In the training grounds, formless bursts of spiritual power shot through the air, precisely piercing the distant targets.
Lately, Ansu had been cultivating his spiritual power according to the methods of the Source Essence School.
At this moment, he materialized his formless spiritual power. Every strike was silent, yet carried a sharpness capable of piercing through anything.
Falco and Talier stood at the edge of the field, staring at the mithril armor opposite them—now riddled with countless holes—and looked at each other in disbelief.
“That is enchanted mithril armor. How could it be pierced so easily?” Talier said, unable to believe her eyes.
She had forged this armor with her own hands. Normal magic thrown at it wouldn't even leave a scratch, yet Ansu's spiritual power had repeatedly punctured it as easily as paper.
Falco's expression turned uncharacteristically serious as he muttered in a low voice, “If he wanted to kill us right now, we wouldn't even sense a single ripple of mana. Su's ability... is honestly terrifyingly strong.”
While the two were whispering, Hoffman walked in.
He glanced at the ruined mithril armor, then shifted his gaze to Ansu. “Su, come with me outside the city.”
The outline of Ansu's spiritual body flickered slightly in the air as he asked curiously, “What for?”
“To attend a meeting,” Hoffman said. “It's a meeting about dealing with the God of Magic. It might give you some ideas.”
Ansu immediately understood his meaning. His purpose in returning to the Second Era in the first place was to find a way to defeat the God of Clamor and Filth.
“Though I'm afraid the road won't be very safe,” Hoffman added.
“You suspect there will be another assassination attempt?” Ansu asked.
“Our faction has always been under enemy surveillance,” Hoffman said flatly. “We can be assassinated even inside the academy, let alone outside. Once we leave the City of a Thousand Stars, we will likely face a large-scale ambush very quickly. Bringing you along will serve well as an early warning system.”
Ansu readily agreed. When he first met Hoffman, he had relied on his sharp perception to catch the assassin's faint spiritual fluctuations. Early warning was indeed his specialty.
“Master, we'll go with you!” Talier immediately grabbed her one-handed axe from the wall and shouted.
Arnold also put down the manuscript he was organizing and stood up solemnly.
However, Hoffman shook his head. “You stay here.”
...
Leaving the magic academy through a teleportation circle, Hoffman brought Ansu to a small, deeply religious city in the south-central region of the Norn Empire.
The cobblestone road wound forward, with white-robed priests walking past from time to time.
Hoffman walked in front, suddenly speaking to Ansu behind him: “The current situation is highly unfavorable for us. Within the Norn Empire, the Divine faction that supports the God-Making Project is powerful. We, who call ourselves the Rationalist faction, stand alone with pathetically few allies we can win over.”
“The person I am taking you to meet today is already the most influential supporter I have managed to find after years of effort.”
Ansu nodded. The conflict between the Divine faction and the Rationalist faction had long been irreconcilable.
The Divine faction had single-handedly spearheaded the God-Making Project. After the initial trials and adjustments, the "God of Magic" proved invincible on the battlefield, driving the expansion of the Norn Empire's borders.
The deployment of a god-tier weapon brought unprecedented benefits to the empire.
Therefore, what Hoffman was fighting was never just a single faction.
Behind the "God of Magic" project stood the Senate, the military, and deeply entrenched interest groups. With such massive interests at stake, no party would ever back down. Once this war machine was set in motion, it could never be stopped.
Hoffman was practically standing in everyone's way.
As they walked, Hoffman suddenly asked, “Su, since you come from...” He paused. “You must know very well when the God of Clamor and Filth will descend?”
Ansu fell silent for a moment before replying, “I cannot tell you the exact time.”
The air grew still, and Hoffman went silent as well. Only after a long while did he mutter in a low voice, “Fair enough... I understand your concerns. But since you had to return here to find an answer, I suppose it must be an absolute catastrophe. Even if my current efforts seem insignificant, at least it proves... that what I am doing is right. I am not just worrying over nothing.”
Ansu sighed softly in his heart. It turned out that even someone as strong as Hoffman would have moments of self-doubt when facing a world full of enemies.
