Chapter 468
Episode 132: Annihilation, and Something Strange… (Part 2)

Murakan did not forgive Sandra Ziphl’s insolence.

He rolled his eyes, feeling no need to ask Jin for permission or carefully choose his words.

All that mattered was making her pay for the offense she caused.

Ssshhh…!

The lingering flames of spiritual energy and azure fire near Sandra flickered in response to Murakan’s will.

Without a sound, the embers transformed into eight needle-like projectiles.

Like diving hawks, they shot down swiftly toward Sandra.

There were eight of them. The Ziphl mages had been struggling to contain the residual flames and were on the verge of collapse, unable to react.

A few, including Midor, noticed Murakan’s attack but held back.

No one wanted to risk stepping in and suffering some terrible fate.

Surprisingly, Sandra dodged three of the eight needles.

Her movements were agile and light—uncharacteristic for a mage—and she neutralized another three with a protective barrier.

But the remaining two were a problem.

“Ugh!”

Thud!

One pierced Sandra’s shoulder, the other her calf. Blood and flesh splattered—both wounds clearly severe.

Murakan looked down at Sandra, trembling violently on the ground.

To inflict such serious injuries on a pureblood Ziphl without a moment’s hesitation…

That required immense power—and it meant he was ready to wage all-out war against the entire Ziphl faction.

At least, the other major powers watching Murakan had no choice but to think so.

‘The acting head of the family said he would interrogate Rosa Runkandel, the Black Panther… Could it be that Murakan isn’t just a symbolic guardian, but actually holds Runkandel’s real power? More authority than the acting head?’

‘Maybe Murakan is effectively the acting head of Runkandel now…’

‘Then what does that mean for the hierarchy of the Twelve Riders?’

‘And Sandra Ziphl is finished. To see the White Wolf tribe’s strongest warrior reduced to barely a cripple in an instant, yet still trying to act tough… Has she lived too long among the Ziphl and become numb to fear?’

The special forces thought these things.

The White Wolf and Red Tiger tribes under Kinzelro were too terrified to think clearly, only glancing around in panic.

‘It’s not just Sandra Ziphl who’s done for. The Ziphl’s support troops were our only hope of survival…!’

Ratz’s eyes trembled.

He was certain that no one would survive. Murakan’s words just now were no bluff.

With the troops currently here, they couldn’t even scratch Murakan, let alone fight him effectively.

So Ratz had concluded their only chance was to cling to the Ziphl.

But Sandra hadn’t activated the Mage Tower Lord’s staff—and had been severely wounded in a single strike.

She was going to die.

Ratz felt like shouting.

“Activate the staff! You’re the Mage Tower Lord, not Sandra—Midor Elner, activate it!”

[The reason I didn’t kill you outright is simply because I’m curious what kind of arrogance and heaviness your confidence stems from. Puppet? Puppeteer? Speak again, Ziphl.]

The cold, low voice sent another shiver through the members of the great powers.

“Huff, huff…”

Sandra caught her breath.

At first, everyone assumed her rapid breathing was from struggling against the fear of death.

But she was only startled by the intensity of the pain.

Kirik, kiririt…

Suddenly, a sound like turning gears echoed.

It came from Sandra herself.

Everyone watching had to rub their eyes in disbelief.

Her pierced shoulder and thigh were rapidly healing.

‘She’s… recovering. A human!’

The White Wolf and Red Tiger tribes had never seen a human regenerate like this.

But Ratz and his team widened their eyes in shock.

‘Ziphl’s biological experiments have advanced this far? This rivals the mind enhancements given to the royal guards!’

Biological experiments.

Ziphl, Biment, and Kinzelro had long been conducting such experiments.

Ziphl aimed to create perfect biological golems, Biment to produce mages, and Kinzelro to craft masters.

Biment was confident they led the field in biological experimentation.

Though still experimental and unstable—as proven when Rick Helter, the former royal guard captain, lost his mind after transforming into a mage.

But Sandra’s rapid regeneration was on par with a mage’s, and she retained her sanity.

Ratz believed this would be impossible without biological golem procedures—and those procedures had to surpass the empire’s mage transformation magic.

‘There might be a mole inside the empire leaking information to Ziphl. It’s quite likely…’

As Ratz ground his teeth, Jin watched Sandra’s regeneration a beat behind.

Jin had just slipped out of the shattered corrupted energy core, suppressing his presence with spiritual energy.

