Chapter 38
‘F*ck, f*ck, f*ck, f*ck!’
His head was filled with curse words and despair. Cadel bit his lip, not even thinking to wipe away the sweat that was pouring like rain.
“Commander……. Uh, we seem to be going in circles…….”
It was exactly what it sounded like. They were hovering in the same space for 20 minutes straight.
After 5 minutes of wandering around, he left visible scratches on the wooden beams around him. For the next 15 minutes, he saw the same scuff marks over and over again. Cadel wanted to run over and pound his fist into the beam, but he was carrying Van, so he couldn't.
His mouth went dry. Anger at being tricked in the forest, impatience to get Van to safety, and worry about Lumen, who hadn't shown up in the 20 minutes they'd been wandering, all stifled Cadel's breath.
All the bad luck became a responsibility and weighed on my shoulders. I didn't have the stomach for it.
“……There's no point in continuing to walk.”
As he said this, he looked at Van's ankle and saw the bandage that was stained red. It was supposed to improve recovery, but there was no point in bandaging it if it was soaked in blood so quickly. It was not very hygienic.
‘It's not working.’
Swallowing a sigh, he sat Van down in the shade of a tree and took a calming breath. For now, it was better to calmly sort things out than to waste his energy walking around recklessly.
‘I don't know if it's Van, but we don't get lost on the road. He must have stepped on a hallucination trap while moving. I can't even guess where it came from……. Hallucinations are also a kind of magic, so if I search the magic circle, I will be able to find the location.’
Quickly release the magic circle and exit the forest. He couldn't think of any other way at this moment.
Bending to his knees and placing his hands on the dirt, Cadel concentrated. His manipulation of mana was much more skillful than before, thanks to his lessons with Mamil.
A thin wisp of wind began to hover around Cadel, accompanied by a calm breeze. With a single blast of mana, the wind whirled and surged, then scattered in eight directions.
The fluttering robes and hair slowly settled, and Cadel's brow creased into a small frown as he closed his eyes and focused on his search.
‘……What’s this?’
Slowly, he lifted his eyelids, revealing a pair of reddish brown eyes that fluttered with panic.
“Why…….”
He felt nothing?
He couldn't feel a single wisp of mana, let alone a magic circle. It couldn't be. They had been wandering in the same place for so long. He was sure it was hallucination magic.
His heart raced as he realized his plan had gone awry. If one plan didn't work out, he'd just have to come up with the next, but Cadel couldn't think of anything else.
His gaze fell on Van, who was wheezing with a pained expression. The hand that had been casting the searching spell slowly clenched into a fist, the dirt grinding against it.
‘There's no time to waste in a place like this.’
Again, let's do it again.
Swiping his tongue across his parched lips, Cadel resumed his preparations for the searching spell. And the moment the swaying wind enveloped him again.
“Kkyahaha!”
“Ahahaha!”
Mischievous laughs echoed through the forest.
At the sound of the sudden laughter, Cadel immediately retrieved his magic. Van was also using his greatsword as a cane to raise his body. Cadel quickly ran to Van and supported him, then looked around with fierce eyes.
‘What is it? Are they fairies?’
In a deserted forest, there was no one other than the fairies who could laugh loudly. Cadel squeezed the hand around Van's waist and squinted. His bloodshot eyes rolled compulsively against his hyper-sensitized nerves.
“So funny! So funny!”
“It's entertaining! It's entertaining!”
The voices that he didn’t want to hear continued to be heard, but the owners of the voices were nowhere to be seen even after he looked left, right, up, and down.
Should I strike preemptively? What are the odds of escaping this voice using an attack as a smoke screen?
‘No. The location has not been ascertained yet. If I move hastily, I could get into more trouble.’
In addition, the existence of the ‘invisible trap’ that Van had fallen into could not be overlooked. Now was the time to calmly assess the situation. With Van currently incapacitated, he had to be as cautious as possible.
But as soon as he thought about it.
Ping!
A sharp ‘ice spear’ flew in front of them and stuck. It missed them by exactly one inch.
Reflexively stumbling backward, Cadel whipped his head around, searching for the trajectory of the attack.
Still nothing in sight. A cold sweat broke out. Cadel had no idea where his opponents were or their identity. On the other hand, the other side knew both the location and the number of people on his side. The reason for the threatening fire was that…….
They were probably having fun, and they wanted to enjoy their dominance.
“Next time! Next time you die!”
“Die no matter what!”
These guys were playing with him and Van.
‘Staying invisible and hidden…….’
Gritting his teeth, Cadel extended one hand towards the direction where the ‘ice spear’ flew.
Chantless Fire Magic.
Embers rose from the top of Cadel's palm and slithered through the air like a giant water serpent, splintering into many branches. The unstoppable flames scorched branches and leaves, slicing through the shade. The bright flames stained Cadel's cold face scarlet with anger.
“Shut up and come out!”
If they were going to play with him and then kill him without showing themselves, he had no intention of playing along. Mamil's voice rang in his head with the seething flow of mana.
‘Up until this point, you've been harnessing your mana without any tricks, and you've probably been draining your energy as you go, but you're going to have to put those uneducated methods to rest.’
Cadel's fingertips tensed. The flames grew stronger and stronger in the crook of his hand.
‘Weave all of your attributes into a single formula, and the more complex and dense the formula, the more tangled and convoluted the circuitry. You'll be able to conjure up magic worthy of a flagship with a handful of mana.’
The flames stretched out endlessly, and instead of dying down, they veered off course, scorching everywhere. It was like a life of its own, swimming freely through the forest.
‘That's why multi-attribute magicians are called unparalleled geniuses. If you do the math right, the power of the likes of you is practically infinite.’
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