chapter 79
Mages were walking into the maze-like corridors.
There was a whole mansion underground.
Theodore looked at the collapsed walls.
There were hints of interconnecting jail chambers which had been destroyed and cleaned up.
Selvian had a look of disgust on his face.
"It is likely that there were chambers which held monsters captive, but no other information can be deciphered about the handlers.
And....."
He stopped.
Theodore looked at him and cast an isolation spell so their conversation didn't reach anyone else.
Selvian continued.
"There were people held captive as well, but the purpose remains unclear. And in one of the pieces, two persons come up—
the eldest son of the Soran family and Parcival Zenya."
Theodore's expression turned somber at the discovery.
Zenya Dukedom...
The dirt kept surfacing the deeper they went.
The Zenya Dukedom was still in the dark about Parcival's cause of death.
They were told that he saved his friend from a monster during the attack and ended up getting contaminated and passing away.
His corpse had been burned, and only ashes were returned to the family.
Doris had strictly forbidden anyone from alarming the Zenya family with any sort of news, so they still didn't know what Parcival did—nor that they had been given away.
Now another piece had surfaced.
Zenya had dealings with the Soran family as well.
And Parcival Zenya had been the person in contact.
They were most likely involved in black magic as well.
But there was no solid evidence.
The Zenya family could simply cut connections and blame everything on Parcival's individual actions—completely feigning ignorance and removing all traces and evidence in the process.
To prevent alarming them, they had suppressed all news and showed no suspicion toward them.
But till now, there had been no active lead, and the undercover investigation was ongoing.
And right now—
they had stumbled onto one.
"Principal!"
An urgent shout came as a mage reported.
"They have discovered a magic circle."
Theodore and Selvian made their way toward a narrow corner.
A wall had collapsed there, and debris was being cleared.
A piece of stone slab was taken out.
A red-colored mark was carved into it.
And blood had dried inside the crevices.
It was a really small fragment originally.
But mages continued digging, and similar pieces kept getting assembled.
The mage in charge completed the pieces like a puzzle and showed Theodore.
"Principal."
A 40 cm slab was completed.
Although it was very small compared to the underground area, this was already a huge lead.
Selvian was already onto it, trying to conjure as much memory trace as he could—
people who touched it,
whose blood was poured,
who had destroyed it.
Anything could be beneficial.
Even the smallest clue.
So he concentrated harder than ever.
A faint glow covered the slab as mana vibrated.
A touch—
and shrieks came crashing in.
A person was thrashing on a cold floor
as he bled, his blood entering a blood magic circle drawn on the ground.
The person grew emaciated and was dragged away.
Selvian opened his eyes, his expression more serious than ever.
A magic communication was sent to Helen urgently.
The Soran family would have to give their heads. There was no salvation for them now.
BOOOOOM
Limanoff was shot into the air and struck a statue, which shattered completely.
Hahahaha—
Helen's laugh resounded as another person was held in the air by their hair.
Limanoff looked up, and his pupils dilated.
"Come on, bastards,"
she said while holding Limanoff's son by the hair.
He was battered and bruised badly—
but he was still smiling.
Limanoff shook his head.
But the boy continued smiling.
Helen, watching that smile, spoke with a widening grin—
"Let me guess...
you are trying to blow yourself up, aren't you?"
His eyes flew open wide.
"Hmmmm.
But judging by your condition, you have not completely converted to a black mage, right?"
His body trembled as he tried to hasten the process.
Thud—
He was thrown into the air.
Zew—
Black thorned vines shot up from the ground.
As he descended, his body was riddled with holes, vines piercing through him from every direction.
Ashvile closed her eyes and began sensing the mana core inside him.
He shrieked and thrashed violently.
She was only in the beginner stage and didn't have the refined control like Serbian, so her mana cuts tore through everything in their path.
The mana core was near his heart, spinning nonstop, trying to turn it black.
"Hmmmm...
I have to sever that connection."
She gestured, and black thorns began cutting the connection.
One time.
Two times.
Three times.
No matter how much she cut, the connection kept regenerating.
Her eyes narrowed.
"No need for mercy then."
She shot a thorn—
it pierced straight through the heart.
And it continued.
She shredded the heart open completely.
The mana lost its vessel.
It began flowing backward.
And Ashvile completely surrounded it with vines.
"Having difficulty?"
Helen's voice resounded behind her.
She turned back.
Blood was dripping from the head Helen held in her hand.
Limanoff's head had been severed—his expression frozen in horror.
Only the head remained.
The rest of the body had been completely obliterated.
Ashvile shook her head.
"I am not able to excite mana right now, but I have found my own way. And I need to put it into practice right now. Otherwise, I will be left behind."
She began conjuring a spell.
But—
the young man's body started vibrating.
BOOOOOOM
An explosion went off.