Dark Magus Returns - Chapter 1629

Chapter 1629: The Shelters
The message had ended, but the shock of it lingered in the air like a poisonous fog. Everyone stood frozen in place, their bodies stiff and nerves rattled. For a moment, they almost had to second-guess themselves, wondering if they had all truly heard the same thing. The words had been so deranged, so extreme, that their minds refused to accept them at first.

It was Alen who finally broke the suffocating silence.

“He’s a madman,” Alen shouted, his voice trembling with outrage. “He’s a madman that has gone completely unchecked! He hasn’t been punished for any of his crimes, and now he thinks he’s some type of god, playing with people’s lives!”

His fists were clenched so hard his knuckles turned white. Even those who had only known Alen for a short time had rarely seen him lose composure, and yet Harvey’s announcement had shaken him more than any battle they had fought today.

“Did he just do what I think he did?” Liam asked, though the answer was already forming in his gut.

“Right,” Dame replied grimly. “He ordered the whole Underside to be eliminated… all for the sake of gaining power.”

It was unbelievable, and yet somehow not. From the very beginning, Harvey had shown signs of fanaticism, of believing in the Dark Guild’s ideology with an intensity far beyond the rest. Even if what Harvey said at the start of his broadcast was true, about how the guild members and the Cerebus group had overpowered them with equipment, artifacts, and Light Magic, it didn’t excuse what he was doing now.

Thanks to the help of Pagna warriors, their allies, and Raze himself, the tide of the battle had finally shifted. Most of the Cerebus members and hostile guild members were gone or unwilling to fight anymore. There was no logical reason for Harvey to initiate such a massacre.

Which meant the truth was simple and horrifying:

All of those who were still alive in the Dark Guild would now rush toward the places with the highest concentration of Underside civilians.

The Shelters.

“It looks like we’re going to have to split up!” Alen said sharply. “There are four Shelters left in this area, right? Then we need to do everything we can to protect them!”

There was no hesitation this time, no arguments, no doubts. Every second mattered now, and they all knew it. They sprinted forward as a single unit before quickly breaking off into smaller groups. Alen, along with the largest number of his people, broke off at the first Shelter.

Thankfully, it didn’t look like Harvey or any of the Dark Guild members had reached the other Shelters yet. There was still hope, fragile, but real.

As they rushed toward the second Shelter, something unexpected happened. B suddenly slowed, then came to a complete stop just outside the structure’s entrance.

“I’ve got this one,” B said calmly.

Liam skidded to a halt, his instincts immediately firing.

“Are we sure?” Liam asked, his voice low but tense. “What if she ends up like Harvey, or the rest of the Dark Guild, and decides to kill everyone inside?”

B rolled her eyes in an almost playful irritation, though her tone remained sharp.

“Calm down. Killing people with no Qi training won’t do anything for me or this body. My power works differently. I’m supplementing it with this Light Faction energy anyway, so things aren’t exactly the same for me.”

She stretched her fingers, and blood quietly rippled around her knuckles.

“For me,” she continued, a smirk tugging at her lips, “the better fight right now would be teaching those arrogant mages outside that destroying this Shelter won’t be as easy as they think it will.”

There was one thing Liam could rely on: his system. It confirmed she was telling the truth. Reluctantly, he nodded, and the three of them, Liam, Dame, and Safa, continued toward the last two Shelters.

But on the way there, Liam noticed something else. The system picked up irregular fluctuations from Safa, not dangerous ones, but emotional. Conflicted. Heavy.

“What’s wrong?” Liam asked. “And don’t say ‘nothing.’ I can tell something’s really bothering you.”

Safa bit her lip, caught off guard. Unlike Liam and Dame, she wasn’t used to lying or hiding her emotions. Under the pressure of his concern, she had no choice but to speak honestly.

“I’m worried about Raze,” Safa admitted quietly. Her voice trembled with fear and guilt. “Harvey might have said what he said to make it seem like the Dark Guild is doing all of this for him… but I saw the flow of energy earlier.”

She closed her eyes, remembering the sensation she had felt in the air.

“I think Raze is really going to have a hard time,” she continued. “He might need my help. I might even be the only one who can help him.”

Liam’s eyes widened in understanding. Safa was the only Light Mage, at least, the only powerful one, among them. If she went to help Raze, then there was a real chance that more of the Underside civilians or even Alen’s men would die without her healing. But if she stayed… and Raze fell…

How would any of them survive?

It was a terrifying thought, but no less real. The Dark Guild, at its core, was composed of people who believed wholeheartedly in the Dark Magus. If the Dark Magus fell, then Harvey would become their only leader. And Harvey was willing to kill thousands of innocents to grow stronger.

Raze, meanwhile, was locked in a brutal battle he couldn’t escape from, unable to guide or control his guild.

“Just go,” Liam said at last. His voice was surprisingly steady. “You have to go, Safa. Your gut feeling… I think it’s the same thing the rest of us felt earlier. We all wanted to rush in and help Raze. We all thought we needed to do something. But each one of us reached the same conclusion, that we wouldn’t be able to do anything.”

He pointed to her chest, not aggressively, but firmly.

“But for you? It’s different. You said you can help. So you should go.”

Safa took in a shaky breath.

Liam smiled faintly, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Me and Dame will protect the remaining Shelters. Both of us have gotten a lot stronger. A few mages, even if they’re Dark Guild mages, we can handle them easily.”

Safa nodded slowly, the conflict in her eyes still present, but softened. She turned her gaze upward toward the cavern ceiling, as though imagining where Raze might be fighting at that very moment.

Then, without another word,

She ran.

And Liam watched her disappear into the dim tunnels, praying she would reach Raze in time.

****

*****

For updates for MWS and future works, please follow me on my social media below.

Instagram: Jksmanga

*Patreon: jksmanga

When news of MVS, MWS, or any other series comes out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I’m not too busy, I tend to reply.