Chapter 82
Chapter 82
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 82
Chapter Title: Uninvited Guest (3)
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1.
Swaying black ribbons.
Ribbons brimming with malice as dark as their hue encircled Siwoo in a perfect ring.
It resembled a net snaring a fleeing bird.
As the ribbons sequentially coiled to seal the parlor door, Siwoo reflexively gauged their pattern.
Magic is a precise discipline.
No matter its purpose—even an attack spell designed to carve up a human body—it adheres to rules and laws.
What Siwoo had read was the wave sensed the instant mana was emitted.
The sequential descent from top to bottom meant the ribbons would seal the door from top to bottom.
“Fuck!”
Siwoo dropped low and slid, like a baserunner diving for a base.
Razor-sharp timing.
He watched the ribbon whistle past his forehead and pulled off a dramatic escape.
He scrambled to his feet and glanced back to see a wall of ribbons wrapping the door tight.
A split-second hesitation or delay, and he’d have been caught for sure.
A witch obsessed with magic.
An infamous exile known for showing no blood or tears.
Who knew what fate awaited if she caught him.
Siwoo bolted up the central staircase to his room.
Escaping a witch without using magic was impossible anyway.
And under the bed in Siwoo’s room lay a bottle of premium mana essence and ten bottles of concentrated mana essence from the twins.
Honestly, shaking off that wicked witch with the water dragon lizard step was a long shot, but it had to be better than running barefoot—a slight efficiency boost at least.
The exile would never imagine a mere slave wielding magic.
If he exploited that complacency to activate the Orgel, he might buy enough time to call for help.
“Why tonight of all times...!”
If the exile had come for Amelia, it sure as hell wasn’t for anything good.
Plus, she’d already orchestrated Amelia’s kidnapping once before.
If he’d run into her before Amelia charged out, he could’ve spectated an epic magic battle showdown and clapped from the sidelines.
He had no idea how strong Ea was, but Amelia was no slouch in magic herself.
“I’m fucked... I’m fucked...!”
Panting hard, Siwoo rummaged under the bed.
From afar came slowly approaching footsteps.
As expected, no sign of haste.
She was like a cat toying leisurely with cornered prey, savoring the hunt.
He practically flipped the bed over, grabbing the items inside.
There were too many gifts from the twins to take everything, so he snatched the cloak engraved with the grand magic incantation, the Orgel, and the mana essences first.
Then a gust of wind made the curtains flutter like the hem of a billowing skirt.
Did I leave the window open?
No time for even vague doubts.
“Ta-da!”
“Assistant! I snuck in to see you again today!”
Who else would bounce through the open nighttime window.
Just like last time when they’d dragged Siwoo out in secret, the twins were here for another clandestine rendezvous tonight.
Siwoo felt the world spin.
It was like fleeing an apartment fire only to remember the cat left behind.
Why tonight of all nights?
The twins might’ve just wanted to play with Siwoo carefree, but the timing made this the worst of the worst.
“Odile, Odette—listen up. We’re fucked. It was supposed to be just me, but now it looks like we’re all fucked together. Let’s haul ass.”
“Wh-what? The professor caught us?”
“We even activated the Orgel properly this time...?”
“It’s not that...!”
It would’ve been better if Amelia had caught them.
Exiles killing apprentice witches and claiming their ‘vessels’ wasn’t exactly rare.
At this rate, the innocent twins would get dragged in too.
Siwoo’s reaction left the twins flustered in turn.
It was illegal trespassing—a bit reckless even—but his expression and tone screamed tiger on their heels.
“What’s going on?”
“No time to explain! We gotta escape out the window!”
Even in that brief moment of flailing panic, Ea closed the gap swiftly.
Strands of ribbon still fluttered from her back like wings.
“Need to run away? I just want to chat.... How hurtful.”
She hummed a little tune as she stepped into the room, her pupils narrowing slightly.
Her eyes locked onto the two apprentice witches, who screamed ‘young’ at a glance.
An unexpected jackpot—her lips stretched into a rotten-cheese grin, curving like a crescent moon.
Like stumbling on delicious dessert amid a 1+2 sale, Ea smacked her lips.
“Been living nicely lately? I figured just a taste of one slave, but apprentice witches too?”
Siwoo’s face drained white.
A witch he’d never seen before.
Plus that malice-packed magic writhing on her back.
Killing between witches was strictly forbidden in Gehenna.
Only then did Odile and Odette grasp the gravity.
“No way... the Exile...?”
“Ding ding~”
No context whatsoever.
A single black ribbon coiled once in midair before charging like a twisted greeting.
No time to even track it with the eyes.
Siwoo flung up the cloak in front on pure instinct, sensing the crisis—not from visual identification.
-Boom!
Then an erupting roar.
Beyond the cloak, a defensive array unfolded.
Three layers of intricate spellwork shattered into pieces from a single blow.
The cloak literally in tatters.
Amid the glass-shard remnants of the spellwork scattering everywhere, Ea’s snarling face appeared.
“You trusted that to make it all the way here?”
As if charmed by her cute-mouse-struggle smile, dozens of ribbons hummed and vibrated.
“I’ll hold her off! You and... Kyaa!”
