“W-What do you mean by that?” Kwon Oh-Jin asked grimly. A sticky, unpleasant chill crawled down his spine and clung to his whole body.

—The signal of the private jet with Lady Isabella suddenly vanished right before it reached Korean airspace. At first, we thought it was just a transmission error. Since she still hasn’t arrived...

Isabella had gone missing. The plane carrying her had disappeared as if it had evaporated.

“How close are we talking when you say right before it reached Korea?”

—I’ll send you its exact last location through text.

Kwon Oh-Jin’s phone vibrated, and a photo from Roberto came through. The final signal had been detected near the West Sea about ten minutes or so from landing.

And it just vanished there?

Biting his lip, Kwon Oh-Jin pressed the phone back to his ear.

“Were there any unusual mana fluctuations?”

—No. I even thought maybe a rift had opened in midair, so I checked with the Korean Association... but no particular mana fluctuations were detected.

If it wasn’t a rift, how could a perfectly intact plane just disappear?

—For now, we’ll request cooperation from Korea’s coast guard and investigate around the last known point of contact.

“I’ll head there immediately.”

The disappearance had happened above the West Sea. No ordinary human could swim all the way there, but Kwon Oh-Jin had long surpassed human limits. He was a superhuman. With his Water Affinity skill, swimming through the sea for hours wasn’t an issue.

“Damn it.”

A suffocating sense of dread clung to him.

As he quickly left the airport with a tense expression, he heard a sinister sound like a serpent slithering across the ground.

Ssssss.

Kwon Oh-Jin had heard this sound before and turned toward the source.

“Cassia?”

“It’s been a while, Lord Oh-Jin.” Cassia gracefully lifted the hem of her long black dress and bowed.

“What are you doing here?”

“Haa. Of course, because of my foolish little sister.”

Kwon Oh-Jin darted forward, almost leaping toward her, and seized her slender shoulders with urgency. “You know where Isabella is?!”

“A-Agh... P-Please, calm down.”

“You think I can stay calm right now?!”

The plane Isabella had boarded suddenly disappeared into thin air. He couldn’t remain composed knowing that.

“I know where Bella is, so you don’t need to worry.”

“Phew...” He faintly sighed in relief after hearing her answer.

That didn’t mean all his questions had been answered. The biggest one still lingered on his mind.

“How did you know to come here?”

The very moment he heard about Isabella’s disappearance, Cassia suddenly appeared as if she had been waiting. The timing seemed too precise to call it a mere coincidence.

“Well...” Her eyes darted to the shadow beneath his feet.

With a subtle wave of her hand, a black snake slithered out of his shadow.

Ssssk. Sssssk.

“I left a little serpent hidden in your shadow all this time.”

The serpent that emerged from Kwon Oh-Jin’s shadow slithered up to Cassia.

What the hell?

Since when had that been there? Kwon Oh-Jin looked at her, utterly dumbfounded.

“That thing is...?”

“Think of it as a kind of creature controlled by mana.”

“No, I get that part. I mean, since when was it inside my shadow?”

“Hehe. Who knows?” Cassia winked, shrugging her slim shoulders.

Judging by her expression, it had probably been following him for quite some time.

“Don’t tell me you’ve been spying on me this whole time?”

“Oh, spying? That sounds so unpleasant. Could you not use such ugly words?”

“If this isn’t spying, then what is?”

“Mmm... Love?”

Yeah, right—Love, my ass.

Kwon Oh-Jin pressed his forehead with a groan of frustration. At least, he now understood how she showed up with such perfect timing.

“So, does Isabella have one of these serpents on her too?”

“That’s right.”

“Where’s Bella right now?” Kwon Oh-Jin asked in a panic.

Cassia raised her hand and pointed north. “You remember where you hunted the Thousand Curses Dragon before, right?”

“Pyongyang?”

Why on earth would a private jet headed for Incheon suddenly go to Pyongyang?

And right now, Pyongyang is a ghost city without a single person.

“Someone hijacked the jet and forced it there.”

“Who on earth would do that?”

Isabella was an Awakener on the verge of reaching eleven stars. Even Kwon Oh-Jin would have to use Open Heaven to fight her, so who would possibly dare to hijack and divert her plane to Pyongyang?

“That...” Cassia hesitated and bit her lip hard. “I don’t know either.”

“Weren’t you watching her through the serpent you planted?”

“The farther the distance, the weaker the senses I can share with the creature.”

“Really?”

