‘DRIP. DROP.’
How long had it been since she last saw the sunlight? How long had it been since she last ate? Hongfeng was still bound by chains, remaining completely silent. Her body had grown so emaciated that the outline of her ribs was fully visible, and her limbs were frail and weak.
Within the all-consuming darkness of the hood, a pair of glowing eyes flashed.
“Ah, um...! To the left! The old scent cut off, but I’ve picked up a new one!”
“Someone you know?” Sasha asked calmly.
“I think I found a clue! There’s a faint but unnatural smell of blood!”
“Hmph, trying to avoid a murder charge, are they?” Sasha clicked her tongue, her brown hair fluttering.
Light footsteps echoed through the ruins. Turning her head toward the noise, she saw a young village girl approaching with a basket of bread and fruit.
Dick marched past the group and flipped the power switch on the magic engine with a sharp ‘clack’.
[To survive for over a month without food or water in a mortal body.]
“Hold on!” Meirin shouted.
“Hey, are you alright?”
But the path ahead was completely blocked by debris. Dick signaled to Simon.
The boat was dyed a sleek black. Any smashed or scratched sections automatically repaired themselves, knitting back together as the vessel’s overall shape streamlined.
“Are you...!”
“Which way?” Simon asked.
“Which means,” Dick chimed in, “right after sending us the letter, something happened to her. She didn’t have the time to fix it, or even send another letter to stop us from coming?”
“There were still guards left?”
Just then, Arthur stomped his right foot on the floor with a heavy thud.
Byulya’s lips curled into a sharp grin.
Arthur kicked the double doors open with a loud ‘bang’ and rushed inside, Sasha and Molly right behind him.
“I told you not to call me that!” Molly snapped, closing her eyes.
“How is he?” Sasha asked.
“I-If you hadn’t taken me and the villagers hostage, Ms. Hongfeng would never have lost to a monster like you!”
“That’s my guess,” Simon replied.
“You don’t know her?! She’s a professor at Kizen! She teaches second-year Venomology!”
“And knowing Professor Hongfeng, she wouldn’t have let things escalate like this. She certainly wouldn’t have invited us before resolving the issue.”
He then looked around at his companions.
[I assumed Kizen would only take an interest in your disappearance after the semester began. I had prepared everything to conclude by then. This variable is unwelcome.]
Kamibarez closed her eyes, sniffing the air before pointing forward.
Molly knelt beside a collapsed guard, checking his pulse.
Meirin stepped forward, unable to watch them struggle any longer. Rolling up her sleeves, she conjured a magic circle.
The moment she ignited the rear magic circle, the boat launched onto the ice track at a terrifying speed.
“Got it!” Meirin shouted.
“Everyone, move.”
“Halt, phantom thief! I swear on my grandfather’s name, I will apprehend you with my own hands!”
“I’m going to find Professor Hongfeng. I might not even be the Student Council President right now, but if a professor is in danger, I can’t just turn a blind eye.”
“Ah! Thank you!” Arthur quickly jogged back.
The nearby picture frames and tables began to rattle softly. A moment later, her eyes snapped open.
“If we’re going, we go together! You think you’re the only one on the Student Council? Aren’t we her students too?”
Arthur drew his cherished whip sword with a sharp metallic ‘schwing’.
“Let’s go save Professor Hongfeng!”
At the same time. Verino, the city of pleasure and amusement.
Her brittle hair clung limply in strands like wet straw. She stared up at the ceiling with a vacant expression. Yet, even in such a desperate situation, the fierce look in her eyes remained unchanged.
Kamibarez moved to the bow, sniffing the air. The hull rattled violently, nearly bucking her off, but Simon quickly stepped up behind her and grabbed her waist to steady her. Kamibarez’s face flushed bright red.
“Nice, Kami! Which way?”
[Did you perhaps play some trick?]
Molly reached out in a panic.
Ice rapidly crystallized with a sharp ‘crack’. It was a new skill, an evolution of her primary movement spell, ‘Ice Road’. An icy path resembling a race track materialized ahead of them. Meirin reached behind her, laying down a triple-layered magic circle at the rear of the boat.
“Yeah, yeah. Gotta earn my keep,” Dick replied, placing both hands on the hull to use his specialty.
