Somewhere deep in the mountains of Gangwon Province.
Yoo Ah-yeon and Jung Jae-won, who had been tailing Lee Seo-jun’s party, had been wandering through the mountains for about an hour.
Following Lee Seo-jun through the portal gate and arriving in Gangwon Province had been easy enough, but the real problem came afterward.
In their efforts to avoid being caught, they had completely lost track of Lee Seo-jun’s party.
“Ah, this is bad. We’re totally lost.”
To make matters worse, they were now lost in the mountains. The mountains of Gangwon Province were well known as monster fields.
Especially at this late hour, the monsters in the field would become more ferocious. Even the most seasoned mages avoided venturing into the mountains at night because of the danger.
— Grrrr…
“Damn. The monsters are starting to wake up.”
“There’s no helping it.”
“Noona, at this rate, we’re going to spend the whole night fighting monsters…”
Jung Jae-won grumbled, but Yoo Ah-yeon paid him no mind and continued walking.
“By the way, noona, where did you go last night?”
He recalled Yoo Ah-yeon running off, saying she had an investigation to do.
“I told you, I had something to look into.”
“Did you get good results?”
Yoo Ah-yeon fell silent for a moment. Last night, she had spent the entire time investigating Kim Sunwoo.
His actions, his family background, his place of birth—she had dug into everything about him.
Yet, strangely enough, she had found nothing.
“…It’s vague. And weird.”
“What were you investigating?”
“Kim Sunwoo.”
“Hmm… What about him?”
“There’s no information on him at all. No family records, no place of birth… not even the most basic details.”
Jung Jae-won tilted his head at her words.
“Huh? Is that even possible?”
“I find it strange, too. I didn’t think it was possible for someone to have no records like this.”
The more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed.
At first, when she checked his personal information, she had assumed he must be a member of Jaun infiltrating the Mage Academy.
But as time passed and she thought it over again, something felt off.
If Kim Sunwoo were truly a member of Jaun, would they have made it so obvious that he had a forged identity?
Jaun would have fabricated a much more convincing and discreet background.
“So, do you suspect Kim Sunwoo is part of Jaun?”
“I’m putting that on hold for now. But since there are some suspicious aspects, I’ll have to keep investigating…”
That was when it happened.
KUUUUUUUUNG—!
A powerful magical explosion erupted in the distance.
The intensity of the mana suggested it was at least A-rank or higher.
Yoo Ah-yeon and Jung Jae-won both turned their gazes in that direction.
“Let’s go!”
“It’s done!”
Time had passed, and I had successfully undone part of the barrier and the seal.
When I opened the chest, various items came into view.
“Ohh.”
Even at a glance, they didn’t look ordinary.
I had no way of knowing whether these items would be useful to me.
But since they were things stolen by Jaun, there was a high probability they held some special value.
“There’s a lot here.”
I wanted to check each item one by one, but time was running out.
I decided to just scan a few of them quickly.
“What’s this?”
Among the intriguing objects, I found a paper with a serpent drawn on it.
━━
[Beast Summoning Scroll (A)]
Category: Summoning Scroll
Description: Summons a demonic beast from the underworld.
[Effect]
▶ Summon
Summons a powerful underworld serpent that is loyal to you.
- Duration: 3 minutes
- Cooldown: 10 days
Durability: D
━━
“Oh-ho.”
Judging by its effect, it was an item that could summon something.
I had seen similar items in the original story before, so I had a good idea of how to use it.
The only downside was the 10-day cooldown.
It was quite disappointing, but I doubted I’d need to use it that frequently, so I decided to let it slide.
I carefully stored the items in my subspace.
[‘Phantom Thief’ achievement unlocked.]
[Reward: 3,000 points acquired.]
…There’s an achievement for everything, huh?
As time passed, the barrier and seal on the golden chest automatically restored themselves.
At first glance, it would seem like nothing had been taken.
“Hoo.”
Time to get out of here.
I retraced my steps down the hallway, dispelled the barrier, and stepped out from behind the clock.
Checking the time, I saw it was 9:30.
There were about 30 minutes left until the staged theft incident.
“…A theft, huh.”
If things followed the original storyline, nothing too dangerous would happen to Lee Seo-jun.
But just in case, it would be best to stay near him.
The story was already changing—I had no idea when something unexpected might happen.
As I was walking through the mansion’s corridor—
FLASH!
A blinding light flared outside the window.
Immediately after, a powerful surge of mana filled the air, followed by a massive explosion.
KWAANG!
The windows shattered.
I ducked, shielding myself from the falling glass shards.
“What the hell?!”
Caught off guard by the sudden situation, I looked out the window.
Had Jaun already started their staged incident?
But the power of that magic explosion far exceeded what I had anticipated.
If this was just Jaun’s setup to gauge Lee Seo-jun’s strength, the attack wouldn’t have been this intense.
It felt like an attack meant to kill…
‘Could this not be Jaun’s doing?’
A sense of uneasiness crept over me as I looked beyond the broken window.
In the distance, I saw Lee Seo-joon, wounded.
Behind him, Lee Hyun-joo lay unconscious from the blast’s shockwave.
For a moment, I feared she might be dead, but I noticed her faintly trembling—thankfully, she was still alive.
It seemed like Lee Seo-jun had shielded her before the attack could land on her.
I shifted my gaze to the tall man standing before him.
