Chapter 100: Return from Death

“What exactly happened just now? How did he suddenly fall asleep?” Anna asked in confusion on their way back.

“Cassido is only a second-tier mage. After transforming into a monster, he gained tremendous power, but his body can’t sustain it for long. He probably hasn’t fully mastered this strength yet, so the excessive consumption led him to fall into a slumber,” Chu Yun explained.

He had cast the spell in the Mirror World, and Anna’s condition at the time was too poor for her to notice the sleep curse aimed at Cassido’s soul.

Anna believed Chu Yun’s explanation. Glancing at the monster Paimon was dragging behind them, she shuddered and thanked him, “Thank you, Chu Yun.”

“So… how did you find this place, Chu Yun? Why did you come looking for me?” Anna felt a small delight in her heart, realizing someone cared about her.

“You lost your salary. No one was recharging the magic device today,” Chu Yun replied, unwilling to elaborate.

As expected, Anna became anxious at his words. “Oh no, I left in such a hurry I forgot about it! What should I do? If someone sneaks into the mage’s inn to do something bad and there’s no magic device, it could be dangerous.”

“Don’t worry, I already replaced it with crystal stones. But what’s your situation? Why did you run all the way out here?” Chu Yun asked, puzzled.

“Well… it’s like this…”

Anna explained that after buying new clothes on the commercial street, the son of the woman who had turned into a monster found her. He said his mother had been kidnapped by villains who demanded ten gold coins as ransom. Furthermore, they threatened to kill his mother if he reported anything to the city guard.

The boy didn’t have that much money, so he sought Anna’s help. Anna was familiar with their family in the slums, making it likely Cassido had been watching her for some time.

After hearing this, Anna didn’t dare let the boy act alone. If he did, the kidnappers would probably kill both mother and son after taking the ransom. As a second-tier mage, Anna chose not to alert the city guard, but instead accompanied the boy to the cemetery, the location specified by the kidnappers.

Upon arriving, she discovered the kidnapper was none other than Cassido. After rejecting his inexplicable proposal and nearly gaining the upper hand, Cassido suddenly began to mutate into a monster.

Anna was no match for the creature, but fortunately, its condition was unstable and took a long time to settle. This time gap allowed Chu Yun to arrive and save them.

“Have you seen such a monster before? Or read about it in any books?” Chu Yun continued.

Anna searched her memory but ultimately shook her head.

“I haven’t. Its head… is it a squid? Aren’t squid-type magical creatures supposed to live in the sea?” Anna was equally perplexed.

Now that they had a live specimen, handing it over to the Mage Guild might allow someone to identify it, and perhaps even reverse the transformation.

“It’s all my fault… If not for me, none of them would have died, nor turned into this. And the incident at the manor was all his plan; the guards sacrificed themselves too.” Anna reproached herself, believing she had caused these deaths.

If Cassido hadn’t targeted her, none of this would have happened, and no one would have been hurt.

“So it was him, after all…”

“Thinking about useless things won’t help. Better to focus on how to turn her back into a human,” Chu Yun sighed, unsure how to comfort her.

“I will. I promise, I’ll bring her back!” Anna clenched her fists as she spoke.

But just as she finished, the woman being dragged behind Paimon on the makeshift cart suddenly showed abnormal signs.

“Return… to the ocean… death…”

As she muttered, her body dissolved into a puddle and vanished.

The bizarre sight startled even Chu Yun. Through the mirrored surface on Paimon’s body, he saw a glowing orb drop—visible only to himself—which suggested the woman had died.

“How could this happen…” Anna’s vow was rendered impossible in an instant, leaving her deeply depressed.

“Perhaps it’s better she died. If she turned back into a human and remembered what she’d been through, it might be even more painful for her,” Chu Yun remarked.

Anna was silent.

Both sides of Chu Yun’s reasoning made sense, leaving Anna with conflicting emotions, but she understood he was trying to comfort her.

“Thank you, Chu Yun.”

Chu Yun checked the dried squid in his spatial belt—it was still intact, not dissolved into water.

The two continued toward Blackstone City, but as it was late, they didn’t report the matter to the Mage Guild leader.

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The next morning, Anna was hesitant about whether to report the incident at all.

Cassido was the son of a baron. Although the title wasn’t high, he was still nobility, and killing a noble’s heir would inevitably be troublesome. She didn’t want Chu Yun to get into trouble.

“Chu Yun, should I just say I killed him?” Anna proposed after much deliberation.

They had already entered the Magic Academy and were soon to face the Guild leader.

“It’s only a matter of killing a criminal. If we end up suffering for it, then the Mage Guild… isn’t worth staying in,” Chu Yun said, unconcerned about being targeted.

Today, Nelson was in good spirits. As both Guild leader and Academy principal, he had arranged his office to suit his taste perfectly.

Seeing Chu Yun and Anna, the two mentors who had restored the Guild’s reputation during the entrance assessments, Nelson broke into a smile.

“Chu Yun, have you changed your mind? Are you planning to join the school as a mentor? If so, I can help you apply for the highest possible position and salary.”

Senior appointments at the Magic Academy required headquarters approval, but it was usually a formality.

Chu Yun shook his head. “It’s about the mastermind behind the armored ants that night—I’ve found them.”

Chu Yun chose to disclose the matter, partly because of the Black Crow organization. If an intelligence group could learn so much, the Mage Guild surely had its own sources. Once Cassido’s disappearance and the cemetery situation came to light, and with Anna and Chu Yun having searched for the Black Crow last night, it would be easy to connect the dots.

If he deliberately concealed it, it would be hard to explain later if investigated. It was better to speak up now.

Of course, he wouldn’t tell the whole truth; the specifics of how he killed Cassido would remain secret.

“You found out? Who was it?” Nelson frowned.

Chu Yun didn’t answer immediately, but instead took out the squid-headed specimen from his spatial belt. “Guild leader, do you know what this is?”

Unexpectedly, Nelson’s face changed dramatically when he saw the dried squid head. He hurriedly closed the office door and drew the curtains tightly.

“Where did you find this? Tell me, quickly!” Nelson’s face was full of shock and fury.