‘Meirin Remake — Magic Booster’
Molly practically jumped in place.
“Looks like he was hit by some kind of poison gas,” Molly replied, gently laying him back down. “It’s not life-threatening. It seems to be a paralytic or a sleep-inducing agent, not a lethal toxin.”
[Let us see the skill that strangled the Kundar Hydra to death.]
“This way.”
Simon dropped down from the tall tree, landing with a light thud to rejoin his companions. As he explained everything he had just seen, everyone’s expressions hardened like stone.
“Simon?” Meirin tilted her head, flashing a terrifyingly bright smile. “Don’t you think that sounds like total bullshit, even to you?”
“Got it!”
Cranking the power to the max, he forcefully started the engine. The engine roared to life. The boat cleaved through the water, shooting forward like an arrow. Dick pumped his fist in the air.
Meanwhile, Arthur had left his classmates in the dust and was already sprinting far ahead.
The girl looked at her with eyes that seemed ready to burst into tears at any moment. Hongfeng welcomed the girl with a gentle smile.
Molly took off, with Arthur and Sasha hot on her heels. They sprinted up the stairs to the third floor and skidded to a halt in front of an extravagant set of doors.
The three of them ran together in stride, passing haphazardly collapsed guards along the way. Sasha cast dark magic on the nearby indoor flowerbeds and potted trees. The thick stems elongated, wrapping around heavy tables and fallen chandeliers to pull them off the trapped victims.
[A troublesome enemy has appeared in the grasslands.]
[The fact that the ones you cherish still draw breath, and the weak heart that cannot abandon them—both are flaws. Both are weaknesses.]
“Hey, Simon! Back off a bit. Kami can’t concentrate!” Dick called out.
Hongfeng simply glared at him.
She banked the track sharply to the left. The boat rapidly descended, riding the icy rails high above the jungle canopy.
“Guys. Isn’t this a bit weird?” Molly asked.
Byulya casually kicked the prone hotel owner out of the way and rose from the sofa, an amused glint in her eyes.
“Does a phantom thief normally stroll through the front gate, beat up all the guards, and smash their way in with brute force? Aren’t they called phantom thieves because they sneak through windows and swipe things without anyone noticing?”
A massive impact crater marred the wall beside a set of double doors. A necromancer, likely hired by the hotel for security, was slumped on the floor, bleeding from the mouth. A huge, bruising fist mark was planted squarely on his abdomen.
Molly swallowed hard and spoke up.
He approached Hongfeng, radiating a jet-black aura. The girl gasped and hid behind her.
“M-Ms. Hongfeng.”
Black flames sparked with a rapid ‘tick-tick-tick’, signaling the magic circle was ready.
“First-years, huh.”
Hongfeng remained silent with her eyes closed. She kept her mouth firmly shut, not saying a word.
The metallic tang of blood she had been tracking was suddenly overwhelmed by Simon’s scent. Her eyes spun dizzily.
“Yeah!”
“Oho, so you brats are my students?”
“Huh? Ah, um...!”
“I’m counting on you, Kami!”
“Alright, alright. I get it.”
“Aw, what a letdown,” Sasha muttered, lowering her arms as her excitement fizzled out. The plant summons, previously bristling with fighting spirit, let their thorny vines droop to the floor.
A woman sat there, calmly chugging from a bottle of alcohol with both legs propped up on the mahogany table. After taking a massive gulp, she let out a satisfied “Ahhh!” and slammed the bottle down. Underneath a filthy, moth-eaten black coat, she wore an eccentric outfit wrapped in heavy bandages.
“Keep going straight!”
“N-No! Ms. Hongfeng!”
‘Meirin Original — Ice Track’
Simon blinked in confusion but took a step back. Kamibarez shook her head, regaining her senses, and sniffed the air again.
“Whoa!” Dick yelled.
“For now, let’s just push straight into the lower grasslands!” Dick declared, tossing their previously trusted map overboard. “You said the terrain is shifting, right? There’s bound to be a clue once we get closer.”
The sharp ‘clack’ of a cane striking the ground rang out. A being entirely draped in a red robe, as if refusing to reveal even a speck of its body, stepped forward. The Ancient Undead, Mur, revealed himself.
