The youth’s silhouette streaked through the pitch-black forest. The icy air tore at his throat, every breath burning with a searing pain.
Though everything had gone smoothly so far, the most arduous part was only just beginning.
Conceptual Fantasy could no longer be maintained due to the rapid depletion of his mana. The buffs to his agility and strength faded away, leaving behind only deep exhaustion and the void that followed mana overexertion.
He struggled to maintain his high speed, using the terrain and trees for cover to constantly change direction while pulling several mana potions from the storage space within the Atlas Cube.
At the same time, his mental perception spread behind him like a spiderweb, monitoring every movement in his wake.
The pursuers were coming faster than he had anticipated.
Before long, a dull, rolling thunder sound echoed from behind along the ground. Simultaneously, ripples of spatial fluctuations surged from his flank.
It was Parris and that mage.
Luo Lan’s heart sank. The enemy had clearly locked onto his general direction; being caught was only a matter of time at this rate.
He couldn’t worry about the consequences anymore.
Even though using Blink would expose his location to the mage like a signal flare in the dark, gaining time was far more important than hiding his tracks.
Luo Lan needed time—time to confirm the status of the holy relic.
His figure blurred before reappearing nearly a hundred meters away. He didn’t pause for a moment upon landing, immediately preparing the next Blink and anchoring the coordinates.
Two consecutive Blinks did pull him away slightly, but they also allowed the enemy to fully lock onto his trail.
—It would be best if the relic is the [Domain Dancer]. If not… then please, at least let it be useful!
Luo Lan muttered inwardly as he took advantage of the brief window between Blinks to retrieve the cold relic he had just obtained from the Atlas Cube’s storage.
***
Parris and the black-robed mage were like ghosts tearing through the night, relentlessly pursuing the direction where Luo Lan had vanished.
The knight captain surmised that the previous series of actions—especially the consecutive use of those high-mobility Blinks—must have cost the boy dearly.
Based on what he had observed, the boy’s mana reserves should be bone-dry. As long as they maintained their pace, they would discover his tracks soon enough if luck was on their side.
The mage running alongside him looked significantly more irritable. Consecutive failures, a comatose companion, a botched mission… all of it had caused the normally haughty mage to lose his composure.
He hadn’t just layered himself in multiple shimmering magic shields; he had also applied various support spells. Mana light flickered incessantly across his body, his face contorted in a grimace that promised he wouldn’t stop until his opponent was ground to dust.
Soon, the mage keenly caught the spatial fluctuations coming from ahead.
“There! He finally couldn’t resist using Blink! His mana must be nearly depleted—the interval and distance of each Blink are shortening!”
The mage’s cold voice rang out with excitement, pointing toward their front left.
Parris and the mage accelerated again, moving like arrows loosed from a bow.
“Faster, Captain Parris!” the mage urged while sprinting. “That brat’s general heading is Valgard. It’ll be trouble if he actually escapes into the city!”
Parris gave a non-committal grunt, maintaining his speed, though his gaze deepened.
He actually didn’t mind if the target fled into the capital; after all, tonight’s capital… had another great play scheduled.
“Faster! Captain Parris!” The mage’s prodding interrupted his thoughts. “The guy’s speed has clearly dropped. He’s right ahead!”
They continued the chase through the dense forest and snow for less than three hundred meters. Rounding a thicket of dead trees, they finally saw a back clad in black combat gear.
He stood with his back to them, gasping for air as if he had exhausted his last ounce of strength.
They had finally caught him.
Parris stopped and placed his hand on his sword hilt.
A sharp glint flashed in the mage’s eyes as he began a rapid incantation, his hands forming seals quickly. An invisible wave of mana began to spread with him at the center.
“It’s over,” Parris’s voice echoed across the silent, snowy field. “Hand the item over, and I can grant you the mercy of an intact corpse.”
He slowly drew his longsword, noting out of the corner of his eye that the mage had dropped an Anti-Magic Field with a radius of twenty meters.
—Utterly redundant.
Once the Anti-Magic Field was established, everyone within its range—except for Parris—including the caster himself, would have the majority of their magical abilities suppressed.
Parris snorted inwardly, unimpressed by such crowd-control methods that mages were so fond of. He continued to approach the panting figure cautiously.
“Don’t do anything reckless,” Parris said in a low voice as he drew closer. “At this distance, you can’t escape my grasp.”
He gestured for the mage to back off and stay outside the Anti-Magic Field. Now that the field was active, the mage staying inside would only get in the way; it was better for him to provide support from the perimeter to prevent any accomplices or hidden cards.
