Chapter 57: Bird in a Cage

It was a magical beast with five human faces growing from its body.

Before Mann’s eyes, those faces struggled endlessly.

Expressions of agony seemed permanently frozen upon them.

“Young man… thank you… and that young lady in armor over there too. If you don’t mind, please stay a little longer. The boss bought a lot of good stuff…”

“From today onward, we’ll recognize you as our boss. If anything unusual happens, we’ll contact you right away. Don’t worry, I’ll rally everyone I know to help…”

“Mother recovering… we’re truly grateful to you…”

“Do you think the boss will dislike us…”

“I think you’ll probably just hold the boss back.”

Fragments of the past.

Every conversation.

Every memory.

One after another surfaced within Mann’s mind.

The beast was weak.

Its movements were sluggish, as if some immense weight was dragging it down.

A single strike from Mann had already left it unable to stand.

It let out a miserable shriek.

Dark-red fluid continuously seeped from its body.

“I’m sorry…”

Mann walked over to it.

Aiming at the exposed magic stone in its chest, he drove his dagger down.

crack

With a crisp sound, both the magical beast and the surrounding space began slowly crumbling apart.

A strange fragrance drifted into his nose.

His blood surged.

His body grew hot.

He stood there motionless, watching familiar faces turn to ash before his eyes.

“Boss… thank you…”

“You’ve freed us.”

“Please don’t blame yourself.”

“Perhaps this was always our fate.”

“…Stop talking.”

“But even so…”

“We wanted our deaths to mean something…”

Mann bent down.

Suppressing the grief threatening to overwhelm him, he helped the fading creature sit upright.

“I… I saw them…”

“Those people in black robes…”

“In the underground waterways… to the north…”

“Please…”

“Please avenge us…”

The beast’s body had already vanished.

Yet those words lingered stubbornly within Mann’s mind.

He clenched his fists and looked north.

Blood vessels crawled across his eyes.

He remembered everything the Cult of the Evil God had done.

He remembered his mother sacrificing herself.

He remembered the civilians who died because of them in both his territory and Campbell Territory.

Hatred swelled endlessly within his heart.

Mann rose to his feet.

At some point, the familiar Divine Light Daggers had appeared in his hands.

Just wait.

I’ll avenge you right now.

“I’m going to kill every last one of them!”

Even he failed to notice it.

His emotions had already reached the brink of complete collapse.

He pushed Ground Shrink to its absolute limit.

Following the trail of blood on the ground, he charged directly toward the northern waterways.

As soon as he reached the entrance, several low-level Chimera Beasts suddenly lunged at him.

But they were shattered instantly.

A single slash destroyed their magic stones.

The deeper Mann ventured into the waterways, the stronger the Chimera Beasts became.

Eventually, he arrived at the very end.

There, a monstrous fusion creature composed of dozens of magical beasts blocked his path.

Its aura was even more terrifying than the one he had encountered during the Guild mission.

Mann attacked without hesitation.

Without question, this creature possessed the same ability to interfere with Divine Light.

As a result, Mann could only fight by exchanging injuries.

He paid a tremendous price before finally managing to destroy it.

“Hah…”

“Hah…”

“You bastards of the Cult of the Evil God!”

“Come out!”

“I’m going to kill all of you!”

He gasped heavily.

The sinister magical energy surrounding him grew thicker.

Strange noises echoed endlessly.

He could feel something rapidly approaching.

But when he turned around, it was already too late.

His wounded body.

His exhausted stamina.

Even though his mind reacted, his body remained painfully slow.

rip

The sound of flesh tearing echoed through the tunnel.

A claw pierced completely through his side.

The intense pain finally restored a shred of his reason.

Only then did Mann realize.

This had all been a trap prepared specifically for him.

The moment he stepped into the slums, he had already fallen for it.

His emotional instability was undoubtedly connected to that strange fragrance.

“So my movements have been exposed this entire time…”

He looked at the thing impaling him.

It was a monster roughly his own size.

Unlike the Chimera Beasts, its aura was pure.

Pure power.

A pair of black vertical pupils reflected Mann’s powerless state.

There wasn’t the slightest trace of emotion in them.

The creature casually flung him away.

As easily as tossing aside a rag.

Life rapidly drained from his body.

His consciousness began slipping away.

“I… absolutely won’t die…”

“How could I… die here?”

He thought of his companions.

He thought of Lyra.

He thought of Mei waiting for him to return.

He thought of the father who had placed such high hopes upon him.

He tried to stand.

But he no longer had the strength even to speak.

“Trik never had the chance to absorb a Divine Envoy before.”

“I should thank you for giving me this opportunity.”

A cold voice drifted into Mann’s ears from nearby.

“Akrein…”

The aura of a Divine Envoy suddenly appeared.

Clearly, he had been waiting here in ambush from the start.

Further proof that everything had been part of his plan.

“So what if you know my name?”

“You’re about to die.”

“Trik.”

“Do it.”

The moment those words fell, a massive mouth split open across Trik’s back.

It slowly advanced toward Mann.

“Damn it…”

“I can’t stay conscious…”

A dark-purple sphere of magical energy suddenly shot through the air.

boom

It struck Trik squarely in the back.

The grotesque mouth was instantly torn away.

Blood sprayed everywhere.

A horrifying scream echoed throughout the entire passage.

“And just what do you think you’re doing to my academy’s student?”

The sharp sound of high heels mixed with armor echoed through the tunnel.

At the same time, an overwhelming surge of magical power crashed down upon the area.

“…Principal…”

Mann could no longer hold on.

His consciousness faded completely.

He collapsed into darkness.

Trik growled at Fis while retreating continuously.

Meanwhile, Fis stood expressionlessly before Mann.

Sophien, clad in white armor, arrived moments later.

Using her magic, she temporarily stabilized Mann’s injuries.

“Fall back, Trik!”

“Oh?”

“You’re still unwilling to show yourself, Your Excellency?”

Fis spoke with a mocking smile.

“At least not yet.”

Akrein’s voice remained flat and mechanical.

There wasn’t a hint of emotion in it.

After protecting Mann with her magic, Sophien stepped beside Fis.

She assumed a combat stance.

“You don’t seem particularly bothered by our interference.”

“It would be more accurate to say I expected it.”

Within the darkness, the presences of Trik and Akrein slowly began fading away.

“Hey!”

“Stop right there!”

Sophien was about to pursue them.

But Fis stopped her.

Following Fis’s gaze, she saw Mann’s body completely enveloped within a strange spatial construct.

“Companion or enemy.”

“You always have to make a choice.”

“Though I should remind you.”

“Sir Mann has only thirty seconds of life remaining.”

“I hope you’re able to save him.”

“Farewell, everyone.”

His presence vanished entirely in the blink of an eye.

Watching the rapidly shrinking spatial cage, neither woman had time to worry about anything else.

“This space is isolating all magical energy…”

“We can’t even heal him…”

“No.”

“There’s still one way.”

Sophien’s voice was unwavering.

She took out a cone-shaped holy artifact.

“Whether it works or not…”

“We’ll find out right now!”

She raised the holy artifact high.

Then she drove it down with all her strength toward the spatial cage.