It was 6 am in the morning.

I made sure to wake up early and prepare all my things. I put on black trousers and a black turtleneck that my mother had knit me; most of the clothes of this world weren’t that modern, so I drew up designs for my mother to make. She had a great talent for knitting and stitching etc.

Maybe I could even start a retail business in the future with her help and copyright all my ideas as an invention. 

I slid my dimension rings on and wore my navy blue hunter’s Trench coat. I looked in the mirror and ruffled my hair; I got a haircut not too long ago.

Okay, now I was ready.

“Jace, get up!” I shoved Jace’s shoulder.

He gave a couple whines and made strange noises but refused to get up from his bed. This guy, I shook my head.

I had to use my last resort. I faintly wrapped my hand in ice mana and put my hand under his shirt and let the cold touch his bare back.

“ARGHGHHH!! Cold! Cold!” He wriggled around and jumped up, “Geez man, you could have killed me.”

“Just go and get ready, if you’re not ready in 10 minutes I’ll leave without you.” I said with a serious face. Jace immediately ran to grab his towel and entered the bathroom. 

I walked out and headed towards Malia’s room. To my surprise I didn’t need to knock or wake them up as they both opened the door as I was about to knock.

“Zeref, good Morning.” Malia smiled, before spudding me. 

She had a grey tracksuit (the top having a hood) and wore an oversized black jean jacket. It was going to be cold outside naturally as winter was nearing. Her hair was pulled up into a messy bun and she wore a chain around her neck.

Naz on the other hand wore black biker shorts and a sports bra. She wore an open black and white zip jacket and had her hair out, as always.

“Morning- uh Naz… Aren’t you gonna get cold in that?” I replied, pointing at her bare legs with genuine concern.

Malia chuckled, “Told you.”

Naz rolled her eyes, before going back into the room, I’m assuming to change. 

Malia and I shook our heads, waiting for her. It didn’t take her long to swing the door open again with black leggings. I shook my head at her but she ignored me; I sighed, going downstairs to eat.

“Where’s Jace?” Naz asked, yawning as her and Malia followed me downstairs.

“He’s still getting ready.” I said, rubbing my eyes. 

I pulled out a frying pan from one of the cupboards and placed it on the stove to heat up. I cracked several eggs on it and gently cooked them. I seasoned them with salt and pepper, then placed them on a plate for them to eat. I sliced a loaf of bread into slices and toasted them evenly with flame mana.

I made sure to cook some sausages and beans for myself, as Eggs were my weakness for some reason.

“Kids, you’re already downstairs.” mother yawned. She also sat with us and ate her breakfast, next Jace rushed down too and joined us for a united meal.

“…As I was saying, stay safe and make sure you three stay by Zeref’s side. Zeref take care of them and don’t let me worry about you again. I don’t want you or any of the rest of you coming home with mortal wounds.” Mother said, pointing at us and making sure we understood.

“Yes mother, don’t worry too much. We’ll be fine.” I smiled at her before kissing her on the forehead.

We all prepared to leave, gathering our things and making sure we had all the utilities we’d need for our trip.

We’d be away for a week or more so mother couldn’t help but cry as she bid us goodbye.

“Goodbye kids! Stay safe.” She said, wiping her tears. We all waved back and regrouped with the dozen elves waiting for us outside the mansion gates. They were none other than the bank’s guards, including Allefin.

We greeted each other and started moving.

“Let’s move quickly, there’s no time to waste.” I said as everyone followed behind me. We were going to travel by foot through the magic forest in the east. It would take approximately 3 to 4 days to arrive. 

I made sure to bring the guards that were guarding the vault the night of the robbery with us. The traitor was most likely one of them if not all of them. Wiping them out was the only reason I brought them along. 

I trusted Allefin more and knew that he wouldn’t do such a thing but just in case I brought him along too.

The sky was still dark and signs of light were soon revealing themselves. The cold wind blew against us, making some of the elves, including Naz, shiver. We ran for a good 10 minutes before reaching the forest.

We all used our mana to boost our body’s physical capabilities, so even the average mage could run for at least a couple dozen miles before getting tired.

This was one of the dangerous parts of the journey: The forest. 

