Balak remained silent without speaking. He also saw the entirety of this world in an instant but was stopped by the wall that separated White Snow Academy from Ernest City.

The sky seemed so vast and the land seemed endless. But no matter what, his senses were stopped from seeing what was outside White Snow Academy.

“He really stopped my senses from seeing any further.” Balak was about to reach out his hand but was stopped by Meryl.

“Don’t do anything reckless. This person named Ivo Graham clearly knows that he has fallen into the magic you used. Maybe this is why he really limited how far his mental world can reflect.”

“But if it’s like this, won’t we be unable to know what’s outside this world? We can’t know what secrets he’s hiding.”

“There’s no need to rush. Everything can be done slowly and there’s a right time for it. There’s no need to do it all at once.”

“But…”

Meryl put her index finger in front of her lips signaling Balak not to speak any further. After seeing Balak not talking anymore, Meryl invited him to take a walk.

“We are in a mental world created in his mind. Even so, everything here seems so real. All this detail and precision, wouldn’t you think it’s amazing… or would you find it all so strange?” Meryl asked. She touched one person nearby.

Strange. These were the words she could think of when looking at all this scenery. If someone were to ask whether everything in this world was real or not, most would think that this was the real world.

Meryl would even say that she was in the real world when she was here. The interactions, the details of each person, and even the small details of each tree here, all seemed so real.

If her father saw this, Meryl was sure that her father would be really interested. He might even leave the boring job of looking after the magic tool shop.

“Hmm, Miss…” Balak reminded her a little. “If it was Mr. Observer, I’m sure he would immediately leave the observatory and kidnap Ivo Graham.”

“Oh, did my thought waves go out again? It seems I was a bit careless.” Meryl giggled a little and readjusted her thoughts. She lifted her hand that was being held by Ivo and could feel the death energy within her body.

Is it correct to call this death energy? In this mental world, nothing is real. Since nothing is real, the manifestation of death energy is impossible.

But the mental world that Ivo created through Balak’s high-level magic, ‘My Inner World’ managed to destroy the concept of energy manifestation in this place. Moreover…

“Can you believe it? I never thought that I would be harmed in the mental world. And this is even more absurd because what harmed me was death energy. Not only that, the barrier he created with his magic blocked my senses even further.”

Meryl looked with her eyes at the darkness that was 300 meters away with her as the center. No matter what, she couldn’t see beyond that. She might be able to see further if she used the Mana within her body, but she held back for fear that Ivo would notice something.

Apparently, it was a waste of time.

Seeing the world still manifesting, Meryl looked at Balak. “Can you use the intermediate magic, Gazing into the Secrets of the Mind?”

“Ms… I thought you didn’t want me to use magic here?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to. But if you were to make the move personally, you would use high level magic right?”

“Of course, ma’am.”

Meryl sighed softly at that answer. “The last time you interrogated a prisoner, you crushed that person’s head and Messed Up. Do you know how hard it is to sort out the mess you make every time you’re left to act on your own?”

“But all my tasks are done, right?”

Balak answered without changing his expression. It was true that all the tasks Balak had done were done, Meryl didn’t try to deny that, but…

“Just follow what I ask. Don’t move without my orders.”

Seeing Meyrl’s serious expression, Balak nodded slowly. “As you wish.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Balak raised his hand and cast the magic that the Observer Princess had requested without saying anything else. A magic circle formed beneath his feet and Balak operated the magic circle with ease. As someone who was in the third awakening stage, casting intermediate magic didn’t even consume a fraction of his mana.

Seeing the magic that was almost finished being cast, Balak asked. “Is just peeking enough? Honestly, if you wanted, I could…”

“What happened?” Balak stopped talking and saw the scenery around him change. The beautifully carved road slowly turned into a barren land without a single grass growing. The wind that blew was no longer a cool breeze but dust scattered in the air.

When he looked around, Balak felt something strange. The magic circle under his feet stopped. He tried to mobilize his mana to operate the magic circle again but the result was nil.

"Balak... what... happened?" Meryl touched her chest and felt an inexplicable pain. Her heart felt like it was being stabbed by thousands of needles and her body fell to the ground.

The cold feeling and the strong drowsiness almost made Meryl fall asleep but was stopped by Balak. The loud shout from the man who had accompanied her woke Meryl up while forcefully shocking Meryl with extreme pain.

"Miss!!! You must not lose consciousness here! Hang in there..." Balak shouted loudly. He let out his voice with the help of magic that shook this entire mental world.

