Chapter 1960 - 1052: Crisis 2

Chapter 1960: Chapter 1052: Crisis 2

Cole felt his head sink slightly; he was a bit surprised.

It wasn’t that he was surprised the Black Cat had a physical body; that came from Teacher Lis’s Strength.

What surprised him was that, out of awe for Second Councilman Stephens just now, he hadn’t dared look a few more times, so he hadn’t noticed the Black Cat’s existence.

The Black Cat was together with Lord Stephens, so it must have been the Black Cat who brought Lord Stephens here.

"Did you discover something?"

Cole patted the Black Cat on his head and asked after they stepped out of the alley.

The Black Cat slapped Cole’s hand away with its paw, then licked its paw and said:

"It was indeed me who notified Stephens to come, because I discovered a problem—and a rather big one."

"I was also a bit curious about that little girl Yor’s sudden disappearance."

"After all, I didn’t observe even the slightest disturbance."

"So, after you left, I checked the movement records of all members of the Source of All Magic for this recent period of time."

"I found that over these three days, situations similar to Yor’s have happened many times; Yor isn’t the first person to suddenly vanish."

"What?"

Hearing this, both Cole and Nelson were somewhat surprised.

"So, how many people have disappeared so far?"

"The first person disappeared starting from early yesterday morning; up to now, the number has already exceeded one hundred."

"Among them are Golden Mages as well as apprentices who have just mastered Spells."

"As for how many ordinary people have vanished, without the positioning of Communication Tools, I’m not very clear."

The Black Cat spoke in a solemn tone; Cole and Nelson had never seen the Black Cat so serious.

Cole fell silent.

If it was truly as the Black Cat said, then this matter was serious.

After all, these people had vanished without a trace, without alerting anyone at all, and without touching any Magic Barrier.

One must know, this was the core of the Pan-Continent Mage Association, the Magic City Jonas.

This was the Holy Land in the hearts of countless Mages, concentrating the most top-tier Magic Wisdom in the current Gaia World.

Moreover, one of the Association’s Floating Cities, the Minos Floating City, hovered above Jonas City.

It could be said that the strongest Magic Barriers guarded this place.

At the same time, Lord Stephens, the Second Councilman, was also sitting in town within the Minos Floating City.

In the Gaia World, this level of Guardian Power was in no way inferior to the core Holy Cities of those Church of the Gods.

Let alone those Evil God Sects; even an Evil God Avatar would have no chance to resist here.

And yet, so many people had suddenly gone missing, among them quite a few Mages of extremely great Strength.

To disappear so silently—this was something even a Legendary Mage couldn’t accomplish.

And seeing Lord Stephens’s solemn attitude, Cole didn’t have much confidence either.

After all, this matter seemed far too bizarre and dangerous.

Are you all right? Yor...

Cole’s mood grew heavy as he waited in Silence.

Nelson, at his side, glanced at Cole, somewhat worried.

The Black Cat also said nothing more, simply stayed on top of Cole’s head and waited.

The two of them waited for quite a while before they saw Stephens slowly walk out of the alley.

"Lord Stephens, may I ask if you discovered anything?"

Cole held himself back, but in the end couldn’t resist asking Stephens directly.

Stephens didn’t mind; before coming, he already knew that the one who had disappeared here was Cole’s friend.

The Black Cat and Nelson at the side were also waiting.

"In truth, I didn’t discover anything."

Stephens looked at Cole, pondered for a moment, and then spoke frankly.

"Even you didn’t find any clues?"

Cole was somewhat shocked, and also spoke with some concern.

"That is precisely the crux of the problem."

Stephens glanced behind him, then said:

"Not only did I fail to sense any Space fluctuation, I didn’t even detect any Magic Power residue."

"Magic Power is everywhere; let alone that this is the Magic City Jonas— even in an ordinary village, after enough time, it would be impossible for there to be no Magic Power traces at all."

"This situation is as if someone had deliberately erased everything."

Because of the relationship between Cole and Lis, Stephens was still relatively patient as he gave Cole this Introduction.

"So this is indeed someone plotting something from the shadows?"

The Black Cat asked directly.

As a Magic Intelligent Life, the Black Cat still understood what Stephens meant.

But could anyone really accomplish such a thing?

Any Mage who cast a Spell to alter the external environment would inevitably mobilize the Magic Elements in the surroundings.

And even if it were other Professionals, or even a Divine being making a move, they would unavoidably disturb the surrounding Magic Elements.

Such changes would all leave element traces at the scene.

The might of a Divine could indeed directly shatter this Space, erasing all traces here, but it was obvious that no such thing had happened in the little alley before them.

Aside from that, let alone Legendary Mages—even he himself, and even those who chose other paths and attained Divinity, could not possibly achieve this.

At least, Stephens had never heard of such a thing.

If he hadn’t witnessed it with his own eyes, Stephens would never have believed such a situation could truly occur.

"Then what should we do next?"

Cole asked.

"I’ll go take a look at the other disappearance sites."

Stephens Thought for a moment and then said:

"Black Cat, from now on, devote all your effort to monitoring Jonas City. If a similar situation appears again, inform me immediately."

"All right."

The Black Cat nodded and agreed crisply.

"Lord Stephens, does this situation need to be made known to the other members of the Association?"

Nelson asked from the side.

"Not for the time being."

Stephens shook his head and said:

"After all, in such incidents even Golden Mages have no chance to resist; making it public rashly would only cause Panic."

"At a time like this, stability is paramount."

"Furthermore, I will also stay in Jonas City to see if I can catch this person’s trail."

"If we can keep the situation under control, so much the better."

"If not, then we can only notify the other Councilmen, and even request aid from the Church of the Gods."

Stephens shook his head slightly and said:

"Although this incident has left no traces behind, it may even involve the intervention of an existence above the Divine."

"As for the two of you..."

Stephens looked at Cole and Nelson, nodded, and said:

"You both performed very well earlier; continue to maintain that over this period and keep an eye out for similar incidents."

"Especially the supply of various Magic Materials—make sure they aren’t sabotaged by others."

"Understood."

Cole quickly nodded in response, then hesitated for a moment and asked:

"If possible, I’d also like to help in the investigation of this matter."

"You may."

Stephens gave Cole a glance, then, after a slight nod, vanished from where he stood.

"Let’s go."

The Black Cat patted Cole and said bluntly:

"We’re going to be busy after this. If things don’t go smoothly, we’ll have no choice but to notify Lis."

"Teacher is also very busy; I really don’t want to disturb him."

Cole shook his head slightly, then followed Nelson back into the Mage Tower.

Although he was extremely anxious about Yor’s situation, Cole hadn’t lost his reason.

Lord Stephens had already taken action; rash moves at this time might instead have undesirable consequences.

However, before leaving, Cole still turned back and cast a somewhat unwilling glance at that alley.

Just as Cole and the others turned to leave, the shadow cast down from the eaves by the sunlight in that alley quivered slightly once more.

...

One day earlier, Jonas City,

By now the sky was growing late; the dusky evening sun spilled over the city, heralding the arrival of a tranquil night.

Yor had already left the Mage Tower and was slowly walking toward home.

The girl let out a light breath, lazily stretching her waist in the glow of the setting sun, easing the fatigue of sitting rigidly all day.

Yet this kind of life was also very meaningful to Yor. Though she was tired every day, with her strong sense of dedication she still took great delight in it.

And just as she was about to reach home, she seemed to sense something and turned her head to look toward the alley beside her.