The Elusive Sorcerer

Chapter 177

"Agh..."

A man cried out after experiencing something unpleasant, causing his body to jolt awake.

His gaze swept across the surroundings, even though his face was deathly pale and his eyes were vacant, as if he were searching for something.

That was why the people around him, especially a woman he knew, looked at him in confusion.

"What's wrong with him?"

A well-dressed man from seat 430 asked.

"...Maybe a nightmare?" the man beside him suggested.

Murmurs arose in response to the man's behavior, a few strands of hair slipping from beneath the side of his bowler hat.

"Drunk at an auction?" exclaimed the man sitting in seat 428.

"I don't think so," replied the man sitting in seat 425.

The man in seat 429 voiced his personal opinion.

"Yeah, I agree with the man wearing glasses. He came here with his lover. How could he possibly be drunk?"

It was a ridiculous reason, since being with one's lover did not mean a person could not get drunk.

However, that statement was challenged by the deep voice coming from the right side of the bespectacled man with the necklace, seated in chair 426.

"Ountakana has strict regulations regarding alcohol and similar substances. My intuition tells me he's exactly as that man described."

A foldable cane, its silver tip gleaming beneath the chandelier's light overhead, was pointed toward the man sitting in seat 429.

The brief silence broke when the man folded his magic cane and added,

"A nightmare in the middle of an auction. The point is, the item he wanted was snatched away by that noblewoman up there."

The four men shifted their attention toward Room 3, dimly lit and hidden behind closed curtains on the right.

Since the auction had not started yet, the five men discussed something entirely different from before.

"Oh? How do you know he's having a nightmare?" asked the man sitting in seat 425.

The man in seat 426 turned toward him.

"Just a personal opinion. I've seen something like that myself from time to time, especially..."

The sentence never finished as the man suddenly shut his mouth.

With everyone's attention focused on him, the man sitting in seat 425 changed the topic.

"The nightmare conspiracy in GreyHeaven has really made the officials, nobles, and experts there reluctant to leave their city."

Hearing that by chance piqued the interest of the man sitting in seat 426.

"The nightmare conspiracy related to dark rituals? Do you think that man is from there?"

The man sitting in seat 426 blinked.

"That's certainly possible," he said clearly.

The conversation grew more animated as one of them finally spoke about what he had personally experienced.

Including the front row and the row where Zavi and Evelina sat at the far end, from seats 420 through 430.

The man sitting in seat 425 adjusted the glasses hanging from his neck.

"Man, that's dangerous. I myself saw a giant snake in eastern Sanahah, in some remote places."

Unlike ordinary snakes, it could speak of dangers beyond human understanding.

The place where the snake was discovered was still within the city of Kuranda, where he conducted business and earned his living, in Sanahah.

Attending and officially registering for the Ountakana auction had become his top priority in finding a charm capable of warding off that snake.

"Not only that," said the man in the front row, sitting in seat 420. "The old well in western Sanahah has an inhabitant."

The men sitting in seats 423 and 422 nodded uncertainly.

"An inhabitant?" repeated the man in seat 429 while observing Zavi's vacant stare.

"I didn't believe it at first, but after seeing it with my own eyes, a person whose facial features looked like a polished wooden board truly exists," the man continued.

"A faceless ghost?" asked the man sitting in seat 420.

Feeling that the discussion was becoming increasingly intense, the man sitting in seat 428 became interested in joining in.

"Let me speak."

The other nine people looked at the light-brown-eyed man and gestured for him to continue.

The man nodded and said quietly, "The sinking of the Vaysic ship in the Kasnia Sea, near the city of Creanvell. Do you all know about it?"

They nodded, encouraging him to continue. "My brother died in that incident, and strangely enough, the ship that was reported to have 'sunk' returned to Turan Harbor, but everyone aboard had vanished."

It was extremely strange, yet it was true. Even though nearly a year had passed since the incident, it remained a quiet topic of discussion among the local residents, especially those living along the coast.

The man in seat 427 said quietly, "The relationship between spirits and humans."

The man in seat 425 adjusted his glasses after hearing that statement.

"That would be an interesting conversation, but for now, I'll just listen," he said softly.

The other nine people nodded, while a man sitting to Zavi's left watched him carefully.

The discussion grew increasingly lively, while the man beside Zavi continued staring at him with curiosity.

