Chapter 202

Days blurred into weeks, and with them the city’s fear thinned, stretched until it was almost transparent.

The disappearances stopped.

Lantern-lit patrols dwindled, boots no longer marching through frozen streets at midnight. Orders were quietly rescinded. Adventurers, practical by nature, began to take contracts elsewhere. Hunger and coin were more reliable than ghosts like criminals. Even the city itself seemed to exhale, as though winter had decided it was done frightening people.

Only Suri refused to rest.

Night after night, she walked the academy grounds and the surrounding districts, illusions slipping from her like invisible threads. Illusion scouts moved where no feet touched stone, eyes that were not eyes drifting through alleys and beneath doors. Kana watched her sometimes, and saw the tension that never left Suri’s shoulders.

Everything was fine.

Until the pattern resumed.

The report spread before dawn, whispered first, then shouted.

A few children were missing again.

They were found before sunrise.

Alive.

Unharmed.

They remembered nothing. Not the hands that took them. Not the path they walked. Not even why they had been where they were found. It was as if their memories had been gently lifted out, leaving the rest untouched.

The city locked itself into full alert. Bells rang. Signal stones were prepared. Student patrols were reorganized with military efficiency, each group expanded, layered, reinforced. No one moved alone.

Kana’s group formed without discussion.

Rin. Elle York. Suri. Mica. Yuri.

They walked shoulder to shoulder through the central district, lantern light cutting shallow wounds into the darkness. Snow crunched beneath their boots, loud in a night that felt too quiet, as if the city itself were listening.

They expected nothing like before.

That, more than anything, was the mistake.

Suri stopped so suddenly that Yuri nearly collided with her.

“I found them!”

Her voice was sharp, urgent, stripped of all drowsiness. Suri’s eyes were unfocused, pupils dilated, her breath coming shallow as if she were staring into something vast and wrong.

“They know about my illusions,” she said quickly. “One of them destroyed my scout. Not struck it. Not dispel it.” Her fingers curled. “Crushed it with mana alone.”

“I saw them,” Suri continued. “I think. Monsters and humans in the same room.”

The words settled like frost.

“Where?” Kana asked. Her hand had already found her weapon.

“South,” Suri said. “Outside the wall. Underground. There’s a hidden structure. A basement… or a bunker. I couldn’t tell.”

Elle York scanned the rooftops instinctively. “That’s too far for us and too dangerous to handle alone.”

Mica was already moving. She pulled a flash stone from her pouch and hurled it into the street.

Light exploded.

A spear of brilliance tore upward, punching through cloud and darkness alike, visible across the entire city. It lingered for a heartbeat too long, then faded, leaving afterimages burned into Kana’s vision.

They didn’t wait.

Footsteps thundered in from every direction. Student groups converged first, then adventurers, cloaks snapping in the cold wind. Knights followed, steel whispering as armor settled into place. A familiar royal knight moved through them all without pause.

“We found the culprit,” Elle York announced, voice carrying despite the noise. “Suri found it.”

Suri dropped to one knee and spread a map across the frozen stones. Lantern light danced across inked roads and borders as her finger stabbed into a point beyond the southern wall.

“Here,” she said loudly. “My scout was destroyed here, underground. I didn’t get a clear look, but I saw skeleton-like monsters wearing cloaks. Enchanted robe. If not for the skeletal hand, I would’ve thought it was human.”

A ripple of unease passed through the crowd.

“And the others?” someone asked.

“They are humans,” Suri said. “Working with the skeleton. I couldn’t see their faces. It was too dark.”

That was worse than certainty. Darkness left room for imagination.

Principal Light stepped forward, his presence settling the noise like a hand pressed flat against water. His white hair gleamed beneath the enchanted lanterns, his expression carved from calm.

“The academy students will provide support,” he said. “Adventurers will lead the assault. Professors currently present will accompany you.”

He paused, gaze sweeping over them all.

“We strike now.”

No cheers followed. Only nods. Grim, resolute.

Beyond the walls, the royal knights were already gone, shadows racing ahead into frozen earth and deeper darkness.

