Chapter 26: Chapter 14: Total Annihilation

Vincent died without ever understanding why Sean’s magic could reflect bullets.

As a former mercenary, he wasn’t afraid of death. In his line of work, death was inevitable.

If you kill, you must be prepared to be killed.

He didn’t blame Sean. He was just bitter.

As an accomplished Witch Hunter, he had killed over a hundred Wizards. Vincent had seen every kind of Basic Level Magic—Fireball, Ice Spike, Earth Wall, Wind Roll, even Soul Shock—and had experience countering them all. The only exception was Sean’s golden ring of formulas, which was beyond his comprehension.

If he had known Sean’s magic was so bizarre, he would never have let his men open fire.

—Then again, he hadn’t been the one to order the shot. It was the attendant from Holkaydo.

That was why Vincent was so bitter.

Unfortunately, there were no second chances in this world. He wasn’t getting a do-over.

Facing the Armor-Piercing Bullets his own companion had ordered his men to use, Vincent had no time to react. He was instantly riddled with holes. Blood gushed from the wounds, soaking him and turning him into a crimson figure.

His legs gave out beneath him, and he sank to his knees. He stared at the man he had mistaken for a frail writer, whose expression was now cold and distant. The shock and bitterness in his eyes lingered. As his consciousness faded, his head finally drooped. His mangled body pitched forward, hitting the ground with a THUD.

Only his phone, miraculously untouched by the bullets, continued to BUZZ in his pocket.

...

「Meanwhile.」

In an office somewhere.

A man sat at a desk, holding the receiver of a landline phone, his brow furrowed.

Ten minutes ago, he had received a call from his superior, ordering him to immediately contact Vincent and tell the Witch Hunting Team in the Black Fruit Rainforest to terminate their operation.

The Spring of Enlightenment in the Black Fruit Rainforest was the main supply channel for their trading company, accounting for a huge portion of their revenue. He didn’t understand why his superior wanted to call off the operation, but he followed orders and called Vincent anyway.

But he couldn’t get through.

He tried calling several times in a row. At first, no one picked up. Then, the calls went straight to a message saying the phone was off. If he hadn’t known Vincent was on a mission in the Black Fruit Rainforest, he would’ve suspected the guy was fooling around in some bar and had gotten his phone stolen.

Not knowing what Vincent was up to, he tried calling one last time. It was still off. He had no choice but to report the situation to his superior.

When the superior heard that Vincent couldn’t be reached, he in turn called his own superior.

And so, the Flame Crow Maiden, who had been waiting patiently for a response, received a call.

"What do you mean you can’t reach him?"

"No one’s picking up. Now the phone is off."

"?"

’Dammit.’

The maiden’s heart suddenly sank with a terrible premonition.

Not answering, then turning the phone off... that’s what a lot of thieves do. It had also become a common tactic for Witch Hunters to ignore orders, blaming it on a supposed thief later.

She was in no mood to dwell on which it was. Either way, it meant she could no longer stop the Witch Hunting Operation in the Black Fruit Rainforest. And that meant the prey who had drunk from the Spring of Enlightenment was doomed to a tragic end.

When the maiden fell silent, the man on the other end of the line asked tentatively, "Should I send a team to check on the situation? If he’s still alive, I’ll find a way to get him back."

The maiden was silent for a moment before saying, "It’s too late."

’Based on the personality Sean has shown, he isn’t the type to surrender without a fight,’ she thought. ’And the only outcome for resistance is being shot on the spot. Guns are the most effective weapon against Low-tier Wizards. Experienced Witch Hunters won’t even let their target get within ten meters. No matter how ferocious the prey is, they’ll never get the chance to fight for their life.’

’Sean is as good as dead.’

’Or rather, he’s probably already dead.’

The maiden closed her eyes, suppressing the swirl of emotions inside her. When she opened them again, her voice was once more cold as ice. "Send your men over."

The person on the other end was clearly stunned for a moment. "Didn’t you say it was too late?"

"It’s too late to save him, but..." A deadly glint flashed in the maiden’s eyes. "...we can certainly do some killing."

Ignoring a call from the organization could be a minor issue or a major offense. If pressed, it warranted severe punishment under the Witch Hunters’ internal rules. This was a perfect opportunity to clip her enemies’ wings, and she had no intention of letting it pass.

’It would be revenge for Sean, in a way.’

"Have your men rush over as fast as they can. Make a big scene—the bigger, the better. Tell them to act anxious. That way, those people will know they’ve screwed up something big," the maiden instructed. She was going to play this out perfectly, so those Witch Hunters would know exactly why they were about to die.

