Chapter 680 : Illusion

Under the night sky of Falano, several figures soared through the air. Their broad, heavy stone wings carried them on the cold evening wind, bearing their weight forward in flight. Above them shone the bright moon and countless stars, while the earth below lay in darkness.

Leading the group of flying figures was one of the Dark Gold Society’s stewards—Angley. At the moment, he was flying through the sky with his stone wings fully spread, harnessing the power of wind stored within them. Not far from Angley flew two other winged gargoyles—one of them was Roke, and the other was a slightly older man with graying hair, dressed in formal gentleman’s attire.

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

“How much farther, Angley?”

While flying, the elder Beyonder spoke plainly. Up ahead, Angley responded without looking back.

“Almost there, Craven. They’re stopped moving—it looks like they’re finally reached their hideout. Hmph, running that far… they’re certainly cautious.”

As he said this, a monocle had appeared over Angley’s right eye. Streams of glimmering light flowed across the lens—he seemed to be using the information displayed within it to track the thief’s location and guide the team forward.

“All this time, and that thief hasn’t sensed a thing? Hmph… So their tricks are only good for fooling ordinary people. As a Beyonder, they’re nothing special.”

This came from Roke, flying off to the side, his expression filled with both anger and contempt. He was clearly eager to confront the thief who had “stolen” his collection in name—and give him a taste of real power.

“You’re giving them too much credit,” Craven replied bluntly.

“The replica they stole was meticulously crafted with fragments from Lord Frederico himself. It was infused with deep and subtle Shadow concealment—far beyond the perception of a typical Beyonder.

“That thief likely used some form of mystical detection to check the stolen item for tracking markers or imprints. But the mystical anomaly within the necklace is impossible to detect with ordinary means. Only a Lantern of sufficient strength—stronger than most White Ash-rank Beyonders—could have any chance of revealing it. But the thief themself is a Shadow. They don’t have that capability.”

After Craven’s analysis, Angley added.

“Craven is right. That fake wouldn’t have slipped by unnoticed if it weren’t created by Lord Frederico and Mr. Dalis. As showy as that clown is among mortals, we can’t deny that they have some skill. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have pulled one over on Garib in Adria using the Church. They’re likely above your average White Ash-rank. We mustn’t let our guard down.”

Angley’s words caused Roke to fall silent, nodding slightly as he quietly followed Angley through the sky.

The Maria’s Light exhibition had indeed been a trap laid by the Dark Gold Society. They had anticipated Thief K’s arrival—but they didn’t believe the thief would foolishly bring the golden base, a trophy unrelated to the theft, to the scene. Therefore, from the start, they had never planned to catch the thief at the exhibition itself. Instead, they let the thief steal Maria’s Light, using the tracking imprint hidden within to follow the thief back to their hideout. They were certain the base would be hidden there.

And so, the three continued flying for some time. After a few more minutes, Angley began to descend gradually.

“We’re almost there. Let’s go down.”

With that, the trio quickly descended toward the darkened land below. Soon, they landed on solid ground. Looking around, they found themselves in a gently rolling hilly region, standing atop a dirt slope.

Surveying the darkness, Angley locked eyes on a nearby hill. Bathed in moonlight, an ancient, crumbling fortress stood there—clearly very old.

“That abandoned fortress is where the signal stopped. They, or perhaps

they

, have their hideout there,” Angley stated. (

T/N: First ‘they’ was a single person gender neutral pronoun

)

Upon hearing this, Roke sneered.

“Looks like something left over from the Cold Moon Civil War… They think a relic like that will protect them? Hah…”

“Let’s not waste time. Begin the operation,” Craven said with solemnity.

With those words, the three began to sink into the ground, like melting into water, disappearing beneath the surface.

As Gargoyles, the trio used their natural talents to burrow through the earth, swiftly approaching the ruins from underground. Soon enough, they drew close to the fortress. Along the way, they used their abilities to sense the structure above—and, as expected, discovered a large open space below. Faint tremors confirmed that the area was occupied and active.

From these vibrations, they realized the seemingly abandoned fortress was in fact the surface above a subterranean base—home to several individuals. Increasing their speed, they tunneled toward the underground space.

During their infiltration, they encountered some anti-material mystical detection spells. But these were quickly dealt with, allowing them to continue. Before long, they reached the wall of the underground chamber. With only a thin stone layer between them and their target, they used their abilities to see through the wall and observe the interior.

As expected, unlike the dark, desolate surface, the underground area was brightly lit. Multiple rooms and corridors were connected in a well-maintained, orderly fashion. The space was clean and neatly arranged with living essentials—clearly someone had been residing there for a long time.

Through the thin wall, they observed several people in different attire moving between rooms. Key access points were guarded, and there were about a dozen inhabitants in total.

The trio moved quietly through the surrounding stone, observing the area from walls, ceilings, and corners, carefully seeking out their true target.

Soon, their search bore fruit.

Inside a spacious underground room with a closed door, filled with exquisite furniture, they found the person they had been tracking—Thief K.

At that moment, Thief K appeared to have only just returned to their hideout. They were still dressed in their flamboyant masquerade-style costume, and hadn’t even removed the half-mask on their face. Sitting behind a large desk, they were toying with their recently acquired prize: Maria’s Light. And on the desk before them sat another object that made all three observers burn with desire—a golden, irregularly shaped pedestal. It was clearly the golden pedestal meant to hold the crystals of Maria’s Light!

