Although Infamous Enigma and his men were shocked by Vaan’s lightning-swift appearance, they did not completely lose their sense of reasoning.
Considering how quickly two of their men were taken down, they knew Vaan posed a great threat.
“Kill him!” Infamous Enigma hastily issued the order, having no time to assess Vaan’s strength properly.
The four closest members of the black cloaks immediately lunged at Vaan with their rank-four weapons, piercing at him with their full force.
However, their attacks were all blocked by an incredibly hot wall of blue flames. Within a split second, their weapons became too hot to hold.
But before the four black-cloaked men could retract their hands, Vaan’s blue fire wall expanded and enveloped them.
The four men did not even get the chance to utter a cry of pain before the fire wall reduced them all to black ashes. The incineration process occurred so quickly it looked like their bodies disintegrated due to rot or decay magic.
Infamous Enigma’s pupil instantly shrank.
“Be careful! He also has a higher-stage High Witch backing him up!” Infamous Enigma quickly warned his men.
However, none of the black cloaks could sense the higher-stage High Witch’s location. In fact, they couldn’t even tell how the higher-stage High Witch was attacking them.
They did not sense the slightest movement of mana in the atmosphere. It was almost as if the flames burst into being without being fueled by any source of power.
Meanwhile, half of the black cloaks outside came rushing over, pouring through the large opening in the lord’s estate created by Vaan.
“What’s the situation?” the leader of the second black-cloaked group asked.
“Be careful! This person is dangerous!” Infamous Enigma warned before adding, “There’s also a higher-stage High Witch specialized in fire magic hidden nearby!”
“A higher-stage High Witch specialized in fire magic?” the leader of the second black-cloaked group was immediately taken aback before his gaze turned grave. Then, he reprimanded the other half of his men outside, “What are you all waiting for?! Search for the High Witch!”
“Yes!”
While the black cloaks inside the lord’s estate were apprehensive towards Vaan, he did not continue to attack them. Instead, he frowned before he walked through Silvaria’s water barrier.
“Ahhhh—!”
An explosion of hot steam immediately filled the area, causing disorder and chaos among the black cloaks’ ranks as they scattered in pain and agony from the scalding.
After Vaan entered the water barrier, the hole he created was quickly patched up as the water barrier continued to revolve at high speed.
However, the caster, Silvaria’s mind was hazy from prolonged exhaustion in maintaining the water barrier.
“Who are… you?” Silvaria uttered feebly, sensing the pressure of an Aura King coming from Vaan as he approached her.
The Kingdom of Black Rose had no Aura King. Not a single one of the seven witch kingdoms had any. Aura Kings were existences that could only be found in the kingdoms and empires beyond the seven witch kingdoms’ borders.
Nevertheless, Vaan didn’t answer Silvaria’s question. Instead, he focused his attention on Solana and Dahlia, especially the latter.
The two had been lying on the ground for some time, depleted of mana and energy. Only Cyrena was fine and fully conscious.
“Teacher, it’s great that you are finally back! So much has happened in Sunpeak Town,” Cyrena mentioned emotionally as her eyes welled up with tears.
They had suffered so much, yet they were forced to endure it all on their own. Seeing someone familiar and dependable finally appear, Cyrena wanted to cry her eyes out.
“Vahn…?” Dahlia glanced up and saw Vaan’s familiar face before she revealed a weak, joyful smile, relieved that he was alive. “You’re finally back.”
“You’ve all suffered,” Vaan uttered with a soft sigh, picking Dahlia up in his arms. He then slit a cut on his thumb with his index nail and fed his potent blood to her.
In that instant, energy and life immediately returned to Dahlia, expelling weakness from her body. She felt all her wounds heal rapidly. Even her low blood level was seemingly replenished quickly.
She couldn’t help but feel shocked by the incredible healing potency of Vaan’s blood.
Nevertheless, after Dahlia was healed, Vaan let her stand on her own before he walked up and patted Silvaria on the shoulder.
“Thank you for protecting my people. I will take care of the rest. So, you can release the water spell now,” Vaan calmly stated.
At that moment, there weren’t any black-cloaked men standing near the water barrier. They had all been forced outside the lord’s estate by the eruption of scalding-hot steam.
Silvaria nodded and released her water spell.
Shortly after, Vaan stepped out.
…
Outside the lord’s estate, the black cloaks all hid in the shadows of the nearby buildings while the two group leaders contemplated their next course of action.
“The higher-stage High Witch is tricky to deal with since we don’t know her location, but the young man shouldn’t be a problem. He should be at the peak of the Aura Lord rank at most. The Kingdom of Black Rose doesn’t have any Aura King. As such, we can take him on. What do you think, Lethal Shade?” Infamous Enigma enquired.
“Fortunately, the higher-stage High Witch’s flames were blue. If they were black flames, I would have suspected the Black Rose Transcendent Witch had come in person,” Lethal Shade mentioned.
“Still, those blue flames are too powerful and bizarre. Even if we succeed in this operation, our losses would be too great. We’ve already lost three A-rank Witch Hunters on my side. I suggest we retreat to minimize our losses, Infamous Enigma.”
“And I lost five A-rank Witch Hunters on my side,” Infamous Enigma added before concurring, “I agree with you, Lethal Shade. The loss is not worth continuing this operation.”
“Fortunately, those blue flames eliminated all traces of the A-rankers. Otherwise, we won’t be able to leave until we fetch their bodies.”
“Right. Let us leave—”
Just when Infamous Enigma and Lethal Shade were about to issue the retreat order, they heard Vaan’s following words and halted.
“Leaving so soon? That’s fine. You can run, but you can’t hide. I’ve already memorized the faces of every one of you bastards from the Assembly of Silent Night. Your covers are nothing in front of my eyes. I will track you and hunt you down one by one if you leave.”
Although the black cloaks didn’t believe Vaan had memorized all their faces, which were hidden under black cloths, they could no longer leave.
Their origins have been exposed.
“Fuck. He knows who we are,” Infamous Enigma cursed before stating, “We have to kill him and everyone who heard him. Otherwise, it will be a disaster for the organization.”
“Right.” Lethal Shade nodded, then added, “However, we must be careful of that higher-stage High Witch with blue flames.”
Vaan waited outside the lord’s estate for some time but didn’t receive any response. Thus, he believed they were still wary of him.
“You don’t have to worry about the blue flames. It’ll be more satisfying to crush you all with my bare hands,” Vaan declared.
After the black cloaks heard him, they no longer hesitated.
“Kill him!”