“I have a crime to report, and it seems that the guild leader doesn’t care so I am bringing it to you.”

Viladore gained another audience with the mage hunters – though it cost him gold this time.

After attempting his persuasion he noticed they simply didn’t care, so he was forced to add a riskier lie.

“It seems he has stolen one of your gambesons from the guild laundry area too.”

It was a reasonable lie, as the guild had been ‘gifted’ with laundry duty for the mage hunters.

The mage hunter slammed their fist down on the table, causing a shimmer of mana to travel across it as the table was reinforced with magic.

The mage hunter officer stared at Viladore for a moment; waves of killing intent quickly filled the room and almost made Viladore feel like he was suffocating.

The mage hunter seemed like they wanted to sentence the thief to death, but now Viladore had to spend the next few minutes trying to diffuse the mage hunter.

He wanted a strong enough reaction so that they would bother with arresting Jay, but not so strong that they would execute him. It seems that Viladore miscalculated.

Still, Viladore had the gambeson in his inventory, so he could simply ‘find’ it again and say it was misplaced.

As for the other ‘stolen’ item, well, Jay still had the goblin wand which was originally a gift.

Viladore thought that his ex-mage hunter status, along with Jay having ‘stolen’ his goblin wand, would be enough to gain wardenship of Jay.

Viladore was then removed from the room – unsure if they were going to act at all. Such was the nature of the mage hunters.

Jay remained staring from the alleyway as the guard suddenly saw Jay’s butcher shop, their boots cracked up parts of the cobblestone street as they stopped their momentum immediately.

“What is he doing…”

*CRASH!*

“H-!” Jay had to stop himself from yelling as he watched on in horror.

The guard suddenly jumped right through the front window of his shop, his house, shattering the glass and leaving a large hole behind.

Another mage hunter showed up shortly after and didn’t even need to kick the door open – they simply ran through it like it was paper.

Screaming and yelling sounded as more things continued to smash within the shop.

Suddenly a young man’s limp body was effortlessly tossed out of the shop.

Trenly was thrown through the window, his body scraping across the street before it squirmed from pain.

Jay stepped back slightly, hiding more of himself in the alleyway. He couldn’t blink as he watched on, powerless to do anything.

A mage hunter jumped back out through the window and stood over Trenly.

“Argh! Someone help!” he called with no answer.

Trenly’s arm was broken as he writhed in pain in the street; all the onlookers didn’t make a sound as they feared the mage hunters. All they could do was watch.

The mage hunter stood over Trenly with a hint of anger in his eyes.

“Where is Jay?” he growled.

“I – I don’t know!” he whimpered.

The mage hunter planted a foot right onto Trenly’s ankle, twisting his boot on it.

“Graah!” he yelled in pain.

“I – I really don’t know, please, please stop!”

Jay couldn’t keep watching, especially now that he knew they were looking for him. The sheer brutality of their tactics was hair-raising.

He dashed back into the alleyway and took a deep breath as he tried to calm himself.

“Fuck… they’re looking for me? Have they found out?” he gritted his teeth as he looked down the alley.

He quickly hid behind some large half-broken barrels.

“Fuck. I should have just gone straight to meet Lara…” he thought, but had an idea.

“… maybe Lara can help?”

Jay quickly pulled out the invisible crystal.

“Lara, the mage hunters are looking for me. They broke into my house when I wasn’t home. I’m still in Losla.”

No response.

Jay wasn’t going to just wait to hear her voice, his life was in his own hands; he began to quietly summon his skeletons.

There weren’t many hiding places in the alley so he made them hide under some junk and not move, blending into a trash pile.

They would be his only defence so he wanted them close by and ready to fight – not that they would last long against the mage hunters.

Next, he used the disguise stone to change his name and level, though under such stressful circumstances thinking of a name was harder than it had to be.

<[Status Concealer]>

[Input Name][Bob]

[Input Level][4]

[On]

[Bob – Level 4]

He believed the average name and low level wouldn’t make people even look twice at him, and that’s what he wanted, however there was still a problem: his face and appearance still wouldn’t change.

It would only be a matter of time before he was recognised.

One thing was still true: Jay needed to escape Losla.

~Adventurer Association, Losla~

*BOOM!*

Viladore’s door was suddenly blown off its hinges and turned into splinters of wood and dust.

Despite the intense energy, Sullivan entered with a calm demeanour – though a raging savage was hiding behind his eyes.

“Viladore. I received your letter and I heard the mage hunters are going to arrest Jay. What is the meaning of this?” His voice was as smooth and cunning as a vampire.

Viladore sneered, “He’s a little thief. I requested that they do something about him, since you have done nothing.”

Sullivan didn’t fall for Viladore’s trap. It was clearly a betrayal, and there was no use convincing someone who was lying to your face.

Sullivan’s eyes glowed brightly, and Viladore’s responded with their own shine, and for just a moment, some objects in the room floated before –

*BOOM!!!*

The desk between them was turned into splinters.

The wall behind Viladore had been blown apart as his body instantly went from being normal to ruptured and bleeding.

Viladore gritted his teeth as he spat blood in anger. At the last moment, he shielded his black cube to save it from destruction.

Sullivan’s eyes narrowed on the cube.

In a split second, Sullivan decided to take something dear from Viladore. A kind of justice would take place.

“Stop!” Sullivan spoke – his voice no longer smooth and soft.

Visible waves of air rippled from his mouth as he yelled.

A force radiated from Sullivan, and the rest of the objects in Viladore’s office were pushed out of the broken wall, turned to dust or crushed under the pressure.

Everything was in ruins.

Viladore froze for a moment, his body told him not to move a single muscle as he froze in fear, obeying the spell-shout.

Sullivan walked towards him and grabbed the black cube from his hand.

Viladore’s eyes bulged in fear and disbelief, his body trembling with anger.

“This seems important to you.” Sullivan said smoothly, looking at the cube.

Sullivan’s face twisted in a flash of anger, and suddenly, he threw it out the window with such speed that it caused a whistle in the air.

Viladore’s eyes were red as all he could do was watch.

Sullivan’s adventurer strength caused it to travel far beyond the walls of the guild.

Heavy footsteps came from the hallway.

All of it happened so fast, but now the mage hunters were here.

The mage hunters didn’t ask any questions as they tried to detain both Sullivan and Viladore.

The shout-spell ended, Viladore could finally move now.

“He tried to kill me!” he yelled, blood flowing from his mouth.

The mage hunters already knew Viladore was an ex-researcher who worked for them, while Sullivan on the other hand was exiled here for sheltering a variant.

They didn’t say anything, but showed favouritism to Viladore.

While they planned to arrest them both, Sullivan misread the intentions of the mage hunters.

His eyes glowed with power again.

Another wave of force pushed everything back.

The ground cracked under the spell; the walls barely remained standing even though they were reinforced with magic.

Viladore was smashed into a wall and knocked out.

The mage hunters were pushed back, but not far. Their armour blocked most of the spell.

This was considered a direct attack on the mage hunters. Each of them pulled out their black weapons: this target would not be arrested.