Chapter 384

Words : 2501 Updated : Oct 11th, 2025

The monster was filling the corridor as it approached. Its appearance was like black flames. Its overall form resembled a human, but it was a shape with pitch-black flames flickering all over its body. At first glance, it looked like an armored knight. The green light emanating from where its eyes should be was nothing if not intimidating. The mage was being chased by shadow knights. At that moment, the shadow knight at the front threw the spear in its hand. -Thwack! The spear pierced through the mage’s robe and stuck into the ground. The mage tripped and fell over his robe while running. “Uh, uwaagh! Save me!” The mage begged, but the knight pulled out the stuck spear and moved to kill him. -Crack! At that moment, a massive ice spike flew in and blew off the knight’s head. “Wh-who...” The mage frantically looked back. There stood Rudger, pointing his staff. “What are you doing? Hurry and get away.” The mage got up, realizing he was alive, and ran to where Rudger was. That face covered in tears and snot was someone Rudger knew well. He thought he looked familiar – it was that mage who had picked a fight with Rudger as soon as they arrived here. ‘He was lucky to survive when attacked by the Cheshire Tiger too.’ Come to think of it, he had saved him then as well. Thinking this guy had quite a tenacious life force one way or another, Rudger looked at the shadow knights. The knight whose head had been blown off by the ice spike stared at Rudger with its now perfectly restored head. ‘I definitely blew its head off properly.’ The green light in its eyes lightly swept over Rudger and his companions. The shadow knight gripped its spear tighter. The shadow knights lined up behind it also gripped their respective weapons. Swords, spears, halberds, maces, all made of ominous shadows. Watching this, Roina muttered without realizing: “It-it’s threatening, but doesn’t look like a monster at all?” -Kyaaaargh! At that moment, the shadow knight at the front opened its mouth wide and let out a horrific scream. The sight of its mouth full of sharp teeth with its lower jaw splitting sideways was nothing if not grotesque. “...It is a monster after all.” Roina honestly admitted her mistake as she drew up her magical power. Though she didn’t know why monsters suddenly appeared in the mansion, seeing their hostile appearance, it didn’t look like they could easily get past this. “I’ll sweep them all away at once!” Roina raised her magical power and implemented a complex spell formula. In an instant, a magical spell formula as brilliant as a constellation was drawn in the air. Even though the mansion was overflowing with mana making it difficult to deploy spell formulas without considerable control, Roina did it as naturally as breathing. “Wow.” Arpa, watching the scene, let out an exclamation of admiration. Everyone praised Roina Pavlini for being exceptional only in theory, but that was only half true. No matter how excellent her theory was, there was no way she could have reached the level of Lexer with just theory alone. The reason she reached 6th Circle was not just her knowledge of magic, but because she fulfilled all the basic conditions needed to use 6th Circle magic. Just like now. 5th Circle Fire Attribute Area Magic [Pillar of the Sun] The massive magical power writhed and eventually turned into high-temperature flames. The flames filled the corridor and swept over the shadow knights. Hot heat and powerful aftershocks swept through. The other companions had no particular reaction, but the young mage who had been running from the shadow knights couldn’t close his gaping mouth. The flames subsided and the heat settled. The mansion’s corridor swept by the flames was burned pitch black enough to remind one of a coal mine. Given that it left such marks on the mansion that didn’t budge even to considerable magic, one could guess how strong Roina’s magic was. As time passed, the blackened mansion was restored to its original appearance. “At least we seem to have dealt with all the monsters!” Perhaps because she had unleashed a big spell after a long time, Roina’s voice sounded much more cheerful. It was thanks to releasing all her pent-up stress. “...It doesn’t seem that way.” “What?” Just as Roina was about to ask what Rudger meant by that the mansion’s air currents changed strangely. A wind blew even though no windows were open, and something black began to stir and rise from the empty corridor. The shadow knights who had disappeared without a trace just now due to Roina took complete form and glared this way with flickering green eyes. “H-how?” As Roina was caught off guard, Arpa moved. -Thump. Arpa lightly tripped Roina’s leg and made her fall backward. At the same time, he gently supported Roina who was about to fall. Roina couldn’t grasp