The square-jawed man emerged from the shadows.

In front of him stood a man with long black hair, twirling a silver broom in his hands.

The long-haired man chuckled as he looked at the square-jawed man.

"Humiliating, isn’t it, Zatul?"

"...It would’ve been the same if you’d gone instead," Zatul replied, irritation lacing his voice as he removed the hood of his robe.

"Ha, not with me."

Zatul sighed deeply, shaking his head instead of offering an explanation.

Even if he wanted to explain, he didn’t have the confidence to do so.

A young magician at the arcane beginner level who could repeatedly cast nine-layered incantations, continuously pull scrolls from a subspace, and wield a strange wooden sword with unusual abilities.

Explaining it would only lead to mockery.

"After all, he’s just an arcane beginner," Zatul thought. "No matter how talented he is, he’s no match for a high-level mysterious magician."

"Seems like you won’t be speaking much at the next roundtable, Zatul."

"You’re all so focused on killing people, someone has to handle the administrative work and report, right?"

"And you just happen to slip in your own opinions during those reports, thinking we wouldn’t notice?"

"Well... you’ll just have to deal with it," Zatul retorted.

The long-haired man placed the broom between his legs, ready to take off.

"So, where should I go?"

"...They’ve split up and are on the move. I’m not sure how many groups there are, but we’ve identified two."

"They’re all heading to Meira anyway, those idiots."

"Oh, and it seems Verford’s betrayal has been discovered."

The long-haired man clicked his tongue.

"Too late now that Laidra’s dead anyway. Haha! I wonder what their faces looked like when Verford stabbed them in the back. I’ll have to ask the boss about it later."

With that, he mounted the broom and took to the air.

"Where are you going? We could just wait at the path to Meira and ambush them."

"That’s no fun. No fun at all."

"You’re planning to chase them?"

"My Zippy here needs a little taste of the action," the long-haired man said, patting his silver broom, which he had affectionately named.

Zatul barely managed to keep his expression neutral, feeling a wave of nausea.

"Well, it’s an A-grade mobility artifact, so catching up won’t be hard, but..."

"Could you not talk about it like it’s just an object?"

"Tch, just go already. How many are you taking?"

"A hundred arcane magicians should be enough. If they want to be taken down one by one, who am I to refuse?"

"Just don’t overdo it. If you thin them out, it’ll make it easier for those blocking Meira to handle the rest..."

Before Zatul could finish his sentence, the long-haired man had already vanished on his broom.

"Always trying to show off…" Zatul grumbled, clenching his square jaw in frustration.

As he muttered, another figure emerged from the shadows.

"This should be fun," said a woman with short hair and heavy eye makeup, snapping open a fan and covering her mouth with it.

"I want to join."

"Do you enjoy eavesdropping?"

"You knew I was here."

"Yes, but..."

Once again, before Zatul could finish his sentence, the short-haired woman vanished into the shadows.

"Cursed woman…" Zatul muttered, relieved that no one else appeared after her.

Dek led a group of 300 students, with Leon and Ria among them. Rowen was with Melrn.

After gaining some distance, Dek landed the group in a nearby area.

He held the black brooch in his hand, infusing it with mana as he checked each of the 300 students for any items marked with the same tracking spell.

The brooch emitted a buzzing sound twice as it made contact with two individuals.

Without hesitation, Dek killed them both and searched their belongings, finding black brooches on each.

After that, Dek took to the skies again with the remaining group, his blue robes fluttering as he spoke.

"We need to hurry to Meira…"

But before he could finish, a swarm of crows descended upon them, darkening the sky.

Each crow was imbued with magic, clearly not ordinary birds.

"So soon…?" Dek gritted his teeth and drew his staff from his subspace.

A white mist began to emanate from the staff.

As the mist touched the crows, they froze instantly, falling to the ground in icy shards.

However, as the ice shattered on impact with the ground, smaller crows emerged from the fragments and continued their pursuit.

"Everyone, defend yourselves!" Dek shouted.

The group quickly launched spells at the smaller crows.

Boom! Boom!

