Chapter 23: Head-on Confrontation

A few minutes ago, Elvia looked at the confident Wang Yu with a hint of concern. "Wang Yu, won't this hurt innocent people?"

"It's fine. I used my Inner Eye to scout ahead; there's only one person inside who can still be considered alive."

"As for the other three... two are corpses, and the third, I have no idea what that is," Wang Yu replied immediately.

"But Wang Yu, didn't the townspeople say this place belongs to that alcoholic hunter couple and their daughter? Where did four people come from?"

"So, is the one still alive the culprit behind this incident?"

Wang Yu rubbed his chin. He felt something was off, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Ultimately, it came down to a lack of information; he was beginning to understand the difficulties faced by traditional investigators.

Sometimes, results aren't guaranteed just because you want to investigate. With too little information and high risks, it is truly a struggle.

"Then let's not overthink it. Boom!" Wang Yu waved his hand, signaling Elvia to finish it off with Fireball and Flame Burst spells.

The girl still looked hesitant. Wang Yu knew this stemmed from her innate kindness; she was unwilling to harm the innocent.

Wang Yu frowned slightly. That kind of mindset was hard to maintain in this world.

Wang Yu considered himself a decent man—at least, he wouldn't actively harm others for profit—but he would never let a stranger jeopardize his companions or himself.

However, he quickly adjusted his mindset and chided himself. Who was he to judge someone else's internal struggle?

He hadn't even figured out his own life, so worrying about others seemed a bit redundant.

Still, he rarely cared about others' mental states, so this was a bit unusual for him.

The girl's kindness wasn't a bad thing; it was just a facet of her character.

Wang Yu had no intention of changing that; he only hoped she would become more firm and decisive.

Garcia and Lilia hoped for the same, and based on what he knew of Elvia, Wang Yu felt confident in her.

Elvia soon let go of her hesitation. She was clever and knew when to act; her kindness would never become an obstacle to her duties.

She raised her right hand, which was covered in a thin, veil-like membrane etched with intricate, precise patterns—a magic seal.

Due to the corruption of a certain entity, part of Elvia's hand had merged with the Void.

While this made it difficult for her right hand to interact with the material world, it also made it the perfect conduit for magic.

As an experienced and powerful mage and witch, Lilia had tailored a combat style for her: the wandless mage.

She had crafted a glove for Elvia, whose magic seals allowed her to touch physical objects with her right hand.

At the same time, the seals accelerated the flow of mana, a glove Lilia proudly named "Twin Stars."

The magic seals began to glow, drawing in invisible mana to inject into Elvia’s palm.

Void energy began to flow through her ethereal hand, transforming from twisted Void energy into pure mana.

Elvia manipulated these two different sources of energy to construct two distinct spells simultaneously—dual casting, the true meaning of "Twin Stars."

A first-circle Fireball and a first-circle Flame Burst were constructed at once, overlapping until the fire in her hand burned with a fierce, brilliant light.

The girl’s eyes grew resolute the moment she began the incantation. She was the same girl who had faced powerful enemies with nothing but a crossbow, never shrinking back.

She propelled the combined spells forward. The scorching fireball carved a bright arc through the air, illuminating the gloomy West District.

It crashed into the hunter’s cabin, unleashing all its light and heat in a single instant.

A violent roar sent air currents and wooden debris flying everywhere; the two overlapping first-circle spells unleashed a force not to be underestimated.

Nearly half the cabin was obliterated in the explosion, the front section reduced to a ruin of fire and ash.

"Something's wrong..." Wang Yu had been observing the cabin closely. A low-level mission didn't mean one could afford to be careless.

"Hmm..." The sharp-witted Elvia had also noticed. Although the house appeared destroyed, one room in the corner remained perfectly intact.

Despite being charred on the outside, the structural integrity was abnormal.

The shack wasn't sturdy; after such a dual-spell blast, that small room should not have remained standing.

"Then let's hit it again!" Wang Yu thought for a moment and reached his conclusion.

His own destructive power couldn't match a spell, so rather than standing around, it was better to keep bombing.

Elvia was about to retreat, following their plan where Wang Yu would hold the front while she attacked as needed.

She paused at his command, looking hesitant, but immediately began the second incantation.

Fierce fire elements surged over her palm once more.

"This should be the last time I can dual-cast. The Void takes too much of a toll on my mental strength," Elvia warned.