I didn’t know if the number of powerful beasts had declined after I cleared the dungeon and if it hadn’t then the safety of my friends would be at stake. 

Initially I didn’t want to bring them along but I felt it would be a good experience for them. I could bring a couple people with me to climb the tower of truth with me and my friends were probably the best people to take with me- the only people I trusted.

I also weighed the risk of the traitors among our little group, to kill us. Therefore, I made sure to always stay on high alert, in case one of the elves made their move. 

I trusted Malia’s and Allefin’s capabilities to protect themselves the most; they wouldn’t be easy targets to kill. I only had to fully worry about Jace and Naz, who were weaker targets.

We arrived at a waterfall and decided to take a short break and catch our breaths.

“We’ll rest here for a couple minutes, catch your breaths.” I ordered and everyone nodded.

Malia shoved my arm, before whispering, “A couple of these guards are really suspicious. Their gazes are very pervy and I feel like they may have ill intentions.” 

“Just stay on high alert, if they do something don’t hesitate to kill them.” I whispered back before taking a sip of water from a metal flask.

“Incoming!!” One of the guards shouted and the rest of them immediately got into a circular formation with Malia, Jace, Naz, Allefin and I at the centre.

There were a pack of mutated C rank Ground rats; they were a bigger size than the usual ground rats and they seemed to be much more berserk.

Screech!!

Two of them charged first, but the elves were prepared and cleanly disposed of them, slicing their limbs or burning them alive with flame magic. Some had branch elements but most had pure elements such as fire and nature.

Suddenly, a tremor shook the ground underneath us.

“Look out!!” Malia acted instinctively and pushed the four of us away, making us disperse and fall; she then hopped away and the elves broke their formation. They moved on the offense and held the ground rats back in a head on fight.

A large Alpha Ground Rat appeared out of the ground and gave a loud screech making the other beta pack members go berserk.

“Allefin, take care of Jace and Naz. Malia you’re with me, we’re taking care of this one here, ” I commanded leaping up and punching the beast’s crooked face with a lightning imbued fist, “And for the rest of you, guards wipe the other vermin out. We can’t waste too much time here.”

“Yes Sir!” The guards replied in unison; Allefin gave me a quick nod before grabbing Jace and Naz and taking them to a safe spot.

“So what’s the plan? How are we going to defeat this thing?” Malia dodged leaping sideways in the air as the large beast tried to slice her into it with its sharp claws.

I still had my eye patch on so I couldn’t tell what the beast’s weakness was or what rank it was.

“There is no plan, just kill it.” I said, zigzagging across the water then spinning like a Beyblade in the air. I couldn’t use Voadhailis’s Claw as its affinity was only flame mana. 

‘Drago del fulmine!’

I flexed the muscles in my leg before axe-kicking the beast’s nape, with all my might. A lightning dragon formed around me and bit down on the mutated Ground rat’s neck in a flash, causing violent streaks of lightning to run through the beast’s body.

[You have used 500MP]

[You have earned 6000 EXP for killing a B rank beast!]

It let out a large screech before falling to its side. The immense voltage left the body charred and it’s irises turned white.

Malia whistled, “Show off.”

I scoffed at her comment before unsheathing Voadhailis’s Claw and helping the Elven Guards beat the rest of the beta ground rats.

  I cleaned up the remaining beasts and we evacuated the area. Guess, the number of beasts hadn’t decreased yet.

“I’m knackered, why couldn’t we just take a portal?” Jace moaned, sweating, under the morning sun.

“For once I agree with you.” Naz chimed in, sighing. 

“I told you, you guys shouldn’t have come. We can’t stop now, that sudden attack wasted a lot of time already. We’ll take another break in a couple hours.” I replied.

**

It was already nightfall. 

The cold in the morning had returned but it was much more intense. We set up our tents and a fire for light.

The Elven Guards took it in turns to sleep and watch the surroundings. I made sure Naz and Malia slept in the same tent while Jace and Allefin slept in a tent near me.

If one of the traitors made a move, I could handle it quickly.

I used the meditation sleep technique I had learned from Gramps and kept my senses on a high sensitivity to changes in the surrounding.

BOOM! BOOM!

It had begun…

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