The crows exploded on contact with the spells, but there were far too many of them.

Dek had no choice but to cast a large-scale defensive spell.

Thud, thud, thud—

The smaller crows threw themselves against the barrier protecting the group, hundreds of them in total.

Maintaining the levitation spell, the freezing spell, and the defensive spell all at once took a tremendous toll on Dek’s mana reserves.

Each of the smaller crows was imbued with the power of an arcane-level spell, a feat only possible for a magician of at least high-level mysterious rank.

"Hahaha! Struggling all by yourself, are you?"

The long-haired man on the gray broom laughed loudly, his oversized mouth grinning widely as he trailed after them.

Despite his massive build, he perched daintily on the broom, an odd and unsettling sight.

Several dark magicians followed in his wake.

"No matter how hard you struggle, you’re just rats in a trap! Hahaha!"

"..."

Dek couldn’t gauge the man’s rank with his detection magic.

Dek himself was a mid-level mysterious magician, which meant this man was at least high-level.

"How many mysterious magicians are there…?" Dek couldn’t comprehend how so many high-level magicians could appear seemingly out of nowhere.

But in the midst of battle, trying to understand everything would only slow down his judgment.

Dek, still maintaining the levitation spell for the hundreds of people around him, suddenly plunged toward the ground.

"I can see what you’re thinking, clear as day!"

"Everyone scatter! Run!" Dek shouted the moment they touched down.

Even though he knew he couldn’t possibly face a high-level mysterious magician on his own, it was the only choice he had.

Whether he faced the enemy alone or with the group, the outcome would be the same—death.

So the only option left was to hold them off as long as possible.

"Freeze!"

Though Dek hadn’t reached the high-level of the mysterious stage, and therefore couldn’t cast grand magic, he unleashed a precisely honed arcane spell.

The ground in front of Dek froze over, and thick ice pillars began to rise from it.

Each pillar radiated intense cold.

The dark magicians flying with levitation spells found their paths obstructed and their movements slowed.

"Freeze? You think that’ll work on me?"

The long-haired man within the spell’s range smirked from atop his broom.

Those who were quick to assess the situation didn’t hesitate to gather their companions and take to the skies again.

Leon was among them.

He led a group of about 20 regular disciples and academy apprentices, including Ria, in a different direction.

Leon wore the Golden Wings and enveloped the regular disciples in his levitation spell.

They couldn’t fly for long on their own, and their mana reserves were limited, so they needed Leon’s help.

"W-What’s going to happen…?" one of the academy students asked Leon.

But Leon didn’t have an answer.

He hadn’t expected so many high-level magicians to be chasing them.

‘Is it because of the artificial cores they create in their hearts…?’ Leon thought. The only way to produce so many high-rank magicians was through that method.

‘Wait…’

Leon furrowed his brow, realizing that a group was following them, not long after they had scattered.

‘So Dek…’

Despite using all his mana in arcane spells, Dek hadn’t been able to hold out for long.

However, their pursuers weren’t numerous.

It seemed the dark magicians following the long-haired man had split up to chase down the scattered groups.

‘Is the silver broom chasing another group? Or is Dek desperately holding him off…?’

There was no mysterious-level magician among those chasing Leon’s group. Their speed wasn’t particularly fast.

‘At this rate, we won’t get caught.’

But the problem was that even if they weren’t caught immediately, there was no telling when or where the enemy might appear next.

Leon could retreat into the Orb if necessary, but the others couldn’t.

‘Heading to Meira doesn’t feel safe either.’

Their route had already been predicted. Even without the tracking spell, it was obvious to the enemy that the scattered groups were headed for Meira.

It seemed wiser to change direction, making it harder for the enemy to predict their movements.

Leon briefly considered splitting off on his own, as Arpina and Dek had, but quickly dismissed the idea.

If he left them alone and another enemy appeared, they wouldn’t be able to resist and would be killed.

‘If I’m going to change direction, I need to deal with those chasing us first.’

There was no point in changing direction while still being tracked.

As more of the group began to show signs of mana exhaustion, Leon made his decision.

‘Let’s take them out first.’