“How… how is this possible?!”
Roana’s eyes widened in shock. Two burning questions flashed through her mind in that instant.
First – while an aura-imbued sword could theoretically cut through magic, Ian had done so without manifesting any aura at all.
Second – even if he had used aura to slice her spell, the deflected magic should have gone wildly off-course. Yet her spell had been completely annihilated.
But she wasn’t given time to ponder these mysteries.
“Surrender now and you’ll avoid regret,” Ian said calmly. “I’ll even overlook your attack just now. Yield, and I promise no further suffering.”
She snorted derisively.
What nonsense. His words carried the arrogant confidence of someone who couldn’t even conceive of defeat.
“Quite the confidence for a knight facing a dark mage. Do you really think you can win?”
Ian simply nodded, acknowledging her point. She wasn’t wrong, after all.
In a one-on-one duel, mages were notoriously difficult opponents for knights to overcome, unless there was a vast disparity in skill. And she wasn’t just any mage – she was a dark mage.
‘Knights have the worst compatibility against dark magic users.’
Regular mages were troublesome enough, but a dark mage? They could curse you, summon undead, sap your strength – all the things that countered a knight’s purely physical combat style.
There was really only one reliable countermeasure…
‘A priest would have changed everything.’
Someone to cleanse debuffs.
Dark mages feared holy magic – priests, monks, paladins were their natural counters. While knights struggled against dark mages, dark mages in turn struggled against holy magic users.
Had there been a priest present, she might have considered surrender to save her own skin. But alas, there was none.
With such an advantage, she felt no need to surrender at all.
‘Just as expected.’
Ian had more or less predicted this outcome. No, to be precise, he’d been almost certain of it. He hadn’t really expected her to surrender willingly – the offer was merely a formality.
Yet even now, Ian didn’t entertain the thought of losing. No, he didn’t even consider defeat a possibility.
“Then don’t complain later when you’re crying,” he said.
While he hadn’t planned to strike first, having already been attacked, he now saw no reason to hold back.
“F-fall back!”
“The Young Master is engaging! Clear out unless you want to get caught in it! Get as far from the shop as possible!”
The soldiers immediately retreated, recognizing this battle was beyond their capabilities.
No sooner had the soldiers fled the shop than –
Whoosh!
Ian’s figure blurred and vanished.
His speed was such that tracking him with the naked eye proved nearly impossible.
Yet Roana remained composed, taking a measured step back as she summoned dark mana once more.
“Darkness Wall!”
A black barrier materialized, blocking Ian’s path.
In the brief break this provided, she flicked her wand forward.
From its tip, a tiny ember – no larger than a speck of dust – popped into existence and drifted lazily toward Ian.
One might have expected Ian to take offense at what seemed like mockery, but instead –
Just as the ember approached, Ian swiftly kicked backward, putting distance between himself and the floating spark.
BOOM!
The tiny ember detonated.
While the explosion wasn’t overwhelmingly powerful, it was more than sufficient to inflict serious burns at close range.
“Lucky it’s not broad daylight.”
Dust Bomb.
The first explosive spell any aspiring mage learns.
Yet both Ian and veteran Meta Pangaea players considered it one of the most lethal low-level spells.
The reason? Its incredible MP efficiency.
The ember had been clearly visible in the dim pre-dawn light. Had it been bright daytime, the spark might have gone unnoticed until it was too late.
Even seasoned players like Ian had fallen victim to unseen Dust Bombs more times than they cared to admit.
“Consider this your warning,” Roana said with a confident smile. “Let me go, and that handsome face stays intact. We both walk away without further trouble.”
She seemed convinced this demonstration would suffice.
“Walk our separate paths? I’m already walking mine – straight through you.”
Ian’s grip on his sword didn’t waver as he stared her down. His resolve to end this was absolute.
“…You’ll die alone.”
“That’s none of your concern.”
Whoosh!
Again, Ian vanished.
