Leylin held the two‑headed witch magus aloft by the neck as if she weighed nothing, all her struggles and attempts at gathering mana was snuffed out in one swift crushing motion.
William and Marcus stood like immovable armored pillars flanking him, sealing their immediate escape route.
The Light Faction magi scrambled frantically to weave defenses and strike back, yet every single attempt at casting a spell faltered, ambient mana kept swirling in confusion mid spell formation, internal runic sequences kept breaking apart or interrupted before they could fully manifest.
The ambient magic simply refused to take shape properly.
"Retreat! Fall back at once!" a white‑robed senior magus roared, his voice tight with dread and bewilderment.
'Who are these people?' He etched every detail of these terrifying figures into his memory before turning to flee. He would be looking for information about them and then find out what makes them unable to cast spells.
Perhaps they can even take the method for themselves.
"Leave the weakest one like usual. Capture the rest." This is a two-fold command, one is to capture more magi to power his projects and the other is to stir more trouble because right now, Leylin and his crew are disguised as light magi from Mercifura Academy.
At his order, William's massive rune‑forged gauntlets shifted with a low, hissing grind of the nanite swarm that supports the armament. The plating slid and locked, joints extended, and a barrel section unfolded, transforming into a colossal, long‑barreled sniper cannon, thick and imposing, glowing with contained blue energy and etched with nano stabilizing runes.
Assisted with aiming assistance and superior intelligence, it barely took William a fraction of a second to aim and shoot. The shot fired with barely a whisper of sound as a concentrated bolt of vivid blue energy streaked out, striking the ground right between two of the fastest‑fleeing magi.
A controlled, numbing shockwave erupted outward and bolts of electricity streaked within the area of effect locking their limbs and numbing their nerves. They collapsed instantly, able only to drag themselves feebly forward with trembling hands, helpless to run further.
"Ugh, really? I was just able to unleash my Petrifying Gaze and test my Scale Armor once!" Marcus swooped down from above, dropping the senior magi from earlier onto the ground with traces of petrification still visible on his skin.
From visuals alone, Marcus is likely unharmed from his encounter with an official magi. Not like these guys had high hopes of escaping, ithin Leylin's 50‑meter domain, the rule was absolute. Any known spell or those used once would be analyzed, deconstructed, and intercepted in real time rendering these spells unusable without permission within this space.
This effect may not fare well against higher‑ranked compound spells, but against these patroling light magi who are mostly rank three apprentices and rank 1 official magi, it stripped away their greatest advantage of control over ambient mana completely. This effectively makes the cost of casting and the difficulty of forming extremely difficult to similar ranked magi.
Within 50 meters, even an augmented great knight can go toe to toe with the leader of this rag-tag group of light magi.
Leylin remains impartial as always, whether Light or Dark faction, those throwing their lives away in endless skirmishes were far more valuable as stable energy batteries powering his projects and hidden facilities so he usually captured them.
It was not an act of mere cruelty. In the deep underground bases, they would dwell within perfect, vivid simulated worlds, living out their heart's greatest desires and dreams in exchange for powering the systems that makes it happen with their excess mana.
"You always play too much," William rumbled without looking at his brother, retracting the massive weapon back into his reinforced gauntlet. He moved methodically among the captives, injecting each with carefully measured nanite serums.
A safety feature ensuring that no future rebellion or self‑harm could ever occur. Once secured, he signaled camouflaged VTOL craft to descend and ferry the precious "cargo" away.
"Such a stickler for efficiency…" Marcus laughed lightly, then asked freely, "Master, it's been ages since I had foes worthy of my power—may I keep one to remake into my own subordinate? I want to chill in the backlines too."
"Your capacity and limits have not yet reached that stage," Leylin replied calmly, partly amused. "Advance further, and we shall revisit this."
A faint shadow of quiet concern passed through his thoughts as he instinctively looked up to the heavens.
Weeks had passed since Jormungandr vanished into the void. Even with all his data and preparation, he could never be fully certain she would survive such harsh, unknown depths, let alone return.
His view turned to the horizon, the war had truly escalated. At first the academies only watched and hesitated, but that was only until promising apprentices and patrol squads began vanishing without a trace.
Now clashes flared constantly, mostly long‑range bombardments, barrier defenses, and counter‑fire as each side kept striking cautiously, doing all they could to limit losses.
