Undercurrents Stirring

Chiba turned and left.

With Chiba's current strength, he couldn't sustain Earth Lava over such a wide area for long. It would dissipate in a matter of seconds.

After using advanced Ninjutsu like Fire Dragon Flame Bullet, Earth Dragon Bullet, Lava Armor, and Earth Lava in succession, even his current Chakra reserves were somewhat strained.

He had underestimated the strength of an A-Class mage. He had thought that after mastering Lava Armor, he could easily deal with a weaker A-Class mage. But in a head-on fight, they were still evenly matched.

In particular, his opponent's defensive magic couldn't completely block his Lava Armor, but it could still provide some protection. As long as his opponent could put distance between them and wear him down from afar, there wasn't much Chiba could do.

Of course, Chiba wouldn't let an opponent put distance between them so easily.

The main issue was that Lava Armor consumed too much Chakra. To maintain its hardness and high temperature, he had to concentrate Chakra to an extreme degree, and the amount and control required were both exceptionally high.

He swiftly fled the area, his feet flying.

But the mages had apparently struggled free as Earth Lava dissipated. All of them had suffered injuries of varying severity. Some were even badly wounded and unconscious.

Fortunately, no one had died.

Most of the mages could no longer fight. Some had even been traumatized by the "lava monster" and no longer had the courage to pursue him.

A handful of mages could still fight, however, and Manli was among them.

He gritted his teeth, the fury in his eyes almost taking tangible form, and ordered, "Those of you who can't fight, take the unconscious back to the guild. Tell the guild master that they have a lava monster whose strength is roughly A-Class. Have the guild master spread word about the monster and the dark guild, so the nearby mage guilds can join forces to hunt them down!"

"Yes!"

Deli Town was especially lively today.

People came and went through the streets and alleys, and the clamor of voices filled the air. This seemed to be normal for the town.

But anyone who listened closely would hear that people all seemed to be discussing the same thing.

"Have you heard? Someone caused trouble on Frog in the Pond's turf." In a small tavern, a middle-aged man sat at a table, eating and drinking as he spoke.

Across from him sat a man around the same age. A little surprised, he asked, "Who's got the nerve to provoke Frog in the Pond in Deli Town? Those guys are no pushovers."

"Hehe! Word is, it was three kids."

"Kids?" The man couldn't help laughing. "Mr. Tori, you're not pulling my leg, are you?"

Tori shook his head. "Why would I, Deo? According to the rumors, those three kids are all dark guild mages. Even at their age, they could hold their own against Lord Manli."

"No way. Lord Manli is a well-known mage among the guilds around here."

"That's what makes those three kids so extraordinary," Tori said. "Think about it. If they're that terrifyingly strong at their age, how strong will they be in the future? And they're dark guild mages, too. Once they've had time to grow up, won't ordinary folks like us be the ones to suffer?"

Deo nodded, fully agreeing.

Tori continued, "I hear Frog in the Pond's guild master has gone out personally. It seems he's taken all the guild's elites to search for them."

"Tsk, that's quite a show of force," Deo remarked.

Rustle...

Just then, a young man with a kindly face walked up to them and smiled. "Do you two know about what happened today?"

Tori and Deo looked up. "Of course," Tori said. "With all the commotion, who in Deli Town doesn't know?"

He gave the young man an odd look. "You... don't tell me you're from out of town?"

The young man smiled shyly and scratched his head. "I am from out of town. By the way... those three kids are dark guild mages?"

"Of course they are. Even a mage of Lord Manli's caliber came off badly against those three kids," Tori said.

The young man looked surprised. "How could children that young be dark guild mages?"

"Believe it or not, Frog in the Pond went to great lengths to get that information."

The young man's heart stirred. "Great lengths?"

Tori glanced around, then leaned close to the young man's ear and whispered, "I have a friend who works at Frog in the Pond. He said a few 'honored guests' came to the guild, and they were the ones who told them about it."

"Honored guests..." the young man murmured thoughtfully.

He turned to leave, setting a 10,000 J bill on the table as he went.

Tori and Deo stared in surprise. Once the young man had disappeared into the crowd, Tori picked up the bill and grinned. "Deo, looks like we were the ones who met an honored guest!"

In a deserted alley.

The tall young man turned into a slender, black-haired boy. At that moment, the boy's brow was deeply furrowed.

The boy was naturally Chiba.

He had used the Transformation Technique to become a young man so he could see whether he could pick up any information from the crowd.

Ultear's membership in a dark guild should, by all rights, have been a closely guarded secret. As he recalled, when Ultear and Jellal infiltrated the Magic Council in the original story, their identities had not been exposed.

Yet in this obscure little town, members of a small mage guild had somehow learned her identity.

How could Chiba not be suspicious?

And from the two middle-aged men, Chiba had learned that Frog in the Pond's "honored guests" were the ones who had told the guild.

Who were these "honored guests"? How did they know such a secret?

Were they Shadow Skull, the ones who had attacked Ultear? Or were they from another dark guild that competed with Grimoire Heart?

Chiba thought the former was highly likely.

After all, they had already paid such a high price to hunt her down, so they wouldn't mind continuing the pursuit.

But why weren't Shadow Skull's people pursuing her themselves? Why use this method instead?

In any case, Chiba had to hurry back to the others.

In a mage guild hall.

"Honored envoy, according to word from our people up ahead, Ultear's magic power has indeed been sealed. But there's a boy with her who has no magic power yet can use elemental power. He's troublesome."

A middle-aged man with a vicious face stood respectfully before three or four young men in black robes, his head slightly bowed as he spoke.

"No magic power, yet he can use elemental power..." The black-robed young man in the middle murmured thoughtfully, then suddenly broke into a chilling grin.

"It's good that the woman's magic power is sealed. That way, we won't have to be too wary. As for the boy..."

"Heh... leave him to us."

The black-robed young men swept their robes around them, turned, and left.