Chapter 106: 106

Act 9

The huge mansion was lit up by luxurious lights . There was a large living room with a high ceiling where some men with crumpled faces were talking .

“What happened?”

“Sir, the dark magicians of the lower village have died . Well, except for Calvin . The whole village is covered in their blood . ”

Upon hearing his subordinate’s report, Roman crumpled his face with anger .

“Which bastard killed them?”

“We are not sure about that . ”

“What do you mean you are not sure?”

“There were signs that magic was used, but some of the bodies had stab wounds made from a sword . Therefore, I think there was more than one person responsible for their deaths . ”

“Some sort of group then?”

“It didn’t look like a big group killed them . I think two or three people might be responsible . ”

“Two or three…”

Roman took a sip of the strong liquor he had placed on the table . He felt a burning sensation in his throat and started to calm down a little .

“Did you say there were injuries made from a sword?”

“Yes . ”

“Huh . A swordsman, not a wizard…”

Calvin and the dark magicians in the lower village were the least skilled of their kind . However, about 100 of them were living there . Unlike the old saying, “There is strength in numbers,” the number of magicians in the village didn’t matter . They all died anyway .

“Wait . Didn’t you say there was a new visitor in town a few days ago?”

“Yes, I did . ”

“Is he possibly the one who wielded the sword? As you know, we don’t have any swordsman residing in our town . ”

“But a swordsman can’t just enter the town either . ”

“But all visitors are intended to be sacrificed . So, it doesn’t matter if he or she is a wizard or a swordsman, because they would be allowed entry either way . ”

“Do you…think that’s true?”

Roman’s subordinate had some doubts and scratched his head . In all of their history, they never allowed a non-magician entrance into Moros . The magicians of Moros City took pride in this strict policy .

“Just find the perpetrators first . You can go and look for witnesses or track the magic that remains there . ”

“What will you do when you find them?”

“After we find them, we must kill them . Even if the residents in the village were killed, nobody can touch us because we are the strongest dark magicians . ”

Others had despised the dark magicians for a long time . Therefore, they had developed strong ties amongst one another . Compared to the general magicians, who usually valued individualism, they were just a little better because no one cared for each other like the dark magicians .

“More than anything, if people start to look down on us, we are done . For now, people are quiet because we have Ouroboros to intimidate them…” Roman clenched his teeth and jumped out of his seat . “We can’t go back to how it was like in the old days . ”

Thump, thump—

Roman walked along the hallway of the mansion . The disaster in the small village gave him an ominous feeling . He could not sit still anymore .

***

Su-hyeun looked at the wall that was in the distance . It was the high wall surrounding the great town .

Malcolm came up to Su-hyeun and said, “If you want to run away, I will help you . ”

Su-hyeun looked back at him . “Didn’t you say nobody can run away?”

“I did, because even if you go over the wall, you will be surrounded by the sea . This place is an island . ”

“And Ouroboros is in the sea . ”

“Yes . ”

“Knowing that, will you still help me?”

Malcolm nodded heavily . “If that is what you want . Helping you will be my duty . ”

Su-hyeun seemed to be aware that he would become a sacrifice . Therefore, Malcolm thought that Su-hyeun was looking at the wall because he was trying to escape .

“Sitting down and waiting for death is not my thing,” Su-hyeun said .

“Then—”

“I don’t need your help . ” Su-hyeun stopped leaning against the wall and started to walk off . “I will be back . ”

Malcolm did not stop him, but he watched him walk away with a sorry look . Su-hyeun walked out of Malcolm’s house and looked around at the magicians on the street .

‘I have 27 days left . ’

It was the time he had left until he would become a sacrifice for Ouroboros .

‘I have enough time . ’

It was not long ago that the dark magicians appeared in Moros . They had been hiding in the shadows of the city . However, after they gained control of Ouroboros, they gained control over the town as well .

In reality, the dark magicians weren’t very powerful . Nevertheless, other magicians had no choice but to leave them alone because of the existence of Ouroboros .

‘Here they are . ’

Su-hyeun stared at dozens of dark magicians who wore black robes in the middle of the street . They were walking around and asking magicians questions as if they were looking for someone .

It seemed that they were questioning everyone because of the mess that Su-hyeun had made in the lower village of the dark magicians . He jammed on the hat that he took from Malcolm’s house and hid in the crowd . He began to follow the dark magicians while in disguise .

***

“Damn it!”

Roman, who was very annoyed, kicked a small stone on the street . The dark magicians gathered around Roman in a secluded area in the alley .

“How has no one seen anything?” Roman shouted .

“Should we search through Malcolm’s house?”

Roman turned his head and glared in his subordinate’s eyes .

“Are you insane? I told you! Do not mess with him! What are you going to do if he became crazy and decided to kill everyone?”

