An Elder One floated in the air, spewing out the same ominous fog I’d encountered earlier.
That dangerous-looking black fog which made Ordine panic just moments ago.
Whoosh—
Just in case, I tried blasting wind at the fog billowing downwards, but as expected, it didn’t budge an inch.
‘Hmm… This confirms something.’
I’d sensed this during my fight with Landgar before—black magic can’t be countered with regular magic.
More specifically, it can’t be countered with mana used in conventional ways.
This is one of the reasons why people are completely helpless against black magic.
Even the simplest black magic spells are impossible to counter with the everyday spells people use.
Even Yuria, who has been researching black magic for a while, hasn’t yet found a proper way to deal with it.
Whoosh—
Instead of firing wind at the descending fog, I opened up a void around myself.
The quickly spreading fog was rapidly sucked into the void, disappearing as if absorbed.
Screech—
Just as the fog was rolling towards me from the front, a lightning-fast attack came from behind.
Just like the technique Landgar used before, the black mana twisted into sharp, thorny shapes, slicing towards me.
Whoosh—
The fog distracting me while the real attack came from behind.
But it wasn’t going to work on me.
After all, I was surrounded by a barrier that was far more effective than the Elder One’s.
The black thorns were sucked into the void just like the fog, and immediately, the Elder One quickly distanced himself, seemingly predicting my jump towards him.
‘Smart guy.’
I knew from the start when he immediately disappeared upon our first meeting.
Unlike Landgar, this Elder One was quite perceptive.
Judging from his actions, he seemed to manipulate black magic much better than Landgar.
While Landgar’s attacks felt like brute mana without proper form, this Elder One was clearly casting spells with structure.
Especially that fog spell—it was particularly tricky.
While sending it to the void worked fine, I couldn’t keep it up all day.
Even though basic space manipulation is something I could do with my eyes closed, other techniques required focus.
No matter how effortless it may look to others, in reality, it’s not easy at all.
It consumes a considerable amount of concentration and overusing it leaves me mentally exhausted.
“Where’d you go now?”
Looking around, there was no sign of him.
This place was clearly favorable to the Elder One.
After his appearance, he must have erected a new barrier, because it had become much harder to sense him.
Initially, the area around the wooden house felt hazy, but now the entire surrounding was engulfed in an eerie mist.
He must’ve done something tricky.
‘Ugh, what a pain.’
I had absolutely no intention of spending too much time fighting with this Elder One.
I just wanted to quickly deal with him, rescue Elaine, and leave.
Besides, it wasn’t good to let the O’Neil Kingdom’s army see too much of me.
Screech—BOOM—
As I was contemplating, attacks suddenly rained down from an unexpected direction.
It was the same black thorns I had deflected earlier.
The thorn struck the ground several meters away from me and produced a thunderous sound, indicating the impressive force behind it despite its small appearance.
‘But why over there…’
Screech—Screech—KA-BOOM!
The black thorns kept coming towards me in quick succession.
I had no idea where they were being fired from, but they were gradually improving in accuracy.
Initially, they would strike five meters away from me, but now they were getting as close as three.
Screech—Whoosh—
And finally, one of the attacks came within range.
Instead of hitting the ground, it grazed my spatial barrier and got sucked into the void.
Afterwards, the attacks paused.
After the series of puzzling attacks, the Elder One finally revealed himself.
This time, rather than floating, he stood firmly on the ground in front of me.
“So, where’s the student?”
“Judging from the diameter, it’s about two meters, surrounding you in a spherical shape, right?”
“…Huh?”
“Whatever the mechanism, you’re using ‘space,’ aren’t you? Right?”
The Elder One prattled on like an excited kid.
Apparently, the earlier attacks were to determine the range of my defenses.
He had quite accurately gauged my abilities through a few attacks—a far cry from how Landgar blindly relied on his own strength.
“Stop dodging. Where’s the student?”
“…Hmm, where could she be?”
PEOW—
“Hey! You!”
The Elder One disappeared right in front of my eyes with a whooshing sound.
No matter how agitated I got, I had no way of tracking where he had gone.
Meanwhile, enormous mana began to resonate around me.
RUMBLE—
The ground shook as colossal walls began to rise around me.
Towering walls formed by swirling black mana.
