?Initiating a mana collapse is not complex; any magus can achieve it by simply letting go of their mental and physical restraints, turning their body into a vessel for rampant mana.

Then, uncontrollable mana would flood into the magus’s body, transforming it into a bomb.

The instability caused by a mana collapse is sufficient to kill any magus of the same level.

This is the last resort for any magus, choosing to self-destruct to take their enemy down with them.

The brilliant silver light at the bottom of Howard’s eyes grew more intense, gradually mingling with faint golden hues.

This was a sign that the body’s mana capacity was nearing its limit.

Once the quantity of mana inside exceeds the body’s mana capacity, mana would irreversibly flood into Howard’s body like a breached dam, turning him into a bomb filled with mana within seconds.

Its power was enough to level everything within a ten-meter radius.

If Soma had reacted the moment Howard began to wildly channel mana, perhaps there was a chance to escape.

But now, his last opportunity was also crushed by Howard’s own hands.

“Die, together with me.”

Howard bared his mouth, revealing a blood-stained, ghastly white grin, resembling a malevolent spirit.

As mana broke through the capacity, Soma lost his ability to speak, and white light began to swell, signaling the imminent explosion.

“Too late again, am I?”

At the edge of a slightly concave, arc-shaped deep crater, Antalya looked down into the empty pit bottom, her face expressionless.

The crater’s radius exceeded ten meters, its edges and surface had turned into a glass-like transparent substance due to the high temperature, leaving nothing behind at the bottom.

Tightening her still-bleeding fist, Antalya didn’t speak again and turned to leave directly.

Although the route chosen by Red Eye and his group was sparsely populated, such a scale of mana explosion could be sensed by anyone in Lorinda capable of feeling mana.

The militia had already been alarmed by this unprecedented mana explosion, and Harry must have received the news by now, expected to arrive within ten minutes.

She had to hurry away, or it would severely jeopardize her subsequent actions.

Red Eye.

Though her face remained expressionless, the tightly clenched teeth and slightly twitching facial muscles betrayed Antalya’s inner rage.

She had failed again.

Not only that, but now Howard’s whereabouts were unknown, and it was highly likely he was dead…

She didn’t know how she would face Vivia.

As the leader of an adventure group, her consecutive failures had pushed the group to the brink of the abyss.

She was a leader who had utterly failed in her duties.

She was prepared to face Greg’s reprimands, but before that, she had to make someone pay the price.

The root of all this, the cause of her failures not once but twice.

Red Eye.

He had to be dead.

…

“Am I really not dead?”

Like surfacing from the dim depths of the ocean, air tinged with the scent of smoke entered his nostrils as Howard opened his eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling.

It wasn’t the wooden structure of a tavern nor the striped wooden boards of an inn but appeared to be a not-so-sturdy thatched roof.

Likely due to prolonged exposure to smoke and fire, the thatch bore a charred color, looking quite worn and leaving one to wonder if it might collapse the next second.

Fortunately, the thatch remained intact until Howard regained consciousness.

Fragmented memories pieced together with his awakening, connecting bit by bit, yet a segment was missing: Where was this place? How had he come to be here?

Howard couldn’t find answers to these questions in his memory.

It seemed someone had saved him…

“You’re awake already, you’re quite resilient.”

A crisp female voice came from one side, prompting Howard to turn his head toward the source of the sound.

It was the only door in the room, and in its frame stood a lively young girl, seemingly no older than eighteen.

Clad in a simple cloth dress, her eyes sparkled with vivacity and a hint of cunning, her exposed skin smooth and delicate, not at all like the daughter of a farming household.

Noticing Howard’s gaze, the girl smiled and lifted the tray she was holding.

“It’s not exactly a feast, but for someone who’s been unconscious for two days, a bowl of hot meat porridge is probably akin to the most delicious delicacy. Your stomach wouldn’t be able to handle much else for the time being anyway.”

Speaking, the girl walked over to Howard’s bedside and sat down, placing the tray aside and naturally helping Howard to sit up straight.

“Who are you?”

Without any resistance, Howard, who found himself immobile the moment he woke up, could clearly feel every part of his body, yet he couldn’t control anything below his neck.

With the girl’s help, sitting up against the wall of the bed, Howard looked at her and said, “I don’t know you… Although I’m grateful for your saving my life, I still hope you can tell me where I am.”

“Come on, have some hot porridge, and then get some sleep. That’s how you’ll recover faster.”

The girl picked up a coarse porcelain bowl, scooped up a spoonful, blew on it gently, and pushed it forward, “Come on, open your mouth.”

Despite the girl’s gentle actions, Howard was not appreciative, instead looking into her eyes and saying, “It seems you haven’t answered my question yet.”

The girl sat up a bit more and frowned slightly.

“Why are you acting so strange upon waking up? Did you hurt your head?”

“I’m asking, who are you, and where is this place?” Howard was now certain that the girl in front of him knew something.

Although a significant part of his evidence came from the girl’s feigned nonchalance, it also included Howard’s own intuition.

The girl in front of him was hiding something, perhaps her identity, perhaps her purpose.

She had saved him, surely not without desires or expectations.

What these expectations entailed, Howard couldn’t yet judge, but undoubtedly, they would bring some unpredictable changes to the current situation.

“Who am I?” The girl was taken aback, her bright eyes widening slightly, a hint of panic in her tone.

“You don’t remember me? I’m your fiancée! We’re supposed to get married next month, under the witness of a priest.”

Although the girl put a lot of effort into her act, it must be said that not all women are born actresses, and clearly, she was not one of them.

Howard sighed, no longer wanting to entangle with this bewildering woman.

“Tell me, what’s your real purpose? Why did you save me? How did you save me? Whatever demands or expectations you have of me, you won’t be satisfied until you answer these questions.”

Howard’s voice was calm, yet it left no room for doubt about his determination.

If the girl refused to answer these questions, although he couldn’t really do anything to her, escaping would definitely be added to his agenda.

Escaping from here, finding out the current situation of Antalya and the others, as well as Lorinda, was Howard’s primary task at the moment.

Dealing with this girl with unclear motives could be postponed until after handling Red Eye, then he could turn back to address her slowly.

“Purpose? Why save you? How did I save you? You sure have a lot of questions, hasn’t anyone ever told you that boys who like to dig too deep are not popular with girls?”

The girl set down the coarse porcelain bowl she was holding, smiling at Howard.

“You must be thinking about how to leave this place right now, but I can tell you clearly, with your current condition, it’s impossible for you to leave. Although I’m not sure what’s going on with your strange constitution, you, unable to move your limbs, can’t even take care of yourself, let alone think about leaving.”

Watching the girl who seemed to have dropped her pretense, Howard fell silent for the first time.

Just as the girl said, in his current state, unable to move his limbs, even if he managed to reunite with Antalya, he would be nothing but a burden.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let you starve.” The girl stood up, looking down at Howard, “Although I really dislike you, the guy who spoiled my fun, well, orders are orders. I’ll still bring your meals on time. If you recover and can leave, you’re more than welcome to try. I definitely won’t stop you.” .𝒎

With that, a cold smirk, filled with mockery and disdain, appeared on the girl’s face.

“But, with you being paralyzed, unable to care for yourself, a cripple, you’ll be living at the mercy of others for the rest of your life, won’t you?”

Howard silently observed the girl, perhaps revealing her true nature, without uttering a word.

He was more aware of the state of his body than the girl before him.

Even though this body wasn’t his original one, he could still feel it being assimilated by some force, transforming this body to resemble his original one.

.