Chapter 91 - Shadow Hand (3)

People sometimes had such experiences.

When faced with something beyond their comprehension, their thoughts became so rigid they couldn't take any action, becoming paralyzed as if their whole body had stopped.

That was exactly what Duncan was experiencing now.

What is this?

How did he get in?

Duncan prided himself on his excellent self-awareness.

He knew his abilities precisely, only personally handling tasks he could definitely manage and following organizational protocol for everything else.

This time was the same.

He should have sealed this place thoroughly—no, perfectly.

Yet the opponent got in.

Without Duncan even sensing anything unusual.

This is impossible through combat or magic techniques.

This wasn't just Duncan's limited knowledge but common sense.

An artifact?

Not possible with ordinary artifacts.

At minimum, an A-rank artifact.

More likely, an S-rank artifact, the kind kept under strict Union surveillance.

An S-rank artifact, said to wield power close to divine miracles, could certainly penetrate this completely isolated space.

Even impossible grand miracles became reality when borrowing the Abyss' power.

Duncan's reasoning was perfectly sensible.

His gaze shifted to the staff in the intruder's hand.

A high-level technique of moving only his consciousness while barely moving his pupils.

Indeed, it's no ordinary item.

Though the design was utterly simple, it couldn't fool Duncan's discerning eye.

Sophistication hidden in plainness.

The smooth finishing touches of a master craftsman.

Finally, the orb at the staff's tip formed a subtle mana field.

At least A-rank... possessing an unregistered S-rank artifact violates Explorer law.

Of course, few actually followed that rule.

The five major guilds, six schools, and three clans probably each have two or three S-rank artifacts hidden away.

Then, by extremely rare chance, the possibility of a Novice Explorer obtaining an S-rank artifact... couldn't be absolutely ruled out as zero.

No. Conversely, it could be secret support from the Grand Duchy or a major power.

The fact that Duncan recognized Roman's face and identity immediately meant Roman was already a person of interest.

After all, Roman was considered a central figure even among the golden generation of the Raid Generation from the regular training center in the past decade.

Though only known as a Devil Sorcerer with everything else unclear, that alone made him an outlier.

Surpassing those brilliant newcomers, the Grand Duchess, and the Thousand Blade surely meant he had something extraordinary.

Duncan sensed he'd just peeled back one layer of Roman's secret.

And Roman knew this too.

Information exposure.

The opposite of Roman's behavior until now.

This suggested...

He's confident he can prevent information leaks. Does he plan to kill me?

It took Duncan just 8 seconds to reach this conclusion.

In less than 10 seconds, his back was already soaked with sweat.

"Done sizing me up?"

The moment Roman spoke, Duncan's body shot forward.

Simultaneously, light suffused his body, instantly forming a magic formula.

"Stop!"

Duncan's class was Word Mage.

The one-word command drew deeply from mana and will, manifesting powerful word magic.

However, unfortunately, Roman had recently suffered badly from such Word Magic.

Countermeasures against Word Magic were the first thing he sought after returning to the city and resolving to improve his magic.

Kwiiing—!

Roman's mana, spread throughout the space, condensed in the air with a mana sound.

This was intentional.

It was mana manipulation purely to create sound rather than compress for magic bullets.

Word Magic ultimately relied on sound.

Mana-infused sound disrupted the voice of commands, reducing their power.

Countermeasures against Word Magic so quickly? Was he thoroughly targeting me from the start?!

Though that was Duncan's misunderstanding, rather than correct this wrong information, Roman showed the courtesy of putting him in a state where he wouldn't need to think anymore.

Puk! Pupupuk!

Four magic bullets fired instantly, striking Duncan's body.

"Kughk...!"

His defensive magic was neutralized in three, but the fourth penetrated his weakened defense, implanting its mana effects in Duncan's body.

My strength?

A list of various magics that could explain this phenomenon scrolled through Duncan's mind.

Weakening, paralysis, poison, erosion.

There were various methods, but they shared one characteristic.

They could exert enough power to incapacitate a target. However, powers that could instantly incapacitate a target were extremely rare.

This level is still manageable.

Disposal comes first.

Even if he becomes a corpse, this information must be destroyed.

"Burn...!"

Just as Duncan tried to use Word Magic again.

More magic bullets fired.

With his gaze fixed on Roman, Duncan managed to dodge in time.

However.

Pupupuk!!

They hit.

The bullets, having already recognized their prey, had evolved into true magic bullets that wouldn't miss their target again.

"Kuk!"

Four Exhaustions.

Duncan felt his tongue stiffening.

Strength drained away.

His body crumbled like a sandcastle as his legs gave out first.

How is he just a Novice... Senior. At least high-ranking Senior.

While the gap between Senior and Expert was too large to judge him as Expert-level, completely neutralizing Duncan himself definitely placed him in Senior's upper ranks.

Roman passed by Duncan and casually picked up the documents he'd tried to dispose of.

"Distribution map of Res Limen's underworld organizations?"

Thinking it wasn't very helpful, Roman stuffed the document somewhere randomly.

Like someone browsing a library or bookstore without a specific book in mind, he started walking slowly, running his fingers over documents.

"You heard why I came?"

Of course, he had.

Duncan had overheard their entire conversation above.

Roman had one request.

He had no need for grand information, he just wanted to meet their leader.

And that was an impossible request, even more than selling such grand information.

Duncan spoke, his tongue regaining strength, "...Going to kill me?"

To this question about whether he'd be killed after the information was extracted, Roman replied, "If you answer."

Actually, he hadn't particularly planned to kill him.

As Roman expected, whether Duncan lived or died, the information would be controlled either way.

Roman suspected Valen belonged to one of two categories:

Either a pawn of the Cult of the End moving on their orders... or a Devil Sorcerer obtaining impossible information through supernatural means.

However, "hadn't particularly" didn't mean absolutely not.

Roman leaked slight killing intent, showing he could kill if necessary.

Duncan's lips parted heavily.

"...The leader is in the Abyss."

"That's a lie."

Roman's words were decisive.

The tone of someone absolutely certain of their words.

"Your leader is in the city. All information from every floor of the Abyss ultimately converges here."

And taking such a quick stance with the City Guard wouldn't be possible unless Valen was in the city or First Floor.

The Main Base of the First Floor would limit their sphere of influence too much.

Valen Whickerton was in the city.

A truth anyone could reach with a little thought.

"I'll ask again. How do you contact your leader?"

§

Res Limen.

Somewhere in that vast and great city.

In a room too sun-filled to be the heart of an organization like Shadow Hand, a man and woman faced each other.

"The Third Branch was attacked. Two attackers: Senior Explorer Jan Wasik and Novice Explorer Roman Sun. Branch Director Duncan is presumed captured. The City Guard is staying neutral, possibly due to their connections. What should we do? The disposal team..."

Valen raised his hand to stop his secretary's suggestion after her situation report.

Silence fell as the secretary closed her mouth.

Send the disposal team?

While they could handle Wasik and Roman easily enough, that would bring consequences down on Shadow Hand.

Though his secretary didn't know yet, in Valen's judgment, he was like a tree with wasp nests.

Several wasp nests at that.

The shadow of countless wasps would easily envelop Shadow Hand, which hadn't yet become the chosen one's palm to cover the world.

And from the start, Valen had no intention of being hostile.

He'd planned to meet him sometime anyway.

Though he hadn't expected such aggressive and quick movement.

"He moves remarkably fast."

If Roman heard that, he'd call it a racial characteristic.

"I'll go personally. If they want to see me this badly, showing my face is only courteous."

Of course, such courtesy would be selective, depending on the other party.