Chapter 371
Episode 112: Why They’re Searching Temar’s Tomb (3)
From the dim thicket, a group of mages emerged.
This time, there were twenty of them, and among them was Mayla.
“See? I knew it. I was sure my sister would have hidden the tomb’s seal somewhere else. But it’s obvious! In Wantaramo, the only place she could’ve hidden the seal without me noticing is the Red Lake!” Mayla stepped forward, her voice sharp and strained. She was panting, likely from rushing to get here. The mages around her were all sweating profusely.
‘Good, it looks like only the Tower mages came. I was worried the Phantom Squad might be mixed in, but since the Third Tower is the closest and they came in a hurry, they probably didn’t have time to bring the Phantoms.’
The Phantom Squad was the elite secret unit of Ziphl, directly under Octavia Ziphl’s command—something the Third Tower wouldn’t dare summon lightly.
‘Still, the higher-ups must have been informed I’m in Wantaramo, so eventually the Phantoms will come. Last time, they sent five just to capture me.’
The plan was clear: kill them all before reinforcements arrived, confirm the tomb’s status, and then escape the forest.
“You mocked me when I said I had to ally with Ziphl for our people! Runkandel, you say? Not even Siron Runkandel, but that powerless kid? You’d side with him?” Mayla’s voice boiled over with rage, her body briefly swelling and flushing red—a sign of a fairy descendant expressing strong emotion or power.
“Is this the path for our people you spoke of? No wonder everyone turned their backs on you. Where are you? Come out! Say something!” she shouted.
A tense silence followed, broken only by Mayla’s heavy breathing.
Meanwhile, Jin and Valeria assessed Ziphl’s forces, while the mine creatures watched the newcomers cautiously.
“Ha, I got worked up for nothing. Listen carefully, sister. This is my last warning as your sibling. If you come out and beg now, I’ll let you die without pain. Family ties…” Suddenly, Mayla screamed.
Valeria’s magic beam had grazed her wing. From the moment the mages appeared, Valeria had already finished her incantation, hiding her magic in her hand.
“My wing! My wing! It burns!” Mayla howled, retreating behind the mages. They showed no concern for her injury.
“Can’t even stop this? Kill them all now! What are you waiting for?” she barked.
“Shut up. You had the nerve to rush forward and scream, then blame others and give orders?” one mage sneered coldly at Mayla. Deflated by his icy attitude, she fell silent.
“Pleasure to meet you, Jin Runkandel. I’m Drew Malagada, Deputy Head of the Third Tower,” he introduced himself.
Malagada was from the Malagada family, one of the core houses of the Lutero Magic Federation. Before overseeing the Tower’s affairs, Drew had served as the second-in-command of the White Night Magic Unit.
“…A pleasure, Lady Luna. I’m Maul Hensark, former second-in-command of White Night.”
“You? I didn’t realize the second-in-command had changed.”
“The previous Lady Drew Malagada retired…”
“If it were Drew, she’d have come down those stairs before greeting me.”
Jin recalled the conversation between Luna and Maul Hensark during the Kingdom incident.
“Many things to be glad about, Lady Drew. I heard you retired.”
“I recently returned as Deputy Head of the Third Tower.”
“Seems the Lutero Magic Federation is short on talent.”
“All the former Black Knights of Runkandel have retired, but they still unofficially carry out missions. I’m in a similar situation.”
“You’re no match for the Black Knights. Is it overconfidence or shamelessness?”
“An inappropriate remark. I apologize if it offended you.”
Drew was no fool to fall for provocations.
Having been second-in-command of White Night and then appointed Deputy Head again after retirement, there was a reason behind it.
“Jin Runkandel,” Drew stroked his beard. “I have a proposal.”
“A proposal?”
“Just leave. Higher-ups will send reinforcements soon. You can’t handle this. I don’t want to lose my men trying to stop you.”
“Do you think losing your men will stop me? What do you think my answer will be?”
“Then I have no choice. One last question: who is that mage beside you? I heard she uses a forgotten magic…”
Drew had learned from Mayla on the way here that Valeria was a record magic user.
‘Mayla activated the Tower’s summoning staff without any information, so Drew didn’t know a record magic user was here from the start. But even if we kill all the mages, Ziphl will learn I’m traveling with a record magic user.’
As Jin suspected, Drew had already sent a message to Ziphl’s main base upon hearing about Valeria.
Mayla’s betrayal was unexpected, but unavoidable.
Just as Jin was about to scoff, Aria stepped forward.
“You handle the mine creatures, Jin Runkandel.”
Twenty mages alone? Jin didn’t ask. If his master said so, it meant he could handle it.
