Gariel moved within the stopped flow of time.
When he entered the Mage Tower, he saw mages inside who had yet to grasp what was happening.
They were frozen with expressions that said, “What is going on?” in the face of the sudden shock and deafening roar.
Gariel moved carefully, avoiding collision with those mages.
In this stopped time, he had no need to hurry.
If Ludger had proceeded with the operation according to plan, his own task here would be simple.
‘Still, climbing all these stairs is rough.’
Because time had stopped, the elevators weren’t moving either.
Even though he was walking slowly, climbing the tall stairs of the Mage Tower demanded no small amount of stamina.
He tried to steady his breathing, but his panting only grew heavier.
“Phew. Huff. If I knew this would happen, I should’ve worked out.”
Even as he said that, he knew it was the kind of resolve he would never actually follow through on, even with time to spare.
At last, Gariel reached the target floor and looked around.
He had the map memorized completely, so he knew precisely where the storage room was located.
“Here.”
Even without the map, it was easy to tell.
A massive tunnel had been blasted through the entire floor.
To think he really broke through the New Mage Tower’s defense system and made a path.
Everything along Ludger’s magical trajectory had been blown away.
It was fortunate no one lived in this area; otherwise, there would have been significant casualties.
Even though the job was to rob the Tower, killing innocent workers in the process would have left a sour taste.
Perhaps aware of that, Ludger had aimed only at exact pinpoints.
“He really did drill a perfect hole through.”
The place Ludger’s magic had passed was sliced cleanly, as though carved away by something.
And along that path lay rooms storing the Tower’s important materials and items.
Gariel headed toward the innermost storage chamber.
This place, filled with the New Mage Tower’s vast collection of items, also held prototypes of future magical artifacts set to be released.
Once inside, an overwhelming array of goods unfolded before him.
Gariel swallowed hard at the sight.
‘How much is all this worth?’
He could grab just one of these and make a fortune selling it.
Without self-control, he might have lost his mind and tried to take everything.
Shaking his head, Gariel reminded himself of his purpose.
‘Get it together, Gariel. What matters now isn’t money—it’s finding the ingredients to heal Rine.’
Calling it “medicine” was generous—it was more of a cursed reagent, but that didn’t matter.
Recalling the intel he had received beforehand, Gariel began searching the warehouse.
“Take this... and this too.”
Rare herbs, remains of ancient beasts, essence of ice from eternal snow mountains, fragments created by spirits.
“Well, a few extras should be fine.”
Gariel also strapped on a few small artifacts that were easy to carry.
Normally, taking anything would trigger the theft alarm, but that only applied when time was flowing.
In this frozen moment, no matter how many objects he carried, no alarm could sound.
Gariel packed everything he needed.
The weight was considerable, but still manageable for one person to carry.
Grunting, he descended the stairs and finally exited the Mage Tower, arriving in a deserted alley.
Far enough away that no gaze from the Tower could reach him.
“Time Stop. Release.”
Tick. Tick.
The clock’s second hand above Gariel’s head began to move again, making its sound.
Time resumed.
Kwoooom!
A massive explosion echoed from afar. People on the nearby streets turned toward the New Mage Tower in alarm.
Moments later, a shrill alarm blared from the Tower, sending crowds into panic.
‘That guy... will he make it out safely?’
A sudden worry for Ludger crossed Gariel’s mind.
Ludger had volunteered for the most dangerous part of this operation. To pull something like this against the Mage Tower—ten lives wouldn’t be enough.
“No. What am I doing worrying about him? He’ll manage to come back alive somehow.”
Gariel decided to focus on his own task first.
The priority was to get the items he ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) gathered back to the secret hideout.
Sssk.
So absorbed in thoughts of treating Rine, Gariel failed to sense the malicious presence sneaking up behind him.
Just before the ambusher’s strike could reach him, one of the stolen Mage Tower artifacts wrapped around his body emitted light.
Slash!
