When A Mage Revolts

Benjamin first followed the man in black that had just left.

The remaining two still needed to continue their search, so they surely would not leave. He would leave them until the end

He followed him from behind but only a few minutes later, came to a street that was the perfect location to strike.

He firmed his heart and used the non-verbal casting spell to summon a Waterball to wrap around the man in black, trapping him within it. The combat ability of the man was, predictably weak as Benjamin had guessed.

The surprise attack had shocked beyond words; he kicked around like a frog but couldn’t move an inch. It didn’t stop there, he tried to open his mouth to call for help which allowed to water to rush in, only quickening his death.

Benjamin changed his method of imprisonment.

He still intended to use this man to frame others, so it wouldn’t do if he were to drown here.

The Waterball quickly started to spin and not long after, the man instead fainted from the turbulence. Benjamin then dispelled the spell, lifted him with water steam, and headed back.

"Enemy count: -1; Item obtained: An unconscious man in black." The System must have been bored to suddenly appear and announce in his standard system voice.

"..."

Benjamin couldn’t be bothered to respond.

He rushed back while dragging the unconscious man. He returned to the original and prepared to finish off the remaining two.

What he didn’t foresee was that in the dark corner, there was no figure in sight.

The men that were originally crouching on the ground were nowhere to be found.

Benjamin was stunned. Where were they?

He immediately activated the water element sensing technique to search his surroundings but was still unable to trace the two.

Benjamin felt something was amiss.

They were still looking for clues so intently just a moment ago and now there was not a trace of them. Could they fly or what? His real concern was, the reason of their sudden leave.

The scroll was in Benjamin’s hands. Sending one person to report back while the remaining people continued their search would be the most feasible way to prevent losing their last trail.

Unless...

"Ding! System reminder to use item: Fainted man in black, as clue to proceed with plot." The System appeared again with his stupid mechanical voice.

Benjamin was rendered speechless.

Did the System go cuckoo?

But still, its suggestion wasn’t bad.

Benjamin immediately put the man down and slapped a Waterball of healing on him to wake him up.

"Where did your other two companions go?" He didn’t have time to dilly dally, so he stabbed the man’s fingers slowly with ice needles.

Once the man awoke, he let out horrified screams of pain. However, Benjamin had already isolated them with in a bubble, so his screams would not spread.

"Where did your two companions go?" He continued to ask.

The man in black returned to his senses from the pain and looked at Benjamin. Surprisingly he let out a cold smirk.

"So-so it was you. We initially thought you were a random passerby on the streets. But quickly we realized that you had just changed your clothes and pretended to be a passerby walking back and forth. We even knew you were following us from behind."

Benjamin was shocked.

This fellow... The three of them saw through his every move.

But he wasn’t too bothered about it; capturing these people was his main task. He then summoned five Ice Needles and stabbed into the fingers of his other hand.

"I’ll ask you again, where did the other two go!"

Another scream.

The man was still staring at Benjamin with a smirk despite the earlier scream. He spoke with a weakened voice, "How bad do you think our tracking skills are? We only used five minutes to locate your covered-up tracks. It wasn’t long before we were able to identify you and see through your plan.

Benjamin narrowed his eyes, "Oh really? What did you see through?"

"I don’t know what you’re planning to do but you will not succeed." The man smiled coldly, "We know we can’t defeat you, so we pretended to go separate ways to lure you out. You want to capture them? Don’t even think about it. Once you left, the other two ran separate ways. They will tell everybody else, so you will not be able to catch them."

He knew he would not see the light of day, so he laughed out loud and to provoke Benjamin.

"Oh, really?" Benjamin snorted, "So what if they told others? You guys wouldn’t be able to retrieve the scroll with your abilities."

"No! We will grab it back!" The black man viciously said, "Do you think you’re so great? We still have one sacred stone. Once we summon the strength of god, you won’t be able to stop us!"

Benjamin smiled coldly, "Strength of God? The green glow from the ruins? So sorry, you guys with those little toys won’t be able to beat me."

"Do not slander the almighty god!" The man in black became agitated and shouted, "Once we obtain God’s strength, that will be the end of magic and you’ll be screwed!"

... Oh?

Benjamin wiped his cold smirk away and nodded as if in deep thought.

Mm... He managed to dig up enough dirt.

"Perhaps... Anyway, thanks for sharing your information." He smiled and patted the man’s shoulder, "I wasn’t sure of your capabilities and so restricted myself. But now... Thank you for revealing that you have one sacred stone left and that magic will be abolished. This is very valuable information. I didn’t know much about you guys but now because of you, I have a good idea."

He smiled so widely and happily that the man was stunned.

"You... you did that on purpose?"

His eyes popped wide open, with voice trembling, as though his whole world had crumbled.

Benjamin nodded with a smile.

Although this wasn’t the plan, but since things had advanced to this stage, he decided to go with the flow.

"You... You..."

The man in black returned to his senses and stared at a gleeful Benjamin. He was filled with so many emotions that his mouth was wide open, but he could not speak a word.

"Don’t worry about it, I won’t kill you. Since you like to talk so much, I hope you will still be talking like this when you face lord knight Lance."

"You... You..."

The man wanted to question more but his eyes were no longer in rage but rather, despair. He trembled in despair — the despair of unconsciously betraying his belief.

How pitiful. His brothers and sisters will die because of him.

Benjamin smiled coldly at the thought of it.

He spoke once again, without empathy, "Don’t worry, I will make sure you and your brothers, under the view of the city, to die by guillotine in Rayleigh City."

He clenched his fist and struck downwards. The man’s head snapped backward and he fell unconsciousness.