"Licht!"
There was no need to guess. Just seeing the golden light swords was enough for Ethan Hayes to know who it was.
He'd guessed right—this was bait. There was an ambush.
But the enemy hadn't been hiding nearby. No, they had been lying in wait thousands of miles away, only to teleport here instantly using spatial magic.
"Rades… I didn't expect you to return like a beaten dog," Ethan said mockingly, eyes narrowing at the figure beside Licht.
He truly hadn't expected this.
After all, he had practically succeeded in turning Rades against them. By all logic, Rades should no longer be working with the Eye of the Midnight Sun.
And yet...
"Ethan Hayes! You lied to me! You never caught Catherine! You were lying the entire time!"
Rades's face was twisted in anger—and confusion. Back then, why had he betrayed the Eye of the Midnight Sun? Because Ethan had told him Catherine had confessed everything. He had even seen her, tied up and apparently subjected to all kinds of interrogation and torment by hundreds of soldiers…
But it was all fake.
When he went back to search for Walter and the others, Catherine was right there, safe and sound.
"Oh, so it's my fault now? You were just too dumb to realize it," Ethan sneered, dismissing his magic.
By now, Noelle had led the children deep into a crevice in the cave. That left Ethan free to go all out.
"So, should I call you Vangeance? Or Licht? No—maybe I should say Patolli?"
At that, the faint smile on Licht's face finally disappeared, and his brow furrowed.
Ethan really did know a lot.
Even his true identity.
But... how?
"You must be wondering how I know so much. Well, I'll tell you—it's—"
Whoosh!
Ethan's body vanished, leaving only a wind-swept afterimage behind.
This opponent wasn't like the others.
Patolli, an elf.
Even if he hadn't yet completed a full elf reincarnation and lacked the elven power-up, he already possessed a four-leaf grimoire.
His strength was terrifying.
Among the nine magic knight squads, barely anyone could even match him, let alone win.
And if he wanted to flee? No one would be able to stop him.
Because he wielded the same attribute as the First Wizard King—light.
Riding the wind, Ethan surged forward with a spiraling ball of wind magic condensed in his hand.
From Patolli's expression, he was still listening—curious, perhaps—about how Ethan knew his true identity.
And in that brief moment...
Ethan's Spiral Gale slammed into Patolli's chest.
"Lord Licht!"
Rades's alarmed voice came too late.
He hadn't expected Ethan's speed to increase again in just a few days.
But even more surprising—Patolli's speed was even faster.
Ethan hadn't hit him at all. What he struck was… an afterimage.
"Too slow," Patolli's voice whispered at his ear.
Ethan's heart sank. He instantly pushed his speed to its absolute peak, trying to dodge and reposition.
As expected.
Wind may be fast—but light is faster.
Even with the element of surprise and verbal distraction, Ethan still couldn't land a hit.
"So fast… is this Ethan's real strength?"
Hiding in the crevice with the children, Noelle stared in awe at the mid-air battle.
This was the third time she had seen Ethan fight in person.
The first was during the border mission—back then, he had already shown strength far beyond someone his age.
The second was during the nine-squad competition. He fought alone against eight elite squad members—and won!
Each time, his attacks had been swift and deadly.
But this third time...
The enemy was faster.
Faster than Ethan!
That scared her.
As a royal, she wasn't clueless. She knew enough about battle to understand: Ethan's true edge came from his speed.
Strong opponents weren't the problem.
Even she, with her immense mana, could match someone at the Sixth Realm—or nearly reach the Fifth.
But so what?
Her terrible control meant her attacks rarely landed.
All that power was useless if you couldn't hit your target.
Ethan, on the other hand, always hit. His speed made him nearly impossible to target, and his counterattacks were impossible to predict.
But now...
That advantage was gone.
The enemy was faster.
Zing!
Zing!
Dozens of golden light swords appeared in midair, raining down like divine spears of judgment.
[Wind Creation Magic — Magic Domain!]
Faced with such overwhelming firepower, Ethan didn't dare take it lightly.
His domain expanded, heightening his senses to the extreme.
Swish!
The swords fell.
Ethan, now sweating, darted through the storm of blades, dodging by a hair's breadth each time.
Fast!
Unrealistically fast!
This wasn't like wind blades or flying gravel—these were beams of light.
And how fast was light?
300,000 kilometers per second!
Even if Patolli wasn't using even one ten-thousandth of true light-speed, in the world of Clover Kingdom, this was still the fastest magic possible.
Even with his domain enhancing his reactions, Ethan couldn't avoid all the strikes.
He took a hit.
"This is… my blood?"
Touching his cheek, he stared at the golden liquid on his fingertips in confusion.
This was… the first time he'd ever been wounded. The first time he'd seen his own blood.
Since childhood, his body had always been unusual. His mana grew exponentially year after year, and even his physique was tougher than normal.
A regular knife couldn't even break his skin without great effort.
But now...
Blood.
And it wasn't red.
"Golden blood?"
Patolli blinked, stunned by the shimmering liquid leaking from Ethan's wounds.
Human blood was red.
What was this?
Was he… not human?
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