Kana tightened her grip. Humans working with monsters. Skeletons wearing enchanted robes. Children taken without struggle, returned without memory. She heard a rumor that a few of them still did not return.

What Suri found was the primary suspect but it may also not be them… I hope we got them this time.

….

The students arrived at night already tearing itself apart.

The southern forest burned with motion and sound, skill activations cracking the darkness like thunderheads colliding. Mana flared in violent colors between the trees, lighting trunks and snow in brief, unnatural flashes. Steel rang. Shouts carried, sharp and urgent, then vanished into the canopy. 

“The culprits are trying to escape,” Professor Fin said, eyes narrowing as another shockwave rippled through the forest.

“We prioritize the children,” Kana replied immediately.

Professor Fin did not hesitate. He nodded once. “Right. Good call.”

Suri’s head snapped to the side, her focus diving inward as her illusions scattered like startled birds. “They abandoned the basement,” she said. “My scouts can move freely now.” Her breath caught. “I found the reported missing children. From a month ago. From weeks before that. It should be them.” She swallowed. “They’re alive.”

Relief hit Kana like a physical force. Her lungs finally drew a full breath, tension easing just enough to hurt.

She had been bracing for something worse. The thought lingered, sour and unwelcome.

Yuri stepped forward, eyes glowing faintly. “[Enhance Speed Level Two].”

Mana surged through them.

Professor Len hand picked the members based on what they needed in a rescue team. Kana, Mica along with Shai since they were the quickest and capable combatant, Suri who had the most advanced scouting ability, Professors Fin and Len, and Elle York who back them up as a healer. They launched forward, boots tearing across frozen ground. Trees blurred past in streaks of black and silver. Kana matched Professor Fin’s pace instinctively.

She risked a glance sideways.

Elle York was surprisingly keeping up. Not struggling. Not falling behind. That, somehow, unsettled Kana more than the battle sounds behind them. I understand Suri but her?

They reached the entrance moments later, a hidden opening swallowed by roots and shadow. The basement below was nothing like Kana had imagined. No arcane circles. No grotesque altars.

Crates stacked along the walls. Food supplies, preserved and organized. Signs of long-term use. Of planning.

And three children.

They were locked behind a reinforced barrier, small figures huddled together. When they saw the academy uniforms, recognition shattered their restraint. They cried openly, sobs tearing free as weeks of fear finally found a place to land.

Professor Len moved first, already checking restraints, murmuring reassurance. Elle York knelt beside him, scanning for injuries, her voice calm and steady.

Kana stood still, unease crawling up her spine.

So many children had vanished yet they returned alive except for those three children. They look like normal kids to me. Why do they keep them here?

Why these three?

And more importantly—

What are the culprits planning to do with them next?

….

They did not stay in the basement as Suri confirmed there was nothing else though they did check everything first before leaving.

Professor Fin and Len took the children into their arms, movements swift and practiced. The cries quieted as they were lifted, fear giving way to exhaustion. Kana led the way back toward the city wall, cutting through the trees with urgent purpose, senses stretched thin for pursuit that never came.

They broke from the forest into torchlight.

Principal Light stood near the gate, posture calm amid chaos, white hair stirred by the cold wind. He looked at them once, taking in the children, the dirt, the tension etched into their faces.

“Good work,” he said simply.

Then his gaze shifted back toward the forest.

In the distance, skill lights flared again, bursts of color flashing through the trees like trapped lightning. The night rumbled with power.

“This is bad news,” Principal Light continued. “That thing has a lot of mana.”

Professor Len set the child she carried down carefully. A pair of gate guards rushed forward at once, guiding the children through the wall and into safety. Only once they were gone did she turn back.

“What’s happening?” she asked.

Principal Light’s expression did not change, but something in his eyes hardened. “One of them can control a monster,” he said. “I suspect it’s a [Lich].”

The infamous monster name made everyone shudder.

A [Lich] was not a dungeon boss, not the sort of creature sung about in taverns. It was worse. An intelligent monster. One that commanded. Such beings did not exist in low or mid-level dungeons. They appeared only in places where the dungeon itself had grown cruel and clever. High-level. At least high–low.