“Khk?!”
Gariel’s eyes widened as a searing pain spread through his left arm.
The attacker was one of Nicolai’s special experimental subjects, clad in a black coat and fedora.
‘What the—how?!’
How did they find his location? No, more importantly, how had they caught up this quickly?
‘Wait. That bastard did say it—he’s taken control of most of the city’s surveillance systems.’
Even so, he had carefully chosen routes with minimal monitoring. And still, they found him?
‘They’d been targeting me from the start, with troops already stationed nearby.’
Gariel glanced down at the bracelet on his left arm.
‘If I hadn’t grabbed this from the Mage Tower...’
He would’ve lost more than just a cut—it would’ve been his head.
Thankful for that small fortune, Gariel focused on the enemy before him.
Nicolai wasn’t only after Ludger.
He was targeting Cravat, and now Gariel as well.
‘He plans to kill everyone connected to Ludger? Then Rine’s in danger too!’
He needed to get back to Rine immediately and move her somewhere safe.
Meanwhile, the experimental subject, having missed its strike, steadied itself and charged again at Gariel.
The sharp twin steel blades in its hands crossed like scissors, about to slice through Gariel’s neck—
But his figure vanished like a mirage.
“......!”
The creature skidded to a halt.
Its body slid across the ground, eyes twitching wildly as it searched for traces of Gariel.
But time had already stopped again—Gariel had escaped far away.
“Huff... Huff...”
Gariel panted heavily.
He hadn’t been able to stop the bleeding before making his escape, and the strain on both his body and mind was extreme.
He took out a prepared recovery potion and poured it over the wound on his arm.
As the wound quickly sealed, a wave of danger washed over him, and he instantly cast time magic again.
Boom!
A spell struck vertically into the spot where Gariel had just been.
“Tch. Damn rat.”
The war mage who had fired the ambush clicked his tongue.
Following orders from above, he had been waiting nearby. Once he spotted the target matching the provided description, he attacked immediately.
The order had been simple:
Kill that man, no matter what.
So he had launched his spell without hesitation—but the target vanished like an illusion.
‘What the hell is that?’
As he puzzled over it, a signal came from a comrade nearby.
[Suspect spotted in Sector B-12. Matches description—a scruffy-haired young man carrying a pile of goods.]
“What? He was just here a moment ago!”
From A-54 to B-12? In that short a time? What, did he teleport or something?
Moments later, a new report came through.
[Wait. The guy disappeared.]
[Uh—C-42 sector here. I just spotted the scruffy-haired suspect you mentioned. W–wait! He disappeared again!]
“What?”
What in the world was going on?
He vanished and reappeared again and again—almost simultaneously in multiple sectors—throwing the War Mages into chaos.
“Everyone, get a grip! The bastard must be using some kind of spatial-transit magic. Move as if that’s the case! A spell of that scale will either have extreme mana drain or a heavy restriction!”
The War Mages regained composure and began to move in formation.
And Gariel, being hunted, could clearly sense their coordination.
‘Damn it. It’s been a long time since I’ve been chased like this.’
He couldn’t help but frown at the burning pain in his arm.
Though he had hastily used a recovery potion, the wound inside hadn’t fully healed.
No—this wasn’t an ordinary wound to begin with.
‘My arm’s going numb... damn it. Did they coat their weapon with poison?’
No wonder his breathing had been getting heavier—they’d prepared for this.
Using poison in case the initial strike missed—Nicolai truly had an obsessive personality.
‘Damn it. The poison’s spreading, and my concentration keeps slipping.’
Time magic didn’t consume much mana by being maintained over time.
Once he spent the mana to activate it, that was it.
Unless he manually released it, he could keep moving through the frozen world indefinitely.
By any measure, it was an absurdly efficient spell.
But it burned away his lifespan with each use.
Even then, this kind of time magic could easily collapse if the user’s physical condition deteriorated.
Maintaining time magic required constant physical and mental stability.
