Noel and Alice remained alone in the torture chamber. Alice, as if utterly traumatized, curled up in a corner.
Noel wasn't sure what to do, so he simply sat on the floor, letting things be. This was likely a mental wound, something far beyond his ability to help.
Time ticked by, second by second. Outside, it remained eerily quiet, with no one entering.
"What time do they usually come to torture you?" Noel asked curiously. The wait was becoming too long, and continuing to wait would be a waste of time.
With this much time, he could have accomplished a lot more. If not for repaying this debt, he would never have chosen to stay here waiting.
"It's usually around this time. Darmon should be here soon," Alice whispered from her corner.
She was terrified of being tortured again, and the person before her was her only hope for rescue. Right now, Noel was her sole lifeline.
If she missed this chance to escape, she would likely die under Darmon's torment.
She had once thought about biting her tongue to end her life, but after so long, she never had the courage to follow through.
In the end, she was simply afraid of death, though living like this was hardly any different from dying.
"I'll wait a bit longer. I always keep my promises."
Noel continued to sit, waiting. He wasn't cold-blooded; he could see the deep fear in Alice's eyes.
No ordinary person would have that expression.
Gradually, there were sounds outside the door. In the silence, the screech of the iron door scraping against its latch sounded especially harsh.
"He's here," Alice whispered softly, so quietly only Noel could hear.
Noel signaled for her to stay silent, and Alice immediately quieted down, understanding what Noel meant.
"You stay here. I'll go out to the hallway and deal with him there. If you're nearby, it'll just get in the way."
Noel stepped into the corridor alone, calm, watching as the shadow in the hallway gradually took human form.
He had the high ground, which would give him an advantage in battle, and there was no room to retreat. If he fought in the torture chamber, Alice would only be a burden.
It was better to handle this here.
The shadow in the hallway was indeed Darmon, reeking of alcohol, his speech slurred. "Aren't you supposed to be on patrol outside? Why are you up here?"
As he spoke, Darmon swung his fist at Noel. "This isn't a place for you to be. Let me teach you a lesson."
Noel grabbed his heavy arm and executed a clean over-the-shoulder throw, slamming Darmon to the ground with sharp precision.
He thought that would be enough to take the man down for good.
But the moment Darmon hit the ground, his body dissolved into a puddle of water.
What just happened? Why did he turn into water?
"What the hell are you trying to do?" The puddle suddenly reformed into a massive fist.
Noel, having dropped his guard, took the punch directly, nearly slamming into the door behind him.
Relying on his wind magic, Noel created a cushioning breeze to soften the impact, preventing further damage to the door.
"Interesting, wind magic," the puddle reformed into a drunken, humanoid Darmon again.
"Gentle wind magic won't kill me. But who the hell are you, and why are you here?" Darmon demanded, spitting out questions like rapid fire.
"Who I am is none of your business. Just remember, I'm here to take your life." Noel didn't want to waste words, slashing at Darmon with a Wind Blade.
"Such big words. But you can't kill me," Darmon chuckled.
"Is that so?" Noel replied, unleashing two more Wind Blades.
"Reverse Torrent."
Water roared from Darmon's magic circle, forming a shield before him. The Wind Blades struck the watery shield but gradually dissipated.
"We're not done yet!"
The water shield morphed into jets of water, shooting toward Noel.
Noel didn't panic. The larger the spell, the more important it was to remain calm. If he lost his composure now, he would already be halfway to losing.
"Decompose. Reconstruct. Hyper Water Bomb."
The jets of water reached Noel, but it was as if they were being tamed. The water gathered in Noel's hand, compressing tightly into a ball.
He compressed it further until, in a flash, he fired it back. The water sphere punched through Darmon's body and smashed a large hole in the wall behind him.
"Interesting," Darmon slurred, seeming a bit more sober.
"I'm curious, what kind of magic are you using?"
Noel analyzed quickly. Darmon excelled at water magic, but it wasn't purely standard water magic.
"But I'm in an invincible position now," Darmon said confidently.
He didn't understand how he could lose. The soft Wind Magic couldn't harm him, and transformed water attacks simply passed through him. He saw no reason why he could lose.
"You're using Liquefaction Magic, turning your body into water," Noel stated coldly. "It's troublesome, but there's a way to counter it."
Noel had figured out a method, though whether it would work was uncertain.
"You've got quite the attitude for an intruder. I've never seen someone so cocky," Darmon mocked.
"Liquefy." Darmon's body dissolved back into water, slipping into the cracks of the staircase.
Noel immediately grew alert. Now he would face attacks from all directions, with no idea where the water might reappear.
In that case, attacking preemptively would be best.
"Wind Blade."
A Wind Blade sliced through the staircase, striking the water directly, splitting it apart for a moment.
"This magic is useless. Is this the best you can do, kid?" Darmon taunted.
But why did Noel feel such an intense sense of wrongness? There was something off about this.
If water was Darmon's body, then when the Wind Blade hit it, it should have injured him.
Why wasn't he hurt at all?
"You're wondering why I'm unharmed after taking your Wind Blades, aren't you?" Darmon laughed.
Noel kept his expression calm, despite having been read. Now, more than ever, he couldn't let himself panic.
Darmon was trying to manipulate the fear in his heart, but Noel couldn't afford to fall into the trap.
Fear meant defeat.
"Wind Blade." One after another, Wind Blades slashed into the puddle, splitting it strangely.
The feeling of wrongness grew stronger. Could it be…?
"I've found your weakness," Noel said with renewed confidence.
"I'm invincible!" Darmon roared arrogantly.
"No one is invincible. Even gods can fall." Noel didn't know where the courage to say this came from, but once it welled up, he couldn't stop himself.
Water was a fluid and could disperse easily, but if Darmon controlled his body to split around the attacks to appear unscathed, it was nothing but a trick.
"Water Curtain."
Darmon began channeling a large-scale water spell.
But the scales of victory had already tipped toward Noel.
"Decompose, Reconstruct, Transmute."
The staircase began to collapse. The stones reformed into sharp spikes, targeting Darmon.
"I told you, I'm invincible! This won't work!" Darmon howled.
The spikes stabbed directly into Darmon, but he turned into a puddle, scattering droplets everywhere.
"Explode."
The spikes reshaped again, sprouting more spikes that pierced every scattered droplet.
As expected, the liquefaction magic only turned his body into water, retaining water's properties, but the water was still part of his body.
If the water that made up his body was harmed, the damage would reflect on his real body.
And continually splitting himself to dodge required mana, making the droplets smaller and smaller.
No matter how small, there was a limit, and if attacked at that precise limit, Darmon could not dodge, ensuring his real body would take the damage.
Noel had gambled, and he had won.
"How…did you figure it out…" Darmon could not finish his sentence before collapsing.
Even after Darmon fell, Noel didn't let his guard down. He stepped forward and stomped on the body a few times.
There was no reaction.
Noel checked for breath under Darmon's nose. There was none.
It seemed he was truly dead. Noel panted heavily. "Don't you know even a lion uses all its strength to hunt a rabbit?"
Noel couldn't help but laugh softly. "The strong don't always live to the end. But the clever do."
Judging by Darmon's position, he was probably one of the leaders of the dark guild, and he likely had valuable items on him.
But all Noel found was a pitch-black money pouch containing only a few gold coins.
Still, it was better than nothing.
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