Chapter 442

The information Kanzaki Rei extracted from the Phase Mantis far exceeded his expectations.

It wasn’t just the [Phase Grandmother].

Even the armor on its body... had a clear origin.

Through the fragmented impressions, Kanzaki Rei saw it—

An ant, wielding a black hammer, relentlessly forging alloy in an endless rhythm.

[Creator: Fourth Insect Legion — Forge][Legion Officer: Molthorn]

The Fourth Insect Legion...

The Hive actually had an entire legion dedicated to crafting equipment.

This was completely different from anything he knew about monsters.

Even during his time in Moonsea—after combing through countless tomes in the White Tower—he had never encountered anything like this.

The White Tower held vast knowledge.

And yet, there were always things beyond his understanding.

Was the world simply too vast...

Or was the White Tower’s knowledge too limited?

The mantis’s remaining lifespan was extremely short.

Barely one minute.

In fact, almost all the insects had short lifespans...

It was just that along the way, because of Iz Parult’s presence, any insect they encountered had its time of death measured in mere seconds.

After all this time—

Kanzaki Rei’s mastery over his talent had advanced yet again.

Since [Destined Death] merely counted down the fate of others—excluding his own existence—

Then it meant...

He could influence others directly.

And in doing so, he could bring forward the moment of their death.

He might not be able to kill them instantly—

But shortening a lifespan from centuries... down to decades...

Already drastically lowered the threshold for executing them through their destined death.

Take gods, for example.

Beings that could originally live for hundreds of thousands... even millions of years.

But if something hastened their end—

Then Kanzaki Rei could eliminate them far more easily.

The mantis before him...

Was already under such an influence.

Because of Iz Parult’s presence, it was already nearing death.

Which also meant—

Iz Parult could eliminate it in a very short time.

But this time—

There was no need to trouble Iz.

Tap—

Time resumed.

—Crack!

Crackcrackcrackcrackcrackcrackcrack—

Kanzaki Rei’s perception clung to the mantis like adhesive.

And in that instant—

He sensed it traverse billions of kilometers in a blink.

Within a single moment, it had already completed thousands of long-distance flashes.

[Phase Shift]

This was the mantis’s innate ability.

[Skyflow — Ninth Form: Trace · Soul-Imprint Trace]

The base form allowed him to carve marks into an enemy—marks that could later be detonated through various magical triggers.

But this variation—

Soul-Imprint Trace.

Any being marked by him—

Would have its location tracked indefinitely.

And the mark wasn’t limited to the physical body—

It was engraved onto the soul itself.

Moreover—

Mental-type magic could be triggered through these marks...

With effects far exceeding their normal potency.

[Sixth-Tier Root Magic: Disorientation][Calamity of Poison — Madness Toxin]

Most Sixth-Tier magic would struggle to affect an Eighth-Tier Class Advancer.

But monsters were different.

Their mental resistance was typically very low.

And this particular creature—

Possessed a strange level of intelligence.

Not truly sentient like a human—

But not entirely mindless either.

Which made it...

The perfect target for mental magic.

This Root Magic was something Kanzaki Rei had stolen in Moonsea.

Inducing chaos within an enemy in an instant—

That much was easily achievable.

Combined with poison—

The mantis was plunged into complete madness, unable to distinguish friend from foe.

Boomboomboomboomboom—

Every space the Phase Mantis crossed left behind a straight, luminous trail.

And along that line—

Every insect monster was annihilated instantly.

In its frenzy—

The Phase Mantis moved almost entirely at random.

In mere moments, it had already reached a distant, untraceable location.

Relying on perception alone—

It was impossible to track.

Combined with its absurd speed—

Defending against it was nearly impossible.

No...

It wasn’t speed at all.

It was pure spatial movement.

Wherever the mantis passed, the space crystallized into radiant fragments.

Kanzaki Rei noticed—

Around Iz, layers of temporal fluctuations had begun to manifest.

Her gaze remained fixed on the traces left behind by the mantis.

The entire sequence had happened incredibly fast.

In the instant of frozen time, Kanzaki Rei had marked the mantis—

And the next moment, it had already gone mad and vanished.

"Iz, how is it?"

Kanzaki Rei was certain she had noticed it.

An ordinary mage might have missed it entirely...

But not her.

Iz responded calmly.

"It’s the same origin as those spatial rifts."

"So this is how it’s achieved..."

"It’s completely different from the spatial magic described in ancient grimoires."

Kanzaki Rei could see it as well.

The mantis’s movement method was entirely different from the spatial Root Magic he had seen before.

That kind of magic—

Swapped two points in space.

But this—

This was traversal through space itself.

Iz’s voice slowed as she placed a hand lightly against her chin, deep in thought.

Buzz!

Suddenly—

Another phase shift.

Kanzaki Rei sensed it.

The mantis had broken free of its madness—

And returned.

Don’t interfere.

A thought echoed directly in his mind.

Iz’s voice—transmitted through pure mental communication.

Kanzaki Rei did not act.

Pfft!

The instant the Phase Mantis appeared beside Iz—

It froze.

As if caught in countless invisible webs.

In that tiny region—

The space itself had been extracted into nothingness.

This wasn’t destruction.

Not shattering space—

But replacing it.

In a world filled with normal space—

She had inserted a patch of pure void.

And the mantis had fallen directly into it.

The moment it entered—

It lost its ability to phase shift.

—Whoosh!

In the next moment—

Iz Parult raised one hand.

Countless layers of magic gathered instantly—

Seal upon seal, stacking endlessly.

The mantis was locked within nested barriers.

Kanzaki Rei watched her technique...

And couldn’t help but recall his own methods not long ago.

Master and disciple, indeed.

Even the way they captured targets...

Was strikingly similar.

After capturing the Phase Mantis—

Iz held it between her fingers, silently observing it.

Ten minutes passed.

Then—

She looked into the distance once more.

Gently raising her hand—

A blue-violet magic circle formed before her.

—Boom!

Spatial energy surged outward.

A violet trajectory shot forward in a straight line—

And in the next instant—

A perfectly linear pathway extending into the distance was formed.

Kanzaki Rei saw it clearly.

A new spell had appeared on Iz Parult’s status.

[Sixth-Tier Root Magic: Phase Traverse]