Grrrrr—
“Eek! Auntie!”
“Haaah.”
Yuria sighed in frustration as she glanced around the area.
The undead pouring out from all sides weren’t the skeletons or d*ath Knights like before—they were ghouls. Ghouls.
‘Of course it had to be ghouls,’ Yuria thought with an internal groan.
GGRAAWW—
Emily instinctively grabbed onto the hem of Yuria’s dress and clung to her tightly, her body pressed against Yuria’s reassuring form.
Yuria knew exactly why Emily was so tense—perhaps better than anyone.
It had been over a decade ago now, the incident that caused Yuria to leave her family—and the trauma that now haunted Emily. At the center of it? An undead. Ghouls, to be precise. The exact kind of monsters that were now lurching toward them.
“Hah hah…”
Niguel hovered in the air, his laughter chilling as he watched the scene unravel.
Yuria wanted nothing more than to unleash her fury upon him in that moment, but she couldn’t. Not with Emily’s grip tightening on her robes, trembling as she clung to her protector.
Under normal circumstances, Yuria would’ve ignored the ghouls entirely and gone straight for Niguel. But circumstances were far from normal.
“E-E-Auntie!”
“It’s okay, calm down.”
Yuria tore her gaze away from Niguel, who had begun to drift further away. Watching him any longer might’ve caused her to abandon Emily and lunge at him headfirst, so she forced herself to break eye contact.
Instead, mana flickered at her fingertips, though the act of drawing up magical energy now made her head spin slightly. She’d used too many large spells in too short a time.
It seemed like tackling the ghouls while simultaneously targeting Niguel was beyond her current limits.
Grrrrl—
With ghouls slowly approaching from every corner of the forest, Yuria clenched her fist tightly.
Zzzzt—
The cold energy that spread from Yuria’s clenched fist instantly froze everything around her, including the approaching ghouls, which froze in place mid-step. Emily, overwhelmed, collapsed onto the ground.
“Are you okay?”
“Y-yes…” Emily nodded weakly, still shaken.
Yuria wrapped her arms around Emily protectively, her gaze flicking toward the direction Niguel had vanished. That man, who had called himself Niguel, had disappeared as casually as if the world were his playground. Even when Yuria froze the ghouls, it gave experienced mages like him just enough time to slip away cleanly.
It was frustrating to let him escape over something as trivial as ghouls.
‘Haaah. All we can do now is hope the Leader finds some leads.’
Yuria sighed inwardly while patting Emily’s trembling back, the weight of expectation resting on whoever the Leader was to uncover something about Landgar’s connection to this mess.
Neatly placed on the table were three accessories: a ring, a bracelet, and a set of earrings.
“Where’s the necklace? It’s late.”
The dark-robed figure’s low voice sent an ominous chill through everyone present.
No one dared respond.
After all, this was the Founder of the Nameless Organization—someone who almost never showed emotion, but now, in rare form, was clearly letting their fury show. Even the usually talkative Second Elder had clamped their mouth shut at the low growl of the Founder’s voice.
“It’s well past the agreed time, isn’t it?”
Shiver—
The First and Second Elders beside the Founder felt goosebumps crawl up their spines. It had been a long time since they felt this kind of unease.
Elders were no ordinary title within the organization. The First Elder, Second Elder, and Third Elder Landgar were among the strongest individuals on the continent. Yet, even they couldn’t help but feel the Founder’s overwhelming presence through their voice alone.
The Second Elder, trembling slightly, finally managed to speak.
“I’ll go check on it.”
“No.”
The Founder’s sharp response cut through the heavy silence like a blade, suffocating and absolute.
“I’ll go myself. You two, return to your posts.”
“Yes.”
Without hesitation, the Elders vanished instantly upon hearing the order—it was as though they had been anticipating the command.
Once alone, the Founder looked down at the three accessories on the table for a brief moment.
Uooong—
Then, in the blink of an eye, the Founder in the black robe disappeared as well.
KOOOOAAANG—!
“d*mn it all!”
The swear slipped out reflexively.
KOOOAAANG— KRAANG—
After swallowing a potion from his coat, Landgar launched into relentless attacks unlike anything he’d attempted previously.
But there was only one real difference from before—everything else stayed the same. The ominous black energy of his black magic remained unchanged, the black tentacle-like tendrils still present. The only thing different? The size of said tendrils.
KOOOOAAANG—
“You slimy little b*stard!”
‘Is this even fair?’
Clearly, the formerly tree-branch-sized tendrils had grown to the size of an entire tree itself.
