A single eye contact was enough for Veles and Davis to tell each other that they both came to the same conclusion…

The basement the butler had led them to was beyond shady. The place was dimly lit by the hundreds of runes engraved into the stone blocks of the walls. Just this in itself wouldn’t be a problem; after all—it could be called a ‘magical cellar’ or something like that. But it was far from something that simple. The gadgets scattered around gave this place a whole other meaning. To be precise, this room could be called the one used for ‘information extracting’…

And the rotten smell… provided firm confirmation.

“I must apologize for the unpleasant sight,” Trician, the butler, said in a somewhat calculative tone. “I’m sure lady already informed you about her estates being attacked. This unfortunate event forced us to perform some unsavory methods to ensure our protection.”

“As far I’m concerned, this shouldn’t be a problem,” replied Veles as he stood in the middle of the room. “Will using a storage ring inside this room cause any disturbance?”

“Not to my knowledge, no,” Replied Trician as he looked and observed his every move curiously.

Not wanting to dwell on the shady business Dalia was entangled with. Veles waved his hand, forcing a small spatial crack to appear. It spat a wooden chest that wasn’t big in size—one could easily say it was convenient size for carrying around. Not stopping on just one, Veles brought out all eighteen that Davis had taken from Koria’s library.

Just as he finished taking them out, both he and Trician had deep frowns on their faces, while Davis, on the other hand, looked clueless.

“It reeks of demons,” said Veles.

“Indeed, it does,” Trician added, “This horrid corrupted mana… It feels the same as I’ve remembered it.”

“You have experience in dealing with demons?” Asked Veles while carefully observing one of the chests.

“The head of Argusa’s Family, the lady’s father, is a renowned demon hunter. For those like us who serve as his descendant’s direct protectors, we must first undergo a number of serious challenges, including culling a good number of demons.”

“Then I must say your presence is very welcomed,” Veles said. “My previous encounters with demons have taught me to be very cautious while dealing with them.”

Without further ado, Veles finished inspecting the first chest and noticed that it had no dangerous spells placed on it. He expected there to be a self-destruct or some other similar mechanism behind this simple-looking chest, but everything he’d seen so far was just a spell responsible for strengthening its overall structure.

Veles’s hand glowed faint silver. To the discerning eye, it would be easy to notice how the space itself around the chest was slightly twisted. This forced the top part of the chest to suddenly burst open, sending thin splinters of wood all around.

To this, Veles didn’t even twitch. His gaze was solely focused on four first-sized crystals neatly placed on top of the supporting cushions. Each and every one of these crystals was colored blood-red; they were transparent, with the visible center containing yet another small crystal, which Veles immediately recognized to be the usual chunk of crystalized mana.

“Spell Jewels,” Trician said as he took one, “Most likely engraved with vile demonic curses.”

There was no need for further explanation. Veles could already guess what their use was. These jewels most likely served as spell carriers—they deny any need for a skilled rune drawing to be able to cast spells as most of the mages do. They allowed a person just to pour mana inside and blast someone with whatever effect they provided.

“I guess they aren’t a common commodity?” Asked Veles while inspecting one.

“That’s right, not everyone can get access to one,” Trician continued, “Crytalized mana in itself is a very controlled material. To get your hands on some, you need to possess various certificates that are hard to acquire.”

Thankfully, Veles hadn’t shown those little blue crystals in his possession. It seems it would have gotten him in serious trouble if he did.

“Then even if I want to sell those, it would be tough to do so,” concluded Veles.

“Every Wizard or Artificer capable of crafting Spell Jewels is a well-known figure. They aren’t easy to make, and considering these are certainly made by someone from the demonic cult, a chance of avoiding trace back is almost nil.” Explained Trician.

He’d figured as much. Still, Veles had to ask something, “You aren’t going to ask from where did I get them from?”

