Chương 15: Investigation

Ch 15 - Investigation Before Evan stood a gaunt man with wild gray hair sticking out in every direction beneath a baseball cap pulled low over his brow. Thin-framed glasses rested on a tired face shadowed by dark circles, making him look as though he hadn't slept in days. A faded zip-up hoodie hung loosely over a wrinkled T-shirt, paired with baggy jeans and worn sneakers. The man slowly swept his gaze around the warehouse, his eyes passing right through Evan, who stood only a few steps in front of him.

Evan quietly stepped aside as the man walked past. Behind him, the Rift sealed itself shut with a faint zip, disappearing as though it had never existed. The man casually slipped a strange device in his hand into his backpack. The device was a compact handheld machine about the length of a forearm. It had a pistol grip beneath a dark gray metal body, with a short barrel extending from the front. Near the tip, a thumb-sized dark crystal sat behind a transparent casing, protected by a thick metal ring.

Evan narrowed his eyes as he watched the strange man leave the warehouse. For a moment, he considered following him, but quickly dismissed the idea. His stealth skill would wear off soon, and once it did, he'd have to wait for the cooldown before he could use it again. It was better to stay put. Besides, he had a feeling the man would eventually return and enter the Rift once more. He hid behind a stack of shipping pallets and considered his situation. Whoever that man was, he was trouble.

More importantly, he possessed some kind of technology capable of opening a Rift. Nothing about this Rift matched what Evan knew about ordinary Rifts. It didn't appear to be active. If it were, the RCB would have detected it long ago. Considering how casually the man had stepped out using that device, there was a high chance he was using the Rift as a hidden base. Now the question was what Evan should do next. He was fairly certain the man would return eventually.

Evan could simply record him entering the Rift, send the footage to the authorities, and wash his hands of the entire matter, but… He glanced at the System window that had appeared once again. [Quest] [Objective: Investigate the Rift] [Time Limit: 17: 39: 20] [Reward: ■■■■■■] Yeah, Evan didn't think the System would be satisfied with him waiting outside. It definitely wanted him to enter the Rift. If the decision were entirely his, he would have waited until tomorrow so he could prepare properly.

The problem was the time limit. While he could return immediately after school, he doubted he would be lucky enough to catch the man leaving the Rift again. There was a good chance the man had only come out tonight to buy daily necessities before locking himself away inside his hidden base. That meant this might be his only opportunity to uncover what was really going on. Evan rubbed his throbbing forehead. This was exactly why he hated being a transmigrator.

Sooner or later, he always ended up being pushed into doing something reckless. Around half an hour passed before the man returned to the warehouse. His bag now looked even fuller than before. Evan, once again hidden by his stealth ability, watched as the man pulled out his strange device and pointed it at the Rift, tearing it open once more. This time, Evan was ready. He followed after the man and stepped through the Rift alongside him.

Evan grimaced as the same squeezing, twisting sensation from the Irregular Rift washed over him. Thankfully, instead of being hurled to the ground, he stumbled through and landed on his feet. A vast circular chamber stretched before him. Towering stone walls, thick pillars, and broad staircases gave the place the grandeur of an ancient hall, but what truly caught Evan's eye were the rows of workbenches covered in blueprints and half-disassembled constructs.

Shelves packed with alchemical reagents lined the walls beside massive cauldrons. Off to one side, a modest living space occupied one corner of the chamber, centered around a stone hearth with a bed and a few simple furnishings nearby. Evan saw the man put down his bag at a nearby table and began pulling out the items he had gathered from his exploration outside. True to Evan's suspicion, he seemed to be buying various daily necessities, instant noodles, bread and other supplies.

He moved around the room, examining the blueprints and books, but couldn't understand them. Most of the books seemed written for geniuses or inventors, filled with complex terminology. Though there were a few he could read, "On Rifts and Their Histories" and "Understanding Wyverns and Dragons." Evan stopped at a large window and peeked outside, only to find nothing but darkness stretching endlessly ahead.

