At the top floor, the décor was the most luxurious, and the floor space the largest. The first thing that met the eye was a grand indoor garden.
Beyond that garden lay the place where the leader of Black Dusk resided. Noel couldn't fathom why anyone would need such a lavish room.
But it was precisely these plants in the garden that were aiding him, for which he felt a measure of gratitude.
"Can anyone tell me what's going on inside right now?" Noel asked the plants in his mind.
"We don't know the exact situation inside, but we can confirm your target is definitely there."
The information that flowed into Noel's mind was consistent: the guild master was inside, no doubt about it.
"Does anyone know what kind of magic this guild master typically uses?" Noel asked again. This was critical information—if he knew the type of magic the opponent used, it would be much easier to plan his next move.
> "He's never personally made a move, and he's very cautious. He leaves most matters to his subordinates. We've only ever been stuck here and have never had the chance to see him fight."
So there would be no chance of acquiring that intel. But charging in blindly would be dangerous.
After all, this was the leader of a dark guild. If he weren't capable, how could he possibly hold that position? Those two subordinates had already been so formidable; if their leader lacked true strength, how could he command their loyalty?
This was truly dangerous. Noel's mind flashed with the realization that the most frightening people weren't those who simply wielded power.
It was those who were powerful yet also knew how to remain patient and hidden that were the most lethal.
He briefly considered entering through the chimney, perhaps via the fireplace. But it was winter—if the fireplace was active, he'd end up as roasted meat. That was a stupid idea.
Using wind magic to attack from a window would offer more concealment than charging through the front door, potentially catching the enemy off guard.
However, flight would drain a lot of mana, possibly double what direct combat would require.
And mana was precious. Noel's reserves weren't large to begin with, only enough to cast five or six large-scale spells before depletion.
If he used continuous flight magic on top of that, it would further drain his trump cards.
Large-scale spells were often what decided battles, and wasting even one could be fatal in a fight.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to Noel: What if he could become invisible? That would greatly increase his stealth.
And with his wind magic, he could strike swiftly, too fast for the enemy to react.
All he needed was to inflict a severe injury at that moment, and it would be enough. Noel never considered himself a "righteous" person.
He didn't care about fair fights; he only cared about what method offered the best chance of victory.
In truth, the principle behind most invisibility spells was simple. Unless it was an innate, awakened form of invisibility, most worked by refracting light.
Some mages took a different approach, blending their body's coloration with the environment to camouflage.
Noel couldn't change his body's color, but refracting light was a feasible choice.
By manipulating wind elements to disturb the airflow, he could, in theory, refract light.
However, this required extremely precise control of wind elements. Although Noel had done related training and had some experience, achieving this level of control on the battlefield was still too difficult, with many potential flaws.
If he slipped up even a little, it could alert the enemy prematurely.
But he could at least try. He wrapped wind elements around his hand repeatedly. However, unlike their usual gentle nature, the wind elements became restless, surging chaotically, on the verge of slipping out of his control.
Yet his hand actually turned invisible.
Using his right eye to check, he could see that his forearm was now transparent. Noel quickly dispersed the wind elements.
The precision required for this spell was extremely high, and he had yet to master its control. If he forced it now, it would be dangerous—the wind elements were already on the brink of rampaging.
Noel prepared for another attempt, this time expanding the target to both arms.
The wind elements remained restless but stayed within Noel's control. With the experience from the previous attempt, maintaining fine control was slightly easier this time.
Only slightly easier, though. The turbulence was still there, but Noel forced it down with sheer will.
But then the wind elements retaliated again, forcing Noel to cancel the spell. If this happened in the middle of a mission, it could be fatal.
Maybe his method was too forceful. He needed to relax and try to blend with the wind.
Noel tried once more, wrapping himself in a gentle breeze. It felt strange, as though he had entered a mystical state.
It was like becoming friends with the wind. And friends don't harm each other.
"It worked."
At least in this environment, he had become transparent. He had expected this spell to consume a huge amount of mana.
But in reality, only a small portion was needed to maintain the wind elements; most of the mana he had used before had gone into suppressing the restless elements.
Now, the mana consumption for maintaining the invisibility was low enough to be sustainable.
For Noel, this spell was a blessing. Invisibility was effectively a stealth spell in the realm of assassination magic.
It was a technique typically mastered only by advanced assassins, not ordinary mages.
Those who could learn it were few, and many would give up before succeeding.
But the priority now was to find a way to slip in undetected and then use wind magic to execute Karsis in a single, decisive strike.
Noel found himself acting more and more like an assassin, but he knew he could never truly be one, for he still carried a burning heart within him.
And as long as he carried that heart, there were some things he could never bring himself to do.
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