Trician put the jewel back into the chest and casually replied, “My mission is always to know everyone that comes in contact with Lady Dalia. Thus, I gained information about your activities in the town of Koria and the bounty you have in that region. And with that, I made a deduction.”

Veles nodded in understanding, “Everything is on point,” then he pointed at Davis, “But he is the one who stole these chests. What I’ve stolen was just some furniture from the Mayor’s house. Nothing about these jewels can be traced back to me, nor to Davis since I’m sure he didn’t leave any witness behind.”

Trician then quickly glanced at him and then at Davis, “That makes sense. If demons knew something like this was stolen from them, they would surely send a serious force to get it back.”

“Same thought as mine,” said Veles. “That also explains why the bounty on my head isn’t high. They most likely wanted someone to trace me or…”

Using his storage ring once more, Veles brought out a luxurious chair he’d stolen from the Mayor’s office. He could remember like it was yesterday, that shocked look of the slit-eyed masked figure when he stored it inside the ring.

And true to his prediction, just as the chair appeared, Trician frowned deeply.

“There was something truly off with this chair,” said Veles, “I have more things that I’ve taken from that place, but after recreating images in my head, this specific one looked most out of the place. I usually can sense when an item is enchanted or has wards on it. This chair, however, gives me nothing.”

“It’s riddled with wards. Most likely, there is one to hide its functions,” said Trician. His brown eyes slightly glowed and inside his retina, a neat row of runes circled. “Put it back in the ring immediately!”

Heeding his words, Veles touched the chair and after a second of scanning, it blinked silver before getting stored inside his ring.

“I might not be a spellcaster, but I know a formation core artifact when I see one,” Trician commented after heaving a sigh of relief. “You made a good choice by not bringing that thing out without a solid protection. Otherwise, you’d have been swarmed by trackers…”

“I had a nagging feeling that something was wrong,” Veles said, not wanting to dwell on details, “When dealing with demons, it’s always smart to be extra cautious.”

“Couldn’t agree more,” Trician said, “Especially if they have a very skilled Wizard amongst their ranks. That chair is most definitely a higher-tier formation core. Whoever made it isn’t a person who can be taken lightly. Who knows what kind of enchantments and spells have been cast on that thing.”

Luckily, Veles had already gained decent knowledge about various classes, including Wizards. They utilize so-called formations, which could be easily described as a combination of spells and wards. This gave Wizards much more space for maneuvering instead of using simple spells. Formations allow them to influence a wider area or to have a different approach. One of the examples was the flame cyclone used against the beast horde back in Koria.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

To Veles’s understanding, whoever used that flaming cyclone must’ve done it by operating the formation core, which could be practically anything— from just a couple of runes drawn on the ground to the full-fledged artifacts responsible for helping the operator. So, knowing that he’d snatched the most likely important formation core, Veles knew that the trouble would reach him one way or another.

“If I’m in your place, I will keep my head low,” Trician suggested, “I doubt the bounty they’ve placed on your head is that simple. They most likely wanted someone to locate you before finally taking action. It’s strange that nobody has already attacked you.”

“Well, we encountered two men spying on us last night,” Davis suddenly said.

“Those two were Basar’s men—Lady Dalia was aware of your last night’s battle. Basar was never a person who hid his tracks…” Trician said while Veles nodded to this.

“If my guess is correct. Whoever put the bounty on me has bigger problems to deal with than retrieving some random artifact. Most likely, Koria wasn’t the only city with one. Who knows what demons are brewing…” said Veles.

“Could be true,” Trician said.

Suddenly, Davis’s head snapped in a certain direction. His momentum was fast enough to gain the attention of the two.

“There is a strong tremor nearby,” said Davis.

Taking these words seriously, Veles asked, “Can you be more specific?”

“Explosion, probably. I’m not entirely sure; it’s far away,” replied Davis.

Out of nowhere, the door of the basement burst open, revealing a hurried figure of the maid.

