"[Bind]"

A blue ring made of mana materialized in the air. The ring then enclosed around the three remaining villains, trapping them in a powerful magical hold.

"Good job! As expected of Octagram students, you guys are a bunch of amazing people! Haha!"

The A-rank hero laughed loudly. So loud that even the snow made a rumbling sound. After hearing that, he shut his mouth immediately.

That was a good choice, because who wants an avalanche after the villain's surprise appearance?

"It's.. nothing. Anyway, sir, can you help us? Our friend was.."

"Ah, that girl, she's the daughter of Andi Nova, right?"

Jihan nodded.

As he heard that, he fell deep in thought–a creepy thought.

'Hoho, the heir of Nova guild.. If I can have her.. then.. hehe..'

His companion realized what he was thinking about judging from his face, so she stepped on his feet.

"Ouch! What?!" he shouted.

The female B-rank hero looked at him in disgust. "You are such a creepy guy.."

"Huh? Why do you suddenly saying that?"

She rolled her eyes, really hating on this so-called A-rank. "Disgusting.."

The hero frowned and turned around, looking back at Jihan.

"First. Who is that guy before, that took your friend away? He doesn't seem to belong in the same group as these guys."

Jihan looked behind, toward the bunch of students. They were all shaking their heads.

"I don't know."

Stroking his chin, the hero then pulled his big sword buried in the snow.

"Well, whoever that guy is. He will pay for his doing just as these three weaklings."

..

Inside the ruins, two students faced each other, with their strikingly different hair colors serving as contrasting features.

One had white hair resembling snow, while the other had black hair resembling the night. Black and white, they were like a yin and yang.

"Zio?" the white-haired boy, Lux, spoke first.

He was surprised to find his friend, Zio, in this place. As far as he noticed, there shouldn't be anyone than him who entered the ruin while the situation outside was in chaos.

'I didn't sense his mana at all..' Lux said inwardly.

Not only that, he was certain that no one could match his speed among his peers. So, Zio being here meant that he could catch up with his speed, but he still didn't believe it.

'But.. There are fresh traces of mana around here, he might be using mana-coating to speed him up."

That's it. The trace of mana, it was filling the whole area but it lead nowhere. Just a random trace that was used to distract a tracking ability.

"Lux..finally.. I can..catch up to you.." said Zio as he gasped for air.

Lux noticed that Zio was panting heavily and was walking rather sluggishly.

"How did you know where I am?"

Zio stopped, bringing his body down, and sit on the floor.

"Right. I've never told you about my skill, it's–"

"It's alright. You don't need to tell me."

Zio smiled as Lux said that.

Letting out a long breath, he stretched his legs.

"Thank you for your consideration."

"Don't mention it. Huu.."

Lux who had been on guard since Zio's sudden appearance, finally could take a breath and sat down again.

The ruin went sleeping, no sounds and strange things happened as the two students happily took their rest time.

As the silence stretched for quite long enough, one of them began to speak, bringing a new day to the sleeping ruin.

"So, have you found out where did they go?" Zio asked.

Lux shook his head first, then slowly got up from his short yet fulfilling resting time.

"Not yet. This guy is quite skilled at faking traces and patterns to make sure no one could follow him. The paths are random, they are leading to nowhere."

"I see.."

Standing up, Zio patted the dust from his clothes. As he was done, he briefly scanned the area.

"Then, just leave the rest to me."

Lux raised his eyebrows. As he was about to ask Zio about the meaning of his words, Lux was interrupted by a small shock coming from Zio who was now closing his eyes.

'A tracking skill? No. This feels like.. a sight-related skill. He's got a rare skill..'

Lux thought, trying to guess the skill type that Zio had just used.

A few moments later, Zio opened his eyes. Once his eyes were fully opened, he looked around while mumbling, "Broken pillar.. ruin debris.. and a monument?"

"Are you describing a place?"

Zio turned to Lux and nodded. "Yes. Do you happen to know where that place is? One with broken pillar and monument close to each other."historical

Putting his hand under his chin, Lux fell deep in thought. He tried to recall every detail of the place in the ruin he had passed by.

As his face frowned, the answer was revealed by itself. He didn't know it either.

"Looking at your expression, seems like you don't know about it too."

"Sorry."

"Well. We'd better move around."

Lux nodded in agreement, and the two of them set off to explore the ruin once again, hoping to stumble upon the particular place Zio had sensed.

They carefully treated through the ruins, scanning their surroundings for any sign of the broken pillar and monument.

Zio, who led the party of two actually already knew the place that he referred to. But for some personal reasons, he had to act as if he didn't know about it so they just walked around for at least twenty minutes before eventually arriving at the designated place.

"There! A monument and broken pillar!" Lux exclaimed as he pointed toward them.

Zio simply nodded as he approached the monument, inspecting it carefully with his hand.

Lux stood beside him, watching him with curiosity.

"This is it," Zio said as he traced his fingers along the engraved words on the monument.

"What is it?" Lux asked.

Zio turned to him, his expression serious.

"The monument."

"I can see that.. Is there anything special about it?"

"Yes. Don't you think it's strange that a monument like this is here?"

After hearing that, Lux then realized what Zio meant. He stroked his chin while saying, "You're right. It's indeed strange.."

Zio nodded.

"Right. It's even more strange that you even believe what I just said."

"Yes.. Wait, what?"