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Chapter 116: Towards Midnight

“Are you serious?”

I stared directly into Taylor\'s wavering eyes.

“It\'s highly likely.”

“What evidence do you have that Elder Parin is involved?”

“If not, it\'s all too sloppy.”

After a moment of contemplation, Taylor shook his head.

“That\'s a leap in logic. Even if the Blue Magic Tower is close to Urgon, this is going too far. Elder Parin has no reason to antagonize us.”

“Think carefully.”

“What?”

“The facts don\'t lie. Unless those two are in cahoots, there\'s no explanation for why Balkan invited Parin. If you remove Parin from the equation, Urgon\'s actions become amateurish, something he wouldn\'t even consider. Stupid. Does that sound right to you?”

Taylor couldn\'t answer.

Because even he thought it was too sloppy.

“Last night\'s gathering was orchestrated from start to finish.”

“…”

Taylor closed his mouth and furrowed his brow. I also sat in meditation for a moment, organizing my thoughts.

Cunning.

It\'s likely that Elder Parin was targeting Samael from the beginning.

But why?

I hadn\'t even grasped Urgon\'s intentions, and now there was Parin as well.

It\'s like being stuck in a snake\'s mouth, wandering in pitch-black darkness.

Suddenly, Taylor looked at me and said,

“It\'s too early to jump to conclusions. Even if Elder Parin is an accomplice, there\'s something that doesn\'t add up.”

“No.”

I couldn\'t be wrong. There was evidence of Parin\'s involvement.

“Fichte must have been targeted.”

“You mean poisoned with the Toxic Liquor?”

“The Toxic Liquor was just a smokescreen.”

I spoke about what I had been suspecting.

“They must have been targeting him from the start.”

“What are you talking about?”

Taylor looked at me with an inquisitive gaze, but I didn\'t say anything more.

This was something I couldn\'t explain.

Even if I did, Taylor wouldn\'t understand.

Fichte\'s darkened complexion that had changed in just a few days.

The icy chill I felt when we shook hands.

If my memory serves me right...

This damn symptom clearly points to one thing.

‘Kill Fichte and frame Samael?’

The deeper I delved, the more I felt like I\'m falling into an endless abyss.

It\'s as if I went to the banquet with the mindset of a hunter stalking a lynx, only to be suddenly confronted by a horde of monstrous beasts.

Taylor, who had been observing my changing expression, said,

“Control yourself, Ruin.”

In a fit of rage, I slapped Taylor.

"Telling me to control myself when I haven\'t done anything. You idiot."

Taylor glared at me.

"You\'re so unpredictable."

"Get rid of that damn annoying look. I\'ve played along with Urgon\'s tune enough."

I suddenly turned my head and looked around the cramped room with no windows.

"I can\'t tell how much time has passed."

No light could enter from anywhere.

It felt like hours had passed, but I couldn\'t be sure. It could be day or night.

"Tick-tock."

"...You\'re starting your crazy antics again."

"I have to set my internal clock somehow. Tick-tock."

Others might think it\'s crazy, but this was actually a magnificent kind of crazy. I can feel it.

That thrilling excitement from holding my breath for a long time, waiting to crush the heads of the demons swarming beyond the ridge.

That annoying Pelleer described that period of patient waiting like this:

— Towards midnight.

Endurance for one perfect moment.

Of course, Pelleer didn\'t count the time with his mouth. But that\'s not important. It\'s actually far from my usual style, but this time I\'m going to try imitating Pelleer.

"They\'re here."

Clang!

The iron bars opened at once, and the Red Phoenix Division, led by their grandmaster, poured in.

"Drag him out."

I pointed at the Red Phoenix Grandmaster.

"Any changes outside?"

The Red Phoenix Grandmaster grinned.

"Resist, and I might tell you."

"Not yet."

The guys who roughly grabbed my arms dragged me down the hallway to the basement. The woman who grabbed my right arm happened to be that seductive one, so I looked at her.

"Your allure is endless."

Layla smiled as she held my right arm under her armpit. The moment we entered the basement, darkness and the stench of blood filled the air. As I was dragged through the narrow corridor lined with imposing iron bars on both sides, my gaze fixed on one spot.

\'Cliff?\'

His face was half-hidden by blood-matted hair, but I was sure. Torn clothes revealed flesh and dried blood clinging to it. The seductive woman whispered softly.

"Scared now, are you?"

"Move your armpit. It stinks."

"Moron."

Layla snorted and, along with the other members of the Red Phoenix Division, threw us into a small room at the very end of the basement and slammed the door shut.

When the Red Phoenix Division disappeared, I looked around the small, pigsty-like room and touched the iron bars again. A bone-chilling coldness emanated from them.

"This time it\'s Cold Iron."

Cold Iron is a metal far stronger than even black iron.

This is basically treating me like a prisoner outright. I turned my head and asked Taylor,

"What do you think?"

