Life didn't get easier, even in another world.

"The thieves?! The mascry thieves?!"

Kairen pointed at the two people and yelled.

"Huh?"

"What?"

"The mascry thieves?"

The other three people all turned towards the girl, whom they had missed noticing because they were too focused on fighting, and the man who was standing beside her.

Deputy team leader Bray carefully observed the girl's face. It was indeed familiar.

"It's really her!"

Deputy team leader Bray subconsciously mumbled.

"...."

Claire bit her lip and nervously looked around.

'They found out?'

Of course, they would! How could she be such a fool?

She didn't expect that someone would recognize her face in the middle of the chaos. She had almost forgotten that she was also involved in a big case and had to stay hidden. She had jumped in front of the SMF agents who were searching for her because she was too scared to think about the consequences of her action.

The girl nervously bit her lip and looked at the man that was standing beside her while looking at the four agents.

"M-Mr. Hey... What should we do-"

"SHHH!"

The man stopped her from talking. Claire quickly closed her mouth.

Mr.Hey was still staring at the agents when one of them started to talk.

"Are you the one who stole all that mascry from the mines? You did it with that power, moving to the soil around the ores and taking them out, am I right?"

Mr. Hey listened to the male mage's words but didn't say anything in answer.

"Claire Raid is working for you. Does that mean you two were the ones behind the murder of those 10 people?"

Flinch

Claire flinched again and moved one step closer to Mr. Hey.

Kairen kept on asking.

"Why do you do this? Do you receive orders from someone or is it just you two?"

Mr. Hey still didn't give an answer and just kept staring at the mage.

'Should I beat the crap out of them so hard that they would forget about all of this?'

He was already on the bad side with these SFS or whatever else agents contrary to his own intentions, and now they had found out about him being the thieve.

And what was he talking about? Murder? He was being falsely accused! 

He had to solve it somehow.

"So the thieves worked for Philomns all the time?"

Deputy team leader Bray clenched her fists. Her voice was slightly shaking due to anger.

"These scumbags!"

Serria finally moved her hand and picked up her sword.

"They've been toying with us all the time!"

'Nah, wait!'

Mr. Hey wanted to say something in his defense, but he didn't know what to say.

Kairen intervented their words.

"You said something before when we called you a Philomns member. You said we are mistaken?"

"...."

"Does that mean you don't work for them? Then who are you working for?"

The man still looked at Kairen without giving an answer. 

"Sigh!"

He saw the mage sigh and lower his head as if he was expecting to get no answers from him.

"Mr. Hey!"

He heard the girl whispering his name, but he still didn't look away from the agents.

They were talking to him, but they were all ready to attack.

They, now angrier than before, would definitely try to stop them after finding out about the mascry case. They would try to capture them, but he wasn't sure whether they wanted them dead or alive.

That was why he made his decision.

A wise decision.

He turned his head a little bit and whispered to the girl.

"We run."

"What-"

"Create a portal. We are getting out of here."

"....."

Claire tilted her head, confused. 

"W-what about The Fifth?"

"You saw where he went, right? Create a portal to that spot."

Claire's eyes got even wider.

"W-why pick up? What do you mean?"

The man looked around. 

By now, almost all of the Philomns members were taken care of.

"There is nothing left to do here."

"Nothing left to do..."

She didn't understand it at all, but still followed his words and started to create a portal, there was no time to find her answer now.

"They are running away!"

Kairen pointed forward and said that out loud seeing the familiar portal slowly get shaped before his eyes. 

"HYAA!"

Serria rushed at them once again. Her sword, which was wrapped with aura, moved in the air while the magical symbols all around her shone brightly.

BANGG

Once again, magical chains shot out of the ground and wrapped around their target's body. However, this time the target wasn't the man, but the teenager standing behind him.

"EEEKK!"

Claire gasped upon seeing the chains bind her body and attempted to move away, but her body was toughly chained that she couldn't even take a single step back.

"H-HHey!"

She stuttered while looking at the sword that was moving towards her.

Her body started to tremble. Tears welled up in her eyes. And the portal she was creating fell apart.

She could now clearly see the tip of the sword that was about to pierce her body.

But then

CLANG

The sword was blocked by a spear. 

"Tch!"

Serria flipped in the air and perfectly landed on the ground, before rushing at the man once again.

Clang Clang Clang

She attacked rapidly, but all of her attacks were blocked by his spear.

"Hurry up!"

Mr. Hey pushed Serria back with his spear. 

Even though she was blocked and pushed back, Serria's spell still remained in its place. The chains were still holding on to the girl. 

SHHH 

The soil moved once again. 

The soil that had risen to the air wrapped around the magical chains, condensing itself and completely covering all parts of the chains. 

The magical chains started to shake.

BANG 

And with a loud sound, the chains were broken.

They were torn apart.

