Chapter 23: Direct Confrontation

A few minutes ago, Avia had asked the singularly confident Wang Yu, "Wang Yu, we're not going to hurt the innocent this way, are we?"

"It's fine. I've already scoped out the cabin with my inner eye. There's only a single person inside that can be considered alive. As for the other three, there are two corpses and a... well, I don't know what to think of it," Wang Yu replied.

"But Wang Yu, didn't the townsfolk say that the inhabitants of the cabin are a drunkard hunter, his wife, and his daughter? Where did this fourth person come from?"

"Does that mean that the culprit is whoever that living person is?"

Wang Yu rubbed his lower jaw. Something seemed amiss, but he couldn't quite pinpoint what. Ultimately, there was far too little information. He was starting to understand why investigations were frequently so difficult to carry out.

Not all information was readily available, no matter how much he wanted it to be. There was too little information and too much danger.

"Ah, who cares? Burst it down!" Wang Yu commanded, motioning for Avia to use Fireball and Conflagration on the small log cabin.

The girl hesitated a little. Wang Yu knew that this was because of her intrinsic kindness, her unwillingness to hurt the innocent.

He frowned. With this sort of mentality, she would have a hard time surviving in this world.

Wang Yu was, by and large, a good person. At the very least, he wouldn't take the initiative to hurt others for profit, but he would protect himself and his companions at risk to others.

He prioritized himself, not others.

Even so, it wasn't a mistake for Avia to be kind. It was simply a facet of her personality, something that Wang Yu couldn't change. He merely hoped that she would become more resolute and decisive in the future.

Garcia and Lilya felt the same way, too. Wang Yu was rather confident that Avia would quickly adjust her mindset given what he knew of her.

Indeed, Avia acted quickly. She was smart and intelligent, and she too could reason why her hesitation now was dangerous. Despite her kindness, the safest choice for all involved was for her to strike—and strike quickly, at that.

She raised her right hand. It seemed to be covered in a thin membrane as light as muslin, on which a series of exquisite magical imprints had been made.

Avia's right hand had virtualized upon coming in contact with a void entity.

It was now useless in the material world, but in exchange, it was a perfect conduit for magic and wizardry, better than anything she could have commissioned.

As an experienced and powerful witch and mage, Lilya quickly devised a series of combat techniques suitable for her, a magician who needed no staff to cast her spells.

She had a glove custom-made for Avia, one whose arcane runes allowed Avia's right hand to come into physical contact with objects while it was being worn.

In addition, the arcane runes could elevate the rate at which magic flowed out of Avia's body. Lilya smugly named the glove Twinned Star.

The runes slowly lit up as formless magic was infused into Avia's palm.

She channeled void energy through her virtualized right hand while she called upon mana from her surroundings.

The two disparate streams of energy were respectively channeled into two different spells, explaining the name Twinned Star.

A first-tier Fireball formed alongside a first-tier Conflagration. The layered magical spells blazed brightly.

Avia's gaze had turned resolute the moment she began to cast. She was just like Wang Yu remembered, the girl who had stood by his side despite the danger and leveled a crossbow against Beran.

Avia stacked Fireball and Conflagration atop one another, then cast them both simultaneously. The blazing fire traced a bright arc in the air and illuminated the western quadrant of town.

Then, the spells struck the hunter's log cabin in an explosion of light and heat.

The violent commotion caused wood to explode every which way.

Half the log cabin burst apart in an instant, transforming into ash and smoke.

"Something's wrong..." Wang Yu murmured. He had been eyeing the log cabin all along. Even a low-level task wasn't necessarily easy or straightforward to deal with.

Avia nodded in agreement. She could sense that something was amiss as well. Though the majority of the cabin had been damaged, a certain room seemed to have been immune to the destruction.

Though its outside was charred black, the fact that it was still structurally sound was abnormal.

The log cabin wasn't particularly sturdy to begin with; that room should have been destroyed by the explosion.

"Again, then," Wang Yu said. That was the conclusion he had come to.