what was happening for a moment but then she saw a black spear sweeping past above her head. The spear thrown with full force by the shadow knight at the front seemed to sweep through the air, but suddenly changed direction and tried to return to the knight. -Thwack! That’s when Arpa reached out and caught the shadow spear that was trying to return. The spear was moving very fast, but Arpa was even faster. The knight who had called the spear stared blankly at Arpa. -Whoosh. Arpa rotated the shadow spear and adjusted his grip. The wind pressure created from swinging the spear once lightly shook Arpa’s hair. -Kyaaaargh! The knight who lost its spear charged at Arpa in rage. In the knight’s arms rushing toward Arpa were two long spears that had appeared at some unknown time. The black long spears being wildly swung by the flailing arms filled the field of vision. The shadow knight’s ability was truly worthy of being called knight-class. However, Arpa’s physical abilities were at a level that surpassed such knight-class. -Tap. Arpa lightly jumped into the air and spun his body like a top. That reckless movement surprisingly penetrated through the gaps in the shadow knight’s attacks. Dodge what can be dodged, block what cannot be dodged. The sight of him achieving this feat with paper-thin margins was precarious, but there wasn’t a single wound on Arpa’s body. Every movement was thoroughly calculated. As the companions watching this scene were surprised, Arpa’s spear moved. -Bang! A triple thrust delivered in an instant. It was so fast that the sound of air bursting was heard only once. The spear tip accurately targeted the shadow knight’s brow, neck, and heart. Three huge holes appeared in the shadow knight’s body. However, the wounds instantly healed, and the shadow knight swung its spear again. -Clang clang clang! Instead of dodging, Arpa rotated his spear and deflected the attack. A big opening appeared in the knight’s body again, and this time instead of thrusting, Arpa made a big swing with the spear. Once horizontally, once vertically, the spear shaft whipped around and precisely cut the knight into four pieces. “Ah.” However, the cut pieces of the knight writhed and returned to their original form. As Arpa was troubled by this sight, lightning flew in and blew off the knight’s head. “Fall back, Arpa.” As Arpa retreated with Rudger’s support, this time Limrei unleashed the magic he had been preparing. 5th Circle Ice Attribute Magic [Ice Dragon’s Breath] Cold air opposite to Roina’s flames engulfed the shadow knights. The cold wave that rushed in instantly froze both the mansion’s corridor and the shadow knights solid. Seeing the knights frozen into ice statues while standing, Roina was convinced of victory. “This time we really got them, right?” -Crack! No sooner had those words ended than the knights trapped in ice began to break free one by one. “...” “...” “...” All the companions silently stared at Roina. “...I’m sorry.” Roina apologized with her head deeply bowed. Actually this wasn’t Roina’s fault, but it was an atmosphere where she had to apologize. The knights slowly approached the group while breaking through the ice. Seeming to think this wouldn’t do, Sempas stepped forward. 4th Circle Wood Attribute Magic [Giant Tree Barrier] A massive tree grew and filled the corridor. The thick and huge wooden barrier prevented the shadow knights from approaching any further. “We must retreat.” Even Sempas, who never avoided battle, advocated for withdrawal. He judged that fighting against endlessly reviving shadow knights was unreasonable. Even now the knights were approaching while breaking through the wooden barrier in real time. “Let’s retreat.” The companions all started running down the corridor without exception. The wooden barrier would buy some time, but not that long. After putting some distance between them, they needed to find some way to deal with this somehow. “Huff. Huff. What in the world is going on here?” Roina, thinking they had barely shaken off the shadow knights, said while catching her rough breathing. “Plus they won’t fall no matter how much we attack them. I’ve never heard of anything like this.” “It’s probably some kind of defense system of the mansion itself.” “Defense system?” Rudger nodded and answered that it was correct. Limrei asked with a hardened face. “Why do you think that?” “These guys who normally only appear at midnight have shown up already. If you think about it a bit, you can tell that what happened before was a precursor.” “The mansion’s vibrations caused them to appear?” “The opposite. The mansion shook to make them appear. Those aren’t cryptids or naturally occurring monsters. They’re familiars created by the mansion itself.” Roina, recalling the vibrations felt in the archives, nodded. “Like guardian golems or gargoyles then. But is it