The Capture Operation began when the teleportation failed. Several people instantly cast life-saving spells, either splitting into multiple identical-looking figures and fleeing in different directions or simply transforming into beams of light and escaping into the distance.
None of them intended to fight. They fled rapidly in different directions, hoping they would not be the unluckiest one.
After that brief exchange—or rather, after the one-sided strike—several people instantly realized that the Silver-Patterned Gray Robed Man was a Ninth Rank Expert! Their attacks had not injured him in the slightest. They had barely broken through the defensive layer around his body before dissipating, exhausted.
Yet as he watched those people escape, the Silver-Patterned Gray Robed Man at the center made no move.
Before the fleeing people could even feel puzzled, another change occurred.
Without exception, figures wearing Gray Cloaks appeared out of thin air, blocking the path of everyone trying to flee.
"Get lost!"
"Die!"
Faced with the Gray Cloaks, the escapees launched their own attacks again, attempting to force their way through.
But without exception, every attack was blocked.
After a momentary exchange, the seven Black Robed Men despairingly discovered that all the Gray Cloaks were Eighth Rank! The enemy greatly outnumbered them, and a Ninth Rank Expert was watching them hungrily from behind.
Two of the Black Robed Men suddenly hardened their gazes. No one knew what Secret Art they used, but one of them vanished into thin air before everyone's eyes. The other instantly self-destructed, transforming into a gigantic black ball of chaotic Mana.
The astonishing spectacle immediately attracted the attention of nearly half the city.
From the moment the Duke tore open the ground beneath that villa, nearby pedestrians and merchants had sensed that something was wrong.
Now, seeing the black energy ball rapidly expanding in the