The result was quite good. Meryl immediately came to and her eyes returned to showing a soft light. After that, Balak was finally relieved and stroked his chest with his red hand.

With a weak voice, Meryl pointed to Balak's hand. "Why... are you bleeding?"

Bleeding? What does the lady... mean?

Balak raised his hand and saw the red color covering his entire hand. A mouthful of blood came out of his mouth unconsciously and fell onto Meryl's face who was lying limply in his hand.

What in the world is happening?

What is happening…

Balak really wanted to scream. He stood up while carrying Meryl in his arms while looking at the scenery that had changed drastically.

The trees disappeared from this place. Like an empty landscape without a single life, the world that was previously beautiful and full of happiness, the world that was previously full of life, the world that was previously a normal place no longer existed.

"This… it should be… impossible. This should be a world created through my magic and the mental reflection of this man. This shouldn't be real…"

But why… why am I bleeding? Why do I feel pain in my heart? Why… do I feel this weak and helpless feeling…

"Madam… are you still conscious? Tell me if you are still conscious."

Meryl opened her eyes slowly while holding back the scream in her mouth. Her lips trembled so much that she wanted to scream so loudly. She wanted to scream but held back her voice. In the end, he just nodded.

“Thank goodness. Tell me if you are going to lose consciousness. You… absolutely must not lose consciousness in this mental world. Otherwise… the connection you have with your main body will be severed. And to reconnect it… that would be really risky.”

Balak said with difficulty and realized his body was slowly unable to stand anymore. Mana began to flow from within his body as his eyes slowly lost their color. A raging blue Mana like pillar that pierced the sky was released into this mental world.

He didn’t care anymore whether Ivo Graham’s mind could withstand it or not. All he cared about right now was one thing.

I have to get Miss out of here.

“High level magic…” Balak deployed two magic circles that formed so quickly without even casting a single word.

“Path of The Sword, first sword…”

Force transfer. Seal: Memory.

“Imitation Sword.”

Light flowed from Meryl’s body making her disappear. At that very second, a sword cut Balak’s body and forcibly cut off his connection.

“No… impossible.” Balak vomited blood as he looked at the sword energy that raged in this world. His eyes were filled with blood making him see this world in red.

The connection he had was destroyed without a trace. Not only that, the sword energy raged and destroyed the mental figure he formed bringing endless corrosion of his mind.

His mind was eroded by endless corruption that made him fall to the ground. Balak almost cursed when he realized the sword technique that hit his body.

“This… Forbidden sword skill. You… you dare touch the taboo of martial artists?” Balak shouted but received no reply. What he received was only another slash that destroyed his body. This time, his hand was destroyed without a trace.

His eyes stared in disbelief as his body could not recover. No matter what he did, Balak could not restore his body. He saw in the distance, a person standing with a sword in his hand.

His figure was invisible as if he did not let anyone see him. Thousands of swords floated in his hands surrounding the figure while giving off a strange vibration. Almost as if the swords were rejoicing at the person’s arrival.

“Who… are you?”

The figure turned his head and gave a single glance at Balak who was lying on the ground. After that, he ignored Balak and lost interest. His eyes seemed to see a worthless object. Even so, his voice could still be heard as if giving a pardon to the poor figure.

“You can call me… The Hunt.”

The… Hunt?

The voice shook Balak’s heart which made him fall to the ground. His heart almost shattered under the strange voice that the man had. His eyes trembled violently and almost exploded when he heard the name that was spoken.

Slowly… his body almost lost consciousness. Balak nearly gave up on his life when a very familiar voice entered his ears.

“How interesting.” Followed by the voice, a small clap was heard beside Balak. A fat man with a bulging belly sat cross-legged on a thin cloth that was thinner than a piece of tissue. He wore luxurious red clothes while continuously clapping his hands.

Each clap seemed to improve Balak’s body condition and made him regain his consciousness. The corruption that attacked his mind subsided even though by a tiny margin.

“I didn’t expect what I saw in the young man’s mind to be true. I thought it was just a lie when I peeked a little.”

Ary arrived and the figure finally glanced at him. Unlike Balak who was only glanced at once before he lost interest, The Hunt did not withdraw his gaze.

Amid the dancing swords, Ary finally stood on his clothes. His mouth uttered 4 lines of sentences that he read from Ivo’s memory.

A talentless swordsman on two continents.

A merciless hunter

A name feared by two continents.

People called him… The Hunt.