A Stern Warning (2)
"Wh-who the hell are you!?" Lucian shouted toward the silhouette lurking in the darkness.
"What kind of question is that? You're the one who called me out here."
The moment he heard the reply, Lucian knew exactly who it was without needing to see the face.
Kael. The bastard who'd been with Ophelia—the one he'd summoned.
'No way. There's no chance that lower-class trash can use magic like this.'
Lucian wasn't a mage himself, but he wasn't ignorant about magic. He had the knowledge, and he'd watched upper-class students cast spells and professors demonstrate their techniques countless times. Yet none of them had ever shown anything on this scale—magic that could completely annihilate everything in its path. Even if it wasn't conventional magic but something else entirely, the result was the same. Not even Ophelia's enchantment-infused arrows, cast by the top entrance student, could compare to the destructive force of what he'd just witnessed.
'This is wrong. There has to be some kind of trick. No way a mere E-rank from the lower class could pull this off.'
Once the thought took root, it started to feel entirely plausible. The white light must have been an illusion. Maybe the bastard had planted bombs ahead of time. The sheer power Kael had displayed was so unbelievable that it invited exactly this kind of suspicion.
"How dare you speak that way to Lord Lucian!"
At that moment, unlike the others still sprawled on the ground, Glover had picked himself up and shouted. He then looked at Lucian with an expression that practically screamed Did I do well?
Under normal circumstances, Lucian might have felt satisfied by such loyalty. But right now, it only irritated him. He suddenly worried that Glover might have provoked the opponent unnecessarily. Even while telling himself it was all a trick, he couldn't understand why he felt so uneasy. His mind was a complete mess.
"Go and grab him."
Regardless, Lucian gave the order to Glover—the only other person who still looked somewhat composed.
"Huh? But that guy... he doesn't seem normal at all."
Glover was practically asking if someone like him—not even Lord Lucian—could possibly stand a chance against that monster. Lucian snapped at the pathetic, hesitant fool.
"You idiot. That guy is nothing but an E-rank in magic power. What you saw was just a trick."
Once he said it out loud to Glover, the idea that it had to be a trick grew stronger in his mind. Yes. It had to be. There was no way a pathetic worm like that could wield real magic of that caliber.
"He's a mage. Just rush him before he finishes his incantation and it's over."
Lucian spoke as if the situation were still completely under his control.
"But..."
Even so, Glover glanced back at the scorched remains of the explosion and shrank away.
'Useless.'
Lucian clicked his tongue. Well, it couldn't be helped. Showing bold leadership in a moment like this would serve as a good example for his underlings. Though he didn't particularly want to, he decided to handle it himself. He was confident he could bring an E-rank bottom-feeder mage to his knees with his bare fists alone.
He clenched his fist and took a step forward.
"Don't move."
But that was as far as Lucian got. Kael's voice cut through the air immediately after.
White light was blooming once again from the spot where the dark silhouette had stood. It was smaller than the previous orb, but after witnessing its power, both Lucian and Glover had no choice but to tense up again.
What shocked them even more was Kael's revealed appearance in the glow. He held the staff emitting the small light in one hand while his other hand was casually shoved into the inner pocket of his robe, standing there with a crooked, relaxed posture.
'This guy... Is he saying magic of that level was nothing to him? Just who the hell is he?'
"You know what'll happen if you move, right? The second one won't miss."
At Kael's next words, both Glover and Lucian froze. Lucian couldn't believe his own reaction. It had to be a trick. The guy was probably exactly what an E-rank should be—nothing special. And yet Lucian's feet remained glued to the ground, refusing to take another step.
What if it wasn't a trick? What if that magic was real?
That doubt alone was enough to keep Lucian from moving an inch.
Meanwhile, Kael was thinking:
'Please don't come any closer.'
He'd just burned through nearly half of his remaining mana to fire off that stacked Magic Missile. Thanks to the mana potion he'd drunk beforehand, he'd recovered enough to load one more shot, but that was it. If it turned into close combat now, things would get extremely annoying.