The Abyssal Bone Forest is Leylin's home ground, it is littered with his familiars that slowly accumulated throughout his stay within the academy, so much so that nothing occurs within it without him knowing.
While most of the missing apprentices are his own handy work, some are still the results of other powers stirring trouble in the dark.
Like the group he just captured, these light magi have no business in the conflict between Abyssal Bone and Sage Gotham's Hut but their patrols have even reached the Poolfield Kingdom. They clearly are fishing in troubled waters like what Leylin is doing, unfortunately, they are too weak to accomplish anything.
"Master, I got these from that leader." William spoke respectfully as he stretched his open palm revealing a few pieces of worn parchment.
'It seems he really wanted his legacy to be found.'
"Let's move," Leylin said, mounting his KnightMare and heading for the area indicated in the clues about the Dylan Gardens that he managed to gather so far.
"It should be down there if my cartography isn't all that rusty." Marcus claimed with some excitement.
Leylin swept his glance at the sea of flowers he walked passed with suspicion that these flowers are artificially planted in this area for some unknown purpose. The knightMare under him transformed into an aerial bike and hovered in the air then down to the bottom of the cliff.
"It looks like some people has already been trying their hand at it already..." Leylin gestured, using an apprentice spell as he cleared up the remains down the cliff and to his surprise he found more pieces of the same puzzle.
He scanned the bottom of the cliff once again before flying up to the top once again.
"Did you notice anything?" Leylin asked Marcus in a casual manner.
"I'm really not that good at these puzzles Master. I'd rather jump down that cliff if I found those clues but there's nothing here. Maybe this is a fake after all..." Marcus answered while peering up the cliff.
Although the cliff is steep and the drop down would kill even a Rank 3 apprentice, it shouldn't be a problem for him. Soon enough the two found themselves once again looking down the cliff while thinking.
"Want to test your theory?" Leylin tossed out a pale, delicate bloom which Marcus easily caught. He examined it curiously, even smelling it several times.
"That is called a Beta Flower, it was once given as a sign of courage and respect when seeking entry to another's domain. Remember to fall… do not fly. That's an order."
Leylin whispered while smiling mischivously as he gave Marcus a sharp, sudden shove.
Marcus's eyes went wide.
'Big mouth…' he cursed inwardly, bracing himself. 'This is going to hurt! Isn't it?'
'Hmmm?'
Marcus blinked in utter confusion.
The sensation of plummeting weight vanished instantly and suddenly as if gravity itself had let go, or if one woke up from a bad dream.
Even in this world of magic, fundamental laws should still hold, yet here he was, no longer falling after falling. No damage whatsoever in his person.
'Strange...' He looked around sharply and realized that he had been transported somewhere entirely different the moment he crossed that threshold.
'So Master wasn't just messing around when he…'
A sudden rush of wind tore his attention upward. He turned to dodge with minimal movement and saw a colossal maw lined with dagger‑long fangs opening wide in an attempt to swallow him whole.
Although, the snake's presence was initially undetected Marcus' combat instinct took over without delay or the need for visual confirmation. Marcus swung his arm hard, materializing a massive, blazing hand of condensed shadow fire out of thin air. He slammed the palm‑first into the snake's jaw with earth‑shaking force.
The gigantic snake recoiled, dazed. It is a native beast guardian of Dylan Gardens, with scales like polished obsidian streaked with veins of deep violet, its eyes burned with cruel amber light.
"Another snake... If I'm not wrong, this should be a Black Horall Snake, supposedly hunted down to extinction 10000 years ago. You… look strangely familiar," Marcus spoke, shaking out his hand like swatting an invisible fly.
Though initially caught off‑guard due to the teleportation, he did not flinch. He stood as a true Rank 1 Magus in physical might alone, and his raw physical stats easily rivaled that of a Rank 2 warlock combatant.
That single spiritual force enhanced slap carried enough weight to crush a huge boulder. The juvenile Black Horall slumped, head spinning, stunned into a momentary blackout and confusion.
"That was rather harsh of you, Marcus. He was only greeting you because you smelled familiar," Leylin said calmly, stepping out from behind while holding a bouquet of Beta Flowers as if he had strolled in casually.
He walked up to the dazed serpent, eyes gleaming with assessment.
"Poor thing… it looks underfed,' Leylin murmured, running a hand over the Black Horall's obsidian scales. "no... Its been starved for ages. It was forced to slowly regress and shrink its strength just to survive in this prison. What a waste. We're taking him with us. William!"
