Manaless Mage-Chapter 326: Influence Active

He had expected fear. Panic. A desperate attempt to run or maybe even groveling—he’d seen it all before from upstart students who thought they were invincible until they weren’t.

But this kid—this boy—was just staring at him.

It was starting to grind his nerves.

Still... he didn’t attack.

Not yet.

Despite his growing annoyance, Dani kept his distance and maintained his stance. The truth was, he wanted nothing more than to carve Harry open where he stood and be done with it.

But there was a problem.

The body of Adolf was still behind him, and no matter how many times Dani looked at it, it made no sense.

The extent of the damage, the sheer power of the attack he probably faced before dying, it all pointed to something far above Harry’s level.

Adolf hadn’t been weak. In that transformed state, Dani knew exactly how powerful the man was.

And yet—here he was. Dead. An empty husk with blackened skin.

’There has to be a mage involved... a really powerful one.’ He thought.

However, he doubted that mage was with the AMO, or else the organisation would have gotten an alert the moment Adolf’s transformation was found out.

That meant, whoever that mage was, knew about their plan to inflictrate the tournament, and probably about them killing Miranda.

But for some reason, the mage had left this place, leaving the only survivor in the forest.

’He’s still cocky because he thinks the mage’s going to save him... hehehe.’ Dani thought, his eyes flashing with a wicked glint.

If whatever mage that did this was still here, then he should have sensed their powerful mana.

He had even scanned the area just to be sure, but all he got was nothing.

Just the scent of ash and blood and a strong amount of heat still clinging to the ruined terrain.

So he was confident.

Whoever had killed Adolf... was gone.

Which left only one question.

He looked back to Harry and narrowed his eyes.

’What an idiot, he should have just stayed hidden in wherever that mage put him.’

"All I have to do is ask the right questions," Dani murmured to himself. "That’s all."

He took another step forward, blades still raised but his tone now more inquisitive.

"You’re strong, I’ll give you that. I didn’t even notice you till you spoke. But this?" He gestured around them with one blade. "This wasn’t you."

His voice lowered slightly, suspicion leaking in. "So who was it?"

Harry still didn’t answer.

He just watched.

It was starting to make Dani feel... exposed.

He rolled his shoulders, suddenly restless.

"You think I’m scared of you?" Dani said, trying to push the tension back onto Harry. "I’ve fought actual monsters. Guild elites. I’ve killed people older and stronger than you before you even took your first mana theory class."

But once again, Harry didn’t reply.

Dani gnashed his teeth, clenching the blades in his hands in annoyance.

"Fine... guess we’ll have to do this the hard way." He said, pointing his blade at Harry.

"Yeah, we’ll have to do it the hard way." Harry said, his eyes glowing bright blue.

Dani’s frown deepened, Harry’s words getting on his nerves.

"You... spoilt brat!" He shouted, lunging towards Harry.

But just as he moved a few inches, a chill crept up his spine.

It was subtle at first—a strange, creeping sensation, like ice-cold fingers brushing along the back of his neck. His muscles tensed reflexively. His breath caught in his throat.

Then, it grew worse.

His vision swam. The edges of the world blurred and twisted as if the air itself had been knocked off balance.

A strange ringing sound filled his ears, rising in pitch until it pierced straight through his skull.

His grip on his blades weakened, and the ground beneath his feet suddenly felt unsteady.

"What the..." Dani’s voice barely escaped his throat.

And then—

His legs buckled, and he fell hard on his knees.

Dust exploded beneath him as his knees slammed into the cracked terrain, his blades clattering against the earth beside him.

The forest kept spinning in wild circles, and he barely had enough strength to even lift his head.

’What... is going on...?’ he mumbled inwardly, his chest heaving, and his limbs trembling uncontrollably.

He could feel his own mana spiraling out of control, dispersing unnaturally, leaking from his body as if something had punctured his core.

"What... did you do... to me?" Dani rasped, glaring up at the approaching figure. Each word grew wearier, like they were being dragged from his lungs with invisible hooks.

Harry simply smirked, calmly walking closer to Dani.

Each step of his echoed annoyingly in Dani’s ears, and he casted his gaze back on his ground.

After a few seconds, he finally lifted his head, and his gaze met with that of a familiar brown haired student.

His eyes were bright blue, glowing even brighter than before.

"Why..." Dani’s voice trembled, weakly narrowing his eyes. "Why are your eyes... glowing?"

Harry stopped just short of him.

The air around him pulsed.

"You don’t need to know that," Harry said flatly. "What matters is you answer whatever I ask."

The light in his eyes flared, and Dani slowly nodded his head, barely conscious of his own actions.

Harry’s eyes narrowed, his gaze drifting to the notification floating across his eyes.

[Influence]

—You can issue a mental command to anyone as long as your mental stats is higher than theirs.

They would have no choice than to listen to you, and you could command them to do anything you want.

Note: Skill requires eye contact to fully activate. freёnovelkiss.com

[Current Status: Active]

’Influence huh... it kind of make me feel like those vampires in movies.’ He thought, his attention shifting back to Dani.

"Now, tell me... how deep do your ties with the dark guild run?" he said, a slight frown appearing on his face.

The question rang out, but Dani didn’t answer., merely staring at Harry like a dummy.

He didn’t know what Harry did to him, but he subconsciously tried to fight back against the strange power.

However, the more he resisted, he more he felt himself slipping deeper into the slope of no return.