Something felt off.

“Anyway, we need to get to Bella quickly.” Cassia pulled on his arm, not giving him a chance to dwell on the unpleasant feeling of mismatched gears.

“Alright.”

As she said, he didn’t have time to think about anything else right now. If Isabella had really been kidnapped, then they had to find her as quickly as possible.

“Hold my hand tight. We’ll move through the shadows.”

“Through shadows?”

“Yes. You’ve seen it before, haven’t you?”

Is she talking about that trick where she slips in and out of shadows as if vanishing? But can you cover the distance from Seoul to Pyongyang like that?

Kwon Oh-Jin looked at her in surprise.

As if reading his thoughts, Cassia briefly sighed and shook her head. “Even I can’t cross such a distance in one jump. We’ll have to stop along the way.”

“Got it.”

In any case, it would still be far quicker than running there on foot.

“Don’t let go of my hand.”

He nodded and held her hand. It felt so fragile as if it would break with just a little more pressure. Her hand hardly fit the infamous title, Serpens Queen.

Kwon Oh-Jin frowned slightly. “Hm?”

The mana flowing through Cassia felt highly unstable as if she had fought a fierce battle and suffered internal injuries.

No, she really is injured.

And severely so, bad enough that it wouldn't be strange if she collapsed at any moment.

“Agh...” As if to confirm his suspicion, Cassia grimaced while she tried to draw on her Stigma’s mana.

She turned away from him, attempting to hide the cold sweat running down her forehead, and slowly stepped into the shadows.

With injuries that severe, even standing upright would be difficult.

Using the Black Curtain, Kwon Oh-Jin pushed his mana into her. Her mana circuits were mangled beyond recognition. Who had she fought before coming here to end up in such a state?

Ssssshk, sssssk.

Before he could even voice the question, black shadows enveloped his whole body. He opened his eyes again and felt as if he were floating in outer space. An unknown forest stretched out before him.

“This is...”

“Haa, haa. Just three more transfers to go.”

“Are you okay?”

“Hehe. Are you worried about me?” Cassia shrugged and tried to play it off with a sly smile.

To Kwon Oh-Jin, who knew the truth of her condition, the pain twisting beneath that facade was obvious.

“Cassia, there’s something I want to ask—”

“There’s no time. If we don’t hurry, Bella will get hurt.” She cut him off, already preparing for the next transfer.

Dark shadows wrapped around them again, and the sensation of floating in space returned. After three more transfers, a crashed airplane appeared before him.

“Haa, haa, haa!”

“Stay here for now.” Kwon Oh-Jin left behind the gasping Cassia and rushed toward the wreck.

Unrecognizable bodies, likely the crew who had flown with Isabella, lay everywhere inside the remains of the jet.

A cold dread gripped him as he wondered if Isabella’s body would be among them. Among the corpses, Isabella was nowhere to be seen.

Letting out a short breath, Kwon Oh-Jin examined the lifeless bodies. “Haaa.”

Are they people from the Colgrande Family?

It was highly likely since the plane wasn’t from a commercial airline but owned by the Colgrande Family. Taking a closer look at the sprawled corpses, he could tell one thing.

They didn’t die from the crash.

Every corpse here had been killed by someone before the plane went down.

It was most likely the person who kidnapped Isabella.

After scanning the surroundings, Kwon Oh-Jin turned around. “Where’s Isabella?”

“Haaa. Just a moment.” Catching her breath, Cassia pointed toward an old abandoned building not far from the wreck. “I can sense Bella’s presence over there.”

Kwon Oh-Jin nodded and activated his Stigma’s mana. Enveloping himself in fierce lightning, he cautiously stepped into the abandoned building.

The moment he passed through the entrance, he saw an unconscious Isabella bound by something that looked like black shadows.

“Isabella...!” Kwon Oh-Jin activated the Stigma of Canes Venatici and checked her condition.

She doesn’t have any wounds.

Her hair and clothes looked a bit disheveled. Fortunately, she didn’t seem injured.

Gripping his spear, he carefully examined the area around her. As he grew closer, he recognized the black shadows binding her.

“A serpent?”

These black serpents were made of shadows.

This is...

They were the same kind of serpents that Cassia could create.

“Don’t move, Lord Oh-Jin.”

At that moment, a chill ran down his neck as something sharp pressed against it. Turning his head, he saw Cassia coldly staring at him.

“Cassia...?”

“If you take even a single step, Bella will die.”