The Will to Live Is My Strongest Skill

Noah crossed his arms over his chest, glanced around skeptically, and immediately shot back:

"What? Look for him? No, I'm not doing that."

Iron turned to him and said calmly:

"Do you want us to be stuck here forever or what?"

"I'd rather you left me at the castle," Noah replied, clearly displeased.

Iron let out a heavy sigh.

"Yeah, I feel the same way..."

Noticing how Noah was now staring right at him after that remark, Iron quickly shook his head and added in a slightly softer tone:

"Still, we'd better look for Edriac together. Searching alone... no, even with Elyria, would take far too long."

Noah let out an annoyed huff and rolled his eyes before suddenly taking off at his incredible speed.

Iron turned to the spirit and said briefly:

"Get started."

Elyria nodded.

"All right."

Her eyes instantly flared, turning a much brighter shade of green as they began to glow with an intense emerald light. Sensing traces of residual mana and faint anomalies, she rose into the air and swiftly flew ahead in search of her target.

Iron narrowed his eyes, watching her go, and addressed Lumon mentally.

So, where is he?

A dry voice immediately sounded in his mind.

"Insufficient data."

Iron silently moved forward, breaking into a brisk walk.

Mentally calculating the exact moment Edriac had teleported, he figured that Edriac couldn't possibly have gotten too far from his original location.

"Heavens," he murmured.

His gaze immediately shifted upward. Under the scanner's influence, the world around him transformed into a technological grid of energy waves, gradients, and hidden traces of spatial displacement.

Iron clearly identified the area and headed straight for it.

Minutes passed, and the search dragged on, stretching beyond fifteen minutes. The tension continued to build, yet there wasn't a single living soul in sight.

By then, Iron had come to one clear conclusion: given how much time had passed, someone could very well have helped Edriac. If that was the case, he might have ended up much farther away than they had initially assumed. After thinking it over, Iron significantly widened his scanning range and increased his speed.

Exhaling as the tension continued to build, he gritted his teeth and muttered:

"Fuck, where the hell is he already? Lumon, you still haven't been able to find him?"

"Correct," Lumon replied dryly.

After several more minutes of fruitless searching, Elyria's annoyed voice suddenly rang out in his mind:

"Iron, are you sure this is the right place? He's nowhere to be found!"

"Yes, this is definitely the right place," he replied coldly.

"But he's not here!" the spirit protested.

Iron let out a heavy sigh.

"Have you asked Noah? Maybe he's already found him."

"No, he hasn't found him either," she grumbled.

"Fine, but keep looking anyway. You were the one who asked me to bring you along, so don't start complaining now," Iron snapped.

He continued flying over the hills, pushing the scanner to its maximum capacity. Even so, it couldn't detect anything unusual. There were no traces of magic or suspicious distortions in the spatial structure.

His irritation grew with every passing second. Finally, unable to hold back any longer, Iron lashed out at Lumon:

"How the hell have you still not figured out where he is?!"

"The search based on current spectral and energy patterns has yielded no results," Lumon replied impassively.

"But you must have at least some theories!"

After a brief pause, Lumon spoke.

"Correct, I have several theories. One of the more likely possibilities is double teleportation."

Iron frowned.

"What the hell is that?"

"Double teleportation occurs when a subject is transported twice within a short period of time," Lumon explained in a monotonous voice. "Most likely, Edriac first teleported here, after which another subject instantly teleported him to a different location."

"So what?" Iron snapped irritably. "There should still be at least some magical surges! Besides, it should be easy enough to calculate."

"Correct, but..." Lumon paused. "The teleportation was most likely technological rather than magical."

Iron abruptly stopped in midair and slowly descended, his feet touching the grass.

"Yeah, I thought of that too," he muttered under his breath. "But shouldn't it still be possible to calculate the trajectory of that kind of teleportation?"

"That teleportation can only be traced if someone visually observes the moment it occurs," Lumon replied. "Since we were somewhere else at the time, I simply couldn't record its activation or calculate its trajectory."

"Do we have any chance of finding him?"

"The chances are practically zero. Edriac could be anywhere in the world right now."

Iron's expression darkened as he stared out over the endless hills.

"Damn, that bastard..."

Iron spun around, and at that very moment, Noah and Elyria materialized right in front of him. Thanks to the inertia control Iron had applied beforehand, Noah didn't shoot past him at top speed, instead coming to a complete stop, just like Elyria, who was hovering nearby.