"Understood," the man on the other end replied.

The maiden hung up the phone.

Sean’s face appeared in her mind, and she unconsciously bit her lip.

She had only met Sean twice. They were practically strangers who had met by chance, with no deep connection between them. They weren’t even casual friends. The last time they met, he had asked for her name, and she hadn’t given it. Yet, despite their shallow, near-nonexistent relationship, she still felt a pang of sadness for his death. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

It would have been better if she’d never met him. Now that she had, she couldn’t just act like nothing happened.

She could never turn a blind eye to the tragedies happening around her.

Clearly, she wasn’t cut out to be a mere spectator.

So, she chose to leap down from the stands and do everything in her power to end this cruel farce.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

There was a knock on her hotel room door.

The maiden composed herself and said, "Come in."

The visitor was the woman who had appeared beside the maiden after Sean left the Void Technique Space. She had been the maiden’s partner for many years and could tell at a glance that she was in a bad mood, easily guessing the outcome.

"Were we too late?"

"Not too late," the maiden replied. "Those Witch Hunters won’t be leaving the Black Fruit Rainforest so quickly."

’If they can’t make it out by nightfall, they’re never getting out.’

The woman understood the meaning behind her words—Sean was dead. She sighed and comforted her, "It’s not your fault. You did everything you could."

In this terrible world, countless Wizards were imprisoned and slaughtered. No one can protect everyone.

It would have been wonderful if you could have saved Sean, but you don’t need to blame yourself for failing. After all, things like this are happening all the time, in places you’ll never even see.

"I’m not blaming myself," the maiden said, her tone harsh. "I warned him. He didn’t listen. If he’s dead, it serves him right."

The woman smiled, not calling her out on it.

The maiden didn’t like the look in her eyes and changed the subject. "Did you need something?"

"Nothing important. I just came to remind you not to forget tonight’s Dawn Conference," the woman said.

"Don’t worry," the maiden said. "He’s not important enough to make me forget my real business."

"Let’s go. We’ll get something to eat, then head back to the Void Technique Space."

’The Dawn Conference is held in the Void Technique Space,’ she thought. ’It’s still early, so there’s no real rush. But I don’t want to wait for news at the hotel. If I do, I won’t be able to stop thinking about how horribly that man died. And I had to admit, he was kind of my type.’

’Rather than waste time on an idiot who threw his life away for nothing, I’d be better off going back to the Void Technique Space to meditate.’

At this moment, in the maiden’s eyes, Sean was already a dead man.

But to her utter astonishment, this "dead man" was about to come back to life.

The Void Technique Space had a rule similar to a memory anchor: a Wizard would always reappear in the same spot from which they’d last left. So after she and the other woman had eaten and rested for a while, they re-entered the Void Technique Space. And the first thing they saw was the same familiar street.

And a familiar smiling face—

Sean, the man who should have been riddled with bullets, was standing there completely unharmed, watching her with a smile.

"Good afternoon, Miss Flame Crow. I’ve been waiting for you."

The maiden: "???"

"Sean?!"

Her eyes widened in disbelief. "You’re not dead??"

Sean tilted his head. "Did you want me to be?"

The woman next to the maiden also parted her red lips in astonishment, for a moment thinking her eyes were playing tricks on her.

’How could a Novice Wizard, one who just learned Meditation and gained Magic Power from the Spring of Enlightenment, possibly survive an entire team of Witch Hunters?’

"How did you escape?"

Sean was about to spin a tale, but a man suddenly ran over and answered the question for him.

It was the same man who had been on the phone with the maiden earlier.

After receiving the maiden’s orders, he had immediately sent out the notice and was preparing to personally lead a team to the Black Fruit Rainforest.

A job like this had to be done cleanly and efficiently. He wouldn’t trust anyone else to do it.

But just as he had gathered his people and was about to set out, news from the field arrived. He had tried to call the maiden immediately to tell her, but no one answered. Guessing she had probably gone to the Void Technique Space, he came in to find her.

"I’ve found out why he couldn’t be reached," he said.

Vincent didn’t get his phone stolen, nor did he intentionally ignore the calls.

He was incapable of answering.

The man glanced at Sean. Seeing that the maiden didn’t stop him, he took a deep breath to suppress his own shock and said in a grave voice, "Including the attendant who joined them at the last minute, that’s a total of 27 people and 43 Smell Crows... all dead."

The entire Hunter team that entered the Black Fruit Rainforest was completely wiped out. Not even a single crow survived.

The two women: "??!"

...