Stubbornly walking against the current like this, Hoffman also wanted to know if the path he insisted on was truly the right one.
Suddenly, Ansu caught an extremely faint spiritual fluctuation from far away. “Due south... spiritual fluctuations. Be careful.”
Just as he finished speaking, Hoffman asked, “How far can you perceive right now?”
“I haven't measured it precisely,” Ansu thought for a moment. “Compared to the last time I warned you, my current perception range is at least ten times stronger.” He scanned his surroundings. “About... half the city? Give or take.”
Hoffman eyes flashed with awe. “Doesn't that mean you can detect any caster in the academy constructing a spell model?”
“Yes, as long as I want to,” Ansu said. “On a spiritual level, this is an absolute information advantage. It's just that my offensive means are limited right now, but if I coordinate with you...”
Before he could finish, Hoffman's eyes suddenly sharpened as his mana quietly began to gather. “It seems it's time for us to work together.”
Ansu spoke rapidly, “At your six o'clock, Arcane Bow!”
Hoffman soared into the air, countless meteor-like Magic Shards circling and hovering around him. The next second, one of them whistled out.
With a sharp bang, the Magic Shard pierced straight through the wall of a distant building, precisely killing the assassin hiding inside.
Ansu quickly turned his head again. “Three o'clock, Night Comet!”
Hoffman cast an instant spell, and another Magic Shard flew close to the ground like a shooting star, breaking through a window.
A scream echoed from the distant two-story building. Immediately after, a corpse with a hollowed-out head tumbled from the balcony, crashing heavily onto the cobblestone street. Pedestrians scattered in panic.
“Directly behind you, there's a spiritual fluctuation.” Ansu was most vigilant about this one; the person was hidden extremely deep, an assassin proficient in shadow magic.
“I see this one.”
Hoffman immediately turned around and raised his hands slightly. With a loud rumble, two earthen walls abruptly rose and slammed violently into each other.
As the dust swirled and the shadow magic slowly dissipated, nothing but a mangled, unrecognizable corpse remained in the shadow of the two earthen mounds.
Just like that, after calling out six consecutive positions for Hoffman, even Ansu was a bit speechless.
Just how many assassins had they sent... Was this some kind of saturated assassination?
The next second, Ansu suddenly looked up. “Watch out!”
A thunderous roar erupted as a bolt of lightning descended from the heavens, a terrifying magical force crashing down.
Ansu realized in an instant that all the previous assassinations were merely setups, all for this final, decisive strike.
Then, he saw Hoffman's eyes light up with a deep blue glow. The man seemed to transform into a boundless source of mana as a powerful magic forcefield rose from the ground, actually managing to withstand the lightning strike head-on.
“Wait for me!” With a cold laugh, his figure instantly soared into the sky, disappearing into the clouds.
Thunder continued to roar in the sky, echoing for a long time.
Ansu waited on the ground for quite a while.
Hoffman descended back to the ground. His mage robes bore a few charred marks, but his expression had calmed down significantly. “It's settled,” he said, looking at Ansu. “Let's go.”
On the top floor of the cathedral in the center of the small city, there was a room with a window overlooking the entire town.
Seven people in black and gray mage robes sat in a circle. Aside from them, there was also a white-robed church cleric.
Outside, the sky was gloomy, and a cold wind seeped through the cracks of the window.
The flames on the candelabra flickered gently, casting long, swaying shadows of the figures against the wall.
“The Divine faction is getting more and more insane,” an old man sighed. “Hoffman, I still suggest you stay in your own territory for the time being and don't come out. Ever since you submitted that proposal to the Senate, their intent to kill you has only grown stronger.”
“Hiding won't solve anything.”
The one who spoke was the middle-aged man in the white clerical robes.
“I think it's better to take the initiative. Since they like to assassinate, we will kill them too. Let's paint the Norn Empire red with their blood!”
Ansu recognized this person at a single glance.
He had seen him during his last time travel—Julius, Hoffman's close friend, born of nobility, and also the first Pontiff of the Church of Holy Light.
Rate on N.U.
