[A powerful extraordinary life form has been detected!]

  [The life form is expected to have fifth-sigil Elemental Adept Magus combat capability.]

  A fifth-sigil Elemental Adept Magus?! Victor’s eyes widened slightly beneath the Mask of Impersonation. He was expecting to face a tough opponent, but it was a step above his initial estimation. Still, even though this would be his first time going up against an official Magus, he was confident with his own power.

  It appeared that the old Magus had sensed his presence, as the System had notified him of a powerful enemy in advance. Before long, he spotted the group of knights led by a bearded white-haired elderly man in a traditional Magus robe.

  “Who are you? A Magus?” the old man questioned, gazing at Victor warily. On closer inspection, he had a sagely and composed appearance, but the wilting vitality couldn’t escape Victor’s eyes, which made his aura a bit withered.

  “Me?” Victor raised an eyebrow, though his appearance was hidden behind the illusion of the mask. “Why don’t you come and find out?”

  “But first…” He glanced at the group of knights below, already preparing to cast a spell. He didn’t want them to slip past him to get to Lillie while he was facing off against the old Magus.

  “Sir Magus! He’s trying to kill us!” shouted a visorless, spiky-haired knight. “Let’s not dilly-dally and kill him immediately.”

  The old Magus ignored the outcry as his gaze remained fixed on Victor. “My name is Roland Actus. As a fellow Magus, I advise you to back off. The Merlin family has commissioned me, and it will do you no good to stand against them.” He paused, a thin smile forming on his lips. “Do me a favor and withdraw. I’ll see to it that you’re compensated.”

  Without a word, Victor unleashed the spell he had prepared. There was no dramatic flash of light, no violent explosion of elemental force. Instead, the atmosphere around the group of knights subtly shifted, as if the very air itself had grown heavier. One by one, the knights’ eyes glazed over, their weapons lowering as their minds were seized by something far more terrifying than any physical assault.

  “Aaah!” One knight screamed, dropping his sword as his eyes darted around in terror.

  “Die! Die, Die!” Another frantically swiped his weapon at something only he could see and injured a nearby knight, while a third one fell to his knees, clutching his head as if trying to escape the horrors that had taken over his mind.

  What Victor had cast was a non-elemental Bet-tier called {Curse of the Nightmare}. It was a spell he had developed over the past two weeks while preparing for the expedition, and something designed specifically for moments like this. The spell worked by planting deeply rooted hallucinations of their worst fears and darkest anxieties in its targets’ minds, akin to the effects of the Dreamweaver Ivy that Victor had used on Graviel’s group.

  “How dare you!” Roland’s voice rang out, thick with anger and surprise. Even though he was caught within the range of the spell, as a top-tier Elemental Adept Magus, he resisted its effects with little effort. The knights, however, weren’t so lucky. Whether Roland couldn’t help them or simply didn’t care enough to use valuable magic items on them, he remained unmoved.

  Victor’s voice was firm as he addressed him. “Are you still going to do this?”

  Roland hesitated for a brief moment before stepping forward. “I see… You’re no ordinary Magus. Developing such a spell at your age…” His words were laced with disdain, but beneath it, there was a grudging respect. “But don’t think you can beat me with mere tricks. I’ve faced far worse in my years.”

  The elderly Magus raised one of his hands, revealing the intricate sigil etched on the back of his hand. Sparks crackled around his fingers, and with a swift gesture, he shot a bolt of lightning into the sky. Clouds gathered overhead almost instantly, forming a roiling thunderstorm. The man wasn’t holding back, and Victor could feel the immense power of the sigil bearing down on him.

  But he didn’t flinch. Instead, he manipulated the Cosmo elemental particles in the air and took out his magic weapon — the Voidborn Orb — as he calmly prepared his next move.

  “—{Skycloud Vajra}!” Roland’s voice echoed as he unleashed the spell. In an instant, a bolt of vibrant blue lightning tore down from the storm clouds, aimed straight at Victor. The raw power behind it was beyond that of a normal Bet-tier spell, as it had been powered up by a sigil. Any ordinary Elemental Adept Magus would be obliterated by the strike if they took it head-on.

  “—{Ethereal State}!” With a flick of his finger, Victor cast the spell, sending his body into subspace, rendering him intangible just as the lightning bolt struck. Simultaneously, Victor teleported by casting {Blink} to close the distance between them. He reappeared just behind Roland in an instant, his hand already raised as he unleashed {Warpblade}, sending an ethereal blade slicing through the air toward the old Magus.

  “What—! You have Cosmo elemental affinity?!” Roland’s voice rose in panic as he spun around, hastily summoning a wall of crackling lightning to defend himself. The air sizzled with electric energy as the shield formed, but it wasn’t enough. Victor’s ethereal blade was an esoteric spell that was perfect at countering shields, and it managed to cut through the barrier with ease, leaving a deep gash across Roland’s side.

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  The old Magus grunted in pain and immediately flew away using a movement spell. “You... injured me that easily.” His voice was laced with disbelief.

  “Power doesn’t belong only to those who’ve lived the longest,” Victor said coldly, his gaze unwavering. “You should have known that when you saw me.”

  Though Victor’s words might have sounded cool for players, the old man was not so easily shaken. With a sharp wave of his hand, a yellow amber scepter materialized in his grip, and a gleam of determination lit up his withered eyes. “I admit that you’re skilled, lad, but you underestimate me.”

  He thumped his scepter against the ground, and with that motion, a series of complex runes began to weave into the air, glowing with an earthen hue. Another sigil on Roland’s body illuminated as he invoked more power. The ground beneath their feet trembled violently, fissures spreading out in jagged patterns as the air around them crackled with raw magical force.

