"Didn't you say that this magic formation was impenetrable to ordinary people?" Commander Gu Cheng demanded sharply, his voice rising with intensity. His expression was menacing, laced with suspicion.
"I swear, Commander. There are no flaws, no weak points in the formation," his subordinate replied firmly.
But instead of reassurance, the response only fueled Gu Cheng's anger. Known as The Grim Reaper, he almost struck the man out of pure fury, but managed to restrain himself at the last moment.
Better to deal with the intruder first, he thought. Slowly, he approached the scene, setting down the girl he had been carrying and laying her gently at the edge of the magic circle. Meanwhile, his hand gripped tightly around a sword he had just summoned from a dimensional storage space.
The blade emitted a blinding teal-green light, its aura so oppressive that even seasoned holy knights would flinch from its gaze. And now, that deadly aura was aimed at a middle-aged man—an ordinary civilian—who stood frozen, staring silently at the spilled coffee beans on the ground.
"Hey, lowlife! You're at fault for trespassing without permission. You've seen something no commoner was meant to witness. By royal law, your punishment is death!" Gu Cheng declared coldly.
Without hesitation, he slashed his sword toward the man. The blade cut across the stranger's left shoulder in a swift, lethal arc. In that instant, a thick black smoke erupted into the air, blanketing the area. A deafening boom echoed through the street, nearly rupturing eardrums. Even the previously stable magic formation began to crack.
Gu Cheng grinned, satisfied. Surely, he's dead now, he thought. Turning away, he called out to his men, "Quick, retrieve the body! Bury it far from here. Make sure there are no—"
Before he could finish, a jet-black tentacle suddenly burst forth, stabbing straight through his chest—striking his heart with surgical precision. There was no sound, no vibration, no magical trace.
"Since... when...?" Gu Cheng croaked, blood spilling from his lips.
His body collapsed to the ground, motionless.
"Commander!" his subordinates shouted in unison, charging toward the tentacle in a frenzy.
But their efforts were futile.
In seconds, they were reduced to lifeless corpses. Some decapitated, others missing limbs or vital organs, and a few had their eyes gouged out entirely.
The black tentacles lifted their bodies like garments hanging from a clothesline—before devouring them whole. Not a single drop of blood remained. No evidence of battle. Nothing.
As if everything had been nothing more than an illusion, swallowed entirely by the darkness itself.