Looking through the window, Veles finally noticed how small this town of Koria was. He could clearly see the whole layout of the surrounding walls and even observe hasty masses seeking safe places or straight up pushing their way through the eastern gate with full intention to escape the current chaos.

To the west. A small cloud of flying beasts clashed against the colorful spells hurled their way. Mages and other spellcasting classes threw everything they had in their arsenal to stop the beast from advancing beyond the wall. And even if beasts did come close to succeeding, various archer-type classes would skillfully shoot them down.

His current eyes couldn’t see it clearly. But it was obvious many more mercenaries and local soldiers were most likely below the wall, fighting tooth and nail against the inexhaustible horde of fierce beasts. But even without seeing the details, he could guess their morale wasn’t very high. And it had everything to do with the monster observing this clash with pure, relaxed endeavor.

It was a Seventh Stage beast with a strange resemblance to a dinosaur. The creature stood on four of its strong legs—easily capable of toppling Koria’s wall that reached two stories tall. Even Veles had no idea what actual species this beast belonged to. It was just a reptilian that had a long neck and thin face. However, the detail he noticed—even from this distance—was that the beast was wood-attributed. An easily perceived detail when one observed the wood-like surface of its skin and the number of greenish bushes and branches that grew from its body.

What Veles was sure about this beast was that it could level this whole town to the ground all on its own. Beasts in general, were forces of nature. For example, current him was confident to face any human or beastfolk that reached the Fourth Stage or even the Fifth. Sneak attacks and moments of carelessness could make the best lose their life rather quickly.

However, fighting beasts was entirely different. They tend to rely on their survival instincts that outweigh years of human experience. As for their natural strength, strong bodies, and various magical properties, it was just icing on the top.

Because of all this, his current self wasn’t confident in engaging against a Fourth Stage beast alone. Even with Davis’s help, he would have to carefully plan all the pros and cons before facing it.

So, seeing a Seventh Stage one that was probably a step away from experiencing another power spike. Veles knew that every veteran soldier and mercenary out there wasn’t very enthusiastic about the outcome of this fight.

Not that he cared much for the outcome. He did spend a couple of days inside this town and it was enough for him to be indifferent to any spark of life living inside this place. It wasn’t because of all the manipulation he felt was happening behind the scenes but because he finally understood what was going on.

It made it clear that this town wouldn’t last long anyway.

The current room he was in gave all the details he needed to understand an outline of what was happening. This room was on the most elevated point of Koria, and as expected, it was stationed in a manor occupied by the current Mayor. Or rather, it was his office that had an overview of the whole town.

Because Veles wasn’t an ordinary person—how he saw the world was vastly different from humans or other intelligent humanoids. Just like he could sense the use of spatial spells from kilometers away, he could also distinguish auras of different species. He almost forgot about this particularity of his if he wasn’t troubled by the weird and nostalgic feeling he’d experienced the moment he stepped inside this town.

At first, he was skeptical. He was sure that maybe he’d made a mistake or misinterpreted what he felt. But just sitting in this room helped him jog his memory about what kind of aura he sensed. And the result… well, he was pleasantly surprised to find out not only one but two specific auras that belong to the species he hated to deal with.

The first belonged to the lizards that call themselves dragons, those arrogant lowlifes blinded by their pride and unbelievable egos.

And the second one belonged to the corrupted demons. Carriers of every possible sin, whose mere presence was a disease to any living being. This was also the one that excluded its presence from within this room, meaning that this demonic aura came directly from something in this room, not a living person.

He could tell the one responsible for the demonic aura was some kind of object. It was something he couldn’t entirely understand. Maybe an artifact or even an unknown ritual was responsible for releasing this demonic presence. It was hard to fully discern.

Veles looked at the mess he’d made. What was once supposed to be a luxurious mayor’s office was now nothing more than a demolished room.

Yet. Something still didn’t feel right…

He turned every piece of furniture upside down, checked walls for hidden rooms, and even cracked the safe in the back. He’d already stored all the important papers and other valuables inside his storage ring and was debating if he should take literally everything.

Pacing around the room one more time, he sat down in the mayor’s chair. In front of him was a desk with every single drawer pulled outside and broken. He made sure there were no secret parts inside the wood or even any other possible artifact for hiding stuff.

