Chapter 202 - From Being Sabotaged To Being Discovered (1/2)

“What the? What the hell just happened?”

Gula, startled by the explosion that shook the rocky surface, tumbled out of the cave she had dug. Loren hurriedly grabbed her to stop her from rolling down the mountainside, then quickly looked around as he threw Gula into the cave again.

“Where the hell did they come from?”

“From that direction, I think.”

Lapis looked in the direction where the light spheres were coming and pointed her finger. Loren turned his eyes to that direction, but it was getting dark, and he was unable to see the shooter.

“Do you think they’re aiming for us?”

“‘I don’t think so. There’s only one shooter, and the barrage is thin.”

Before Lapis could finish, another light sphere flew in, causing an explosion near the cave they were in. Loren raised his arm to protect his face from the blast and shattered rocks. He was now sure that the shots were coming from the direction Lapis had pointed, but he still couldn’t confirm who was shooting.

“Can you see the enemy, Lapis?”

“No, unfortunately not. I can only guess about their number and method.”

If there were more than one enemy, Lapis believed that they wouldn’t fire one shot at a time, but would strike consecutively in a flashier manner. But these attacks were single shots, and the intervals between them were long.

“Our opponent is a magician or something similar. Their skill is not that good. It’s not about their aim, but about how they’re unable to handle anything but an intermediate level of magic like <<Fireball>>.”

“I’m not familiar with magic, but maybe they’re using it together with another spell?”

“That… Indeed! We can’t see our assailant because they’re ‘hidden’. So they’re using <<Seal>> together with <<Invisible>> or <<Camouflage>>… then <<Fireball>>. I take back what I said earlier. They’re a first-class magician.”

“Stop praising our opponent!”

Loren grunted. Just then, another light sphere hit near their cave, blasting flames and shockwaves and sending shattered rocks flying.

“Is there no restriction on how many times they can use it?!”

“They’re probably using <<Scroll>> to increase it.”

The number of times a magician can use a spell in a day was limited by the magician’s ability. The difficulty of the spell itself also played a part in it, but it was difficult to imagine a single magician shooting spells at them one after another like how they were being attacked now.

However, by using pre-made scrolls, a magician could use their magic without caring about the limit, as the spells made with scrolls wouldn’t be counted into the limit. Any magician with a bit of money in their pocket would always carry a couple of magic scrolls with them.

“In any case, if we don’t deal with that magician as soon as possible, we might attract some unwanted attention.”

“But we can’t even see him.”

Shayna was still unable to detect any other signs of life besides their party. Loren tried to look around more closely, but with the sun going down, it was too dark for him to see. To make matters worse, the sound and flames of the fireball exploding nearby made it harder for his eyes to adjust to the darkness and for his ears to pick up any other sound.

As Loren gritted his teeth at how they were unable to do anything, right then he heard Shayna spoke in the back of his mind:

[‘I’ll try a bit advanced version of <nergy drain>>.’]

Before Loren could ask how flashy it was, the presence of the King of Death surged up from inside Loren. Gula, who had been tossed back into the cave and Lapis, who was standing next to him, widened their eyes. The presence shot forward, straight at the direction where their assailant was lurking.

“This is…”

It was not surprising that Lapis was shocked.

Another light sphere was shot, but it lost its light midway and disappeared just like a candle that had been blown out. In addition, the surface of the mountain suddenly burst up into dust as if hundreds of years had passed and it had been weathered. And finally, in the middle of the area where these changes occurred, a small scream from a woman could be heard.

“They have a practitioner!”

Although Loren’s eyes did not see it, Lapis’ eyes seemed to have caught the figure of the magician in the darkness. Gula, who also had excellent senses, jumped out of the cave with the speed of a hound at the same time that Lapis used <<Light>> to secure their vision.

Illuminated by the light, Loren’s eyes finally caught sight of a figure collapsed on their four in a slight depression in the mountainside a long distance from where they were.

“What’s that?”

The figure there looked like nothing Loren had ever seen before.

She seemed to be wearing leather armor, but not the kind that mercenaries liked to wear – it was made to fit the lines of her body. That was why Loren could see that the figure was female, but what surprised him was the color of the woman’s skin and hair.

The woman’s skin, illuminated by the magic light, was a dark brown, and her long hair, fluttering in the wind, was pure white.

Her ears were long and pointed like blades of daggers, and they reminded Loren of a particular member from the party of silver-ranked adventurers with whom they had worked on the way to the demon territory.