Andrasch’s eyes flew wide open.
He hadn’t expected Ludger to suddenly activate a spell.
With his mouth gripped tightly by Ludger’s hand, he couldn’t even use Word Magic.
“You’re wondering how I can still cast spells, aren’t you?”
Even within the crushing pressure of the massive mana resonance field, Ludger remained composed.
If before he had only been pretending to be calm, now he truly appeared unaffected by his surroundings.
‘No way.’
A flash of unease crossed Andrasch’s mind.
Ludger met his gaze, and as if to confirm his suspicion, nodded slightly.
“Like you, I’ve wrapped a thin mana barrier around myself and synchronized it to the resonance frequency.”
That was why Andrasch could remain unharmed despite standing inside the field: he maintained the same frequency as the mana waves that resonated around them.
But Andrasch knew better than anyone how hard that truly was.
A resonance frequency wasn’t constant.
The more steel spikes placed around them, the more the frequencies fluctuated from moment to moment.
There were at least fifty spikes embedded in the area—meaning at least fifty different frequencies shifting chaotically without any fixed pattern.
Adapting to that kind of constantly changing vibration required extreme concentration.
Even with pre-tuned artifacts to help, Andrasch could barely manage to cast spells properly.
And yet Ludger had not only analyzed the pattern in mere moments—he’d already adapted to it.
Even now, as the waves shifted, Ludger adjusted his mana barrier instantly to match the new frequency.
He had ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) been completely outplayed.
“No matter how powerful Word Magic is, it’s useless if your mouth is sealed.”
Ludger tightened his grip over Andrasch’s mouth.
Andrasch was a master of deception and cunning, but in close combat, he was no different from any ordinary mage.
He’d relied too long on a power that required only words.
Once Ludger closed the distance, Andrasch’s defeat was almost certain.
“Ohhh, so you let me get close on purpose, huhhh?”
Andrasch’s eyes curved into a grin—he spoke.
‘What—?’
Sensing something wrong, Ludger immediately released him and leapt back.
「Crush.」
Boom!
The ground where Ludger had stood moments earlier caved in, as if struck by an invisible hammer.
The Word Magic was far stronger than before—its will and power unmistakably heightened.
‘But how? I had his mouth sealed.’
The answer revealed itself at once.
Andrasch raised both hands and spread his palms wide.
On each palm... was a human mouth.
“You modified your own body?”
“Correcttt.”
Andrasch spoke with all three mouths at once.
“The weakness of Word Magic is that it needs the caster’s mouth freee. But this way, that weakness disappears entirelyyy.”
He had created mouths on his palms.
Such extensive body modification was far beyond the reach of an ordinary mage.
“So you altered your body after joining hands with Nikolai. Don’t you have any pride as a Lexuror-class mage?”
“If there’s a way to overcome my flaw, why would I refuseee?”
Andrasch stretched out both hands toward Ludger.
「Die.」
Three mouths, three Words—tripling the destructive force.
Dark energy flared around Andrasch and streaked toward Ludger like a comet’s tail.
The Word Die materialized into tangible death, shaping itself to fulfill its purpose.
The moment Ludger saw the black smoke flying toward him from all directions, instinct screamed a warning.
It was a curse that killed upon contact—akin to the darkness Kravat had once wielded.
‘Touching that would be dangerous.’
Behind him, Ludger’s shadow rippled open into vast wings.
The great feathers scattered outward, taking the form of ghostly wraiths that clashed head-on with the black smoke.
Magic detonated in the air—boom, boom!
In seconds, thick black fumes spread like mist across the battlefield.
The magic itself had dispersed, but its remnants lingered in the air.
「Swirl.」
Andrasch invoked another Word.
A violent gale rose around him, sweeping the black haze toward Ludger.
The cloud surged forward like a sandstorm, swallowing Ludger whole.
It would have been convenient if he’d been crushed by it, but Andrasch didn’t underestimate him.
「Protect.」
Several layers of mana barriers formed around Andrasch.
Precaution against a possible counterattack.
“A sound decision.”
A calm voice came from behind him.
Without turning, Andrasch thrust out his left palm.
「Rise.」
The gravity around Ludger’s last position inverted.
Debris and shards of metal shot upward in reverse, soaring into the air—
But Ludger was already gone.
“Spatial movement againnn? That’s just unfairrr.”
Though he said it lightly, Andrasch’s eyes darted around frantically.
Even with the mental strain of adjusting spell frequencies within the resonance field, Ludger still moved flawlessly.
Andrasch had only needed to stall for time, yet now he was struggling simply to stay alive.
Then, from one side, a scream rang out.
“Damn it—!”
Andrasch immediately realized Ludger’s target.
He didn’t need to fight Andrasch directly—there were plenty of other enemies around.
The War Mages guarding the metal spikes fell one by one, blood spraying, without even managing a counterattack.
Their skill was considerable, but against Ludger, it was meaningless.
After removing one spike, Ludger moved to the next, disappearing and reappearing like a mirage.
Wherever there was shadow, he could travel. He was a phantom in human form.
Only faint trails of blue light marked his passing, and terror spread among the War Mages.
