Is That What They're After? (3)
Thud!
The headless body of the dark mage collapsed to the ground.
He had died without even realizing how it happened, his eyes wide open in disbelief.
"...?"
The remaining dark mages froze.
They couldn't comprehend what was happening.
From within that hellfire, that explosion so fierce that even superhumans would fall to their knees and cough up blood—
One man had emerged completely unscathed.
It wasn't something they had predicted, not even once imagined. It was too unrealistic, and that only made the shock worse.
Their minds froze, and so their bodies couldn't react properly either.
Slash!
Ghislain's sword sliced through the air again.
Another dark mage was sent flying, unable to even shut his eyes.
Crack!
Then, three more figures burst through the pillar of flame.
"Ghislain!"
Erenes shouted urgently, reaching out his hand.
In an instant, a water spirit was summoned and wrapped around Ghislain. The cool, clear energy began protecting and healing his wounds rapidly.
Without hesitation, Kyle charged forward.
"Move!"
Yulian, who had been about to move again, instinctively twisted his body at those words.
Clang!
Kyle's sword moved violently, slashing the dark mage diagonally from shoulder to waist.
Thump!
With the cut going deep to the bone, the dark mage fell, split into two.
Now only one remained.
Yulian and Kyle rushed straight at Bulag.
The two knew no hesitation. No matter the situation, they had been trained and seasoned to act first and think later.
Of course, Lionel was different. He still couldn't break the habit of trying to understand the situation first.
"Uh, uh… What is this, what's going on? Why am I even alive?"
So all he could do was stand next to Ghislain with a pale face, holding his shield.
Seeing Yulian and Kyle approach, Bulag deployed a shield. It was a delayed reaction after witnessing the deaths of the other dark mages.
Boom!
Their combined strike shook Bulag's shield violently before it shattered.
"Grrgh!"
Bulag groaned and stumbled back. Though a fifth-circle dark mage counted as powerful, it was too much to handle two high-level knights.
Handling even one would be difficult, but now his mana was depleted—there was no way he could block their attacks.
His shield broken, Bulag wore a look of despair as two swords flew toward him.
Just then, Ghislain quietly spoke.
"Stop."
Slash!
Yulian's sword cut into Bulag's shoulder. Kyle's sword split one of Bulag's legs.
"Aaaaaaagh!"
Bulag screamed as he fell, with one arm and leg severed.
Thanks to Erenes, who had healed his worst wounds, Ghislain slowly rose to his feet.
Though his face was pale and exhaustion was written all over him, a mischievous smile played on his lips.
"Whew, I thought I was gonna die."
Brushing off his waist, Ghislain continued,
"I used up all my mana protecting you guys."
He stretched and rotated his shoulders, stiff from the strain.
Seeing that, Lionel finally cried out with a pale face.
"If you'd slipped up even a little, we'd all be dead! Why are you always so reckless?!"
"But we're not dead, are we?"
Ghislain shrugged nonchalantly and added,
"I expected this much. I don't do things unless I've calculated it all."
"Really? You expected a trap of this scale and were confident you could stop it?"
"I told you. I always have a plan."
"........."
Lionel had no words. After all, they had all survived.
In truth, Ghislain had taken such damage because he poured all his mana into shielding his allies.
Thanks to that, the others were unharmed. But he had to endure the shock with his entire body.
He had, in fact, anticipated a trap. The enemy's forces weren't enough to stop a superhuman.
Of course, he hadn't expected such a monstrous level of preparation, but he acted as though he had known it all along.
Because that's what gave his comrades the confidence to trust and follow him.
"Now then, time to ask a few questions."
Ghislain, looking slightly fatigued, approached Bulag.
Already incapacitated, Bulag tried to crawl away.
Without a word, Ghislain lightly tapped Bulag's remaining leg.
Crunch!
"Aaaaargh!"
With the last leg broken, Bulag screamed loudly.
He twisted and writhed in agony, but there was no escape.
Squatting beside him, Ghislain asked,
"Are you the one who released monsters around here to attack people?"
"Y-yes! That's right. But I was ordered to… I was forced to do it!"
Bulag spoke, nearly sobbing.
"A priest from the Salvation Church ordered it! I really had no choice!"
