[3:50]
'I'm finally done.'
Burying the last item on the ground, Aiden wiped his sweat off his forehead as he looked around.
'This silence is starting to feel creepy.' He thought as he frowned and looked towards the place where Enel was standing.
[3:55]
"…Huh…W-what is that?"
Shocked by what he was seeing, Aiden forgot to keep his voice down as he felt threatened.
Looking towards Enel, his skill [Energy eye] easily allowed him to see through the smoke.
'That seems dangerous.' Eden, who had also seen it, commented as he frowned.
A huge swirl of dark energy was collecting above them.
These dark energies moved like venomous snakes as they moved upward and stayed above them.
Ding
[It seems like an advanced magic is being cast. Please protect yourself immediately.]
"Huh? When di-
[4:00]
BOOM
Before Aiden could even finish his sentence, a huge black lightning struck his body from above.
Kgh
Aiden groaned in extreme pain as his eyes rolled back.
White steam arose from his body as Aiden crouched on the ground.
Going through the extreme pain of his body burning from head to toe, Aiden wasn't able to think at all as he was losing his consciousness.
BOOM
Another strike of lightning hit him again as he flew some distance backward.
Cough
Coughing out a mouthful of blood, Aiden gritted his teeth, trying not to let go of his consciousness.
Ding
[Threat detected. Auto-activating the skill: Reflection.]
SHENG
As soon as the window appeared, Aiden felt all of his mana and energy leaving his body.
…
BOOM BOOM
'…He doesn't seem to plan on stopping anytime soon.'
Looking at the chains of black lightning raining down on the white smoke, Louis looked at the magic circle with a mixed feeling of fear and regret.
'Master, do you really have to go this far for your own child?' He thought as he regretfully looked towards the white smoke.
'I can't interfere yet.'
Shaking his head, he tried to calm himself down and remove the frequent thoughts of interfering. After all, it still wasn't five minutes yet.
…
Meanwhile, in other parts of the city of Wind,
A white building stood at the side of the road, which was bustling with people and carriages as it was the start of the day and they were going to their respective work.
The white building was towering over the other buildings that were beside it. It also had a board with some inscriptions written on it.
[Hosling Guild]
Yes, it was the guild that belonged to Ann, and it was also the guild that primarily focused on research stuff.
"Disappointing."
Inside the guild, the guildmaster, Ann, was having some problems.
"This…thing. What even is this?" Ann muttered as she observed a small black fire inside a purple holographic box.
"I've been researching it for three days, thinking it was similar to what I had read about, but not at all." She muttered as she watched the black fire become smaller and smaller until it ultimately went off.
"Ugh. That was not even a fire at all." She again muttered as she took off her purple pointy hat and scratched her head.
'I wasted three days just trying to know what it was and comparing it with the small sample I had, but it was all for waste.' She thought as she started to feel frustated.
'Forget it; if I can't find an alternative, I will just take the real one.'
She thought as she wore her hat and walked out of the research room.
Clack
"…Good morning, guildmaster."
"…Good morning, guildmaster."
"Good morning." Ann ignored the awkward good mornings given by the members of the guild and replied normally as she walked towards her main office.
Tak Tak Tak
As she was walking through the stairs, a woman wearing glasses and a red pointy hat walked up to her from behind but didn't surpass her; she just kept walking behind her.
The woman was smaller than Ann, and their similar type of dressing made it look like they were sisters, which was not the case as their dressing was because of their ranks in the mage industry.
"Good morning, guildmaster." She said this as Ann nodded her head without looking behind.
"Good morning, Lyn," Ann replied as they kept on walking.
"They were probably acting awkward because you usually wake up when the sun starts to set, but currently the sun is just showing its tips." Ann hadn't asked anything, but Lyn replied anyway, just to let her guildmaster know of her bad habit.
"I see."
Obviously, Ann didn't fully understand the reason but still replied.
[Lyn: Guildmaster's assistant]
"How is the search for the dungeon going on?" Ann asked a question as they finally reached the top floor, where the office was located.
"Everything I was ordered to do will be done today. The only thing that remains is the funding and those new artifacts of yours." Lyn replied as Ann nodded her head.
They finally reached the front of the office. The door was fairly huge.
Clack
"Good morning."
As soon as she walked in, she was surprised to see a familiar figure, whom she had worked with a few days ago, sitting on the sofa that was for guests.
"…What are you doing here?"
…
BOOM
The last string of black lightning struck the young master's body as his frail body flew backwards.
Whoosh
Thump Thump Bam
His body, which was bleeding from head to toe, bounced on the ground and ultimately struck the wall of the mansion.
'So this is what you decided on, master.' Louis couldn't even bear to look at the young master, who had gone unconscious a long time ago. His eyes were white due to his pupil being rolled back.
There were a few dark marks on his body; there were probably more of them, and were just being covered by the blood.
His clothes didn't have it easy either.
The white smoke that was covering them had disappeared a long time ago.
At first, Louis was relieved that the young master had somehow survived the strikes and was protecting himself with a sturdy shield, but that relieved feeling didn't last long when the shield completely shattered from the next strike.
From then on, there wasn't even a hint of mercy.
The young master endured the strikes quietly.
But the black lightning was more relentless.
His body, which was already bleeding, started to bleed even more.
Soon after, he completely lost his consciousness.
'I'm pathethic at how I'm incapable of acting out.' Louis thought as he looked at the city lord.
Just as usual, he was stoic, standing there with his solemn face.
'So, you choose to make him disabled instead of giving him what he wanted.' Louis thought.
The city lord, after looking at the unconscious figure of his son for a moment, turned his head towards Louis.
'Just how is what you are doing protecting him?' Louis thought, but he lowered his head as he understood why the city lord was looking at him.
[5:00]
"T-the five minute timer has ended…"