possible for them to regenerate like that even after such tremendous firepower?” “Have you forgotten where we are right now? Below this mansion, there’s still a massive ley line flow pooled with enormous mana stored up.” “No way, are you saying those shadow monsters are receiving power from the ley lines?” “That’s probably it. As long as they keep receiving mana from the ley lines, they’ll keep reviving no matter how many times we kill them.” Monsters made of pure mana that won’t die and keep regenerating? There was a reason mages were no match. “Th-then what do we do?! Is there no answer besides buying time and running away?” “Didn’t I say? Those guys are a kind of defense system protecting this mansion. And they’ve shown themselves early, different from usual.” At those words, Roina seemed to have some idea. The same was true for Limrei. “That means there must be something controlling that system inside this mansion.” “The monsters appearing before midnight means someone tampered with that system!” “So the locked doors and killed people were all done by others.” Limrei, Roina, and Sempas each spoke what they had realized. Now that they put their heads together and organized things, the situation became clear. The only one who didn’t understand at this gathering was the young mage who had luckily survived. “Hey you. Your name?” “M-me?” “Come to think of it, we haven’t even properly introduced ourselves.” The young mage stammered, seemingly caught off guard by Rudger suddenly addressing him. “You’re suddenly asking my name?” “We can’t keep calling you ‘you’. So what’s your name?” “...Samuel Taylor.” “Right, Samuel. What happened to the companions who were moving with you?” “Damn it. Are you asking because you don’t know? Isn’t it obvious since I ran away alone!” Samuel’s fists trembled, perhaps still vividly remembering being chased by the shadow knights until just now. “Damn it. I shouldn’t have come here. Why do these things only happen to me...?” Samuel lamented his fate. That negative emotion was fully conveyed to the companions. It’s not like they hadn’t properly resisted either. Yet everyone but one person had died. The shadow knights would roam the mansion and try to kill any intruders they saw. They show no mercy. They won’t stop until they complete their given mission. ‘If they keep reviving even when killed, it’s only a matter of time before we’re overwhelmed.’ It would become an endless war of attrition, but one side has limits while the other receives nearly infinite supplies. The victor was obvious. At this point, there was only one way to eliminate the knights roaming the mansion. They had to stop the system itself. The problem was... Where was the core of the system summoning the knights? ‘If we wander around aimlessly, we might end up surrounded by those monsters instead.’ Even now, the mansion’s monsters were slowly but surely tightening the noose. A death that comes suddenly is less frightening than an unavoidable death that steadily approaches. In that sense, this mansion with its defense system activated was no different from hell. ‘How confusing.’ The shadow knights were tightening the noose in real time. The First Order Leslie who might be hiding somewhere and the Black Dawn Society behind all this. Even the clues about the non-attribute magical power he hadn’t confirmed yet. His breath catches and everything goes dark before his eyes. It feels like his consciousness is sinking into a deep swamp. There’s a heap of things to handle, factors to consider, opportunities that can’t be missed. What should be done first? Which should be handled first? All of it weighed heavy on Rudger’s mind like a burden. ─Think. Rudger closed his eyes tight and organized his thoughts. He still had many things to do. The Night of Mystery was just a turning point, a process to pass through, a stepping stone to cross over. His true goal lay much further in the future. ─I haven’t lived until now to stop at a place like this. Rudger opened his closed eyes. His blue eyes that had been full of confusion shone brilliantly for a moment. “Leader?” Everyone’s gaze turned to Rudger. Instinctively, they noticed that Rudger’s demeanor had changed. “What is it? Your expression suddenly changed.” Limrei caught Rudger’s subtle change. The guy who had been constantly racking his brains until just now suddenly let everything go but that was far from giving up. Rather, it would be more accurate to say he felt lighter after throwing off all the annoying shackles. “Just, I found it funny how I was thinking too complexly about something so simple.” “Simple?” “Yes. Why did I think about it in such a roundabout way?” Rudger looked back at the path they had been fleeing down until just now. “We just need to smash everything head-on.”

Chapter 384

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