He certainly couldn't cause as much destruction as Avia's magic. In that case, rather than head in there himself, the safest strategy would be to have Avia continue her bombardment.

Avia had been preparing to retreat. She and Wang Yu had agreed that, after her initial bombardment, he would attack from the front, while Avia retreated to the back and acted as the situation demanded.

Though Avia was surprised by Wang Yu's sudden order, she immediately began her second doublecast.

Blazing flames surged across Avia's hands.

"This is the final doublecast I can do for the time being. The void drains too much of my mental energy," she announced.

Wang Yu nodded and drew his sword. He strapped the buckler on his back to his arm, then prepared to charge forward while Avia prepared her second bombardment. Just as she was about to cast, the door to the room creaked open.

A boy holding onto a teddy bear walked out, seemingly helpless and confused.

Wang Yu was taken aback. Avia's chanting slowed as a shocked expression appeared on her face.

"Something's wrong. There's a teddy bear in his hands. He's not the living human I detected. He's the one whose identity I couldn't make out! Hurry, Avia—the second bombardment!" Wang Yu exclaimed.

The boy's expression suddenly turned fierce and violent.

Though she didn't quite understand what was happening, she trusted Wang Yu implicitly. She released the magic that she had prepared.

A fireball flew out of Avia's palm and toward the boy holding the teddy bear.

The fireball was just about to strike the boy when a shadowy claw emerged from behind him and deflected it, sending it flying to the side of the cabin.

A violent explosion resulted as the fireball struck a nearby house.

Half the wall was decimated in an instant. Roaring flame ignited everything in the vicinity.

Trees, shrubs, and grass began to burn, though Avia's primary target was unaffected.

The boy's teddy bear stared coldly at Wang Yu and Avia. Its button eyes gleamed.

After Wang Yu realized how the boy attacked, he immediately tossed his shield toward the boy.

A shield would be useless in defending against this type of attack; in that case, he would use his shield offensively.

His muscles bulged as fighting spirit circulated around his body. He drew on his magnified strength.

His muscles and transcendence launched the shield forward in a whistling blur.

Tossed at such strength and speed, it could easily decapitate a head.

Shadowy claws emerged from the cracks and crevices in the vicinity as they attempted to catch the shield, only for it to blitz through them as if they were nothing more than tofu. The boy remained as expressionless and cool as ever.

Even more shadowy claws emerged, endless as the tide. Though each claw was weak on its own, there were so many that their combined efforts finally served to sap the shield of its momentum. The shield clattered to the ground.

Even so, Avia and Wang Yu's assault wasn't over. Avia lobbed a slightly smaller but much faster Fireball toward the boy.

More shadowy claws emerged, deflecting the fireball despite the flames that burned and scorched the shadows.

The fireball exploded ineffectively in the air.

Wang Yu frowned. This was an issue with the first-tier Fireball: it wasn't particularly potent unless it came in contact with a physical object.

The shadowy claws were able to deflect the Fireballs and nullify their explosive strength.

"Why do you want to harm Rose?!" shouted the boy in a low, hoarse voice. The voice didn't sound human at all, much less like a boy.

Wang Yu frowned. Rose was the hunter's daughter, and likely the living human in the house. Who was this boy, then?

"Because you've been killing people!" Wang Yu shouted back. Under these circumstances, the best he could hope for was getting some information from the boy.

"I did it to save Rose!" The boy's voice remained low and hoarse. To Wang Yu's surprise, he seemed capable of intelligent thought.

Wang Yu almost wanted to laugh out loud. Killing strangers to save a relative, then?

Wang Yu knew then that further conversation would be useless. This boy's logic was incompatible with Wang Yu's own.

Avia used hand signals to communicate with Wang Yu, who beckoned for her to retreat as he charged forward.

"You won't be able to save her," Wang Yu called out.

Provoked, the boy turned hysterical. His voice distorted in anger. "Silence!"

This was precisely what Wang Yu had been hoping for. While the boy's attention was distracted by what he had said, Wang Yu made his move.

