Versatile Mage

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

The Demon-gathering Beacon was a device that only the military had access to.

It was fairly easy to use the device. Similar to the Element Sensors, the devices would release energy ripples once they were placed under the ground, attracting most of the demon creatures within a certain distance.

The Demon-gathering Beacon had a stronger signal than the Element Sensors, producing a sound outside of the hearing range of humans. The sound would agitate the demon creatures in the sky, on land, underground, or in the water, provoking them to gather toward the signal.

Normally, if the military was planning to clear an area of demon creatures, the Demon-gathering Beacon would come in handy, provided that the military was utterly confident that their Battlemages were strong enough to take out all the demon creatures. Hunters rarely used a device like this, as they normally went hunting in smaller groups. Using the Demon-gathering Beacon would simply get them killed. Not many Hunters would be willing to take the risk.

Also, use of the Demon-gathering Beacon was prohibited without permission. Nanyu thought the device would be efficient for their goal, so she had asked Lin Junxian to prepare a few of them. Lin Junxian’s connections were quite impressive, since he had actually managed to get a few of the devices.

“If it’s an entire tribe, we should avoid doing something so risky. If a Commander-level demon creature shows up, we’re all going to die,” said Ai Jiangtu.

It was a challenging mission, one that would normally require a group of Advanced Magicians. On top of that, the group would have to be quite experienced. Ai Jiangtu was appointed the captain for the national team, and he could not risk putting the team in danger.

The group eventually arrived at the Rock Island. As the name suggested, there was nothing but rocks on the island.

The island was fairly sizable. It would take an ordinary person about two hours to complete a circuit of the island.

The island had quite and amount of stuff on it too, including some destroyed tents, torn clothes, and medical supply boxes. It was likely that they were left here by the previous team that was assigned to fight the sea monsters.

That team had suffered a humiliating defeat. Instead of annihilating the sea monsters, they were forced to flee for their lives in panic, as they were the ones who were hunted. Since then, the local Hunters no longer dared to hunt the sea monsters, even the weaker ones, which explained why Lin Junxian had totally lost hope for the city.

“Look at this gash; the claws of the sea monsters were at least this long!” The observant Jiang Yu had immediately noticed some marks on the rocks.

The marks did resemble those produced from claws, extending from the top of the two-meters-tall rock to its middle, leaving three deep lines on it. The marks implied that the sea monster’s hand had three claws…

“Can you tell what kind of creature it is?” asked Ai Jiangtu.

“Three claws, scarlet in color… it’s a rare species. It’s not really described well in the books, but I’m guessing that it’s the Scarlet Soaring Demon!” replied Jiang Yu confidently.

“Scarlet Soaring Demon… never heard of it before. We should understand what they are capable of before starting a fight with them. We need to know what their deadliest moves and attacks are,” offered the brown-haired Mu Tingying.

“To be honest, it’s unlikely that we’re going to find any information about the creature on the Internet. As for their capabilities, our only source is the information provided by Lin Junxian. One thing we’re sure of is that they are not poisonous, but their claws are extremely sharp…”

“Their feet seemed to be huge, there’s a footprint here,” Zhao Manyan called out, having discovered something.

“There’s something that looks like a pile of dried ash here. It must be their stomach acid when its exposed to the air; it was mentioned in the information given to us. The liquid can turn viscous rapidly and ensnare their target,” said Nanyu.

As expected of the most talented students from different institutes, they immediately learned a great deal of useful information from the clues provided.

However, someone in particular was totally out of the picture compared to the rest of the group. He had been roaming around the island since they arrived. When everyone was done with their analysis, he came back to the group, dragging a scarlet creature that was half a man tall…

“Err… is the creature that Mo Fan brought back the Scarlet Soaring Demon that you just mentioned?” Zhao Manyan asked softly, astonished.

It took Jiang Yu a while to collect his thoughts. When Mo Fan tossed the dying creature to the group’s feet, Jiang Yu nodded heavily and said, “It is! Mo Fan, where did you find it?”

Nanyu and Ai Jiangtu seemed displeased. If they were in the army, someone like Mo Fan would be dragged away and whipped until his flesh was torn to shreds. He had shown literally zero discipline!

While the others were analyzing the clues left by the Scarlet Soaring Demons since they had just arrived on the island, the guy simply went and brought back one that was still alive. What the heck was he thinking?

“The creature doesn’t seem like it’s that strong, it’s just like a Servant-class creature,” Mu Tingying commented.

“I’m afraid it’s only a young Scarlet Soaring Demon, an adult Scarlet Soaring Demon should be…” Jiang Yu was just about to describe the creature when he saw a scarlet creature over four meters tall jumping out from the rocks in front of them.

The thing had two muscular legs, with strange-looking, sharp scales circling its waist. Its front limbs were thin but long, with three claws tipping them like curved daggers!

Jiang Yu was stunned. An adult Scarlet Soaring Demon appeared as soon as he was about to describe it. He quickly changed his mind and blurted out, “That…that thing standing on the rock is in the adult phase!”

The little Scarlet Soaring Demon surrounded by the Magicians burst out crying as soon as it saw the big Scarlet Soaring Demon. It was obvious that it was asking for help.

The scales around the waist of the Scarlet Soaring Demon rose and opened up like the giant mouth of a fish. It let out a furious roar at the group!

“Humph, a mere Scarlet Soaring Demon dares to act so scornfully, I’ll eliminate you at once!” Zhao Manyan harrumphed coldly.

As soon as he finished the sentence, more than ten figures appeared from behind the rock in a line…

They were enormous and scarlet, all with scales circling their waists. Their bulging eyes were glaring at the invaders!

“Err… let’s attack together and eliminate them!” Zhao Manyan’s aura weakened instantly.

“Their auras are strong,” Nanyu frowned.

Anyone in the team could easily eliminate more than half of a group of ten Servant-class creatures. There was nothing to be afraid of.

However, it was obvious that they had missed something extremely important…

The Scarlet Soaring Demons were not just Servant-class, they were Warrior-level in their adult phase!

“Did you lead them here?” Mu Ningxue asked Mo Fan.

“Hehe, I thought I got rid of them. I didn’t expect them to have such a sharp sense of smell,” Mo Fan let out an awkward laugh.

Liu Meng was just an ordinary fisherman. He had never seen a real sea monster before. No matter how the people from the village had described the sea monsters, it was nothing as fearsome as seeing them standing in a line right in front of him.

The presence of Warrior-level creatures was very intimidating to ordinary people. Liu Meng had already fallen to the ground in fear, soaked in cold sweat!