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Chapter 338

So much for “I can find him easily.”

Luna’s interrogation—better described as an act of violence—was brutal enough to make anyone watching shrink back in fear.

Tintel Ramos, his sclera gone white and his face twisted with something unpleasant, screamed while curling up, as Luna mercilessly beat him down.

For a moment, I wondered if I should stop her—but there was no mercy in Luna’s hands. Even Gordon Hontail, who came from the same region as Tintel, couldn’t step in.

Luna’s presence was that terrifying.

Rodri Algras, whom we suspected to be the informant, could only flinch, unable to speak.

Puhng! Bang!

The air burst with such force that any ordinary body would have been torn apart.

Yet Tintel’s flesh, elastic like rubber, bent and twisted without breaking.

But what stood out was his expression—shock, fear, disbelief.

Whatever Luna was doing, it was working.

The power of an archangel infused in her fists made her blows all the heavier.

“Stop! That’s enough—”

“You still think this thing’s human?”

Gordon tried to intervene, clearly distressed.

Despite everything, he still saw fragments of the person he once knew in the creature before him.

But Luna only grabbed Tintel’s limp body by the scruff and slammed him into the floor.

He twitched, mumbling in some incomprehensible tongue, and the sound alone made our heads ache.

“Ugh…”

Gordon staggered, and the nearby elf, Katya Vermug, rushed to support him.

“Lord Gordon, are you all right?”

“Ugh…”

Before the mumbling could continue, Luna stomped down on Tintel’s head.

He screamed again, thrashing helplessly.

“Luna. Aren’t you going to kill him at this rate?”

“I’m holding back.”

She lifted his head by the hair, her voice cold.

“This continues until he talks.”

“Where did you even learn this barbaric technique?”

Luna blinked at me, genuinely puzzled.

“The guy who slapped goblins until they gave directions—where’s he now?”

Everyone’s gaze turned to me.

Don’t look at me like that, damn it.

They didn’t understand—goblins don’t speak, and sometimes brute force is all that works.

Still, Luna continued relentlessly.

Eventually, Tintel’s body went limp.

He struggled to say something, then his body disintegrated into black dust.

“Nothing gained.”

“Not exactly. The fact that he said nothing means it’s not here.”

“…True.”

It was a method I’d once used myself—and Luna used it flawlessly.

The archangel’s power in her strikes seemed especially lethal to beings like him.

“Why did his body dissolve…?”

“Because whatever remained of his humanity was long gone.”

Gordon clenched his jaw.

“Who could do such a thing? Was it truly Tintel?”

“If it were, we wouldn’t have needed to do this.”

If Tintel had been the real mastermind, something in the situation should have changed by now.

I checked the timer floating in front of me.

[5:58]

Five hours?

Wait—

“What the—where did all my time go?”

Half of it was just gone.

Luna noticed my expression.

“Problem?”

“Yeah. A big one. We need to stop this soon—time’s running out.”

“Looks that way, judging from the mess outside.”

The area around us was warped, almost like another dimension.

Tintel’s interference had partially succeeded.

I looked around carefully.

No more immediate threats.

Time to move.

“Do you see the ritual array?”

“The space has twisted so much it’s easier to trace now.”

She pointed through the red mist.

“Over there.”

“We’re heading that way. It’s safer if you follow.”

“How do you know that place isn’t even more dangerous?”

“Then stay here.”

“….”

“I’ll go.”

It was Katya Vermug, the elf spiritist, who spoke up first.

“I trust you. You’ve helped our kind before.”

She clearly understood that splitting the group now would be suicide.

Once Katya stepped forward, the infamously woman-crazy Rodri Algras followed suit.

“Professor, I think we should stay together. The lady seems to know what she’s doing.”

Time was leaking away fast.

I looked to Luna, and she scanned the area again before nodding.

“That way. Definitely this time.”

“Let’s go.”

Those who wanted to come followed; the rest stayed behind.

* * *

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The red fog was so thick you couldn’t see a hand in front of you.

Even so, Luna walked with unerring certainty.

No normal vision—nor even clairvoyance—could navigate this place.

Luna wasn’t looking with her eyes but with something deeper: a perception closer to divine insight.

“Watch your step.”

She suddenly stopped and turned toward the scowling professor from Kona Academy.

“Hmph. What, you think there’s somethi—”

Tscha-kangg!!

The ground distorted, and spikes of pulsating flesh shot up beneath him.

Only then did the lurking predator reveal itself—a monster camouflaged to look like part of the floor.

“W-What in the world?!”

“This isn’t the exchange hall anymore. The whole place is warped.”

It wasn’t an illusion.

This was now a fragment of an outer dimension.

“That’s called Claudia. Not something you’ll encounter often. Forget it existed.”

They all looked at me as if to ask how I knew that.

“I… felt its presence.”

The professor who had nearly died was shaking.

“It hides its aura perfectly.”

“Leon.”

While I explained, Luna called to me.

“What is it? Another one?”

“There.”

She swung her arm, scattering the mist.

Before us stood a massive metallic pillar.

“We need to cut that.”

“Cut it?”

“It’s the ritual’s core. Resistant to magic and external force. Physical destruction is the only option.”

I was just about to draw my sword when—

“Ha-ha-ha-ha! At last, my moment to shine!”

The pompous prince of the Fedmore Kingdom, Talion Fedmore, charged forward brandishing his sword.

“No limit on attempts?”

“As long as it’s done before time runs out.”

He stood heroically before the pillar, and I sighed, about to stop him—

–@#$@%@#@–

A strange, distorted whisper brushed my ear.

What the hell was that?

I froze, scanning the area, but it was gone.

“Haaap!”

Ka-aaang!!

Talion’s blade slammed into the pillar.

It didn’t even scratch—just left a faint mark that healed immediately.

Panting, he tried again and again.

Even the Kona professor joined in with his aura-blade.

No use.

“This is impossible! How can anything resist an aura-infused strike?!”

He glared at Luna.

“You said it could be cut!”

Slice!

A single clean sound—and the pillar split in two, sliding apart neatly.

Everyone froze.

The one who had done it—me—calmly sheathed my sword back into subspace.

“No time to waste. Let’s move.”

As I walked past, Luna simply followed, silent.

“I never said I couldn’t cut it.”

She didn’t need to say the rest: You just lack skill.

With the pillar gone, a new path opened ahead.

And the others—especially the professor—were left staring in disbelief.

* * *

Pillars charged with ritual energy kept appearing as we advanced.

Each time, before anyone else could react, a sharp slicing sound rang out and they collapsed.

The twisted space had condensed the old ritual pattern into these physical forms.

“There’s nothing we can do magically,”

Gordon muttered.

“The mana flow itself is corrupted.”

Frustration filled his voice.

Then, new pillars appeared—these ones pulsing with alien colors and an ominous aura.

“They’re resistant to physical attacks,”

Luna said.

“Then it’s my turn,”

Gordon replied, raising his staff.

He was still a genius mage despite his earlier defeat.

He aimed his staff and chanted,

“Fireball!”

A sphere of flame began forming at the tip—

Chiiiiing!!!

Dozens of enormous magic circles suddenly materialized in the air around him.

“What—?”

The others turned toward him.

‘You can cast that many?’

‘I didn’t—’

Shock spread across his face.

He hadn’t done it.

Then realization struck him.

“Everyone, get down!!!”

Kwooooom!!!

From the eyes that opened within the circles, a storm of warped magic erupted, raining destruction upon us all.

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