He felt the need to see the situation firsthand.

‘…Recovery!? Rapid regeneration?’

He never imagined he’d see rapid regeneration in Sandra after Amela.

As Murakan had said about Amela, rapid regeneration was the specialty of inner-energy beasts or demons.

Amela had the special forces of chaos and corruption, amplified to boot, so it made sense.

‘Could Sandra be born of chaos? If so, she wouldn’t have been so helpless against corruption.’

But Sandra was an ordinary human, untouched by chaos, as Jin thought.

And though others hadn’t noticed, Jin saw that Sandra’s rapid regeneration differed from anything he’d seen before.

‘Her regeneration doesn’t feel like wounds simply healing—it’s as if time itself is rewinding at the injury site.’

He wasn’t certain. The wounds healed too fast, and he was too far away to see clearly.

Sandra Ziphl.

Jin had never crossed paths with her in this life.

But in his previous life, they had met by chance.

He had been waiting for Valeria at a fountain when they struck up a brief conversation about magic.

“About Matthew Morniac’s three-stage classification of magic? Wow, that’s an interesting book. It’s hard to find.”

“Who are you?”

“Most people mistake Matthew Morniac for Matthew Worniac and end up reading a fraud’s book. You don’t seem like the type to get scammed.”

“You know me?”

“I’m not dumb enough to get scammed, but sometimes I let it slide because it’s cute.”

‘It was only about a year later that I realized that woman was Sandra Ziphl.’

He had thought she was just another magic student hanging around a park, but was shocked when he saw her face in a newsletter.

‘Looking back, maybe it was a deliberate approach. She must have been curious about how miserable the exiled Runkandel lived, and why she was snooping around the mages’ district.’

That was the extent of his connection with Sandra.

So in this life, Jin hadn’t given her much thought.

Unlike other children of Keliak, she wasn’t making a name as a mage or contributing to her family as a Mage Tower Lord.

Among the Ziphl mages who had just arrived in the Gaipa Archipelago, Midor Elner, the seventh Mage Tower Lord, held the highest rank.

In other words, Sandra was a pureblood Ziphl of the second or lower tier within Runkandel.

But anyone could tell from Sandra’s attitude and Midor’s gaze that Sandra actually held the upper hand in rank.

‘Like Octavia Ziphl, maybe she’s deliberately hiding her power and influence. I thought Octavia wasn’t the only one like that, but Sandra is truly unexpected.’

Jin’s surprise stemmed from the fact that the newsletter article revealing Sandra’s identity was about her marriage.

In his previous life, she had entered a political marriage with a low-ranking Biment royal.

This was a common tactic used by Ziphl and other powers—tying up “side branches” through marriage to hold hostages or settle other matters.

‘If Sandra was a hidden powerhouse in my previous life, like Octavia, she could have just retired or gone into seclusion. Why she chose a political marriage, I can’t figure out.’

Just as Jin pondered this, Sandra spoke.

“Ugh, this hurts so much. Hey, I don’t quite get it—did I say something to offend you, Murakan?”

[What did you say?]

“I stopped our bastard son from activating the Mage Tower Lord’s staff because I didn’t want the Twelve Riders and Murakan to get into trouble. I just wanted to meet Jin Runkandel and have a fight with him once. Is that really so offensive?”

Sandra spoke sincerely.

She believed calling him a puppeteer or puppet was no problem—it was simply an undeniable fact, neither pleasant nor unpleasant.

Her tone, which seemed to mock Midor, was in the same vein.

“Honestly, you should be praised for that. We all know the Black Dragon is strong, but anyone would avoid troublesome matters if they could. Isn’t that right?”

Even Murakan found himself momentarily at a loss for words at that point.

Sandra’s calm, composed manner left him thinking, Is this for real?

“Well, I can’t say you’re wrong,” Jin said as he stepped forward.

Letting Murakan handle her any longer might only diminish his own authority. It was better if Jin took care of this himself. Besides, he needed to get a closer look at what this “super-regeneration” really entailed.

“Oh! Jin Runkandel!” Sandra’s eyes sparkled as she called out.

“You want to fight me?” Their gazes locked.

Just as Sandra nodded to confirm, Jin closed the distance in an instant and drove Bradamante into her collarbone.

“That’s a bit too little, don’t you think, Sandra Ziphl?”

Before she could even pull the blade out, a sharp, grinding sound—like gears turning—scratched at their ears.