The wind picked up speed as Zephyr moved to the beach. The rain was gradually intensifying.

Zephyr wrapped his robes tightly around his body and walked to the island through the land bridge.

Meanwhile, the necromancer searched the entire cluster of islands—every nook and cranny—to find him. But he couldn't even sense a sliver of mana from the intruder, much less see him.

Drowsily rubbing his eyes, he sat on the ground.

The energy and excitement he once had when he toyed with Zephyr could not be seen on his face anymore. He looked as if he had aged a decade in a single day.

The anxiety of a hidden enemy attacking him was consuming him alive. He was finally beginning to understand how the people on the receiving end of his torture felt.

However, that doesn't mean he sympathised with them or was willing to change his ways.

No no no…

On the contrary, he wanted to improve his torturous methods to harm more people. By experiencing pain, he was feeling as if he were lenient towards his previous prey.

Gritting his teeth, thinking about Zephyr, he closed his eyes to meditate again.

Last night's search had consumed a large portion of his mana. He had to meditate and hasten the mana gathering while also imbuing the undeads of his with more dark mana.

—

Zephyr stealthily moved across the island and climbed onto the cliff once again. This time, without the fog covering the land, he could clearly see the distant islands. The whirlpool and the blackstone pillars in the middle of the island cluster; the temple rising from beneath the ocean was all reflected in his eyes.

"It's surfacing faster."

The blackstone pillars around the whirlpool were climbing up faster and faster as time went by. Any day now, the temple would fully surface.

"The necromancer would try to open the door by sacrificing villagers then. No, he might hasten the process by sacrificing a few villagers early."

"From what I have seen from Gale's memory, the life essence of people is more potent when opening the temple. The reason why the necromancer didn't try to use people as sacrifices for the past thirty years was to hide the presence of the temple."

"Now, the cat's out of the bag and he has no reason to hide anymore."

"Hm…the only mistake he made in the last thirty years is letting me live. If he had sent Gale to kill me at the beginning, I would have died, and all of this wouldn't have happened."

"It was a huge mistake…"

Zephyr sat on the cliff edge observing everything that was happening.

Far away, on the northern island, he could see the area where the necromancer was living. There was something like a cave and some small buildings on the island.

He could barely see humanoid creatures moving about near it.

These were most likely undead. Zephyr counted their numbers without saying anything.

'126.' He said when he counted the last remaining undead.

'They must not be villagers since their movements are robotic. I presume the villagers are stored inside the cave there.'

'So, should I do it?'

He looked at the undeads roaming about. A sudden itch to obliterate a few with the railgun came over him. With the storm intensifying, the thunderclouds above would do the trick if he could send his enhanced mana bolt at them.

'No.'

Quickly, he shook his head and stopped himself from casting the spell.

'What if I injure the villagers?'

While it was true that Zephyr had no thought of saving them, he also had no thought of harming them. Throwing a lightning-inducing spell into their midst would go against his principles.

Claiming himself, Zephyr stood up and decided to hunt the undeads in his usual way. It was not yet the time to use the large-scale destructive spell.

'I should improve my core count when I have some free time, too.' He thought before leaving the cliff edge.

—

Two days ago, the destruction of the lighthouse on the west coast sent alarm bells throughout the kingdom. The higher-ups of the Royal Academy and the Storm Tower immediately gathered together to create an action plan.

The lighthouses were strategic magical devices created to sense and respond to demonic invasion. The western ocean separated the demon continent from the kingdom, and there hadn't been a demon invasion in over a century. And yet, the destruction of the lighthouse sent everyone into panic.

The King, the Dukes of the kingdom, the head of the Royal Academy, and the masters of Storm Tower all came together to discuss how they should respond.

Although they have yet to receive any information from the messengers they sent out, they still decided it was important enough to prepare for war.

"What does the Royal Academy and the Storm Tower have to say about the situation?" King Solomon the third was the first to speak.

His majestic voice, representing the kingdom, travelled through the great hall. The participating members turned to look at him when he spoke.

"The lighthouses come under the authority of the Storm Tower. They are the ones who build and maintain them, your majesty. They must know why the tower was abruptly destroyed." The Royal Academy head, Master Corvinus, caressed his long white beard and said.

Hearing him, the Storm Tower's masters frowned. The old man was once again trying to push the issue onto them.

"From what I have heard, they sent a capable mage to guard and maintain the lighthouse." Corvinus paused slightly. "Does anyone else here know his name?" He asked.

His question made the already scowling Storm Tower Masters, all five of them, avert their eyes. Of course, they knew who Corvinus was talking about.

These days, they were trying to forget the name. And yet, once again, it resurfaced in an unexpected way.

While the Masters of the Storm Tower sat there avoiding the question, a man sitting a few seats down from Corvinus raised his hand.

"Yes, Master Laurence."

Corvinus turned to him.

Master Laurence was thrilled to gain the attention of Corvinus, the head of the Royal Academy, his boss. Fixing his posture, he began to speak.

"From my preliminary investigation, the one that was sent to the tower in question is Zephyr Venturi. He was the one whom the Storm Tower considered a once-in-a-century genius." Proud of his answer, he raised his neck like a swan.

Corvinus looked at Laurence with appreciation, but a bunch of hateful eyes glared at him from the other side.

The last word, once-in-a-century genius, seemed to have struck the Master of the Storm Tower where it hurts.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.