After Kael finished extracting all useful information from the mimicking demon, he returned to the mansion that served as their base of operations. With the quest complete, he headed to the guild to submit his report. As he walked, Kael reflected on the so-called Supreme Three, finding their actions irrational and unsettling. Brown responded telepathically, explaining that everything they did was for power. Kael questioned the value of power that only inspired fear, but the mimicking demon—now bound to him—answered coldly that the despair and helplessness of others was precisely what made such power intoxicating.
Disgusted by the mindset of demons who believed everything was under their control, Kael completed his report and received his reward: 240 gold coins for an A-Rank quest. In a rare moment of ease, he invited his companions out for dinner to celebrate.
The group gathered at a lively restaurant—Kael, Lyra, Arden, Thorne, Elian, Vex, Luminor, Amara, and Malina. Kael insisted the bill was on him, and everyone ordered freely. Amara chose beef steak, Elian ordered vegetable cream soup, Thorne requested pig-meat stew, Malina asked for roasted chickchick, Arden left his choice to the house specialty, Vex ordered vegetable pork sandwiches, Luminor chose rice chickchick rolls with eggs and fish, Lyra selected fried eggs with chickchick salad, and Kael himself ordered pork belly with rice, chickchick, and egg rolls.
As they ate, Kael asked Vex about Arra's whereabouts and was told she was on a strict diet and had chosen not to come. Kael also noticed several patrons staring at their table but ignored it. Soon after, a group of clock-armored adventurers entered and sat nearby. Kael overheard them discussing a mission from the Bluewhale Guild to capture a criminal accused of killing a noble's family member.
Tension rose when Malina's blue scout bird flew in through the window and landed on her shoulder. Before it could report what it had seen, a spoiled noble youth named Gas from the Smith family demanded that Malina sell the bird to him for 5,000 gold coins. When she refused, Gas—known for his cruel pleasure in killing small pets—lost his temper and ordered his knights to seize it. As the knights attacked, Luminor instantly raised a barrier around their table, sending the attackers crashing back. Kael responded by summoning five A-Rank skeleton knights, forcing Gas and his escorts to retreat before the situation could destroy the restaurant. An S-Rank mage, the restaurant's owner, released his aura to suppress the conflict and protect the patrons.
Kael recalled his skeletons, and Gas retreated, casting a final hateful glance at the group. The onlookers whispered mockingly, realizing Gas had chosen the wrong targets—the infamous "lunatic friendly group." Hearing the nickname nearly made Kael choke on his food.
Consumed by spite, Gas later attempted to approach Lyra's orphanage with malicious intent. The moment he and his knights crossed the gate, they were instantly teleported to a distant desert. Lyra later explained that the orphanage was protected: anyone who approached with impure thoughts or harmful intentions would be expelled and scattered far from REF.
Back at the mansion, Arra remained absorbed in her work, struggling to fix unresolved issues within an iron golem—unaware that darker tensions continued to gather beyond their walls.
Arra finally completed the repairs on the iron golem and removed her work equipment, intending to bathe and rest. As she approached the bathhouse, her vision blurred and she suddenly lost consciousness. In the final moment before blacking out, she saw two cloaked figures standing before her. When she awoke again, Arra found herself trapped inside a magic formation. Kael and the others were visible at a distance, yet they clearly could not sense her presence. The formation concealed her appearance while repeatedly shocking her mana and draining her magic. Arra immediately understood that if she remained trapped for too long, death was inevitable.
Aboveground, Kael abruptly sensed a disturbance. A surge of dark mana drew his attention to a specific spot. Without hesitation, he drew one of his twin daggers and slashed at the air. The attack was reflected back at him, forcing him to sidestep. His companions stared at him in confusion, thinking he had lost his mind, until Kael explained that someone was trapped inside a dark magic formation. He asked whether anyone had seen Arra since they returned from the restaurant. Vex confirmed she was missing and that all attempts to communicate with her had failed.
Kael immediately activated his skill, Previews, replaying events from the morning until night like a surveillance record. He clearly saw two cloaked figures lurking near Arra before she left her workshop. Moments later in the recording, Arra vanished completely. At that point, Brown contacted Kael telepathically from the subspace palace, revealing that Arra had been dragged into forbidden ruins hidden beneath the mansion—an underground basement where her equipment and facilities were stored.
Kael activated Quick Teleport and descended instantly into the basement. The underground space was vast, resembling a massive factory where Arra manufactured equipment and refined materials. Arra, still disoriented, believed she had been near Vex and the others, not realizing she was trapped deep below the mansion. Upon arrival, Kael cast a newly acquired spell, Divinity. The divine magic surged through the area, cleansing all dark and impure mana and forcefully disrupting the formation imprisoning her.
As the dark mana dissipated, the system issued an alert identifying the lingering corruption as A-Rank dark mana, capable of altering a victim's personality and driving them into madness unless purified by a specialized healer or priest. Before the corruption could fully take hold, Lyra arrived with the others. At Kael's request, she immediately cast Purify on Arra, followed by healing magic to stabilize her condition.
Once Arra was safe, Thorne questioned her about the attackers, but she admitted she never saw their faces clearly. At that moment, Vex sensed two hidden presences still within the building and activated his skill, Trappe. Thick tree vines erupted from the ground, binding two cloaked figures who had been hiding nearby. When they attempted to escape using magic, Luminor activated Magic Block, completely sealing their spellcasting. As their cloaks fell away, Kael was surprised to see that one was an elf and the other a human.
Elian questioned the elf in the Elven language, demanding to know why they tried to kill Arra. The elf refused to answer. Lyra, however, perceived the truth—both attackers were being manipulated through dark magic. She used Purity Cutting, severing the dark link binding them to Seaberry. Far away in her hideout, Seaberry suddenly coughed up blood as the connection was violently broken. The two attackers collapsed unconscious. Malina summoned her beast companion, Red, a massive red wolf, to assist.
Malina ordered Red to trace the source of the dark magic lingering on the attackers. Meanwhile, other cloaked figures outside the mansion retreated swiftly, unaware they were being observed. Brown soon reported to Kael that shadow scouts had spotted suspicious cloaked individuals withdrawing from the area. Acting immediately, Brown deployed twenty additional shadow knights to track them. Kael instructed Lyra to keep the captured attackers alive and stable.
Elsewhere, Count Morgan continued his grotesque rituals beneath his own mansion, slaughtering victims from various races—children and adults alike—to accumulate dark power. The cries of those awaiting death echoed through the ritual chambers. When Morgan sensed a change in the flow of events, he returned to his mansion to receive a visitor. He dismissed his servants and knights, sealing the meeting in secrecy. As he closed the curtains, his gaze briefly caught a blue scout bird watching from outside.
Back at Kael's mansion, Malina opened her eyes as she recalled the bluebird. Earlier, after Red identified Count Morgan as being involved in the attack on Arra, she had already begun quietly investigating him—confirming that the shadows gathering around Morgan were far deeper and more dangerous than they had first imagined.