I rubbed my eyes once, but I could still see the same sight. I wasn’t daydreaming. A large dark red orb was falling from the sky.

“What is that…”

Xiaolin reacted the same way as she mumbled while looking out the window. However, she looked even more shocked than me, and it was obvious why she reacted that way.

‘That’s…’

The dark red orb was falling to where the people from the Republic were staying.

‘That’s crazy…’

Boooooooooooom!

The large mana orb struck the shield magic protecting the city, and the people dining with us started screaming at the ridiculous sight. With a crackle, the basic shield magic protecting the city cracked and the large mana orb was immediately sucked into the crack.

This happened in the blink of an eye, and it was interesting how we didn’t get affected.

I wasn’t sure what kind of magic it was, but it seemed like a type of magic that targeted a specific location. It wasn't elemental magic. It seemed more like black magic, but I couldn’t feel any black magic-like energy. Saying that it simply devoured space was the best description for it. It was a very concentrated clump of mana. Constructing a spell so that it would do something like that was more difficult than increasing a spell’s firepower, and that was probably the reason why the shield protecting the city broke in an instant.

‘Crazy… This is crazy!’

We were more astounded than the dinosaurs who watched a meteorite fall and even though I didn’t know what was going on, I thought it would be a good idea to get away from here. I didn’t know what the others were thinking, but what we were witnessing was basically an incomprehensible natural disaster.

‘Is it really a natural disaster…’

Boooooooooooooooom!

It was a sound effect I had never heard before, and the orb that fell to that specific location had completely swallowed the space around it while spinning. There was nothing in it other than a clean cross-section that looked as if it were a stapled piece of paper. To make things worse, smaller red orbs were falling to other locations as well. There wasn’t a lot of them, but they were enough to turn the city into hell.

We had to be really lucky because the orbs mostly absorbed inorganic matter, and the orbs only targeted that place and its vicinity.

Boooooooooom!

The unique sound effect that kept on going slowly quietened, and I saw a sight I never knew a magic spell could do.

‘How could this happen? Actually, what was that?’

I had long acknowledged the fact that magic was a subject I had a hard time understanding, but I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I could feel mana that was certainly different from nature’s mana, and if it weren’t for it, I would have thought it wasn’t magic but a rare and unusual natural disaster on the continent, similar to a magic storm.

I wasn’t the only dumbfounded person. The restaurant had become quiet as if the scream earlier never even happened. However, when a baby started crying, everyone hurriedly ran out, including us.

“We should head out,” Xiaolin suggested.

“I’ll go with you,” I told her.

Xiaolin thought for a moment before nodding because she thought there wouldn’t be any issues if I came with her.

When we exited the restaurant, we saw chaos around us. The investigators dispatched by Laios were running around while the monks and ascetics were looking for injured people. The mages definitely reacted quickly, and the fact that they reacted to this a lot sooner than I thought was worthy of praise, but…

‘The levels of the mages here are low...’

I couldn’t expect them to find out what was going on. Controlling the surrounding area and pretending as if they were doing something was probably their limit.

Amidst the chaos, the denizens were running around, and even Xiaolin’s lackeys were doing the same.

It was difficult to figure out how to handle this because I was no different from the denizens. I was worried that a second attack might happen and that was the reason why I was staying close to Xiaolin.

It only took us a moment to arrive at the location where the orb fell.

‘Shit…’

What we saw after we arrived was a sight to see.

‘Are they all dead?’

I didn’t know what happened to the people inside, but I was sure we wouldn’t find the corpses of the people who had gotten devoured by that orb.

‘I wonder if that bastard and the Russian got devoured as well…’

I had no idea what was going on, but I was honestly hoping that they died. However, I didn’t think that my wish came true when I saw some people gathering around. After walking through the crowd, I saw Jin Cheong, the Russian Park Deok-Gu, and a few of their members I had seen a few days ago. Only three of their lackeys survived. I wasn’t sure how they managed to survive, but I nodded when I saw one of the Russian Park Deok-Gu’s arms twisted in a way I couldn’t describe. I was certain he was saved by that bastard.

“Shit… Cough. Damn it.”

The Russian Park Deok-Gu kept on coughing while being treated by the priests. They were able to save his arm because he received treatment right away, but it seemed like it would take some time for his body to fully recover. I was amazed that he managed to that attack, but I thought that even he had definitely overused his powers.

Jin Cheong was looking at the neatly cut cross-section while calming the others down. The look on his face seemed like he was analyzing the cross-section.

Even though I wasn’t the one who did all this, I became nervous for some reason. The location where the Republic members happened to be staying received the most damage, so I naturally felt nervous.

“Let me ask you something… is this—”

“I guarantee that the Democratic Country has nothing to do with this incident,” I interrupted Xiaolin.

“...”

“...”

“Really?” she questioned.

“Yes…” I replied.

I swore to God we weren’t behind this…

Xiaolin quietly looked at me before nodding. She definitely understood that I wasn’t dumb enough to do something like this.