“Y-you are right…”

“No one knows about Ouroboros better than he does . For the sake of keeping control over Ouroboros, we must not get on Malcolm’s nerves . Do you understand?”

“I’m sorry, sir . I did not think straight . ”

“You idiot . ”

Even though Roman rebuked him, he understood why he asked that question . It was hard to find any clues anywhere . The magicians were usually by themselves, and they did not look around thoroughly .

‘Calvin, that bastard, is disabled . ’

Calvin, the only survivor, was not in a state of being able to answer questions .

“Is something not going well?”

Thump, thump—

A quiet, young man’s voice was heard down the alley . The dark magicians turned their heads to the direction that the voice came from .

“Who is he?”

“I’ve never seen him before . ”

“Is he on our side? Does anybody know him?”

The man was wearing a robe and pulled his hat over his eyes . They could not tell if he was a dark magician or just an ordinary magician . However, one thing was certain . Nobody knew who he was .

“I am sure all of you know me . ” Su-hyeun took off the round hat on his head and dropped the robe to the ground . “I am the one you are all looking for . ”

“Swordsman?”

“Is he…?”

When Su-hyeun took off his robe, they could all see the sheath on his waist area . The dark magicians stared in surprise . The man who they were looking for brought himself to them .

“Get that bastard!” He shook his finger at Su-hyeun and yelled as he grasped the situation .

“Wait . ” Su-hyeun raised his hands and said, “I’m not here to fight . Calm down and let’s talk . ”

“Bullshit . ”

Roman had no intention of talking to Su-hyeun . He was an enemy who had killed many of the dark magicians .

Swish—

Clank—

Whoosh—

The dark magicians released their dark magic upon Su-hyeun . The black magic came from them like a tsunami as they released a curse on him that attempted to tie up his body . Black flames and lightning strikes were dealt to Su-hyeun as well . Roman licked his lips in dissatisfaction .

“Did we kill him too easily?”

‘Even if we did kill him, we could mutilate his body . That way, we could show an example to other people to not disturb us . ’

Just then, they heard a sound .

“That one hurts a little . ”

Whoosh—

Roman was surprised when he heard Su-hyeun’s voice emerge from the black flames . He supposed to burn to death or should have turned to ash, but he was standing before them without a mark on his body .

“How…?”

“I guess you are all not ready to talk yet…” Su-hyeun thought for a moment . He nodded and said, “Hey, Miru . ”

Gya-ong—!

A cry came from above . At that moment, the dark magicians lifted their heads .

“Silence . ”

Miru, who was flying over the sky, cried out . Then the sound from the dragon disappeared . When no sound was heard, the dark magicians raised their heads in surprise . They were never aware that a small dragon had been flying above their heads .

‘Silence magic?’

Roman looked around in surprise . Silence magic was a form of space magic that muted sounds . It was not unusual for a divine beast to deal with magic . A top-ranking class divine beast, like a dragon, could easily use Silence magic . However, Roman was confused as to why Su-hyeun had used this form of magic . It would have been better for him to attack the dark magicians before they noticed the dragon .

The dark magicians opened their mouths to shout something, but no sound left from them . The Silence magic was muting them from talking to one another . There was also no sound made from the unsheathing of the sword . At that moment, Su-hyeun’s body quickly disappeared without a sound .

‘Where did he go?’

He was directly in front of them but still managed to disappear . Since they could not hear any sound, they could not anticipate his location . Since they were unsure of his whereabouts, they began to fear that Su-hyeun’s sword could attack them at any moment . Roman hurriedly raised his hand to reverse the silence spells around him .

Slash—

He felt a burning sensation around his neck . Roman hurriedly touched his neck in surprise . The blood came out when he moved his hand away .

‘When…?’

When Roman looked around, other dark magicians also were bleeding from their necks just as he was .

Woosh—

Thump—

Just then, the sound of the wind came loudly, and Roman could feel Su-hyeun right behind him .

“If I was going to kill you, you would be dead already . ”

At the words of Su-hyeun, Roman looked around at the bloody, red lines on the necks of the dark magicians . This man, during this short time, cut all their necks with a sword . The wound was not deep, but even a fool would know that if Se-hyeun wanted to, their heads would have been cut off by now . That would have been easy for him . It is actually harder to make such a shallow cut as he has just done to them .

“I could still kill you if I wanted to right now . ”

Roman looked at Su-hyeun and held his breath . No one spoke easily . The Silence magic was gone, but it was very quiet as if the magic was still keeping them all, except for Su-hyeun, mute .

“I think we’re ready to talk then . ” Su-hyeun grinned with satisfaction and nodded .

‘Talk?’

Roman’s face was pale as he shook his head . A conversation with a sword to his neck could not be called a conversation . This was an act of intimidation .