The Raid

It was just a wall I had hastily transmuted using a 2nd-tier auxiliary formula, but I still expected it to buy me at least a few seconds.

Slice—

The clean, crisp sound of cutting betrayed my expectations.

Beyond the neatly severed wall, a brilliant white light flashed sharply.

It was the sword of the one-armed man.

A pure white light shimmered along the blade, forming the shape of a sword.

Even without anyone explaining it to me, I knew instantly that it was sword qi.

He was at least a level 3 knight.

I guess a level 3 knight can unleash such terrifying strikes even with only one arm.

Should I feel relieved that he was missing an arm?

Or should I despair that he could exert such power with just one?

I didn't have time for either.

Instead of wasting time thinking, I decided to transmute another wall.

Since I now knew one wasn't enough, I needed as many walls as possible.

If I had plenty of time, I could have made hundreds of layers.

But I was in the middle of running.

I couldn't manage that much.

I had to complete it in the split second my foot touched the ground.

Tap. The moment my back leg kicked off the ground and my front foot landed, I performed the transmutation.

Shhhk!

A total of four walls rose in succession.

"What kind of transmutation speed is that?!"

"She might be the disciple of the Disaster! Do not lower your guard!"

"Hup—!"

Surely, I could expect something from this.

It should block at least two attacks—

Boom!

"Ack."

Debris from the shattered wall pelted my head.

Blood trickled from a fresh cut.

I quickly wiped the blood away and stole a glance behind me.

This time, it was a bare fist that had shattered the walls.

The one-legged, horned man had smashed through all four layers with his fist.

A similar pure white light was wrapped around his knuckles.

The light looked so gentle and pure, but what he was doing with it couldn't be more terrifying.

"Corner her!"

Immediately after, the one-eyed vice captain standing beyond the wall began charging toward ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me.

He was a massive man, easily the size of ten Lulus put together.

True to his size, the floor shattered wherever his feet landed, yet he moved incredibly fast.

Does that even make sense?

Looking at the pure white armor shimmering like a haze over his body, I guess it did.

Aaron's words came back to me.

Inquisitors of the Holy Kingdom.

Musing on the name, the black robes, the rosary, and that pure white mana took on a different meaning.

The black robes were holy vestments.

The item around his neck was a rosary, the symbol of the Holy Kingdom.

And that white light must be holy power.

They were definitely inquisitors.

In that case, the one-eyed vice captain charging at me like a raging bull had to be treated as a level 6 knight.

Aaron said they couldn't maintain it for long, but that varied from person to person.

And if he was close to level 6, it wouldn't make much of a difference anyway...

"I'm in deep trouble."

Cold sweat trickled down my spine.

I had barely been running for a few seconds, but my heart was pounding as if it were about to explode.

Yet, my mind remained cold and calm.

He had ordered them to capture me alive, not kill me.

If so, there had to be a way to break through this situation.

I started to think of a plan... before immediately giving up and deciding to pull out the Mana Remnants from my workshop.

"There's no time to sit and think."

I had to use everything at my disposal.

Right now, I had a total of eight remnants left.

Water, wind, fire, compression, explosion, absorption, shockwave, and binding.

I originally had eighteen, but I had used them all up while conducting my crucial research.

If only I had cutting left.

Naturally, because it was the most fun—no, the best material—it had been consumed first.

"But this is enough."

I just needed to get to the fourth floor and enter my room.

If things went according to Aaron's words, this would be plenty.

The first one I pulled out was the remnant of absorption.

Its effect was simple.

If you imbued an object with it, that object would absorb and store the surrounding mana.

Normally, you could only make one, but thanks to my unique trait of consuming remnants, I could create multiple storage vessels.

The absorption speed would be slower, but time would take care of that.

A dark, hazy mana remnant was drawn out from the workshop engraved on my tongue.

"A soul!"

Seeing it, the vice captain charging toward me let out a scream-like shout.

"She manipulates souls! She is the true disciple who inherited the alchemy of the Third Disaster!"

It's a mana remnant, not a soul.

"I suppose a non-alchemist wouldn't know the difference."

Running as hard as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I could, I chewed and swallowed the mana remnant.

Then, I immediately began transmuting.

What I was transmuting were mana-storing jars.

I transmuted jars that automatically absorbed and stored surrounding mana, burying them deep beneath the ground.

I wasn't satisfied with just one.

I planned to keep hiding these mana-absorbing jars until the remnant dissolved in my body was completely exhausted.

And it also transmuted pathways connecting them.

So that if one was triggered, they would react in a chain.

This would serve as my trump card to escape when cornered.

Crash!

Vice Captain Kane, having smashed through the wall Lulu transmuted, gasped in horror at the girl's actions.

"S-She ate a soul...? What a horrific monstrosity...!"

Why had the alchemy of the Third Disaster become a taboo? The reason was simple: it used human souls as ingredients.

Some mages and deceased alchemists called them mana remnants, but they were undeniably souls.

How could something harvested only from a corpse or the site of a death be called a mere remnant?

Furthermore, it retained the exact properties of the mana that the deceased creature had wielded in life.

If it belonged to a mage, its element remained; if a knight, its physical traits.

When used as an alchemy ingredient, it unleashed those effects perfectly.

Therefore, it was absolutely a soul.

It should never be called a mana remnant and used as a common ingredient.

Yet, that girl had just eaten one.