  From beneath the earth, an enormous ten-meter-tall golem of solid rock and packed soil erupted. Towering over Victor, its massive limbs looked powerful enough to crush houses, but the most unusual part was the hollowed-out chest cavity in the center of the creature’s torso. There, Roland stood, encased in a protective earthen chamber, the scepter still clutched in his hand. His upper body was exposed through an opening, but his legs and lower half were melded with the golem, as if he had fused himself with the creature.

  A Geo-elemental spell? Victor thought in his mind. He had assumed that Roland’s primary affinity was Electro, but the old Magus clearly had many tricks up his sleeve. And the longer this battle dragged on, the more Roland’s experience would begin to tip the scales in his favor.

  “Why risk your life for that cursed girl?” Roland spat, his voice dripping with disdain. “You’ve no idea what kind of disaster you’re meddling with!”

  Victor’s eyes narrowed.

  From a Magus’s typical standpoint, what Roland said made a lot of sense. Magi were pragmatic by nature and would prioritize their benefit above all else, and what Victor was doing was exactly the opposite of the norm. Technically speaking, he wouldn’t be getting anything if he didn’t know better of Lillie’s special constitution.

  However!

  Even if she didn’t have a special constitution, the conscience of a modern man that now resided within him wouldn’t allow him to simply turn a blind eye. Just thinking about abandoning a poor little girl to her fate would be too cruel. How could he sleep at night knowing he’d let her die or be subjected to an even worse fate? He’d toss and turn, imagining all the ways he could have — should have — saved her.

  “Why?” His gaze flickered with unshakable resolve. “This is my oath. I swear to protect her, and I will — no matter the cost!”

  “Ha! Foolish sentiment. Then let’s see how you handle this!” Roland snarled as the golem’s massive arms swung forward. The wind howled as the monstrous fists of stone and dirt hurtled toward Victor like the wrath of the earth itself.

  ***

  Meanwhile, the fifteen players on the dirigible had gathered around in a loose circle for a meeting, staring at the holographic map of the mine. They had discovered the mine that the headmaster had tasked them to raid, and after finding out that it was tightly guarded, they were brainstorming — albeit chaotically — on how to proceed.

  “Huh… This is a bit difficult.” Zero rubbed his chin, breaking the silence. “Unless anyone wants to volunteer as a meat shield and kite the enemy, it’s all but impossible to raid this mine without some players getting injured or dying in the process.”

  The only problem here was that the mine only had one narrow entrance, and it was being heavily guarded with guards and acolytes. Charging in without a solid plan was practically a death sentence.

  “We have an advantage of being unknown and airborne, though,” Prominence said, his tone brimming with enthusiasm. “Can we use that somehow? Like, you know... Prominence Skyfall Squad to the rescue?” He grinned widely, clearly proud of the name he had come up with.

  Storm, sitting nearby, snorted loudly. “What ‘Prominence Skyfall Squad’?” He rolled his eyes as he said the name. “Using that parachuting trick might’ve worked last time, but this mine is hidden under solid rock, genius. No sky-falling into that.”

  “What about using a magic trick? Like, creating a distraction while the rest of you sneak in?” Patrick chimed in.

  Auralise raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. “Geez. A magic show? Are we raiding a mine or performing at a birthday party? Decide on one,” she said flatly, folding her arms.

  Amid the banter, Chicken stood up and put his hands on the table. “Amateurs! You guys are amateurs!” he mocked.

  “What’s that?” All the players shot a glare at him.

  “Why overcomplicate things? Let’s just brute force our way through the front. A few well-placed spells and — boom — problem solved. I’m willing to be the meat shield if you’re so scared.”

  “Oh, that’s some guts you have there. Smash first, think later. I like it” Butterfly grinned, seeming interested in the idea.

  Of course, this statement was then quickly followed by ridicule from Auralise.

  Zero sighed, rubbing his temples as the others continued to argue. Sean himself couldn’t think of an effective way to make the raid work either. Although every player here was considered among the best in the game, their spell arsenals were still limited. It had only been three months since the game launched, and gaining or developing spell models required precious merit points and time. Moreover, even with the Spell Assist feature, mastering each spell was a time-consuming process.

  Since the mages protecting the mine were stronger than any of them, with the exception of Butterfly as a Bloodline Magus, they couldn’t just rush in without a solid plan.

  Suddenly, a soft chuckle broke the tension. Aphrodite, who had kept his silence, was laughing under his breath, catching everyone’s attention.

  “What are you laughing about?” Locktekei asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously at him.

  With a smile, Aphrodite responded, “For the past month, I’ve been developing a few... interesting things. Through countless trials and errors, I’ve managed to produce sulfuric acid and nitric acid. With some help from my colleagues, we even figured out how to mix them with glycerol.”

  Locktekei rolled his eyes, not interested in hearing the long details. “Just get to the point, already.”

  “Don’t tell me…”

  “You don’t mean…”

  Several players like Storm, Thunder, and Zero seemed to have realized something as their brows were raising.

  Aphrodite’s grin widened. “Yes. I’ve developed nitroglycerin,” he declared proudly, pulling a head-sized box from his backpack. The group was immediately alarmed, with some taking a few steps back in fear of an explosion. “I haven’t even told the headmaster about this. But I think this is the perfect time to use it.”

  So, it’s true. Most chemists have a tendency to like explosions. Sean couldn’t help but think in his heart, and then he decided to speak up.

  “Well, it’s unconventional, but it might just work.” A plan was forming in his mind thanks to the explosive that Aphrodite had presented. Although it wasn’t entirely foolproof, it just might be the key to their success.