry up and get out of here before another group like them shows up. I’m tired. I need a bath.”

  “You really do.” Quill said, which earned a look from all three of them. “What?”

  “Is that… banter coming from you?” Gerald said.

  The group started back the way they came from. Gerald was leading the way, and Quill should’ve known not to trust his guts. He knew that they’d turned the wrong way a few minutes ago, but with the way the human was acting, he was dead certain that he knew of a shortcut.

  Well, it wasn't a shortcut. They ended up visiting another Stomach, getting lost in the maze of the Dungeon, before Quill finally moved Gerald aside and led them back the way they came from. It hadn't been half an hour until they were back at the Ratlizard's nest, so there was still a good chance that they were the first to come back with the eggs.

  But Quill couldn't take his eyes off a single mushroom in the corner of the cavern. A sprouting Ghoulshroom, barely the size of a finger.

  It wasn't there before.

  Thanks for reading!