Not something you could flick away with a simple punch.
Even as he swiftly dodged attacks by leaping through space, it was clear that the situation wasn’t going well. For every one of these monstrous tendrils was accompanied by dozens more—each one dancing gracefully through the air toward him.
He’d expected something flashy—something extravagant befitting of a powerful mage. Instead, it was brutally simple yet devastatingly effective.
Woooom—
No matter how high he jumped using dimensional travel, the tendrils still found their way to him, as if some kind of tracking device had been attached.
SHREEEEK—
Even now, down below, the massive tendrils were reaching upward, undulating like octopus arms. Disturbing.
“d*e!”
“Haaaah.”
Woooom—
As he teleported back toward the ground, Landgar’s mind raced with strategies to minimize effort and maximum efficiency while taking down his opponent.
But eliminating him completely wasn’t an option—not yet.
The objective was to capture him alive, collect evidence, and unravel the full extent of the larger organization behind all this. It would have been so much simpler if killing him outright were an option.
Truly, killing was easier than not killing.
‘When it comes to this sort of wide-scale magic, taking out the caster first is key, but…’
The problem was that Landgar clearly anticipated this approach and had prepared for it meticulously from the get-go.
He’d surrounded himself with layer upon layer of dark mana, knowing full well about the intruder’s spatial manipulation abilities. Sure, with enhanced gloves, he could penetrate the barriers—but only with his hands.
And with the coordinates of Landgar himself concealed by the same dark mana, attacking him with dimensional leaps proved ineffective.
“Getting scared, huh?”
“Y-YOU b*stard!”
Provoking Landgar by deliberately aggravating him failed—Landgar remained composed, prioritizing defense while conserving mana.
Tough opponent.
‘Man, this mana is such a nuisance.’
Though he’d encountered a wide variety of skills and incidents during his time with the Black Shadow Guild, this was the first time black magic had reared its head.
He had somewhat underestimated it until facing Landgar directly. This nauseating, sticky mana, the spells it could cast… It was more complicated and far trickier than anticipated.
KRAANG— KOOOAAANG—
The stalemate continued.
Landgar kept sending out tendrils, wildly hoping for even a slight hit, while the intruder continued to cautiously search for an opening.
Neither side was making progress.
By this point, others from the academy should’ve shown up—but no one had.
The barrier Erika mentioned must be holding strong.
‘Getting frustrating.’
From afar, Landgar, whose skin was practically blackened with energy, glared daggers at the intruder.
There was pure rage in his eyes.
“Well, that’s enough.”
“Hmph. Don’t think you’re walking away alive. I’m ready for whatever comes next.”
The intruder couldn’t help but chuckle mockingly.
If they really planned to escape alive, they would’ve done so ages ago—it was clear the purpose here was to capture Landgar, not retreat.
“Oh, the arrogance of your generation. Arrogant little punk.”
“How do you even know I’m young?”
“…Shut up.”
Landgar emitted an even darker, heavier mana, surprising the intruder with the sheer amount of energy he still possessed. The assumed exhaustion proved premature.
“Guess I can’t dawdle any longer.”
“Tch, says you. Thieves like you deserve to d*e.”
“Tch.”
For such a serious situation, Landgar sure had a lot to say. From the moment they met, he hadn’t stopped talking. Whether it was rambling or engaging directly with the intruder’s taunts, Landgar had plenty to share.
“Alright, time’s up. This ends NOW!!”
Unnecessary as the verbal declaration was, Landgar screamed it to the heavens as tendrils surged toward the intruder from all sides.
The intruder closed their eyes.
With their eyes shut, they took a slow, deep breath. To anyone watching, it would’ve appeared to be their last moments—but that wasn’t the case.
Breathing deeply calmed their mind. It brought an eerie sense of focus and clarity.
Woooom—
The sound of space warping resonated in their ears, louder than the incoming black mana.
No attack could come close enough to reach them over the overwhelming warping of space.
Woooommmm—
The intruder opened their eyes.
As expected, the scene before them was filled with dark, menacing tendrils hurtling toward them with malice.
Woooom— Woooommm—
“What… what IS this?!”
Wave after wave of attacks disintegrated harmlessly before the intruder, not deflected, not dissolved—but completely vanishing as if they had never existed.
Landgar’s face registered absolute shock—the second time it had happened today.
Woooom— CRACK—
“GAAAAHH!!”
With a grimace of intense concentration, the intruder grabbed Landgar’s neck once more, bringing the battle to its inevitable conclusion.
