The Greatest Sinner

When the team leader activated the formation, hundreds of yellow lightning bolts struck the monster. They took it by surprise. Because their group acted silently, the monster didn't even feel it was surrounded. Only when the electric shocks went through its body did it realize it was under attack, but it was too late.

  Mana of the twelve magicians had been poured into that formation. Sure, the monster was of the first rank and far stronger than any of them, but it couldn't resist that kind of power. In a matter of seconds, its body was toasted by lightning. For the last seconds of its life, it was in true agony.

<Formations are really serious weapons... I think if they had just activated this spell without formations, it would have done almost no damage to this monster. Now this terrible monster died under the onslaught of lightning.>

Evan was stunned, he knew the formation had to be powerful, but he didn't expect it to be such powerful. Nevertheless, many conditions had to be met to create the formation.

First, a certain number of people are needed to create the formation. The number depends on how much mana you have and how powerful a formation you are going to create. Secondly, you need two kinds of scrolls: the scroll of the spell used to create the formation, as well as the scroll of the formation itself. Thirdly, you need special stakes to infuse the magic circle with mana.

So, to create and activate one single formation you needed several people, spell scrolls, stakes, and a lot of mana. Nevertheless, the difficulty and expense are more than offset by the incredible power of the formation.

<If they had fought this monster, few of them would have survived. But, now the monster is dead, and they are unharmed.>

None of these people had yet reached the "One-Pointed Star", they were weaker than Evan. The young man realized this from their auras: they were quite weak. But thanks to the formation, they were able to kill such a strong monster.

"Great, that`s gone just perfect.  Be quick, take everything of value, and let's go." The team leader said loudly and headed for the monster.

Swing.

The man drew his sharp sword from its sheath and plunged it deep into the monster's flesh. Next, he plunged his hand into the monster's wound and after a couple of seconds, he pulled an apple-sized green crystal from its body.

<Hmm? What is it?">. Evan didn't know what the thing was in the man's hands. The crystal was obviously very valuable since the commander had personally pulled it out.

But, that crystal wasn't the only thing of value one could get from that monster. The other members of the group took some of the monster's skin, fangs, claws, and tail. All of this could be sold on the market for good money. Armor, weapons, and artifacts were made from these materials.

"Hey, let's go!" Said the commander, and the group quickly left.

<I think I should go after them. Perhaps, this man knows at least something about how to find the members of the "Demonic Tree", I shouldn't pass up such an opportunity. Any information would be useful to me.> Evan thought and quickly jumped down from the tree.

He was going to follow their group unnoticed. He knew he couldn't handle that many people alone, but in any case, he could easily escape. Individually they were weaker than him, even the group leader. What's more, Evan wasn't alone now, he had the raven who could kill several people with a single attack.

Whoosh.

Evan followed the group and kept about thirty meters away from them. There was no way they could have seen him because Evan was acting cautiously. They had no idea anyone was following them now. Their job was to get the materials from the monster to the base and that`s all.

<Where are they going?>

Evan had been following the group for some time, but they were not heading toward the exit of the forest, but instead into its depths. What's more, not a single monster had attacked them. That's because they were on a well-tested trail, where the chances of encountering a monster were minimal.

Evan had originally thought that these magicians lived in some town or a village nearby, but now he realized that they had some kind of base in the forest itself.

"Here we are." Said Evan as he watched the group stop next to a huge tree.

There were many big trees in the "Half-Dead Forest", but this was one of the tallest. Its trunk was colossal, and its roots were very thick and long.

Whoosh.

Suddenly each of them went under the roots after which they disappeared from view.

<I see, this is their base, or, perhaps, just a transit point.> Evan understood that they had killed the monster to sell its parts for a good sum of money.

Evan thought that this was most likely where they rested and stored their loot. It was quite convenient. What's more, the monsters were close by. All they had to do was assemble a posse and they could go hunting.

Whoosh.

Evan's spatial ring glowed and a map of the immediate area appeared in his hands.

<So, there's a small village to the west of the 'Half-Dead Forest", and there's already an entire town a couple of kilometers away. It's certainly no Mossy Vulture, but I'm sure one can sell his loot there>. Evan wondered where these people sold their loot. Looking at the map, he assumed it was in the nearest town.

"They're already inside, I think I should sneak in there too and see what's going on there." Said Evan and headed for the big tree.

The entrance to the base was among huge roots and, moreover, to prevent monsters from accidentally wandering in here, the passage had been carefully camouflaged. In addition, there were special tree fruits scattered around the tree, which frightened off the local monsters with their scent.

Evan looked around and calmly approached the entrance. There were no guards, but that was no surprise. Why guard the entrance when there was little chance for an intruder to find the place and get in. Especially now, they were all tired, they needed to rest and accumulate mana, not to guard the entrance to the shelter.

Of course, Evan understood that. Otherwise, he wouldn't have acted so brazenly and riskily. But, now that he was full of strength and the raven which was an evolved monster, was with him. He had nothing to fear.

Step.

Evan stepped into the passage and a rather long tunnel appeared before his eyes.