Squelch—!
“...”
Silabein stood frozen in place. He slowly lowered his head, staring at the black spear impaling his chest. Warm liquid continuously seeped from the wound, soaking the fabric of his shirt until it was impossible to tell where the red ended and the black began.
...It was an attack that had surged from his own shadow. His faded red battle aura had failed to block it.
Silabein raised his head to glare at Shulim, lifting his right hand holding the mithril sword.
However, before he could make another move—
Squelch—!
Another black spear shot out from the surrounding shadows, impaling his body.
Squelch! Squelch! Squelch...!
Black spear after black spear erupted from the ground, skewering Silabein's body until he resembled a pin-cushion.
Whoosh—!
Shulim drifted slowly back down to the ground. She sheathed her mithril sword, took her wand in both hands, and quietly watched Silabein, who was staring back at her.
“Shadow... Spear... How... is this... possible... Just who... are you...”
Blood surged up his throat and clogged his windpipe, turning his voice into a muffled rasp.
“...”
With his Life rapidly draining away, Silabein summoned the last remnants of his will to raise his right hand, pointing his sword at Shulim.
Shulim raised her wand.
“【ᛓᚠᛏורᛈתᛖᛜᛚᚱᛜᚾᚢᛃᛜᛚᛄᚪᛡᛏᛗᚠᚺᛜᛖᛃᚱᚪיᛏᚠᛜᛞᚺᛜᛓᛃᚾᚺᛜᛟᛏᛃᛄᛜᛞᛈᛃᛡᛚᛖᛋ】”
“Shadow Spear!”
Clatter—!
The mithril sword slipped from Silabein's grip and hit the ground. His eyes grew increasingly unfocused. In the final moments before the flame of his life burned out, he summoned his remaining strength to lift his head and stare at Shulim.
“...Gulos... won't... let... you... get away with this...”
Silabein's breathing stopped.
“...”
Shulim gazed down at Silabein's corpse in silence for a long time, feeling not the slightest trace of joy in victory.
...
“【ᛃᚠוᛏᛜᚾᛃᛞᛈᛜᛏᚠᚪᛡᛃᛋקיᛚᚺᛜᛃᚾᚪᛜᛖᛄᚠᚳᛜᚪᛄᛏᛚᛜᚠᛜᛓᚠᚺוᚾᛜᛣᛃᛈᚱᛄᛜᛒᚪᚲ】”
“Heal!”
Gentle white light enveloped her body, her injuries mending at a visible pace.
Once she felt her movements were no longer impaired, Shulim stopped casting the healing magic. She cast a glance at the warehouse building that had been reduced to rubble and walked toward it.
Clearing away some collapsed debris, Shulim descended into the underground stronghold through the passage Silabein had smashed open.
The underground hideout was deathly silent.
Every member of the organization as well as the captive illegal slaves had been plunged into a full day and night's slumber by the Dragon's Dream Incense.
Ignoring the organization members collapsed along the pathways, Shulim headed straight to the area holding the captive slaves.
Looking at the crowd of illegal slaves lying passed out inside, Shulim gripped her wand in both hands and unleashed a spell.
“【ᛖᚢᛋᛒבᛤᛜᛓᚠᛃᛖᛚᛜᛈᛒᛁᛖᛡᛣᛚᚠᛈᛒᛡᛏᛒᛞᛚᚲᛜᚢᛞᚺᛜᛖᛄᚠᚳᛜᚹᛚᚾᛡᚪᚠᛒᛜᛃᚾᚪᛜᛚᚠᚲᛃᛜᚪᚠᛖ】”
“Nature Control!”
Rumble!
The floor and walls began to flow and shift.
Crack, crack, crack...
The stone slabs above the cells shattered, and the soil parted to reveal a large opening. Then, the earth beneath her feet surged upward, forming a flight of stairs leading directly to the opening above.
Once the exit was created, Shulim continued manipulating her magic. Massive hands made of earth sprouted from the ground, lifting the unconscious slaves and carrying them one by one up to a safe, open area above ground.