“Sir, there is another attack on one of the estates!” Maid yelled, making Trician’s face immediately tenser.

“Those bastards,” Trician cursed. Without even a second to waste, he dashed for the door.

“Let me give you a ride,” said Veles after catching up to him. He touched Trician’s shoulder and added, “Don’t resist.”

At the same time, he gestured for Davis to approach him and did the same. All three faintly glowed silver before disappearing in a flash only to stand in front of Dalia’s mansion.

“Very convenient,” Trician commented as his gaze scanned the surroundings. Noting one of the servants looking at them in wonder, Trician asked, “Give me the details, and tell me where is the lady?”

The servant tensed under Trician’s ordering tone, “Lady has already left. We didn’t get any details, only that the third Labula’s street estate is under attack.”

Veles quickly glanced back, remembering that he’d left behind all the chests with Spell Jewels. Still, it didn’t matter that much. This opportunity could be a great way to gain some favors from Dalia.

“How far is it?” Asked Veles.

Trician was for a second confused, but the next moment, his eyebrows perked, “Around a kilometer and the fifth to the north. Can you get that far?”

“I think I can,” replied Veles, “If it’s just the three of us, I will be fine. Just point in the direction, and we can go.”

Ever since he’d entered the Fourth Stage, the distance he could move increased tremendously.

Pointing his finger, Trician let the Veles do his thing.

Knowing approximately where to go, Veles closed his eyes and concentrated. Performing long-range teleportation takes a toll, not only on mana but on the mind, too. Calculating where to open a wormhole on the spatial grid requires performing a great number of mathematical equations. If Veles, by any chance, made a miniature mistake, it could be fatal.

However, this shouldn’t be a problem. Be it the creation of temporary or permanent wormholes, the construction of warps, and even true teleportation, for Veles, they were as easy as breathing. Of course, unless someone decided to mess everything up…

Just as he was about to move them, Veles felt a palm touching his back. However, it was already too late. They flashed silver, reaching their destination in the blink of an eye. Everyone was assaulted by the mild dizziness, everyone except Veles…

He was experiencing something far worse. His skin shone painfully red as the weak steam escaped from his flesh—he was practically cooked alive.

Extremely annoyed, he looked behind only to see wide-eyed Tora, “If you just said it, I would’ve taken you with us…”

Seeing his state, she immediately understood it was her fault. Frantically grabbing whatever potions she had around her ever-present belt, she kept apologizing, “Shoot! Sorry, sorry! Let me fix you!”

Veles just shook his head and waited. A loud sound of battle kept resounding from behind. In fact, Davis and Trician were already on the move, leaving them behind. Obviously, Veles wasn’t going to engage anyone in this state. Not only did he suffer the usual burn effect when someone moved really fast—he chose to protect Tora instead of himself—but his wrists were still messed up from the previous night’s encounter, so going melee would be out of the question…

“Take this,” Tora loudly said while pushing a vial with a reddish substance in his hand. “It should heal every light injury in a matter of seconds.”

He looked at the potion with interest. The burns could be indeed categorized as a light injury, although he doubts the potion would work on him as intended. Nonetheless, he removed the cap and drained the whole thing.

Immediately, he felt the prickling sensation coursing under his skin. This slightly uncomfortable sensation passed as fast as it came, and to Tora’s clear shock, the burns on his skin did recede, but only a barely noticeable amount.

“What the hell?” Tora blurted out loud, “That’s Tuti’s healing potion! It’s supposed to do wonders!”

“Well, it clearly doesn’t do wonders on me,” said Veles. If anything, he did feel much better, almost battle-ready.

Deciding to move, Veles looked at the estate where the battle was currently raging. They still stood at the edge, but even from here, the flashes of colorful spells and mana turbulence were evident.

From this distance, he saw around two dozen people engaging in fierce exchange. Clearly, whoever was the attacker had a clear numerical advantage. Trician and Davis had already joined the residents of this estate and offered them help. Dalia and whoever was coming with her still took their time. After all, Veles did provide a shortcut here.

