“Haa, haa...”

Leon was almost dead.

He struggled to calm his breath, which was rapid due to the tension.

His heart wouldn’t settle easily.

The danger hadn’t disappeared yet.

Leon sat cross-legged and tried to regulate his breathing as he pondered.

The time remaining in the magic orb was 369 hours.

Even if he spent all that time in the orb, only 6 hours would have passed in the real world.

‘Six hours... could she have left by now...?’

He didn’t think she’d just stand there waiting, but he couldn’t afford to be too optimistic.

‘I’ll have to wait until the cooldown time for the Golden Wings and Cloak of Invisibility is over...’

He decided he needed to spend at least a day here.

Artifacts’ cooldowns were also counted within the orb.

Whether he held them in the real world or inside the orb, a day was a day.

If he used them once and threw them into the orb, he could use them again after 24 minutes.

Although there was a cooldown, it was still an absurd advantage.

‘A day feels too short... I’ll stay here for 10 days.’

Leon began simulating different scenarios in his mind, just as he did during his first battle with Forne.

‘I can’t just sit idle for 10 days.’

Could he find a way to escape from the Witch during this time?

‘I can’t learn the Myriad Leaves technique right now, and the Glory of Thunder spell is also impossible at the moment.’

These were spells that would originally take about three months to master slowly.

Even if he used all the time in the orb, it wouldn’t be enough.

And learning them wouldn’t drastically change his situation anyway.

At that moment, the thought of the red-haired dark mage flashed through his mind.

The shadow transfiguration spell he had used.

A spell that allowed him to disappear into one shadow and emerge from another.

However, it was impossible to move through the shadow of another person.

It was one of the few spells he could learn in 10 days that might introduce some variables.

‘It probably won’t work against a high-level Insight mage... but it’s not a bad idea to have another escape plan.’

Leon didn’t need to create an artificial core in his heart, nor did he need to use another mage’s core.

Even though using dark magic felt unsettling, Leon couldn’t afford to be picky when his life was on the line.

‘Magical interference... it’s truly terrifying.’

Just thinking about the moment when the teleport scroll didn’t work made Leon’s heart race.

But no matter how powerful the Insight mage was, she couldn’t interfere with all of Leon’s magic.

‘At best, she can block a single stream of mana I emit.’

In a combat situation, controlling even one stream of mana could be a huge advantage, but Leon had no intention of confronting her.

He just needed to activate the teleport scroll somehow.

After spending 10 days learning shadow transfiguration, Leon was fully prepared.

He assumed that the Witch was still outside.

As soon as he emerged from the orb, he raised his wooden sword defensively and infused all the scrolls he was holding with mana.

And then he saw her.

She was standing there, in the same position as before.

‘Is she really waiting there?’

Even though Leon had prepared for the worst-case scenario, he couldn’t help but feel his heart sink.

It had been a full four hours.

Seeing her obsessive persistence, he broke out in a cold sweat.

‘But among all these scrolls, she shouldn’t be able to identify the teleport scroll...’

Unfortunately, the Witch far exceeded Leon’s expectations.

She only controlled the mana flowing into the teleport scroll among the many scrolls Leon was holding.

Leon immediately switched to Plan B, holding the controlled teleport scroll while injecting mana into the last remaining blink scroll.

In an instant, Leon and everything he touched disappeared to another location.

But Leon was shocked once again.

A black fireball was already flying toward him.

‘Did she predict this from the mana flow?’

The fireball neutralized all the magic created by the other scrolls in an instant, but it was blocked by the wooden sword Leon held in front of him.

Bang!

The sturdy wooden sword didn’t even get scratched by the attack.

However, the impact was too much for Leon’s basic telekinesis to handle.

Leon was thrown backward along with the wooden sword.

The Witch’s eyes widened as she watched.

She hadn’t expected him to block the magic.

Before Leon could use shadow transfiguration, the Witch appeared beside him and grabbed him by the nape, lifting him up.

“How did you do that?”

Leon bit his lip tightly at her question.

He had a strong feeling that any wrong move would result in his death.

“...”

“If you don’t answer, I’ll kill you.”

Leon pointed at the wooden sword with his finger.

The Witch shook her head slightly.

“Not that. How were you able to disappear without a trace?”

Her words were clipped, as if she hadn’t spoken to anyone in a long time.

“That’s... because I learned a special kind of magic.”

“I couldn’t sense any mana flow.”

Excuses wouldn’t work.

In reality, the moment Leon had revealed part of the orb’s mysterious secret to her, his fate was sealed.

There was no way to prevent her from becoming interested.

Leon hesitated to speak.

The orb was a secret he couldn’t tell anyone, but that wasn’t why he couldn’t talk.

The real reason was that revealing it would give her the only way to escape.

If he told her, he’d die; if he didn’t, he’d die too.

‘But if I can just buy some time...’

At that moment, when Leon was contemplating, the cave shook violently.