Under the scorching gaze of the three intruders, Thief K slowly detached the four largest crystals from the necklace and set them into the golden pedestal. Then they began fiddling with it, seemingly trying to activate or discover something. But after several attempts, nothing happened. Watching them tinker with a counterfeit, the three hidden observers nearly laughed aloud. After exchanging brief signals, they decided to act together.

Just as the masquerade-dressed thief continued inspecting the item, a shadow suddenly burst through the sturdy ceiling directly above them, descending in a surprise attack. The first to strike was Roke, now covered entirely in a black-gray layer of hardened stone. He brandished a heavy stone spear, aiming to pierce the thief’s skull.

Sensing danger from above, the thief kicked the table in front of them with one leg, sliding backward along with their chair just in time to dodge the spear.

The missed spear embedded itself into the floor, unleashing a surge of spiritual power into the ground. Instantly, countless sharp, spike-like stone pillars erupted from the earth, radiating outward from the impact point. As they rushed toward, the thief leapt into the air just in time—their chair was shattered beneath them, and the entire room was transformed into a hellscape of jagged spikes, destroying all the furnishings.

In midair, the thief adjusted their posture and landed lightly atop one of the spikes, balancing perfectly on one foot as if performing an acrobatic act. Still holding the golden pedestal fitted with crystals, they tugged down the brim of their top hat, smiling at Roke.

“My, my… guests so soon? I must’ve made some mistake in my earlier performance.”

Thief K spoke cheerfully, but the three from the Dark Gold Society clearly had no intention of exchanging words. With Roke’s ambush having failed, both Angley and Craven—also clad in hardened black-gray armor—burst out from the ground and walls. Wielding a stone hammer and stone axe respectively, they lunged at the thief. The thief quickly jumped to another spike, dodging their assault just as their previous perch was shattered by the impact.

Roke drew his stone spear again and joined the attack. In an instant, the three Gargoyles launched a coordinated assault, phasing through stone and ignoring the spikes beneath them as they attacked from all directions. The thief, despite being in this extremely disadvantageous terrain, continued to dodge and weave, leaping from spike to spike without so much as a scratch.

Realizing conventional attacks were ineffective, Angley broke away from the close-quarters fight and allowed the others to keep the thief occupied. He flew back a short distance, and the orange-yellow markings across his body began to glow. Then, from his mouth, he unleashed a scorching stream of flame that swept across the battlefield. His companions, of course, were immune to this fire—but the thief was another matter.

In response to the oncoming blaze, the thief—having just dodged two attacks—swept their cloak around in a dramatic spin, wrapping it around the flames. Astonishingly, the flames vanished entirely, as if consumed. When the thief unfurled their cloak again, a flock of white doves burst out, flapping wildly as they scattered in all directions.

“What…?”

Angley’s eyes widened in disbelief at this magician’s trick-like display. Meanwhile, Roke and Craven wasted no time. After a flicker of light traced over their bodies, they each opened their mouths—one spewing a dense mist, the other exhaling bone-chilling frost. The room was quickly filled with mist and cold, and within seconds, the thief’s entire body was encased in solid ice atop one of the spikes.

Seizing the opportunity, Angley charged forward, raising his warhammer and smashing it down on the frozen statue. The ice shattered into countless shards. The trio from the Dark Gold Society quickly began searching the fragments for any trace of the golden pedestal.

But it wasn’t there.

Even more baffling—there was no trace of a body within the ice, either. The shards contained nothing but ice—no blood, no remains.

“They’re gone… Where did that thief go?”

Roke muttered in confusion. Just then, from a corner of the room, a damaged wardrobe wedged between spikes suddenly creaked open. From within, the cloaked thief reappeared, leaping atop a spike once more, still holding the golden pedestal and crystals.

“Over here, dear audience…”

“You—how did you end up in there!?”

Angley exclaimed in shock. The thief simply smiled and replied.

“Just a simple escape act. If you’ve ever seen a circus magician before, you might remember: no matter how tight the bind, the magician always escapes in the end.”

They tipped their hat slightly, smiling calmly behind their half-mask as they faced the three stone-skinned Beyonders. Hearing this, all three took a few steps back and exchanged uneasy glances.

“Is this really a mystical power? It’s just… stage magic…”

“This thief’s abilities are bizarre…”

“Then let’s not waste time on games—let’s end it, quickly and cleanly!”

As their exchange ended, Angley pulled a thick stack of sigils from his coat and scattered them into the air. A closer look revealed they were all explosive Lantern Flame Burst Sigils!

“You can escape anywhere? Then let’s see… once I level this entire place, where will you run to?”

As he spoke, orange-yellow markings reappeared across his body, and a searing light gathered in his mouth. Craven and Roke followed suit, forming seething fireballs in their mouths.

In unison, the three Gargoyles unleashed fireballs toward the underground chamber’s floor. Upon impact, the fireballs triggered a chain reaction—igniting every scattered sigil. Explosions roared continuously through the underground complex. As flames surged into every corner, the structure’s supports began to collapse rapidly, initiating a massive cave-in.