"S-scroll... scroll...!"

At Howard's urgent cry for a scroll, Joni quickly rummaged through his backpack and took out a scroll.

"H-here."

"Ha, what are you doing? I'll handle it, so everyone, get back."

But Serano stopped them and threw open the carriage door.

"Brother. A-are you sure you'll be okay?"

"I used an old medicine, so it seems there's a problem."

Serano made an annoyed face and slung his crossbody bag over his shoulder.

"Hey. If you're alive, you should have just gone back. Why did you crawl all the way here? Are you asking to be killed?"

Serano, who had gotten out of the carriage, sneered at Lucas.

"Today is a good day, no matter where I go."

Lucas's eyes sparkled with joy as he looked at Serano.

"Ha, you idiot. You're dead today."

-Click!

Serano, who had opened his bag with a quick movement, took out a potion bottle and drank it in one gulp.

"Khuk-! This is a real tonic."

-Clang!

He, who had thrown the empty potion bottle on the ground, smiled slyly.

"Oho. A mana amplifier. You're a drug addict."

"Right. I'm the crazy drug addict, Serano! You messed with the wrong person!"

A mana amplifier. It was a magic potion that literally amplified one's mana temporarily. But it had great side effects, as it forcibly created mana that was not in the body.

Because of that, it was a potion that was not used often, but Serano had drunk it as if it were nothing.

"Water Bomb! Energy Bolt!"

-Pop! Sizzle!

The energy bolt, carried by a water droplet the size of a human head, was shot quickly towards Lucas.

"How cute."

Serano's magic was a style that pursued extreme efficiency. The fusion of water and electricity was the easiest synergy, but if the timing was not right, it was worse than a single proper attack magic.

-Rumble!

As Lucas raised one hand, a wall of earth appeared in an instant.

-Bang!

Serano's magic, which was blocked by the wall, exerted no power and just made the wall damp.

It couldn't even wet a single hem of Lucas's clothes.

"Huh? Sh-t!"

Serano, who was flustered because the magic he had cast with such confidence was so easily blocked, quickly rummaged through his bag and took out another potion bottle.

"Khuk-! It's been a while since I've had two bottles. You're really dead now."

What Serano was confident in was speed and application. That's why he was able to get his name on the continent's wanted list, even though he was only a 3rd circle.

He knew that Lucas was a more skilled mage than him, but Serano was confident.

"Do you know how many bastards like you I've sent to the afterlife!?"

Serano had also spent a sad and difficult time because his circle did not increase even with long training. That's why he had made a bloody effort in a different way.

Serano, who had shouted, took out another potion bottle and threw it forcefully in Lucas's direction.

"Energy Bolt!"

-Clang!

The bottle, which was hit by the magic, shattered in mid-air and its contents were scattered.

"Water Spray!"

Water droplets smaller than raindrops, carrying the poison that was scattered in the air, attacked Lucas.

'His application is amazing. What a waste of a head.'

Lucas also couldn't help but admire Serano's application.

"Absolute Barrier."

-Sizzle...

But that was all.

"Sh-t! Sh-t! Sh-t!"

As even his elaborate attack was helplessly blocked, Serano was so angry that he threw a tantrum like a five-year-old child.

"I'll praise you. But you're missing one thing."

"Ha, missing something? Missing something!? What's missing is your life. You son, son, son of a b-tch!"

"Haha. You're full of inferiority complex. I mean, what's the use of telling you what you're missing? You're going to die today anyway."

The excited Serano was ready to tear Lucas apart, who was trying to give him advice without a single change in his expression.

"Shut up, you son of a b-tch."

"Brother! We'll help you!"

"Right, calm down!"

It was when Joni and Howard, who had been watching the scene, were about to draw their swords from their scabbards.

"You shut up too. You f-cking useless worms!"

"B-brother?"

"Brother, my ass! Who's your brother, you dog-like trash!? Huh!? You sons of b-tches."

The drug addict Serano. The nickname he had was not for nothing.

Those who had seen Serano fight while drinking the potion he had made himself said this.

'A crazy drug addict' or 'a psychopath high on drugs'.

Serano's biggest flaw and weakness. An anger management disorder.

"W-what?"

"I-isn't he crazy?"

The men who were trying to help were frozen in place with their swords in their hands at Serano's appearance.

"So you should have gone to a pharmacist for medicine and a doctor for illness. Tsk, tsk... that's what happens when a sick person makes his own medicine."

As Lucas shook his head as if it were pathetic, Serano's eyes were so wide that it was hard to find his pupils, and only the whites of his eyes were visible.

"You son of a b-tch. You're dead today."

"If it were as you say, I would have died three times already."

"This is the last time you'll be able to run your mouth."

A dark purple aura began to emanate from the excited Serano's body.

The first side effect of the mana amplifier.

The manifestation of an aura that eats away at the user's life force.

"At this rate, he'll die even if I leave him alone."

Lucas's words were true. The crazy drug addict who was running wild in front of him would die just like that if he continued.

"The one who's going to die is you."

Lucas shrugged his shoulders at Serano's words.

"Darkness."

Serano first cast a darkness magic, as if to block Lucas's vision.

-Swoosh!

The black energy that was stretching towards Lucas.

"Confuse."

-Swoosh!

Serano cast a second magic before the black energy had even reached him.

