'I Reincarnated But Have No System? You Must Be Kidding Me!'-Chapter 32: Silenced Witnesses

"Jairah," Auren muttered, his voice low and grim as he prepared for the worst.

With a practiced motion, he drew his Divine Rapier, the DR humming faintly with golden energy. His pupils shifted into sharp, hawk-like slits as he activated [Eagle Eyes], his long-range observation skill. Unlike his shorter-range [Tiger Eyes], this one allowed him to see through trees and across great distances—clarity enhanced by mana detection, and even faint ripples of magical movement could not escape it.

And true enough, barely a kilometer away, two figures stirred the forest.

One of them rode a majestic, towering stag, its antlers glowing with ceremonial runes. The creature bounded effortlessly over roots and shrubs, a phantom of grace and power. Atop it sat Kardel, the ruthless leader of the Sylvanthir Tribe.

Auren’s gaze sharpened. The stag’s hooves never made a sound—clearly enchanted—and the runes painted across its fur pulsed with an unnatural rhythm. Kardel wasn’t just passing through.

Then, Auren noticed the second presence.

This one was harder to see—not directly visible at all—but the air shimmered ever so slightly near a copse of thick bushes. The trees twitched with barely-there motion, and a faint dusting of mana trailed like a ghost’s breath in the undergrowth.

Rhiki.The tribal leader of the Velka Dar.

Auren recognized the movement signature immediately, having trained himself on how to detect it. Ghostveil—that infamous movement skill that made its user near-invisible to the naked eye—was being used. Only those attuned to mana fluctuations, or those with special observation skills, could track it.

And Rhiki was fast. He didn’t walk. He glided—like a blur of forest wind given form. If he hadn’t seen the signs, Auren would’ve thought it was just the rustling of leaves.

But something felt off.

Rhiki wasn’t charging toward them. Instead, his ghostly movement veered sharply to the side, slipping past their position like a wisp of wind brushing against the skin. Auren clenched his jaw.

They’re flanking us?

"One of them just passed us," he whispered tightly.

"Huh?" Jairah turned to look, eyes wide but seeing nothing. "Passed who?"

The tension in Auren’s shoulders made her straighten. While she was still scanning lazily, uncertain, Auren was in full combat alert mode—and so was Bonbon, whose tiny, fuzzy ears perked upright. The creature clung to Auren’s shoulder, its sparkly black eyes now serious.

The air thickened.

Jairah glanced back at him, realizing too late that the atmosphere had changed. Her smile vanished. She reached for her bow, a bit too slowly for Auren’s liking, and activated her own personal observation skill.

"What are you looking at? I don’t see anything," she said, squinting into the brush.

Unlike Auren’s Eagle Eyes, Jairah’s observation skill range was limited to about 300 meters maximum, and only in a forward cone. Her skill was good for tracking prey—not fending off tribal assassins in ambush range.

Auren’s eyes remained locked forward. His mind flashed to every petty sabotage, every death glare, every whisper behind his back.

Kardel and Rhiki. The two most openly hostile elven leaders during the entire exam. From poisoned purple pills slipped into his bag to suspicious ambushes during his solo trainings—these two had always wanted him dead.

And today, they weren’t hiding it.

"I knew it," Auren growled. "Those two bastards finally snapped."

"You’re kidding. They wouldn’t really—during the test?" Jairah stammered, half in disbelief.

"They would," Auren answered. "I am sure they have already planned everything just for this moment."

He grabbed her wrist suddenly and ran. "Come on! We’re not dying here."

They sprinted west, into thinner terrain—less trees, plain rocks, and narrow ravines. Auren hoped the plainer environment would buy them time or at least limit the enemies’ ambush mobility.

"But... aren’t there supposed to be watchers? Lantaws monitoring us?" Jairah panted beside him.

That question was answered with a sharp thud behind them.

About 300 meters back, a body dropped from the canopy like a puppet with its strings cut. It was the goldhair scout - one of the observers sent to keep tabs on participants, lay sprawled on the ground. Unconscious but with no visible wounds.

Just silence.

Jairah gasped as she saw it from afar. "That was our scout... the one assigned to monitor us."

"No blood," Auren noted grimly. "Knocked out. Not killed."

"Like disabling a security cam before the heist," Auren added with a deeper frown.

Exactly.

They weren’t even trying to kill them yet. First, they were taking out the witnesses. Silencing the eyes and ears. It was methodical—surgical.

Auren’s heartbeat pounded in his ears.

’Bigbird, status?’ he called mentally to the Divine Phoenix system linked to him.

"This is bad, Master! Rhiki just killed the scout beast!" he reported referring to the lantaw.

Back in Aetherthorn, an elven tamer collapsed with a strangled gasp, clutching her chest. The pain of the Disconnection Shock overwhelmed her mana core. A Lantaw’s severed bond was like a mana whip snapping back into the tamer’s soul—ten seconds of pure agony.

The ritual used to bond a Lantaw and its handler was intricate. A thin strand of mana connected them like an ethereal wire, transmitting images, thoughts, commands. Breaking it so suddenly caused a backlash, like a live cable suddenly being sliced and recoiling violently.

Auren grit his teeth.They were serious.

The weight of it pressed on his chest—this wasn’t some scare tactic, or a misfire of tribal pride. This was an assassination attempt, deliberate and planned. No trial, no warning. Just death in the shadows of the Runewood.

He turned to Jairah, eyes sharp. "It’s official. We’re on our own."

The forest around them seemed to respond in kind. The once-dappled light dimmed as the canopy thickened overhead, leaves folding in like curtains drawn at dusk. Sunlight flickered through in trembling rays, like dying embers caught in a net of branches. The air grew heavier by the second—dense, humid, and tense.

A flicker of static cracked in his mind.

"Master! Incoming!"

Bigbird’s warning snapped him into motion.

Auren’s gaze darted upward—just in time to see Kardel, shrouded partially behind a curtain of leaves, raising a long obsidian wand. Its shaft was etched with glowing runes that pulsed in synchrony with a brilliant blue crystal embedded at its tip. The wand trembled slightly—not from the hand that held it, but from the sheer mana surging through it like a living current.

No time to think.

Auren swiftly scooped Bonbon off his shoulder. The tiny creature chirped in alarm but didn’t resist. "Stay safe, buddy," Auren whispered, tucking the fuzzball carefully into his backpack and sealing the flap tight.

Bonbon’s tiny paws pressed lightly against the fabric from inside. The air around the bag shimmered faintly, as if even the creature itself was subconsciously reacting to the tension.

Auren turned back, his Divine Rapier already humming with latent energy. The golden weapon vibrated softly in his grip, sensing his resolve. The moment had come.

He wasn’t just fighting for survival anymore.

There were innocent lives on the line.Jairah. Bonbon. And maybe even himself.

He couldn’t fail them. Not now. Not here.

Not when he’d already survived everything they threw at him.

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