Two months after the group had finished selecting its members...",

Vicente and his seven companions now stood in front of a group of 6th stage monsters, while the surroundings of the area they were in were destroyed, with blood and body parts scattered here and there.

As Ayden, Paul, and Jacob stood next to Vicente, this young man had displayed his large Throne of Darkness, which formed a large dome-shaped shadow over the area they were in.

In front of Vicente was a 6th stage Lamia, her neck covered by a mound of darkness in the young man's hands, while on the outskirts the Leshy, the hippogryph and the Phoenix had just finished killing the other enemies they had identified today.

Not surprisingly, Vicente's name and magical forms were already known as far north as the continent!

Having been identified when Vicente had used one of his powers earlier, they hurried, with the group's magical creatures moving alongside him and Victor, to neutralize the witnesses in the area.

Ayden, Jacob, and Paul barely reacted as their five companions overwhelmed the situation, killing nearly all the nearby enemies.

Vicente looked into the eyes of the completely subdued Lamia before him and said. "I managed to intercept the information leak."

"Is that one of your special skills?" Victor retracted his spiritual warrior-type magical form as he walked back toward the group.

Behind him was the body of a giant worm, cut into four pieces. This man had single-handedly eliminated a creature of Intermediate Archmage cultivation!

"Hmm, I can intercept communications within a certain distance from me. But we need some monsters to come to our location to check out the sudden change in the elemental configuration nearby. We have to move." Vicente said, figuring they'd have a minute at most before more trouble would come.

The group's Leshy made his roots in the area disappear before pointing out where they should go. "The path ahead is free of monsters. If we follow it, we'll reach the Valley of Lightning faster."

As a being of great sensory ability, Elmo was very good at avoiding problems and determining the best route to take. He was not omniscient, so the group was not invulnerable. But at a moment's notice, his senses could help the group complete their journey.

As soon as they left the corpses behind, they quickly left the area, having already withdrawn their powers before hiding again with Vicente's help and their own abilities.

After they left, powerful monsters arrived in the destroyed area, full of signs of what had happened there. But with no magical traces behind them and no sign of enemies, these monsters would have to slowly investigate the place to get a better idea of what had happened and how to go after those responsible.

Vicente and his group were already far away, running toward the Valley of Lightning, where they believed they would find good 6th-stage beasts for Ayden, Paul, and Jacob to hunt.

As much as they were Beginner Archmages, they had a lot of work to do. With only 5 pentagrams, their powers were more like a Paragon with the Archmage's mana than a true Archmage.

However, no one in the group underestimated them. Once they had their last pentagrams, each of them would be powerful enough to fight even superior 5th stage vampires.

They set out on their hunt!

...

On the eighth day after the previous situation, which was the group's first confrontation in the northern region, they arrived at the entrance of the Valley of Lightning.

As soon as they reached this place, Elmo signaled for the group to stop moving when he sensed something.

"There's an essence formed by natural phenomena and with an elemental affinity to Vicente close to here!" The Leshy said in an interested tone, sensing this rare encounter.

Vicente frowned, not expecting to find another naturally formed pentagram in this region. "If that's true, this is the second such pentagram I've found in less than five years. Is it normal for this to happen?"

The humans in the group had basically the same doubt when Bonfi replied. "A naturally formed pentagram is an essence condensed by chance.

Such essences are formed after extreme phenomena, usually in areas with a high density of the elements that will form it, where the mana pressure is strong.

It is unusual for an area to produce several pentagrams in a short period, but it is not unusual for the same area to produce pentagrams over time.

The Valley of Lightning, for example, is rich. So the conditions for this to happen are almost always there. All it would take is for something to happen and the process of pentagram formation would begin."

The Leshy agreed and added to the Phoenix's words. "Some of my ancestors believed the world had a will of its own. They didn't see it in the sense that there was a consciousness behind the world, but that the imbalance created forces that were opposed to the imbalance.

I don't doubt at all that the next generation of magicians will be the strongest in the continent's history because of the attitude of the vampires. To counterbalance what they are doing, nature will favor those who oppose them.

The emergence of natural pentagrams could intensify in the coming years because of the large amount of losses on the continent."

"That makes sense," Qiang said, his voice thoughtful. "The Lord of Darkness appearing on the continent is unprecedented in the known history of the Polaris Realm."

Victor glanced at Vicente, pondering the hippogriff's words. It was truenever had a magician with such a pure elemental affinity for darkness emerged in these lands.

Vicente's birth marked a significant turning point, coming at a time when the magicians of the Dark Path were recovering from a devastating massacre led by the Congregation of Revelations.

"If that's the case," Vicente said as he moved closer to the essence Elmo had pointed out, "then someone with a similar talent, but for the Light Path, might soon appear on the continent."

"Probably... But it's not that simple. You took 2,000 years to appear, so we can't wait for this being to fight the monsters on our side." Elmo said as he imagined his ancestors were right and it wouldn't be as difficult as they thought to find the pentagrams Vicente needed.