Episode 303: In the dark mountains.
In a dense forest without even the light of stars, a group of people were running through the pathless bushes.
“Gasp! How the fuck did I…!”
A middle-aged man in light leather armor sighing in sorrow.
On his shoulder was a young man draped limply, wearing high-quality clothes that at first glance appeared to be made of unusual material.
Although it was impossible to see the closed eyes, the yellow skin and black hair that compared to the average continental person reminded me of the empire’s famous bloodline.
Of course, to middle-aged people now, youth was just a burden.
It is also a very important burden that should never be lost.
– No matter what happens, secure the second prince.
– Only the emperor’s direct blood relatives can provide a shield to block the imperial family’s attacks and a path for us to go out into the sun.
‘Is that really possible?’
Will the prince, who came out to negotiate but was kidnapped, trust them?
I heard that even the previous request ended badly?
‘It’ll be a good thing if this guy comes to his senses and doesn’t threaten to kill us all.’
Because the person he had infiltrated was an executive of the Central Corps, he had a general knowledge of the behavior of the imperial family and was skeptical.
Idiots who are so proud of themselves that they have no ability and think that only the emperor is above them.
Even though the emperor’s direct lineage was different, we had to consider the even more frightening possibility.
‘No matter how you look at it, it’s nonsense, so why on earth would I do it? ‘Damn it!’
However, in ‘Top’, top-down is a principle that must be absolutely followed.
He had no choice.
– Found the traces!
– It’s up!
– Beep beep!
The middle-aged man’s steps became faster as the sound of a whistle coming from down the mountain gave his heart a chill.
‘already?!’
I already knew the identity of those chasing me.
Imperial Inspection Department. I don’t know their exact affiliation, but they are probably elite agents.
Where did they start and how did they catch their tail? They are like water ghosts that persistently follow even if you cut them off.
But they weren’t the problem.
The fact that they were behind them meant that the sword spirit Triss Hornsby or the cold wind mage Galen Decaid were nearby.
‘Damn monsters.’
Even the power of a middle-aged man who had achieved the position of elder in the tower was not enough for the two of them.
He didn’t even want to check which of the two it was, but he soon had no choice but to unintentionally check the monster chasing him.
As he was running, the air around him suddenly turned into a razor-sharp blade and came at him from all directions.
‘Dropping wind!?’
Each of the blades of wind, accompanied by a bone-chilling bluish chill, was a threat that could not be ignored.
Kwakwakwakwakwa.
Gritting his teeth, he reflexively took out the sword from his waist.
Wow!
The rising ‘gray’ Force Blade bounced the blades of the approaching wind in all directions.
“shit!”
This heavy drinking would have made anyone chasing him aware of his location, but there was no other way.
Even more frightening was the wizard who seemed to be staring straight at him from a distance of about 1 km.
[Give me the prince!]
Jjiiiiing.
“Pfft!”
The message magic that hit my ears shook my eardrums more powerfully than the attack magic of most low-level wizards.
The power of the magic that shot him accurately from such a distance was amazing, but the bigger problem was…
‘I got caught.’ ‘You can’t run away.’
If it had been a sword spirit, there would have been at least some possibility.
Although he was not a superhuman, he had many talents that superhumans could not do.
At times, it became a combat power that surpassed that of most superhumans, and it was an even more useful ability to create variables in battle.
However, it was impossible for him to escape the magician of the cold wind who was targeting him from the sky by any means he knew.
Then….
‘Dongguijin!’
Die like the magician of the cold wind.
Although the probability was low, it was not impossible.
‘Even if you fail, you can take your time.’
During that time, other comrades will steal the prince away.
With that decision, the middle-aged man threw the prince into the dark bushes and immediately moved the gray mana in his heart.
‘Berserk. Mind Control Target on Wizard. ‘Memorizing on battle mode.’
A berserk spell that amplifies physical abilities several times while invoking madness that does not discriminate between enemies and enemies.
And mental magic that focuses that madness on one target.
The middle-aged man’s eyes began to blur as he activated the tower’s vision macro spell, which automatically activated the prepared battle magic.
