Gaming Sword Magician

After sprinting for a while, Shadow slowed down considerably. Except for him, every single member of his party was a mage. Typically, mages possessed a fragile build and low stamina, covering a large distance in a short amount of time could be considered torture for them.

He showed consideration for his party, walking at a pace not too low nor too fast. Thus, they were able to keep up with him without feeling exhausted.

The southern mountainous region that the group was walking through was called the Deer Hunting Ground. This place was dotted with oak trees and one could occasionally see dozens meter wide patches of dust. It was composed of three green zones. The three zones stretched for nearly three hundred miles, taking up huge tracts of land. The animal found here were typically not aggressive. However, some would attack the moment they sight a target.

Furthermore, the dungeon creature could also be roaming around it. Thus, they remained attentive to their surroundings so that they'll be able to respond to sneak attacks.

Soon, the group reached near a valley flanked by two shattered peaks and encountered a horde of red-horned deer. They silently sneaked a few glances at the magical beasts while hiding behind a tree trunk.

These deer were just a little larger than regular deer, with solid black hooves and rippling with muscles and overwhelming strength. Also, their hide was extremely tough and acted as a natural defense.

"These beasts attack any being that intrudes their lands. Should we go around or fight them?" Peter said as he looked at the group.

They needed to pass by this valley river to enter the boundary of the central region. But that would mean fighting hordes of red-horned deer. However, they could evade the battle by taking a different route.

"What should we do?" Yato said as he looked at Shadow.

"Taking a detour will waste a lot of time. Besides, it might not be safe at all. There is a chance to encounter dungeon creatures everywhere here, so it would be better if we charge straight through the hordes of deers and cross this valley," Shadow said after a moment of thoughtful consideration.

"All right! It's going to be pretty easy, as long as we bombard them with powerful magic," Whittaker said as they came out of their hiding spot and charged towards the deers.

The beasts inhabiting this valley were not strong. The best among them only had a power level of around 2. While most of them ranged between the poser level of one to two. It's just that there were too many of them. But mages were experts at fighting against a lot of enemies and winning on top of that.

A few to several magical beasts inevitably succumbed to death each time they utilized elemental magic. Causing their points to rack up extremely quickly. There was simply no resistance from the magical beasts. Only a few of them could hardly get closer to the party, but Shadow would kill them with a casual thrust of his dagger. He wasn't even trying yet the deers with tough hides were sliced in two like a hot knife passing through butter.

Shadow managed to land a few killing blows but his kill count was the lowest of them all, he needed to get closer to a beast to kill them, after all, but he was not worried as his main goal was to clear the dungeon.

Whittaker's mind drifted off as he saw the monsters collapsing one by one. He recalled the time he went hunting with Shadow. That was the first time he ever hunted and that too in a group.

"Hunting magical beasts in a group sure is fun and easy. I am not feeling burdened at all, and it's because they got my back." Whittaker thought.

He mostly hunted alone, and this was the first time that he hunted together with a five-member party.

On the way, he had truly understood strength lied in numbers. The herds of magical beasts couldn't block their path as they were reduced to dust in the face of a rain of fireballs and killed by magical arrows and frost spikes possessing devastating might. 

"It would have been such a waste if we would have taken a detour."

[You've Gained +4 points]

[You've Gained +9 points]

[You've Gained +7 points›

These notifications resounded in their IDs as various kinds of elemental magic effortlessly killed borders after hordes of magical beasts.

The party swept through the hordes of magical beasts and reached near the other end of the valley.

"This was so easy and fun," Peter exclaimed as his spellbook spewed out a greater fireball. After a split second, it bursts up and a violent gust of fiery wind blasted outward, killing a lot of magical deers that were unlucky enough to be in the range of the blast. 

"Yeah. Best of all, we have crossed the green zones and reached the central region," Shadow said.

The group had marched for more than half an hour before they reached the opposite end of the valley from where they started.

"A party with four mages is nothing to laugh about! Our damage output and the potential to win against a large group of enemies far exceed others," Whittaker said as they stepped out of the valley and appeared in front of a mountain. Left behind were the burned, chopped, and badly mangled corpses of red-horned deers.

The journey here had taken a short time. Nearly an hour. They were continuously on the move, after all, as their spellbooks did all of the work for them. They just needed to chat the name of the magic they wanted to utilize and the rest was done by the spellbooks.

"You guys feeling tired?"

"Not really."

"Good! The sun is still up in the skies. It's best if we climb up the mountain before it gets dark. We'll set up a tent once it's dark. Is it okay with you guys?"

"Yeah, sure, let's move on!"

Shadow decided to cover two-third of the red zones before setting a tent to take a rest.