Wang Yu nodded, drawing his longsword and positioning his shield in front of him, watching the crumbling cabin with vigilance.

Just as Elvia’s second dual-cast neared completion, the door of the strangely intact room creaked open.

A boy clutching a teddy bear pushed the door open, his face a mask of confusion and bewilderment.

Wang Yu froze for a second. Elvia, seeing him, slowed her spell, a look of shock crossing her face.

"Wait, he has a teddy bear. This guy isn't the one who's still alive—he's that thing I couldn't identify."

The teddy bear in the boy's hand made Wang Yu realize the truth: this was not the living person he had scouted with his Inner Eye.

It was the entity he couldn't see clearly or define.

"Quick, Elvia, hit him again!" Wang Yu shouted at the stunned young mage.

As Wang Yu called out, the boy’s expression shifted from confusion to something savage and grotesque.

Though still surprised, Elvia’s rapport with Wang Yu meant she didn't hesitate to release the spell.

The fireball flew from her palm toward the snarling boy with the teddy bear.

It moved with blinding speed, but from the shadows behind the boy, pitch-black hands reached out to intercept it.

Though they dissolved under the searing heat of the fireball, these black arms guided the projectile aside.

"Boom!" A violent explosion rocked a nearby courtyard wall, sending mud and bricks flying.

The blast tore down half the wall, and the lingering fire elements ignited everything flammable nearby.

The trees and weeds around the courtyard burst into flames in an instant, but the target remained untouched.

The boy cast a cold, malicious gaze at the prepared Wang Yu and Elvia, his teddy bear emitting a sinister glow.

Realizing the boy's method of defense, Wang Yu hurled his shield directly at him.

Blocking such an attack with a shield was a fool's errand, so if it couldn't be used for defense, he would use it as a weapon.

His muscles bulged as he channeled his battle aura, unleashing an explosive burst of power.

The combined force of his muscles and supernatural energy made the throw incredibly powerful; the shield became a blur, tearing through the air with a piercing whistle.

The sharpened edge of the shield, boosted by speed and strength, would be terrifying—decapitation would be effortless.

The shield tore through the air, but black arms surged from every crevice to catch it.

It cut through them like a hot knife through butter; the thin, twisted limbs were no match for the shield.

The high-speed projectile sliced through the arms toward its target, yet the boy’s expression remained cold and evil.

Countless black arms erupted from the shadows, an endless, wave-like tide. Though weak, their sheer number was horrifying.

Blocked by dozens, then hundreds of arms, the shield finally lost its momentum and clattered to the ground with a metallic ring.

The shield clattered to the ground, but the assault had not ceased; a fireball, smaller yet significantly swifter, whistled through the breach left by the shattered shield—a first-circle spell, Fireball!

A swarm of arms surged forward, heedless of the searing flames, guiding the menacing orb away from its intended path.

The fireball detonated with a dull thud, its potency diminished, failing to find its mark.

Wang Yu’s expression tightened; this was the inherent flaw of low-circle fireballs—without a solid impact, they could not unleash their full destructive potential.

The guidance of the black arms not only prevented the fireball from wreaking havoc on their own ranks but also forced it to veer harmlessly away.

"Why must you hurt Rose...!" A low, raspy voice crawled from the boy’s throat—a guttural, grating sound no child should possess.

Hearing the boy speak, Wang Yu felt a jolt of realization. Rose was the name of the hunter’s daughter, the living soul within the house. But then, who was this boy?

"Because you are killing people!" Wang Yu had little patience for idle chatter, but in this stalemate, any scrap of information was worth the breath.

"This is to save Rose!" The boy’s voice remained hoarse and venomous, his response as unexpected as it was chilling.

Wang Yu nearly faltered at the absurdity of the claim. To speak of murder as a means of salvation with such righteous conviction was beyond deranged.

The moment the words left the boy's lips, Wang Yu knew there was nothing left to discuss. Slaughter was the only answer; the logic of this nameless entity and his own were worlds apart.

Avia signaled a quick plan with a gesture, and Wang Yu motioned for her to fall back; he was going in.

"She cannot be saved," Wang Yu declared.

As if struck by a nerve, the boy’s expression twisted into hysteria, his voice warping with frantic rage: "Shut up...!"

This was exactly the reaction he sought. The instant the boy’s focus wavered, Wang Yu moved.

