Chapter 40. The Expedition Nears Its End (5)
By the time Gordon realized what was happening, a considerable amount of time had already passed.
“That incompetent fool!”
Nearly ten days had passed without any further report from the team leader-rank Organization Member who had reported the disappearance of the Dark Elves.
The Organization’s higher-ups eventually sensed that something was wrong and contacted Gordon.
Only then did Gordon realize that even the Organization Member had gone missing, and he could not hide his fury at the fact that he would now have to intervene personally.
He was already irritated enough by the expedition interfering with his research, and now even the subordinate he had entrusted with the matter had vanished without a trace.
Naturally, the man was probably lying dead somewhere by now.
In the end, Gordon stopped his research and turned his attention elsewhere.
However, his anger did not last long.
His temperament was extremely fickle to begin with, but more importantly, the current situation did not appear entirely unfavorable.
“These should make suitable experimental subjects.”
Looking at the corpses of expedition members brought back by the missing Organization Member, Gordon decided to test the results of his long-standing Chimera research.
The Chimeras were far too conspicuous, so even the Organization had judged that the time was not yet right to deploy them and had kept them hidden.
But with the situation having reached this point, there was no longer any reason not to use them.
“Besides, they said those people will be arriving soon. These should at least buy me some time. Hehehe.”
The mad Alchemist approached the fallen corpses with an unpleasant laugh.
“Please do not disappoint me, my children.”
Not long after Gordon immersed himself in the work, a rank-and-file Organization Member arrived in place of the missing team leader and reported the expedition’s current status.
Gordon’s smile grew even wider.
“A human managed to decipher the Elves’ Magic Circle? What a fascinating little creature!”
The expedition had certainly become an annoyance, but as an Alchemist, Gordon could not suppress his curiosity when confronted with something interesting.
“So there was at least one useful specimen among those irritating insects. Hehehe.”
Gordon asked the Organization Member for the name of the person who had caught his interest.
Then he repeated the name he heard as though savoring it.
“Shane…… Shane, is it? If things go well, I could even use him as my assistant. Of course, resistance would be troublesome, so I might have to alter a few things first.”
Even at his age, Gordon never grew tired of finding something new to work on.
And so, humming to himself, he waited for the expedition to come to him.
—
“If you do not think the question has value, then we will simply have to make it valuable.”
The moment Evernic, one of the Imperial Guard Knights, spoke, every knight present manifested Aura around their weapons.
Every one of them was a Fourth-Grade Expert.
Among them, more than a few appeared to be approaching the wall separating them from the Third-Grade Master rank.
As though proving that surviving the Dark Elves’ repeated attacks had been no coincidence, the Killing Intent they released was unquestionably overwhelming.
Shane merely stared back without yielding to their pressure.
Perhaps because he had effectively countered their surprise attack moments earlier, these seasoned Imperial Knights instinctively began by examining the surrounding Mana.
Watching their cautious behavior, Shane spoke.
“You are more careful than I expected.”
“Nothing is more frightening than a Mage who has had time to prepare.”
Of course, for a knight, there could hardly be a greater humiliation than failing to kill a Mage from this distance.
Even so, they remained cautious.
After confirming that their surroundings were safe, one of the knights spoke.
“If you surrender peacefully, we will grant you a painless death.”
“I have always found that you Imperial Guard Knights possess a remarkable talent for making nonsense sound respectable. The fool who died by my hand recently was the same. There is no such thing as a painless death.”
“Tsk. So Harpe did die by your hand.”
Just as they had suspected, Shane had already known the Imperial Guard Knight Order’s true intentions.
Evernic, standing at the front, felt a slight chill run down his spine.
The composure and depth of calculation possessed by an eighteen-year-old boy were astonishing.
Had Dominic lowered his guard around Shane even slightly, there was no telling what might have happened to their position within the Imperial Family.
“Move.”
Every knight charged simultaneously.
They truly lived up to the level of Fourth-Grade Experts.
Having survived countless crises together and honed their teamwork over the years, they attacked with such precision that Shane was left without a single obvious route of escape.
“Tinder(Tinder).”
At the same moment, Shane cast the First-Circle spell Tinder in a Triple-Layered form.
Flames erupted throughout the surrounding area.
Six bursts of fire appeared with the spell, forcing the knights to halt.
“……?! Prepare yourselves!”
It was merely the First-Circle spell Tinder.
Ordinarily, its firepower was enough to cause little more than a mild burn.
But layered three times, it was no longer something they could simply ignore.
Still—
Tinder remained a First-Circle spell.
It was nowhere near powerful enough to injure knights whose bodies were wrapped in Aura.
Just as expected, the flames vanished uselessly when the knights followed Evernic’s order and covered themselves in Aura.
“That was not the firepower of an ordinary First-Circle spell…… So you really did have another trick hidden away.”
The knights hesitated briefly at the unfamiliar magic, so different from the Mana Bullets they had usually seen Shane use.
But the hesitation lasted only an instant.
Once they determined that such a spell could not threaten them, they immediately reformed their battle formation.
And that—
Was precisely what Shane wanted.
“There was one thing you said earlier that was correct.”
“What?”
