Taking the Mafia to the Magic World

1010  In Search of the 14th Pentagram

"How are you feeling?" One of Vicente's group mates asked, his smile impossible to hide. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Each of them was extremely interested to see Vicente in action the way he was now, to see how much stronger he would prove to be in combat against a creature of the same level as the now-dead snake.

As Vicente already knew well, a cultivator wouldn't be at their best until they had reached all their pentagrams. Not only would he not have all the abilities that their level allowed them, but all their abilities would be weaker as long as they didn't complete the requirements of their cultivation stage.

Vicente was already a complicated monster to face before, but now he had got a new skill and advanced a few more steps in terms of combat power.

Everyone was curious to see how strong their leader had become!

"Well, I'd said," Minos said to his group after he had finished absorbing the pentagram and felt ready to move on with his journey. "In fact, I feel perfect to go on a new hunt now."

The entire group there already knew that Vicente had a second magical form. After more than a year of working together, there was no way he could hide information as critical as this from his companions.

Fortunately, they had agreements with him and couldn't leak information about the faction or even about him.

But the moment Minos touched on this point, the members of the group became more serious. He was certainly stronger now. But hunting down a new pentagram would pose a similar or even superior challenge to the previous one.

Things had turned out well for everyone in the just-finished fight, but the difference between that outcome and the one in which things would turn out badly for the group hadn't been that great.

"Are you sure about this? I thought we were only going to hunt one of your pentagrams today," asked the group's alchemist.

Vicente was direct in his reply, "We're already here and anyway, we'll have to travel around the area for a few days to get away from danger. If we find something compatible with me in the next few days, we'll avoid wasting time in the future."

Larissa looked at Vicente and spoke on his behalf, "The Black Raven Crew is not a simple group. We can win a lot against them, but if Vicente can be as strong as possible at the time of this mission, that will be better."

Vicente thanked the white-haired woman with a nod as he looked at the item Collins had given him. The Cursed Compass was strongly indicating the presence of something relevant to his secondary mission in the area.

'I'll see about that while I hunt for my next pentagram.' He thought to himself as his companions voiced their opinions.

"Let's search for four days." He suggested to appease the most worried. "If we don't find any interesting beasts and within our limits, we'll set out against the Black Raven Crew."

...

Meanwhile, back in the Polaris Realm...

Almost 10 years had passed in the blink of an eye since the death of Demien Bloodthorne and little by little, the festivities commemorating that day were arriving in different parts of the continent.

The threat of monsters and vampires had not passed in the meantime, but the human community had grown in continental dominance and recovery of magical power in recent years.

The monsters had been completely expelled from the south and center of the continent and were now approaching the time when their domains would be the same as they had been before The Purification.

Human fences and trains had proliferated across the continent with the explosion of the Cataclysm Order, a force that had completely taken over the power vacuum left by the Congregation of Revelations.

In particular, some of the major cities on the continent were now the metal cities created by the war hero, Venerable Vicente Fuller.

Statues of Vicente could now be found around the continent's main cities, not just human cities, and not just metal cities. His name alone frightened the monsters and humans and beasts respected him almost equally.

Amid this, Nina and Lauren's names had become famous, honoring the surname and blood they bore of the greatest and most important magician in the entire history of the continent.

Little news of Lauren had circulated around the continent in recent times. She was among the strongest of the allied forces against the monsters and rarely showed herself in public. But the situation was totally different for Nina, who had grown famous for her actions in expanding the human frontier against the monster lands.

Nina had at least 20,000 creature kills on her personal record and songs chanted of her exploits from north to south, east to west.

She was currently one of the youngest and most powerful High-level Paragons on the continent, who was due to advance to become an Archmage any day now.

Meanwhile, all of Vicente's women had long since become Archmages, but few on the entire continent knew their names. Certainly the most important Paragons and Archmages in the alliance knew and respected them very much, but their names hardly existed among ordinary people.

Today, however, the three women who were as respected among the continent's strongest as Lauren and Nina were reunited in the same city where their journey had long since begun.

In the ancient Saltstar City, a grand altar built from the ruins of the city destroyed by monsters now housed the headquarters of the Cataclysm Order.

In this particular place, a girl with black hair and blue eyes, carrying a special necklace around her neck, was walking among men in the same uniform, their weapons raised while they were on bended knee.

She was all in black, with a veil over her youthful face. But anyone who could see her as this artifact would know one of the most beautiful young maidens around.

Her beauty was not important, however. There today to awaken her powers and fully assume the duties of Altar Master, Annie Fuller carried on her shoulders the expectations of several of her family's strongest subordinates, there today to accompany the start of her magical journey.

This morning she had turned 14 years old and would finally begin her journey towards her father!

However, Annie had other concerns on her mind. At the moment, Lauren and Nina were preparing for the intensified movements of the monstrous forces, a result of the imminent end of the 6th stage vampires' seclusion!