Chapter 84: The Death Omen (First Update — Please Vote for Recommendations)

In that pure radiance, Buck couldn't help but shut his eyes, yet the image of the visceral monster's venomous, despairing crimson gaze lingered in his mind, and a dense layer of cold sweat broke out across his back.

At that moment, he felt a vast and terrifying will sweep across his body, rendering his thoughts sluggish and his limbs numb. It took quite a while before he recovered, but that will had long since vanished. The light — brilliant as though the sun itself had descended — was gone too, and the visceral monsters and the grinning horrors had all disappeared along with it.

He glanced at the streets around him, nearly all of them wrecked. A shudder ran through Buck. Had he brought ordinary detectives into this area to investigate, they would almost certainly have become missing persons.

"Ma'am, the monsters have been eliminated?" Buck asked cautiously. He was worried not only about the possibility of the monsters returning but also harbored a genuine, heartfelt awe toward the frequently smiling, doll-faced woman before him.

Heidi gazed mournfully at the shattered fragments of the silver badge on the ground. "Theoretically speaking, there is no possibility of survival."

There was no possibility of the silver badge being restored, either…

Summoning the power of a legendary realm required a complex and expensive arcane ritual. Even though she had borrowed her teacher's "Atomic Universe," the necessary communication process could not be skipped. To prepare most of the modularized ritual steps in advance and store them for ready use, one needed extremely precious materials fashioned into special alchemical items — and even though Heidi had spent many years at the Atomic Research Institute, published numerous papers and results, and held a concurrent position at Holt Arcane Academy, her financial means were only enough to afford one or two such pieces.

This was literally throwing money at people!

Hearing Heidi's answer, Buck let out a long sigh of relief and silently admonished himself — in the future, he must never get tangled up in incidents like this. Otherwise, he wouldn't even know how he died!

He glanced at the tottering two-story building and suggested, "There should be residual clues inside."

Heidi nodded slightly and was about to step inside when she suddenly felt a violent wave of dizziness — clearly the result of over-consuming her spiritual energy. She assessed internally: Even if "Spell Trigger" could truly be simplified to a fifth-circle spell in the future, the standard for a high-tier mage would still likely be the sixth circle. Without at least semi-materializing one's Cognitive World, one could not be called high-tier, and auxiliary quasi-high-tier magic powered by external means could only sustain one such spell at a time.

Seeing Heidi's face turn pale and her breathing grow rapid, Buck asked with concern, "Ma'am, are you all right?"

"I just need to rest a bit." Heidi produced a vial of "Song of Water" potion and drank it. A refreshing coolness seeped into her heart and lungs.

Since Heidi needed to rest, Buck naturally didn't dare enter the dilapidated two-story building on his own, so he made idle conversation. "Ma'am, was the arcane magic you used just now a simplified 'Eternal Blazing Sun'?"

The battle between the Magic Council and the Southern Church high above Lontart had been witnessed by most ordinary citizens due to the existence of the "Earthly Paradise," and the "Eternal Blazing Sun" had since become the most powerful spell in the hearts of people like Buck.

Heidi laughed softly. "No — I merely drew on the simulated fusion power within my teacher's 'Atomic Universe' to enhance my 'Arcane Light.' It contained a trace of the 'Eternal Blazing Sun's' properties, I suppose."

If it had truly been a simplified, miniaturized "Eternal Blazing Sun," the two of them certainly would not have been able to withstand an explosion that close. They would have been obliterated — not even bones remaining — by the energy storm and extreme heat.

After a while, Heidi's complexion gradually returned to a healthy glow. She then applied numerous spell effects to both herself and Buck before cautiously entering the two-story building.

In the main hall, there were scorched black marks — the last lingering evidence of the visceral monster's existence. In the center was drawn a bizarre, reality-defying magic circle. Even though it was damaged, Heidi still felt a distinct sense of vertigo upon looking at it, as though suffering the backlash of a failed hypnosis. Buck, meanwhile, stood frozen in a daze, nearly unable to snap out of it.

"Don't stare at it. There's something wrong with this magic circle," Heidi said, tapping Buck on the shoulder.

Buck jolted all over, pulled his gaze back, and said with lingering fear, "Arcane magic is truly terrifying…"

He became even more resolved to have his son study magic. In a society permeated by magic, the slightest carelessness would put you at a disadvantage!

The two searched every room in the building meticulously and discovered a black-robed middle-aged man in a secret chamber. His body was intact, but his eyes were wide open and utterly devoid of life — it seemed his soul had been completely annihilated in Heidi's arcane attack moments ago.

Heidi examined the corpse with magic, then softly uttered "Hm?" She pulled the black-robed cult leader's robes apart and sliced open his abdomen.

Inside — completely empty. Not a single organ!

"What the—?" Buck staggered back a step in shock. A person without organs could still live? Still cast spells? Was this some legendary lich? Or perhaps he, too, had been a victim?

Heidi furrowed her brow slightly and rummaged through every piece of experimental records she could find, but the black-robed middle-aged man had been cautious and meticulous — only a handful of clues remained.

"It appears he was a fifth-circle mage who couldn't keep up with the tide of arcane development. Driven by the panic of being abandoned by the times and the venomous resentment of being surpassed by generation after generation of those around him, he was lured by a mysterious figure known as the 'Death Omen' down the path of enhancing his strength through evil arcane rituals. And the beginning of this ritual apparently required transforming oneself into a living corpse without organs, sustaining one's life by stealing the organs of others…"

"Afterward, his arcane power successfully broke through to the high tier, and like magical creatures such as devils and demons, he gained innate quasi-spell-like abilities — 'Finger of Death,' for instance…"

Heidi pieced together the clues she had found, reconstructing the black-robed man's history.

Buck listened, cold sweat beading on his forehead. When Heidi looked to him for his opinion, the words tumbled out before he could think: "The 'Death Omen' is definitely the Night Watch! They lure a handful of weak-willed mages into corruption in order to tarnish the Council's image among the public. We must crack down hard on this and set the record straight!"

If this evil arcane ritual case got out, ordinary people would inevitably equate mages with cruelty and bloodshed. While it was wrong to generalize, after something like this happened, who would calmly parse the details? Therefore, a "scapegoat" had to be found!

"Possibly…" Heidi didn't say much more. It was indeed a plausible line of inquiry. She then offered Buck a word of reassurance. "Don't be afraid. Mages of this sort are always only a small minority. The vast majority of mages are perfectly normal — just as murderers and thieves have appeared among the citizens of Lontart, but you can't equate murderers and thieves with all of Lontart's citizens. Mathematically, that reasoning doesn't hold."

Buck nodded repeatedly, offering no objection whatsoever.

"I'm going to bring the materials and items here back to the Council and request a high-tier astrologer to examine them. Hopefully we can uncover more clues and track down this 'Death Omen,'" Heidi said, pointing at the scene.

"I'll trouble you with that, ma'am. Even if you hadn't said so, we would have delivered them to the Council tomorrow. No one is better suited to handle these matters than the mages of the Astrology Department," Buck said, rubbing his hands together.

After packing up the materials and items, Heidi and Buck left the two-story building. As they passed through the main hall, she glanced back at the upper floor, furrowed her brow slightly, and murmured under her breath, "The Church?"