What he understood from causing this mess was that the mayor currently residing here was recently appointed. He didn’t even spend a whole year inside this mansion. And by the looks of it, most of the furniture was left by the previous owner.

The mansion was also empty. It wasn’t big enough to begin with. There was just one maid and butler, who Veles promptly took care of. There were no soldiers guarding inside the mansion. They probably believed in the alarm ward, which connected to the garrison. Too bad for them. It was poorly made, not even a chore to completely destroy.

There wasn’t any nook and cranny Veles hadn’t already checked. This room was just… he couldn’t explain it, but something was definitely here that he’d missed.

Leaning back into the comfy chair, he put his palms on the armrest. His gaze scanned the whole room yet again, finding nothing.

“Screw it,” he said and stood up.

Pondering what to do would be a waste of time. He went with the previous idea and started storing everything inside his storage ring. Be it a piece of furniture or a wall ornament, everything would be taken.

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Just as he was about to reach the desk again, a loud explosion from the outside gained his attention. It didn’t come from the western wall where the battle took place. Instead, a billow of smoke rose from the middle of town…

“Infighting?” Veles mumbled.

“Yes, rebellious scum finally decided to take action,” a person replied.

Not surprised by this. Veles sighed and faced the door. “Are you done hiding?”

“Interesting,” A voice came from where Veles was looking at. It sounded unnatural, not giving any clues of a person’s identity. Out of thin air, a figure draped in full black appeared, leaving nothing more than a pair of yellow-slitted eyes looking at him.

“You aren’t with them. But you are a rat nonetheless,” The figure said, casually strolling around the messy room. “But you are lucky. I would’ve removed you long ago if His Royal Highness didn’t appreciate your talents.”

Well, that was one interesting detail.

“Oh, looks like whoever this ‘Royal Highness’ is a very intelligent person.” Veles sarcastically replied, his hand placed on top of the luxurious chair.

Letting out an unamused snort, a person replied. “You should watch your tone. No matter how mysterious your background and powers are. You are nothing more than an insignificant ant before His Royal Highness.”

Veles openly rolled his eyes. The fanatical tone of this person was rather worrying. Most likely reflecting their master’s arrogance. And what was wrong with all those assassin-looking people going after him?

Without any care, Veles clutched the chair, coating it with mana before storing it inside the ring. The small display of shock inside those slitted eyes didn’t escape his senses. But the next moment, his assailant went to a previous disinterested look.

“You think you have a chance to leave?” Yet again, the figure arrogantly snorted. “At first, I was ordered to give you a generous offer to serve under His Royal Highness. But now I see you are the same as everyone coming from the south. Stupidly blind about how the world works…”

“Listen,” Veles interrupted and decided to be blunt about it. “I don’t care what game some spoiled brat sitting in his own castle plays. I am not going to be part of it.”

“It is funny how arrogant you are. This isn’t my first time facing Spatial Masters. Even if you are also a Sorcerer, you cannot escape. After all, you are just Third Stage,” With spite in its voice, the figure added. “And we already dealt with a few of you coming from Situs. We know your resources are limited. So, give up. Just follow me and accept the generosity you were offered. This is the best chance you would ever get.”

Boringly looking at this delusional person, Veles swore inwardly that if he heard the word ‘His Royal Highness’ again, he would become generally annoyed and do something stupid.

Fortunately, he got enough information. There was no way he could fight this person. His mental attacks wouldn’t work and nothing in his ring could provide him any advantage. And before things escalated further, the smartest thing would be to leave.

“Thank you for your hospitality,” Veles said with a smile. His whole body faintly shone silver before vanishing.

His dash ability might be an instantaneous way of transportation that disregarded any obstacles. The range tough, was very limited.

He appeared behind the servant’s building next to the manor. His body was shrouded in the blackish fog. Unfortunately, there was no doubt in his mind that escaping would be hard.

He dashed to leave the estate and go to the middle of the city, where he would mix with the chaos. However, not even a couple of steps, a beam of pure red zoomed past him, missing him by the hair and hitting the ground nearby.