It wasn’t just this passageway; it felt as if the entire cave was trembling.

The Witch lifted her head suddenly.

Then, still gripping Leon’s nape, she floated into the air and flew in one direction.

As Leon was being dragged helplessly, he pulled the wooden sword back with telekinesis.

Confirming that the Witch didn’t care, Leon quickly stashed the teleport scroll and the wooden sword in his robe.

Soon, they arrived at the plaza Leon had passed earlier.

Without hesitation, the Witch chose one of the many staircases in front of her and began descending again.

They descended endlessly.

Whenever another passage appeared, she destroyed the armored golem blocking the entrance with a single blow and flew again.

Even the gargoyle and armored golems filling an entire corridor were shattered with one spell.

And so, they continued to descend.

Leon abandoned the thought of trying anything foolish.

Even though she wasn’t looking at him, Leon could feel that part of the Witch’s attention was still on him.

After a long descent, they arrived at a plaza identical to the one they had seen above.

The only difference was the large magic circle engraved in the center of the plaza floor, obscured by a gray barrier rising from its edges.

And around it, numerous mages were waiting.

The mages huddled together with their companions, discussing something.

Among them were faces Leon recognized.

Berford from the Widia Academy and his companions were there.

As the new figure appeared in the plaza, the mages glanced over and their eyes widened in shock.

“The Witch of Destruction?”

“Why is she here...?”

Their faces quickly turned to despair as they whispered among themselves.

The Witch didn’t pay them any attention.

As she raised her hand, one of the mages, in a panic, approached her.

He was a high-level Mysticism mage, but he trembled before the Witch.

“If you use powerful magic here, the cave will collapse!”

The Witch’s hand paused at his words.

“We... We must have done something wrong while dismantling the magic circle. It’s extremely unstable, so please refrain from using magic...”

“...”

Though the Witch’s expression didn’t change, the mage seemed to sense something and immediately continued.

“We’ll retreat. We hope you get what you desire...”

The mage quickly spoke to his companions, and they began gathering their equipment.

Boom—

But the cave-shaking tremor occurred once again.

And as the ground shook violently, invisible magic circles began to appear throughout the plaza.

The circles lit up brightly.

The mages caught in them started disappearing in large groups.

The Witch, who was floating in the air, raised her hand, and a black veil surrounded her.

‘Another teleportation circle...?’

Leon, watching from within the black veil, clicked his tongue.

Even the high-level mysticism mages were helplessly swept away by the light and teleported somewhere, but the Witch blocked it with just a black veil.

The flickering lights continued several times.

In the end, only the Witch and Leon were left.

The gray barrier that had been in the center of the plaza was gone.

The true form of the magic circle was revealed.

It was a complex and intricate spell formula, and just by looking at it, Leon gained some insight.

‘Is this the essence of a teleportation magic circle...?’

However, the magic circle was glowing unstably, as if it was about to exhaust its power.

Still holding Leon by the nape, the Witch approached the magic circle.

Leon hastily stored the wooden sword in his subspace.

As the Witch stepped into the center of the magic circle, it emitted a powerful light, squeezing out its last bit of energy.

A light so bright it was blinding. Then, darkness.

As Leon’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, he realized they had been teleported to a new location.

It was a vast and high space, incomparable to the cave plaza.

There were no signs of other people.

The only ones present were the Witch and Leon.

Soon, Leon noticed something that made his jaw drop.

A single golem stood towering up to a height that even with Leon's levitation magic, it would take a long time to reach the top.

Its body had a human-like shape, and its skin was ivory-colored.

Red stripes, resembling blood vessels, protruded from its skin, pulsating as if they were alive.

Hundreds of tubes were connected to these red stripes, which looked like blood vessels.

Especially near the heart, there were dozens of tubes, even though there were no visible blood vessels.

The long tubes extended behind the golem, disappearing into the darkness where they were hard to see.

The face, which Leon had to crane his neck to see, was also similar to that of a human.

However, where its eyes should have been, there was a single red slit that blinked occasionally.

It had no hair, and its ivory-colored lips were tightly closed.

"This is Gigantes..."

The Witch muttered softly, but Leon could hear it too.

She seemed to know something about this golem.

As the Witch spoke, the red slit in the giant golem's eye fully lit up.

Rumble—

As the giant moved, the entire cave trembled.

The movements didn’t stop with just one tremor; they became increasingly intense.

The tubes began to disconnect one by one.

Without hesitation, the Witch extended her hand toward it.

A fireball, much larger than the one Leon had seen before, formed in the air and struck the giant directly.

The giant’s body didn’t show any visible wounds, but the black flames that clung to it continued to burn, especially around its shoulder.

The giant raised its hand and brought it down where the Witch had been standing.

The Witch, still holding Leon by the nape, glanced at him before tossing him to the side.

Leon, who was flung away, used levitation magic to steady himself before hitting the ground.

