Chapter 268: Escape (1/2)

Leonel wasn't a fool. He had already expected much of this to happen the moment he heard King Arthur's words. Everything he had done until now was just an act.

In truth, Leonel really was enraged. But, he wasn't the kind of person to blow up when he felt such a way. It was far more likely for him to grow calmer in such a situation, like a volcano waiting to erupt.

His interaction with James during their final meeting was a perfect representation of this. Back then, Leonel had been feeling all sorts of emotions swirling in his mind. Yet, the outward persona had been calm and placid, even while he was losing a friend of a lifetime. This was just the kind of person Leonel was.

In his brief interaction with Lamorak, he had accomplished two things.

First, he made Lamorak underestimate him. A person who can't control their emotions isn't a very dangerous person at all. By painting himself out to be an immature teenage boy, much of his threat had been lessened by several degrees.

However, this was just a secondary matter to Leonel. It would at most give him a small advantage. His true plan lied within the shattering of the detection Arts.

Leonel had no doubt that Lamorak would have a meeting with the mage who drew these Arts very soon. In fact, that meeting might be occurring at this very moment.

After that meeting, Lamorak would find out that of the arrays Leonel destroyed, there were still about 5% of them remaining. This would make Lamorak lower his guard even more. But, they would have no idea that Leonel had already caused a flaw to occur within the arrays.

Leonel walked to the center of his room and sat in meditation as though trying to calm himself. An hour later, he stood up and calmly left his room without a word.

Leonel continued to walk as though nothing had happened. There was hardly anyone to find within the hallways of the Mage Academy and the few that did see him only sent various glances Leonel ignored.

Just minutes later, Leonel had already left the ground of the Mage Academy and out the gates of  Camelot's walls toward the outer city.

At that moment, within the Mage Academy, a familiar mage was sitting in a room adjacent to Leonel's, diligently monitoring the arrays he had cast. Though he didn't really know what was going on, what he did know was that he wasn't in any position to reject. This was an order that came from King Arthur himself and was even being overseen by a Knight of the Round Table.

He might have been a Two Star Magus, but his standing was far beneath that of others. What he was the very best at where auxiliary type Arts. He was a great addition to any special team unit. Whether it was detection, deciphering, or obstruction, he was good at them all.

Even still, this Magus didn't dare to be casual with his actions. Leonel was a person who had killed two Demon Lords. The number of individuals who had such a feat in Camelot didn't exceed a hundred by much. And, considering a population of tens of millions, it was clear that these individuals were elites amongst elites.

However, even after many hours, the Magus didn't find anything wrong.

'… This is going to be a long year…' The magus sighed.

Detection Arts didn't exactly work like the cameras of earth. Rather, they locked onto an energy signature and fed back information about its location. By using many of them at once, it was possible to lock down a subject's position to the smallest detail.

Visual Detection Arts were too easy to fool since they relied on an input of photons. Aura detection and locking Arts were far better for high level applications. They were much more difficult to fool and manipulate. Even if he as a Two Star Magus was given ample time to do so, his success would be uncertain.