Unsealing Emptiness

Even when the Panther was confident, it still missed when Raven cast another spell while taking cover with a giant Ice spike.

When Raven was just a short distance away from the Panther, it opened its mouth and Mana gathered on top of its face. Just the density and the power that Mana held was enough to kill even a peak Rank-8 Mage multiple times over if it hit them directly!

Naturally, Raven experienced first hand how terrifying it was to fight a Rank-9 Beast from up close. Just the sheer amount of pressure would have made just about anyone have seconds thoughts.

However, Raven and Blaze had a different mentality compared to any other Rank-8 Mage. After living with Ozul for so long, both of them were influenced by his mindset, even if only a little.

Since Ozul would remain nonchalant in almost all kinds of situations, both of them had at least learned to keep their calm when facing danger.

So even when Raven felt powerless against the Blood Panther, she still followed her original plan and closed in the distance between them.

.....

Unlike what the Panther had thought, Raven didn’t dodge or run away. Instead, she rapidly closed their distance!

It made the Panther stop accumulating more Mana and just when it was about to shoot the giant ball of violent energy towards Raven,

Eeek!

An involuntary shriek escaped its mouth as it felt a stinging pain behind its back!

“Urgh! You Filthy Humans!!” the Panther bellowed in rage as it realized that the tiny girl before him had managed to trick him.

When all debris and ice was flying around, Raven had cast a spell that created a small lump of dark shadow-like smoke that discreetly went behind the Panther’s back.

Just like Ozul, she had also noticed the small patch of fur behind its back that had bloodstains all over it. Realizing that the Panther had an injury, she decided to make good use of it.

The shadow that she had cast sneakily could turn into a sharp dagger any time she wanted. During the time when she rushed towards the Panther, it had all of its focus on her. So it naturally missed the shadow that crept behind its back.

Her dagger might have never even managed to pierce the Panther’s skin under normal circumstances. However, there was already a wound on its back, she just had to poke it again.

The Panther’s attack also missed its target since he was disturbed at the crucial moment. Meanwhile, Raven and Blaze rejoiced at the fact that they were able to harm the Panther even when they were only middle stage Rank-8 Mages.

Quite conveniently, they opted not to think much about the fact that not only was the Panther injured, but Raven had also used that same wound to harm it otherwise it would have been impossible.

Just when their fear had disappeared and the excitement washed over, the Panther which was previously groaning in pain growled viciously.

Their smiles froze as they readied themselves for another round of struggle.

However, they were foolish to think that they had a chance against the Panther. Just the next moment, the Beast released all of its aura which started to suffocate Raven who was only a few feet away from it.

Grrrr!

Blaze didn’t fare any better as the Panther growled loudly.

At that instant, Raven realized that their small victory just now was only them poking the Beast’s wound!

She immediately began to cast several Spells to run away from there, but the Panther didn’t give her any chance.

The Panther jumped at her and with a single sweep of its paw, it hit Raven who was sent flying across the trees!

“Raven!” Blaze shouted with widened eyes. Even though he was a few meters away from them, he could feel that attack just now would have inflicted some serious injuries.

However, he did not have time to care about Raven as the Panther moved its eyes towards him next.

A feeling of dread washed over him as he hurriedly created as many pillars of ice as he could surrounding him.

Unfortunately for him, all of his efforts were futile because what happened next left him in a daze.

The Blood Panther which was tens of meters away from him closed in all of that distance in the blink of an eye!

All those ice pillars and the ice spikes that he had sent towards the Beast all shattered like glass.

Following that, the Panther hit Blaze the same way it did to Raven, sending him flying in the other direction.

Urghh!

A painful groan escaped his mouth as he hit the tree before falling to the ground.

The Panther looked coldly as Raven and Blaze both squirmed on the ground before struggling to stand up on their feet again. Blaze even felt as if he had broken a bone as he stumbled and fell to the ground again!

“Kehe! Worms like you dared to defy me?!” the Blood Panther sneered again before it turned its face towards Ozul who hadn’t intervened at all.

In the Beast’s eyes, he was only an ordinary villager who had hired those two Rank-8 Mages to deal with him hoping that they would be enough. What didn’t sit right with the Beast was the fact that he couldn’t see any signs of fear or despair on Ozul’s face as he had been expecting.

Instead, his face remained as calm as it was from the start.

The Panther thought that he might still have hope in those two weaklings that couldn’t even stand on their two feet now.

“It is futile! kehehe...” the Panther laughed like a human before it appeared near Raven and hit her, sending her flying in the air as if she was a lifeless doll!

Khuu!

Air escaped Raven’s mouth followed by a mouthful of blood as she dropped near Blaze. This time, she too felt as if she had broken some bones as she felt piercing pain all over her body!

The Panther slowly made his way towards them while enjoying their sullen expressions. Even being a beast, the sinister smile together with those pointed canines dripping with saliva looked more vicious than any humans’ expressions could ever get.

In the face of the gigantic panther slowly coming towards them, Raven and Blaze were helpless. The so-called training against the Rank-9 Beast didn’t even last five minutes before they were incapacitated.

The fact that they were still conscious was already a miracle!

Meanwhile, Ozul watched from the side without any change in his expressions. He knew from the start that they had no chance of winning against the Rank-9 Beast.

Even though injured, it wasn’t something two middle stage Rank-8 Mages could ever hope to defeat.

Although injured and in a weakened state, the Panther was still a Rank-9 Beast. The fact that they could annoy it to such an extent was the extent of their capabilities.

Even knowing the result of this ‘battle’ beforehand, Ozul had still pitted the duo against the Beast because of one particular reason.

Raven and Blaze, both were geniuses, and that was undeniable. However, genius didn’t mean that they were invincible or flawless.

Blaze had an immense talent for the Ice Element while Raven’s comprehensive ability together with her hard work had also gotten her into the ranks of those heaven-defying geniuses, but both of them had their own flaws.

One particular flaw common in Raven and Blaze was how it had been a while since they felt the threat of death along with the despair because of the immense difference in strength!

Although both of them had a rough experience in the past which made them work so hard to gain strength for such a thing not to happen again to them, they recently had forgotten the taste of defeat.

One might call him cruel and ruthless with his method to make his own people suffer just so they would have more motivation, but Ozul knew that they were bound to become arrogant if they didn’t taste defeat once in a while.

It was better to lose a couple of times than to gain arrogance that would ultimately become the cause of their deaths.

Ozul wasn’t some nobleman who would preach the negative aspects of arrogance, but in the world that he knew, Raven and Blaze’s strength wasn’t anywhere near enough for them to be arrogant over.

A random old man he one day meets on the street turned out to be someone that he couldn’t even gauge the power of, how could he let Raven and Blaze blind themselves?

It was better that they suffered now and understand that there would always be someone above them.

Seeing that both of them were previously so excited to fight the Rank-9 Beast was proof that they weren’t aware of their limits.

Noticing the crestfallen expressions on their faces, Ozul realized that it was enough. They would probably not forget this experience for a while.

Even if they did, he could always repeat the same process but with something even more terrifying.

When the Panther was only a few feet away from the duo, looking down at them with disgust, Ozul silently released the Ball of Purity from his hand.

Just when the Panther raised its paw again to deal the finishing blow,

Swish!

A gentle breeze passed by, and before the duo’s gaping mouths, the head of the giant Blood Panther suddenly fell to the ground without any resistance!