However, there was one detail that remained sharp—one anatomical anomaly that had survived whatever mental conditioning or trauma had eroded the rest of her memories.

"The horns," Tara whispered, her eyes wide with a flicker of primal terror. "He had three horns."

She described them with haunting precision. Two curved outward from the sides of his head, jagged and dark like the obsidian glass of a volcanic ridge.

The third sat in the center of his forehead, shorter and straighter, pointing toward the ceiling like a spearhead.

It was a feature so alien, so physically impossible for any known race on the continent, that it had seared itself into her mind, standing out from the rest of her blurry explanation like a lighthouse in a storm.

Noah felt a cold ripple of realization wash over him.

’Three horns...’ he thought, his mind racing through every scholarly tome and history book he had read over the past few weeks. ’That means he can’t be human.’

It was common knowledge that humans didn’t possess horns, and the only known creatures who did were mana beasts.

If whoever was at the center of what happened to Tara wasn’t human, then this case was certainly more dangerous than it seemed.

Thinking back to all the time he had spent in the library, Noah recalled how the shadow element had never been recorded in the academy books or magical history.

Now, it started to make a little more sense.

’Shadow element is... probably something not meant to be used by humans,’ Noah thought.

Magic, for humans, was an external manipulation of the world’s natural mana. It was a bridge between the mind and the physical realm.

But the shadow power Tara displayed didn’t feel like magic; it felt like a corruption. It was as if the mana itself had been inverted, turned inside out to reveal a void that consumed rather than created.

If the origin of this power wasn’t human, it explained why there was no record of it in human history. They were dealing with a foreign science, a dark philosophy that operated on laws entirely separate from their own.

But as Noah processed the technicalities of the shadow element, another terrifying aspect of the whole thing began to dawn on him.

He looked at Tara, and remembered her mention of the other children.

If she had been part of a group, and if the man with the three horns had been "experimenting" on them all, then the implications were catastrophic.

That meant there was a chance thr other kids had also been transformed into the same shadow figures she was before.

Noah felt a heavy weight settle in his chest. Somewhere out there, they could be wrecking havoc and killing innocent people.

These "shadow figures" would be invisible to the Order’s detection, capable of moving through the darkness and striking with the same surgical lethality that Tara had used.

The scope of the threat had just expanded from a single criminal to an army of shadow monsters.

’Kael...’ Noah thought, his mental voice steady and questioning. ’Do you know about any other race... or group that also uses the shadow element you do?’

He waited for a moment, sensing the rippling energy of the dragon beneath his feet. He wondered if the shadow element was something inherent to certain high-level monsters or if there were entire civilizations hidden from human history that had mastered the same dark power Kael wielded so naturally.

’I’m only like a day old,’ Kael’s voice eventually resonated in Noah’s head. The tone was slightly flat, lacking its usual boastful energy for a split second. ’There’s no way I can know about any of this, master.’

The dragon paused for a moment, before continuing.

’The fact that these lowly creatures have the same element as me is nothing but an insult to my grand authority as a dragon, hmph,’ Kael continued.

To the dragon, the idea that a human-shaped creature could possess the same elemental affinity as a supreme being was a personal grievance.

He seemed more offended by the loss of his "elemental exclusivity" than the actual threat the three-horned man posed.

Noah chuckled inwardly, feeling the dragon’s pride radiating through the link like a physical heat.

’Yeah... whatever,’ Noah thought, dismissing the dragon’s dramatic outburst with a sense of dry amusement. He was getting used to Kael’s constant need to assert dominance over everything, even the concept of an elemental affinity.

He realized that it was actually normal for Kael not to know anything about the other races using the shadow element.

Despite him speaking as fluently as he did now, he was still practically a kid at the end of the day.

His intellect had been artificially accelerated by the information Noah had read to him from the books, but he lacked the life experience or ancient memories that one would expect from a legendary creature.

He was essentially a genius infant; he knew the words for things, but he hadn’t lived long enough to know the secrets of the world.

Noah turned his attention away from the dragon’s grumbling, focusing back on the tactical reality of the situation.

While the revelation of a non-human entity was disturbing, it was too vague to act on immediately. He needed something more concrete, a physical location where he could start hunting for the source of the rot.

’At least there’s another information I can work on apart from that...’ Noah thought, his eyes narrowing behind the white surface of his mask.

Fortunately, Tara had mentioned another thing apart from the vague descriptions of the strange man. In her desperate attempt to explain her past, she had let slip a specific detail. She had mentioned the city they had been in during part of her ordeal.

She had mentioned the city of Vale.

’Vale...’ Noah thought, the name tasting like cold iron in his mind. ’That’s where the Count is.’

The city of Vale was a center of power, governed by high-ranking nobility. But more importantly, it was the current residence of a man Noah was already familiar with.

A dark glint flashed across Noah’s eyes as he thought of the Count, who was the father of Lloyd.

Normally, the thought of going into Vale would have never crossed his mind.

To a commoner, Vale was a name synonymous with untouchable luxury and strict exclusion. It was a city that only the rich and the elites could enter, protected by gates that didn’t just keep out monsters, but kept out anyone who didn’t possess a certain status or a massive amount of gold.

It was, after all, the city of the Count. The entire infrastructure of the place was designed to cater to the nobility, and its streets were reserved for the rich and the upper class.

He, on the other hand, was from a poor family. Someone like him, born into a life of struggle and limited means, would never be able to enter a place like Vale city through normal channels.

He wasn’t worried, though. That was because he currently had the backing of the adventurer guild.

While he wasn’t a formal member yet, his association with them had already changed his standing in the world. The guild was a massive organization with roots that went deep into the continent’s politics and commerce.

The guild might be at loggerheads with the Magus Order, constantly fighting for resources and authority, but their influence was undeniable.

Even though they lacked the "prestige" of the Order, they possessed a logistical network that spanned every major city.

Such a small task as getting into Vale was still very possible for them.

Noah turned his head slightly and glanced at Yuan. The Guild Master was still standing near the door, his posture slumped as he tried to process the horror of Tara’s confession.

Yuan was also shocked by the things he had just heard. The information about the shadow experiments and the involvement of children had left him looking aged and disturbed. He looked like a man who had walked into a simple room and found a pit of vipers.

Yuan stuttered for a moment, his voice catching in his throat as he tried to regain his composure. He looked at the floor, then back at Noah, his eyes reflecting a mixture of fear and newfound resolve.

"I’ll... I’ll report this to the higher ups immediately," Yuan said, his voice finally stabilizing. "This is too big for just this branch. The guild needs to find out more about these shadow monsters... who caused the death of Mr Tun."

As he mentioned that name, he glanced towards Tara, his eyes burning with anger.

Tun was the name of that archmagus she had assassinated, and his death was the reason the magus order could pressure them this much.

She was also the reason the other two guild’s archmagi refused to come here, for fear that another shadow would attack them.

Fortunately, Noah had been here, or else, Lunge would have taken Tara away, making it unable for the guild to get to the bottom of the matter.

"After that... the next thing is to get into Vale city to uncover more about whatever this is. We can’t let this stand." he said, sighing.

Noah nodded slowly. He didn’t need to say anything; Yuan had already reached the same conclusion he had.

The trail led to Vale, and the guild was the vehicle that would take him there.

For a brief moment, there was silence between them, the weight of the upcoming journey hanging in the air like a physical pressure.

Yuan gulped, his adam’s apple bobbing nervously as he looked at the masked man. He hesitated, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, before finally finding the courage to ask the question that had been on his mind since the confrontation with Lunge.

"Do I take this..." Yuan began, his voice barely above a whisper, "as you finally accepting to join the guild?"