"What?"

Serria watched her spell get broken by some soil with her mouth wide open.

She couldn't believe her eyes. 

'How did he do that-'

BANGG

Before she, who momentarily lost focus because of the chains, could realize it, something hart hit her body.

She got punched on the stomach.

"GAH!"

She grabbed her stomach and staggered back. 

Claire, now free from the chains, started to create the portal once again. 

This time, deputy team leader Bray raised her sword to attack the man.

Just like before, she was blocked by him. 

Watching the scene, Kairen finally decided on which spell to use.

"Kain, distract him for a moment."

"Huh?"

Kain turned towards Kairen who said that all of a sudden. He could see Kairen busy casting a spell.

"What do you want to do?"

"I don't have much mana..."

Kairen took one step forward, walking towards the man and the others. 

"Distract him for a second, okay?"

And then he started to run.

"Wait! What are you-?"

Completely ignoring Kain, Kairen ran towards the man who was busy dealing with Serria and the deputy team leader as fast as he could.

Well, he couldn't run really fast... Still, it was the best he could do.

"Hey, you-"

The deputy team leader was also surprised by his sudden action. She called out for him but Kairen didn't listen.

"What the hell!"

SHHHHH

The water rose to the air. 

The floating water got divided into several parts and each one of them turned into the shape of an arrow.

All these procedures happened in a few seconds.

And each one of the arrows was shot towards the man.

Swosh Swosh Swosh

The man would obviously be able to block them. They weren't powerful enough to harm him and Kain knew that too well.

He was only doing it so that he could distract the man, which he doubted to be possible judging by how strong he was.

Kairen kept running while watching the arrows fly towards the man. 

He knew one thing for sure.

They couldn't stop the man.

He was too powerful for the four of them to handle.

He was too powerful yet he wasn't fighting seriously. 

Most of the things he did were him defending himself from their attacks.

Even when he hit Serria, he was defending himself against the attack.

The only time he actually moved to attack was the one time that he hit Kain. 

And that was so fast that none of them could react to it.

He also didn't kill Serria or Kain although he had the chance to do that multiple times.

He wasn't fighting seriously.

He wasn't fighting seriously yet they were struggling to do shit, what would they do if he actually decided to fight?

If he wanted to leave, would they be able to stop him?

They wouldn't.

But they couldn't just let him leave like that either.

At least Kairen, who was about to go nuts after struggling with the mascry and the murder case for the past few days without finding an answer, couldn't let him leave.

He had to get that man...

So that he could finally get the time to search for what he had to search for. 

The man didn't kill Serria and Kain even though he had the chance to.

Why didn't he kill them? Kairen didn't know.

He didn't know why but the man seemed unwilling to fight them or harm them.

That's what made Kairen think that he wouldn't kill him either if he got a little bit close to him.

That's what he wished for, actually.

That's why he decided to repeat the same thing that he had once done.

The first time he had met Claire, he placed a tracker on her.

He planned to do something similar this time as well.

The tracker was destroyed that time, but this one spell wouldn't be so easy to get rid of.

The man could run away, but they would find out where he is eventually.

And the spell he planned to use... Had to be placed on the target by direct touch.

BANGGGG

The arrows hit the soil barrier one after another.

BANG BANG BANG

The barrier blocked them easily. 

The arrows exploded and water splashed everywhere. The soil on the barrier started to get muddy again and splash on Kairen's body, who was right behind the barrier.

"Aren't you done yet?"

"Just a moment..."

The man turned away from Claire and focused on the person who was approaching him.

He was behind the barrier but there was no way that he wouldn't notice someone running his way.

The water arrows kept hitting the barrier so he couldn't lower it yet, but there was nothing to worry about- he thought.

He saw someone jump at him from behind the barrier at that moment. 

The man moved one step back and tilted his head.

'What is the mage doing here?'

Why would a mage get so close to the enemy without having an attack spell at hand?

Seeing the man move back, Kairen approached him even more.

'Come on!'

He had to touch the body for a moment to place the spell. He could see the portal that now seemed to be completed right behind the man. He was moving backward, towards the portal.

While moving back, Mr. Hey watched the mage who was suddenly acting like a crazed person.

'What is he trying to- Ah!'

He realized it. 

He realized what the mage wanted to do. 

Mr. Hey moved his body to enter the portal while moving his punch forward.

He had to stop this dude from doing what he was bout to do.

But it was too late.

Before the man could get farther away, Kairen reached out his hand and touched the man's arm. 

He touched the man for a moment, but that was enough for him.

'Gotcha!'

With that, the spell was placed.

Kairen had finally completed the spell.

"!!!"

The man flinched.

He definitely didn't expect a mage to do such a crazy thing.

He looked at this mage that was right before his face and moved his clenched hand.

"Gasp!"

And punched him in the stomach.