Elyria immediately threw up her hands in protest:

"What are you doing?"

"He's not here," Iron said curtly.

Noah looked at Iron in confusion, while Elyria let out an irritated squeak.

"Seriously? Then why did we spend an entire hour here? I could've spent that time doing my own thing!"

"Yeah," Iron replied briefly.

"Yeah?" she repeated, taking a deep breath, ready to launch into another complaint.

But Iron cut her off in a cold tone.

"We have other things to do."

He snapped his fingers. The space around them warped, and the next moment, they materialized in Avers, right in the narrow passageways between buildings.

The rumbling had already died down. A heavy silence hung in the air, broken only by frightened children's sobs and quiet, ragged crying.

"We need to relocate some of these townspeople to our place. At least a hundred," Iron said, looking over the streets.

Elyria narrowed her eyes skeptically.

"You really think they'll just come with us on their own?"

"Well, do they have any other choice? Look."

Iron pointed toward the silhouette of a castle rising in the distance.

Elyria turned her head. The enormous castle was in ruins, with gaping holes torn through its walls.

"The only problem is that the initial panic has worn off," Iron added.

Elyria stared at him in disbelief.

"Calmed down? Are you seriously not hearing all that crying?"

Iron shrugged indifferently.

"Well, kids cry, obviously."

Iron straightened up and took a step forward.

Noticing that Noah and Elyria were still standing there without making any move to follow him, Iron spread his arms in exasperation.

"What are you two standing around for? Come help me!"

Elyria let out a heavy sigh, rolled her eyes, and flapped her wings, rising into the air.

"Fine, whatever..."

Noah simply said:

"Okay," and silently headed in the opposite direction.

Meanwhile, deep inside Avers Castle, Lucius Feramir began clearing out the wreckage and putting things back in order. Armed with a small, round, azure-blue device, its green sensor flickering above the deep black openings of its internal emitters, he made his way through the blood-soaked halls.

Lucius held the device up to the bodies of fallen guards. Its built-in scanner immediately identified their biological markers, confirming that they were dead, before translucent laser beams shot out of the device.

The moment the beams touched flesh, the corpses, along with the pools of blood and scraps of armor, disintegrated into tiny particles within seconds, leaving behind not even a trace of dust.

As he swept the device across the castle, clearing out the corridors, Lucius thought to himself:

Getting the townspeople to calm down is going to be a real pain...

After disposing of another group of bodies, he paused in the middle of the corridor and narrowed his eyes.

Though... I might have an idea.

Setting the device aside, he headed toward the damaged outer wall, intending to assess the extent of the damage and begin repairing the massive holes. But as he approached one of the gaping breaches in the masonry, he happened to glance out into the street and suddenly froze.

In the distance, among the surviving buildings, Iron was clearly visible. He was calmly talking to the townspeople, gently persuading them to follow him.

Lucius recoiled, ducking behind a massive stone wall, and hissed in disbelief:

"Are you fucking serious...?"

He peeked out again. Iron was still talking to the people, and although they were frightened, they had begun obediently following him.

A crooked grin spread across Lucius's face.

This is just absurd... How the hell is he even managing that?

He shook his head, watching the scene with interest.

You really are one hell of an interesting guy, Iron Everfall...

After assessing the situation, Lucius decided to put off repairing the walls for now. With Iron nearby, there was a risk of attracting unwanted attention. Instead, he decided to continue quietly clearing away the debris and wreckage in the castle's more distant wings.

Iron, meanwhile, continued calmly trying to persuade the townspeople.

"You'll be perfectly comfortable if you come with us," he said in an even tone, looking at a woman holding a child. "I understand that my place can hardly be called a proper city just yet, but you could say it's a very large village, and you'd be welcome there. I hope you'll keep that in mind."

The woman held her frightened child tightly against her. The little one was trembling all over, his face buried in her shoulder as he let out quiet sobs.

Iron noticed. Without changing his expression, he smoothly extended his hand, which was clenched into a fist. The next moment, a neatly wrapped candy materialized between his fingers.

He held it out to the child.

"Here."

After a long, tense pause, the little one glanced suspiciously at the candy before cautiously taking it. Iron reached out and gently patted the frightened child on the head, adding in a slightly softer voice:

"Don't worry. Everything will be fine."

Straightening up, Iron turned and silently continued on his way, leaving them to process what he'd just said. Meanwhile, he couldn't help but wonder.

I don't understand why they're all trembling so much... It's just a ruined castle.