“Found some test subjects,” Hazel said with a daring smile.

  Through the vision of one of her Astral Eyes, Hazel spotted a small group of monsters nearby. Judging from their green skin, hulking figures, and tribal wear, she deduced that these monsters were Orcs. Her guess was soon proven correct when she tried to identify one of them, confirming their identity.

  Once her prey was spotted, Hazel switched her vision back to the Astral Eye that served as her sight when she moved around, bringing her back to the roof of a building she was on. Next to her, Nycteris calmly sat down, patiently waiting until his master was done with her search.

  “Alright, then, Nycteris,” Hazel called out her familiar as she began to slightly float above the surface, clearly enveloping her Telekinesis around herself. “Let’s go and have some fun, shall we?”

  The Nightwing bat snorted with glee before taking to the skies. Hazel followed along and soon guided her familiar toward their prey. While in the air, Nycteris let out a loud and powerful screech that echoed across the city, likely alerting any nearby monsters. Thankfully, Hazel wasn’t planning to deal with her enemies quietly. Not with what she had planned for them.

  Flying above the streets of Portland, somewhere on the outskirts of Highland, Hazel and her familiar sped toward their targets a little way ahead of them. Down below, she caught glimpses of desolate and destroyed streets, the same as everything else in Portland.

  Her brows creased slightly at the sight as she expressed her displeasure at the current state of what was once her hometown. Despite being able to wield unimaginable power that she always wished to possess, a part of her wondered if having her magic was worth all this...destruction. Highlands used to be a nice neighborhood that she would frequent when she got the chance. In fact, a couple of her friends actually lived in Highlands, so seeing everything made her heart feel heavier than usual.

  Still, although her world was in chaos, there wasn’t much she could do about it right now. Even with her magic abilities, she couldn’t bring her world back to the way it was. The damage had already been done, and there was nothing she could do to change that.

  All she was able to do now...was survive and get stronger. That was all that mattered at the moment. If she didn’t get strong enough, then she wouldn’t live long enough to fret over such thoughts. As callous as it sounded, Hazel couldn’t afford to worry over the lives of others or the state of her hometown. Not when her own life, along with the lives of those close to her, were her top priority.

  “There’s nothing I can do right now...” She mumbled as if trying to convince herself.

  “Master...?” Nycteris turned to Hazel, looking confused and worried by her behavior.

  Noticing his gaze, Hazel put up a warm and confident smile, doing her best not to worry her familiar. “It’s nothing, Nycteris. I was just talking to myself, that’s all.”

  Although the Nightwing Bat wasn’t convinced by her words, he said nothing in response. Even if he wanted to say something, it would be pointless if Hazel didn’t truly listen due to her current behavior.

  Putting that aside for now, it didn’t take long before the duo made it to their destination. Just below them were their targets, currently wandering the streets of Highlands. There were around five or so Orcs, all of them grouped together as they walked down one of the desolate streets of the ruined neighborhood.

  Hazel and Nycteris remained in the air, observing them from above. According to their stats, when she first identified them, these Orcs were barely past Level 10. Which made them perfect test subjects for her Telekinetic Combat.

  “Alright, Nycteris, here’s the plan. You deal with two or three of the Orcs while I deal with the rest, alright?”

  “Under...stood!”

  Stolen story; please report.

  Nycteris was the first to make his move as he dove down and blitzed toward the Orcs below them. Either hearing his flapping wings or some other noise that caught their attention, the Orcs were quickly alerted to his presence. All five monsters turned around to look up at the Nightwing Bat barreling toward them like a missile.

  “Inco-!” Before one of the Orcs could finish his sentence, Nycteris tackled him to the ground, dragging his body across the concrete street.

  A couple of the Orcs bore witness to this before rushing toward their brethren that was targeted by Nycteris. As for the other two Orcs, their gaze was fixed on the other flying figure above them; Hazel.

  An Orc with long black hair tied into a ponytail pointed its weapon, a large battleaxe, at Hazel. “You there! Come and face us, human!”