“Be careful.”
As Jin drew his sword toward the mine creatures, Valeria glared at the mages.
“Listen up, dogs of Ziphl.”
She pulled back her hood, revealing her bare face. Her silver pine staff shimmered with magic light, illuminating her features.
“I am the descendant of those trampled and erased, the sibling of the Gray Owls murdered without cause, a mage who will one day erase the name Ziphl from this world.”
Valeria Hister.
When she finished speaking, Drew’s eyes widened. Jin was equally shocked.
‘She revealed her real name?’
She hadn’t even told him her true name until now.
Even while fighting the mine creatures, Jin kept his focus on Valeria.
She revealed her name for one reason: to show she meant to kill every single one of the mages before them.
“No one will return alive.”
She was certain of it.
“Watch the ground!”
As Valeria’s staff moved, Drew suddenly shouted.
Chains of lightning spread across the ground beneath them.
‘She cast the spell while revealing her identity…!’
It was a shocking display of magic even Jin struggled to comprehend.
Even Jin, standing nearby, hadn’t sensed the flow of magic from her. The Third Tower mages were completely unaware.
“Aaaargh!”
“Ugh!”
Mages caught in the lightning chains screamed.
Blood gushed from their mouths, noses, and ears. Those who barely managed to raise shields felt a chill down their spines.
“Grrrr…”
Five mages were ensnared by the chains, their bodies soon charred black as they foamed at the mouth, meeting their end.
In an instant, twenty percent of the Third Tower’s forces in the forest were wiped out.
But the mages’ misfortune didn’t end there. The lightning chains writhed like living creatures, clinging to the remaining mages’ shields.
The chains not only pressured the shields but also obscured their vision, amplifying their terror.
“I’ll buy us time! Stay calm! One wrong move and you’ll be caught in the backlash!”
Drew showed the leadership expected of a former White Night second-in-command, guiding his panicked troops to avoid the backlash.
But Valeria anticipated this and planned to kill them in a way that exceeded expectations.
Kagagagang—!
Suddenly, a dimensional portal opened in midair, as if summoning a phoenix.
Valeria had completed a summoning ritual. But the portal wasn’t near her—it hovered above the Third Tower mages.
Krrk, ching, ziiing!
From it poured hundreds of sharp ice spikes. Like overlapping shark teeth, the spikes shattered against shields but regrew relentlessly.
Mages whose shields were pierced were skewered and killed in gruesome fashion. Their flesh and entrails fell, still writhing, becoming charcoal under the crackling lightning chains.
The Third Tower mages hadn’t expected an attack like this.
They had all learned magic in Ziphl and treated Ziphl’s vast library of spells like home, but—
They could say with certainty: the magic Valeria wielded was unlike anything they’d ever seen. Every spell she used was heavily modified beyond recognition from its original form.
That was why they couldn’t respond properly. They had believed they knew nearly every magic in existence, yet here they were—watching in horror as their comrades were burned and stabbed by a strange, unheard-of magic.
Sssshing!
Confusion. Panic.
Amid the chaos, the chilling sound of a blade sliding free from its sheath echoed—not Bradamante’s, but Valeria’s. The dagger she had hidden in the cuff of her robe was now drawn.
Step, step…
With steady, deliberate footsteps, Valeria advanced toward the mages.
Her eyes were stained with a dark, crimson bloodlust. Until she closed the distance, the mages were frantically struggling to survive the electric chains and ice daggers raining down on them.
Chains on the ground parted before her, clearing a path.
The ice daggers falling from the dimensional portal above seemed to avoid her direction entirely.
From that moment on, it was nothing short of a massacre.
Like a grim reaper, Valeria weaved through the mages, her dagger claiming a life with every precise strike. Thrust after thrust, she pierced their necks and hearts, her expression cold and utterly indifferent.
Finally, her steps led her to Drew Malra, who was shielding his subordinate mages with a protective barrier.
Drew had already accepted defeat and death long before she reached him—ever since five of his men fell in the initial ambush.
Even with Valeria standing right before him, he lacked the strength to fight back or push her away.
Valeria didn’t stab him immediately. Instead, she locked eyes with him for a moment.
“There was a mage among those who slaughtered the Gray Owl Mercenaries—a man named Holden Malra.”
“That… is so.”
“Seems he’s your kin.”
Drew said nothing, avoiding her gaze.
“Even you fear the death of your own brother, don’t you?”
Screeech!
Valeria sliced Drew’s throat, and the electric chains and ice daggers that his shield had barely held back now tore through his remaining men.
Amid the blood and screams, Valeria fired another beam of magical energy, severing the wings of Myla as she tried to flee.