"I\'m thinking."

"Remember Moose?"

Taylor looked at me with a questioning gaze.

"I told you. If you keep enduring, you\'ll become a sucker. Look at the situation now. What is this if not being a sucker?"

Just as Taylor was about to reply, footsteps approached. Of all the Red Phoenix Division members who had disappeared upstairs, Layla was the one walking back towards us.

"How are you feeling?"

The seductive woman smirked from behind the bars.

"Why are you the only one back?"

"We have some history, and I volunteered for guard duty. I was curious how you were feeling, so I came to ask."

"You\'re incredibly seductive."

Layla\'s face hardened for a moment, then softened into an expression of pity.

"Still acting nonchalant? Even though today\'s your last day."

I deliberately widened my eyes and asked,

"...What?"

Layla\'s expression turned cold, then she burst into laughter.

"Today\'s your last day. You should have taken my offer when you had the chance. Did you think I was joking?"

Taylor quietly called out to Layla.

"...Layla."

Layla shot Taylor a venomous look.

"Serves you right. Don\'t expect any sympathy from me now."

Curious after hearing all this, I asked,

"Who do you think you are?"

"What?"

"Who do you think you are, you seductive woman? Spouting nonsense about \'opportunities\' when you\'re about to be dumped by Libre? You chose the wrong man. You shouldn\'t trust a guy with such perverted eyes so easily. Of course, that\'s especially true considering you\'re just an average squid in the \'Relative Squid Theory\'."

Layla, who had been acting all relaxed, suddenly lost her composure and flew into a rage.

"What the hell did this bastard just say?"

"Listen, you\'re about to be dumped. Don\'t get so angry and just tell me what\'s going on outside. I feel like my internal clock is about to go off."

"This fucking bastard."

Just then, as if on cue, footsteps sounded from outside.

A servant carrying a tray of food approached with his head bowed.

"Tick-tock. Looks like they\'re at least giving us a meal."

A small rectangular section on the right end of the iron bars clanged open.

The servant pushed the tray through the opening and raised his head.

I suddenly made eye contact with the ugly servant. As I received the tray, a small piece of paper was slipped into my hand.

I glanced at it discreetly, keeping an eye on Layla...

— Sword Guild declares Ardehain, Ardehain youth unconscious, Samael in danger.

I nodded and muttered,

"It\'s confirmed."

Sensing something unsettling in my tone, Taylor said,

"Control yourself."

"The time has come."

"I said control yourself."

"You want me to stay put?"

"Once everything is certain, it won\'t be too late to act. Making a move now is suicide."

"Nothing is 100 percent certain."

"There is an optimal moment."

"That\'s how you become a sucker, idiot. Coward."

To be honest, even if I stay put, the chances of the worst happening aren\'t high.

Parin and Balkan don\'t know Loren\'s identity. As long as Loren is there, Samael won\'t be falsely accused. But that\'s not my style, and...

"That wasn\'t Samael."

The seductive woman appeared again and glanced at the tray in front of me.

"Not going to eat?"

Only then did I notice the pale, watery gruel on the tray.

"Eat, asshole. It\'s your last supper."

Suddenly, I thought of Blackie, but I shook my head and grabbed the iron bars. The chilling coldness of the Cold Iron seeped into my palm. Layla met my eyes from outside the bars.

"Pissed off? So what? What can you do about it?"

I turned my head to look at Taylor. Seeing him about to get angry at me, I spoke first.

"I lost, idiot. Let\'s prepare for the worst, like you said. You take care of the aftermath. I\'ll draw their attention, and you use that opportunity to escape with Arin and Blair."

I reversed the circle in my heart.

"I\'ll do things my way. No matter who the enemy is. I\'ll make sure they never think of me as a sucker again."

"..."

"I have to show them clearly. That\'s Samael."

While resonating with the mana of the Yin dimension, I infused the iron bars with Dark Lightning.

Layla watched what I was doing, then burst into laughter.

"You fool. What do you think you\'re doing with that idiotic... huh?"

Saaa—

The center of the iron bars suddenly vanished, and Layla\'s eyes widened in disbelief. I easily tore out the remaining bars and stepped outside.

I was about to throw the iron bar aside, but it fit nicely in my hand, so I changed my mind.

\'It\'s like an iron bar made of Cold Iron.\'

"You, you bastard, what are you...? How...?"

As Layla abruptly turned to run, I raised the iron bar high.

"It\'s midnight."

Whack—

"Crack!"

I swung the Cold Iron Bar and struck the back of the fleeing woman\'s head. A clear sound, as if I had struck her skull directly, echoed like the chime of a clock: Deeeng—

Caught completely off guard, Layla fell face-first to the ground, unconscious. Blood gushed from her head.

"This is useful."

As I quickly made my way through the narrow passage, I locked eyes with the ugly servant waiting at the entrance.

