[T001 / June 20, 843, Saturday / 14:21 / Lunabell, Southern Border of Kaizeros, Deep within the Silver Moon Labyrinth / ⛅️]

A silence hangs over the labyrinth passage. In the deep darkness where no light exists except for the faint afterglow of mana flowing along the cold stone walls, Lian Serpent gripped the hilt of the sword at his waist and spread his sharp senses in all directions. It was strange. It was unusual enough that such a powerful and abnormal wave of magical power was detected in the depths of the 'Silver Moon Labyrinth,' which was classified as a relatively low grade, but the sight he encountered after entering shook his common sense even further.

The corridor was filled with the corpses of magic beasts. All of them had collapsed as if their souls had been cleanly plucked out, without a single external wound. There were no burn marks, nor wounds from a sword. These were the traces of annihilation that only a top-tier mage could perform, erasing existence itself with overwhelming magical power. A premonition flashed down his spine that coming here under the Emperor's secret decree might have been inevitable, as even he, known as the Empire's strongest magic swordsman, had never seen such precise and merciless mana control.

Entering through a gap in the massive stone door at the end of the corridor, Lian finally faced the source of that magical power. In the center of the cave's wide space, a figure deeply shrouded in a black robe stood alone before a Minotaur. And then, it happened in an instant.

Clang---!

A flash of light erupted along with a violent roar that shook the earth. The sight that unfolded before Lian's eyes afterward was even more unbelievable. At the figure's feet lay the massive corpse of the Minotaur, which had been the ruler of this area until a moment ago, looking exactly like the previous magic beasts.

Lian's blue eyes shone as cold as ice. That person is the culprit behind all of this. An unidentified mage is committing a massacre in a border labyrinth. Both the purpose and identity are unclear. Only one thing was certain: they were an uncontrollable 'variable' that could threaten the stability of the Empire.

Lian slowly closed the distance while suppressing his presence. The opponent seemed not to have noticed him yet, focused on collecting something from the Minotaur's corpse. Is it a rare material? However, it was hard to believe that someone who so easily handled a high-level beast, which even an S-class adventurer could not guarantee to defeat alone, would cause such a commotion just for materials. Dozens of hypotheses collided in Lian's head.

Just then, the robed figure stood up as if they had finished collecting. And as if they had known he was there from the beginning, they turned their head and looked exactly toward the darkness where Lian was hiding. Beneath the deep hood, he felt a gaze that seemed to perfectly pierce through his presence.

Lian decided that hiding further was meaningless and emerged from the darkness before the figure could flee. He was also wearing ordinary adventurer-style leather armor instead of his uniform to hide his identity, but he could not hide his upright posture forged by years of training and the calluses on his hand from holding a sword.

"...Identify yourself."

His voice was low and calm. He didn't harbor unnecessary hostility, but he didn't relax his vigilance for a moment as he watched the opponent's every move. Without taking his hand off his sword, he asked, cutting through the silence of the labyrinth. The figure in the black robe stood facing him without any answer. In the silence, the air between the two was filled with tension like a taut bowstring.