"A homunculus...? Did that madman, the Third Disaster, finally succeed in transmuting a homunculus...?!"

Kane was absolutely convinced she was a homunculus.

Her ability to devour souls was one thing, but her abnormally fast transmutation speed and inhumanly perfect appearance left him with no doubt.

She looked barely fifteen, yet possessed such flawless beauty.

She had to be a homunculus created by mixing elf and vampire blood.

Kane swallowed a gasp as he shattered yet another rising wall.

"The homunculus..."

...must be captured alive at all costs.

The Third Disaster would never have let a homunculus—something no other alchemist had ever completed—go free for no reason.

If they captured it, they could surely draw the Third Disaster out to the Holy Kingdom.

Moreover, a homunculus would serve as invaluable research material.

Especially now, when most alchemists had been slaughtered by the Third Disaster and alchemy was outlawed, its value as a research subject was astronomical.

Capturing it alive was not an option; it was an absolute necessity.

"We must capture it alive! It doesn't matter if it loses its limbs! We must bring it back to the Holy Kingdom!"

Kane converted all the divine authority bestowed upon his body into raw physical strength.

Now was not the time to hold back. Even if he had to sever all its limbs, he would bring it back.

In Kane's eyes, Lulu was no longer a person.

She was research material. A precious specimen. An artifact.

That was all she was to him.

"Disperse and pursue!"

Thud!

Stomping the ground with all his might, Kane's thighs swelled to their absolute limit.

Instantly, boom! He shattered the barrier of air and shot forward.

Glancing at the incoming Kane, a gray light burst from Lulu's toes.

Simultaneously, her feet were anchored to the marble floor.

Halting her forward momentum instantly, Lulu dissolved the marble binding her feet and threw herself to the side.

Crash! The wall that took the brunt of Kane's charge collapsed entirely, kicking up a thick cloud of dust.

Emerging from the dust, Kane's eye trembled.

"She dodged it?"

At this speed? How?

It was a speed that even Kane himself had trouble controlling, yet the girl had reacted and dodged it.

She had even made a sharp, right-angle turn while running.

As if she possessed physical capabilities that could defy inertia itself.

She was definitely a homunculus with superior physical traits. It would be impossible otherwise.

Reaffirming his conviction that the girl was a homunculus, Kane plunged back into the dust.

"Oof...!"

Inside the dust cloud.

I tumbled across the floor, barely managed to stop my roll, and scrambled to my feet.

"Thank goodness this mansion is huge."

That was way too close.

If he had been even slightly closer, I wouldn't have been able to dodge.

Before I could even feel relieved, I had to move.

Using a transmutation that raised the ground to push me, I threw myself to the side once more.

Thud-thud-thud! Several swords flew and embedded themselves right where I had been sitting a split second ago.

I looked back and saw they were thrown by the one-armed swordsman.

If I had stayed still, my limbs would have been sliced clean off.

The inquisitors really intended to capture me alive without killing me.

I couldn't stop, not even for a second.

Rolling forward and then to the side, I forced myself up and ran with every ounce of strength I had, as if I had just downed a high-grade elixir.

Even as I ran, my hands were constantly moving.

I dashed toward the first-floor workshop, preparing the same explosive potion that had blown up the second through fifth floors of the mansion, but this time, imbuing it with the remnant of compression.

I didn't forget to keep transmuting walls, either.

Even though they collapsed the moment I made them, I raised as many as I could.

Crash! Boom! The vice captain charged forward, obliterating every single wall.

With a single swing of his hand, five layers of walls crumbled, and every time he threw a punch, sharp fragments of stone shot toward me.

Debris pelted my back and scraped my legs.

Still, I kept transmuting walls.

It was a necessary step.

Like making someone say "Snow White" ten times and then asking them the name of the princess who rode the pumpkin carriage—they'd instinctively blurt out "Snow White."

My current transmutations were part of a similar conditioning process.

It was essential to make the enemy lower their guard.

I transmuted stepping stones to leap over the swords that occasionally flew my way.

As for the wind pressure generated by his punches, I deflected it by raising curved walls.

I could only do this because I could see their movements.

They were slower than the charge of that little golem with legs.

Of course, the vice captain's speed far exceeded that.

So, he was the one I had to watch out for the most.

"Aaaaah!"

Crash!

With a roaring shout, the wall vanished without a trace.

It seemed the bull-like vice captain had lost his patience.

I didn't miss the opportunity. I immediately swallowed the remnant of shockwave.

"Break through! Disperse!"

The order to disperse was likely directed at his subordinates.

Glancing back, I saw him drop both hands to the ground.

It was a posture similar to a sprinter preparing for a dash.

Soon, the vice captain's muscles began to glow a deep, burning red.

This was a completely different change from before. His speed was undoubtedly going to be beyond ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠imagination.

The moment his muscles swelled to their limit—

—I transmuted a wall.

It was the shockwave remnant, the very same one that had blown away the little golem in a single hit.

I channeled ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠all of it into the wall I had just created.

My eyes couldn't follow what happened next.

There was only a violent gust of wind... and a vibration that rattled me to my very bones.

I instinctively covered my ears.

A delayed explosion slammed into the world.

Rumble—!!

Even if the heavens themselves split open, they wouldn't make a sound like this.

I rubbed my ringing ears and stood up.

Right in front of the collapsed wall.

The vice captain stood there, completely unscathed.

His durability was enough to make me sigh in sheer disbelief.