-Where am I right now…!
“I don’t know who you’re talking to, but come on, you shouldn’t be doing that with someone right in front of you.”
As he reached out his hand, Yerna immediately moved her body in response to a mysterious instinct she couldn’t explain.
In that instant, a burst of black flames erupted from her grip.
Pachik-! Puraeng!
‘Magic…?’
She wasn’t holding a cane, was she?
How did he manage that?
“Ugh!”
Thud, thud.
Chunks of the broken phone fell to the floor.
She quickly turned her head to dodge it, but the phone was ultimately destroyed.
The ringing in her ears and the pain in her hand were just the icing on the cake.
What kind of result had just appeared? She had to infer it from her tingling hand and the high-pitched ringing in her ears.
‘An explosion? Was it a fire-type attack magic?’
“Khuh, ahahaha! I really like this power, more than I expected!”
Dylan cackled.
Yerna, clutching her ringing ears, glared at him while thinking.
In modern times, a cane required incantations and basic calculations for magic to manifest.
But for some reason, he completely ignored that process.
She knew there were cases where that method was possible.
‘A Circler…? Dylan? Since when?’
Circlers are those who can’t remove or deliberately choose not to remove the circle engraved on their hearts. Some of them can research or train their circles to manifest primitive forms of magic.
However, such people are generally rare.
Circle magic is a perilous technique that risks one’s life every time it’s used, and the development methods for circles vary for each individual; hence there’s no structured way to learn.
Only those who are determined to use “non-standard magic” would stubbornly insist on such a dangerous method.
Those who illegally use magic in that way are scorned by the world as “Circlers.”
In a modern world where class magic utilizing a cane is commonplace, there’s no need to risk one’s life to use magic for ordinary living.
However, something felt off about him being a Circler.
The Circlers Yerna had seen until now didn’t use magic so casually.
For them, circle magic was always a last resort, like a hidden card in life-or-death combat.
But to waste such a technique while possessing overwhelming superiority didn’t make sense.
That ‘Dylan’ wouldn’t risk his life for something trivial.
Wasn’t this almost like he was ‘showing off’ to her?
‘Look at this power I have right now.’
If that were the case, it meant the cost of using that technique was almost nonexistent or extremely minor…
‘How is that even possible?’
At that moment, Dylan gestured with his chin to his subordinates, who were spread out to the left and right.
“Hey, go and capture her.”
“Yes!”
They all answered in unison and approached her.
‘Why isn’t he using magic this time?’
If the cost was that low, wouldn’t it have been simple to keep using magic?
For some reason, could it be impossible to use magic multiple times?
Perhaps it was worth considering that possibility.
Yerna quickly shifted her gaze and assessed the situation.
“You don’t stand a chance, you know. If you surrender peacefully, I won’t kill you on purpose, how about it?”
Dylan chuckled.
It was preferable for him to toy with her while keeping her alive rather than killing her outright.
If he didn’t secretly hope she would accept the offer of surrender, that would be a lie.
Third floor, isolated space, multiple opponents, and she was alone without a cane.
In a situation where she was lacking in location, numbers, and power, what could she do?
However, even a single advantage could turn the tide dramatically in a battle.
As a man’s hand approached, Yerna immediately lowered her posture and shrugged his hand off with her shoulder.
“-!”
She grabbed his body, which had fallen onto her shoulder, and twisted her waist.
A clean throw.
Clang-!
The window shattered and sprayed shards everywhere.
“Ahhh-!”
She heard the scream of the man falling beyond the broken window.
If he fell headfirst from the third floor, honestly, she couldn’t guarantee his survival, but with a bit of luck, he might survive.
She decided to stop worrying about his life.
There was a hand right beside her, grabbing her wrist.
Immediately, she swung her arm in a wide arc, easily twisting the man’s arm.
Having grabbed the joint in the opposite direction, she followed up by kicking his ankle, sending his body into the air.
“Ugh!”
When a person suddenly loses contact with the ground, they instinctively panic.
Yerna pushed away his arm, bent behind her.
The man, with the force applied in mid-air, flew away awkwardly as if he were a twig, colliding with the approaching men in black suits.
He looked like a reed swaying before the wind.
“Damn it, what the hell?”
“Get out of the way, hurry!”
As they tangled up in a comical display, a few who had been standing still near the entrance, having completed their incantation, brandished their class-restricted illegally modified canes and shouted.
“Larme Aganum!”
Larme and Aganum. A fourth-class physical attack spell.