'It seems like our benefactor Mr. Serholm had quite the fondness for giant serpents, didn't he?' He added silently to himself.
William stepped forward and set down a large, gourd‑shaped metallic container with a heavy thud.
At his touch, the upper half dissolved instantly into a swirling cloud of insect‑sized surveillance drones, sleek and silent, vanishing into the air to scout every shadow, crevice, and ley‑line within this space.
The hollowed shell left behind began drawing in ambient mana, glowing faintly as it charged.
Meanwhile, the base opened, spilling out spider‑like analyzer bots the size of fists, glinting with sensor lenses, multi‑jointed limbs, and delicate sampling instruments.
They fanned out in perfect formation, climbing walls, scanning flora, testing soil composition, measuring mana density, and mapping spatial distortions with terrifying precision.
Scout drones for eyes everywhere… analyzer spiders to dissect this reality layer by layer… Leylin noted approvingly. First the machines map and test, then we step in safely.
While the bots worked, William withdrew a slender injector tube gleaming with faint blue luminescence.
He stepped close to the serpent's head, found the precise gap between the thick scales at the base of its skull, and pressed the tip home.
The nanite solution flowed in like cool water, spreading instantly through the Black Horall's nervous system. This is standard procedures for taming magical creatures, by directly controlling their minds, Leylin and his men are freed from all the hassles and dangers of contracting a magical beast.
Leylin watched the serpent twitch faintly from time to time as the swarm took root, marking, monitoring, and binding it to his will. A faint, knowing smile touched his lips.
"Don't look so lonely, big fellow…" he whispered warmly. 'I'm certain that Jormungandr will be delighted to have a friend waiting for her when she comes home.'
"I'll name you... Bakunawa... In hopes that your future potential will allow you to swallow the nine moons of the spirit world." Bakunawa who has just been named or given a new name just twitched from it's dazed state after the nanite swarm injection.
Meanwhile, the scouting swarm and spider droids began sending progress reports.
[Area Survey Complete — Boundaries Confirmed]
[Threat Assessment Complete — Threat Levels Logged]
[Resource Assessment Complete — Composition Indexed]
[Mana Density & Flow Mapping — High‑Resolution]
[Generating 3D Terrain & Structure Model — Processing…]
[Simulating Exploration Routes & Safety Margins — Complete]
[Detecting Rune‑Barriers & Ward‑Patterns — Overlay Active]
[Scanning for Hidden Resonance Nodes & Control Stations — Located]
[THREATS IDENTIFIED — HIGH PRIORITY:]
[Spectral Entity: "Ghost Doll Alice" — Semi‑transparent, child‑shaped apparition; manifests suddenly, induces paralysis and soul‑chilling fear; capable of curses and mental intrusion. Eludes physical attacks.
[Guardian Puppets — Rank 1 Magus Equivalent — Count: 12 active, 48 dormant.]
[Zone Anomalies — Distorted gravity, time‑flow fluctuations, mana‑sapping fields, and spatial displacement pockets scattered throughout.]
[RESOURCES & LOCATIONS IDENTIFIED:]
[Ancient Bloodline Laboratory]
[Serpent Hatchery & Breeding Grounds]
[Rare & Presumed‑Extinct Flora Detected:
• Moonveil Bloom
• Sunset Vine
• Star‑Dew Petal
• Thousand‑Year Ice Orchid
• Violet Leaves Flower
• Nose Root Fruit
• Walking Dragonfly
• Inverted Sunflower
• Eternal Youth Grass
• Void Root Mushroom
• Void Flower
• Milk Jade Bonsai...
[Mana‑Well & Ley‑Line Junction]
[Library]
[Spell Practice and Meditation Area]
[GENERATING RECOMMENDATIONS — OPTIMIZED:]
1. Secure Central Control Station first to suppress the puppets and the magical wards
2. Extract botanical samples before harvesting in order to preserve specimens
3. Map laboratory formation sequences before activation
4. Hatchery requires calibration to match target bloodline frequencies
Leylin scanned the rolling stream of data, his expression remained calm and intent.
"Our first priority is to seize control of this space," he said firmly. "We cannot risk its defenses triggering. A single self‑destruct sequence and this perfect hideout will vanish from this world forever. I'm growing fond of it the more I look at it, maybe this'll be my base of operation from now on..." Leylin sounded like he's contemplating but he's already made a decision.