However, the gray energy that arose at the same time suddenly strengthened his entire body, and soon three gray spheres the size of a human head appeared around him and began to orbit irregularly.
At that moment, a gust of wind seemed to blow, and before he knew it, a blonde mage who had turned half-white due to the power of time landed in front of him.
If it weren’t for his graying hair, his face would still look like that of a young man.
“You, Falman Rihalt, the Heavenly Seal of the Central Corps… ha?”
Kwaaaaang!
The calm cry was soon cut off by the force blade striking the barrier in front of me.
A force blade that burns like a flame.
At the same time, black thorn vines instantly grew from where the mage landed and entangled him.
I don’t know what to do.
Even as he watched the wall of wind and cold surrounding him crack, the mage inside laughed in admiration.
“Ho? Is this the magic swordsman who is the pride of the Kassel Magic Tower? This is my first time seeing him in person.”
“Krrr.”
But the only response to that exclamation was a howl like an animal.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwak!
As the lightning-like sword strike continued, the three gray spheres took turns spewing out toxic clouds that obscured vision or summoning thorns and black thunderbolts to attack without mercy.
Galen Decade saw that and frowned slightly.
“Giving yourself up to madness? It’s amazing that you can still use magic, but even so, this great person of mine…”
Kwajik.
Galen’s relaxed expression disappeared as the gray Force Blade seeped through the crack in his barrier.
Wow!
Galen escaped the scene with quick movements uncharacteristic of a mage.
But before I knew it, the handsome face that had escaped into the sky already had a thin scar.
“blood…?”
A subtle pain that I haven’t felt in decades.
Galen’s face distorted viciously at the wet feeling at his fingertips.
“My noble blood!!!”
The mage of the cold wind.
The empire’s strongest battle wizard who wields the attributes of wind and ice.
His other nickname, known only to those in the know, was Mad Narcissist.
Called a high-ranking wizard among high-ranking wizards, he is, as the saying goes, a psycho among psychos.
“I’ll tear you to death!”
The moment the blue eyes turned over, revealing the whites of their eyes, blades of blue wind began to swirl about 100 meters in all directions around where Galen was.
“Tear and freeze!”
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa.
Wow!
Aww!
A violent wind blew through the quiet forest in the middle of the night, and the forest creatures who had encountered the unexpected disaster began to run away in commotion.
And Palman, who charged into the center, fell to the ground, spewing out a fountain of blood in the air.
Cooung.
“Kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk…?”
His whole body felt like he had been hacked to pieces.
However, Palman’s wounds were healing rapidly as he groaned and staggered.
And that further fueled Galen’s anger.
“Hold it? Hang on!? How dare you, this scum!!”
With a scream echoing through the air, a storm of blue-cold air began to pour down around Palman, who barely stood up.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa.
After a spell that seemed to amplify the 5th circle’s cold magic Blizzard dozens of times, swept all over the place for a while.
Sssssssssssssssssssssssssss.
The forest in midsummer had been turned into ruins by the unseasonable bitter cold of midwinter. And at the center stood Palman, who had turned into a transparent ice statue.
“Hahahaha! You look good, you piece of trash!”
Clink.
Is it because of the vibration created by the sound of laughter?
Palman’s body, which was the only one that maintained its form in the devastated forest, turned into a piece of ice and shattered.
That moment.
“This is crazier than what I heard.”
As the cold voice echoed through the ruined space, Galen’s raving stopped.
“Have you forgotten why you chased after that child? If it weren’t for me, wouldn’t this child have just died? Tsk tsk.”
An old man with a decrepit appearance appeared, accompanied by a voice clicking his tongue.
A small-bodied old man who is likely to be commonly seen in rural areas in the southern part of the continent.
The tattered, unlined clothes that seemed to further emphasize the shabbiness were thin, as if you could feel the cold even in the middle of summer, and looked unsightly, as if they would fall apart at any moment.
Next to him, a young man who was probably twice his age was floating in the air, catching up with him, to the point where it seemed completely unrelated to the old man.
However, Galen knew that of course that couldn’t happen, so his expression couldn’t help but harden.
“…Who are you?”