Sinister black mana.
And a face I had seen somewhere before.
“…Seong jin?”
It was Seong jin.
An S-rank mage and the king’s loyal vassal.
I remembered his face clearly from the news before my regression.
“…Why is he here?”
Seong jin wasn’t supposed to appear in this event.
Other factions were involved in this incident, but none of them were demons.
My mind filled with questions, but I quickly realized this wasn’t the time to be thinking.
I jumped out the broken window.
Ssssshhh—
At that moment, a powerful surge of magical energy erupted from Seong jin’s body.
This is dangerous. Right now, Lee Seo-jun is no match for Seong jin.
Just as I was about to rush forward to help him, someone blocked my path. Like Seong jin, this person radiated dark magic all over his body.
“Where do you think you’re going? Your opponent is me.”
I stared at him. Judging by the aura he exuded, he possessed considerable strength—at least B-rank or higher.
Moreover, his eyes were tinged slightly black, indicating he was on the verge of entering a berserk state.
“What are you guys? Why are demons attacking us?”
I asked the question that had been bothering me.
No matter how I thought about it, this made no sense.
Demons typically don’t operate in groups. They only act when there is a clear objective.
What reason did they have for moving now? And for a high-ranking demon like Seong jin to appear?
Even with the story’s deviations, this level of disruption was beyond anything I expected.
The demon chuckled and drew the sword at his waist.
“You’ll find out right before I crush your throat.”
A sharp, black aura radiated along the blade.
Then, his sword split into ten pieces, which floated into the air and began spinning rapidly.
Sometimes, weapons infused with mana can trigger special effects like that.
Weapons like those are difficult to predict, making them tricky to counter.
Of course, their effectiveness depends greatly on the user’s skill and experience. Unfortunately, my opponent seemed to have a high level of weapon mastery.
Swish!
The ten rotating blades flashed sharply as they shot toward me.
Whoosh!
I immediately reinforced my body with magic and dodged. But that wasn’t the end.
Another blade came flying at me from a different direction.
“Ugh!”
The attacks kept coming. With ten blades attacking from all directions, dodging them all was not easy.
“Tsk!”
If I could just drink a mana elixir, I might have a way to turn this around, but this guy wasn’t giving me the time.
If I kept dodging like this, there would be no end to it.
I had to go for the main body.
Ssshh…
While evading the attacks, I formed a small magical sphere above my palm.
Then, at the moment I narrowly dodged another attack, I released the sphere toward the demon.
Pew!
Boom!
“Argh!”
The magic sphere hit the demon’s head directly and exploded.
Since I had to conserve my mana, I hadn’t used a particularly strong spell, so it wasn’t a fatal blow.
But it did create an opening. The movement of the floating blades slowed slightly.
I didn’t miss my chance.
Quickly, I opened my subspace and pulled out the Beast Summoning Scroll I had taken from Jaun’s secret vault.
Unfolding the paper, I channeled my mana into it.
The scroll rapidly absorbed the energy, and from within, a massive black serpent burst forth.
—Sssssss!
The serpent shot toward the demon at incredible speed.
“W-what is this?!”
The demon panicked and redirected his blades toward the snake.
But the serpent slithered nimbly, evading the attacks, and then sank its fangs deep into the demon’s neck.
“Gaahhh!”
The demon screamed and tried to throw the snake off.
However, instead of letting go, the serpent spiraled tightly around his body and squeezed him with tremendous force.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The ten floating blades slashed frantically at the serpent, but they couldn’t pierce its tough hide and bounced off uselessly.
“Whoa…”
I watched, momentarily dumbfounded.
The item’s effect was even more powerful than I had expected.
I hadn’t anticipated that such a massive snake would emerge.
Its duration was only three minutes—too short to be used effectively in battle—so I had planned to use it just to create a distraction.
But this…
“This is incredible.”
—Ssssss!
The snake relentlessly tore into the demon’s neck.
Then, exactly three minutes later, its body disintegrated into dust.
The dust swirled in the air before being sucked back into the scroll in my hand.
“Gahh…!”
The demon groaned, blood gushing from his nearly shredded throat.
It was a gruesome sight—his neck was almost entirely ripped apart—yet somehow, he was still alive.
That insane durability…
I took a step closer and gathered mana into my palm, forming another magical sphere.
“Urgh…”
The demon glared at me.
I met his gaze and asked,
“Answer me. Why are you attacking us?”
“…Heh… heh…”
Instead of responding, the demon chuckled.
His silence was his way of refusing to talk.
I clenched my teeth.
I needed to know why the demons were attacking us so I could prepare for the altered future.
“Answer me, now!”
“Heh… do you really think I’d tell you?”
Boom!
Just then, a massive explosion echoed from Lee Seo-jun’s direction.
I snapped my head up and looked toward him.
Lee Seo-jun was barely holding his ground, swinging his brilliantly glowing sword to block Seong jin’s relentless attacks.
I still didn’t know exactly what the demons’ goal was.
But the fact that Seong jin was targeting Lee Seo-jun meant their objective was likely him.
“Tsk.”
What the hell is Jaun doing?
If it were them, they wouldn’t just sit back and watch Lee Seo-jun struggle.
“Tch.”
There was no time to waste.
Boom!
I blasted the demon’s head apart with magic and then dashed toward Lee Seo-jun.
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