"What are you laughing at?!"

Ivan howled at his surrounding for the fact that he could feel a slight contempt within the laughter toward him. 

"That's because you just said something funny, isn't that obvious?"

Sheila replied with chuckles.

"Funny?"

"It is, ridiculously at that. Though it wasn't that much of a surprise now that I think about it, it still amazed me how your words become true. As expected of a 'veteran,' huh?"

Although he was angered by her words, Ivan was also confused at the same time. But upon analyzing her words properly, he could feel chills running through his body as he muttered in shock.

"You... no way."

"Mhm, you got it right. You are a smart one, aren't you? Too bad that you crossed path with me, however."

Sheila nodded her head in agreement before soon shaking her head along with a sympathetic look on her face. Initially, he didn't want to believe it despite his sense keep telling him that his thought was right. However, now he truly believes it as his/her reaction alone is enough to alarm him. Furthermore, if the masked guy was spouting lies, Nyoka should have said something by now, but there's no reaction from the latter as expected. 

"What...did you do to her?!"

"Nothing much, really. I killed her painlessly with a swift swing of my sword as a reward for her effort. Although I couldn't tell whether the information she said true or not, I could still detect if she was lying. And if she had done that, her end would be much worse than that."

Sheila replied indifferently. The moment they decided to listen to Rodrick despite the risk involved is the moment their fate is compromised. If Ria had not been hurt to such extent, perhaps, she might have pardoned them. At the very least, she would save the students from their hands. But now, the only choice available to Ivan is to die in her hand.

"You bastard!"

Knowing what his fate would be if he didn't do anything, Ivan suddenly cried out with bloodshed eyes. Suddenly, both of his arms started quivering. If she looked closer, however, she could also see his blood veins bulging visibly on his arms. Feeling amused, Sheila decided to watch the scene from the side.

Along with his transformation, Sheila was shocked as she could feel his strength rising at a fast rate. As if to prove to her that what she felt is not a lie, the invisible shackle, which can only be seen by her, on his left arm starts to crack. 

'Didn't you said a while ago that you're a priest? Then, why did it seems that your current state looks no different than that of a berserker? Are you kidding me?' Sheila couldn't help but retorted inside her mind while witnessing Ivan's transformation. 

*Crack! Crack!*

Soon, the cracks on the shackle start to spread along, and eventually, the shackle that bound Ivan's from moving is no more. It was shattered to pieces. At first, it started only on his left hand before the other shackles also followed along, shattered by force. 

Though she was surprised by the scene, it was still understandable when she estimated Ivan's currently still rising strength. If before he was around level 40 based on her assumption, now it seems his level has skyrocketed to almost 50! It didn't need to be said that the old him is no way on the same level as the current him at all.

However, despite that, there's no fear on Sheila's face at all. Even though the strength almost overwhelms her, she still calmly observed the scene from the other side. Although her current strength may be weaker than him, it doesn't necessarily mean she would lose if she were to fight against him. Furthermore, she had amassed quite experience fighting against opponents that are stronger than herself in the Trial Tower; the Ogre could be an example of that.

Once he was free out of his binding, Ivan immediately howled like a mad beast. If this had occurred in reality, the windows of the classroom might have shattered to pieces due to how loud and powerful his scream is. At this point, no matter how she looked at him, he's no more priest, but more of a berserker. 

His shirt has been ripped once the muscles on his body start expanding, looking almost exactly like those muscle builders in most action movies. Fortunately, his pant is spare from his transforming, otherwise, she might have a problem just to look at him. Looking at his berserker state, Sheila couldn't help but remind her of Rodrick and the guy before that. 

'Is this also the work of that Mad Scientist? whoever it is, he/she might be more of a problem than I initially expected.' Sheila thought. 'However, it somehow feels pretty ironic since the church usually depicted as an organization that hates the technology in most of the stories I read. There are even some that went as far as to call the technology as taboo. But the church where this guy came from actually assists a scientist, a mad one at that, to make something for them with the power of technology. Well, I guess as expected of a modern world?'

"Hmm? You can see me? But, too bad. Although you are already free from the binding, you still can't move around because of the surrounding, unlike me."

When Sheila noticed a gaze on her, she looked up in surprise. However, upon thinking for a bit, she nodded her head in realization as she understood that her illusion most likely didn't work on him anymore since his level is higher than her by now. Fortunately for her, Ivan has no way to move within the shadow. Her wariness to people truly paid off!