“Me? The one you and Tris that old man are after.”
At those words, Galen’s face froze as if frost had fallen.
“Kassel Matapju?”
“I call you that too.”
“You are the ‘snake that swallowed the truth’?”
“Hoo. Do you know that? You don’t look like Ahae these days.”
“Ha…”
Ah ha.
The words of an old man who treats himself like a child.
Normally, Galen would have been furious and furious, but he just glared at the old man with cold eyes.
“I never thought you would show yourself in front of me. Your liver is swollen.”
“I should have come sooner. Because I couldn’t do that, I lost a precious child. Tsk tsk. That dark sword guy lived up to his name.”
“Dark sword?”
“You don’t even know who gave you orders. I don’t know anything about this, considering its reputation.”
Galen’s face hardened even more as he heard the words of the old man smiling, showing off his yellow teeth.
“Your tongue is dirtier than the old man’s appearance. Let’s see how long you can talk about it.”
White energy surged from Galen’s whole body, and a brilliant white light began to form in the air.
Naturally, attention is drawn to this.
Kwasik.
One small step taken by an old man.
A faint noise erupted from beneath his feet, and a bluish energy near the old man exploded like a glass window breaking.
“Great…”
At the same time, Galen’s body, which was floating in the air, trembled and a light trickle of blood flowed from the corner of his mouth.
“…I thought he was crazy, but he was even insidious. Was the crazy appearance staged?”
There was a sneer on the face of the old man who looked ordinary and aged.
But Galen could not laugh like before.
A situation where his attempt at conversion was destroyed by a simple move.
“Don’t be funny!”
His expression was distorted. The mage began to emit white and blue light all over his body.
It soon turned into a transparent and cold storm and began to sweep the area.
Kwakwakwakwakwakwa.
The transparent wind became a storm of small invisible blades, blowing away everything that passed by. It began to turn
everything into powder. A wind that cuts everything down.
If the enemy is a small number of strong enemies, it uses concentrated destructive power. If the enemy is a large army, it uses a range attack that exceeds common sense.
Galen’s true vision magic, which can always show maximum effectiveness, freezes and destroys the ruins. Everything in the forest turned to dust.
However,
“Is this the famous army of the cold wind?”
A leisurely voice rang out from within.
An old, grayish voice that rang through the noise of the storm.
Galen was struck by the strange and bizarre situation. As his expression hardened, a black beam of light split the air like lightning from the center of the cold wind’s army.
Sgak.
“Kuh!?”
Blood surged from Galen’s right chest as he reflexively tilted his upper body.
At the same time, it seemed as if it would completely destroy the forest. The howling wind slowly subsided.
“Damage?”
And the old man appeared again with a surprising voice.
Although he had inflicted serious injury on one of the few beings in the empire by force, the old man was not even satisfied with that. He clicked his tongue.
Then, Galen, who had escaped death without realizing it, forgot even the pain and asked blankly.
“No way… an archmage?”
“What is an archmage? When our ancestors hear it, they laugh.”
“What…”
“It would be embarrassing if the real great mages before the ‘Great Migration’ saw it. Of course…”
“That’s…”
“You’re not much better than him.”
With a cold sneer, pitch-black darkness began to encroach on Galen’s surroundings.
And it was only after the old man’s expression changed that Galen realized what had happened. His face turned pale.
“Aaaah!”
A blue and white light flashed again with a sound that I couldn’t tell if it was a cheer or a scream.
However, that auspicious glow gradually lost its light in the darkness that was swallowing everything up.
And.
Blah blah blah. .
With the vibration echoing in the air, everything that was there disappeared as if it had never existed from the beginning.
But.
“Hah? He ran away?”
The old man, who was staring blankly into space as if he were dumbfounded, soon burst into laughter and shook his head.
“I guess they were able to hide it in there too. haha. He was not a crazy person, but a conniving person. Isn’t that right?”
The old man asked as if he was talking to someone.
Of course, no one answered.
“I know you’ve been awake for a while now. Little one, will you listen to my proposal?”
The man was hanging in the air as if he had fainted at those words. The eyes of the young second prince Baros van Ares narrowed.