Though Shulim had concocted an antidote for Dragon's Dream Incense, the antidote worked differently than the incense itself. While the incense vaporized into gas to poison large numbers of people at once, the antidote had to be ingested orally.
Even with the leftover antidote she had prepared, it was nowhere near enough to treat every illegal slave.
Rather than curing only a few and introducing unpredictable variables, it was better to let them wake up naturally after a day. By then, they would likely be secured in a safe place under protection...
Once all the illegal slaves were safely relocated to the open ground above, Shulim returned to the underground hideout once more.
She went to Silabein's room, gathered all the documents regarding the illegal slave trade, and brought them back to the surface, placing them prominently in the middle of the sleeping slaves.
“It's time to end this...”
Shulim said calmly as she looked at the slaves lying on the ground. Gripping her wand in her right hand, she headed underground once more...
“Fireball.”
Boom!
The exploding fireball instantly set one of the underground rooms ablaze.
“Searing Shroud!”
Boom!
A curtain of fire spread, consuming the underground hall in flames.
When Shulim reached the Dark Prison and saw an open cell door alongside a completely empty cell, she fell into deep thought.
“Fireball...”
As she unleashed one Fire magic spell after another, a raging inferno spread rapidly throughout the underground complex and soon breached the surface. In no time, towering flames illuminated the docks. Aside from the illegal slaves who had been moved to safety, all the organization members collapsed across the pier were swallowed by the blaze.
A dark force that had long lurked beneath the royal capital was reduced entirely to ash by the flames.
Having taken care of everything, Shulim did not leave via the surface.
She returned underground once more, heading to the deepest part of the Dark Prison.
Rumble!
With a heavy rumble from the stone door, a hidden secret passage slowly slid open.
Gripping her mithril sword, Shulim stepped cautiously into the pitch-black tunnel.
Rumble.
As the stone door closed behind her, Shulim vanished completely from the underground hideout...
Tap, tap...
Inside the narrow, dark passage, footfalls echoed clearly.
Tap.
At a certain point, the footsteps stopped.
“Is this it?”
With the aid of Illuminate magic, Shulim carefully examined the stone door at the end.
After feeling around for a bit, she discovered the mechanism to open it.
Rumble.
The stone door moved aside, revealing a wooden trapdoor above.
Shulim pushed the trapdoor open and stepped out.
It was an ordinary room that looked abandoned for a long time, covered in a thick layer of dust.
Examining the room closely, Shulim quickly picked up a single set of footprints. Tracking them, she could tell the person had been flustered and had taken several items from the room.
She surmised those were likely emergency funds left behind in advance.
Following the footprints to the main hall, she spotted the soaring flames in the distance through a window. The safe house wasn't far from the pier, clearly intended solely as an escape route.
The footprints led straight to the door. Judging by the wiped-away dust on the handle, the intruder had already fled.
Creak—!
Shulim pushed the door open and set off in pursuit, relying on her tracking skills...
“Hah, hah, hah...”
Inside a dimly lit alleyway.
Zev was running for his life, gasping heavily. His lungs burned as if on the verge of exploding, his eyes were bloodshot, and his vision was blurry with double images.
He had been poisoned.
Normally, he should have stopped to find a way to treat the poison, but he didn't dare. He feared that if he stopped for even a moment, he would pass out and be hunted down and killed...
Though Zev was a coward who acted tough, he wasn't a complete idiot. He had long known that an escape route existed in the headquarters, and over the past few years, he had mapped out its exact location.
Although the Dark Prison had strict security measures, as one of the developers of those facilities, Zev knew how to break out.
When he had been thrown into the Dark Prison before, he hadn't considered using his knowledge to escape directly. Even if he made it out, he would have been recaptured within two hours, leading to an even grimmer death. Thus, he had preferred to gamble on surviving inside the Dark Prison.
Because the Dark Prison was situated in the most secluded, poorly ventilated corner of the underground hideout, the vapor from the Dragon's Dream Incense reached it last. Consequently, Zev had been exposed much later than the others.
When he saw the organization members collapsing around him, Zev immediately realized something was wrong. Without hesitation, he broke out of his cell and sprinted for the secret passage hidden in the depths of the Dark Prison.
