Chapter 460,
Chapter 131. People with good intuition People with bad intuition (4)
I tied the boat to the reef and went up to the island.
“Looks like the guards were standing there a while ago. Hmm… Looking at the stride, I can smell the special lease guys.”
said Lata, looking at the footprints nearby.
“Special assignment? Can you recognize it just by looking at the footprints?”
“It is a kind of sense and experience, my lord. Because of the nature of my job, I often had things to do with them. There are bizarre patterns that are difficult to explain.”
“If my older brother says this, it must be a special lease.”
“These aren’t any beasts, they know everything. Isn’t that right, kid?”
It was amazing to see the Prochi siblings so confident just by looking at the footprints. It was an ability he didn’t have. Although it was a story when it was revealed that there really was a special lease.
Looking closely, the battle wasn’t just taking place in the center of the island. Smoke and flames were rising from all over the large and small islands that were gathered in a row.
For example, local warfare was breaking out everywhere.
The distance between the islands was so close that it was possible to travel by swimming or leaping alone. I decided to go around the archipelago and look at the war situation.
Aaaaa…! Wow!
Every time I moved, I heard a scream coming from somewhere.
Sunny weather, beautiful islands with unspoiled nature, and elements that did not go well with the warm wind were increasing.
The group couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of alienation.
“Hey kid.”
“uh.”
“Aren’t these screams strange?”
Jin nodded.
“It sounds like the terrified scream of an untrained average person.”
“That is what I hear, Lord.”
It was too loud to be the screams of island residents or other ordinary people. It has the unique energy of a warrior with at least 6 stars.
Just because you are well trained and used to war, of course, there is no law that requires you to scream nicely.
However, those currently visiting the Gaifa Islands are the troops of the 4 major powers. It also brought them to a state in which they recognized that all four major powers could conflict with each other.
At a minimum, all of them must be composed of people who can be called elite.
It was not easy to understand why such people were so terrified and screaming.
The newly arrived island was like a low hill. Thanks to the relatively high altitude, the island in front came into view at a glance when I reached the top.
And the party was able to face a shocking scene that they had never imagined.
“Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
“Whoops!”
I saw a group of people running wildly, screaming like frightened and running away animals.
“Huh what? What is the situation?”
“Imperial family… Mr. Murakan.”
Those running were the elite troops of the imperial family.
Even the flags symbolizing the royal family of Viment were torn and scattered on the floor. The elite imperial army was running and stepping on it.
Why were these elite soldiers of the imperial family ruined to such an extent? There was nothing to see right now.
But within seconds, I knew. What is driving the elite army of the imperial family crazy?
“My lord, this is probably…”
“You didn’t fight someone else.”
The imperial elite troops the party was watching were fighting among themselves. With sloppy weapon skills and gestures that made it impossible to think of them as elite troops.
As if possessed by something, and as if he could not see at all. They screamed incessantly and brandished their weapons.
hooked! Spaw! Oops…! For a while, the party lay down on the rocks and hid, watching how they behaved.
And I was lost in thought. What is going on in the alternate archipelago?
“There was no smell left at all, considering it was a hallucinogenic phenomenon. A hallucinogenic drug that is so strong that it can be mesmerizing is bound to have a strong scent.”
“It’s not even drugs.”
said the Frochi siblings.
While they were grasping the smell, Jin was looking to see if there were any traces of magic on them. It was because it could be the result of dark magic or spirit magic that Jin didn’t know about. There’s also a zip here.
However, there was no trace of magical power anywhere on the small island where the elite imperial army was creating mayhem.
It is neither medicine nor magic. If not, I wondered what kind of trick could have made the elite imperial army like this.
I turned around and moved my gaze to other islands. I could see explosions and flames and black smoke.
‘The footprints Sir Rata spoke of belonged to the special lease, not the imperial elite. And those footprints, unlike them, remained at a constant stride. That’s why the special entrusted corps started to move after realizing that there was something wrong with the elite imperial army while standing guard.’
A hypothesis quickly came to mind.
It is unknown what makes people crazy, but it does not work for characters above a certain level.
“Let’s move.”
It was not a difficult hypothesis to confirm. It’s just a matter of comparing other islands where battles are taking place.
On the next island we visited, we saw the wizards of Ziple fighting among themselves.
“Oooh!”
“Kaak!”
Like the elite imperial army, they were attacking each other like crazy, but the situation was so bad that they couldn’t compare to him.
