The bustling night market in the southern part of the city was illuminated by bright lamplights.

Amidst the dazzling flames, all sorts of people scurried about.

There were ordinary citizens looking for entertainment, patrolling guards maintaining order, warriors and bounty hunters hunting down the killer, and even numerous petty thieves taking advantage of the chaos.

It was noisy and chaotic.

Standing in a street corner, Rosen was at a complete loss when he suddenly heard another roar coming from a nearby alley.

"This way! She's over here!"

It was Xaborei's voice.

Rosen immediately dashed in the direction of the sound.

During this time, he was eating well, sleeping well, and kept busy every day. Although he didn't grow much taller, his body had become much stronger. When running, his speed was considerably faster than an average person.

In addition, his small stature and familiarity with the local streets allowed him to nimbly weave through the chaotic roads like a slippery mud eel, managing to be the first to arrive near Xaborei.

From afar, he saw a squat figure holding a blue battle blade in an open space next to a shop. The sword glimmered with silver light - it was undoubtedly Xaborei.

Before Rosen could call out to greet him, he heard Xaborei roar again.

"Don't even think about running!"

As he spoke, Xaborei charged forward at full speed. Halfway through, the battle blade in his hand flashed brightly and a silvery blade light shot towards the sky.

Following the path of the blade light, Rosen looked up and saw a floating silhouette in the air.

Seeing the impending blade light, the figure's body glimmered silver and a light shield composed of polyhedrons appeared - Rosen recognized it as the intermediate six-star Moon Crest spell 'Lunar Sheltering Shield'!

Almost at the same time, over a dozen silver missiles materialized around the figure.

It was the Extraordinary Missile spell!

The missiles paused briefly before shooting towards Xaborei along smooth yet unpredictable trajectories, like a meteor shower. Their dense buzzing was akin to a swarm of bees and the sound alone made one's scalp tingle.

Rosen's heart quivered fiercely: "A full 16 missiles, is this a rocket launcher?"

Even with various casting techniques, the caster's ability in that instant exceeded 20 lines.

Simply inhuman!

In the next moment, the blade light struck the protective shield, causing it to violently shudder and disintegrate into specks of light, although the blade light itself merely diminished to a third of its original brightness without dispersing.

Seizing this brief delay, the shadowy figure changed direction in midair, narrowly avoiding the blade light by a hair's breadth.

On the other side, however, Xaborei was in serious trouble.

The sheer number of silver missiles far exceeded the limits of ordinary martial techniques.

Left with no choice, Xaborei roared as his entire body emanated a rich silver glow.

Lunar Battle Art: Full Moon Brilliance.

'Pow pow pow pow~'

The missiles bombarded the brilliance one after another, striking it like raindrops on banana leaves, causing the silver glow to ripple violently.

The tremendous impact of the missile explosions forced Xaborei to lower his center of gravity to maintain balance.

When the missiles finally dissipated, the shadowy figure in the sky was nowhere to be seen.

Xaborei was both furious and helpless, venting his frustration with an enraged roar.

"Damned mage, is running and hiding all you can do? If you have the guts, come out and face me fair and square!"

Hidden in the street corner, Rosen had clearly witnessed the scene and recognized the true identity of the figure in the sky.

It was none other than his spellcasting mentor, Anna Serandis.

Three spells - one flight spell, a Lunar Sheltering Shield, and a 16-missile Extraordinary Missile barrage.

Casting three spells in parallel at an inhuman 20-line level of power, holding her own against a high-tier warrior with intermediate might - she was vastly more impressive than Celeste back then.

"I've got to help my mentor escape."

How could he help? Simple.

The greatest threat to his mentor right now was Xaborei. All he needed to do was restrain Xaborei.

Rosen was about to call out to Xaborei when another figure came charging wildly from the front.

This man had blond hair and blue eyes, a handsome visage, fine leather armor, a silvery single-handed sword in his right hand and a heavy steel round shield in his left - it was the bounty hunter Eurek whom Rosen had briefly met before.

With his outstanding appearance, he looked every bit the perfect warrior.

As he charged forth, he yelled loudly.

"Xaborei, I hit her! I hit her! I knocked off her mask!"

