Chapter 15

‘Damn it!’

So, it was my mistake.

I’d anticipated that the Lanches gang would be slow to assess the situation due to drinking and revelry—that part went as expected.

But who would have thought they’d immediately identify the Sena School Nomad as the culprit and launch an attack?

I’d underestimated the intuition and decisiveness of adults seasoned by wilderness life.

‘At this rate, we’ll be the ones ambushed instead!’

I felt I should rush ahead to warn our nomad about the impending attack. This all started because I tried to handle it alone, and now things had spiraled out of control.

I began running toward our nomad’s area.

But with my exhausted body, trying to avoid the Lanches gang’s eyes while outpacing them was impossible.

The Lanches gang was also moving rapidly, already exiting the marketplace.

‘No choice then…’

After trailing them briefly, I finally made my decision.

‘I’ll settle this here.’

If we were ambushed, our nomad would suffer heavy casualties.

That left only one option.

I needed to attack them here and create a commotion—enough to alert our nomad that something was wrong so they could prepare.

Click.

I drew my bowstring while running.

The Lanches nomad members appeared intermittently between tents.

Shooting while running, hitting targets that were barely visible through tents, and moving no less—these were skills far beyond my normal archery capabilities.

But in this moment, my focus reached extraordinary levels.

The intermittent glimpses of the Lanches gang’s backs filled my entire field of vision as if magnified.

‘Must I do this? No, I will do this!’

The world turned black and white.

The same gray-lined landscape I’d seen while riding Heukseom appeared again.

Everything—the running Lanches gang, myself, the taut bowstring—all appeared as gray patterns.

The patterns forming me and my bow were merging together.

But I was too intensely focused to recognize the transformation of my visual perception.

Click!

My already fully-drawn bow bent even further.

Just as I was about to release the arrow at my target—

Tap!

A strange sight caught my eye.

At first, I thought the person was a member of the Lanches gang. They blended so naturally with the group.

But as I wondered why the hooded figure seemed vaguely familiar, they suddenly increased their pace, drew a dagger, and lunged toward Lanches’ back.

“Huh? What?”

The attack was so sudden and swift that even Lanches’ followers right behind him could only stare with wide eyes.

“Who the hell is this bastard!”

But true to his status as a Mana User, Lanches sensed the assassin behind him and reflexively swung his arm.

The hooded figure took a heavy blow and crashed through market stalls and tents.

Yet even as they were struck, they managed to throw their dagger, successfully piercing Lanches’ hamstring.

“You little… ugh!”

Crash!

Somehow the dagger was thrown with such stealth that Lanches didn’t even realize he’d been hit until he tried to pursue the hooded figure and tumbled to the ground.

“Argh!”

Perhaps embarrassed by his fall, Lanches angrily got up, pulled the dagger from his hamstring, tossed it aside, and firmly stood up.

With a grimace, he flexed his leg a few times, but his movements seemed surprisingly unaffected—not at all like someone with a punctured hamstring.

The Mana User’s enhanced body had somehow partially negated the muscle and tendon damage.

“Whew…”

After a deep exhale, Lanches regained his characteristic relaxed expression and approached the collapsed tent.

“Wow… talk about unexpected. So it was you? The one killing my men?”

By the tent, Lanches whistled casually.

Rustle.

The hooded attacker pushed aside the collapsed tent and stood up. A rather small frame. As they brushed off their sleeve—

Screech!

Bang!

A firecracker made a piercing noise as it shot into the sky and exploded. A signal flare. One I recognized.

“You, you bitch!”

As Lanches panicked at the signal flare, she coldly sneered at him.

“You’re finished, asshole. Even if I die, a wounded Mana User like you won’t survive Teacher Sena.”

The hood fell away, revealing sweat-dampened light blue hair fluttering in the breeze. I recognized her instantly.

‘Yuria?’

Ping!

The moment I confirmed her identity, I loosed an arrow at Lanches.

Their proximity was dangerously close. A Mana User could sever her neck in the blink of an eye.

My fully-drawn arrow pierced the air itself as it flew toward Lanches’ forehead.

“Yuria! Get away!”

