Chapter 229: Darkness
The former glory of Elven civilization, as shown in Serandil’s painted scrolls—had it been built upon this very foundation, upon such profound excavation of the nature of Mana and such limitless refinement of life itself?
If every elf among them had been able to enjoy such a gospel...
Then what kind of unimaginable abyss of horror must the Dragon Race have been, to drive so flourishing a civilization to the brink of extinction, perhaps even to bury it entirely? And the Demon Race, which later records said had become entangled with it—how terrifying must that have been as well?
The fleeting thoughts flashed past, only to be pulled back by reality.
Ilyss’s gaze fell to his blood-soaked, empty right hand, then moved to the side of his face, which had gone a little pale from blood loss and that desperate outburst of power.
In the depths of her amethyst eyes, complex ripples of emotion stirred without cease. Her lips parted slightly. In the end, however, she compressed the turmoil in her heart into a single quiet sentence.
“...Thank you.”
Ryan shook his head. The motion tugged at the injury in his right arm and made him frown faintly.
Vera was already walking toward Rex, who still stood rigid in place, his face twisted into a savage grimace by the remnants of the illusion.
At her fingertips gathered a thread of pale cyan wind, so gentle and cool it was almost like flowing water. She lightly touched it to the center of his tightly furrowed brow. The breeze sank in like water seeping through stone, trying to smooth the turbulent waves in his mind and wake him from the nightmare.
In the distance, at the stone doorway that had lost its door and become nothing more than a gaping hole, Lillian cautiously leaned half her body out.
Her face was still tangled with lingering tension and worry.
But when she saw the Illusion Spider’s corpse lying in the distance like a collapsed hill, utterly motionless, the light in her ice-blue eyes flared at once. She let out a long breath and showed a look of immense relief.
Then she immediately cast another anxious glance back into the doorway, clearly still worried about the unconscious Eleanor.
And yet, at the very instant those taut nerves loosened slightly because the powerful enemy had finally fallen—
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Crisp, mocking applause suddenly rang out from the direction of the stone doorway.
Everyone turned their heads at once.
There, behind Lillian, stood someone who had not been there a moment ago.
A young man with blond hair and a face that might have been considered handsome, were it not for the sinister satisfaction in his eyes.
One of his hands rested casually on Lillian’s shoulder.
Lillian’s entire body was frozen stiff. Her face had gone deathly pale, and her lips were pressed tightly together. Her ice-blue eyes were full of terror, yet she could not move in the slightest.
At the back side of her neck, the tip of a dagger gleamed coldly against her skin.
And the hand holding that dagger was the very same one resting on her shoulder.
Randall.
The classmate who had obtained a place at the academy alongside them and entered the ruins with them.
“Wonderful. Truly wonderful.” Randall wore a smile so disgusting it made the skin crawl. His gaze swept over Ryan in his battered state, over Vera and Ilyss with their guarded expressions, and finally landed on the fallen corpse of the Illusion Spider. He gave a low whistle. “I really didn’t expect it. You lot actually managed to kill this big thing. You’ve saved me quite a bit of trouble.”
“Randall! What are you doing?! Let Lillian go!” Rex had only just been awakened by Vera, and his head was still throbbing, but the moment he saw Lillian being held hostage, his eyes went red. He roared and made to charge forward.
“Stop.”
Randall spoke lazily, and the dagger in his hand pressed forward just a little.
At once, the keen edge bit a thin red line into Lillian’s pale neck, and a single drop of blood welled out.
“Take one more step, and I can’t promise this young lady’s pretty neck won’t end up with a new opening in it.”
Rex halted as though someone had cast a binding spell on him.
He stopped so abruptly it was almost violent. His eyes were split wide with rage, and his fists clenched until the joints cracked, but he did not dare take another step.
Ryan slowly straightened.
His gray eyes turned cold as they fixed on Randall. His voice was hoarse, yet it carried almost no emotion at all.
“What do you want?”
He did not question him. He did not hysterically demand to know why he was doing this.
It was almost as if he had expected it all along.
“What do I want?” Randall tilted his head as though he had heard something amusing, and his smile widened. “Obviously... what’s behind you. And—”
His gaze passed over the motionless little blue bird in Ryan’s breast pocket, swept across Ilyss and Vera, and finally returned to Ryan’s face. The mockery in his tone was undisguised.
“Your lives.”
Still holding Lillian hostage, he took two steps forward and fully emerged from the shadows of the stone doorway.
Only then did Ryan and the others see clearly that Lillian was not merely pinned by a dagger. Around her body were several faint dark-red bands of Mana, like shackles, sealing both her movements and her magic.
Her eyes turned toward Rex and Ryan, full of urgency and worry, but she could not make a sound.
“Randall! We’re classmates! The academy forbids us from killing one another!” Rex growled, trying to restrain him with the rules.
“Classmates? Killing one another?” Randall snorted with laughter, as though he had just heard the greatest joke in the world. “Rex, you really are adorable in your innocence. Did you think His Highness the Second Prince went to all the trouble of shoving me into these five spots so I could come play house with you and be your loving classmate?”
Second Prince.
The words hit like thunder in the minds of everyone there except Ryan and Ilyss.
Rex’s and Vera’s expressions both changed. Shock flashed through Lillian’s eyes as well.
“My mission is simple,” Randall said leisurely, as though victory was already in his hands. “Keep an eye on the little rat sent here by Her Highness the Royal Princess and see what she manages to find. Then, at the proper moment...”
He licked his lips, and a cruel light flashed through his eyes.
“Clean up all the people who are in the way and take anything valuable back with me. Of course, if I can conveniently strangle a few promising geniuses here while I’m at it, that would be even better. After all, you lot are either people of the Royal Princess, or the sort who might one day side with one of the other princes. Either way, you’re all potential trouble for His Highness the Second Prince’s grand cause.”
Still holding Lillian, he pressed several more steps forward.
His gaze passed over Ryan and the others and landed on the broken stone doorway and the dim glimpse of the library inside. The greed in his eyes grew thicker still.
“I was originally planning to wait until you and that spider had both worn each other down—or until it killed you outright—before stepping out to clean up the leftovers. I didn’t expect you to be this capable.” Randall clicked his tongue, sounding almost regretful. But the next moment he grew smug again. “Still, this works too. You’ve just finished a battle. Some of you are wounded, some of you are exhausted, and your Mana should be nearly dry by now, shouldn’t it? Saves me the trouble of putting in any extra effort.”
He raised his free left hand.
At his fingertips, green wind element and silver lightning element began to gather and coil around each other, giving off soft crackling pops.
Plainly, he possessed considerable magical talent as well, and specialized in wind-and-lightning compound magic.
“Now then, I’ll give you two choices.” Randall’s tone was one of contemptuous generosity. With a glance, he indicated the direction of the nest entrance. “First, be obedient and move aside. Go stand in that corner over there. Let me go inside and take what’s there, and if I’m in a good mood, I might leave you with intact corpses.”
“Second—” His smile twisted into something savage. He tightened the dagger in his hand again, and Lillian’s brows drew together in pain. “I cut this young lady’s throat open right now... and then I take my time playing with the rest of you. Which one do you choose?”
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