He held a black leather mask in his hand.

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Hidden in the shadows, Rosen's heart tightened: "Is my mentor hurt?"

But Xaborei was elated: "You injured her?"

Eurek shook his head: "No injuries, I just caught her off guard and flicked off her mask."

Xaborei was instantly disappointed: "What good is just a mask?"

Eurek smiled smugly: "Hehe, watch me."

As he spoke, Eurek tossed the mask into the air. His longsword swiftly stabbed out, piercing through the mask. As it did so, he shouted loudly:

"Oh soul of the hunting hound, please guide my path forward!"

A faint golden glow ignited along the length of the sword. Plunging into the mask, it instantly reduced the mask to ashes. From within the ashes, a faint white glow arose, trailing a long white band of light that pointed in a certain direction.

Eurek's face lit up in delight: "The soul of the hunting hound has answered my call. Let's follow the white light!"

Xaborei was also overjoyed: "Damn, your spell is so useful! Now let's see where that wench can escape to!"

The two figures, one ahead the other, swiftly gave chase along the blood light's guidance.

After they had gone some distance, Rosen also hurriedly followed from afar, using the cover of building shadows.

If it had just been Xaborei alone, he would have unhesitatingly revealed himself to stop him. But with Eurek's involvement, the situation was now more complicated.

The white light in the sky did not lead the chase quickly, so the two warriors were not sprinting either. Rosen had no trouble keeping up; he even had time to rest in the shadows.

And so, one fleeing, two chasing, and another secretly observing - the four figures left the southern market area, gradually arriving at the banks of the Yellow River in the central city.

By now, the others were far behind, and all the earlier chaos had faded away.

Moonlight cascaded down from the sky, blanketing the ground in a layer of cold white frost.

By the riverside, the three pursuers finally caught up to the shadowy figure.

The figure was standing on a ferry in the middle of the river, which was already more than fifty meters from shore.

For a warrior to chase a powerful mage across a river was almost suicidal!

So even though Xaborei could see his target, he could only stand helplessly on the bank and yell in vain.

But Eurek still had a trick up his sleeve. He smiled slightly: "Don't worry, watch this."

Raising his longsword to the sky, he chanted loudly: "Oh soul of the frost, heed my summons, pave an icy path for me!"

As he recited the incantation, the sword started gathering intense white light, and the surrounding temperature plunged sharply.

In the shadows, Rosen saw this and his heart tightened: "Crap, this guy is going to pave an ice road!"

If it had just been Xaborei alone, even an ice bridge wouldn't have threatened Serandis. But with this mysteriously eccentric Eurek added to the mix, things became uncertain.

"What should I do?"

Two ideas flashed through Rosen's mind.

Either reveal himself to stop Xaborei, or secretly interfere.

In a split second, Rosen chose the latter.

The situation was too complicated, especially with Eurek's unknown background and bizarre magic. Recklessly exposing himself would mean losing the initiative.

On the other side.

After gathering power for about three seconds, Eurek pointed his sword tip at the river surface: "Go!"

'Crackle crackle-'

The concentrated white light fell upon the waters, instantly freezing the surface and forming a 3-meter wide ice bridge that rapidly extended towards Serandis' small boat.

Xaborei laughed heartily: "Haha, well done!"

He stepped forward, about to set foot on the icy surface.

'Whoosh! Boom!'

Amidst the screaming winds, a black dot fell from the sky at tremendous speed, smashing heavily into the wooden planks at the edge of the riverside pier.

The thick boards exploded open with a 20-30 centimeter wide crater, sending wooden fragments flying everywhere. Some even pelted Xaborei, stinging sharply.

'Boom!!!'

At almost the same time, another yellowish-red dot descended soundlessly from above, directly striking the ice bridge and producing a resounding impact that blew open a several-meter wide hole in the icy surface.

The ice bridge across the river was severed in two!

Xaborei jumped in shock: "Golden God above, there's an accomplice too!"

The powerful aerial toss, the silent flight of the extraordinary missile - this accomplice was no ordinary person either!

At the very least, another intermediate mage. Judging by the power of the missiles, the caster's ability likely exceeded 20 lines as well.