Due to his current state, Veles must choose his targets carefully. Butting heads with a Fifth Stage was a big no, not that he could easily deduce someone’s stage in this mess. Mana was so chaotic that everyone’s undulations were going haywire.

Taking out four of his trusty daggers, he levitated them around his body, getting just the feels before taking them into his hands. Levitating small things wouldn’t drain his mana much, another detail he must be careful about. Since he lost almost half of it just moving them here.

“Are you going to fight?” Asked Veles.

“Of course!” Tora nodded with a grin. She had a bunch of tiny vials dancing between her fingers. Her spells were already active. And by what Veles saw when they faced the bandits together, she could take care of herself.

“Just be careful,” that was everything Veles said before he vanished.

Going for the most obvious move. Veles decided to act as an element of surprise and appear behind the person who was further from the fight. The person he chose was oblivious to his presence even after a distinct pop sound of space tear was heard. Most likely, this person was too engrossed in the complex runic patterns he was drawing.

“Hello,” said Veles with a high-pitched tone. Startling the mage in front of him, the hand that was previously dexterously drawing runes stood frozen mid-air. The mage slowly turned around, revealing the face of an older goatkin, almost the same as the one Veles met in Alchemist Guild back in Koria. Tough, this person obviously had distinctively different features.

Making a throwing motion with his hand, one of his daggers flew with impeccable speed, aiming directly at the mage’s head. To Veles’s expectation, the dagger stopped a half meter from its target, stuck inside the yellowish barrier that appeared as it neared the mage.

If the mage was previously surprised, now he appeared terrified as he looked at the half of the dagger sticking inside his protective bubble. But, unfortunately for him, Veles, having faced the Summoner last night, learned his lesson about Mage classes and their barriers. The other three daggers were already on their way.

The next one stuck the protective barrier nick away from the previous place of impact. Followed by the third, which made the whole barrier shatter into pieces. This opened the target for the last one.

Veles didn’t waste his time looking at the goatkin mage with the hole in his head. He already knew he was most certainly dead. His attention switched to the next person who was close by. Strangely, he wasn’t another ranged class. Scanning him up and down, Veles noted just two thin and short sabers at the person’s belt.

Most likely the scout, Veles deduced. This further made sense once Veles got a clear image of his next target’s eyes—they shone ridiculously bright, colored by the chaotic mix of runes that swirled within them.

Expecting a challenge, Veles retrieved all four daggers and defensively rotated them around his body. But seeing this ‘scout’ drawing his blades and the rows of runes shining around his ankle, could only mean one thing…

The scout dashed forward, his speed mind-blowing. His every step was calculated and precise as he swiftly hit all four daggers Veles had sent to intercept him. He was so fast that he reached Veles in a matter of seconds and threw two horizontal slashes his way.

Anticipating something like this. Before those edges could reach him, Veles disappeared in the silver light, shifting his position just three steps to the left.

And he just stood there, pitting his opponent, “They always think I only have four,” said Veles after seeing his opponent with the two daggers stuck in his body. One directly in his heart, the other in his throat.

A lack of information on your opponent could be critical in any kind of situation—Veles knew this very well and always used it to his advantage. The impaled scout should’ve advanced with more caution or even waited for his teammates. Instead, here he was, killed by his own momentum…

Veles did nothing else but shift to the side, leaving only two daggers he always hid inside his sleeves in the attacker’s way. The sheer force of a swing and then hitting the air was enough force to push those two daggers right where they were aimed. On Veles was to provide them a tiny boost in stability with his telekinesis, and that was all it took.

Having his part done, Veles quickly glanced at the backline of the attackers, who were now solely focused on him. This served as his cue to leave, covering his body with his silver mana. He appeared right next to the Davis, who was in a fierce battle with what Veles could discern as a knight…