  Hazel smiled in response as if anticipating his statement. “You got it~”

  She then willed Telekinesis to have her descend in front of the Orcs that challenged her. Her feet gracefully landed on the ground, like an angel taking her first step on Earth. Once she was on ground level, her eyes locked onto the two Orcs before her.

  “Alright then, I’m here,” Hazel told them with a wicked smile as if taunting them. “Will you make the first move, or should I?”

  The Orc with the ponytail growled, raising his battleaxe in anger. “You will die, magician!”

  He let out a loud battle cry, then charged toward Hazel with the intent to kill her. The Orc closed the distance in an instant, getting up and personal. He raised his weapon over her head and then swung down with all of his might.

  Just before the axe could hit its target, Hazel took action and swiftly avoided his attack, moving several feet away from the Orc. His weapon struck the ground, leaving a decent-sized crater in the concrete. The monster then looked over at Hazel, now realizing that she was no longer in the spot where he had attacked.

  “Y-you don’t move like a magician...!” The Orc stuttered, slightly alarmed by Hazel’s unprecedented action.

  “You say that like it's a bad thing,” She teased, still maintaining her wicked grin.

  It seemed her Telekinetic mobility worked just as she expected. She could tell that her movements were a lot swifter and more fluid after dodging that Orc’s attack just now. It reminded her of when she fought the Fractured Orcs in her Tutorial Dungeon.

  Back then, she was on her own and had to fight as both a vanguard and a rearguard. It wasn’t easy avoiding those Fractured Orcs attacks. She barely even managed to survive, but was able to kill all of them as a result.

  Compared to before, her movements were exponentially better. She wasn’t able to move around like that. Especially against Orcs of all things.

  “How about this?!”

  The other Orc appeared behind Hazel, swinging his weapon, a bloodied broadsword, toward her neck. A split second later, Hazel blurred forward, narrowly dodging the blade. Seeing her absurd speed, the Orc’s face contorted in confusion.

  “J-just what in the world...!”

  “Don’t ask me,” Hazel shrugged.

  She then closed the distance between herself and the Orc with the sword, placing her palm on his torso. The Orc was surprised and attempted to back away, but it was already too late. A bright blue light erupted from Hazel’s palm as she cast a Mana Bolt spell, shooting it through her opponent.

  The Orc groaned, stumbling back while revealing the gaping hole in his stomach, blood and intestines spilling out, and landing on the ground with a wet and disturbing splat. Hazel then watched the green-skinned monster collapse on the spot. She was soon informed that he had died thanks to the Kill Notification making its appearance right after he fell.

  “Die, witch!” The first Orc roared, bringing its battleaxe down on Hazel.

  Much like before, she swiftly shifted her body to the side, avoiding the axe and watching it clash against the ground, leaving a decent-sized crater in its wake. The Orc wasn’t done, though, and pulled his weapon out before attempting to strike Hazel once more.

  Using her Telekinetic Mobility, she effortlessly evaded his swings, taking note of how much she was manipulating her body through her spell as she moved. There were a couple of times when she put too much force against her body, causing her to nearly lose her balance and collapse from the sudden energy pushing her on.

  Despite that slight issue, Hazel was doing well in dodging the Orc’s attacks. So much so that her opponent was growing frustrated.

  “You slippery bitch! Are you even a magician?!”

  “I don’t know. You tell me!”

  Taking a big step back, Hazel put some distance between herself and the Orc. The green-skinned monster was confused, keeping his guard up along with his weapon, prepared for anything she might spring on him.

  Sadly, what Hazel had in store for him wasn’t something he could defend against. Raising both hands, the witch then conjured all five cursed spears, aiming them directly at the Orc. The monster panicked as he stared wide-eyed at the floating, malicious, purple spears that levitated around the witch.

  “Let’s see how many you can endure before dying!”

  Making her declaration, Hazel proceeded to hurl her cursed spears at the Orc one at a time, seeing how many he could take on before she killed him. It was a sight that not many could even attempt to watch out of pity for the poor Orc that was being tortured by the wicked witch, who suddenly attacked them.