Parris continued his approach while the target remained with his back turned.
The gasping seemed to have subsided slightly, but there was no other movement.
“Enough,” Parris stopped about seven or eight meters away—an absolute death zone for a man of his caliber. “Drop the item on the ground, then turn around slowly.”
Parris pointed his sword tip at him and watched as the boy turned around bit by bit.
Suddenly, an anomaly occurred!
Just as the person turned sideways, allowing Parris to catch a glimpse of half a face covered by a red scarf, a completely different surge of mana erupted from him. Accompanied by a blinding flash of purple mana, he vanished from before Parris’s eyes.
Then, almost simultaneously, about thirty meters outside the Anti-Magic Field, space rippled like water. The figure stumbled slightly as he materialized again.
What?
Even a battle-hardened veteran like Parris couldn’t help but gape in shock. He instinctively gripped his sword hilt, his eyes locked onto the silhouette that had suddenly appeared outside the field.
The Anti-Magic Field was still active… so how did he…
Parris turned to look at the black-robed mage. The ferocity and smugness had vanished from the mage’s face, replaced by a look of shock and bewilderment that surpassed his own.
***
Hehe.
Although his body trembled from consecutive overexertion, the exquisite sensation transmitted through his fingertips from the holy relic filled Luo Lan’s heart with an indescribable sense of gratification.
[Domain Dancer]… as expected, it was an essential tool for surviving desperate situations and turning the tides!
Luo Lan looked at the two stunned men in the distance and couldn’t help but smile.
The reason he had stopped in the middle of the clearing earlier was not to surrender or act mysterious, but to wait for the Atlas Cube to successfully convert the sacrificed [Domain Dancer] into an offering recognized by the [Ritual Altar].
—I was waiting for my cooldowns and for my cheats to arrive… what were you two waiting for?
The effects after sacrificing this precious holy relic naturally manifested in his consciousness:
[Enhanced Blink]
—Destination no longer produces obvious spatial fluctuations.
—Unaffected by most Silences, Mana Bans, or Anti-Magic Field effects.
—Repeated use of Blink no longer requires preparation time, but consumes additional mana.
—New Effect [Space-Time Reversal]: Within ten seconds after casting Blink, you may choose to return to the initial starting position of that Blink (Locked).
—New Effect [Calamity Descent]: Can release an Arcane Pulse upon arriving at the target location (Locked).
This was why Luo Lan was determined to get the [Domain Dancer] even at great risk. In a sense, most of his security in his previous life came from this relic.
One out of three choices, and it actually appeared.
Parris and the mage still hadn’t recovered from their shock. The gray-white flash of the Anti-Magic Field was particularly conspicuous in the dark, flickering as if mocking their naivety.
…Tch.
Recovering quickly, Parris moved.
The knight captain was a veteran of the battlefield; after the brief shock, his resolve was only further ignited.
Seeing was believing.
What had just happened was too bizarre; he had to confirm it for himself.
Parris’s figure went from absolute stillness to extreme motion in an instant. He crossed the seven or eight meters in a heartbeat, his longsword slashing down.
But… the same thing happened again.
Luo Lan’s figure vanished silently once more amidst that eerie purple glow.
Parris instinctively twisted his body to swing behind him, but he was half a step too late. A bone-chilling coldness pierced his lower back.
The opponent had appeared behind him like a specter at some unknown point, driving a dagger into his body.
Parris didn’t panic. Just as he was about to counterattack, he saw the purple glow flash again out of the corner of his eye. When the boy reappeared, he kicked Parris in the hollow of his knee and followed through by plunging the dagger toward his chest.
In two exchanges, like a flash of lightning, blood splattered.
“Stop chasing. It’s meaningless now.”
Luo Lan’s voice was intentionally lowered. Parris slumped to the ground, desperately mobilizing the mana within his body to seal his wounds.
It was settled.
Even if he had incapacitated Parris, Luo Lan no longer had the strength to deal with another enemy.
He withdrew the dagger and vanished quickly into the night.
The other mage seemed to want to give chase, but he was stopped by Parris’s trembling hand.
“Are you crazy, Parris!” the mage roared at him. “Why let him go voluntarily? Do you have any idea what we’ll face when we return? How will the Prince Regent look at us?”
Parris gasped for air, blood occasionally spraying from his mouth as he spoke.
“He’s heading back to Valgard…”
The mage froze for a moment, then shouted even more excitedly, “So what? If that’s the case, shouldn’t we—”
“…He’ll fall into the hands of the Capital Guard… He’s dead for sure.”