The tower itself seemed to stand atop a floating island suspended in an endless void, leaving no doubt that going outside was impossible. He turned his attention to the stairs, pulled out a coin and flicked it upward. Heads meant go up and tails meant go down. It landed on heads, so Evan decided to go downstairs. This lower floor served as a storeroom. Neat stacks of wooden crates and burlap sacks occupied sections of the circular chamber, leaving broad walkways between them.

Some contained preserved food and dried plants, while others held raw materials, supplies, and carefully sorted resources. Against one wall lay the remarkably well-preserved carcass of a massive boar-like monster, its hide and tusks still intact as though it had been stored only days ago. Evan poked around, his eyes lighting up as he noticed an open bag filled with crystals.

They didn't look high grade, but even lower-tier ones were still valuable to Awakeners, capable of being used to cast basic magic without proper skills, much like how Harlan had used one to set the tree on fire. He resisted the urge to take them, knowing the man upstairs would notice if anything went missing. With a reluctant glance at the crystals, he moved on, the thought of lost wealth fading as something else came into view. The sight stopped Evan in his tracks.

Ahead of him was a group of children chained inside a large cage. They looked weak and exhausted, their clothes dirty and their expressions pale. Some lay asleep on the ground while others stared blankly ahead. Among them was a familiar face: Marcus's cousin, Tyler. Evan moved closer to the cage, examining the children. Then he strained his hearing, checking whether the man upstairs was coming down. Hearing nothing, he deactivated his stealth skill. His sudden appearance startled the children who were awake.

"Shh. I'm here to save you guys. Don't scream," Evan said, crouching down to avoid frightening them. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. The children only stared at him with wide, fearful eyes. Evan turned to Tyler.

"You're Marcus's cousin, Tyler, right? He told me about you. My name is Evan."

"You know big brother Marcus?" Tyler's eyes brightened. Evan nodded.

"Yeah. He was very worried about you. He even cried about it." Tyler gave a strained smile, both relieved and saddened.

"I… I'm sorry."

"It's fine. But can you guys tell me what's going on here?" Evan asked. Perhaps seeing how open Tyler was, the others began speaking as well.

"We got kidnapped!"

"I was just coming back from school and he grabbed me!"

"I wanna go home!" Evan raised his hands in a calming gesture.

"Okay, okay. So all of you were taken by the man upstairs. What does he want with you guys?"

"His name is Isaac, I think," Tyler said.

"He sometimes comes down here just to talk to us."

"We don't really understand what he says," another kid said.

"I think he has a pet upstairs," a girl said.

"A pet?" Evan raised an eyebrow. They all nodded.

"A very big pet."

"Sometimes it roars." Evan frowned. Whatever this "pet" was, it certainly was not a small animal that could nip at your heels. Was the man planning to feed these children to it? Still, it did not seem like enough to sustain something large.

"I see. Thanks for answering, kids," Evan said as he got up.

"Brother Evan. Please free us!" one child shouted.

"I don't want to stay here anymore!"

"Shh, shh. Calm down. I will release you guys, but first I need to handle that man and his pet, alright?" Evan said.

"If I let you out now, you will get hurt. At least like this, the man won't see you as a threat. Just stay here a bit longer. I will definitely save you." With that, Evan used his stealth skill again. The children exchanged worried and tense looks but could only keep quiet. Evan made his way back up, passing each floor until he reached the level above the man's living quarters. There, he saw a horrifying sight.

Before him lay a wyvern with dark scales, sprawled across the Tower's broad, flat rooftop as though it had claimed the ancient structure as its personal perch. Its long neck curled loosely, with its head resting on a foreleg like a pillow. The tip of its tail flicked now and then, while slow, steady breaths lifted its broad chest. Every so often, a low rumbling snore drifted through the air. What drew his attention the most was the demonic sigil branded onto the creature's forehead.

It took the shape of a three-pronged claw forming a broken circle, three curved, fang-like strokes pointing inward, each uneven in length, with the bottom stroke split at the tip as though it had cracked during carving. To anyone else, it might have looked like nothing more than an odd symbol, yet Evan could feel the dark aura radiating from it even from where he stood. Belzaroth's sigil. Evan had seen that mark more times than he cared to remember.