Simply inhuman!

Eurek was also slightly surprised, helplessly shaking his head: "Well, no way to give chase now."

Initially, two against one offered good odds. But now, suddenly three against two on the river - that would be extremely dangerous.

On the other side, Serandis on the boat also heard the commotion behind her and glanced back.

Clearly, she too was surprised.

But in doing so, her face was also clearly revealed under the moonlight.

Taking advantage of the moon's illumination, Xaborei immediately recognized the shadowy figure's visage, his own face filling with incredulity.

"Anna! It's actually you!"

He had recognized Serandis' identity.

Rosen's brows instantly furrowed.

"Mentor, if you wanna run then just run! Why'd you have to look back?"

With her identity exposed, this was going to be troublesome.

On the boat, Serandis heard Xaborei's words and a sentence floated across the river in response.

"What the eyes see may not be the truth."

Her voice was gentle and ethereal, like a drifting dandelion in the clear moonlight.

Although transmitted from over fifty meters away, it rang clearly in everyone's ears, including Rosen's.

Crouching in the shadows, Rosen was feeling vexed when he heard those words and his mind stirred slightly.

"The sound transmission spell 'Voice of the Mind' - my mentor noticed me. No, wait, could this message be meant for me?"

On the other side, Xaborei was shocked and furious, not having registered her words at all.

"Anna, I would never have imagined you would become like this!"

"Why have you become so cold-blooded and merciless? Why would you commit such brutal acts?!"

Beside him, Eurek was also surprised: "Xaborei, you know her?"

Xaborei's face was already filled with anguish.

"Yes, I know her."

"She's the most outstanding young mage in Silver Moon City, possessing intermediate-tier supreme power at a young age, along with exceptional spellcasting talent. She was even granted a personal audience with the Lady."

"I thought she was just eccentric in personality but still good at heart. I never imagined...never imagined she would turn out like this!"

His extreme distress transformed into utter rage. Raising his battle blade, he bellowed angrily at the shadowy figure in the river.

"Anna Serandis! No matter where you escape, be it the Golden Lands, the Frost Lands, the Volcanic Highlands, I will hunt you down! I absolutely will hunt you down!"

In the center of the Yellow River, Anna steered the ferry downstream rapidly.

She no longer looked at the pursuers on shore, nor did she respond to Xaborei's fury, as if the two were invisible.

The two warriors stood motionless on the bank for a long time until Serandis' figure disappeared from sight before reluctantly turning back.

Eurek asked: "Are you certain it's her? Doesn't seem like something she would do."

Xaborei had calmed down considerably. He spread his hands with a sigh.

"It's definitely her. When I saw her, she was standing right next to the corpse, holding a bloodstained knife."

Eurek considered this, then said: "Since Anna is your friend, and she has escaped for now, why not just let this go?"

Xaborei firmly shook his head: "No, I can't let this go. I must catch her to get to the bottom of this - why she did this!"

Eurek shrugged: "If you want to know the reason, isn't it simple? Why must you catch her?"

Xaborei paused: "What do you mean?"

"We can search her residence and surely find clues, right?"

"Her residence... Oh no!"

Xaborei seemed to recall something. He suddenly slapped his forehead and took off sprinting back towards the southern market.

Eurek hurriedly gave chase: "Xaborei, what's going on?"

Xaborei's face was anxious: "You remember Rosen right? He's Anna's newly taken disciple, living in her house. Golden God above, I hope my little brother is safe!"

Eurek immediately picked up speed as well: "Xaborei, wait for me! Let's go together for support!"

In the shadows, after seeing the two figures disappear, Rosen fell into contemplation.

"What the eyes see may not be the truth."

These words seemed meaningful.

"After exposing her identity, my mentor specifically left me with this message. What exactly does it mean?"

Although he had been learning from Serandis for almost two weeks, their relationship was still that of familiar strangers.

Rosen still only half-understood his mentor's inner thoughts and deeper personality.

He felt there was something inscrutable about tonight's events, no, about the entire murder case in the southern market.

"Nevermind the meaning for now. Let me first secretly investigate the basic facts when I get back."