I AM A MAGE BUT WITH MILF SYSTEM

But then suddenly, it stopped dead in its tracks.

Its glowing eyes locked onto something a few feet away.

A rat.

Well, something close to a rat.

This creature’s body was almost as big as a deer, with patchy furs that revealed scarred, leathery flesh beneath. Its teeth were curved like a bull’s horns, glistening with thick, venomous saliva that dripped onto the forest floor.

kekeke

The tree-like creature had found its prey.

Its centipede-like legs wriggled faster, carrying it forward with eerie silence despite its massive size. As it reached close, it slowly raised its arms and seemed ready to impale the giant rat.

But before it could strike —

The air split before it.

A powerful slash of mana hurtled toward its neck, cutting through the darkness like a silver blade of moonlight. The attack was precise and carried an overwhelming authority that made the surrounding trees tremble.

”KRRRIIIIIEEEEEEK—!!”

The tree shrieked in disbelief. Its centipede legs wriggled frantically, but it seemed frozen in place, as if the very mana in the air had bound it.

snap

In the next instant, its neck was severed.

Thick, blackish sap sprayed outward like corrupted blood, splattering across the forest floor. The creature’s grotesque head toppled sideways, twitching as its green eyes slowly lost their light.

Moments later, the massive body collapsed with a heavy thud, shaking the ground beneath it.

”This filthy creature makes my skin crawl,”

A voice followed soon after.

Behind that, another voice rang out.

”Don’t change the topic, Voss. What do you mean by the prince of that kingdom? How can he even be alive? He should have been dead centuries ago, and even if he had somehow survived, did we not kill the entire surviving member back in the Great Campaign?”

This voice belonged to none other than the Duke. His frustration was evident in his tone, edged with something deeper that resembled fear.

The two men stood in a small clearing deep within the Forbidden Realm, the massive trees around them wrapping like a menacing cage. The air was heavy with the stench of rot and corrupted mana and the darkness made their figures seem almost like a moving shadow.

The Duke paced a few steps.

”I saw it myself,” he said, his voice lowering as though the forest itself might hear their conversation. ”The King beheaded the prince right before my eyes. The blade fell. The head rolled. We burned the body until nothing remained. We salted the ground where his blood touched the earth.”

He stopped.

”So tell me this. Why has he returned? And not just returned, but risen as something else entirely. This Shadow King.”

The first voice, Captain Voss, rang out again, calm and almost mocking.

”You are asking far too many questions, Your Grace,” he said calmly. ”You know I am just a lower-rank captain at the end of the day. I know only the things that my superiors let me know.”

The Duke’s eyes narrowed.

”That may have been true before,” he said. ”But it no longer seems that way.”

The captain stopped dead in his tracks and glanced at the Duke from the corner of his eye. There was a strange glint in his eyes now. Something darker. A faint, oppressive presence began to spread through the clearing like an unseen mist, carrying with it a cold that did not belong to this world.

”How did you figure it out?”

The Duke let out a short, humorless breath and walked toward the fallen corpse of the tree creature. He stopped just beside it and looked down at the lifeless mass.

”You should learn to conceal that aura of yours,” he said. ”It is leaking out of you like poison.”

But then his tone lowered. His expression shifted and there was a certain hesitation clouding his features now. It seemed like he wanted to say something but was not sure if he should.

After a long pause, he finally whispered, almost fearfully, ”Di… did you receive the favor of tha… that person?”

A silence followed.

Then, without any warning, the captain chuckled.

”You are very sharp, Your Grace.”

He paused, letting the silence stretch for a few heartbeats before continuing.

”As to answer your question… it seems so. He has personally taught me the omnipotent death aura.”

The Duke’s face paled visibly. He turned slowly and his hand instinctively moved toward the sword at his waist, though he did not draw it. The weight of centuries of buried guilt and rage seemed to crash down on him all at once.

”You…” the Duke whispered, his voice hoarse. ”You have been touched by it. By him.”

Captain Voss smiled. His expression was almost pitying, as though he were looking at a child still clinging to fragile fairy tales.

”Why do you speak of ”him” as though you are referring to someone evil?” Voss replied calmly, his tone carrying the patience of a teacher correcting a misguided student.

”Have you forgotten what he has done for the kingdom? The stability he brought. The enemies he crushed. The power he granted to those worthy enough to serve under him.”

For a brief moment, silence lingered.

Then it broke.

A surge of overwhelming aura erupted from the Duke.

The air itself trembled. The trees around them groaned as if in pain, their ancient trunks cracking under the pressure. The ground beneath their feet vibrated and small stones levitated for a moment before shattering into dust.

The Duke’s mana spread outward like a golden storm, filled with the unyielding will of a man who had forged his domain through blood and war. It was the power of a veteran Arch Mage, refined through decades of battle, authority, and sacrifice.

”Voss,” the Duke’s voice roared through the forest like thunder, shaking the very canopy above. ”Have you forgotten the Great Campaign?”

His eyes burned with fury, but beneath it lay something far deeper.

Pain.

”Countless noble houses that once upheld this kingdom were erased because of that person’s obsession with a lifeless treasure.”

His breathing grew heavier.

Then his voice dropped,

”Have you forgotten? Your own wife was killed in that war—”