Manaless Mage-Chapter 323: The Traitor

A loud crack split the air, and everything fractured like a mirror under pressure. Shards of thought splintered away, floating into the void like pieces of broken glass.

The shadow vanished.

The kneeling Adolf blinked out of existence.

And Harry was yanked back into his own body.

He gasped.

His hand jerked away from Adolf’s head, and he stumbled backward, eyes wide and glowing with residual energy.

His heart pounded in his chest, his skin slick with cold sweat despite the heat still lingering in the air.

"What... the hell was that?"

For several moments, he just stood there, breathing hard.

The skill should’ve let him browse Adolf’s memories undisturbed. It should’ve been safe. Controlled. Predictable.

But this?

This was something else.

Something deeply wrong.

Though he had never used the skill before, he was sure something like this was never supposed to happen.

After all, he had seen Leon use it many times, to scan the memories of powerful mages, and even grand mages, yet nothing like this had happened.

Whatever—or whoever—that shadow had been, it wasn’t just part of Adolf’s thoughts.

It had sensed him.

And worse... it had spoken.

Harry’s hands curled into fists at his side.

’What the hell is that... who the hell is that? A demon?’ He thought.

[I... don’t know. But whoever that is, they’re probably the present leader of the dark guild, or someone high up the guild’s rankings.]

Leon said, but his words didn’t shed any light on the situation on ground.

’Yeah... you’re right. But still, to sense me like that.’ Harry thought, hissing under his breath.

The game had just changed.

And he wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

He glanced down at Adolf, and he noticed a trail of blood trickling from his lips down his chin.

His blackened body wasn’t twitching anymore, and the heaving of his chest had finally stopped.

’He’s dead.’ Harry thought, the frown on his face deepening in annoyance.

[Hidden Quest Completed!]

[Defeat the Dark Guild Members and Defend Miranda]

[Rewards Granted: +25000EXP, +50 Skill points]

Two notifications suddenly appeared in front of him, but Harry could barely even focus on them.

For a long moment, he remained silent, only staring at the sky.

Then, quietly, he spoke.

"...The dark guild... I wonder how long they’ve been operating under our noses?"

There was no answer.

Only the sound of smoldering earth and the whisper of the wind through charred trees.

Harry’s gaze slowly shifted from Adolf’s corpse to the scene around him.

The aftermath of the battle was absolute devastation, and the beast forest had been more or less transformed into a heap of ashes.

The charred, monstrous corpses of Adolf and the other dark guild members littered the perimeter, their remains releasing a sickly stench.

Harry let out a slow, bitter breath.

"...Damn." He muttered, clicking his tongue.

It was worse than he thought. The level of destruction wasn’t something that could be easily explained away, especially not to the AMO.

"I can’t exactly say I did this," he muttered to himself, arms folding.

The AMO wouldn’t just believe he’d taken down Adolf Rashin alone—not without raising questions.

Questions he couldn’t afford to answer honestly. They’d demand to know what magic he used, how he had survived the encounter... and there was no way he could reveal the truth about Memory Manipulation, or the existence of Leon.

Harry clicked his tongue in frustration.

"I need to cover this up. Or... reframe it, somehow."

He walked slowly toward the edge of the scorched clearing, brushing aside the burning remains of a branch with his foot.

His mind worked furiously, piecing together how he might stage the scene—perhaps make it seem like someone else had arrived just in time, or that Adolf had self-destructed during the battle.

But his thoughts faltered as his mind drifted back to the figure in the memory.

The black figure.

That thing hadn’t just been in Adolf’s memory. It had seen him.

It had spoken to him.

Harry’s jaw clenched. A sharp hiss escaped between his teeth as his expression twisted in irritation.

"...What the hell was that thing?"

He didn’t like it. At all.

There were already enough mysteries in the world for him to find out, and now this.

[No need to overthink it.] Leon’s voice echoed gently through his mind. [We’ll get to the bottom of whatever is going on... we just have to.]

Harry exhaled.

Leon’s calmness had a way of grounding him.

"You’re right," he murmured, brushing his hair back with one hand. "Right now... I’ve got more immediate problems."

He turned away from the center of the battlefield and his eyes narrowed at the horizon.

Somewhere out there—close, if his estimation was right—another piece of this dark puzzle was making its way toward him.

The traitor.

During his brief sweep of Adolf’s memories, Harry had been searching for answers: plans, locations, commands. Anything useful.

And he had found a major part of it, which explained how they were able to break into the tournament.

There was a traitor, one which Adolf communicated quite frequently with an artifact.

That traitor was one of the adventurers assigned to patrol the outer perimeter of the forest.

Harry had remembered him—a new B-rank adventurer known for his unshakable dedication to duty. Or so everyone thought.

But from what Harry saw in the memory, there was no doubt.

He had been the one to place the teleportation artifact inside the forest. He was the one who activated the isolation barrier that cut off communication from the outside.

Without him, the dark guild wouldn’t have been able to breach the forest undetected.

Harry’s hands tightened into fists at his sides. novelbuddy.cσ๓

"The bastard."

Even now, the memory replayed in his head: Adolf standing before the map, discussing the precise timing of the teleportation device’s activation. The plan was simple, in a horrifying way.

The adventurer, playing the role of the dutiful instructor, would plant both artifacts a few days before the attack.

He would then act like he was helping guide students or investigating a mana disturbance when the barrier went up—thereby excusing himself from suspicion.

After the deed was done, he would return with fabricated wounds and a false story: how he had fought bravely against the invaders and narrowly survived. How he had saved students. How he had been a hero.

’Too bad for him, that plan wouldn’t work out.’ Harry thought.

But there was one good thing about the situation.

If the timeline from Adolf’s memory was correct... then that adventurer was supposed to return soon. Very soon.

Harry could use that to his advantage.