“Madam.”

With the sound of a knock, Lena’s voice echoed. Blair closed the book she was reading.

“Come in.”

As if carrying a heavy mission, Lena entered the study with a determined expression. Approaching Blair, she handed over a letter with a serious look.

“It’s a letter from the guild.”

It was the news they had been waiting for.

Blair placed the book she was holding back in its place and unfolded the letter.

To prevent any unintended readers from seeing it, the letter omitted information about the sender and receiver, only briefly stating the contents.

As Blair read through the letter, her pupils began to tremble without focus.

“It’s here!”

The knight’s voice echoed in the silent winter forest. At the same time, from afar, the ground cracked, and something approached.

There was something enormous underground.

In front of the path where it rushed, Herdin stood.

Herdin, watching the approaching entity with a cold gaze, planted his sword into the ground.

A magical circle of blue light unfolded around the sword. The direction of the cryomancy spellcasting was not towards the ground but beneath it.
Under the magic circle, sharp ice dug into the ground and stabbed the approaching entity hidden beneath the surface. Suddenly, a colossal centipede-like monster emerged from the ground.

“Now!”

The knights, hiding in the forest, heard the commander’s orders and simultaneously shot crossbows.

Arrows with thin and sturdy iron wire attached to them, dozens in number, pierced the monster’s body.

Despite the monster twisting its massive body to shake off some knights and hide underground, fending off all the arrows proved to be overwhelming.

The knights gritted their teeth to withstand the monster’s strength.

“Growl!”

One of them couldn’t endure the monster’s power and was thrown out. The monster’s mouth, wide open, was ready to swallow the frightened knight.

In an instant, Herdin, who approached unnoticed, caught the knight first and threw him towards the forest. Then, quickly creating the next magic circle, he stepped on it and moved. In the blink of an eye, he reached the monster’s head and swiftly severed the centipede’s head. His movements were flawless.

The bifurcated monster writhed, and both the head and the body began regenerating.

At that moment, a light-formed sword appeared in the air. The sword made of light pierced the monster’s body like a javelin.

The knights, who had already witnessed his countless battles, marveled at Herdin’s combat skills once again as they watched.
Due to the intense concentration required for magic, it is difficult to use while moving. For the same reason, it is also impossible to cast more than one spell at a time.

However, Herdin, lacking no continuous movement even while using magic, managed to cast spells in succession.

Seeing that sight, anyone could not help but acknowledge that there was truly a power surpassing that of a human.

Herdin landed lightly and thrust his sword into the fallen monster’s head on the ground. As the monster’s heart, which was pierced at its center, shattered, both the movements of its body and head came to a halt.

The knights who witnessed it breathed a sigh of relief. It was the end of the battle.

Herdin pulled out the sword and looked down at his palm. He could feel the mana inside his body moving.

‘No issues since the New Year’s Ceremony.’

After a problem with mana manipulation occurred during the New Year’s Ceremony, he regularly checked his condition, but there were no significant issues.

Even after searching through magic books, he couldn’t find a case where mana temporarily evaporated and returned.

He couldn’t disclose the unstable state to others. His weaknesses would soon become Delmark’s weaknesses, so he had to carefully monitor his condition.

‘There are too many bothersome things these days.’

Both the abnormal state of mana and the illusions seen with open eyes.

“Your Excellency.”

A servant who approached Herdin lost in thought handed him a towel.

Herdin wiped off the monster’s ichor from his body.
Meanwhile, the servants began to handle the corpse of the monster.

Capturing a monster involves tremendous risks, but since the carcass can bring in money, arrogant monster hunters ventured into their territory for profit.

There were occasional incidents where monsters were brought all the way to the village, like today.

“That monster, well, we had it mostly captured. We dealt a blow, so it’s done at this point.”

Herdin, who had just been pleading for mercy until a moment ago, looked at those who now stepped forward claiming their share with disdainful eyes.

‘Taking responsibility and becoming the prey for the monster.’

But there was no need for him to intervene. The knight commander, who had a grudge against the northern monster hunters, would handle it on his own.

After handing the towel back to the servant, Herdin watched the servants silently dealing with the monster’s corpse.