Tai Empire's Military Camp near Thunderbolt City.
The soldiers that were on duty quickly opened the wooden gate and welcomed the returning patrol team. The patrol team had a large cart full of goods that were covered in blankets, and a few domestic livestock.
One of the soldiers went up to the patrol team's leader, and excitedly asked, "Brother! What did you bring us this time?"
The patrol leader laughed and uncovered the large blanket that was covering the cart full of goods, "Ha-ha, this should last us for a couple of months!"
The cart was full of meat, fruit, wheat, along with other expensive household items. The patrol leader then said to the soldier, "You won't believe how much fun we had with those countryside beauties, you should come with us next time."
"It was truly amusing! That girl even tried to kill me with my sword, ha-ha!" Said a soldier of the patrol team.
"Right! That girl's father even begged on his knees to let his daughter go, but I just slit his throat!" Another soldier casually shouted as if it was nothing.
"We even confiscated all of their money and live stocks." Said one of the soldiers who was jogging a bag full of coins in his hand.
The soldier who first greeted the patrol team worriedly asked, "But brother, wouldn't we get into trouble with Thunderbolt City if we keep this up?"
The patrol leader laughed out again and replied, "Nah... I heard that they are still busy hunting down some powerful beasts. Plus, the Tai Emperor is under the protection of the Song-Min Continent, there is nothing to worry about."
-Bang!... Bang!...
Two explosions suddenly appeared over their head and followed by a violent gust of wind that came out of appeared out of nowhere.
The soldiers not knowing what just hit them tried their best to stay conscious and hold onto something to prevent them from getting launched by the wind.
All of the tents were blown away, including all of the equipment and armors that were in it. They violently flow with the tide of the wind, bashing against each other and slamming into everything that was in its way, the soldiers were no exception to its regime.
After a few seconds, the wind finally started to die down, and the items that were flying around in the air eventually came to a stop.
All of the soldiers laid on the ground, exhausted and injured. Although there were no casualties, several of them were heavily injured, some even had their limbs cut off from the explosions, most of them were part of the patrol team that came back.
The healers tried to tending the wound of the soldiers, but they themselves were also heavily injured. Plus they were just B-Class healers, healing decapitated limbs are just out of their league.
The soldiers cried out in pain and trying to understand what just hit them.
"Ahhh, my legs!... I can't feel my legs!"
"What happened!"
"Where did that wind came from?!"
"Are we under attack?"
"Soldiers of the Tai Empire!" A loud middle-aged man's voice suddenly echoed from the sky.
The injured soldiers looked up in the sky and saw a man dressed in a white cloak with a golden mask that covered half of his upper face. The man was hovering in the air with both of his hands behind his back. The man emitted a scary and dominating aura that of an SSS-Class.
The solders shudder upon detecting the aura; they felt numb and defenseless. None of them even tried to draw out their weapons, either its, because they don't want to provoke the ire of that man or they know that it would be useless, if the man wanted them dead then none of them would be able to live to see the next day.
'Who is he?'
'Why is an SSS-Class mage attacking our camp?!'
'Is the Tai Empire under war?'
Many thoughts ran through the heads of the soldiers, but then the man spoke again with an intimidating tone, "Listen up! All soldiers of the Tai Empire must vacate this region and never return!"
"The Tai Empire must deliver 100 A-Class Elemental Coins to Thunder Valley by tomorrow as compensation to the damages done to this region!"
"Failure to satisfies my demands will result in the demise of the Tai Empire!... I don't think I need to remind you of what happened to one of your commanders!"
The soldiers were all shocked, everyone previously thought that the commander was murdered by a bunch of powerful elemental beasts, but now a powerful mage had publically confessed that he was the one behind the gruesome death of their commander.
The man after he finishes announcing his demand, flew away into the distance before eventually disappearing into the horizon.
The soldiers who were still able to walk quickly left the camp and made their journey back to the Tai Empire.
News of the incident quickly spread throughout the land as many locals who were near the camp had heard of the explosions and the demand of the unidentified mage.
Since such a large scale incident happened near Thunderbolt City, the high elders personally visited what remained of a military camp belonging to the Tai Empire.
The high elders wanted to fully investigate the incident and the unidentified mage, if what the rumor was true about an appearance of an SSS-Class mage, then Thunderbolt City could get into trouble if conflict ever breaks out. They are afraid that the powerful mage may hold a grudge toward the academy for their negligence of the incident regarding the local villagers and the Tai Empire.