“It’s a bit disgusting.”
Murakan frowned.
The wizards of Ziple were fighting with their bare hands and wands, not magic.
Even though the elites of the imperial family have lost their minds, they still have the strength of a warrior, so they usually kill each other with one sword, while the wizards need a gruesome process to kill each other without magic.
“It has become clear that this incident is not the work of Zipple. Let’s find the next island. The Kingelo guys must have come too.”
Finding the island where Kingelo is located was particularly easy.
From the island right in front came a sound like a howl of a beast. That was the sound of Kingelo’s prisoners.
The enemy tribes were fighting on the island.
Kingelo was not the main culprit in this situation as even the prisoners who scratched and bit each other and got their eyes wide open were identified.
“When was it, fifteen hundred years ago? Was it before that I felt this way when Helluram spread a strange plague. They all tasted so good.”
“There is no possibility that the witch was involved, right?”
“Not when I see it. The plague in Heluram started with a curse, so the snake-eyed friends here should have been affected as well. If Heluram is here, only you and I can be completely free from that curse, kid.”
I looked around a few more islands that looked like a battle. All of them were similar to the islands we had seen before.
If there was one other thing, it was the fact that on some islands, each faction was intertwined and fighting.
There were places where the imperial elite troops and the enemy tribes went crazy and fought together, and there were islands where the enemy tribes and Ziffles or all three gathered together to fight.
The madmen were just showing a habit of attacking everything in sight.
The reason why only allies were fighting each other on the three islands I saw at first was because they were stationed there.
The hypothesis was correct.
Jin was almost certain now.
“Looks like a 7th adult. There is a high probability that this incident was the work of Amela.”
As Jin spoke, the party’s eyes gathered.
“What are you talking about kid?”
“I don’t know exactly what drives people crazy, but the standard is 7 stars. From 7 stars onwards, they are unaffected or can be resisted.”
The imperial elite army was not a knight, but a group that selected only the best among soldiers. Therefore, except for the commander, all members were made up of 6 stars or less.
So did the wizards who were killing each other. They were not the White Nights, Observers, or the 1st Army of each Mage Tower, but wizards of 6 stars or less.
The enemy tribes were all 6 stars or less, and the commander was nowhere to be seen.
“There were no corpses of commanders of 6 stars or higher on all the islands where the 3 forces were fighting. It means that after trouble happened, the commanders fled. The special lease that Sir Lata spoke of also worked that way.”
The reason why I came to the conclusion that it is 7 stars is because all of them are estimated to be 6 stars or less.
The biggest reason was this.
“And I can’t see the crazy Runkandel.”
Runcandel does not send out 6-star Guardian Knights on missions outside of Hufester. In other words, all the Guardian Knights who came here were composed of at least 7 stars.
Since all three forces were located nearby, Runcandel would have made a camp nearby as well. However, the fact that no one is seen means that they all escaped safely.
First of all, I had to find the island where Runcandel is located and the commanders of other factions.
“Murakan.”
[Uh.]
“It’s probably better to just fly.”
The reason why he had to use an uncomfortable boat to get here was no different.
The Gaifa Islands are Amela’s residence, and the party came to recruit her. However, it was judged that it was an indescribably great disrespect to fly over someone else’s territory.
It was also the significance of making a difference because the giant powers would have brought troops to show off their prestige anyway.
Whoa…!
Murakan transformed into his true form and flapped his wings. When they climbed on top of it and climbed into the sky, the party was able to overlook the Gaipa Islands at a glance.
Soon the largest island in the center of the archipelago stood out. It was a black color, as if the entire island had been engulfed in mold.
At first glance, it looked similar to a spirit, but it felt much thicker and heavier.
Anyone could intuit that the main culprit that was driving people crazy was that energy.
And in all directions of that huge black aura, the ‘unmad’ people of each faction were settled.
They were sweating hard to prevent the black energy from multiplying, but soon the party could confirm that the shape of the energy was changing as if clay were being formed.
Procrastinate, procrastinate-!
‘What else is that? human?’
The black aura that covered the island was formed in the form of a human being.
Smaller than Zephyrin, but much larger than Murakan.
And the shape strangely resembled a human that Jin loathed.
‘Buvar… Gaston!?’
The moment Jin remembered his name, the newly formed black figure opened its mouth.
[You bothered me so much.]
Right after that, the black figure inhaled as if to exhale like a dragon.
