Strongest Warlock - Wizard World Irregular

Chapter 772: We Are Supposed To Be The Hunters, Not The Hunted

Ethan, who had no idea that his sister and Hecate had entered the Painting of Enlightenment, was currently observing a suspicious group of people camping beside a river.

There were ten of them, and judging from the looks of exhaustion on their faces, all of them must've been traveling the entire night.

They weren't wearing any gray robes with the insignia of the hawk, but for some reason, they looked very suspicious in his eyes.

Because of this, he decided to perch on the branches of a nearby tree and listen to their discussion.

"I can't get in touch with the other Captains," a man with short gray hair and a very bushy beard said.

He looked like someone in his late thirties, and based on his words, Ethan assumed that he was the leader of their group.

"Those damn ravens really turned the tables on us," a chubby man commented before drinking whatever was inside the flask he was carrying. "We are supposed to be the Hunters, not the hunted. We're going to get an earful from the Leader once we get back."

The other members nodded in agreement.

"Hey, do you think the other Teams are taken out?" a skinny man asked. "The last message we received from the group nearest to us was that they were fighting against a flock of ravens accompanied by a Wizard. We haven't heard from them since."

The group descended into silence because they had no way to answer that question.

The Leader of the group sighed before taking a bite of his beef jerky.

"It's no use worrying about them now," the Leader said after he finished eating. "Since the situation doesn't look good, it is best that we return and inform the Council about it."

"Do you think we'll get punished for failing our mission?" the chubby man asked. "We didn't get any useful information from the Ravens we caught. It seems that none of the students even know about the Stone of Destiny, as well as that rumored Saintess who is currently in Brynhildr Academy."

"It's possible that the Council got the wrong information," the Skinny Man replied. "But since we didn't get a chance to capture more Ravens, maybe this information is kept from the students as well."

"Well, even if the other groups are captured, they won't reveal too much information," the Leader replied. "After all, they are just new members of our organization. So, we need to meet up with Cassian's group at the meeting spot we agreed to last night. The sooner we leave the Shire Continent, the better."

"Hey, Leader, I noticed that the Raven on that tree has been looking at us since earlier," one of the men stated. "Do you think it's a Raven from the academy?"

Everyone immediately glanced in the direction where their member was pointing, making them raise their guard.

Two days ago, they were still on the lookout for Ravens from Brynhildr Academy and were even bragging at each other about how many they caught.

But now, even a single one of these birds was enough to make their faces turn pale, especially after the incident that happened last night.

The Leader took out an artifact from his pocket and channeled his power to it.

The jewel embedded in the center of the artifact turned red, which meant that the Raven wasn't one of the Ravens that belonged to Brynhildr Academy.

"Calm down, everyone," the Leader said as he showed everyone the color of the jewel on the artifact. "It's not a Raven of an academy. It's just an ordinary raven, so don't let it spook you."

The Skinny Man breathed a sigh of relief.

But after assuming that the bird was only an ordinary Raven, he decided to vent out his frustration by throwing a rock at it.

Naturally, Ethan evaded the rock by moving to the side.

However, this act made the entire group quiet down before all of them stood up at the same time.

The Skinny Man was someone who was very accurate in throwing weapons, so it was impossible for him to miss the Raven from his current distance from it.

Also, there were only two aftermaths that they expected from his rock throw.

The first one was that the Raven would get hit, and fall off from the tree.

Whether it lived or died was of no importance.

The second one was for the Raven to fly off in order to avoid the rock that was thrown in its direction.

However, the Raven didn't do that.

Instead, it hopped to the side and evaded the rock throw—something that an ordinary Raven wouldn't do.

Because of this, everyone knew then and there that they weren't dealing with an ordinary Raven, but something else entirely.

'Looks like your cover is blown, Ethan,' Sebastian commented. 'What are you going to do?'

'If you leave quietly, they will surely evacuate and become more wary of their surroundings,' Ethan's Other Half commented. 'Also, their talk about the Stone of Destiny, as well as the Saintess is worrisome. It is best that we get to the bottom of this as early as possible.'

Ethan agreed wholeheartedly because these people posed a serious threat. Not only to the Ravens of Brynhildr Academy but to all the students as well.

Also, their comment about the Saintess was indeed quite worrying.

Ethan only knew of one Saintess in the academy, and that was none other than Hecate.

If these people were only looking for the Stone of Destiny, then he could still overlook it.

But if they have nefarious thoughts about the member of his Manor, he would not hesitate to interrogate them properly.

Just as the Leader of the group was about to command his men to attack the Raven, a powerful pressure descended on their bodies, making them fall flat on the ground.

The Leader forcefully raised his head to see what was happening, but when he did, he saw the feet of something that didn't look human.

Forcing himself to raise his head a little more to get a better look at the creature in front of him, the man couldn't help but regret his decision.

An amused chuckle escaped the Ancient Wendigo's lips, making the men who heard it shudder uncontrollably.

A moment later, cries of pain and horror reverberated in the surroundings as Dainsleif made sure to incapacitate the people who dared to raise their hands on its Master.