In practical terms, the field trip was more about sabotage than actual learning, but that didn’t mean nothing could be gained.

  Nick, for example, was content to search the land for signs of foul play, since that would give him more suitable targets to test his new focus.

  Monte, who had been assigned as his guide, was less cavalier but didn’t mind his enthusiasm as long as their targets were the monsters threatening his family's lands.

  “So, when are we going into the actual dungeon?” he asked Nick, who looked down from where he was perched on top of a tree, having sensed something interesting nesting among its highest branches, only to find mere remnants of what had probably been a pretty valuable natural treasure.

  He shook off that frustration, knowing it wouldn’t be the last time he faced something like that, given their proximity to the natural mana fountain that was the dungeon.

  “Master Tholm still hasn’t given his go-ahead,” he replied. “I think he’s waiting to see if the Hones and their people will actually dare ignore a royal order and try to take it over themselves, so until then, we are stuck dealing with the small fries.”

  He floated down, his feet never touching the ground even as he came to a stop.

  Many advantages came with casting through the Shard, but the one Nick liked most was that it gave him enough extra mana due to improvements in efficiency and the increased power of his spells. This allowed him to finally sustain flying without dipping into his reserves.

  It was a small thing and didn’t significantly alter his mobility, since [Air Step] was already a reliable way to engage in three-dimensional fighting. However, it was a milestone he had been striving for since the beginning of his forays into wind magic, and reaching it made him feel more accomplished than any other powerful spell had.

  The System had acknowledged his efforts as well, so he wasn’t the only one who thought it was a big deal.

  I should be able to increase my maneuvering speed quite a bit with this. Sure, I could have done that with [Air Step], but it was never meant to be my main movement spell. [True Flight] was always the goal.

  Monte eyed his floating form with a mix of genuine curiosity and growing amusement. He could clearly tell just how giddy Nick was, despite his best efforts to keep a stoic face.

  Malik and Yvonne, on the other hand, were struggling not to gape, and it was only their professionalism that allowed them to keep their cool as they led through the artificial forest surrounding the village they had been told to scout.

  “We’re coming up on the woodsmen’s camp,” Yvonne grunted, tearing her eyes away from his floating form and staring straight ahead, where a path was starting to show among the rows of skinny trees.

  For a managed forest, it was quite lively, since Nick could sense critters of all kinds around them, both burrowed in the ground or watching from the highest branches.

  They were all far too weak for him to bother with, so he ignored them, scanning in the direction Yvonne had pointed to for possible surprises.

  According to the intel Monte’s father had passed along, this village was home to two feuding clans: one specializing in woodworking and the other in hunting. Both clans relied on each other to manage the thicket, but they had also sworn loyalty to different noble houses, which made the place very tense at a time like this.

  When several top hunters went missing for longer than expected, the clan’s matriarch sent word to her liege lord about suspected foul play, since nothing alive in these woods should have been able to take out that many skilled men.

  It didn’t take long for Nick to pick up on a trail of intense emotions, ranging from despair to fear.

  The smell of unwashed bodies and blood grew stronger the further they went, and when they reached the camp, they discovered its source.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Goddamnit, what the fuck happened here?” Malik grunted, eyeing the massacre in shock.

  Nick floated onward and stopped in the middle of the camp, where he could see all the bodies scattered around. As expected, the hunters they’d come looking for were there, but it looked like they’d put up quite a fight, considering the number of other men lying dead nearby.

  “They got ambushed and captured, but managed to rebel at some point,” Monte said flatly, crouching over one of the hunters and lifting a limp hand that showed signs of ropes being used.

  “If they could take them all prisoners, how come they lost control that easily?” Yvonne asked, and that was the million-coins question.

  Nick tried to divine more from the emotions that filled the ether, but the time that had passed, at least a day, had dulled things enough that he couldn’t sense anything beyond the obvious.

  “If I had to guess,” he said gravely, staring down at the rivulets of dried blood that now fed the earth, “I would say that the woodsmen were accompanied by someone more powerful, who left them once the hunters were caught. That gave the prisoners enough hope to mount an escape, and led to what we’re seeing now.”

  Monte nodded slowly, considering his words carefully. “That would make sense. But in that case, where is that person? The traces are old enough that unless they were completely pulled away from the area, which I doubt, they should have come back.”

  They stared at each other for a long moment before the only plausible explanation became clear to them.

  Nick didn’t hesitate to envelop the two adventurers in a wind bubble and, for the first time, tested the limits of his newest spell.