A chill passed through the gathered students, colder than peak winter.

Principal Light stepped forward, voice rising, carrying authority that cut through fear. Students formed up instinctively before him.

“I will engage alongside Professors Fin and Len,” he said. “No student is to enter close combat.” His gaze swept the group. “Supports may provide buffs. Those with long-range attack skills will participate under supervision.”

The lights in the forest flared again, brighter now.

Principal Light’s voice dropped, gravity settling into every word. “If anything unexpected occurs, and I order a retreat—”

He paused, letting the silence bite.

“—you will retreat immediately. No hesitation. No questions.”

Kana clenched her fists, eyes fixed on the storm of mana beyond the trees.

A [Lich].

….

Kana understood now.

Why Principal Light had spoken with such care. Why orders could fracture and reform in the span of a heartbeat. Why power, real power, did not announce itself loudly at first.

This was nothing like the monsters she had faced before.

Even from a distance, the mana rolled outward in heavy, corrupted waves, pressing against her senses like deep water against the chest. It was very wild. Similar to Roy’s mana but violent. Kana adjusted her bow automatically, fingers steady despite the pressure, nocking an arrow, scanning for a weak point.

There was none.

The [Lich] stood amid shattered earth and scorched trees, its form wrapped in a massive cloak that drank in light. Mana spiraled around it in slow, deliberate currents, a barrier so dense it bent incoming spells away like rain striking glass.

She could tell Boris, Adam were itching for action but they remained to their position guarding the long range attackers. For some reason, Roy on the other hand was vomiting.

Suri was already firing.

[Lightning Bolt].

Again.

And again.

Blue-white arcs screamed through the night, only to shatter harmlessly against the mana barrier. Fireballs followed. One from Valdis was so large it warped the air around it, detonating against the shield in a violent bloom of heat and sound.

Nothing.

Knights struck from the flanks. Adventurers unleashed skills honed over decades.

Nothing.

Royal knights did not attack. They watched. Observing. Studied the creature’s movements like scholars.

[Bowman] fired.

Their arrows slipped through the mana barrier, untouched.

And broke.

They splintered against the [Lich]’s body as if striking reinforced stone.

Kana exhaled slowly.

Physical resistance is high. Magical resistance is lower, she reasoned. But the barrier blocks magic entirely.

A perfect defense.

She scratched her head, frustration flickering. Firing blindly would only waste arrows, and she knew it. This wasn’t a problem that yielded to force.

Then—

[High Awareness] ignited.

The world sharpened.

Kana’s breath caught.

The [Lich] wasn’t attacking.

It was retreating.

Not fleeing. Not panicking. Backing away, inch by inch, as though every step had been planned long before the battle began.

Her eyes narrowed. Why?

That was when she saw it. A flicker of movement beneath the cloak. The fabric shifted unnaturally, and for a brief instant, something pale and alive pressed against the darkness beneath.

Kana didn’t think.

She acted.

[True Shot].

The skill detonated through her body, compressing intent, breath, and motion into a single flawless line. The arrow vanished from her bowstring, tearing through the air faster than sound, faster than thought.

It struck.

Not bone.

Flesh.

Blood sprayed from beneath the cloak.

A heartbeat later, the hiding man beneath the cloak collapsed onto the cold ground, an arrow buried cleanly through his neck. His eyes were wide, mouth frozen mid-breath. Around the [Lich] throat, a red metallic band shimmered violently—

Then shattered.

Fragments scattered and vanished like a dying monster in a dungeon.

For a moment, the battlefield went silent.

Then the [Lich] roared.

The sound was not merely loud. It was ancient. Rage poured from it in a tidal wave, mana exploding outward as the creature reared back, its barrier distorting, cracking, unraveling. The forest screamed as trees bent under the sudden pressure.

Kana’s heart slammed against her ribs.

The [Lich] turned fully now, no longer retreating.

Her fingers trembled around her bow.

“…Did I,” she whispered, voice lost beneath the rising roar, “just free the [Lich]?”




Post note:

Happy weekend!
Hope you enjoy the chap! 🙂