Though before she could break into a dance, Ivan suddenly muttered gibberish words under his breath as if possessed by an evil entity. If it wasn't for him staring piercingly at her with his bloodshed eyes while mumbling creepily, Sheila wouldn't come to such a conclusion. Just as she was wondering what he was doing, she suddenly detected a movement of mana within Ivan's body. 

With just that, Sheila quickly understood what's going on as she immediately conjured fireball within seconds before making it flying toward Ivan and exploded. Since the latter was focused on the chanting, he was caught off the guard by a flame that suddenly manifests in front of him. In just a blink of an eye, Ivan gritted his teeth as he drops the chanting and quickly guards himself against the incoming spell.

"Guh!"

Although Ivan was able to protect himself in time, he wasn't left uninjured from the explosion. The skin of his arms had gotten scorched for a bit, but that quickly heal soon after. It would have been worse if he wasn't in his current berserker state, which makes his regeneration speed much faster than normal. And though it got healed pretty fast, it doesn't mean he didn't feel any pain from that. But what surprised him the most is how the masked guy was able to manifest such a powerful spell without any chanting whatsoever.

If he didn't suffer from it firsthand, he might have not believed it if someone else told him that such a thing is possible. 

'This is bad. Although I can sense her as clear as day, I haven't adapted myself fully yet to this pitched black world. At first, once I have broken free from the binding, I thought I could finally kill her, or at the very least, escape. But I was wrong. It feels like I'm in a deep underwater yet, I couldn't swim despite feeling it was possible. Which was why I thought of manifest a spell to attack her, but even that didn't work. It was me that was getting attacked instead. Is there any other way for me to get out of this place?'

"What are you thinking?"

While Ivan was pondering deeply of his predicament, a voice suddenly whispered into his ears, which caused him to quickly swing his left hand to the side, but his attack missed since Sheila had swiftly retreated with a chuckle. 'This jackass! If it wasn't for the surrounding, I would have beaten his ass black and blue!'

"Oh? From your expression, you really want to beat me up, isn't it? Too bad though, you can't do anything to me with your meager capability."

With a smile on her face, a small ball of flame suddenly manifests in front of her. However, she didn't stop it there. Slowly, one by one, she conjured fireballs. Once five fireballs are floating around her, which causes her to look like a small sun in the shadow world, it was then that she stopped. 

If Ivan was only shocked before upon finding she could conjure a spell chantlessly, now he was utterly dumbfounded. From his experience of reading many historical books regarding supernatural and browsing through the church's library, there are only a few notable people, however, in comparison to her, they might as well be a beginner at magic. 

Upon thinking of the state of the world in the past, which only has a meager amount of mana around the globe, that's given. 

That was why the mages from Mage Academy were currently researching if it's possible to use electricity as the fuel for their magecraft. However, none managed to bore any fruit despite putting all their resources into it. This was also why Frank Llyod, the headmaster of Mage Academy, immediately sent a few people to investigate upon finding out that Mia, an ex-student of his, was able to manifest a spell chantlessly. 

"If I were to swing my hand, these fireballs around me would surely fly toward you and explode. That isn't what you want, right? No matter how fast your regeneration speed is, it wouldn't matter because I could just fire more and more until you're left with nothing but ashes."

"Tsk, what do you want?"

Though he hates to admit, she isn't that far off about him. And just as she said, though his regeneration speed is fast, he isn't immortal. Most of the mages that he came across in the past would have already breathing heavily if they conjured as many spells as him. But the masked guy in front of him didn't seem exhausted at all despite conjuring that many spells.

"Nothing much actually, I just want information. Everything that you know regarding your church and supernatural."

Upon seeing the confusion on his face after hearing her request, Sheila calmly said once again.

"Do you think I'd believe the words of someone who had just recently become a priest? Even if she didn't lie to me, I don't think she knows much. But you, Ivan, is different. I don't need to explain further for you to understand, right?"

After staying silent for a few minutes, Ivan finally opened his mouth and said.

"Fine. But on one condition, you must let me out of this shitty world. If you didn't want it, you can just kill me right ahead."

"Sure, go ahead."

Sheila replied with a curt nod. Though Ivan senses something amiss from her answer, he couldn't pinpoint exactly where's the problem. However, that doesn't matter. Once he's out, no matter what sort of trick the masked guy might be planning, he would immediately use the chance and attack him with his full strength. With that plan in mind, Ivan slowly narrated everything that he knows of the church to her.