"Who's that priest?"
"I don't know. They've supported us with funds and supplies for a while… but I only recently learned they were with the Salvation Church. Before that, I just had suspicions."
Ghislain nodded. It was the same answer given by Basilude, the dark mage he met in Nordhill.
So he didn't press further and asked the next question.
"Why did that guy want to stop us?"
"I don't know that either. He just said… if we wait here, there's a high chance the Yulian Mercenaries will pass by. He told us to wait."
"...So it was just a prediction, not certainty."
Ghislain's expression hardened. It was fortunate the enemy didn't know their exact movements, but still, they had roughly guessed the direction—enough to be concerning.
'They must think we're heading to meet the dwarves.'
His gaze stretched into the distance. This road was the fastest and most efficient route to the destination.
How had the Salvation Church's priest predicted their next move? And why try to stop them?
Ghislain fell into brief thought.
'The fact that we captured Ismogen and handed him over to the Empire must be well known by now.'
Right after that, the Yulian Mercenaries headed to the Elven Forest. There, Ghislain fought high-ranking priests from the Salvation Church.
'Munareff knew who I really was.'
Given the circumstances, it was likely they guessed the Yulian Mercenaries were moving to retrieve the Holy Stone at the pope's request.
Naturally, that would mean their next destination would be the dwarves' sanctuary.
'If they're after the dwarves too… they'd want to delay my arrival.'
Both Lahamod and Munareff had seen Ghislain's power.
His strength, having reached the superhuman level, was formidable. Add to that a hundred Death Knights capable of even more destruction.
From the Salvation Church's perspective, backed by dark mages, they would see this as an intolerable threat.
Of course they'd want to block the Yulian Mercenaries.
Ghislain closed his eyes and took a deep breath. At last, the pieces seemed to fit.
He bowed his head again and asked,
"Did they tell you to delay us for one month?"
"Yes, that's right. They said all we needed to do was buy time. Even if we couldn't kill them, we were to delay them as much as possible…"
At Bulag's words, Ghislain nodded. As expected, his suspicions were correct.
'So they really are preparing to invade the dwarves.'
By releasing monsters like this and sending dark mages rampaging across the land, the kingdoms would be forced to focus on subjugating the chaos around them.
Meanwhile, the Salvation Church planned to pour everything they had into the dwarves.
'The path ahead won't be easy.'
They must have assumed the dark mages couldn't completely stop the party either. Judging by the fact they were only told to delay and slow them down however possible.
Which meant there could be several more ambushes waiting ahead. From the Church's perspective, it was a chance to stir chaos and block the annoying Yulian Mercenaries.
Clicking his tongue, Ghislain asked Bulag again.
"Is there anything else you know?"
"Truly nothing. We rarely met in person, only received support or messages when needed."
"Hmm…"
"Please spare me. I'll abandon black magic and live quietly, I swear. I really was forced into this."
Bulag sobbed, looking truly wronged—for someone who had taken joy in massacring innocents and gathering monsters, he sure played the victim well.
Ghislain stared at him curiously and asked,
"Why did you side with them? You do realize that once the Salvation Church wins, they'll probably wipe you out too."
"We… don't belong anywhere. The kingdoms all want us dead anyway."
"So you sided with them?"
"…Most of us dark mages have probably aligned with the Salvation Church. Better to side with someone who needs our power than to be hit from both sides."
"Not an entirely wrong answer."
"…Even if a great war breaks out, humanity likely won't be defeated easily. It never has. And when that war begins… maybe then we can negotiate with the kingdoms as part of the united front. Chaos is the only time we can survive."
In other words, they wanted to benefit by siding with the Salvation Church and igniting a war.
A truly dark mage-like way of thinking. The fact that half of humanity might die didn't even register to him.
Ghislain let out a hollow laugh, eyes full of disbelief.
'They really are all the same.'
Basilude had said something similar. Clearly, all dark mages shared the same mindset.
Acting for personal gain was natural, in a way.
After all, the Church and even humanity itself waged war in pursuit of their own interests.
Ghislain had no intention of preaching. He was always a man who respected others' views.
But still—
"Yeah, I get it. But I'm not kind enough to spare an enemy."