I shouted while firing arrows in rapid succession.

Ping! Swoosh!

My arrows flew with enough force to half-penetrate a log, but I didn’t expect them to be truly effective against Lanches.

I just needed to distract him slightly, but…

“Ugh…!”

They connected. Not fatally, but Lanches failed to dodge completely.

An arrow grazed his cheek, leaving a long gash, while another struck his thigh, drawing blood.

‘Why couldn’t a Mana User dodge that?’

I wondered briefly, but that wasn’t important now.

“Yuria! This way!”

I called to Yuria as I ran toward Lanches, but she just glanced at me, smiled faintly, then turned her attention back to Lanches.

She sneered at him.

“Did your gang enjoy their meals and drinks these past two days? I could barely eat from anger.”

She glanced around at the Lanches gang.

But strangely, the Lanches gang members were reacting oddly.

Rather than charging forward eagerly, they stood awkwardly in place, as if uncomfortable.

Some were dry heaving, and even Lanches himself seemed unsteady.

Yuria gave a cold smile.

“What’s wrong? Feeling sick? Well, you know. Did it ever occur to you that someone might have poisoned your food and drink?”

Lanches roared.

“Impossible! Poisoned inside the barrier’s protection? And even if it was poison… I’m a Mana User!”

Yuria chuckled as she pointed at the dagger on the ground.

“You think I’d only poison your food? See what’s on that? Mana Users or barriers, it’s all about money. There’s always a way. My family was famous for this stuff before. Sadly, it proved rather useless against calamities…”

She shook her head bitterly, then fixed her cold gaze on him.

“Now then, shall we kill each other?”

Yuria drew a new dagger, gripped it in reverse, and darted between the Lanches gang members.

“Argh!”

“Gah!”

Slash! Slash! Thunk!

She moved through the Lanches gang, stabbing mercilessly. Large adult men fell like leaves or rag dolls. Blood sprayed into the air. Blood soaked the ground.

I found it… beautiful.

Despite being drugged, these were still hardened wilderness thugs.

Yet she cut through them with her small frame, effortlessly dispatching them with her skills—it was a magnificent sight.

I felt exhilarated.

“Alright!”

Ping!

Boom!

I fired my bow until it creaked.

The arrows felt impossibly heavy, like I was shooting hammers rather than arrows.

The Lanches members who took arrows to their foreheads or shoulders were thrown backward, crashing to the ground.

Strange… fighting alone had felt so oppressive, but with Yuria, it became almost enjoyable.

‘I can see it…’

Following the rapid rhythm, my concentration intensified.

Once again, the world had become completely gray.

Everything appeared as simple patterns of gray lines, and within them, I moved as one with my bow.

‘What are these gray lines? Mana? Why can’t I see them normally?’

Part of me wondered, but another part thought, ‘Who cares?’

This gray world was simple and peaceful. Everything moved according to my will, and my arrows never missed.

As I ran, shot, jumped, and shot again, I methodically took down one member after another, occasionally turning back to fire at Lanches to keep him at bay.

Whatever drug Yuria had used on him, Lanches couldn’t make any large movements, only managing minimal motions to defend against my arrows.

“You bastard…!”

I sent another arrow toward Lanches as he glared at me, then turned my attention elsewhere. I figured it was better to deal with his underlings first rather than tackle Lanches himself, who would be harder to finish off immediately.

But my gaze was suddenly pulled back to Lanches, as if drawn by a magnet.

It was an unconscious reaction. An ominous foreboding tightened around my chest.

“Drugs? Poison? You think such trivial things can subdue a Mana User?”

Lanches growled like a beast. His face contorted like a demon’s.

Red and blue magical power swirled around his body.

The gray lines that had filled the world began dissolving, flowing toward Lanches.

The gray energy was sucked into his chest, merged with his magical power, and then reformed into a pattern of dozens of overlapping circles before erupting outward.

Though I’d never seen such a phenomenon before, I instinctively understood what it meant.

‘Gift…!’

Lanches, who had been disoriented by the drugs, had finally overcome their effects and activated his Gift.

Click!

Ping!

At the same moment, my arrow flew from the bowstring.