Although Reuel had never faced Belzaroth himself, and he wasn't the Demon King Reuel had slain, he had spent years hunting the demonic beasts born from his corruption. Every one of them had borne that same symbol, and seeing it on Earth sent a chill down Evan's spine. How is this possible? There were only a handful of ways a demonic beast could come into existence. The rarest was through the direct blessing of a Demon King, but he dismissed that almost immediately. The wyvern was far too weak.

That left the far more troubling explanation: someone had deliberately corrupted an ordinary monster through Demonic Arts by imprinting the sigil onto it. Such a feat demanded both forbidden knowledge and tremendous power. Evan's gaze shifted to Isaac, who was leisurely brushing the wyvern's scales with the fondness of a man grooming a beloved pet. Was he involved? Evan activated You're Not Supposed To See This, bringing Isaac's status window into view.

[Name: Isaac Cadwell] [Age: 48 years old] [Status: Unawakened] [Title: Demonic Arts Practitioner] An unawakened man, but a demonic arts practitioner. That meant he would not possess any Awakener skills or boosts, but that did not make him weak. Evan knew how dangerous demonic arts practitioners could be. From reading Chronicles of a Demon Hunter, he knew that dealing with them often caused more trouble than pure demons. There was no way Evan would dare challenge him head-on.

It would be wiser to retreat and look for outside help. Maybe he should even call Reid back. As the Legendary Demon Hunter, Reid would make quick work of this practitioner of the demonic arts and his pet demonic beast. Just as Evan was about to move back down, the wyvern suddenly stirred. Its closed eyes opened, revealing a deep, intense red that locked onto Evan despite his stealth skill. Crap, Evan thought.

He did read that wyverns and dragons were especially sharp, but he did not expect it to notice him so easily.

"What's wrong?" Isaac asked, turning toward the direction the wyvern was looking. The wyvern growled and stood up. Evan moved to retreat, but Isaac was faster. With a wave of his hand, dark flames shot toward him. Evan dropped down just in time, but the fire caught his hoodie. He ripped it off and threw it aside, yet Isaac had already locked onto his position.

"You there!" Isaac shouted as he gave chase. Evan deactivated his stealth but did not stop sprinting. He ran straight back down to the storage floor and grabbed the bag of magic crystals. He was not confident he could take the man down with only his pocket knife, but with these, he might have a chance.

"Ignara!" Evan shouted as he threw a red fire crystal at Isaac, who had just reached the storage floor. The man crossed his arms as the fire exploded in front of him. However, because the crystal was low quality, it only left scorch marks on his clothes and hair. Evan clicked his tongue and threw more magic crystals.

"Zephiron! Ignara!" This time he threw two at once, hoping wind and fire would combine and amplify the damage. The crystals detonated on impact, erupting into a larger, more violent blast that roared through the storage floor, scattering debris and shaking the stacked crates. But Isaac did not flinch. With a wave of his hand, he unleashed dark flames that surged forward and met the explosion head-on, clashing against the fire and tearing through the wind in a violent counterburst.

"Frostrein!" Evan fired two ice crystals next. They cut through the dark flames, leaving streaks of freezing mist in their wake, and struck Isaac's feet. Frost erupted on impact, rapidly crawling over the ground and locking his boots in place as ice crept upward, binding him to the floor. Evan grinned as he saw the man immobilized. This time, he picked up two wind crystals, intending to cut him in two.

"Zephiron!" he threw them. The man's eyes widened in horror. … But nothing happened. Thud. Thud. The crystals fell like pebbles to the ground, and Evan's smile froze on his face. It seemed he had run out of mana. This time, Isaac was the one who grinned. He blasted the ice around his feet apart with dark flames and stepped forward as the fragments dissolved into hissing steam. Seeing his bloodthirsty look, Evan tossed aside the useless crystals and raised his hands in surrender.

"How about we talk?" Evan asked with a grin.