Master Of Astral Summoner

Shaan moved his eyes, trying to find any chance to escape from the situation that trapped him. Unfortunately, his body had reached the point of extreme exhaustion, and his mind could no longer think clearly to handle what was happening now.

'Come on, Shaan, calm down. You can do it! ' Shaan took a slow breath. 'There must be something you can do in a situation like this. You just need to stay calm and not make any sudden movements—'

'Beep! Beep! Beep!'

Shaan quickly turned his head to the side. "What the heck is that sound?"

'ArcGear energy remaining at 5%. The machine will shut down automatically to prevent external damage in 5 seconds.'

"Oh, no, no, not now. I'm still-'

'5...4...3...2...1...'

'ArcGear automatically shut down.'

Seeing the ArcGear machine in Shaan's hand suddenly shut down made Shaan's face tense up even more. How could it not? The only tool that could protect him from that figure's attack was now useless, which meant he now had absolutely no defense against that figure.

"Dammit! W-What should I now?" Shaan panicked. "If I don't think fast to find the escape from this, he will be…" Shaan rubbed his eyes and looked toward the trees. "Huh? Wh–where did it go? It was up there a moment ago, wasn't it?"

Shaan squinted his eyes, trying to see more clearly, but nothing changed—the figure had vanished without a trace. No sound, no sign of movement, nothing at all. Realizing that, he swallowed hard, his pale face still tense with fear, just like he had seen a ghost.

"I wi-will return this ArcGear as soon as possible and meet up with the others," Shaan sighed deeply, his expression still drained of color. "I must get back right now."

Without wasting another second, Shaan sprinted out of the forest, heading straight toward the Twilight Sanctum gate.

***

While walking toward Dr. Marshal's residence, Shaan couldn't stop thinking about the mysterious figure he had seen earlier. Something about that person's behavior bothered him. Even though Shaan had been cornered and the ArcGear had clearly run out of energy, the figure didn't make a move. Strange… who exactly was that person? Could he be a member of the Resistance? Shaan scratched his head.

'But if he really was from the Resistance, then why… why didn't he—'

"Shaan!"

A voice called his name from behind. Shaan instantly stopped walking. Somehow, from the tone of that voice, he knew the caller was someone familiar. Without hesitation, he turned his head around.

"Mr. Courier?" Shaan's eyes widened for a moment when he saw the man standing behind him. "How did you even find me here?"

"It wasn't me who saw you, but your two female friends," Mr. Courier explained. "When we returned from our assignment, they happened to see you walking into the Twilight Sanctum and asked me to call you."

"Oh, I see." Shaan nodded slowly. "Wait—where are Chelsie and Nalira? I don't see them anywhere around here."

Mr. Courier pointed to the side. "Over there. They're both sitting on the benches, worn out from their social punishment," he said. "Come with me. I'll take you to them."

"Okay."

Shaan followed Mr. Courier's steps until they finally reached the two girls. Both of them sat on an iron bench in the middle of the town square, looking far from their usual selves. Chelsie leaned weakly against the backrest with her head hanging low, while Nalira kept her eyes closed, massaging her temples over and over again.

'It seems that what Mr. Courier said was true. They both looked exhausted.'

"I found Shaan," Mr courier said. "How are you two holding up? Feeling any better now?"

"Yes. At least, I'm feeling much better now." Nalira glanced at Chelsie. "Elsie, how about you?"

"Uhm.... I feel the same." Chelsie sighed deeply. "Phew... I honestly didn't expect to cut that many logs. There were way more than usual.

"If you two are feeling better, we'll head back home. Mr. Marshal must be waiting for us."

"We understand."

After walking for quite some time, they finally caught sight of Dr. Marshal's residence not far ahead. Mr courier, who led the group, quickened his pace and reached the door first.

"Mr. Courier, what's wrong?" Shaan furrowed his brow, seeing that Mr. Courier seemed to be looking for something. "What are you looking for?"

"The spare key," said Mr. Courier, checking around the door. "Mr. Marshal isn't home at all. He's out."

"…How do you know that?" Nalira asked, her brows furrowing. "We haven't even tried knocking yet. Maybe he's still inside—maybe he's asleep."

"Uhm... I agree. Maybe we should try knocking on the door first."

"It's useless. He's definitely not home." Mr Courier pointed his index finger at the porch light above their heads. "See that light? Sir. Marshal never turns it on when he's inside. He once told me that whenever he goes out and leaves the house empty, he turns on the porch light. It's his way of fooling anyone—especially thieves—into thinking someone's still here."

"Interesting. I never even thought Mr. Marshal would do something like that."

"Uhm… so what should we do now? Should we wait for him to come back?"

"We can, but we don't know how long we'll have to wait," Mr. Courier said as he kept searching around the door. "Sir Marshal might take a while to come back, and it's already getting darker. The air's getting colder, too. If we just stand here doing nothing, the night wind might make all of you sick."

"All right. We understand." Nalira nodded her head. "Then where is the spare key?"

"Sir. Marshal told me that he kept a spare key somewhere near the door, but he never explained exactly where he kept it."

"Uhm... how about down there?" Chelsie pointed her index finger at the dark blue doormat right under the courier's feet. "It's possible that Dr. Marshal kept his keys there."

"Yes, I think we can try that." Shaan nodded his head. Mr. Courier, we should check under the doormat."

Hearing Chelsie and Shaan's words, Mr. Courier lifted the doormat and peeked underneath it. His eyes widened in surprise when he spotted something indeed lying there.