Ghislain grinned and raised his staff.
Seeing this, Bulag screamed in fear.
"W-Wait! I told you everything! Please spare me! You use black magic too! We're the same, aren't we?!"
"If you were ready to kill others, you should've been ready to die too. And don't lump me in with your kind."
Ghislain's eyes turned cold as he continued.
"Scum like you living on borrowed time is luxury enough."
"You… you bastard—!"
Crack!
With a heavy thud, Bulag's skull was smashed.
Ghislain casually shook off the blood from his staff and stood up.
"You all heard, right? Looks like we've become targets. Getting to our destination won't be easy."
At that, Erenes's eyes sparkled.
"That's the kind of adventure I've been waiting for. That was incredible just now. So intense!"
"......"
At Erenes's comment, everyone else wore dazed expressions. The more they saw her, the less she felt like an elf.
Knowing the future, Ghislain chuckled quietly to himself before continuing,
"Yeah, there'll be plenty more intense moments ahead. So let's move quickly."
Lionel, looking a bit dumbfounded, asked,
"Wait, we just went through hell and you want to move right away? You were coughing up blood earlier. Aren't you going to heal?"
"Are you worried about me? You're more considerate than I thought. Didn't expect that from you."
"What the hell are you talking about?! I'm tired, idiot!"
"Healing and resting—we can do that while moving."
"Is that… even possible?"
"It is. What matters most now is marching fast to our destination. We'll rest only when absolutely necessary. As a knight, you know how important mission objectives are, right? Don't you?"
"......."
Left speechless, Lionel glanced at Yulian and Kyle. Both of them silently nodded.
Faced with that, Lionel had no choice but to hang his head and mutter to himself.
"Crazy bastards… We're not even a military unit and they talk about missions and forced marches… Where the hell did they learn that crap."
Lionel found Ghislain's behavior unbearable. He acted wild and free like a mercenary, but sometimes led people like a disciplined commander.
Lionel couldn't have imagined that Ghislain had fought in so many wars that he was called the God of War.
Of course, Ghislain did value rest. But the timing for it? No one ever knew.
If he chose not to rest, it meant he could still keep moving.
"Let's relocate the civilians, too. There might still be monsters wandering nearby."
Time was short, but Ghislain decided to escort the people first. Leaving them to travel alone would be dangerous.
Luckily, with Ghislain's magic and Erenes's spirits, they could speed up the group's travel for a while.
And so, the party set off again, moving swiftly.
***
Midway up a deep mountain veiled in thick fog.
Amid the grotesquely twisted ancient trees, an untouched old cave gaped open.
Inside, the cave was damp with moss and scattered bone fragments.
At its depths, robed figures in black had gathered.
Bloody runes were carved haphazardly into the rock walls, and a massive magic circle on the ground was soaked in dark blood.
The black-robed figures silently stared down at the circle.
Soon, a chilling voice echoed from deeper within.
"......Preparations?"
One dark mage lowered his head nervously.
"St-still slightly incomplete."
"......."
After a moment of suffocating silence, the voice spoke again.
".......Too slow."
"T-The dwarves' fortress is strong. We need more time."
"......"
Fwoooosh!
Suddenly, a black energy filled the entire cave. Slowly, yet surely, it seeped into the dark mages' bodies.
"Grkkk!"
"Ughhh!"
"Please, spare us!"
Even as fifth-circle mages, they could barely resist. That was how powerful the energy was.
The mages trembled and screamed as if their brains were being stabbed and hearts crushed.
Thud.
The pain stopped abruptly. The black energy had withdrawn, creeping instead toward the cave entrance, as if suddenly alert.
The owner of the voice spoke again.
"...Who's there."
Step. Step. Step.
Someone was approaching, their footsteps steady and unhesitating.
Soon, the intruder revealed himself.
The voice's owner drew a sharp breath.
Surprised and shaken, the voice asked in a low tone,
"…Prophet Lahamod. Why have you come here? Shouldn't you be managing the Elven Forest?"
Lahamod replied with a grim expression.
"I failed."
"…You did?"
"Yes. Because of the Yulian Mercenaries."
The cave fell into a long, stunned silence.
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