His muscles bulged as his feet shot off the ground. He lowered his body and bounded forward like a cheetah.

He moved at extreme speed as he rushed toward the boy holding onto his teddy bear, drawing his sword and preparing to swing it in a wide arc.

At full strength, he would be able to cut off the boy's head instantly.

The boy took a few instants to react. Shadowy claws emerged from his back.

Wang Yu didn't know where they had come from. He had initially thought that they were conjured from the shadows, that bright light might weaken or destroy them, but it was clear now that that wasn't the case. Plenty of the claws were exposed to direct sunlight.

He didn't have time to figure out their weakness. He would try to avoid as many of them as he could.

His principal goal was to take down the boy with the teddy bear as quickly as possible. After that, he wouldn't have to worry about these claws at all.

The claws layered on top of one another shot toward him in a deluge—but though they were fast, Wang Yu was faster.

With his physique as a knight-in-training, he was able to dodge accurately and quickly, causing the claws to brush right past his side as he drew ever closer to the boy.

Wang Yu was preparing to behead the boy in a single blow when he suddenly saw the latter smile deviously.

The arms covered the floor before and behind Wang Yu, preventing him from moving.

With Wang Yu trapped, the boy attempted to strike at him—only for a volley of ice arrows to descend from the sky. Avia wasn't just watching idly from afar. If Fireball was useless, she would cast physical magic instead.

The first-tier magic Icy Arrow shot out of Avia's palm and headed straight for the boy.

Shadowy claws emerged from the boy's back, blocking the arrow one after another.

The arrow's momentum was depleted as it shattered one shadowy claw after the other. Though Avia was a strong magician, the endless claws were an incredible defense.

However, just as the icy arrow was about to fall to the ground, it exploded.

She had actually cast the first-tier magic Explosive Icy Arrow! The arrow exploded into a cloud of icy fog, dramatically reducing the boy's vision of Wang Yu.

Wang Yu smiled and closed his eyes. He activated his inner eye via his wizardry, allowing him to see without physical sight.

The boy seemed to panic. He was unable to see Wang Yu altogether. All he could do was layer his shadowy claws on the ground in an attempt to waylay Wang Yu's forward momentum.

Wang Yu gathered what power he could and leapt into the air as he struck at the boy. He was strong and fast—but it wasn't quite enough.

Wang Yu had managed to leap five meters into the air, but despite his superhuman physique, he was still some distance away from the boy.

If he were to fall now, he would end up in a sea of shadowy claws.

He manipulated void energy into a foothold right underneath his feet.

His body, which was starting to descend, was propelled upward once again. This Double Jump technique was a simple use of wizardry.

Wang Yu's reserves of void energy were too limited for major workings of void distortion. Double Jump was simple, straightforward, and incredibly effective.

Wang Yu's figure emerged from the icy fog as he drew his blade and lifted it high, then swung downward at the boy who was panicking as he glanced at his surroundings.

Wang Yu would behead the boy in one fell swoop.

When the boy finally caught sight of Wang Yu, his eyes widened in anger and fear. The shadowy claws on the ground rose into the air to batter him down, but it was too late.

Wang Yu prepared to swing.

Before that, however, the teddy bear in the boy's hands exploded in light.

A huge pair of shadowy claws appeared from behind Wang Yu's back and clawed at him. Though they came from his back, Wang Yu was able to spot them with his inner eye.

Even so, they had appeared too quickly for him to react.

He activated his wizardry again and focused on attacking the boy.

The pool in his mindscape suddenly dipped as he drew on what remained of his void energy and invoked Barrier.

A formless barrier appeared in the air. The shadowy claws to his back shattered it in an instant, then sent Wang Yu flying.

Wang Yu spat out a mouthful of blood as the claws struck him, but the barrier had absorbed the majority of the damage. Two of Wang Yu's ribs had cracked, but that was minor, all things considered.

Wang Yu shifted his stance in mid-air and landed solidly on the ground. He spat out the blood in his mouth, then looked toward the boy.