Chapter 157: Forest. (2) (1/2)
“Tsk…”
Reylie felt their killing intent stick to her skin. The uninvited guests were slowly surrounding them, releasing their auras with no thoughts of hiding.
“Ms. Knight.”
Reylie looked at Julie. But she was unable to continue to fight, badly injured and slipping in and out of consciousness. The opponent she had fought was a tiger. Even if it was Julie, she needed to rest to heal.
“…”
That meant all she had to rely on was herself…
At that time, a group of unidentified assailants appeared from the shaded areas of the snowy field. Reylie looked at each of them, but they were all covered by robes; not a single one of them showed their face. Even what she could see was covered by a mask.
“Phew.”
Reylie warmed up her mana with a sigh, inspecting the circuit and preparing a spell. A second later, an explosion rocked her.
Boom, boom, boom, boom—!
An eruption of mana kicked up snow, sweeping through the field. Reylie protected herself and Julie using the spell Dukan Barrier, but the dark red flames persisted around the barrier. She was hemorrhaging mana to maintain it.
Craaaack…
Pandemonium surrounded her. The ground was violently hollowed out, and a cloud of thick smoke obscured her vision. Reylie glared through the smoke from inside the barrier.
“Oh, you motherfuckers! Say something before you shoot!”
There was no response; only her voice echoed out. They prepared a second and similar spell.
“…There’s no answer.”
She bit her lip and muttered softly. Survival appeared unlikely. If she dismantled the barrier and resorted to offense, Julie would be in danger. Reylie couldn’t even guarantee she could kill all of them. However, even if she maintained the barrier, there was no possibility that she could fend off their consecutive attacks.
“…No way.”
Suddenly, Reylie recalled something tucked away in her mind. Deculein was on a business trip to the North. It was part of the mission given to him by the chairman, but… something was strange. There must be a reason why Deculein obediently headed up to the North.
“Hey, you bastards! Did Deculein send you?!”
But they didn’t answer. They continued to prepare their second destructive spell.
“So, Deculein sent you! That crazy motherfucker! What he did wasn’t enough?!”
Reylie’s roar echoed through the frost-covered trees, spreading out further and further. Inside an empty forest. Eventually, the answer to her suspicion returned.
“Stop having crude thoughts.”
“…?”
Vrooooom—!
The din of a loud engine cut through as a snowmobile soared through the air and stopped near Reylie, slipping past the group of people in robes. Reylie’s jaw dropped. No blood and no tears. From the very beginning, I’m the villain – that’s what his face was saying. The one responsible for the massacre of thousands of Demon Blood, the mortal enemy of Julie and Reylie, the Head of the Yukline.
Deculein.
“…Ehem, sorry. I was mistaken…”
His eyes stared past Reylie to Julie, who was asleep next to her. She appeared near-dead with her pale complexion; her breath was so quiet it might stop at any moment.
“…Excuse me?”
Reylie was confused by the light in Deculein’s eyes. A strange pain swayed in them, clear as the pride they revealed.
“Take Julie and go.”
“…Really?”
Deculein moved his wood steel without a further word.
Claaaang—
Metal rang out as nineteen pieces of steel shot out to the robed assailants.
“I’ll take care of these insects.”
Reylie was curious about his confidence. No, she was also curious why he was helping. Where did he suddenly come from? Anyway, she had a lot of questions….
But she was lost for words as she watched his onslaught. The wood steel soared into the sky and fell like meteors upon the robed group.
Schwaaaa—
The latest_episodes are on_the ranobes.net website.
They hurriedly formed a barrier, but it was quickly destroyed by Deculein’s rapid interference. What happened next was obvious.
Clang, clang, clang, clang—!
The nineteen pieces of steel shot to the ground, generating shockwaves and dust. The bombing shook the forest and left nothing of the enemies.
“…”
Reylie watched with blank eyes, going through magical analysis in her head. The way that Deculein killed those wizards was with overwhelming violence, without using any magical equipment. He took a piece of steel using Psychokinesis and amplified it with kinetic energy and mana. It all looked too simple, but if his opponent was a wizard, it was impossible to deal with it.
This was all a result of Deculein’s mental capacity. He dismantled all of his opponents’ barriers just before the flood of steel came down. He understood and interfered with the magical structure at a glance…
“…Hmm.”
Deculein looked back. Reylie stepped back into a crouch, but his gaze was fixed on Julie. She still showed no signs of waking. Looking at her, Deculein spoke in a low voice.
“You’re as pitiful as always.”
Reylie’s blood boiled.
“Excuse me. All of this is because of you!”
Deculein looked at Reylie, his expression saying one thing:
—You’re even more pitiful.
“Go. We’ll clean up after you.”
“…We?”
At that moment, the Assistant Professor—
Pyong—
- popped out from under the snowmobile. Allen smiled and bowed.
“Hello, I’m the Assistant Professor, Alle-“
“Also.”
Deculein covered Allen’s mouth.
“Don’t tell Julie anything.”
“…”
Reylie looked around. Between their assailants’ destructive spells and Deculein’s bombardment, the area looked like a scene from Hell.
Reylie nodded.
“I won’t. Also, thanks for saving us. Honestly, I don’t even know why you helped us….”
*****
I collected their bodies with Allen. Combing through the pieces of robes, crushed bones, smashed flesh, the result we concluded was that it was the Altar, as expected.
[Main Quest: Named Hunting]
Main Quest. It was a quest in which the Altar began to attack the Named one after another. They would choose a Named that could interfere with their goals and ambush them, and Players were no exception. In technical terms, it was a random encounter. There would be quite a few Named that would die from this quest, so from now on, I needed to go all out.
“The Altar?”
Allen asked with widening eyes. Maybe, this kid also knew about the Altar. I could now tell when she truly didn’t know something or pretended not to know.
“They’re a group of fanatics who circle undeveloped areas in the North.”
“Oh… what? Can people live in those lands?”
Allen’s eyes changed from table tennis balls to baseballs. Her acting skill wasn’t to be underestimated.
“The undeveloped areas are still a part of the continent, and with the land dying, agriculture and raising livestock are impossible. Monsters and beasts also run rampant. It is possible to stay there for a short while, but long-term is nearly impossible.”
The Altar’s sanctuary resided there. This dark group believed in the resurrection of god and tried to manifest them at any cost. But what they were trying to revive was not a god but another religious fanatic. The whole story was revealed in the main quest.
“Aha… but this… how did you know that these corpses belong to Altar?”
“Dark energy is flowing through their body. There are also traces of artificial blood vessel transplants.”
“Huh! Blood vessel transplants?!”
I looked to the distant horizon beyond the forest. Over there was the unclaimed land, not all that far away either. There was no division whatsoever separating us.
“Yeah. Blood vessel transplants. It’s also proof that these guys are Demon Blood.”
Follow new_episodes on the ranobes.net platform.
“…Demon Blood?”