"P-please give me the antidote."

"Sleep tight. Sleep is the antidote."

I quickly ran to the first floor, where I spotted two members of the Red Phoenix Division from behind. As I slipped between them like the wind, I made eye contact with one. His eyes were filled with a million question marks.

I broke through the two men and dashed across the hallway. Only then did bewildered shouts erupt from behind.

"What? ...Catch him!"

"The prisoner has escaped!"

Sensing the incoming waves of mana, I swiftly dodged left and right. Ice spheres grazed past me.

Pava—bat!

In that instant, the distance between me and the two men widened slightly.

As I sprinted, I opened my circle and expanded my senses. I could feel Urgon\'s lackeys stationed outside the building and the magic barrier surrounding them.

"Catch that bastard!"

As I approached the entrance, a large number of Urgon\'s lackeys appeared.

I charged straight through the barrage of magic coming from both sides, then abruptly changed direction.

\'Wind Armor.\'

With a resounding boom, I slammed my body into the black iron bars, breaking through them and entering the room to the left.

It was a sealed room with no windows.

If there\'s no path, then make one.

I focused on the wall and charged.

\'Haste.\'

\'Levitation.\'

Multiple spell activation.

4-circle Haste and Levitation activated simultaneously.

My body lifted from the ground, and with accelerated speed, I smashed through the wall.

Fwoooosh—! Crash!

I burst through the wall, soaring high above the roof, and took a deep breath.

"Ah, how refreshing!"

Gaining momentum and shooting upwards, I saw a shimmering barrier in the air.

A massive magic barrier formed a defensive wall, tightly sealing the sky.

I rotated my four circles once more and chanted the formal incantation.

"Chilling Hand of Pure White"

4-circle water attribute,

The incantation containing the most potent chill.

Chilling Hand.

I concentrated the cold energy flowing through my right hand into the Cold Iron Bar. The surface of the Cold Iron turned completely white, imbued with pure white coldness.

I was now right in front of the magic barrier.

Focusing on a single point in the shimmering barrier, I drew back the pure white Cold Iron Bar and thrust it forward like a javelin.

Simultaneously, I focused the Wind Armor surrounding my body entirely on my right hand, bracing for the impact.

Creeeak— With a grating sound, a tiny crack appeared in the magic barrier and instantly spread throughout the entire structure.

Like shattering glass.

The crack that started from a single point extended throughout the barrier, shattering it completely.

Kwajijijijik—

Finally, I raised my head in mid-air and admired the scenery of the sky.

"So many stars."

It was a quiet night. The stars were twinkling.

The forest-scented path, bathed in the starlight pouring from the sky... truly, this is what peace of mind and the romance of magic are all about.

Suddenly, I looked down and snapped back to reality. Fifteen members of the Red Phoenix Division were staring up at me, their faces a mixture of shock and awe.

Their faces were a mix of disbelief that I would even attempt an escape, anger at my audacity, and astonishment at my ability to break the magic barrier. It was a cocktail of emotions.

The Red Phoenix Grandmaster was nowhere to be seen. Only the underlings remained.

I hovered in the air and warned them,

"Don\'t attack. If you don\'t get in my way, I won\'t kill you."

As soon as I spoke, the lackeys collectively began drawing hand signs. I expected as much. Urgon\'s men had stronger unity than I thought.

But that was all. By my standards, Urgon had few competent men. Red Phoenix Division, Azure Dragon Division, whatever—they were all just a bunch of insignificant underlings. Moreover, I was confident in my ability to handle a crowd.

Saaa—

Countless ice shards and needle-sharp ice arrows arced through the air, raining down on me.

Being airborne, my movements were restricted.

I couldn\'t maneuver freely in the air at my current level. After a moment of consideration, I had no choice but to let the wind take over and started spinning.

It was the first time I tried this.

But the arrow had already left the bow, and there was no turning back. Enveloped in Wind Armor, I kept spinning like a top.

Faster. Faster.

The Wind Armor around me fluctuated, generating a powerful wind pressure.

Fwaaaang—

The magic attacks launched by the lackeys couldn\'t penetrate the wind pressure and were reflected back towards them.

It was like a localized 6-circle Reflection Shield.

For the first time, I felt a step ahead of the Mad Sorcerer from my past life.

Laughter burst out of me without me realizing it.

"Hahahaha!"

As the barrage of magic subsided, I stopped spinning.

I swung the Cold Iron Bar, sending the chill it held swirling towards the ground.

As I watched the blizzard spread, I took in the surrounding scenery.

The members of the Red Phoenix Division scattered in panic.

The icy onslaught that had been directed at me moments ago now plunged towards the ground. A blizzard swept over it all.

The forest path was instantly covered in pure white snow.

The sight was so beautiful that I burst into laughter again.

"Hahahahaha."

The starlight was pouring down as well.