Compared to the other members who didn't know about the escape route and could only stay behind to resist, taking the passage was unquestionably the better choice.
The escape route from the Dark Prison led to an unassuming house near the docks.
After pushing open the trapdoor in that house and escaping headquarters, Zev had immediately rummaged around the room for something specific: a poison that inflicted excruciating pain and caused heart and lung failure within a few hours.
Though a risky move, it was the right choice for Zev at that moment. The intense agony brought on by the poison counteracted the sleep-inducing effects of the Dragon's Dream Incense, buying him precious time.
After grabbing the supplies hidden in the safe house, he quickly fled, knowing the enemy might easily track him there.
Just as he left the house and fled into a nearby alley, two loud booms echoed from the direction of the docks.
Zev reflexively looked back to see what was happening, only to witness Silabein standing atop the collapsed warehouse, facing off against Shulim.
Zev was thoroughly shocked. He had assumed a powerful rival faction was attacking their headquarters, never imagining it was that young girl.
That realization sent a cold shiver down his spine. He didn't know how she had accomplished it, but if she could wipe out their entire organization, catching up to him would be child's play.
Frightened out of his mind, he kept running as fast as his legs could carry him...
He ran for he didn't know how long.
Drip, drop.
Blood began to trickle from Zev's nose.
It was a sign that the poison was eroding his body. Common sense told him he needed to take an antidote immediately, but he didn't dare. The overpowering drowsiness kept clawing at him, growing stronger rather than fading over time.
His consciousness grew hazier, his vision so blurred he couldn't even tell where he was running.
Thump.
Ultimately, he tripped over the uneven cobblestones. He struggled to get back up, but his body wouldn't obey.
After an indefinite amount of time...
Tap.
A footstep sounded nearby. Hearing it, Zev forced his head up, staring in that direction with bloodshot eyes. Through his blurred vision, a solitary figure emerged.
Despair washed over Zev.
“...”
Shulim said nothing, merely staring down at him in silence.
Zev dragged his body forward, lifting his head to beg for mercy. “P-Please, spare me! I'm just a nobody! Everything I did was forced! Our organization is just cannon fodder for Gulos! We had no choice!”
Gulos...
Shulim frowned slightly. Invisibly, she felt as if an unimaginable darkness was waiting for her up ahead.
“...I'll give you all my money! I beg you, let me live!” Zev pleaded desperately. “I swear I'll turn over a new leaf! I'll become a good—”
Pfft!
“—person...”
Zev slowly looked down at the mithril sword run through his chest. Blood leaked relentlessly, staining his clothes dark red.
“Pfft...”
Coughing up mouthfuls of blood, he raised his head, as if refusing to accept reality. “Wh-Why... did it... end up... like this...”
Thump.
His body collapsed weakly to the ground.
Shulim slowly withdrew her mithril sword.
“This is the path you chose,” she said softly.
A few seconds later—
Whoosh!
A burst of fire erupted in the alleyway, while Shulim's figure vanished once more into the dark streets.
“Hurry! Move it!”
“Those damned underground rats dare to cause such a massive disturbance in the royal capital! We must bring them to justice today!”
“Sir!”
Over a hundred knights from the defense knight order, mounted on armored swiftfoot beasts, thundered through the streets like a hurricane, charging toward the blazing docks.
Shulim, wrapped in her black robe, slipped into the roadside shadows, avoiding the knights' sight.
Watching the retreating backs of the knights, Shulim did nothing, silently turning and leaving the area...
News of the dock fire spread like wildfire throughout the royal capital.
It wasn't because of the fire itself—such a blaze alone wasn't enough to capture the interest of the capital's populace. What drove everyone's discussions was the illegal slave trade uncovered in its wake.
Word was that upon arriving at the burning docks, the defense knights immediately noticed the more than two hundred unconscious people. Judging by their condition, the Vice Commander leading the operation instantly deduced that they were illegally captive slaves.
Protection measures were enacted right away.
While securing the victims, knights uncovered a treasure trove of criminal evidence left by the underground organization.