The fact that a preemptive strike was made on the Republic within a neutral nation was an extremely serious matter, and the perpetrator could be rebuked by other countries under continental law.

Since we were staying in Laios to establish an alliance with Laios, there was no reason for us to do something like this. It would be nice if they thought the same, but…

‘They might use this against us.’

I felt like I had to prepare a countermeasure, so even though we came here together, I quickly spoke up.

“It’ll be best if you go talk to them, Miss Xiaolin. I’ll have to look into this matter myself…”

“Yes, I think that’ll be better before that brute gets worked up again… We will also have to look into this to see what happened, but right now, we have no choice but to be suspicious of you. I hope you understand,” Xiaolin informed me.

“Yes, I understand,” I replied.

‘Understand, my ass… Maybe this was a fabricated scenario.’

It was less likely, but it was still a possibility. The members of the Republic were the ones who died, but this incident would put us in a more complicated position.

“I won’t be seeing you out,” she said.

“Okay...”

Xiaolin headed toward Jin Cheong and Valentin. It seemed like they were talking about something, but I couldn’t hear them. Laios would probably contact the Republic soon, and investigators would be dispatched from the Republic’s side. Of course, the Sacred Democratic Country would dispatch their own investigators as well.

The powerless Laios wouldn’t be able to stop an armed group of investigators, and in the end, the situation would become even more complicated.

‘I’m sure they’re shocked as well…’

Unfortunately, it already happened, and we couldn’t turn back time.

The Empress of Laios was probably pulling out her hair in frustration.

When I glanced back one more time, I saw people investigating while limiting access to the scene. Looking at it alone, it didn’t seem like the Scared Democratic Country was behind all this, but since this was a serious and sensitive matter, they would surely investigate everyone.

Jung Ha-Yan might know some—

‘Shit…’

“Damn it.”

I automatically mumbled to myself, and I kept cursing without realizing it. I still hadn’t confirmed it, but I started to get suspicious.

‘It’s probably not her.’

No, it shouldn't be her, and even if she were the culprit, Jung Ha-Yan couldn’t be the culprit.

‘Her motive is uncertain...’

It wasn’t actually uncertain because I knew she would cause some kind of trouble when her magic stat reached 99. Cha Hee-Ra had once suppressed her, but it didn’t really change the fact that Jung Ha-Yan could go rampant at any moment. Recently, she had been quiet, but I became even more nervous when I realized that. After that incident with the Republic, I hadn’t seen her much, and she hadn’t been eating properly as well. There were times when we met briefly, but I was sure those meetings weren’t enough to maintain Jung Ha-Yan.

The long-awaited date was ruined, and a strange misunderstanding was even made, so if she thought that it was all the Republic’s fault, it could be enough reason for her to do something extreme. Of course, that would prove true if there were no one to stop her.

‘No, it shouldn’t be her. I’m sure it isn’t...’

But based on what I knew, there were only a handful of people who could cast that kind of magic. And of course, the first person on my list was Jung Ha-Yan.

I immediately thought that this wasn’t the time for me to just stand around, so I ran to the Sacred Democratic Country’s house as fast as I could while stopping myself from cursing out loud.

‘Shit, shit, shit!’

When I ran as fast as I could, I saw the members standing nearby. The incident was so huge there was no way they would stay inside. The people from Laios had already arrived and were limiting access so that others couldn't get close to the incident’s ground zero. The incident happened close to the house where we were staying in, so we told them that we would manage this area for them. We were basically the embassy for foreigners from the Sacred Democratic Country. I wasn’t sure who made that call, but they made the perfect decision.

When I walked in while taking off my outer clothes, the members of the Red Mercenary Guild guided me, and the mages with Kasugano Yuno were either tracking the traces of mana or collecting fragments that had fallen.

“You’re late, darling. Where were you? Did you see the mana fall?” Cha Hee-Ra asked.

“Yeah. I ran over here because of that. I was taking care of other business. Here…” I replied.

“Wait, let me ask you this first. Did you do this?” Cha Hee-Ra asked.

“No. I don’t know anything about this,” I answered.

“Are you sure?” she questioned.

“Yeah, I’m really not the one who did this…” I told her.

I didn’t know why she was questioning me, but Cha Hee-Ra nodded. She had to be thinking that it was my doing. Cha Hee-Ra was about to say something, but I cut her off because I was the one in a hurry, not her.

“Have you seen Ha-Yan? Noona?” I asked.

“She’s over there,” she pointed.

I was sure she understood the meaning behind my question because she nodded in response. When I looked at the direction her finger was pointing in, I saw Jung Ha-Yan focused on the investigation with her back turned to me.

‘It’s not you, right?’

I couldn’t help but be suspicious of the fact that Jung Ha-Yan didn’t immediately run into my arms. When I called her, she started turning her head with a slightly nervous expression.

‘Please…’