BOOM!
Eric felt as if a running train had rammed him from behind, and he helplessly flew forward.
Thankfully, the trees were still at some distance, so he didn't collide with them but was thrown forward and rolled until the tree line.
Eric's backside clothes blew up into tatters, and even his dagger, which was on his waist, flew off elsewhere.
His head was booming with loud buzzing noises, as if he had been hit by an explosion right behind him, and at the same time, he weirdly felt as if he was hearing some cheerful girl's laughter from somewhere.
Eric couldn't figure out what had just happened, but he still had his training ingrained within him, so he forcefully managed to raise his head to check where the attack had come from.
About 20 meters away, he managed to recognize two dark-skinned individuals.
One was a beautiful girl who seemed to be jumping with 'joy', and beside her, a man smiled handsomely.
What made Eric speechless, even in his critical condition, was that both were half-naked, with nothing covering their chests—only their waists below had dense leaves like skirts. And since the girl was jumping up and down excitedly, there was a nice jiggling effect through her ample breasts.
But!
'It's still not as big as Ly or Liv's!' Eric thought through his hormone-influenced mind.
Eric guessed both dark-skinned individuals were around 17 or 18 years old, roughly his height, and both were gorgeous—especially the girl with dark, captivating eyes and long, loose black hair that swayed as she jumped. But something about them was odd, making them strangely attractive.
Riya thundered, "Curb your hormones! Or you'll die! Look—they have long, sharp ears! Dark Elves! Just as Grandma once spoke about!"
Bella Noll had taught Eric, Lyria, and Livy about the world having multiple races, but not in much depth.
Eric came back to his senses. Though his face was bloodied—which he hadn't realized yet—he still blushed with shame.
It couldn't be helped—all blame went to his hormones! Especially his inexperience at seeing such a strange and unusual sight for the first time.
He was full of 'pure' admiration for the girl, whose beauty, though far lower than Lyria's, Livy's, or Riya's, was of a completely different kind compared to any girls he'd seen back on Earth or in Ringwood Town.
"Fuck your 'pure admiration'! Move your body! Or you'll only admire but never touch any of those three girls!" Riya was literally seething with rage. She'd already realized the gravity of the situation.
As Eric tried to recover sensation in his body—which had gone numb from the impact—the Dark Elf boy smirked and took two steps forward, saying something to the excited girl.
Though Eric heard the Dark Elf boy clearly, the language was unknown to him.
But his intuition translated the words:
My turn…
Eric's eyes widened as a yellowish Mana Circle appeared over the Dark Elf boy's raised palm, rotating slowly with strange, beautiful symbols. Soon, a fiery yellowish ball manifested above it, swelling to the size of a head.
Eric cursed in his head. He recognized it was the basic Fire Element Spell—Tier 1: Fireball—that he always dreamt of having!
Bella Noll had taught all three of them how spells were categorized. Tier 1 only had basic spells, and from Tier 2 onward, they were divided into Basic and Advanced Spells.
Bella Noll had also informed them that even 'Tier 1' Spell Books are very expensive, rare, and not easily available or provided. All spells, including Tier 1, are also very hard to master, and very few talented Rank 1 Mages could freely cast them; otherwise, it was mostly Rank 2 and above Mages who could cast Tier 1 Spells properly during a battle.
"DODGE!" Riya yelled thunderously.
She could understand Eric's situation—this was his second time, or in a sense his first time, watching a spell being cast, and it was also being thrown directly at him, so he was startled.
She could also see how terrible Eric's physical condition was, which he was still unaware of, and due to this his body was not functioning as smoothly as it usually did.
Glancing at the Fireball, which was currently spinning and slowly turning into a perfect sphere in the Dark Elf boy's hand, Eric knew he was in deep trouble.
If that Fireball hit him, he would either die immediately or be cooked enough to die slowly.
Due to the previous impact, Eric had already been hurled to a location surrounded by trees, and only now did he realize just how far he had flown—nearly 10 meters!
He didn't have time to be amazed. Quickly putting strength into his hands to raise himself up, he only then realized just how severely injured he was.
The skin and muscles on his back seemed to have disappeared from his senses; he guessed his spine was probably exposed. He felt his organs burning and melting as if they had been dipped in acid.
Eric broke out in a cold sweat, but with the pain hitting him constantly, he regained his senses. His eyes sharpened and slowly turned indifferent, as if the pain wasn't his.
Riya wept silently for Eric's severe condition, though it wasn't as dire as he imagined. She quickly reported, "It's not that serious! You're only sensing it that way—but nonetheless, your back is badly burnt and still on fire. First move! Dodge!"
The Dark Elf boy threw the Fireball, and it sped toward Eric at incredible speed.
