Ch. 43 - The Antimage

Adam gently hovered over to William---he was donning a plain grey robe provided to all apprentices by the Academy while holding an egg in his hand.

The aura emanating from the egg was becoming increasingly evil, blood-red mist constantly emitted from the surface of the egg. The mist contorted into various ominous shapes which striked fear into the three apprentices.

Because the master-servant contract needed to be enacted daily, Adam had no choice but to bring the egg with him wherever he went. He stored flesh and blood in his portable space and could retrieve it every once in a while to feed the egg.

Riley and Terry kept silent upon confirming that Adam was joining their party. Their image of Adam was not very positive, and they didn't dare to say a word for fear that they might provoke him.

William was already familiar with Adam's character and simply asked, "Alright. Can we go now?"

Adam nodded. After gauging the capabilities of the other two apprentices, they had to use a vehicle to get to their destination. The vehicle's rent wasn't very expensive, but if it was damaged in any way, full compensation was required.

Riley and Terry were no strangers to hover cars, and they immediately took the driver and passenger seats. Besides, they were too afraid to sit with Adam.

33,000 kilometres sounded extremely far, but compared to the boundless area of the Mage Continent, it was nothing special. Their destination was on the boundary of the Moldo Elemental Tower.

Adam didn't speak during the entire journey. Whenever he wasn't trying to coerce the egg with the master-servant contract, he would stare out the window, studying the scenery.

For the past two days, Riley and Terry did not dare to speak to Adam, especially after seeing him feeding the egg with live flesh and blood.

During this period, Adam found that the Mage Continent was not the giant, bustling city that he envisioned; there weren't many places for humans and mages to gather together. Instead, forests, lakes, wetlands, and plains flourished. From time to time, powerful monsters could be seen roaming in the wild. Flocks of animals were hurdling together in their own communities. None of these creatures dared to interfere with the hover car's path, and Adam presumed that the primal fear of a mage's wrath was already instilled into them.

On the third day of the journey, Adam suddenly spoke up, "Why did the Wind Wolves invade the town?"

The three of them were startled upon hearing Adam speak. William pondered before replying, "We don't know, the mission was divided into two parts."

Adam knew what Wind Wolves were from the books at the library---like wolves, they were territorial creatures. However, they are able to cast low-levelled Wind Magic and strengthen themselves with magic, as well as greatly increase their agility. Although they were a huge threat to ordinary people, they were no match for apprentices.

Wind Wolf packs contained a leader, and the number of wolves depended on the strength of the leader. If the wolves were able to infiltrate an entire village, then the leader of that specific pack must be extremely powerful.

"Are the three of you the only ones who took on this task?"

William responded, "It isn't just the three of us; there are apprentices in the town and the town is currently guarded by knights." With the task of exterminating the Wind Wolves being listed as "Intermediate" on the board of the Task Hall, Adam understood that there was more to it and that this mission was not suitable for apprentices. However, young people always had strange confidence in their own strength.

Adam didn't want to relay his thoughts to them and he remained silent. The journey was quiet for another five hours before they finally arrived at their destination---a small village named Bran. William and the others didn't notice, but Adam could perceive that they were being watched and strange creatures were stalking them.

William, Riley, and Terry's faces became worried upon seeing the rune barrier erected outside the village. Stumps of limbs and broken bones were scattered around the area,  and the grass was bloodstained with scarlet-red.

The car stopped and William whispered, "Damn it, I think we're in trouble."

Riley panicked. "This wasn't what the mission said! We were only told that we had to exterminate the Wind Wolves, but it seems like the town was massacred!"

However, it was too late to withdraw from the mission, and the three can only hope for additional support or Adam's help...

They stood outside the rune barrier when suddenly, a voice inside asked, "Who are you?"

William displayed the mission contract and the barrier opened for them. The party immediately saw injured and bruised knights lying on the grass. Two apprentices approached them.

"I'm Thomas and he's Zach, are you the support the Academy sent?" Thomas asked with a worried look. When he only saw four people leaving the car, despair creeped up to him.

William awkwardly replied, "No. We're just apprentices."

Zach's eyes widened and cowered in his arms. "Damn! Fuck! What the hell is the academy doing? We requested for more help and they only sent four apprentices!"

William was flustered, "There weren't any senior apprentices available. And it's just the three of us." He then pointed at Adam, "He's just here to take a look."

"You must be kidding me! Since when did the academy treat their apprentices with leniency?" Zach turned to Adam and mocked him. However, he shut his mouth upon seeing the egg resting in Adam's arms---this wasn't something he can ever afford.

Adam ignored him and walked over to the rune barrier, studying it.

William hurriedly asked, "Sir, I think you should update us on what happened here. How did the Wind Wolves attack the village? Don't you have enchanted weapons to fight back?"

Thomas sighed. "Forget it. The only thing we can do is wait for the Academy to send additional support. We discovered that the Wind Wolves were being controlled."

"Controlled?" the three exclaimed. How could anyone have the gall to attack an area ruled by mages?

Adam thought of an interesting possibility---the only thing that dared to revolt against mages were the Antimages.

He remembered reading about antimages at the upper levels of the library, and they were mere remnants of the long history. After Archmage Prometheus and World Guardian Annecroft set up the standards of the mage world, the antimages were unable to adapt to the new changes and swore to reject the conformity of magic.

Their ancient magic was passed down to generations, and their magic was gatekept within families. Most of the antimages specialised in curse magic, which targetted the soul of humans. Antimages went into hiding and obtained their resources by traversing into other realms. Most mages regarded them as mice since they only harmed ordinary people or weak apprentices.

However, they were still the enemies of mages.

Adam suddenly speculated, "Is an antimage controlling the wolves?"

Zach and Thomas looked at Adam in amazement, not expecting an apprentice observe and learn the situation from minor clues. They simply nodded and replied, "Judging from the current situation, most likely."

"What's an antimage?" Riley asked.

Zach and Thomas explained and the three apprentices turned pale. Regret bubbled in their hearts---an antimage sounded terrible! Why did they agree to take this mission?

However, Adam found this situation interesting. He originally followed William so he could relax, but he didn't expect that he could encounter something new.

He wasn't worried. After mages scoured an area for resources to grow stronger, antimages only collected the scraps left over by the mages, which meant that they would only target places where they knew they would win. Qualified mages would always triumph over antimages.

Adam did not have an ounce of fear towards antimages.

...

In a dense forest a few hundred kilometres away from Bran Village, four antimage apprentices donning black robes ducked in a clearing.

"The Academy's support arrived," a hoarse, unhuman voice resounded. The owner of the voice was petting a Wind Wolf. "They rode a hover vehicle to get here, and there are only four of them."

"Very good. These idiots will soon recognise the truth! I wonder how they would react upon seeing my little cutie!" the second person pulled their sleeve back, revealing a hideous face in the palm of their hand. Dense fangs lined the mouth of the face, and it struggled as if it wanted to break free of the hand. "Be good! Don't worry! You will be sated soon."

"Kerina, put your sleeve back on! I loathe that thing!" exclaimed the third apprentice. "The last time you waved that "thing" around, it almost ate me! Don't make me kill it!"

The girl named Kerina smiled and stretched her hand out to the third person, and the monster residing on her hand grew rapidly, chomping away at the air, "What? Don't you like him? Look at how cute he is!"

The third apprentice leapt back and sprayed out a green liquid from his fingertips, corroding the ground. "I'm warning you, Kerina!"

Comments