“Oh, good thing I stole Abellus’s skill. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have noticed his scheming— and I nearly got caught while tailing him! Let’s see… Abellus is with someone. But… something looks strange. Is the skill incomplete?”
Abellus was in the basement with someone, but whether because of the skill or something else, the other party appeared pitch-black.
Abellus stood before the crouching black silhouette, spreading both palms as if pouring his heart out.
Abellus’s posture was clearly visible, yet only the figure he was conversing with appeared as a black shadow.
That was strange. Just as Iris tried to look more closely, the view of the basement vanished.
The skill level was too low to maintain it for long.
She cast the skill once more and this time decided to examine the inside of the basement.
She could see several chairs scattered about, and behind the black silhouette there was a display cabinet.
‘Is it the skill, or is the lighting just dim?’
She couldn’t tell what the cause was, but the dark basement was difficult to make out.
As she scanned the area, her gaze idly fell on a shelf beside the cabinet.
A flash of white light flickered, and a message appeared before her eyes.
<Perception> has been activated.
As the message disappeared, so did the white light.
And with it, the image of the basement. Once again, she activated the <Wondrous Perception> skill and examined the shelf.
There, resting atop it, was a crown adorned with jewels, preserved inside a glass case. Joy flooded Iris’s previously dazed face.
‘That crown— it’s a holy relic. The rumor Senior Teresa told me was true!’
Her joy was short-lived as she realized how difficult it would be to steal that relic.
After activating the Eye skill three times, she had come to one conclusion: the black silhouette didn’t seem to be human.
Abellus, and even unfamiliar surrounding objects, all appeared in their true forms, but only that person— no, that thing, whose humanity she couldn’t even be sure of— appeared black.
If it was black to begin with, could it even be called a person?
As she pondered, a good idea came to mind.
If she activated <Wondrous Perception> and then used <Let Me See Your Back> on that thing, wouldn’t she be able to figure out what it was?
Using two skills at once required a great deal of mana.
Iris immediately downed a mana potion to fully recharge, then activated <Wondrous Perception>.
Next, she fixed her gaze on the black silhouette and cast the back-view skill.
A moment later, the sparkle vanished from her honey-colored eyes. Instead of what she’d hoped for, a disappointing message appeared.
The target is too far away to be analyzed.
‘Ah… it’s too far.’
Hoping the skill would work at this distance had been wishful thinking.
Sighing, Iris absentmindedly looked ahead— and froze in shock.
There was no way anyone in the basement could have noticed her presence.
And yet, the black silhouette was pointing directly at her with its finger.
As the silhouette’s mouth moved, Abellus turned around with a suspicious look.
Soon after, the effect of <Wondrous Perception> ended, and their figures vanished from her sight.
“Gasp!”
What was that just now?
Startled out of her wits, Iris let out the breath she’d been holding.
She hurriedly covered her mouth with her hand, darted her eyes around anxiously, then stepped backward.
Turning around, she began to run as fast as she could.
If she hesitated, it felt like they would come up from the basement and find her.
‘What? Did it notice me? How?’
The black silhouette didn’t seem human.
It was hard to explain, but it gave off an ominous aura.
If that thing was guarding the Enraka cult’s holy relic, she was in serious trouble.
She didn’t need to fight it to know—whatever it was, it was far stronger than her.
As she rushed frantically through the buildings, her shoulder slammed hard into someone.
“Ugh!”
“I’m sorry—ah! Sister.”
Clutching her aching shoulder, Iris looked up and went pale.
The person was wearing a white priest’s robe— she’d hoped it wasn’t the case, but it was.
Blond hair, deep blue eyes. Priest Lucael.
Of all times, while trying to avoid Abellus and the black silhouette, she had run into him.
She belatedly pulled up the mask hanging at her chin, a futile gesture. It was pointless to hide now.
‘But he’s not saying anything. Does Priest Lucael want to pretend that day never happened?’
If so, that was a relief. Maybe she could just pass by like this.
“Um, then I’ll be going—”
She bowed her head and tried to slip past Lucael, but stopped short.
Lucael raised an arm, blocking her path.
An awkward silence hung heavily between them, until a low voice spoke above her head.
“Sister Iris… why are you here…?”
“Well, um, the restroom…”
“…The restroom is at the entrance to the chapel.”
“I—I see.”
At Lucael’s reply, Iris’s face flushed red.
She’d known from the start it was an excuse that wouldn’t work, but being immediately contradicted was mortifying.
More importantly, this was no time to be lingering.
Abellus might be chasing after her.
She glanced behind her—thankfully, there was no sign of him yet.
It didn’t seem like he’d come out right away.
Still, if she stayed here, she might run into him. Biting her lip, she gauged the moment and quickly slipped past Lucael.
“I’m in a hurry, so I’ll be going…! I’m sorry!”
“Wait, Sister!”
Fearing he might grab her, Iris activated <Speed of Light Running> and fled.
Lucael could have caught her if he wanted to, but he didn’t.
Instead, he sniffed the air, committing Iris’s scent to memory.
He had used the skill <Excellent Sense of Smell>, which had been hidden behind his status window.
It was a skill that allowed him to track the most recently memorized scent.
‘No matter how I think about it, it wasn’t divine punishment. Just like it said…’
After losing his skill, he had been unable to attend worship for quite some time and shut himself away, only recently returning to the church.
He couldn’t hide the loss of his skill forever—especially since it was one given by it. So he reported to it that the <Rapturous Song> skill had disappeared.
It tilted its head in confusion, then suddenly widened its eyes, muttering that it couldn’t be divine punishment.
It asked whether anything unusual had happened before he lost his skill, or if he had met anyone.
When he hesitantly admitted that something had happened with someone, it’s eyes sparkled, declaring that that person must be the cause— even though he had only vaguely described what happened with Iris.
It ordered him to find out where that person lived.
When he asked, “Should I bring her here?” the reply was that he wouldn’t be able to capture her.
His task was simply to learn her address.
Wouldn’t checking the believers’ registration documents be enough?
He immediately searched the storage room and then went to her house to confirm— but Iris no longer lived there.
Asking the neighbors, he learned she had moved recently.
Church staff said she hadn’t attended weekend worship for quite some time.
He was debating whether to contact Iris’s grandmother in the countryside or resort to illegal methods when, unexpectedly, he ran into her like this.
‘This time, I’ll find out where she lives.’
By following Iris’s scent, he could discover her address.
Still, he wondered why it hadn’t told him to bring her in, only to find out where she lived. Or rather—it had said he couldn’t capture her.
Why wouldn’t he be able to seize a small woman like her? Could Iris be an ability user?
Lucael’s eyes narrowed.
If Iris was an ability user, and if the reason his skill disappeared lay with her… then she might possess a very special ability.
A skill that steals the abilities of others.
At that moment, a low, gravelly voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
“Lucael. Long time no see.”
It was Abellus, his presence befitting a villain— hard to sense. He swept his sharp gaze around and raised a hand casually.
Somehow, Abellus looked more haggard than the last time Lucael had seen him.
He even seemed a bit down. Wondering if work at the laboratory was taking its toll, Lucael returned the greeting.
“Hello, Abellus. Were you on your way from meeting him?”
“Yeah. By the way… did you see anyone suspicious around here?”
Lucael’s eyes widened slightly. Suspicious person?
At those words, Iris’s face immediately flashed through his mind.