  [True Flight] used all the mana he pumped into it and shot him forward, giving him enough speed and maneuverability to cross hundreds of feet every couple of seconds.

  Monte was right behind him, employing all his skills to keep pace, while Malik and Yvonne struggled to regain their composure, but ultimately accepted that they would be carried along without any say in the matter.

  There wasn’t much time; if what Nick feared was true, he poured on the mana, pushing [True Flight] to its limits and causing the Shard to glow with a deep inner light.

  He also cast his mind out, scouring the forest for the village for any trace that might lead him to the actual village, and eventually found it, though not because of his efforts.

  A column of smoke rose up in the distance, and he adjusted his course to head toward it.

  We’re up against someone who could take down a group of experienced hunters on their own. I should expect at least level sixty, but probably seventy, and for them to have some kind of artifact if the pattern continues.

  That the Hones would send people to take over villages had been expected, as had subterfuge and the redirection of monsters. He hadn’t, however, thought they would go so far as to massacre civilians.

  They have the cover of monsters doing the deed, but I don’t understand what they would gain by going this far. It’s a blow to their enemies, sure, and it shows they can’t protect their people, but this was a contested village. Is it just because they want plausible deniability? Do they sacrifice their own people so nobody can accuse them?

  By the time they reached the village, half of it was already in flames, and Nick, having lived near a forest long enough, knew that if it wasn’t brought under control quickly, the entire thicket would be consumed.

  It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, since the forest covered only a dozen square miles and was surrounded on all sides by the clay plains of the Sunlands. However, it would be a deadly blow to the local economy. It would increase nearby communities' dependence on external trade, bringing coin and power to the Hones, who held a stranglehold over everything that came into the region.

  That alone might have been enough to justify their actions, though he still wasn’t sure.

  Nick dropped off Malik and Yvonne at the village’s outskirts and directed a whisper of wind to guide them to where he sensed the survivors of the rampage.

  Monte, he sent to manage the burning houses closest to the trees. A firebreak was necessary, and he couldn’t spare the time to take care of it personally.

  He, on the other hand, fell upon the fire mage who was still cackling while commanding his element to burn more houses, like an avenging angel.

  The Shard’s orb glowed a deep green, and the oxygen within a hundred-foot radius was ripped away from the flames, snuffing them out, while Nick released a pressured jet of water at the madman.

  Showing a strong sense of awareness, the mage wasn’t caught off guard. Purple flames surrounded him and absorbed most of the strike, cutting its power enough that he was only pushed back instead of pierced through as Nick had intended.

  “I knew it!” the man grunted as he got up. “I knew we should have just eliminated those bastards! Who are you with, the Charmaces? Those cunts could never understand when they should have bowed down!”

  Nick touched down, staring back impassively. “Are you done?” he asked.

  “Do you know who you are speaking to?” the man growled, but he didn’t make the basic mistake of announcing himself, which was more tact than Nick would have expected.

  They stared at each other for a long moment, with the distant crackling of burning wood and the cries of survivors being led away from their homes in the background.

  “Tsk,” the mage spat, “first those idiots get themselves killed, then I have to round everyone up on my own. I should get paid twice for all I’m doing.”

  Nick lifted an eyebrow. He’d known that some people were willing to use their powers for money under any circumstances, and he wasn't an angel himself, but there was a clear difference between that and burning down an entire village without hesitation.

  And yet, he sensed no real cruelty from the man. His joy in his own greatness, pride in his flames, and irritation at having to work longer than needed were evident, but to this person, the massacre was just another day’s work. He would sleep tonight without any weight on his conscience.

  “Why would the Hones want everyone here dead? There are hundreds of targets that would be more acceptable,” he asked, though he didn’t really expect an answer, both because the man was a professional and wouldn’t reveal his master’s intentions like that, and because he could sense the buildup in the nearby flames.

  He’d managed to smother a good portion of them with his oxygen trick, but magical fires didn’t necessarily need to rely on regular fuel and could be fed by mana just as easily. That was what the man was doing, though he was holding them from roaring back with a vengeance at the moment, likely to catch him off guard by releasing them all at once.

  “You really shouldn’t have gotten involved in these matters, kid. People with more power than you can imagine are fighting, and now you’ll die because you couldn’t read the room.”

  That was the signal. A tsunami of flames erupted around him from all sides, hot enough to melt steel.

  Nick felt no remorse as he swung the Shard and unleashed his own wrath. Thunder roared, and the wind howled as he directed the storm's power at his enemy.

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