After leaving the School Ruins, Shane parted ways with Ehre outside the Graf Granat Domain.
Ehre returned to the expedition camp, while Shane headed back to the location where he had landed after teleporting.
At the mont, he was sitting on a rock, absentmindedly kneading the Debris of a Mana-Depleted Golem in his hand while pondering the effect of the blue attribute [Shape-Shifting].
"Changes the hardness of a target material, making it malleable for one minute. After the duration ends, the material returns to its original hardness."
It didn't seem limited to a specific material or type of target.
That gave it a surprisingly broad range of applications. But what exactly could he use it for? Maybe crafting weapons?
Crack.
Crack.
Just then, a series of stiff, heavy footsteps interrupted his thoughts.
Shane turned toward the sound, but the dense trees blocked his vision. He couldn't see anything. Still, the footsteps kept approaching, growing clearer and clearer. Every step was dull, rhythmic, and unnervingly steady.
Sohow, the sound felt familiar.
Like sothing clad in armor, moving slowly...
"Undead!!"
Shane shot to his feet, alarm bells blaring in his mind.
Without hesitation, Goddess's Barrier spread open. In an instant, his figure vanished from sight, slipping into concealnt.
Crack.
Crack.
The horrifying footsteps continued increasing in number. There were many of them. And those rigid yet orderly footsteps were heading directly toward him.
Shane stood frozen in place, holding his breath, barely daring to inhale.
Had he already been discovered?
Were they wandering Undead, or controlled Undead?
A mont later, towering figures slowly erged from the forest. Their entire bodies were wrapped in heavy armor, longswords hanging from their waists. Most terrifying of all, none of them had heads. Their necks were empty, yet they still maintained perfect formation as they marched forward with uncanny precision.
The instant he saw them clearly, Shane's blood nearly froze solid.
A terrifying na surfaced in his mind.
Aura the Guillotine.
Headless puppets were one of Aura the Guillotine's twisted hobbies.
Shane was stunned.
Why would he run into them here?
The entire headless squad brushed past the edge of the barrier, moving slowly forward, passing only a short distance away from him.
Thankfully, they didn't seem to be targeting him.
As the procession advanced, the figure at the rear finally entered his field of view.
The man wore a dark blue noble coat that reached his knees. Gold trim decorated the cuffs and hem, while golden buttons lined the front. Around his neck was a white ruffled cravat, giving him an elegant, aristocratic appearance.
A textbook noble outfit.
If one ignored the sharp demonic horns protruding from his head...
The demon walked gracefully through the forest. Casually, he removed a pair of white gloves stained with fresh blood, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, then crushed the gloves into dust with magic.
Shane stared intently at the demon as his brain worked rapidly.
A sowhat unfamiliar na surfaced in his mind.
Lügner.
One of Aura's "executioners."
His job was specifically to decapitate the human generals Aura collected as puppets, turning them into headless armored soldiers. Judging from what he had just done... had he finished another execution? And wiping blood from his mouth ant...
Shane suddenly felt sick to his stomach.
Just as he was thinking that, Lügner suddenly stopped walking.
He glanced toward Shane's hiding place and sniffed the air lightly, confusion flickering across his eyes.
Shane imdiately held his breath tighter.
Even though Goddess's Barrier had flawless concealnt, who knew whether a demon's nose might be sharper than a dog's?
Fortunately, Lügner only paused briefly and didn't investigate further.
Only after every last headless knight had disappeared did Shane finally relax slightly. Even then, he didn't drop the barrier imdiately. He patiently waited a long ti longer, until not a single extra sound remained in the forest.
Only then did he let out a breath.
Lügner's appearance finally reminded him of sothing.
The outskirts of Graf Granat Domain where he currently was... wasn't this the very place where Frieren fought Aura? No wonder Lügner had appeared here with a squad of headless soldiers...
"I really don't know if my luck is good or bad. How did I end up landing in a place like this?"
Shane scratched his head irritably.
Night gradually fell.
Hidden inside Goddess's Barrier, he transford into a mushroom and continued waiting quietly.
Honestly, seeing sothing that horrifying right before sleeping was a terrible idea. After witnessing the headless army and Lügner, he barely slept the entire night. He had nightmare after nightmare, terrified that Aura would catch him and turn him into a headless general too.
Two days later.
After eating all the food and water Ehre had left him, just as he was reaching the limit of how much longer he could keep hiding—
A gigantic magic circle suddenly appeared beneath him.
Pale blue light rose from the ground, slowly spinning faster and faster.
Then, without warning, his entire body was dragged into the blinding magical light, instantly transporting him back into the underground Treasury.
The Treasury looked exactly as it had when he left.
Completely empty.
Wait, what?
Why was he back in the Treasury? Shouldn't he have returned to the surface?
Only a few seconds passed before another magic circle appeared beneath his feet again, not even giving him ti to adjust to the darkness.
Flash—
White light exploded around him.
He landed hard on rough sandy ground with a thud.
"Cough! Cough cough—"
Not far away, Stark had been drinking water. Startled out of his mind, he spat it out instantly and nearly choked himself coughing.
"Mr. Shane!"
Fern cried out in surprise.
Frieren also turned to look.
Seeing the three of them standing there together, Shane was a little surprised. He honestly hadn't expected these three to wait around for him.
"Mr. Shane, thank goodness you're alright."
Fern hurried over and circled around him anxiously, checking him over from head to toe. Relief filled her eyes. The girl grabbed his arms, inspecting him left and right, even comparing his height as though checking whether he had lost any body parts.
"Sorry. I disappeared for two or three days and made you all worry."
The mont those words left his mouth, Fern froze.
"Two or three days? Mr. Shane, you've been missing for twenty days..."
Twenty days?!
That couldn't be right.
He had only spent one day with Ehre, then waited two more days at the teleport point. At most, it should've been three days total. So how had twenty days passed?
Shane's mind imdiately beca a ss.
But before he could sort it out, Fern suddenly tugged at his clothes and frowned.
"Mr. Shane, weren't you... whose clothes are you wearing right now?"
Beside them, Frieren—who had been expressionless the whole ti—instantly changed expression after hearing that sentence.
"Shane, take them off right now!"
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