“Ah, what a hassle.”
The quickly rising walls tried encasing me, but I had no intention of being confined so easily and wanted to avoid playing right into his plan.
Whoosh—
“Let me just find Elaine.”
I decided to wrap things up quickly.
Recalling the wooden house from earlier, I took a step forward.
The moment my feet lifted off the ground and touched it again, I was already outside the black walls.
Ignoring the massive mana presence behind me, I rushed to open the door of the wooden house.
This place was probably the most likely spot for Elaine to be.
SNICK—
“Hmph.”
Unfortunately, life isn’t that simple.
Had Elaine been inside as soon as I opened the door, things would’ve been great, but there was no one there.
“Escaping from that place? What the—”
WHOOSH—
At the sound from behind, I reflexively swung my sword widely and turned around.
There stood the Elder One, still cloaked in his robes.
Interrupting his mid-sentence, he dodged my blade.
“Looks like I’ll have to deal with you first.”
CRACKLE—
“Grrk.”
One layer of the barrier surrounding the Elder One shattered under my spatial technique.
I was initially planning to bypass him and go for Elaine, but that was a bad judgment.
It wasn’t about ignoring him as much as making him spill the beans on Elaine’s whereabouts first.
“Shall we go then?”
While saying that, the Elder One charged at me quickly, preventing any escape through spatial movement.
*
‘Either a spell that absorbs energy or a space-related spell.’
Killbis formed a hypothesis while observing the way the Black Shadow Guild Leader absorbed his attacks.
Judging by how the blade had pierced through earlier without breaking the barrier, it wasn’t an energy-absorbing technique. If so, the barrier wouldn’t still be standing after that attack.
Thus, it was more likely to be space-related magic, given the Guild Leader’s proficiency in such spells.
‘Opening a space portal and transporting incoming attacks to a different dimension, perhaps?’
Killbis quietly analyzed the situation while remaining out of sight.
If this hypothesis was correct, it posed a considerable problem.
Anyone who could manipulate space to that degree would make it extremely difficult to land an attack.
Screech—Whoosh—
‘Defense range approximately two meters around the subject.’
Killbis intentionally launched attacks that would miss to determine his opponent’s defensive perimeter.
The range where the opponent felt threatened spanned roughly two meters around them.
If an attack fell within that range, the Guild Leader would absorb it.
‘So, let’s see if I can break free from this constraint.’
RUMBLE—
Killbis hastily conjured up a wall made from black magic that regular mana couldn’t overcome.
The towering wall that sprouted from the ground in the blink of an eye encircled the Guild Leader but failed to confine them.
The Guild Leader nonchalantly phased through the wall and teleported to the wooden house.
That confirmed it.
The Guild Leader’s technique didn’t rely on regular mana—it was another new technology countering black magic.
“Escaping from that place? What the—”
WHOOSH—
While Killbis expressed his astonishment and admiration in a voice tinged with surprise, the Guild Leader quickly swung their sword.
The speed was incomprehensible, and the range was impossible to predict.
Even Killbis, with considerable experience in close combat as a wizard, had never faced an attack that closed five meters of distance in an instant.
WHOOSH—Rustle—
‘Uh-oh.’
The black blade smoothly pierced through several layers of barriers and tore into his clothes.
Had it been slightly slower, it might have cut flesh instead.
‘I need to evade…’
WHOOSH—Crackle—
“Ugh!”
Trying to disguise himself like before, Killbis failed.
The Guild Leader relentlessly pressed the attack, not allowing even a fraction of a second to escape.
‘What is this…?’
Killbis couldn’t help but panic.
It was a feeling reminiscent of his first encounter with black magic.
There was simply no way to block the Guild Leader’s blade.
He attempted to push it back with numerous black magic spells he knew, but every single one was penetrated as the blade continued towards him.
WHOOSH—Rustle—
“Ack!”
Killbis startled and ducked at the creeping chill running down his spine.
The attack from behind nearly sliced into his back.
By a hair’s breadth, it only tore through his clothes.
Of course, this caused the robe he was wearing to split vertically and fall to the ground.
“Finally showing your face.”
“What are you—”
Killbis had no time for such thoughts.
All he could do was stare bewilderedly at the Black Shadow Guild Leader.
