Chapter 19: Smooth and Stealthy
'There's the first one...'
Hal carefully peered out from a window to check what his first target was up to.
The Mischievous Housesprite was performing a mana extraction ritual that only those of its kind could do, drawing mana from the foundations of a messy house through a corrupted magic circle.
Once completed, it would increase the sprite's strength but cause the house's foundation to completely collapse, making it impossible to build anything in the area again for a year or two.
This was the perfect moment to attack.
However, Hal was torn between finishing off the sprite with one [Sparkblast] or [Fireball], or testing whether a [Weak Mana Blast] was enough to kill an unsuspecting one in a single, sneaky hit.
He was sure that no matter what he chose, the other sprites would detect the mana fluctuation.
And so, Hal decided to finish off the first one as quickly as possible.
He could test the effectiveness of his [Weak Mana Blast] later once he's on the retreat.
Silently performing a Palm Thrust motion through the open window, a vermillion magic circle appeared, from which a roaring sphere of flames shot toward the kneeling, unsuspecting mischievous housesprite.
To Hal's surprise, from beginning to end, the arcane monster didn't detect anything, simply drowning in flames and losing its life before it could even screech to call for reinforcements.