âYour suspicion will be your downfall,â Richard thought with a grin.
When he returned to Apple Town, he strolled around for a bit before slipping into a random house that happened to be empty.
He lit his torch and casually created a shadow monster, in the form of a monkey with a body that could stand upright like a human.
Richard smiled at the sight, then placed his hand on the monkeyâs shoulder.
Buzz!
He sent lightning and darkness surging forth, fusing them into the shadow monkey.
This combination of two Arcane Arts would be the weapon he used for revenge.
Of course, to harm Olivia, he needed to channel more lightning and darkness into the shadow monkey.
DING!
(Your mastery over Lightning of Darkness has increased from 19% to 31%!)
Lightning of Darkness (31%)
Richard suddenly received a shocking notification as he worked.
He became elated, for this meant that Lightning of Darkness, which previously only exploded twice, would now explode four times.
Naturally, this greatly amplified its destructive power.
And if even more Aether was used, it would become utterly terrifying.
Richard drained his Aether and replenished it with Nature Spirit.
For the sake of revenge, he didnât care about wasting Nature Spirit.
After that, he kept channeling lightning and darkness into the shadow monkey.
Twice, three times. He drained his Aether three full times, and that was the limit the shadow monkey could contain.
Of course, this meant the resulting explosion of lightning and darkness would be devastating.
Even a Magus at the Life Aether Realm would suffer, especially if caught off guard.
Once everything was ready, Richard grabbed a random cloak he found in the house, draped it over the shadow monkey, and covered its head with a piece of cloth since the cloak lacked a hood.
Now fully covered, the shadow monkey looked very much like a humanâonly a little hunched, which Richard didnât mind.
Whoosh!
Richard spread his sensing wave across the area, and his eyes immediately lit up.
About a hundred meters away, he found Olivia, observing the very house he was in.
Just as he expected, she had followed him.
"Hehehe, letâs begin!"
Richard stepped out of the house, the shadow monkey following behind him.
Going into a house alone and coming out with a companionâOliviaâs suspicion would definitely skyrocket.
Richard then chose a deserted street, leading toward the secret location.
Whoosh!
A flash of pink light swept past him, snatching away the shadow monkey.
In just an instant, it vanished from Richardâs sight.
He could only show a strange expression.
When fishing, one usually had to wait a few minutes before a fish bit the bait. But this time, the fish had bitten far too quickly.
Though Olivia had already sped away with her incredible speed, Richard could sense her location through the shadow monkey.
He tried making the monkey struggle, so it would seem even more human.
But once they were outside the city, Olivia slowed down.
It seemed she didnât want to arouse suspicion from others.
When they neared the secret location, she would surely accelerate againâ
Whoosh!
Richard gave chase.
He wanted to witness the explosion with his own eyes.
In the end, the woman stopped not far from the secret place.
It was as though she had begun to feel something was wrong with the figure she carried.
After pausing, she pulled away the cloth covering the figureâs headârevealing the shadow monkeyâs face, which even smiled at her.
Oliviaâs expression couldnât have turned uglier.
And right after that, the shadow monkey suddenly swelled.
Boom!
It detonated, unleashing a massive surge of darkness and lightning that instantly annihilated the nearby trees.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Three more explosions erupted within the blast, fiercer than before.
Each one even produced a shockwave that blew away large trees, pulling their roots out of the ground.
Since this was not far from the secret location, the explosion still reached it.
People scrambled in panic, some even needing stronger Magi to carry them away.
"Whoâs crazy enough to unleash an attack here?" someone wondered in shock.
Fortunately, they all managed to escape in time.
As the blast faded into smoke, Liamâthe city lordâsent a gust of wind to disperse it.
Revealed within was a massive crater, large enough to be a pond.
But the most striking sight was the tattered figure of a woman inside the crater, her body charred black in places and her hair standing on end.
She looked so terrifying that she resembled a ghost crawling out of a grave more than a human.
Even some of her flesh appeared swollen.
"Is that Olivia?" some recognized her by her aura.
"Who attacked her?"
"No idea. This doesnât look like a fight. Besides, if she was attacked, why didnât she dodge or counter? Even if the strike was strong, her strength shouldâve been enough to evade or block it."
"Maybe it was a sudden attack right beside her, before she noticed."
"..."
Olivia moved. Though injured and her aura in disarray, she was still a Magus of the Life Aether Realm.
Wounds like that werenât enough to render her helpless.
She could still fight, at most needing a dayâs recovery with simple medicine.
Whoosh!
She leapt out of the crater and fixed her gaze in a certain direction.
There stood Richard, calmly watching her with a smile.
At the very least, Oliviaâs eyes still glowed with pink light.
Yet her eyes trembled as they fell upon Richard, as though she were staring at something terrifying.
Richard didnât know whether she was traumatized or something similar.
If she was traumatized, then that was perfect for him.
After grinning at the woman, Richard turned and bolted back toward the city.
He wasnât afraid of her revengeâshe clearly lacked the strength for it now.
The fault was hers. Who told her to be such a greedy fish?
Richard no longer knew what happened after he left.
The others didnât know he was the cause and he went to the other side of Apple Town to wait for Athena to return.
He didnât even wait so long before seeing the horse carrying Mr. Joe.