"...Are you alright?" he asked gently, seeing the growing anxiety on Zavi's face.

"..."

No answer came from his mouth, prompting Evelina, who had overheard the question, to immediately say,

"I apologize for the inconvenience. He's going through a difficult situation, and I'm truly sorry."

The man looked confused for a moment, but four seconds later, he said, "Could it be that he's having a nightmare because he failed to get that item?"

Evelina chuckled.

"Yes, perhaps there is some truth in what you're saying," Evelina replied, occasionally glancing at Zavi with pity.

This was the first time she had genuinely felt sorry for him, even though she probably should have felt sorry for herself as well.

'Damn it.'

She couldn't sense that strangeness at all. No. Not a single one of them could feel what Zavi was feeling right now.

Inside Zavi's mind, two events kept replaying, affecting his mental state and thoughts with overwhelming intensity.

The first was meeting his family on Earth, hearing them talk about a murderer and regretting Liam Tirarty's existence within their family.

The second was the battle and the two powers that had taken over his body, resulting in the inevitable clash between Zavi and the bespectacled man outside the building while the auction hall collapsed.

Zavi still remembered the theft of the auction items, but not as clearly as those two memories.

'This isn't a dream? Why is the auction still going on?'

Only after the auctioneer and two others arrived, followed by a woman he had once seen and nearly killed, did he fail to notice her presence.

For a moment, Zavi remained oblivious to the woman's presence, lost in his own thoughts. Meanwhile, the auction continued, and the fifth and sixth items were about to be unveiled by the auctioneer.

The customers appeared excited and hopeful, except for Zavi Actitus, who was occupied with thoughts of that complicated incident.

...

Outside the Ountakana auction building, two secret organizations were waiting for the right moment to sneak into the auction.

They did not know whether powerful enemies were inside, or whether mid-level Hollows or Receivers had been hired by the auction's higher-ups.

However, one dangerous organization, the Ghost Skull Syndicate, sensed something strange, especially their captain, who seemed absent-minded.

The captain, not the main leader, glanced at the seven people ahead while a scout approached him. Each of them possessed physical strength and stamina far beyond ordinary humans, and they lived by the motto: Ghosts exist because we are the ghosts.

One of them, a heavily built man, approached their captain, who had blended into the crowd of the underground black market, and said, "There hasn't been any unusual behavior from the guards, but they're definitely armed."

As soon as those words were spoken, the other seven focused their attention on the captain, waiting for his orders despite the distance separating them.

Their captain seemed hesitant to speak, sensing something strange, and that strange feeling continued to churn within his mind.

Yes. He was feeling what Zavi Actitus had felt. Was that horrific battle a dream or reality?

Both of them remembered that tense encounter, yet neither knew the identity of the enemy they had faced because it was as though something had obscured their faces.

Although the well-organized secret group, the Intersection Society, shared the same objective, the members sent there knew nothing except the use of the Level 3 spell known as Domain.

The battle involved massive destruction caused by the artifact stolen by the Ghost Skull Syndicate's captain and the two powers controlling Zavi Actitus.

Thousands of entities, especially those powers' favorites: the box jellyfish and the dark purple fox shrouded in a grayish-white aura, their perfect forms, detonated everything under the command of the two powers competing for control over Zavi's body.

The underground black market lost all of its nighttime beauty as the screams of people who never made it out echoed everywhere.

The ground collapsed, followed by the buildings above caving in and flattening everything beneath them. A battle between two individuals became a five-against-one fight. As a result, Zavi Actitus, controlled by the two powers, fought against three Hollows fused with their contracted creatures, one Receivers, Celina, and the bespectacled man, the captain of the Ghost Skull Syndicate, wielding a stolen legendary artifact.

People died in horrific ways: stabbed to death, beheaded, crushed by falling debris, and worst of all, struck by boulders that caused their internal organs to burst apart like smashed tomatoes.

Although these gruesome deaths occurred underground, the deaths of those above were no less tragic. "They" died as puppets, intended to absorb the explosion of millions of entities detonating at once.

Destroyed, but not entirely obliterated, leaving only their entrails scattered across the streets.

Children described it as being in hell, dying while under immense mental distress, their souls slowly eroded before being consumed by Hollows.

Others died with their bodies melting, their organs torn apart, and their eyes floating through the air.

On the first level, Zavi Actitus, or rather the two powers, managed to maintain a stalemate for two and a half minutes before everything collapsed and they were separated.