Before it could hit Eric, he jumped using all four limbs and managed to hide behind the thick tree right in front of him.
BOOM!
Eric, who had barely dodged and hidden in time to avoid the impact, finally experienced how powerful the Fireball was.
Thankfully, the thick tree behind him held firm and wasn't destroyed, but the impact's force, the deafening noise, and the fire spilling out beside the tree made him realize his previous assumptions about the Basic Spell—Fireball—were entirely wrong!
It was far worse—no words could describe it other than an oil truck exploding.
Eric wondered how he had survived the previous hit. No wonder his condition was so poor after just a single strike.
Eric ignored the Fireball and quickly thought through many things in that split second.
One fact was that it was probably the jiggling Dark Elf girl who had hit him with a similar Fireball. He also understood that both the 'youngster' Dark Elves were probably just doing target practice, and the 'target' happened to be the handsome, tall human. After all, to kill a mortal, they wouldn't need to sneak-attack with such a powerful spell.
And finally, they were definitely not Rank 2 Mana Wielders—probably only early-stage Rank 1 Mages—otherwise, he would surely have died.
According to Bella Noll, with each minor rank, all stats—including Intelligence—increase, and that reflects on how powerful spells are. Of course, there was also a chance the Dark Elves had intentionally weakened the Fireball's power, but they probably hadn't, since the previous Fireball was already enough to kill a normal mortal. This also confirmed they were Mages, not Mystical Knights—since Mystical Knights have far higher Intelligence stats than Mages and are extremely powerful. In short, he wouldn't have survived if those two were Mystical Knights.
It was impressive that mere early-stage Rank 1 Mages could cast a Tier 1 Spell, proving these Dark Elf youngsters were geniuses and extremely talented—though their spellcasting speed was slow. In an equal-rank battle, these two likely wouldn't finish casting before being minced by a Warrior. This again confirmed they were only early-stage Rank 1.
All this was fine—but what stunned Eric most was: 'How the hell are there Dark Elves in this forest?!'
It was impossible they had lived here undetected for so long without anyone from Ringwood Town encountering them! And there was no way the townspeople could have survived if Dark Elves had been here for years.
Just these two Rank 1 Fire Mages were enough to slaughter the town's mortals. And if five or more Mana Wielders were in this Dark Elf group, Ringwood Town would be wiped out before they realized what hit them.
Since these two half-naked Elves were playing around, it also clearly meant they weren't alone!
Why?
It's because if they were alone, they wouldn't be jumping, smiling, or playing around!
They would stay silent and hidden, and attack the town during nighttime, killing the entire town's mana wielders while they slept.
But regardless, they at least wouldn't practice spells on a native human mortal from nearby settlements, as that would draw attention toward them.
All these facts pointed to one conclusion: that this Dark Elf group—or rather, this Dark Elf tribe—had probably arrived within this forest recently, and this also showed just how great a calamity this had become for all of Ringwood Town.
Most likely, Ringwood Town won't survive the coming month—or week.
The fire raining through the trees' sides faded, then disappeared.
Eric knew that no matter how 'childish' these Dark Elves were, they were at least smart enough to not let their prey escape alive. So, the question was: how to survive?..
'Two mages...'
If Eric weren't half-dead as he was at this moment, then even if he couldn't outrun them in the forest, he also wouldn't be too afraid—especially since both Dark Elves had declared that they were Fire-Element mages. In other words, they probably wouldn't throw thunder, light, or whatnot at him.
He might be wrong in guessing, but if he was right, he could take his time to drain their Mana and deal with them. And even if these elves were trained and had massive stats after becoming Mana Wielders, Eric—who had always dueled with two 'impossible' women back in the orphanage—was confident that as long as both their attacks and movements weren't as fast as Cooper Eldridge's, he could still kill both of them with his dagger.
But that would only be possible if there were two Dark Elves around. What if more were drawn here by these constant explosions? At least Eric could bet his ten gold coins in his currently burning bag that no Human Mana Wielder from Ringwood Town would come! Even if they could hear a nuclear explosion happening here! They would debate for a whole day about who would go and who would smoke a pot. But the Dark Elf tribe would definitely appear!
It wasn't entirely Ringwood Town's fault—being a traveling tribe had the benefit of moving freely without worrying about their 'base' being captured. Not to mention, traveling tribes definitely had the strength for long-distance travel. For example, Ringwood 'tribe' wouldn't survive more than a hundred miles in the forest without losing a quarter to half of their mortals.
But none of this mattered, as Eric was currently heavily injured and couldn't go hand-to-hand with these two naked Dark Elves. Even moving around was extremely difficult.
So, his only chance of survival was...