That was why Gariel always made an effort to remain calm within the stopped world.
But this time, poisoned, it was different.
After walking for a while, the spell collapsed powerlessly.
Gariel grit his teeth as he felt time resume around him.
“There he is!”
These persistent pursuers instantly pinpointed his location and came charging in.
They must have expanded their net wide—it would be hard to escape unless he got down to the third floor.
‘I was too careless. If I can just get down to the fourth... no, the third floor—’
At that moment, a wave of mana surged from afar.
Gariel clenched his teeth and tried to activate his time magic again.
But perhaps because of the poison, the spell didn’t form properly.
Time barely stopped just before the incoming spell grazed him.
Had he been even a fraction slower, he would have been hit directly.
But he wasn’t unscathed.
Some of the stolen New Mage Tower materials had been caught in the explosion.
‘Damn it. Damn it!’
There was no time to check the damage.
Before time flowed again, he had to get as far away as possible.
How far did he manage to go?
While stumbling forward, Gariel suddenly collapsed.
The poison had started spreading further—his legs wouldn’t respond.
As time stop broke, the items he’d been carrying scattered across the floor.
“Ah, damn it.”
Gariel, his vision blurring, scanned his surroundings.
He didn’t know what this place was, but the wide open lot was filled with heaps of steel scrap.
And among the piles of metal, his pursuers began to emerge one by one.
“Well, look at that. The rat’s just lying here?”
“Seriously impressive, though. What kind of magic did he use to get this far?”
“If he’d gone just a little farther, he would’ve escaped the perimeter. Too bad for him.”
Hearing that, Gariel bit down hard on his lip.
If only—if only he’d held out a bit longer—he might’ve made it. That thought washed over him with a bitter sense of defeat.
“What should we do with him?”
“Kill him, obviously.”
“Wouldn’t that be a waste? Whatever magic he used, we could take it for ourselves.”
“True. You think this guy could handle torture anyway?”
“If not, we can always dissect his brain.”
The War Mages muttered such gruesome things as if they were discussing the weather.
Gariel’s expression darkened—when suddenly—
“Who’s making such a racket out here?!”
Thud. Thud.
From one side of the clearing, a loud shout erupted, followed by the heavy stomp of footsteps.
The War Mages turned toward the source, startled.
There, a massive heap of steel was moving.
“What the hell is that?”
They thought the scrap itself was shifting—but no.
Someone was lifting it.
“Wh—what the...”
A huge, shirtless man was holding a pile of junk at least ten times his own size in both hands.
His sweat-drenched upper body rippled with monstrous muscles.
And the most ridiculous part—he was still raising and lowering the pile in rhythm as he walked toward them.
“Huff! Huff! Alright—five sets done! Workout complete!”
Kuuung.
With a satisfied grunt, the man hurled the scrap down onto the ground.
The impact sent a small tremor through the lot.
‘What the hell? He lifted that alone?’
‘Wait, what did he say—“workout complete”?’
‘Probably means “today’s training complete” or something.’
As the War Mages exchanged confused looks, the bandit-like man glared at them.
“Who the hell are you to cause trouble in my training ground? Don’t you know I hate being disturbed when I’m exercising?”
The War Mages bristled, glaring back.
He looked like a strong knight, sure—but he was unarmed, barehanded.
How dare some musclehead in Isla Machia talk down to mages of the New Mage Tower?
Reading their hostile gazes, the large man let out a short laugh.
“So, not only do you interrupt my workout, you pick a fight too? I already didn’t like seeing a whole group bullying one man—guess this works out nicely.”
He clenched his fist.
Blue mana flared clearly around his knuckles.
Wait—mana? On his fist?
The War Mages realized something was very wrong.
One of them, staring intently at the man, suddenly widened his eyes in shock.
“Y—you! Why are you here?!”
Sensing danger, the War Mage tried to stammer an apology—but the massive man spoke first.
“Too late.”
