‘Hurry……”

Adelia anxiously bit her nails.

The King of Silentium had been fumbling along the wall of the guild for several minutes without using any power.

His desperate movements touching the wall while twisting his body looked pitiful.

‘What is he looking for? There’s only magic circles on the guild building’s outer wall, right?’

Adelia frowned and focused on the King of Silentium’s actions. The stench emanating from him didn’t diminish even as time passed. Continuing to smell that stench was torturous.

Only when a faint light appeared in the dark sky did the king stop moving.

‘Finally!’

Adelia didn’t miss that moment. Though she knew the king’s final appearance would be horrific, she wanted to confirm with her own eyes that he was completely dead.

The King of Silentium stopped right below the guild master’s office window. He raised his hand slightly above eye level.

As the long robe covering his hand slipped down slightly, his hand and wrist were revealed. It was a skeletal hand that could hardly be called human, blackened like it was rotting with only bones remaining, and it tapped the wall.

‘He’s touching the magic circle?’

To Lucian’s eyes, it just looked like a man hitting the wall. But to Adelia’s eyes, all the magic circles placed on the guild were visible.

The magic circles that were more complex than spider webs filled the outer walls, but no one except Adelia could touch them. However, the King of Silentium was touching the magic circles.

It was literally just touching, so the magic circles weren’t changing or being damaged.

But an inexplicable anxiety swept over her. Cold sweat dripped from her tightly clenched hands.

‘No…… It will all be over once he uses black magic.’

Adelia swallowed hard as she waited for him to unleash his power. She didn’t welcome being caught in this unpleasant anxiety.

The new defensive magic circle was designed to counterattack when foreign power entered. There was no way it could block an attack combining white magic and the holy sword.

‘It shouldn’t be possible.’

That’s how it had to be.

Adelia watched the king while holding her breath.

At that moment, the terrible stench grew worse. Even though it wasn’t a smell transmitted through her nose, Adelia completely scrunched her face and covered her nose.

‘Is this black magic?’

A dark and gloomy energy emanated strongly around the king. Adelia quickly stood up from her spot. Of course, since she restrained her movement, the branch she had been sitting on only swayed slightly as if wind had passed.

Adelia, who grabbed the large tree trunk, placed her hand on her chest.

‘Horrible. Disgustingly so……”

Her heart pounded and her pupils dilated. Her chest felt constricted and an unpleasant energy rose randomly.

It felt like facing something that shouldn’t be seen.

When the King of Silentium muttered incomprehensible words, the unpleasant feeling grew deeper and more viscous.

Lucian, with his white mage’s blessing and more sensitive body than others, also detected the massive dark energy.

Lucian lightly pulled on Adelia’s robe. When Adelia lowered her head, she saw his frowning face.

Though he couldn’t sense the energy as precisely and strongly as Adelia, his face, which rarely showed emotion, clearly displayed displeasure.

Reminded of the death energy he had faced on battlefields, Lucian narrowed his brows and moved his lips.

[What is this? Is it okay to just watch?]

[Yes, just think of it as the world’s evil. Your Highness must absolutely not leave here.]

[Absolutely?]

[If you move, I’ll run away with the princess in a flash.]

They conversed by moving their lips. The conversation ended quickly with Adelia’s firm words.

Though conversations through lip movements required complete focus on the other person, all of Adelia’s attention was directed at the King of Silentium.

‘Does he need activation words? As expected, his power is incomplete.’

The king was still muttering incomprehensible words.

Activation words were used by people with little magical power to increase efficiency. Since it was a method of activating magic while muttering ancient words, it was used by people with very little magical power or when casting advanced magic.

Of course, Adelia didn’t use activation words. Adelia’s magical power was enough to use any magic freely without such things. But unstable black magic was different.

‘A power that steals life force, created from gathered negative emotions… Since black magic only appears after gathering negative emotions for hundreds of years, maybe black magic power isn’t so abundant.’

Or there might be another way to replenish black magic power.

Though it was just Adelia’s small thought, it wasn’t an unconvincing story. Her thoughts were about to deepen, but the black energy irritatingly stimulated her nerves.

Soon the black energy swirling around the king began creeping toward the guild. The black energy, which had grown in size, completely swallowed the guild. At that moment, a strange light crossed the King of Silentium’s face. It was as if he had finally achieved something he had long awaited.

As soon as the black magic activated, the King of Silentium tried to quickly leave his spot. But Adelia’s attack magic took priority.

The holy sword flew toward the King of Silentium faster than feet could move, faster than eyes could follow, faster than the sound of wind being cut.

Thunk—

“Argh!”

