"Kelly, can you locate the source of the illusion? Beasts who are good at illusionary magic aren't strong in combat -- if we find it, we can kill it with ease," Kerry asked, holding Kelly's hand gingerly.
Kelly was emotionlessly as she nodded, but her heart was filled with disgust. Kerry had the intention of abandoning her as soon as danger crept behind them.
"I'll try."
The pendant hanging on her neck had a purifying effect, which can break low-level illusions. It can also detect nearby spells.
"Found it."
Kelly pointed towards a tree, and all three of them crept towards the tree.
The devil panicked -- the illusion was at its limit. Adam's order was to not let anything get close to him, so that must mean these three humans as well.
The devil can't trust these humans to not disturb his master as well.
"I'll try again!" This time, the devil conjured a grand illusion of fire, raining down upon the three apprentices.
Kerry wanted to run again, but forcibly stopped himself. He placed his hands on a tree, and the tree shielded them from the illusion of fire.
Kelly's eyes lit up as she saw something moving through the trees, "Over there!"
The third apprentice shot a wind blade out immediately.
The devil hurriedly dodged to the side, wanting to escape back to Adam. However, remembering Adam's command, the devil hid behind a tree and transformed themselves into Adam.
"Stop, it's me," the devil said, imitating Adam's indifferent tone.
The apprentices were stunned. They didn't expect to meet Adam here. Did he cast the illusions?
Kerry said in surprise, "Adam? Why did you attack us?"
The devil shook behind their disguise, but "Adam's" face remained calm, "It's a warning. Leave immediately, or next time, it won't be an illusion anymore."
Kerry gulped and turned back to the group, "We should leave."
Kelly was suspicious, however. Even though the person in front of them looked like Adam, there wasn't any magic radiating off of him. She imbued magic into her pendant, and her eyes glowed bright blue.
"It's not Adam," she whispered.
The devil didn't know that they had been exposed, and threatened, "Leave, or perish."
Kelly took out a potion from her pocket and crushed it. Strange red mist wafted towards the devil.
"Get him! It's not Adam!"
The devil screamed and darted back to Adam. The red mist burnt everything in its path, and the devil didn't dare to provoke them anymore.
"Master, I'm sorry! They weren't fooled, I'm powerless!" the devil spoke frantically, hiding behind Adam.
Thirty minutes have passed since then. Adam had already recovered more than half of his mana -- he needs some more time to cast a spell great enough to attract the mages' attention.
"They? Are they apprentices?"
Adam knew that the devil wouldn't buy him much time, but at least they were useful as a scout.
"Three of them! Three!" the devil replied, then rushed back into Adam's mind.
At this moment, the bushes behind the clearing parted, and three of them rushed out. "I found him!"
"Not now," Adam frowned. He conjured the weakest fireball he could, aiming towards a random tree.
Adam's intention was to just dissuade them from bothering him, but he didn't know that his devil had used his body to trick them. Kerry chuckled, and ran towards the fireball, "You really thought that the same trick would work on u-"
Kelly's eyes widened, "Kerry, no!"
It was too late. Kerry was singed and burned into a pile of ash.
"You..." Adam was stunned. He didn't expect someone to be that stupid to run into a fireball. He wasn't even aiming remotely close to them.
Kelly's face darkened, but she stopped the third apprentice from killing Adam, "Are you... Adam?"
Adam wasn't in the mood to talk, "Leave. I'm serious, or you will surely die. Not by my hands."
Kelly sneered, pointing to the ash formerly known as Kerry, "Hah! Not by your hands? But you killed Kerry with your own hands! That little... thing was you too? Right? Who knew that the great apprentice Adam would stoop this low to take out his competition?"
Adam frowned, feeling that Peter was getting closer. He got up to leave, but Kelly flung a potion towards him.
"No! Don't leave! You killed someone, and you must pay for it!"
Adam turned around, blasting the potion away with a gust of wind, "Don't challenge me. Run while you can."
The third apprentice couldn't hold back his anger and rushed towards Adam; his muscles surged, turning into a giant man over two metres tall, "How dare you! Don't leave!"
However, before he could touch Adam, an invisible force crushed him to the ground. His muscles split inch by inch, and his guts burst out as he was crushed further and further into the ground. Blood splattered on Kelly and Adam. Kelly screamed as she felt another invisible force press on her, but her pendant shattered, shielding her with blue energy.
"Damn it," Adam cursed.
Peter descended upon them and hovered over the corpse of the third apprentice, "Not bad, you are the only apprentice I have seen come up with a teleportation spell on the god. However, you're cornered now."
Kelly was truly petrified. She knew that she was absolutely no match against this strange man. The blue barrier crumbled under Peter's great magic, and Peter could see her.
"You... who are you?"
Peter stared at Kelly and grinned maniacally. With a single tap, the barrier shattered, as if it didn't exist in the first place.
"No! No! Let me go! Don't kill me!" Kelly begged.
Peter grabbed Kelly's chin and smirked, "What a young soul; innocent, full of energy, and..." Kelly's eyes rolled to the back of her head, and Peter snatched her soul and devoured it. "...delicious."
Peter gently hovered over the pile of ash and gore and devoured the two other souls, chuckling, "How unlucky, isn't it? You teleported right in the middle of the trial ground. How about... a game of cat and mouse?"
Adam glared at him, and teleported away without hesitation.
Peter was speechless, "Cunning mouse."
...
Adam was spat out in the forest again, his injuries worsened, his mana consumed.
He got up and started to run. Staying in place to recover was stupid of him.
Adam's temples were throbbing, and he could feel Peter staring at him from far away.
He flew past a team of apprentices subduing a huge beast, and Adam slightly flew to the side to avoid them. He could only hope that the antimage would not see them.
The apprentices saw a figure fly past them, and one of them asked, "What is that?"
"Don't be distracted, Dawn. Do you want to kill everyone?" someone cursed.
After more than ten minutes, they finally brought the beast down. Everyone glared at Dawn, "Dawn, you almost had us all killed! If there is a next time, leave our team."
The apprentice named Dawn bowed his head in shame, but pointed behind them, "What is that...?"