“She’s right! We can’t just run away and leave you behind!” Kamibarez flapped her wings, her fighting spirit burning.
Hongfeng remained completely silent.
The girl hugged Hongfeng tightly and cried out.
Her denim shorts, unbuttoned and hanging loosely on her hips, were shredded as if slashed by a knife. Her grayish-brown hair was spiky and unkempt, and her eyes glinted with a feral wildness more beast than human. Behind her, a plump middle-aged man—presumably the hotel owner—was lying face down on the carpet in nothing but his underwear.
“Since we’ve crossed paths on a private mission, I cannot hold back, even for a professor!”
“Incredible,” Arthur muttered, skidding to a halt.
“Uh, what’s this?” she grumbled.
The boat shot forward like a bobsled riding the icy rails. After rocketing high into the air, Meirin cut the booster magic, relying solely on the steep incline and reduced friction to propel them along the suspended track.
It was the most luxurious suite in the building—the hotel owner’s personal residence. The trio froze.
Meirin and Kamibarez threw their hands up.
While Simon’s group was causing a ruckus in the grasslands, Sasha’s team back in the city was busy dealing with an unexpected incident. Footsteps echoed rapidly down the hall. The three of them sprinted through the corridors of Verino’s largest hotel. Unconscious people littered the floor everywhere they looked.
“Ahhh!” Kamibarez shrieked.
“I’m going in!”
“Hey! You one-trick enchanter!” Meirin called out.
Sasha sighed and pointed down a different corridor.
“Haaaaah!” Arthur roared, kicking off the floor and lunging forward.
Molly gasped in shock, instantly recognizing the woman.
“S-So, um...!”
“They didn’t run away? How carefree,” Sasha said, cracking her knuckles. Behind her, various plant summons writhed, ready to strike.
“Professor Byulya... you’re the phantom thief?”
“Idiot King. It’s not that way, it’s this way.”
“Theft?” Byulya’s expression contorted in sheer displeasure.
“Wait! Arthur! Let’s hear her out first...!”
He angled his whip sword, drawing up his jet-black aura.
‘Dick Remake — Tool Enchant’
Simon offered a small smile. He had tried, but he knew they wouldn’t listen.
[I suppose I’ll have my old comrade deal with them.]
“A professor committing theft... aren’t you ashamed?”
“Although we are professor and students, it is currently vacation! We have met today as a phantom thief and mercenaries!”
“Simon! Let’s row to the side and slip through that gap in the rocks! When I raise my hand, steer right, and—”
“We’ll be here all day at this rate.”
He extended an arm made of jet-black darkness from within his robe. He opened his clenched fist, revealing a red orb.
A gloomy chuckle echoed from within the pulled-down hood.
[You are truly special, Professor Hongfeng.]
The girl nodded with a sniffle and set the food down in front of her. It was food prepared by Mur. Of course, Hongfeng had no intention of eating it.
“You guys need to escape the grasslands, contact Kizen, and request backup. If you can make it out to the ocean, you should be safe.”
“Take a right here!”
“Guess that’s not the trend these days,” Sasha replied dryly, raising her index finger. The plants shifted again, pulling more people free from the debris. “More importantly, Last-Train Princess, hurry up and pinpoint the thief’s location with that precious Spirit Magic of yours.”
She set her glass down with a ‘clack’, her mouth opening to reveal jagged, triangular shark teeth.
Snakes slithered through the cracks in the ruined temple’s bricks, hissing as they flicked their tongues. The girl let out a startled gasp and clung to Hongfeng.
“The thief is in this room.”
Meirin and Kamibarez exchanged worried glances. Simon leaned forward, interlacing his fingers.
“Are you zafe?”
“Y-Yes, ma’am! I’m first-year Molly Dresden! This is Sasha Andrasil, and Arthur Bleman!”
Simon and Dick immediately sprang into action. They each grabbed an oar, shoving hard against the riverbed to narrowly veer the boat in the right direction. As they ventured deeper, the main river splintered into countless smaller streams.
He forcefully grabbed Hongfeng’s jaw. The girl tried to intervene, but snakes sprang from the shadows, coiling tightly around her limbs to hold her back.
“Something serious is definitely happening in the grasslands,” Simon said.
“How admirable. You think you can entertain me?”

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