A combination of a linear ray projection type and penetrating physical spell, the result was a physical destruction ray that flew in a straight line.
If a human got hit by that, it would leave a hole as thick as a finger.
Though it’s not often used because monsters lack situational control, it’s a deadly spell often used against humans due to its considerable lethality and relatively low trace left behind compared to other spells.
Yerna knew all too well about that magic.
After all, she had used it several times herself.
So they really intended to kill her? She had suspected as much.
Thud, thud!
Yerna immediately twisted her body to dodge the magic’s trajectory and tore off the curtain, throwing it.
Whack, crack, smack!
The magic pierced through the curtain, but there were no sounds of human impact or painful screams.
With the sudden visual obstruction of the curtain, they could not aim properly, making it unreasonable to expect a hit.
Even so, they continued to cast magic, betting on that slim chance.
The white rays mercilessly tore through the curtain, creating finger-sized holes like a beehive, but still, no cries were heard.
And when the curtain finally fell due to gravity, she had already vanished.
As if it were magic.
“What!?”
“Could it be, she jumped down?”
Those who were aiming their canes all voiced their surprise in unison.
Meanwhile, Dylan let out a hollow laugh.
“Haha! That crazy girl.”
Even after twenty years, her recklessness and eccentricity hadn’t faded at all.
Those elves, really.
“What are you doing, you idiots! Hurry up and go down and find her!”
———-
Luke quietly admired the numerous animal cages around him and the diverse animals inside.
“Oh, look at this. There are quite a few animals. We could set up a zoo.”
Was it because it was a research facility?
It seemed there were many lab animals for experiments.
There were also many special animals on display.
However, they were all silent, seemingly due to their captivity or the influence of Dragon’s Fear, as none of them made a sound.
He thought they were perfectly under control but perhaps it was a bit inexperienced?
“Haha, looks like the kids are quite scared, huh? Don’t you think?”
“……”
There was no answer.
They simply walked silently.
“Hmm….”
Luke looked at the man walking in front of him, but he hadn’t tried to engage in conversation since earlier.
Was he someone who didn’t like children?
For someone who was relatively cheerful, he didn’t seem to have much love for kids.
Just when he thought that might be the case and began to dismiss it, something caught Luke’s eye.
It was a birdcage containing a bird.
Luke rushed over to the cage, filled with excitement.
“Oh! Isn’t this a Black-billed Golden Hawk!”
The Black-billed Golden Hawk.
A bird with striking golden feathers.
With its characteristic agility and sharp claws, it was a nightmare for small animals that became prey, and due to its double the flight speed compared to other hawks, it boasted tremendous strategic value in the past, commanding a high price.
But that wasn’t all; the golden feathers of the Black-billed Golden Hawk were excellent magical materials.
A quill made from its golden feathers could significantly reduce mana consumption when creating scrolls, and due to its delicacy, it could facilitate very intricate writing, making it a rare material even worthy of royal supply.
Moreover, the brighter the feathers shone, the higher their value…
“Right now, it doesn’t seem to shine much.”
The golden feathers were worth more when they were closer to a golden hue, which depended on the psychological state of the hawk.
But perhaps due to fear or being trapped, the skin of the hawk bore a dull, negative yellow hue.
Feeling sorry for it, Luke brought his finger near the cage and murmured softly.
“What are you so afraid of?”
But the moment Luke’s hand touched the hawk.
Snap!
Luke’s hand was caught as if snatched from behind.
The man accompanying him had grabbed Luke’s wrist.
“Hey, kid! Don’t touch the merchandise!”
“Oh, it was merchandise? Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to…”
“Ugh, why is it even uncovered?”
The man grumbled as he covered the cage back with a cloth.
“……”
Ah, I see. So that’s why they kept it in complete darkness.
It was also a good method to keep the golden feathers intact.
Once left alone in the dark, even merely being exposed to light could bring a sense of relief and happiness.
To the Golden Hawk that had grown up in repeated suffering, even a hint of kindness would feel profound.
The value is perceived differently between someone who is merely a little thirsty and someone who is dying of thirst for the same drop of water, isn’t it?
As a mage, it wasn’t beyond understanding such methods. A mage would also utilize any easier means available to achieve their objectives.
In the moment the cloth covered the cage, Luke locked eyes with the hawk’s emotionless gaze.
“……”
Its gaze held no trace of expectation, resembling a mere ornament.
Surely he had no intention of interfering with someone else’s property, nor did he have a desire to.
But…
He couldn’t help but think that he still disagreed with this approach. Perhaps it was because he had changed.
