Villain's Evolution: Investing in My Minions Yields Crazy Returns!

It took Victor less than four minutes to return from the abandoned materials area north of the academy to the Seventh Magical Beast Trial Ground.

This time, he did not use Shadow Blink to rush back alone because Evelyn’s shoulder needed treatment, while Cecilia had to report the four dead researchers and the attackers to the academy’s senior staff.

However, just as their magic carriage approached the trial ground’s perimeter, the translucent defensive barrier in the distance shook violently again.

Boom!

Silver gray ripples spread across the sky as the overlapping roars of countless beasts came from the forest.

The number of academy knights had risen from twelve to more than thirty, and at least six instructors had appeared around the perimeter, while the middle aged instructor in charge of sealing the entrance issued orders without pause.

Less than twenty meters from the entrance, Victor spotted Leah. She had not gone in, at least not yet, but something was clearly wrong.

Strands of silver astral mana rose around her like long hair, her black eyes were flooded with silver light, and her right hand pressed against her chest. Yet her feet kept carrying her little by little toward the barrier’s entrance, as though something were pulling her.

Two academy instructors tried to stop her, but the moment they came within three meters, the astral mana around Leah surged, and four Astral Chains burst from the ground almost on instinct.

”Don’t go near her!”

A deep voice rang out.

Albert, who had arrived only moments earlier, stood beside the entrance with six silver white magic runes floating before the tip of his staff, but he made no attempt to suppress Leah by force because everyone could see that she was not attacking on purpose and did not even seem fully aware of what she was doing.

”Leah!”

At the sound of Victor’s voice, the girl stopped, but only for an instant.

Taking advantage of that moment, Victor jumped down from the carriage and activated Shadow Blink from eight yards away.

Buzz!

His figure vanished, and when he reappeared, he was standing in front of Leah.

She raised her head, and a trace of struggle showed in her black eyes beneath the silver light.

”Victor...”

”Are you clearheaded?”

”I...” Leah shook her head hard. ”I’m completely clearheaded.”

The System gave an entirely different answer.

[Target’s mental state: Under continuous interference from astral resonance.]

[Independent judgment reduced by 23%.]

[Target’s Astral Core is being drawn by an external energy source.]

[Distance to source: 643 meters.]

[Direction: Northern underground area.]

Twenty three percent, which was worse than before.

Victor reached out and caught her wrist, but the instant they touched, a surge of astral energy rushed toward him. It was not Leah’s own mana, but contamination seeping through the resonance from somewhere far away.

[Mana Devour!]

Buzz!

Gray silver energy was rapidly drawn out through her arm.

[Contaminated astral energy successfully broken down.]

[Astral Resistance Fragment +1.]

[Current: 3/10.]

The restless starlight around Leah finally settled a little, and as the silver light in her eyes began to fade, she took a deep breath.

”Someone inside is calling me.”

”What are they saying?”

Leah did not answer at once, but Victor could already guess. After several seconds of silence, she spoke in a somewhat strained voice.

”She keeps calling my name.”

”And?”

Leah looked toward the forest enclosed by the barrier.

”She says she’s my mother.”

Victor’s expression did not change.

”Do you believe her?”

”I don’t know.”

This time, Leah answered immediately.

”I shouldn’t. But the feeling...” Her fingers tightened slightly. ”It feels just like it did when I was little.”

It was not the face or the voice, but the feel of her astral mana, and that was the difficult part. If it were merely someone who looked like Elena, Leah would not have been shaken so easily, but whatever was inside possessed astral energy close to her own bloodline and even knew how to influence her directly through her Astral Core’s resonance.

”Then you have even more reason to stay out,” Victor said as he released her wrist.

”Why?”

”Because if that really is your mother, she wouldn’t drag you in like this.”

Leah paused, a trace of understanding entering her eyes.

”And if it isn’t, you definitely can’t go,” Victor continued.

It was simple, so simple that it cleared her head a little. If her mother had truly been alive these past three years and knew what was happening here, her first thought would be to keep her daughter away from danger, not pull at Leah’s Astral Core from hundreds of meters away.

...Unless the person inside had lost control, or she was not Elena at all.

Albert finally approached them and said, ”How is she?”

”She is Stable for now.” Victor glanced at him. ”What about the so called survivor?”

”She hasn’t come out.” Albert’s expression darkened.

”I thought you’d found her.”

”The monitoring crystal spotted her at the edge of the second zone. She gave her name, and then we lost the image.”

Cecilia joined them at that moment.

”Do you have a recording?” she asked.

Albert raised his hand without another word, and a magical projection opened before them.

The image came from a fixed monitoring crystal inside the trial ground, showing a forest, a collapsed fence, and several beast carcasses visible in the distance. Then a woman slowly stepped out from behind a tree.

At this sight, Leah stopped breathing.

For the first time, Victor saw what Elena Vane actually looked like. She appeared to be in her thirties, with long black hair, a slender build, and a pale face, while her features bore a striking resemblance to Leah’s. She wore a researcher’s robe that had long since been torn, and dried blood covered her left shoulder and abdomen.

The woman walked up to the monitoring crystal, looked into it, and spoke.

”I am Elena Vane.”

Her voice was weak.

”Tell Albert. Do not let Leah enter the northern underground area.”

Albert visibly stiffened, and Leah went still too, because those words were the exact opposite of the force currently pulling her inside.

The recording continued. The woman seemed about to say something else, but then she suddenly clutched her chest as silver gray markings spread from her neck across the side of her face.

The next moment, the image dissolved into static.

[End of recording.]

A brief silence fell over the entrance as Leah stared at the place where the image had been.

”It’s her,” Leah said finally, a look of shock appearing on her face.

Albert frowned deeply. ”Are you certain?”

”Her face. Her voice. The way she moves.” Leah’s voice grew quieter with every word. ”Everything is the same. My mother is alive!”