“How tedious. Must you repeat the same futile actions?”
What a waste of energy.
Knights were all the same – brainless brutes who thought with their muscles.
“Darkness Wall.”
Once more she erected the black barrier, preparing to follow up with another attack.
Nothing frustrated knights more than this tactic.
But what she didn’t know –
“Aura Eruption.” was that Ian could shatter her defenses unilaterally.
KABOOM!
His blade suddenly released a shockwave of aura, the force ripping through her barrier like skin being cut.
“W-what…?!”
Her composure broke as easily as her magic.
To see her Darkness Wall dismantled so effortlessly – it was an application of aura she’d never witnessed nor heard of before.
“Darkness Shield!”
A weaker barrier, but faster to cast.
Just in time to –
Shink!
– meet Ian’s non-aura-enhanced sword, which sliced through it regardless.
The blade grazed her fingers.
Had she been slower, it wouldn’t have been just a scratch.
But her quick casting had altered the sword’s trajectory, reducing what could have been a lethal strike to a mere flesh wound.
Yet…
“Aaaargh!”
A blood-curdling scream erupted from Roana moments later. Though the wound was merely a paper-thin cut, she convulsed as if struck by mortal agony.
“What—what did you do?!”
She shrieked, watching in horror as tendrils of demonic energy leaked from her bleeding finger.
The excruciating pain came from her dark magic being forcibly purged.
Her eyes then fell upon Ian’s sword, and realization dawned—this was how he’d nullified her spells earlier.
“That’s… a mithril blade?!”
The dim lighting had concealed its true nature until now. The weapon in Ian’s hand wasn’t ordinary steel, but gleaming azure mithril—the bane of all dark magic.
Mithril’s hidden property in Meta Pangaea: while harder and lighter than steel, its true value lay in neutralizing dark energies.
What was once a secret mechanic had become common knowledge among veterans long ago.
‘I must flee!’
Against conventional weapons, she might have stood a chance. But mithril changed everything.
Even a scratch blow could be fatal to a dark magic wielder like her.
Her pupils darted frantically, searching for an escape route—
“Roana,” Ian’s voice cut through her panic. “You’re coming with me quietly.”
Whoosh!
He vanished again.
In desperation, Roana unleashed spells rapidly:
“Darkness Arrow! Darkness Swarm! Darkness—!”
Shelves of medicine shattered. Tables and chairs splintered. Walls cracked under the barrage.
Then—silence.
Only the whistling wind through broken windows answered her exhausted panting.
“…Did I get him?”
“Spoken like a true doomed villain.”
Thwack!
A precise chop to her nape sent her crumpling unconscious before she could turn.
“Secure the dark mage,” Ian commanded his soldiers.
As they rushed in, his gaze shifted to where the zombie grandmother had been. Only severed ropes remained—the creature likely disintegrated in Roana’s chaotic spell barrage.
The pharmacist, though miraculously alive, got a new injury:
‘Ah. The door I broke must’ve hit him.’
An oversight—he hadn’t expected anyone to be standing there.
‘Medical bills and shop repairs it is.’
But capturing a dark mage justified the collateral damage.
“Take her to the dungeons,” Ian ordered, handing a sealed note to the guards. “Interrogation at dawn.”
As he walked away, his steps felt lighter than air.
‘The hardest part’s done.’
This quest required old-fashioned legwork—unlike the loan shark gang hideout he’d stormed before.
Those thugs had fixed locations, but dark mages? Their appearances were random, their safe houses ever-changing.
Had this occurred in Rosen or Dobina Village, the search might’ve taken weeks.
‘It was fortunate that it occurred in ansen.’
Reaching the inn, the guards bowed as he approached.
“Young Master, where have you been?”
“Business. Now fetch my horse—I’ve more places to be.”
Watching the guard sprint to the stables, Ian allowed himself a satisfied smirk.
‘Going to be a busy day.’
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