It happened in an instant. The holy sword aimed for the king’s head and struck precisely in his right eye.

The king threw his head back from the impact and then staggered.

As the robe covering his head fell off, his appearance was revealed. His black skin like rotting flesh, blackened whites of his eyes and faded white pupils were hideous.

Black blood flowed from his right eye, which could no longer be called a normal person’s eye.

That was it. Blindness in the right eye. Nothing more happened.

‘Something went wrong!’

The magic Adelia had designed was supposed to pierce through the head and completely eliminate the black magic with white magic flowing from the holy sword.

But the holy sword only stuck in his eye, not going any deeper. No, it couldn’t go deeper.

‘Tsk, I underestimated it too much.’

The power wasn’t sufficient to penetrate the king’s body, which was already completely armored with black magic.

Though she had used magic generously since she didn’t know the exact power of black magic, even that wasn’t enough.

Her blue pupils darkened deeply like encountering the deep sea.

Opportunities don’t come twice. Today was the perfect time to kill him.

‘I must kill him no matter what.’

The king couldn’t easily leave his spot. He knelt down with his staggering body and sat on the ground, desperately trying to pull out the holy sword.

Adelia looked up, hoping that man wouldn’t have the strength to move.

“Absolutely don’t move. I’m serious about running away with the princess.”

Adelia left those brief words and dropped from the tree. Before Lucian could reach out his hand, Adelia’s feet safely touched the ground. Adelia approached the king while pulling down her robe to firmly cover her face.

When he sensed her presence, the King of Silentium whipped his head around.

The sight of black blood dripping from his inhuman appearance was horrifically alien. He wasn’t human but a monster.

“You! Could you be the white mage?”

“Why do you care about that? You’ll die soon anyway.”

Adelia replied coldly with a brief retort. The King of Silentium was reflected in her eyes that held not flowing sea but hard, cold ice. The contempt and sense of duty contained in the ice fell upon the king.

Adelia stretched her hand downward and drew forth white magic. Seeing the golden energy rippling around her, the king twisted up the corners of his mouth. Madness settled in his inverted black and white eyes.

“So it is you! The one who stole my power! You ruined everything! Taking my power left me in this state!”

His enraged words couldn’t continue long. Adelia unleashed attack magic without a moment’s hesitation.

A long spear formed from gathered magical power appeared in Adelia’s hand. As she raised her arm and threw it with all her might, the enchanted spear flew at high speed toward the king.

The king gritted his teeth and caught the spear with black magic before destroying it.

“Listen when someone’s talking!”

“Oh…… Even trash can speak. But too bad, I don’t talk to trash.”

The king raised his voice as if throwing a tantrum. But Adelia continued her attacks while tilting her head askew as if he wasn’t even worth dealing with. There was no emotion in her eyes. Rather than thinking of killing a person, treating trash was more accurate.

“You started this ill fate! It’s your fault for coveting my power!”

“Why is it yours? The white magic is mine.”

Adelia released even more white magic. The golden energy rippling around her looked like the sun. Silver light flickered at its edges.

Adelia continued to push back the King of Silentium. He refused to give up either defense or the holy sword. As if removing it was his only way to survive.

He crawled pathetically on the grass-covered ground, struggling. He pressed his body to the ground and absorbed the life force around him. The grass withered, and the lush trees dried up and collapsed.

“Hah…… How annoying.”

Adelia brushed back her flowing hair.

Though she appeared to be attacking leisurely on the outside, she was also anxious. The pure golden energy was gradually being tinged with silver. The white magic that had been rippling like a lake was starting to diminish.

Black magic, as opposed to white magic, was more powerful than regular magic. Greater power was needed to counter black magic.

‘That Kai…… Said white magic was stronger!’

The king’s black energy was gradually diminishing. It meant his magical power was running out.

Though anxious, victory would be hers if she just kept pushing like this.

The surroundings were devastatingly mangled. Not only were all the plants dead, but the ground was also deeply gouged from white and black magic colliding.

‘Still, it’s not enough to make me lose.’

Adelia drew forth her power to the fullest, thinking this would be the last. The warm energy that seemed about to burst into flames rippled as if it would swallow the king.

Adelia stretched her hand toward the sky. Countless tiny stars were embedded in the dark night sky. The stars, small as dots, writhed and became hundreds of arrows.

Shooting stars rained down from the sky. Sharp and dangerous shooting stars poured down over the King of Silentium.

As dirt dust flew around where the stars had fallen, the unpleasant energy disappeared.

Just as Adelia smiled in victory—

“Hah…… To think I let go of this power.”