Muscles coiled, he slammed his feet into the earth and lunged forward, low and swift as a hunting leopard.

"Tap-tap-tap." The high-frequency rhythm of his soles against the ground propelled him at blinding speed.

Wang Yu charged the boy, who clutched his teddy bear with a savage grimace, his longsword drawn back and held at his side, coiled with potential energy.

One violent swing was all it would take to sever the boy’s head.

The verbal trap had worked; it took the boy several heartbeats to react, and by then, writhing black arms were already erupting from the shadows around him.

Wang Yu did not know the origin of these appendages. He had assumed they were born of shadows, perhaps vulnerable to light, but a cursory glance revealed them sprouting even in the sunlit patches.

No matter. Since their nature remained a mystery, he would simply evade them.

Strike at the head, slay the master, and the arms would cease to matter.

The limbs surged like a tidal wave, a dense, writhing mass of serpents that made the skin crawl.

Yet, they could not match the speed of Wang Yu, whose body had been tempered by the training of a squire.

He danced through the chaos, the arms whistling past his ears, failing to graze him as he maintained his relentless, focused charge.

The distance closed rapidly; the obstructions were little more than a nuisance.

As he broke through the final barrier, Wang Yu prepared his finishing strike, but a cunning, crooked smile spread across the boy’s face.

The arms converged, carpeting the floor in a thick, suffocating layer, covering every inch of ground before and behind Wang Yu, rendering movement impossible.

Forward blocked, retreat denied—the boy intended to trap and slaughter him where he stood.

But then, a bolt of ice pierced the air. Avia had not been idle; if fire failed, she would turn to pure, physical sorcery!

The first-circle spell, Icy Crystal Arrow, flew from her palm, aimed true at the boy.

The arms behind the boy surged again, weaving a frantic shield between the projectile and their master.

The arrow punched through palm after palm, its momentum immense, yet it was eventually halted just inches from the boy, suffering the same fate as the shield.

But the moment the arrow lost its force and began to fall, it detonated.

First-circle spell, Icy Crystal Arrow: Modified—Bursting Frost! It lacked raw power, but it erupted into a thick, swirling mist of ice, severing the line of sight between Wang Yu and the boy.

Wang Yu smiled faintly and closed his eyes. Sorcery: Inner Eye. He no longer required vision; the world revealed itself in the void, and everything hidden by the frost lay bare.

The boy’s panic was exposed to Wang Yu’s omnidirectional gaze. Unable to see his foe, the boy could only spread his black arms across the floor, blindly attempting to block the inevitable strike.

Coiling his strength, Wang Yu leaped. He soared through the air toward the boy—powerful, fast, but not enough.

Supported by a physique that defied human limits, his jump spanned over five meters, yet the boy remained just out of reach.

To land now would be to fall into the sea of writhing black serpents.

He channeled Void energy, and an invisible platform materialized beneath his feet, warping reality for a fleeting second.

With a violent kick, his descending form surged upward again. Sorcery: Double Jump—a simple application of wizardry.

Wang Yu’s energy reserves were meager, making such minor distortions his best tactical choice; the effect was subtle, but the impact on the battle was immense.

He broke through the icy mist, his longsword raised high, descending upon the boy who looked around in frantic terror.

Adjusting his posture, he held the blade overhead, gravity and his own momentum lending the strike lethal weight. One blow. That was all he needed.

The boy saw the sudden apparition, his face a mask of shock and fury. He tried to command the black arms to rise and intercept, but it was too late.

Wang Yu’s blade would reach the boy’s neck long before the limbs could intervene.

Yet, at that very moment, a brilliance erupted from the teddy bear in the boy’s arms.

A massive black hand manifested from thin air, sweeping from behind to strike Wang Yu. Though it was in his blind spot, his Inner Eye had caught it—but it was too fast to dodge.

He channeled his remaining Void energy, pouring every drop into his defense.

The lake within his spirit space plummeted; he committed everything to the spell. Sorcery: Barrier!

An invisible shield shimmered into existence. The giant hand struck with crushing force, shattering the barrier into shards before slamming into Wang Yu, sending him flying.

He tumbled backward, spitting blood, but the barrier had absorbed eighty percent of the impact. Two broken ribs—a minor price to pay.

Adjusting his stance in mid-air, he landed steadily, spat out the blood, and fixed his gaze upon the boy, whose sudden surge of power had taken a strange, ominous turn.