This evidence fully exposed a sinister trade ring operating beneath the empire's surface.
Based on these records, the empire subsequently arrested hundreds of officials, nobles, and crooked merchants across the country.
The crackdown brought immense satisfaction to the public. Naturally, the topic everyone found most fascinating was the mysterious entity who had dismantled the underground syndicate, rescued over two hundred souls, and brought everything to light...
“It had to be a passing A-Class adventurer!”
“Not necessarily. I bet it was a low-profile organization for justice.”
“It's definitely an A-Class adventurer! What kind of organization would do something like that?”
“No, it had to be a group. Otherwise, how do you explain how over two hundred people were transported to safety?”
“Uh, well...”
Shulim sat eating her lunch in peace, surrounded by chatter about the dock fire. Occasionally, arguments even broke out over the topic.
Though a bit noisy, thanks to them, Shulim learned how the incident had played out.
The slaves had been rescued and were being repatriated by the empire. Official figures involved with the underground syndicate faced severe crackdowns. While she couldn't be sure if every last perpetrator had been caught, at least no one would dare commit such atrocities again anytime soon.
“...The food in Langard really is delicious.”
Finishing her meal, Shulim wiped her mouth and stood up to leave the inn.
The debates regarding the dock fire faded into the distance behind her. Looking out at the bustling street traffic, Shulim recalled the dessert shop Collette had recommended.
“There are still a few days before school starts... Mmm, I'll go eat some desserts to celebrate!”
With her goal set, Shulim's figure quickly merged into the bustling crowds of Langard and vanished.
...
...
It was the night after the dock fire incident.
The docks remained in ruins.
Inside a ruined structure, three figures clad in pitch-black hooded robes stood silently in a triangular formation.
“Can someone tell me what happened?” one of the black-robed figures spoke slowly. “We came all this way to receive a shipment of goods, but now not only are the goods gone, but the traders are gone too.”
“...”
His two companions remained silent, evidently not having anticipated this turn of events either.
“Hey! Who are you people?”
A guard patrolling the area noticed the three and shouted a demand.
Yet none of the three reacted.
The guard immediately drew the sword at his hip and pointed it at them. “Identify yourselves immediately! Otherwise, I won't be polite!”
“Sigh...”
One of the black-robed figures suddenly let out a sigh. He turned around slowly and walked toward the guard.
“Halt! Stop right there!” the guard yelled nervously.
Indifferent to the warning, the black-robed man casually raised his right hand.
“?”
The guard stared in confusion, unsure of what the man was trying to do.
“You guards of Langard really lack manners,” the black-robed man said softly. “I hate people pointing swords at me. So... don't do it in your next life.”
Snap!
With a snap of his fingers, a pillar of fire erupted from the ground, engulfing the guard completely.
“Aaaagh—!”
Amid agonizing screams, the guard's body gradually dissolved into ash.
Illuminated by the blazing light, the sleeve of the black-robed man's raised arm slid down, revealing a demon tattoo etched onto his right arm.
As the screams faded, he lowered his hand.
“Should we head back and report?” one of the black-robed figures behind him asked.
“No, if we return empty-handed, we'll surely be punished,” the other replied.
“...True enough. So what do we do now?”
“Hehehe, hehehehe...”
The black-robed man in front suddenly chuckled, his dark, roomy hood unable to conceal his deep gaze shining in the gloom.
“We obviously can't just leave empty-handed. Since the goods are gone, we'll just go find new ones~!”
“Find new ones?”
The two companions exchanged glances.
“That's right~ Langard has that place, doesn't it? That academy! I hear it's full of the highest-grade prey. As long as we take a few, everything will be fine~!”
“That academy...”
The two companions hesitated. One of them said, “I don't mind, but wouldn't that carry a huge risk?”
“What's a little risk?” the leader laughed. “We, the servants of darkness, never fear death~! Darkness shall cover the world, and eternity belongs to Gulos!”
The two black-robed companions paused before speaking in unison:
“Darkness shall cover the world, and eternity belongs to Gulos—!!!”
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