Celina retreated as the situation worsened. The three Hollows continued searching for Zavi Actitus but failed to find him, while the captain of the Ghost Skull Syndicate stole all the auction items despite the devastation underground and took two additional artifacts.

Those artifacts were Level 3 artifacts from the category known as "The Ruler," possessing healing abilities. The captain of the Ghost Skull Syndicate used them to heal his six severely injured companions and himself before leaving that walking catastrophe behind.

The people who arrived at the time, especially the Cevenose Security Department of Kuranda, which had mobilized throughout the region, came. The local church that worshipped the God Auneron, Bringer of Fortune, also arrived, becoming the life and hope of the survivors in the streets and alleys of Vleco.

However, everything changed when the thoughts of the five individuals involved in the battle suddenly halted, and the world returned to its calm state before the chaos intensified. Yet they still remembered the event vaguely and assumed it had merely been a nightmare.

Not one of them told anyone else about the incident, except for the three Hollows guarding the outskirts of the underground world auction while also preventing threats that endangered the important figures inside the Ountakana auction.

Their guard duties, previously separated, were now concentrated in the southeast section of the auction building for further observation.

Inside the auction hall, the atmosphere was lively with bids from customers competing over the dust of an ancient Oyter creature and gold coins from an era before humanity rose to dominance.

Bidding for both items had begun at 27,000 Pace and had now surged by hundreds of thousands, nearly reaching a million.

"780,000 Pace?"

A fierce bid from seat number 276 echoed throughout the hall.

The auctioneer was surprised.

"Is there anyone willing to go higher than that?"

They all seemed hesitant. Tiara, who frequently participated in bidding wars, remained silent because those items would not significantly affect her purchases.

The seven nobles, especially those seated on both the upper and lower floors where hundreds of seats were arranged, were reluctant to bid.

In the end, both items were sold for 799,000 Pace to the man in seat 276.

A baron from Vleco who had a fondness for collecting rare objects such as the fifth and sixth auction items.

The auction continued while the clock showed 21:40.

Zavi, sitting in seat 432, showed absolutely no reaction to either the auction or Tiara's sharp gaze from above.

Inside Room 3 on the upper floor.

"...Have you obtained that information?" Tiara asked firmly.

The male guard stood straight and answered firmly, "Yes, Miss. That man is merely a fallen Monelli noble from Penplan."

"Penplan, you say?"

Naturally, Tiara was surprised after hearing that answer. After several seconds of silence, she glanced at Zavi, who was sitting there with a sharper gaze than before.

Tiara shuddered when she met his eyes and decided not to involve herself in the affairs of a fallen noble like him.

"I want to ask one thing of you," Tiara said weakly while glancing at her guard.

"Yes, Miss."

The guard waited eagerly.

After remaining silent for several seconds, Tiara finally whispered, "Find out what kind of item can make me stronger."

Nelly, seeing the expression on the guard's face, felt a chill run down her spine and thought,

'W-What exactly does Miss want?'

Frozen for a long moment, the guard stiffened as he accepted the request before straightening his posture again.

"Very well, Miss. I will find that item for you, just as you requested."

Tiara smiled bitterly before focusing her gaze forward once more. Meanwhile, Nelly remained silent, and the guard left the room and headed downstairs.

On the lower floor, in seat 432, Zavi was still thinking about the same thing.

Although his expression resembled someone playing the role of James Moriarty, he tried to push away the voices that still echoed and remained deeply rooted in his mind.

'Damn it, useless family. Small-minded fools. Never looking for the truth first and so easily swayed by other people's words. Even though I don't remember you clearly from that day, the day I saved Mother from those cult kidnappers, and the way those three treated me like family, was all of that really just a coincidence?'

Zavi sensed similarities between his family on Earth and his family in this world. Both consisted of three people, and both had lost their father at a relatively young age.

That could not possibly be a coincidence; that was what continued to bother him even now. Zavi inhaled sharply while pinching the bridge of his nose before closing his eyes for a few seconds.

'As for Deceh, I don't care about someone like him.'

After enduring that difficult period, Zavi opened his eyes, lifted his head once more, and looked at something in front of him.

Only then was he startled to see a woman who felt familiar, yet whose details were difficult to remember.

'Huh? Who is that woman? I feel like I've seen her before, but where?'