「Calm.」
Andrasch’s Word Magic forcibly stilled their fear.
“Form your defensive barriers!”
“He can’t enter through our mana shields!”
The War Mages quickly cast protective magic, preparing for an ambush.
But Ludger never appeared.
Even Andrasch, scanning the area nervously, found nothing.
「Show yourself!」
Three mouths shouted in unison, conjuring a giant mechanical eye above him.
The rotating orb swept across the area like a globe, scanning every direction within range.
Yet even that all-seeing eye failed to locate Ludger.
‘No... could it be?’
Andrasch realized what he had overlooked.
“Did he run awayyy?”
Ludger had no reason to continue fighting here.
Andrasch knew that from the start—his job was simply to delay him.
But the longer they fought, the more he’d assumed Ludger would stay engaged. That had been his mistake.
While Andrasch waited, tense and defensive, Ludger had already left.
“Hah... haha.”
A hollow laugh escaped him.
“Unbelievableee. I got played.”
He had revealed his trump card—Word Magic—and even modified his body to wield it more freely.
Yet instead of killing his opponent, he had danced to Ludger’s tune.
“M-Master Andrasch...”
The War Mages, sensing his displeasure, called out nervously.
「Why are you just standing there?」
His voice was no longer drawling, but sharp and heavy.
The War Mages straightened at once.
「Find him. Now.」
The command, infused with Word Magic, sank directly into their minds.
They scattered at once to search for Ludger.
Left alone, Andrasch exhaled and fell deep into thought.
‘He’s after Nikolai—that much is clear. But how does he intend to find him?’
Andrasch realized he couldn’t afford to move recklessly.
He needed to stop Ludger, but had no way to track him.
Nikolai, however, did.
That man possessed the [Eyes] that could see across the entire island.
In fact, Andrasch had intercepted Ludger only because Nikolai had informed him of the route.
Crack!
The moment that thought crossed his mind, Andrasch pulled out his communicator and crushed it.
“So that’s what you were plottinggg.”
He understood Ludger’s real aim.
‘The moment I contact Nikolai to check his position, he’ll trace the signal back and find the hideout.’
A lesser mage might only receive orders from above, but Andrasch was a Sixth-Circle mage—he had a direct line to Nikolai himself.
Ludger had known that, which was why he’d vanished—to bait Andrasch into making the call.
‘He can’t locate me with magic, but it wouldn’t be strange if he’s watching from the shadows.’
Andrasch was exactly right.
From a shadow far away, Ludger observed the entire sequence.
He turned away, satisfied.
“Quick on the uptake, I’ll give him that.”
He had been waiting for Andrasch to panic and contact Nikolai—but the man had seen through it and destroyed his communicator.
It made sense; that device could easily expose Nikolai’s hiding place.
“But by doing that, you’ve blinded him.”
Andrasch thought he had protected Nikolai—but not quite.
Ludger withdrew the mana thread he had extended toward a nearby surveillance unit.
The mana line connecting the device now flowed back to him.
“So, you were watching me from there, huh?”
Even without Andrasch’s communicator, there was another way to find Nikolai.
The surveillance devices that had been observing Ludger all along.
Through them, Nikolai had tracked his every move, sending bounty hunters and experimental subjects in response.
Which meant—if Ludger could hack those devices, he could trace the connection back to Nikolai’s location.
“When you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back.”
While Phyron cleared the path, Ludger had methodically inserted mana threads into the surveillance units, one by one.
Not all were linked to Nikolai directly—
but surely, among the countless devices, at least one was.
At last, Ludger found it.
“I suspected where you were all along. To control this island’s surveillance, your position would have to be fixed geographically.”
Even by elimination, the area to check had been vast—
but persistence paid off.
He had found the clue.
“A cunning bastard. So that’s where you’ve been hiding.”
Nikolai’s hiding place lay at the core of Isla Machina.
Not merely the middle layer or central district—
literally the core, deep within the mountain-like machinery.
The island itself was a colossal machine, and its interior had many passages leading inward.
It wasn’t just an island—it was a fortress.
When Ludger had first fallen here through Rinne’s magic, he had also landed deep within.
“Sir Phyron, I’ve located the target. I’m transmitting coordinates now—confirm them when you can.”
He sent the data to Phyron, still battling bounty hunters somewhere afar.
Only crashing noises answered through the line, but Phyron would understand.
Ludger ended the transmission and prepared to discard the communicator.
He no longer needed it—and Nikolai might be monitoring the channel anyway.
“...Ah.”
Instead of destroying it, a thought struck him. He brought the device to his mouth.
“I told you, didn’t I? I’ll come find you.”
He didn’t know if Nikolai could hear him.
But Ludger was certain the man was watching everything.
“I’m on my way.”
With that, he crushed the communicator and activated a spell.
In the air, cubes of steel gathered and assembled into the form of a massive bird—
the Steel Raven.
Ludger mounted the creature’s back.
Destination: Nikolai’s hideout, at the heart of the island.
The steel bird, cloaked in shadow, let out a piercing cry and shot into the sky like a bolt of black lightning.