Now free, Leon watched the Witch with a bewildered expression.

‘Should I use the teleport scroll right now?’

But that thought quickly dissipated.

Even though the Witch’s attention was no longer on him, it was obvious that she would interfere the moment he tried to teleport.

Otherwise, there would have been no reason to bring him all the way here.

‘The magic circle looked unstable, so she probably had no choice.’

Leon floated in the air with an innocent expression, carefully staying out of the range of the battle between the giant and the Witch.

If he tried to escape now and got caught, she would be even more vigilant in the future.

‘I need to stay still and wait for the right moment.’

The two continued to exchange blows dozens of times.

The giant threw punches, and the Witch evaded while continuously casting spells.

Each time, the cave shook as if it were about to collapse.

In fact, stones began to rain down from the ceiling.

It was a sign that the cave was indeed collapsing.

The Witch’s magic struck the giant’s body multiple times, but it couldn’t cause significant damage.

However, the flames remained and continued to burn.

As time passed, the giant’s skin began to melt and sag.

Perhaps sensing the danger, the giant briefly withdrew its body.

The pulsations of the red stripes protruding from its skin became more rapid.

Moments later, the giant suddenly stretched out and swung its fist at the Witch.

The speed was incomparable to before.

It was physically impossible to understand how such speed could come from such a massive body.

The fist struck the black veil surrounding the Witch.

The veil didn’t shatter, but the Witch, still wrapped in it, was flung into the darkness.

Bang—

The sound of her crashing into the wall echoed through the cave.

And shortly after, another fireball came flying out of the darkness.

The giant deflected the fireball with the edge of its hand.

Bang—

The ground shook as the fireball struck the floor, causing it to collapse.

Neither of them paid any attention to this.

If anything, their attacks grew more intense.

They were fully focused on the battle.

Dozens of black flames erupted from the ground around the giant, wrapping around its limbs like whips.

Whether the flames had physical force behind them or not, the giant’s body hesitated for a moment.

The flames, which wrapped around the giant’s limbs, spread and clung to its skin.

Instead of trying to remove the whips, the giant simply opened its mouth.

A massive magic circle formed in front of its mouth, and from that magic circle, a white beam of light was fired.

It was aimed at where the Witch was.

Boom—

Unable to withstand the impact, one side of the cave wall completely collapsed.

The collapse spread like dominoes.

As the ceiling caved in, chunks of rock began to rain down like a storm.

One by one, the light spheres went out, deepening the darkness.

But the giant didn’t stop, creating dozens more magic circles around its mouth.

The beams didn’t fire immediately.

It seemed like they needed some preparation time.

By then, the giant’s body was already heavily melted.

The skin near its heart had melted away, revealing a red core hidden within.

The core was intricately engraved with complex patterns that were visible at a glance.

Leon’s eyes lit up as he dodged the falling rocks.

At the same time, he felt a powerful flow of mana coming from the Witch’s direction.

The power was on a different level than before.

It was clear she was casting a Grand Magic spell.

Grand Magic was a more powerful form of magic than Secret Magic, comparable to a natural disaster.

Even for an Insight-level mage, it took time to cast.

The opportunity Leon had been waiting for had arrived.

Leon quietly landed on the ground nearby and, using shadow transfiguration, disappeared into his own shadow, reappearing in the shadow of the giant.

At the exact moment when the white beam was fired from the giant’s mouth.

Leon simultaneously touched the giant’s leg and the magic orb.

The flames that had been burning on the giant’s leg instantly transferred to Leon’s arm, but as soon as he entered the orb and used water magic, the flames were quickly extinguished.

The flames lost their power as the Witch’s mana was cut off.

Nevertheless, a severe burn remained on Leon’s arm.

Without time to feel the pain, Leon immediately drove the wooden sword into the now softened leg of the giant.

Thud—

The giant’s body staggered and fell to its knees on the dirt floor.

There wasn’t even time to see the body completely collapse.

‘There’s no time to waste.’

He only needed to confirm that it was effective.

Leon immediately emerged from the orb.

The time between when Leon disappeared and reappeared was less than a second in the real world.

It was the exact moment when dozens of beams and the Witch’s summoned meteor collided.

At the same time, Leon used the Golden Wings’ triple acceleration to distance himself from the Witch as much as possible while infusing mana into the teleport scroll.

The brief moment it took to fill the scroll with mana felt like an eternity.

Boom—

As the two spells clashed, a powerful wave of mana spread out around them.

But the wave never reached Leon.

As Leon vanished from the air, the cave completely collapsed.

The collapse, which began from the lower levels, accelerated as it reached the upper levels.

The sound of rocks and boulders crashing down, and the noise of the collapsing debris, mixed together, creating a deafening roar.

After what seemed like an eternity, the storm of dust settled.

The Witch, Lin, emerged from the debris, her black hair covered in dust, as she gazed at the spot where the giant and the boy had disappeared.

"...I'll find you."