Silver was a mage who wielded ice and water, as well as the leader of a small mercenary band.
He had hidden a spike of ice prepared in advance behind his back.
He had been the first to suggest a conversation, but he already knew the current situation would not be resolved with a few words.
He merely snickered as he watched Evan stand blankly before him.
‘Rookie.’
He could sense faint traces of magic. There had not been many gunshots from above either, so it was easy enough to tell that Evan had done something with magic.
But that was all.
There was no sign of a magic circle prepared in advance, nor was Evan hiding his hands and secretly forming seals. His mana was so faint that Silver could not even tell which school it belonged to.
‘His mana is practically at the level of an ordinary person.’
He was a rookie through and through, one who did not even know what to prepare when facing another mage. Silver nearly burst out laughing when he looked at the gun in Evan’s hand.
A mage carrying a gun was no different from announcing to the whole neighborhood that he had no confidence in his own ability.
The instant Evan raised the muzzle, Silver launched the hidden ice spike.
The spike hurtled forward. It was too fast to allow even a moment to pull the trigger.
‘Game over.’
That was what he thought.
“……?”
Beneath the old, dim hanging lamp, he watched the ice spike ‘embed itself’ in midair.
CRACK—!
Silver’s eyes, which had held a trace of laughter, widened for the first time.
‘A defensive spell?’
He had not seen Evan cast it, but there was nothing strange about a mage keeping several spells prepared in advance.
However, a prepared spell always left footprints of mana in one form or another. Reading those footprints was also part of a mage’s skill.
Yet there were no footprints around Evan.
There was only that faint aura, too weak for him to seem like a mage in the first place.
‘What in the world is this?’
What had he missed? Or had Evan concealed it through some other method?
He had no time to stop and think. The raised muzzle was right before his eyes.
Silver hurriedly released one of the spells he had prepared. The air froze, forming a wall.
Magic from the Aquaen school, which dealt with water and ice, excelled at defense.
It was not something a few handgun rounds could pierce.
‘This will buy me time to decide on my next spell.’
A duel between mages was a contest of moves. This had put him one move ahead.
The moment he thought that…… he realized the muzzle was not aimed at him.
“What are you trying to…….”
Silver watched Evan angle the gun even higher.
The trigger was pulled.
BANG—!
The bulb shattered, and darkness descended.
“…….”
A silence so deep that he unconsciously stifled even the sound of his breathing.
He could not see an inch in front of him.
‘What is he thinking?’
Mana was, by nature, something one saw. Seeing it directly was what gave it precision.
Imprecise mana was no different from an empty echo. Most long-range magic was shut down.
‘Is he trying to turn this into a brawl?’
But Silver had cybernetic eye implants.
He could see even after darkness fell.
Silver smiled with a nasty curl of his lips.
“I don’t know what you are thinking…… but it seems you have misjudged the situation, have you not?”
Silver focused mana into his hand.
“Aquaen, Novar, Crealis.”
Ice Magic, Beginner, Creation
‘Frost Forge’
A frozen dagger formed, and he grasped it.
At the same time, he activated his cybernetic eyes.
【Infrared Vision Activated】
“I’ll give you credit for trying to make up for your lack of experience with an unexpected move. But that only amounts to showing off your inexperience all over again…… Hm?”
Silver blinked.
He still could not see.
A UI in the corner of his vision clearly showed that infrared detection was functioning normally.
Yet he could see nothing, as though black fog had settled before his eyes.
“What in the world is happening…….”
That was when the voice began.
“Creating darkness from a blank slate demands a heavy price. It isn’t remotely cost-effective, but…….”
“Ghk!”
Silver swung his dagger toward the voice.
Only the futile swish of air being cut spread through the room.
“Deepening darkness that is already in place by a little isn’t difficult. Did you think I hadn’t accounted for cybernetic parts?”
“What are you?”
For the first time, cold sweat ran down Silver’s back. Without realizing it, he had clenched his teeth.
What kind of magic was this? What school did it belong to?
Was it not magic? Had his cybernetic eyes been hacked without him noticing? Was Evan a Net Runner rather than a mage?
Could that bastard see?
‘No. He can’t. There’s no way. He’s just bluffing.’
At that instant, his vision flashed.
A human silhouette lunged at him.
“Aaaargh!”
He swung the dagger. Only afterward did he realize it had been a hallucination.
“Hah, hah…….”
A hallucination created by magic? Such a thing could not exist.
This had to be nothing more than a phantom born from his imagination.
Where did the magic begin?
How far did the illusion extend?
“What the hell are you trying to do?!”
By then, the ice mage was screaming at the top of his lungs and swinging his dagger wildly. Directionless mana whipped around, scattering fragments of water and ice.
“I know you’re bluffing! I don’t know what kind of bullshit trick you pulled! What can a bastard like you even do?! That gun? You’re going to shoot me with it? Try it! Let’s see if you can break through my defense! It won’t work, you son of a bitch!”
“Are you scared?”
“I’m not scared, you bastard!”
“Do you know what I discovered was the most effective weapon while researching this power?”
At that instant, the hallucination charged again.
“Shut up!”
Even though he knew it was a hallucination, his arm moved on reflex.
“Fear.”
“Bullshit!”
“It’s cost-effective, and it’s a poison with no antidote.”
Silver’s ice dagger sliced through empty air once more.
Then came a slicing sound, and the dagger caught on something and stopped.
“……?”
