Manaless Mage-Chapter 357: Horned Gorillas Hiding

His gaze drifted back to the holographic green ’map’, and his brows knitted slightly together.

His gaze lingered on the swirling crimson lights for a few more seconds before he clicked his tongue softly in mild irritation.

But then, a subtle light flickered in his eyes—not one of fear, but of anticipation.

A low smirk tugged at the corners of his lips as he straightened his posture.

Even though the situation wasn’t ideal, and the rift clearly wouldn’t be as easy as the guild initially predicted, there was a part of him that felt a twinge of excitement stirring deep within his chest.

His heartbeat began to quicken — not from anxiety, but from the thrill of what was to come.

’Heh,’ he thought, his eyes glancing briefly at Harry, who still stood with a calm, unreadable expression. ’Maybe this won’t be such a bad thing after all...’

Jack’s grip tightened slightly on the thick, spiked club resting across his shoulder.

He couldn’t help but feel a surge of curiosity mixed with exhilaration. There had been rumors swirling around the guild — persistent whispers that the young man named Harry, despite his low adventurer rank, possessed abilities on par with a stage four Elementalist.

Jack had brushed them off at first. The adventurer world was full of exaggerations and baseless stories meant to glorify newcomers.

But now, standing here in the depths of an unstable rift with danger lurking around every corner, he felt an undeniable urge to confirm those rumors himself.

This might just be the perfect opportunity.

A faint grin formed across his lips. ’Let’s see what you’ve really got, kid.’

He was, after all, a combat mage — and like most combat mages, his blood thrived on the chaos of battle. The stronger the enemy, the more alive he felt.

And the stronger the ally, the more intrigued he became.

Jack had always respected talent — real talent, the kind forged through fire and hardship, not empty talk.

Something about Harry, even from the first moment he saw him at the guild, gave him the impression that he wasn’t just another pretender.

There was something in the young man’s eyes — calm, sharp, unshaken — that reminded him of people who had seen and survived far too much.

Jack smirked again, his excitement growing. The faint sound of his knuckles tightening echoed faintly through the quiet air around them.

"Let’s start," he finally said, his deep voice cutting through the heavy silence. "We shouldn’t waste time here."

The three others nodded almost instinctively, the tension in the air growing thicker as their focus sharpened.

With that, the four of them began to move forward.

Their footsteps echoed faintly against the cracked, dry ground as they advanced deeper into the rift.

The once faint tremors under their feet grew slightly stronger with every passing minute, and the air itself seemed to shift and twist as waves of unstable mana rippled around them.

The deeper they moved, the heavier and denser the atmosphere became.

The mana in the air wasn’t just unstable anymore — it was chaotic, swirling like turbulent currents beneath the surface.

The faint hum it produced was enough to make the air vibrate slightly against their skin.

The landscape around them grew increasingly distorted.

The piles of rubble they had first encountered at the entrance now towered over them, some as tall as two-story buildings.

Massive chunks of broken earth and shattered stone lay scattered across the cracked ground, forming jagged pathways that forced them to move carefully.

Faint wisps of light-blue mist rose from the deeper cracks in the ground—the lingering traces of pure mana leaking from within.

The sight would have been beautiful under different circumstances, but here it only added to the eerie stillness that blanketed the entire place.

Jack’s eyes narrowed as his instincts screamed at him to stay alert.

"Claire," he muttered sharply, his tone low but firm. "Scout our surroundings properly."

The blonde-haired woman nodded immediately.

"Got it," she replied softly, her calm voice barely above a whisper.

Within seconds, gentle currents of air started to spiral around her body, lifting strands of her hair and making her long coat flutter slightly under the growing pressure.

The faint hum of mana resonated through the air as her control over the wind tightened.

A calm exhale escaped her lips, and the swirling winds grew stronger, forming a small, invisible pillar beneath her feet.

Dust and loose fragments of earth scattered outward, disturbed by the sudden burst of energy.

Then, in one smooth motion, she was lifted off the ground, her form rising gracefully into the air as though weightless.

Her boots barely made a sound as they left the cracked surface.

The wind rippled gently beneath her, carrying her higher until she hovered a few meters above the rest of the group.

Her short blonde hair whipped lightly around her face, and her eyes gleamed faintly as she peered into the distance.

A slight gust of wind immediately exploded from her body, gently sweeping across their surroundings, extending many meters before dispersing.

The air was heavy—thick with unstable mana that shimmered faintly with each wave of distortion. Claire focused through the haze, her keen senses sharpening.

Her gaze moved swiftly across the piles of rubble that surrounded them, darting from one shadowed crevice to another. Her brows furrowed, and for a moment, she said nothing.

Then, suddenly, her expression changed.

Her eyes widened in alarm, and her pupils contracted sharply.

"There are Horned Gorillas hiding behind the rubbles!"

The sudden transmission made Jack’s head snap upward. His face immediately squeezed into a deep frown, his eyes narrowing as he glanced toward the direction she was looking. A dark feeling washed over him, and his instincts flared.

He had already seen that there was a group of mana beasts not too far from them, but since the green ’map’ only showed the location of mana beasts, he couldn’t see their actually surroundings.

Due to this, there was no way he would have know they were hiding behind the rubbles.

He had only suspected something was really wrong, which was why he asked Claire to scout with her spell.