“You said a prepared Mage was frightening. An excellent observation, considering your current situation.”
“……? Ah!”
Only then did Evernic properly examine the surroundings illuminated by Tinder.
His expression twisted violently.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM──!!
Before he could say anything, explosions incomparable to Tinder erupted simultaneously from the walls and floor.
The force of the blasts mercilessly hammered the Aura-clad bodies of the knights.
“You should have examined your surroundings more carefully.”
Beneath their feet, the roots of Sistu Trees were tangled densely together.
They were trees whose roots reacted violently to heat and exploded.
Naturally, explosions of that level alone were not enough to defeat warriors at the level of Fourth-Grade Experts.
But that was hardly all Shane had prepared.
“What…… Ghk!”
Black spikes erupted from the knights’ shadows.
Every single one pierced directly through a knight’s heart.
“H-How……?”
Evernic, whose heart had been pierced in exactly the same manner, stared at Shane in disbelief.
“There is nothing particularly surprising about it. You merely died to your own Mana.”
“What…… does that……”
“You do not need to know. Did I not already tell you? There is no such thing as a painless death.”
“You……”
Evernic could say no more.
With an expression filled with resentment, his head dropped.
“Hmm. It certainly is useful.”
Shane paid Evernic’s death no attention and instead reviewed the battle that had just occurred.
If one considered only absolute combat strength, Shane was still far beneath those knights.
The reason he had defeated them so easily was exactly what had been said earlier.
Shane was a Mage who had prepared thoroughly.
‘That previous incident is proving useful.’
His battle against Aumans J. Dyra of the Judgment Knight Order while rescuing Delilah from Count Salier’s villa had been enormously helpful.
The Judgment Knight Order wielded its own distinctive Aura, created from a mixture of Mana and Origin.
The property of that Aura was Absorption.
Because the Judgment Knight Order’s Aura possessed the ability to absorb Mana, they were the bane of Mages and held an overwhelming advantage even against other knights.
And the property of Absorption Shane extracted from Dyra had developed tremendous synergy with his current Origin—
Greed.
Combined with the Darkness Attribute possessed by the Dark Spirit, it had made this battle far easier.
Before ever arriving here, Shane had hidden both the Darkness Attribute and his Origin inside the shadows of every member of the Imperial Guard Knight Order.
However, he had deliberately left them without Mana until now so the knights would not sense anything foreign within their own shadows.
Without Mana, the hidden Origin possessed no physical force.
Instead, Shane had given it a single command.
Absorb the Mana the knights naturally leaked and learn its properties.
As a result, Shane ensured that the knights’ own Mana would not reject what was hidden within their shadows.
Then, using Tinder, he infused the roots of the Sistu Trees with Mana carrying the Fire Attribute.
The resulting explosions supplied Mana to Shane’s Origin hidden within the knights’ shadows, granting it physical force.
The ambush had been flawless.
The knights had died without understanding what had attacked them until the black spikes pierced their hearts.
[……You dealt with them before we arrived, Lord Shane.]
At that moment, the voice of a Dark Elf came from behind him.
Obern.
After Shane’s meeting with Priscilla, the Elf Queen, the Dark Elves had acknowledged Shane’s authority and voluntarily placed themselves under his command.
As Elves highly sensitive to Mana, they had concluded that their continued presence among their people in their current state would not have a beneficial effect.
[Are you injured? My apologies. We failed to arrive in time.]
[No. It does not matter. I did not need your assistance in the first place, and it is not yet time for you to act.]
[…….]
Obern answered only by lowering his head.
Shane looked at him and quietly asked,
[Do you regret placing yourself under my command?]
[Not enough time has passed for me to feel that way.]
[There will be many occasions when you must stain your hands with blood.]
[That matter has already been settled between my sister…… the Queen and me. We will not regret choosing this path, Lord Shane. As long as you continue to act for the sake of our people.]
Obern shared the same blood as Priscilla.
While his people remained sealed here by Akasha’s Great Seal, Obern had considered how the world had changed and rationally questioned where he now belonged.
In the end, he chose obedience.
For the sake of the Elves sealed within the Great Forest, he would follow Shane into the human world and build influence there.
As a member of the Queen’s bloodline, Obern already possessed the unwavering trust of the Dark Elves.
That trust naturally translated into authority over them.
For people like that to approach Shane of their own accord was more than welcome.
[What is the current situation?]
[For now, the humans…… I mean, the expedition does not appear to be losing in terms of combat strength. However, an entity that has been advancing rapidly from the outskirts of the forest directly toward this location appears to be nearly here.]
[It is approaching without even concealing its presence. So they truly intend to settle matters here.]
[Judging by the Mana I can sense…… if that entity joins the battle, I cannot predict what kind of variable it will introduce for the expedition.]
[Can you transmit its Mana to me?]
[Yes. Please wait a moment.]
Although becoming Dark Elves meant they could no longer wield the pure Mana of ordinary Elves—
Obern had still lived in this forest for well over a century, even counting only from the ancient era.
He could still use the Elven communication network connecting tree to tree.
Before long, Obern retrieved a trace of the approaching intruder’s Mana through the trees.
‘Oh?’
And that Mana—
Was not unfamiliar to Shane either.