It was not a hallucination.
Something had lunged at him. It seized Silver hard by the shoulders and shoved him backward. After several stumbling steps, his foot caught on something, and he toppled onto his back.
“Aaaargh!”
Only when it came right up to his face could he finally see what it was.
“Grrrgh…….”
It was one of his own subordinates.
The face visible through infrared vision held no expression. Eyes like gaping black holes. White pupils. A mouth hanging open.
“Graaagh!”
Those teeth sank into Silver’s shoulder. Burning pain surged through him.
“Aaaaaaargh! Aargh! Aargh!”
He no longer had the leisure to think about what kind of magic it was, what school it belonged to, or what it truly was. Reason finally drowned in fear, and all that remained was instinctive thrashing.
Silver flailed.
The dagger pierced its neck.
There was a sharp crack.
The brute strength of Silver’s cybernetic arm snapped its neck. When it twitched for a moment, Silver was finally able to break free.
But what came immediately afterward was…… a sharp sensation.
He did not need to look to know that the cold point of a dagger was pressed to his Adam’s apple.
The calm voice came again.
“I stood by and watched because I wanted to see how magic from the Aquaen school was used.”
“Y-you son of a…….”
“I wasted my time watching a pathetic dance.”
Feeling the blade dig in, Silver sobbed.
“Y-you’re not a mage. Right? A demon. You demon bastard.”
“I keep telling everyone I’m not, but nobody believes me.”
“Ugh, uhhhh…….”
Evan watched the blue orb of soul gathering in his hand through eyes stained red.
It was a mage’s soul.
“Hmm.”
He looked down for a moment at the mage, who lay motionless with his eyes rolled back, then rummaged through an inner pocket of his cloak and pulled something out.
Click.
The beam from the flashlight lit Evan’s face from below.
“Looks like he didn’t even have a flashlight. This is the problem with bastards who rely on that cybernetic-whatever nonsense.”
Tsk, tsk.
Dealing with the two lackeys who had been with him was nothing.
Taking advantage of one man’s terror, Evan shattered his soul with the Soul-Eroding Seal and absorbed it with the Spirit-Sealing Bead.
As for the other, he left the soul unabsorbed, twisted it from within, and turned the man into a zombie.
“Grrrgh…….”
That zombie now lay sprawled on the floor, completely spent.
Evan watched it for a moment, then approached Lara.
Her breathing was ragged, but judging from the state of her soul, her life was not in danger.
“I’ll untie you. Hold still.”
“…….”
Lara narrowed her eyes slightly against the flashlight and stared fixedly at Evan until he had undone her restraints.
She could not have seen much with the light shining at her, so what was she staring at so intently?
Lara slowly rose. For a moment, she looked as though she might remain standing, but then she staggered and collapsed into the chair.
“Fuck my life.”
“That’ll do for a thank-you.”
“Haa……. Cough! Cough!”
After groaning softly, Lara turned on the computer and manipulated something.
There came a sound like some kind of generator starting up, and then lights resembling those in an underground parking garage came on one after another across the vast space.
It was far brighter than when they had relied on the dim hanging lamp. Evan raised a hand to shield his eyes.
Only then did the ruined scene become visible.
Various furnishings and machines soaked in water. Chunks of ice that had yet to melt. Blood spread across the floor.
Lara lowered her head. Her red curls, clotted with blood, hung limp.
Evan could see that the corners of her mouth were raised.
“The interior design that embodied my philosophy is a wreck now.”
Lara raised her head and looked at the hanging lamp Evan had shot apart.
“That light fixture was the highlight, too.”
“I thought the theme of your décor was ‘Pack up and run if things go wrong.’ I suppose there was some deeper philosophy at work?”
“Could a mage possibly understand the philosophy of the purest Innocent in Asle? Ha, of course not.”
Lara sank into the chair, resting her blood-soaked body against it as she looked at Evan.
A faint smile lingered around her unfocused eyes.
“Thanks for saving me.”
“I saved my property.”
Evan spoke while staring at Lara’s ears, exposed now that her headphones had been removed.
As though she had noticed his gaze and was inviting him to look more, Lara propped her chin on the desk.
“Why? Are you exploring my other charms? I won’t give you my contact information even if you ask.”
“Want to bet on which of us asks for the other’s contact information first? If anything, I feel like I’m visiting a zoo. I know an elf living in the slums is a rare species.”
He fell into thought as he looked at those pointed ears.
Elves were a long-lived race.
In this world, most long-lived races were wealthy.
After all, living a long life meant endless opportunities.
Evan looked briefly at the attackers sprawled around them.
“This seems like an excessively elaborate raid just to catch one elf Net Runner living in a basement. What happened?”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s personal. Besides, it looks like even a mage knows enough. It’s only natural for a Net Runner to earn a few grudges, isn’t it?”
Lara snickered and rose unsteadily.
“Let’s just talk business. About the job. It isn’t finished yet. But how about we clean this place up and take our time talking? I’ve got something to tell you…….”
When Lara let the sentence trail off, Evan turned his gaze to her.
Her face had gone rigid, and her eyes were fixed on something.
“What’s that dagger?”
He looked at the dagger lying on the floor.
It was the gaudily decorated black dagger he had happened to pick up upstairs earlier.
Lying in the middle of a pool of blood, the dagger was sucking in the blood around it.
That was when a voice rang out inside Evan’s head.
【Mmm, so sweet—】