* * *
“You have a point, but I don’t think it’s just the guild.”
“Surround His Highness!”
Before Lowell could hear more, the knights sprang into motion.
Felix instinctively moved forward to take the lead but, glancing down at Lowell in his arms, slowed his horse instead.
“They’ll reach us in less than a minute. We’ll break through before they complete the encirclement!”
At his command, the knights responded immediately.
The approaching assassins, who hadn’t expected to be discovered so soon, grew desperate.
“They’re not professional soldiers,” Felix concluded quickly, reading their sloppy movements.
“Then we only need to leave one or two alive.”
A strange glint flashed in Felix’s eyes as dark magic began to seep from his body.
The knights, sensing the shift, swallowed nervously and awaited his next command.
“Clear the path ahead.”
Without hesitation, the knights spread out, leaving a wide opening before Felix.
Confirming the way was clear, Felix drove his sword—now pulsing with black magic—into the ground.
‘What is he doing?’
Lowell, expecting him to swing his sword, stared wide-eyed.
The black magic from Felix’s blade burrowed into the shadows, and soon after, the shadows twisted upward, taking the shape of hands.
“Attack!”
The hidden enemies, realizing they had been exposed, panicked and screamed.
It was the first time Lowell had ever witnessed a battle between humans.
Despite their bravado, the enemies hesitated, terrified by the sight of their comrades falling one after another under Felix’s overwhelming magic.
“Ahhh!”
“What the hell is this?! No one said he could do this!”
The shadowy hands, moving faster than Lowell’s eyes could follow, pierced legs and restrained bodies.
Some who struggled too fiercely had their shoulders or stomachs run through, collapsing heavily.
“You don’t need to see this,” Felix said softly, covering Lowell’s eyes with his hand. At the same time, his other hand continued to ruthlessly manipulate the battlefield.
‘Damn it. I should tell him to stop. But if I flinch like this and become a burden…’
For someone like Lowell, who had lived as a civilian, watching so many people fall wounded—or worse—was overwhelming.
It pained him that instead of helping Felix, he was only becoming a hindrance.
Yet regardless of Lowell’s inner turmoil, the battle intensified.
Any enemies who managed to reach the rear were swiftly cut down by the knights.
Seeing how poorly organized and weak these attackers were, Felix abandoned any lingering thought that they were hired assassins.
Even if they had been, sending such an undisciplined, flimsy group was an insult.
They were no more difficult to handle than squashing ants.
“Deploy barrier magic!”
From the hands of the ragtag group, a muddy, reddish magic flared to life.
It wasn’t enough to fully block Felix’s attacks, but with several of them working together, they managed to buy enough time to flee.
“Don’t let a single one escape.”
Felix’s aura grew even fiercer.
“They’ve dabbled in dark magic. Even one getting away is unacceptable.”
The knights, who had begun to relax at the sight of seemingly weak opponents, immediately snapped back to full alert.
Just as Felix had warned, although their abilities were crude and tainted with impurities, everyone there wielded murky, corrupted magic.
Lowell, who had only been listening through his earpiece, found himself unable to breathe for a moment.
‘Who taught them? Are they connected to the rulers of this land? Or is it the work of rogue dark mages allied with the noble faction?’
Neither possibility was good.
Just as Felix instinctively sensed, the dark mages’ influence might not be limited to a single guild—it could have infested the entire village.
Although Lowell had known that certain nobles, pretending loyalty to the Emperor, were secretly fostering dark mages, he hadn’t realized it had spread even to remote villages like this.
‘This might be even more dangerous than I thought.’
Dark magic had only been vaguely touched upon in the original novel, and it wasn’t something he could have picked up on while inside Nyx, so this outcome was unavoidable.
‘Still, ignorance doesn’t excuse anything.’
Lowell bit down hard on his lip. Sensing his turmoil, Felix hurried the cleanup.
“Lowell, hold on tight.”
Expertly spurring his horse forward, Felix quickly overtook the enemies, leaping off as he drew his sword.
With a sweep of his blade infused with magic, he took down the remaining enemies who had yet to fall.
They collapsed without even managing a proper cry.
“There are stragglers breaking away at the rear! Make sure none escape into the underbrush!”
Felix’s voice wasn’t especially loud, yet it seemed to echo across the entire field.
Just as Lowell cracked open his eyes to check the situation, a sudden flash of red shot out from a spot that had, until now, seemed completely devoid of presence.
Felix instinctively swung his sword.
“What—?”
But the arrow wasn’t simply wrapped in magic—it was pure magic, shaped into an arrow itself.
It passed straight through Felix’s blade and flew directly at Lowell’s heart.
“No!”
Just as the arrow regained form midair, Felix’s magic burst from his body, wrapping around Lowell in a protective shield.
The arrow collided with Felix’s magic and dissolved like sugar melting in water.
“Ugh.”
The remaining force barely grazed Lowell’s arm, leaving a shallow cut. It hurt, but that was all.
Once Felix confirmed Lowell was unharmed, his body erupted with fierce, deadly magic as he charged toward where the arrow had come from.
“Gh-ack, kgh—!”
The archer, caught from behind, struggled fiercely, but it was useless.
Felix’s iron grip crushed any chance of escape.
His sword gleamed ominously, as if ready to sever the man’s arm without hesitation.
“Do you even realize what you’ve done?”
The archer, throat gripped tightly, had no way to respond.
Judging from the belligerent gleam in his eyes, though, even if he could speak, his answer would not have changed.
Felix, clearly expecting no reply, continued speaking coldly to himself.
“You’re good at hiding your presence. Judging by your skills, you must be the leader of this bunch. You seemed pretty confident you’d survive this.”
The sword that had been aimed at his arm slowly slid up, toward his throat.
The intention to kill was plain to see, and not only the archer but even Lowell flinched instinctively.
“F-Felix! Wait, please!”
Staggering off his horse, Lowell rushed to Felix’s side.
Lowell had no intention of stopping Felix from using force—especially not after the archer had just tried to kill him.
This world demanded displays of strength, and now was precisely such a time.
‘But I can’t let him kill someone who might be the leader without getting any information first, especially just because of emotions.’
Lowell hesitantly grabbed Felix’s forearm.
Felix clicked his tongue and reluctantly lowered his sword.
Instead, he flung the archer to the ground and motioned for him to be bound.
Reading his signal, the knights quickly rushed in and tied the archer securely.
Felix, still holding onto Lowell’s hand, frowned deeply.
He anxiously glanced at the shallow scratch on Lowell’s arm.
“Are you all right? I can’t believe I let something like this happen again…”
“It’s just a scratch. My clothes look worse than the wound itself.”
Lowell wiped the trickling blood as if to show him it wasn’t serious.
Still, fresh blood continued to seep out, and Felix’s face twisted in guilt.
“Thank you for saving me. But right now, please focus on the task at hand instead of worrying about a minor wound.”
Felix had words on the tip of his tongue, clearly wanting to argue that it wasn’t “minor,” but Lowell’s advice was correct.
Reluctantly, he turned away—but as soon as he did, he couldn’t hide the painful grimace that crossed his face.
* * *
