Chapter 124: Another Eye - XIX

When my first strike failed, I retrieved my blade and retreated, moving through the rapidly fading light and drowning the corridor in darkness once more.

[Power of Death].

Veiled in invisibility, I reassessed the Minotaur standing before me. From what I recalled from my earlier scan, this Minotaur was indeed suspicious.

[A-Rank. Water-attributed mana affinity. No telepathic connection.]

Thus, unlike earlier, when I simply observed its general power level, I dug a little deeper with [Absolute Awareness].

[Trait: Mind’s Eye (B-Rank)]

[Class: Berserker]

[Martial Arts: Berserker’s Rage, Boiling Crimson, Bloody Gleam, Last Stand, Reckless Abandon]

The Minotaur had moved despite the blindness, reacting to my ambush. Looking at his abilities now, I understood exactly how he’d done it.

"Very well,"

I simply summoned my mana once again. But this time, it wasn’t poured into the <Sword of Light>.

See...

<Archmagus> Daimyuon was a Destruction Mage. He was in no ways a mage who excelled in detection, with finesse and a natural intuition.

It should have been clear from the time I snuck into Leisha’s Royal Treasury.

Upon double-checking his entire repertoire of spells, that reality was quite obvious—especially since the upper limit of his detection capabilities had merely spanned the Grand City of Laquer.

Daimyuon’s SSS-Rank was purely as a strategic nuke.

Therefore...

I had a lot of lethal spells to choose from—and I already had my eye on something that resonated with me quite well.

—Thud! Thud! Thud!

Heavy hooves struck the ground in the rush of a reckless charge. Judging by the blood-red glow on the Minotaur’s body, I knew that it had already activated a few of his Berserker Martial Arts.

I had to act swiftly before the 30-meter gap between us vanished.

Holding out my hand, I constructed the relevant magic circles.

[Enhance Mana Concentration].

[Enhance Mana Density].

[Enhance Spell Sharpness].

Three supplementary spells instantly appeared above my palm, gleaming in the darkness. The Minotaur was now just 15 meters away.

[Mana Manipulation] was triggered from my heart.

Then, a malevolent violet magic circle was born above the three blue supplementary spells.

6th Circle, Pure Mana Magic Spell.

[Energy Cleaver].

—Bang!

A thin plane of energy was summoned across the Minotaur’s charging body.

Time seemed to stop as I witnessed the Minotaur’s beady eyes quiver in terror and shock.

Suddenly.

—BOOM!

The thin plane of energy forcefully displaced everything within it, creating a violent explosion of dust and guts.

[You have leveled up!] The Gaea System chimed in all of a sudden.

Meanwhile, a gust of wind moved to shield me from the spray of a violently bisected corpse.

[Absolute Awareness] spread throughout the area once more as I moved to pick up what was left of the Berserker Minotaur.

Then, feeling that my body had healed a little further, I made another attempt to cast the 8th-Circle anti-tracking spell—

—WHOOOSH!

"Success!"

Accompanying the gleam of a beautiful silver magic circle was a fierce swirl of energy that rose and orbited my body. Like cosmic winds slowly eating away at an asteroid, it began to dissolve the mark placed on me. I watched with my senses fully focused on the excruciatingly slow dissolution.

Luckily, all of those Minotaurs had perished.

There was no one to disturb me—and no one to refresh the mark on my body.

I noticed it upon the Berserker Minotaur’s death... The weakening of the mark was like a laptop being unplugged. Though it could still run on a battery, it was on a timer.

With those conditions met, I was able to rid myself of the mark, fleeing deeper into the layers beneath the Walvaskaz Empire while I could.

When I caught up with the slow-moving Kuvie and Reazue, I didn’t even give them the chance to say hello.

[Absolute Awareness] had long located my target destination, so I instantly cast the spell I’d prepared.

6th Circle, A-Rank Spatial Magic Spell:

[Warp].

Under the surprised gazes of Kuvie and Reazue, the pinpoint spatial distortion first devoured the unconscious Gron Gaven before swiftly consuming them as well. The spell had appeared from nowhere, shocking their hearts and making their lives flash before their very eyes.

"Help—!"

Kuvie yelped.

** *

The last thing Gron remembered was an aura more terrifying than anything he could have ever imagined.

He’d only been exposed to such a dreadful wave of pressure for an instant before he succumbed,

The world went dark.