The devastation by this beam sent all the debris his way that riddled his body with heavy punches. He stumbled to the side, but without missing a beat, he ignored the pain, stabilized his legs, and started running again.

“That is impressive. It disrupts even my perception.”

Veles heard the voice not far away from him. Of course, this person was much faster than him. He gritted his teeth and patiently waited as he ran…

The next attack came. He dashed yet again. Appearing not far away and in the middle of the road outside the state. He had enough mana left to perform two or three dashes again. Two should probably be enough to survive before he reached the more populated space, where he doubted the person following him could carelessly attack.

Unexpectedly, just as he took the turn into the next street, he came face to face with that person who was supposed to be behind him…

“Your range is what, fifteen meters?” Asked the figure. “You do know I can cross that in two steps?”

Veles grimaced. He could easily escape this situation with the next dash—he already knew this person couldn’t easily reach the destination he had in mind—but he wasn’t very pleased with where it would lead him...

“Huh?” The person in front of him suddenly looked up. Making him follow their gaze.

What both watched was a tiny vial containing a green substance falling down between them. Having no chance to react, a hand grabbed Veles from behind and pulled him backward. Just as he was a distance away, a vial exploded, spreading foul greenish fog that covered his assailant whole.

“Take thissss as repayment for helping my cat,” A thin tongue flickered next to him after uttering those words. The Witch Ditta smiled at him and placed something inside his pocket.

“Once you read this, I hope you can convince your friendssss to leave usss alone,” she added before tossing him away effortlessly. Her hands then blurted as they formed row after row of purple runes. The top of her witch hat swayed with every movement she made.

“I can’t guarantee that,” Veles replied after regaining his balance. He ignored everything else and dashed away from this fight. His mind worked overlock as he pondered on the words the snake woman had said.

And it instantly clicked. It looked like she’d figured out where he and Davis came from. More importantly, she knew about this beast attack…

Nothing he could do about it. He kept his pace towards the east of the town. He avoided the main roads and focused on small alleys. The infights between what he discerned as mercenaries and local soldiers brought great distrust between everyone. Keeping his head lowered and avoiding any contact was the best option if he wanted to avoid any stray arrow going his way.

Two minutes of constant running. He sensed his destination. The small bond he had with Vera—his little owl familiar—served as his path. And finally, he met with Davis and the bird.

“You look like shit,” said Davis. His gaze scanned Veles’s attire, which was covered in all kinds of debris.

“Trust me, I was almost covered in it,” Veles replied. His previous idea was to escape by using his dash and entering underground sewers. Those fighting the beasts on the western wall had forgotten about an important detail. There weren’t just ground and flying beasts. The ones that dig underground existed too, he could’ve used that to escape…

“We are getting out of here as fast as we can. This place will soon become entirely messed up,” urged Veles. His left hand clutching the side of his ribs, the impact of debris from that first attack did a number on him, and well they hadn’t healed yet from his spars with Olivia and Davis.

“Okay, but how are we going to leave?” asked Davis as they started lightly running.

“You will see,” said Veles.

After they reached the nearest eastern wall, far enough from the gate, Veles placed his hand on Davis’s nape and covered him in a silver mana. The next moment, both reappeared on the other side.

Experiencing the first minor way of teleportation. Davis fell on his knees while holding his mouth with both hands. He gave his all not to vomit, and Veles gave him a couple of seconds to gather himself.

As he waited, Veles scanned the wall and noticed there weren’t any guards on it. They were likely all focused on the battle or fought on the streets. His gaze then focused on the owl that flew towards him and settled on his shoulder like it was her rightful place.

“Sorry, but I got another errand for you,” Veles said, matching his eye with the owl. “Go and inform the Squirrel that our deal is done. My last request has been fulfilled, and he can either retreat or continue this campaign. Also, inform him that all their debts are officially settled. The Forest of the Forgotten owes me nothing.”

Vera shot him an annoyed look with her beady cyan eyes before flying away.

“Good to go?” Veles addressed still kneeling Davis.

“Ugh,” he groaned while trying to reply. “Just a moment…”

Davis hardly stood up and walked forward, his face deadly pale, and honestly, Veles wasn’t sure if he was any better.