“Hold her off my ass! Run!”
He grabbed the gutsy Odile trying to block Ea and the trembling Odette by their sides, hurling their bodies out the window.
A transcendent power awakened in the desperate moment, making it possible.
The twins, even in the chaos, cast levitation magic for a soft landing on the ground.
“What’re you doing! We can divide roles like last time! I’ll buy time!”
“How the hell do you block a monster like that! Best bet’s running together first!”
Siwoo calmed the spirited Odile, uncorked a mana essence, chugged it, and glanced up at the window.
There stood Ea, not a hint of urgency, gazing down at the three escapees.
“Shin Siwoo, was it?”
A fair distance away, in her soft voice—yet crystal clear, as if whispered right beside him.
She’d likely imbued directionality to her voice, for his ears only.
“Quit the futile resistance and hand over the apprentices. I’ll grant you supreme pleasure. You know escape’s impossible... right?”
And then Siwoo saw it.
Invisible from inside the mansion: a translucent thin membrane enveloping the entire estate.
Bottle-shaped, cradling the whole manor within.
“Sorry, but I’ll think it over while we run.”
Siwoo tucked the twins under his arms again.
Mana coursed through his body.
A male physique couldn’t contain it, depleting at breakneck speed—he wrapped it around his legs.
“Oh my?”
Ea’s eyes went wide at Siwoo casting magic.
No time to hesitate further.
In an instant, he detonated all his mana into a burst for escape—Siwoo’s form vanished from Ea’s sight like the wind.
2.
“Assistant...! Put us down already!”
“We can run on our own!”
Siwoo fled as far from the mansion as possible, ducking into the garden.
He hoped the maze of flower vines towering shoulder-high might divert Ea’s gaze, if only briefly.
A faint hope, barely worth banking on.
Sweat-soaked, he set the twins down.
He stopped here rather than plunging deeper because this spot kissed the boundary of the translucent membrane.
“What is that? The Exile, right?”
“Yeah. It’s like the Latifundium mess with the homunculus. Any way to contact the outside?”
Siwoo asked Odile while snapping off a nearby twig and pressing it to the boundary.
They wouldn’t erect a barrier like this for nothing.
He had to check its effects.
-Sizzle...
The branch melted gooey on contact.
Like metal dipped in potent acid, unidentified liquid dripped from the tip.
What if they’d charged ahead blindly and slammed into this barrier?
Siwoo’s blood ran cold.
“As expected... no easy way out.”
“We’re trapped again?”
The whole scenario mirrored their Latifundium flight from the homunculus.
The difference? A pursuer dwarfing the homunculus in lethality.
“Yeah, so we need to make contact...”
“This far only? And I gave you a 10-second head start.”
Siwoo froze stiff, his neck craning rigidly toward the voice.
Ea strolled casually atop a sturdy brick wall, balanced on slender vines like a stroll on solid ground.
From this angle, her panties were fully visible beneath the wind-fluttering dress.
“Filthy traitor! Know who our master is?”
“I do, all too well. The arrogant spawns of Gemernai, always meddling in my business.”
Her face ice-cold, she descended, stepping on ribbons embroidered like stairs in the air.
Even watching her draw near slowly, neither the twins nor Siwoo could do a thing.
The killing intent poured from her like breath—no words needed.
The sadism in her smiling eyes and utterly nonchalant tone radiated terror too vast to ignore.
“But isn’t that the truth? We witches dubbed ‘Exiles’ excel above all at isolation barrier magic.”
Exile.
Those who harmed fellow witches or slew apprentices earned the label ‘public enemy,’ becoming prey for every witch hunt.
Ea’s notorious cruelty let her roam freely because she wielded barrier magic rivaling the Orgel.
“You’re already inside my bottle. Just pondering how best to savor you. Prey right on my tongue. If you doubt, scream your master’s name at the top of your lungs—see what happens.”
Even bold, energetic Odile gulped and clutched Siwoo’s sleeve the instant that piercing gaze turned her way.
The exile’s words rang no bluff—they knew it already.
A massive barrier like this, yet no witches poked their noses in from nearby.
It wasn’t just an inescapable wall; it was a cradle devouring all internal commotion.
That’s how she pulled off such atrocities smack in the heart of witch-teeming Gehenna.
“Which one’s the older sister, which the younger?”
The out-of-nowhere question made Odile falter.
But she steadied her breath and stepped forward on a quivering voice.
“I-I’m the older one.”
Odile judged coldly.
Ea’s magic prowess wasn’t something wits or tricks could overcome in a pinch.
She’d pulverized a top-tier defense cloak without breaking a sweat.
And dozens of those ribbons remained from the attack.
“Here’s my proposal. You’ve got far more talent than your dimwit sister... If it’s a vessel you need, take mine and let the others go.”
“Sister...! What’re you saying?!”
As long as dialogue was possible and a sacrifice could secure escape, she’d volunteer.
Ea flashed an intrigued smile at Odile’s display, rolling her tongue smoothly.
“Now that’s a good idea. Catching hyper little brats is such a hassle. Ever try catching ants without squishing ’em?”
She nodded agreeably, her smile turning vicious.
“Then how about you hear my proposal?”