'He's learned black magic. And with such speed... what a waste of talent. If he had learned magic properly, he would have become great.'

Dragons, who were magic creatures, were mostly friendly to mages. That's why Lucas also felt a little pity for Serano.

'It's a shame, but I can't help it.'

-Pssss...

As it failed to inflict any damage on Lucas again, Serano finally exploded.

"Gaaah!!!"

Serano, who was shouting like a madman and rushing at Lucas.

Lucas's eyelids moved slowly as he looked at him.

"Magic, I say."

A gentle smile spread on his lips, which were quietly muttering as if reciting a poem, and as he raised his hand, Serano stopped in his tracks as if he had become a stone statue.

-Thump!

As his hand pointed to the ground, the ground rumbled.

"Just because you know how to use it doesn't mean it's all magic."

-Rumble!

As it pointed to the sky, the sky rumbled.

"Skill, I say."

-KABOOM! Bang!

As the ground was overturned, the old trees fell helplessly.

"It's skill to know who you're up against."

-Crack! Crack!

The heavens and the earth rumbled at the lightning that struck the earth.

"How is it? Your impression of seeing real magic."

"Why is the world only f-cking with me... why is it only f-cking with me..."

Serano resented the world at the insurmountable gap.

***

Life doesn't always go as planned.

Lucas was also comforting himself, saying that it was because he was human.

As if he had caught some disease recently, Lucas was anxious because he couldn't pour out his power.

'They were people who shouldn't have been left alive anyway.'

It was only natural to punish the humans who had tried to take his life.

'And didn't I get most of the information anyway.'

And so, he was sitting in the carriage, constantly rationalizing himself.

"G-guest. Should I drop you off here?"

Lucas opened the window slightly and looked around at the coachman's words.

The carriage that the Veneta party had been riding in had come with Lucas, carrying their corpses.

"This should be about right. Thank you."

Lucas had intentionally gotten a ride on the carriage and had come to a forest path not far away.

"N-no! No! More importantly, I'm a very tight-lipped person. Yes, that's right!"

The coachman, who had witnessed with his own eyes that all three of his guests had died, was trembling.

"It doesn't matter if you're loose-lipped."

"Oh, no. Absolutely! Absolutely! I won't tell anyone anywhere."

Lucas, who had nodded his head, took out a few gold coins from his pocket.

"300 gold. 100 gold per person. I'm sorry for making you lose your guests."

"Y-you don't have to do this at all! And 300 gold. I can't possibly accept it!"

As the coachman stubbornly refused, Lucas threw the gold into the carriage.

"Then let's just say a foolish guest dropped it."

"No, no!"

As the coachman, who saw it, quickly jumped into the carriage, Lucas gathered the corpses and teleported.

***

The drug addict Serano, perhaps because he didn't want to die alone, had spewed out all the information he had and had self-destructed.

'Should I have said thank you for saving me the trouble?'

Thanks to that, he knew their identities accurately, and he had also found out what they had done to earn money and which families were related to it.

As Lucas had expected, they had laid their hands on the winter fox tribe.

They, who were called the guardians of winter, were a beast-like race with a height that exceeded 130 cm even when fully grown.

The winter fox tribe hunting that had spread like a trend hundreds of years ago.

It was literally a trend.

The eyes of the winter fox tribe were reminiscent of diamonds submerged in a clear lake.

Some even said that they were so beautiful that they couldn't even look at their eyes straight.

That was the problem. Eyes that were too beautiful.

And so they were hunted.

The eyes of the winter fox tribe, which had been stuffed with magic, were decorated with other gems and were sold as luxury goods.

Among the nobles, the measure of wealth was sometimes determined by who had the rarer and prettier eyes.

The number of individuals, which had decreased due to the spreading trend, had driven them to the brink of extinction and had made them hide in more barren and remote places.

'I thought they had increased a little now... it's starting again.'

Greed and avarice. The things that humans had were relentless in sacrificing someone.

-Swoosh

Lucas, who had entered Veneta, cowered at the biting cold wind.

He, who had maintained his body temperature by wrapping himself in mana, looked at the three corpses at his feet once and then raised his head again.

The words Barker & Nolan were written on the door of the building, which was covered in pure white snow.

"This is the place."

The Barker Barony and the Nolan Barony, which had once been central nobles. It was a building they used together.

He, who was standing in front of the door, raised his hand.

-KABOOM!

The door, which had been shattered in an instant, scattered with hazy dust and snow.

"Who is it!!!"

Then men with weapons rushed out from inside.

"I meant to knock on the door, but I ended up breaking it. I'd like to apologize... is the head of the family here?"

Lucas answered calmly.

"What a psycho! How dare you come here... what's that?"

The eyes of the man who was rushing at Lucas turned to the floor.

"Howard... nim?"

"J-Joni-nim!?"

"Is that... Serano?"

The ground, which had been obscured by the hazy dust, gradually revealed its appearance as the dust settled.

And it didn't take long for the men to realize the identity of the things that were scattered on the ground.

"...Did you do this?"

"I asked if the head of the family was here. As you can see, I have something to deliver."

Lucas, who smiled brightly at the man's question, kicked the corpse on the floor with his foot, and a dozen or so men rushed at him at the same time.

"Die!!!"

(End of Chapter)