Footsteps echoed within the darkness, disrupting the peaceful, deadly silence. As the footsteps grew louder, so did the luminescence of a purple light.

Wisteria examined the area around him, a hovering purple flame tagging by his side. Although he had been walking for almost an hour through the dangerous Dark Forest, he had been attacked by nothing, but also found nothing.

"I have to find the entrance towards the Necromancer's domain." He thought," According to the novel, Fleur somehow gets sent to the Dark Woods and becomes the target of his obsession when they meet. If I manage to find it, I can mark it with my Mana and do something about it-- and hopefully delay what comes after that..."

Despite the prolonged afternoon stroll, he wasn't tired for he had received an endless Mana bank from the Sacred Tree-- but he was growing bored.

"Everything looks the same..." He complained to himself, "That tree, mossy patch, and face-like rock looks like those trees, mossy patches, and rocks that I saw not long a---- Wait."

He walked closer towards the tree, then to the moss patch, then to the rock and studied them carefully.

"They are the very same ones!!" He rejoiced, "Then, it should be around here---"

He placed both hands in front of him, his palms facing up. He accumulated a large amount of Mana into his hands, and with a "Go!" the Mana dispersed around like a ring of mist. Instantly, the reality in front of him cracked like a broken mirror, shattering into an even darker forest area. Right in front of him, there stood a large array of animal and human skulls piled into the shape of two large doors, and a series of runic inscriptions arranged into a crimson circle. It was the physical gates to the Necromancer's domain!

"Ingenious." He thought, admiring the complexity of the runes. "The caster made two security spells-- the looping spell, and this complex runic spell I've never seen before..."

He took a few careful steps forward and studied the spell.

"I'm not the best at runic magic, so I better not tramper with it in case it backfires on me." He thought and stepped back, "For now, I'll bury an alarm and teleportation spell in this area."

-----CLATTER, CLATTER, CLATTER-----

Before he could get on his knees, his attention was drawn to the array of skulls. Each individual skull began to clatter or spin in semi-circles, increasing in intensity each passing second.

"Really!? At a time like this...!?" He absorbed the purple flame into his body, and dashed behind the tree closest to the gates.

The ominous array parted in the middle, the sound of cracking and crunching bones overlapping one after the other as the physical gates swung open. And within the emptiness of the opened gates, a sudden surge of golden light filled the void. The portal had been activated.

Wisteria stared wide eyed at the whirling portal. While, on one hand, he was frightened to meet the Necromancer with whom we would fight to his death, on the other hand, he was just as curious to see how he looked like. In the novel, the writer described him as a tall, wide-shouldered, vicious man with long white locks. As for his face, it was never revealed since he masked himself behind a spell that distorted his appearance into a featureless face, even to his death.

Being born into this world as Wisteria Lilac, he had the advantage of having an effect on the original storyline. He swore that, if he is unable to undo his fate and battles the Necromancer to death, he would make it a top priority to remove his mask and peek on his face before he bites the dust. This, of course, was a way to give himself a small incentive to remain positive if things didn't go as planned.

Having thought of an alternate goal, he felt more at ease to confidently watch the events unfold ahead of him. From within the light, arguing voices grew louder as two people dressed in spiked armor walked out, shoving each other at their shoulders.

"Shut up, Jawsmine. Watch your mouth, hah!" The red armored one mocked.

"And you watch your ugly steps, Footunia! Your feet stink so bad it hurts, heh!" The blue armored one mocked back.

"You speak as if you have a nose!"

"Who are you to judge when you don't have one, either!"

And just as their argument went on, Wisteria noticed both soldiers really did not have a nose, and not only that. They had no eyes, ears, skin--- nothing but bones! Jawsmine and Footunia were the Necromancer's reanimated skeleton subordinates!

He never expected to see them at all. The original Wisteria would have never met them, since all conflicts involved the Necromancer alone.

"Whoa--!" Unable to hold himself back, he unintentionally let go of a quiet whisper of excitement. So far, the events he had lived through as Wisteria Lilac were pre-novel events, so every person he had met so far were never mentioned in the novel. But to see actual characters in a live-action setting was almost surreal--- and not to mention, Jawsmine and Footunia were the few non-human characters!

"Shh---!" Jawsmine commanded. "I heard something."

Footunia didn't protest and listened.

Wisteria remained still behind the tree, quietly enveloping himself in a mantle of Mana to conceal himself. But before he was able to complete the spell, he turned his head and saw a cluster of moving skeleton feet and lower mandibles hurling towards him!

"Shoot!!" He gathered the Mana he was building for the concealment spell into his palm and swung down, propelling himself into the air with an explosion.

"It's a sorcerer!" Footunia's gaze followed the shape of a young man flying above.

"He broke through the illusion spell!?"

"Darn! And right when our lord isn't home-- Ow!!"

"Shut up, idiot!" Jawsmine smacked the back of Footunia's helmet, "What are you doing announcing that to the enemy!?"

"And you just confirmed my words to the enemy, idiot!"

"W--- AHHH!!"

POOOOF!

With a blast of Mana, every foot and lower mandibles pursuing Wisteria were turned to dust.

"That blast was as powerful as our lord's magic..."

"We're f*cked..."

Wisteria landed softly onto the ground and looked around. Seeing his chance to escape, he once again raised his hand and pointed towards the sky. He gathered enough Mana to activate the teleportation spell and---

Snap!

...

Snap!!

.....

By this point he had gathered more than enough Mana for the spell, but he was still in the Dark Forest!!

"What's going on---- Huh!???"

Right below his feet, a red circle of rune inscriptions surrounded him! It was the same crimson inscriptions painted at the door!

He refocused his attention towards the portal. Jawsmine and Footunia were frozen in confusion near the gates and it didn't seem like they were the ones who activated the spell. There was no one else around, so it was most likely an automatic spell set to react to either the Necromancer's property being damaged, or simply the use of foreign magic.

Either way, things were not looking good. He extended his hands forward and ----Zap!---- as he thought, the runes created an invisible barrier keeping him trapped...

The barrier most likely blocked Mana from activating. So, the other alternative was to create his own set of runic inscriptions to counter the spell--- since, unlike regular spells, runes didn't require Mana as long as the caster used their magic-rich blood and the correct symbols.

However, runes were his greatest weakness in magic. If he were to make even one mistake in the rune formula, it could end his life.

But meeting with the Necromancer wouldn't be that much different----

So he decided.

He was going to attempt the counter rune spell and----

"What do we have here?"

Wisteria froze.

The deep, threatening voice. The menacing presence...

It had to be none other than the one who would cause his imminent death--- the Necromancer!!