To them, he probably looked like he was standing there with casual confidence, one hand in his pocket. In reality, he was just putting on a front—fingering the emergency rapid-charge potion he always carried as a last resort. It was an expensive item, and he really didn't want to waste it here. Fortunately, the bluff seemed to be working. Lucian hadn't moved a muscle.
"Now then, shall we hear why you called me out here?"
Lucian couldn't answer right away. The reason was obvious, of course. He'd wanted to make this annoying bastard kneel before him. But in the current situation, he couldn't possibly say that outright. As much as he hated to admit it, he was terrified at the thought of that white light growing larger and flying toward him again.
"You went through all the trouble of calling me out here and you have nothing to say?"
Kael pressed him again.
"Lord Lucian..."
Glover was staring at him. Not just Glover—the others still sprawled on the ground were all looking at Lucian as well. Their eyes were full of expectation, waiting for him to say something cool, to turn the situation around with style.
But Lucian couldn't utter a single word. The urge to make that detestable bastard kneel before him burned like fire in his chest. Yet in reality, even forming words felt impossible. The image of that explosion kept flickering before his eyes.
"I'd really appreciate it if you stopped bothering me from now on."
While Lucian hesitated, Kael continued speaking in that relaxed tone. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly through the darkness. Standing there with that soft glow before him, he looked downright imposing. The warning not to touch him again was unmistakably delivered to every member of Lucian's crew.
"If you've got nothing to say, I'm leaving."
With those words, Kael turned around. The light vanished, and his figure melted into the darkness.
Lucian felt a wave of shock at the relief that washed over him.
'To think I got scared of a guy like that...'
Tap.
At that moment, Kael tapped his staff against the ground and glanced back. Everyone flinched at the sound, staring tensely into the darkness once more.
"You know that Warren is my friend, right?"
Leaving those final words behind, Kael turned and walked away without a care.
"Hahk..."
Only after Kael had completely disappeared did Lucian's knees finally give out. The tension drained from his body as he collapsed forward. He flopped down right there on the spot, and everyone—including Glover—watched it happen.
Belated rage surged up inside him. To show such a pathetic sight in front of his underlings... There was no greater humiliation. Lucian clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white and ground his teeth together.
'With this much of a show, they shouldn't come charging at me recklessly anymore.'
Thanks to how thoroughly terrified they'd been, I managed to end things without having to fight up close. Leaving the guys who'd been knocked out cold by my mythic-grade staff behind, I hurried away to put some distance between us.
Now that I'd been marked, I knew Lucian's rotten personality would require me to press him down hard like this at least once. I didn't want to get surrounded and beaten to a pulp, so I'd shown them my Dae-po-dong Missile. Still, they probably had no idea what kind of magic it actually was. And since Lucian had his pride, he wouldn't be able to tell anyone about what happened today. I'd also made a point about Warren, so hopefully he wouldn't touch him for the time being.
'That said...'
Lucian was the type to back down against people he saw as superior, but he relentlessly tormented anyone he viewed as beneath him. Things might stay quiet for a while, but I doubted this single incident would make him tuck his tail completely. Especially when it came to Warren.
I couldn't protect Warren twenty-four hours a day, nor did I have any reason to. Even if they were too scared of me to attack directly, there was a good chance they'd bide their time and take out even worse frustration on Warren later because of what happened today.
'Then everything I did would have been pointless.'
If Warren ended up suffering even more because I was just trying to save my own skin, that would definitely leave a bad taste in my mouth.
But.
What if Warren could defeat Lucian on his own?
The reason Warren had seemed so intimidated and weak at the beginning appeared to stem entirely from his problems with Lucian's gang. If he could overcome that, he might grow strong enough to be useful when the real villains started causing trouble later.
The problem was that Warren was a magic swordsman, and I didn't know the first thing about swordsmanship. Still, a good idea suddenly came to mind.