Was that going to be his end? The endless abyss of his own mind... It didn’t sound so bad.

Though he wasn’t completely certain about what had killed him, he’d lived a good life.

He was tired.

’...I’m about to join you, Father.’

Gron thought—

But then something shifted in the endless darkness. A dull brightness permeated the entire world as if someone was trying to shine a light through his closed eyelids.

"Urgh,"

At a certain point, a dull ache plagued his mind.

It felt like every corner of his body was bruised. Every part where a bone stuck out a little more, and where his flesh was thin:

His elbows, his hips, his knees, his ribs, and every point on his spine.

...As well as his entire skull.

It felt as if he’d been dragged around half a country. What the hell happened while he was passed out?

"Gods, let me sleep..."

Gron managed a groan as he shifted.

"..!"

But the pain was sharp. Every strand of muscle in him screamed.

This was a lot worse than the bruises. This time, even the act of shivering would cause a crazy amount of pain, as if he’d run a marathon with every single muscle fiber in his body.

"Ahck—!"

Biting down a curse, Gron’s eyes were torn open, allowing light to flood into his pupils. A world of color was drawn up by a hazy brush.

After a moment of adjustment, the blurriness vanished.

Lying completely still, he tried to look around with just his eyes. The fear of aggravating his clearly horrible injuries allowed him to muster up enough willpower to control every single muscle in his body.

A rare kind of zen descended upon him. He was calm in a way that wasn’t calm.

His tranquility was born purely from a threat.

"Oh, you’re finally awake?"

A familiar voice greeted him once again.

Gron spotted the owner of that voice sitting cross-legged on a raised platform on the other side of the room. Obsidian eyes that flashed with a fireworks display of azure now and then had shifted from the books stacked on top of each other and moved towards him.

Curiosity was sent across the simply decorated room—over a rigid wooden table and a makeshift couch made out of a pile of cushions, and through a hardwood countertop where a bunch of cooking utensils and a small pantry were located.

Gron, however, noticed the dark green walls, the crystalline ceiling, and the white marble floors. The room was clearly anything but simple.

"You good?"

The young man closed the book he was reading... or was he writing on it? Gron didn’t know. All he did know was that...

He was somehow alive.

Thus, he had a lot of questions. He decided to start with the first:

"...Aventine— Khhhkk!"

But even speaking tore through his injured vocal cords.

"What..." Still, Gron continued to gather enough strength to speak. "...happened...?"

Despite every laborious breath, Gron completed his question.

"How are we alive?"

—Pop.

When Gron blinked, Aventine appeared at his bedside, still cross-legged, sitting in mid-air.

Something about this mysterious young man had changed, but Gron couldn’t put a finger on it. Having only met Aventine in non-combative situations, he hadn’t realized the massive spike in the young man’s strength.

Furthermore, Gron wouldn’t have been surprised if Aventine had been concealing his strength.

"Well... I brought us out." Aventine shrugged, seemingly amused. "Unfortunately, Kuvie had also fallen unconscious, so she can’t heal you just yet."

The young man chuckled upon seeing the deepening frown on Gron’s face.

"See, the Living City of Hispe is no more."

"...Huh?" Gron didn’t understand what Aventine meant for a good five seconds.

"It was destroyed." Aventine reiterated.

"How...?" Gron struggled to grasp how such a vast and densely populated city could have been destroyed. "What do you mean by destroyed? What destroyed it?"

"A Dragon died and fell onto the Living City. Its residual aura was the reason why you lost consciousness and why many mages were incapable of reacting fast enough to escape. Of course, there are still a few who were successful...

"But there were some powerful beings who wanted us all dead. A bunch of A-Rank Minotaurs hunted us all down in the layers beneath Walvaskaz."

A dangerous glint flashed in Aventine’s eyes.

"Of course, I killed our pursuers, erased the mark on my body, and brought us all to safety. You’ve only been unconscious for half a day."

Gron raised a brow. "Damn..."

"Right?" Aventine laughed. "Well, once Kuvie and Reazue awaken, we’re going to have to move. In fact... we’re still being pursued. This time, it’s not because of a specific mark. It isn’t by those big shots in the Living City."

The dangerous glint in Aventine’s eyes deepened.

A pulse of mana surged outwards.

Gron vaguely heard the sound of explosions occurring outside.

"Instead, the Walvaskaz Empire is going crazy."