[Bonus Chapter! Thank you Echelon_5 for gifting the dragon to the story <3]

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Beads of sweat formed on his forehead as he glanced at the hole where a Mana dagger was vanishing.

Shing! Shing!

Before he could stabilize his footing, two more daggers flew toward him at breakneck speed.

Whoosh!

Mana surged out of him and converged below his feet before he shot to the side like a bullet, dodging the Mana daggers once again.

Just as he was preparing to dodge the following attacks, the attacks paused before a peal of arrogant laughter rang out in the air.

"Hahaha! I didn't expect elves' high and mighty honoured guest to run around like a witless mouse. Why aren't you pretending to be calm now? Hahaha!"

"Hm?" Max, Belen and Leticia turned around and looked up to witness a large black-winged hawk with glittering red eyes slowly descending to the ground.

Three people stood on it. Two were old men, while the other one was younger, who seemed to be in his early thirties. His expression was the epitome of arrogance as he looked down at Max as if he was looking at some disgusting worm.

Although his disdainful expression immediately incensed Max, he was more surprised right now because he recognised the trio, especially the leader.

He was the guy who came with miss Janice and competed against him for the beauty pill. Belen and Leticia also remembered him immediately because he was too arrogant and left quite an impression on them.

However, they couldn't understand why these people were suddenly attacking them now. Were they here because of the beauty pill?

Seeing their expression, Jack laughed darkly, "So, it seems you guys remember me. Good. Good. So, you should also know why I'm going to kill you, right?"

Max furrowed his brows. He hadn't thought this guy would try to kill him just because he competed against him to buy the beauty pill.

Suddenly, he realized something which he already knew but hadn't experienced before.

'So, this is what they mean by 'as long as one is strong, one can do anything.' He sighed.

Belen and Leticia struggled free from his hands and stood beside him. Leticia pointed her finger at Jack and mocked, "You want to kill us just because we bought that pill. How petty?"

She was furious right now. How could he want to kill them just because of a pill? Were human lives worth less than a pill in these people's eyes?

However, what she didn't know was that Jack wasn't here just because of the pill, but because he hated Max to the guts and wanted nothing more than to kill him.

However, why? Just because Max competed against him in the auction? Because Janice was romantically attracted to him and he felt jealous or because of the humiliation he suffered in the beauty pill shop?

If one thought clearly, Max did nothing wrong in any of these situations.

Auctions were there for everyone to compete against each other. In Janice's case, he did nothing. It was Janice who approached him. As for the humiliation in the pill shop, it was something he asked for himself. Moreover, throughout the entire exchange, Max didn't do or say anything that might earn his animosity.

However, because of his petty and inferior personality, he blamed all this on Max and formed a death grudge.

"Haha! Because of the pill? You can say that. However, don't worry young lady. I'll only kill him for now. You pretty girls are still of some use to me and my men. Hahaha!" Jack laughed recklessly.

A moment later, he stopped laughing and coldly barked, "Kill him, elders!"

The two old men nodded and immediately cast their respective spells.

A dozen Mana daggers, knives, arrows appeared in front of the thin old man while the other old man conjured thick Mana chains and flailed around him like agile snakes.

Although these two old men didn't have any awakened element, which was quite a relief for Max, as mid-stage three-star mages, they were still many times stronger than him.

Max felt a life-threatening danger and his expression turned grim. Wasting no time, he shoved two defensive talismans each in Belen's and Leticia's hands and ordered, "Use these to defend yourselves well. If you can, don't let this crazed guy join when they attack me."

Seeing that Max was acting calm, Leticia felt relieved.

However, the same wasn't the case for Belen.

Although she was only slightly stronger than Leticia, she was quite experienced and could discern that these two old men were most likely three-star mages and Max couldn't be able to handle them. He was only acting calm because he didn't want them to panic.

Belen worried about his safety. Although he had killed a three-star mage previously, that guy had barely broken through and his cultivation hadn't stabilized yet. Even then, Max almost crippled himself to conjure enough power to kill him.

However, the current situation was entirely different from before. These two old men were experienced three-star mages and they might be above the early-stage three-star realm, making them even more hard to deal with.

So, even if Max used the power which was beyond the limits of his body like last time, there weren't many chances of him killing them.

However, despite knowing all this, Belen could do nothing but wish him good luck since fighting a three-star mage was beyond her limits and even if she tried, she would only lower Max's already low chances of winning against them since he would have to worry about her while fighting.

Thinking this, after she told him to be careful, she grabbed Leticia's hand dashed in another direction.

Her actions surprised Leticia, who immediately grew angry and shouted, "Belen, what the hell are you doing? Why are you running away? We can't leave Max to fight those people alone."

She tried to struggle free, but Belen used her vines to restrain her as she continued running. No matter how hard Leticia tried, she couldn't break free from the vines with her physical strength.

"BELEN! Stop this instant. If you want to escape, go alone. I'm not leaving him behind, even if I have to die here." She shouted and her eyes went red. Mana burst out of her that turned into wind blades, ready to cut the vines into pieces.

Seeing this, Belen sighed and coldly said, "If you go, you'll only be a burden on him. Those two old men are three-star mages. There is nothing we can do with our current strength if we stay. Moreover, Max will have to divert his attention to protect us and that would be fatal, you know this. So, the least we can do is stay away from him and not be a burden."

Hearing that their opponents were three-star mages, Leticia's felt chills run down her spine and face went pale. How was Max supposed to fight two three-star mages alone?

The only thought in her mind was to go back and help him however much she could. But as she heard Belen's analysis, she realized she would indeed only be a burden on him. Maybe if he didn't have to worry about them, he could escape. As she realized this, she stopped struggling.

*****

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