The Secret of the Gray Orb
Hissssss—
Three serpent-like magical beasts crawled out of the thick darkness at the far end of the cave, ripping through the gloom.
They were even larger than the Pogna we’d just killed.
The sight of those ash-gray scales gleaming sickeningly as they raised their heads was threatening enough to make anyone’s skin crawl.
“Hans, let me handle this one.”
Nen shot forward like the wind.
Thump!
Before the poison mist could even spread into the air, Nen’s dagger traced a flawless line and severed the first serpent’s neck clean off.
Then, with the momentum already carrying it onward, the dagger spun smoothly and neatly separated the remaining two monsters’ heads from their bodies.
Thud, thud, thud!
It was over in the blink of an eye.
The three serpent-like Pogna collapsed to the ground without even managing to spit out a single proper mouthful of venom.
“Ah! This is insane. I’m this fast?”
Nen trembled again.
She looked as shocked as I felt, stunned by the impossible transformation in her body and the overwhelming power it had given her.
I smiled as I watched her.
That new breathing method is working exactly as intended.
I had expected something like this already.
Seeing Nen’s windlike movement with my own eyes made the result feel all the more rewarding.
And her mana increased again.
The instant the Pogna’s lives were cut short, I stared hard at the gray orb in my subspace.
So that’s how it is.
The moment the faint mana contained in the dead monsters began to disperse into the air, something bizarre happened.
The gray orb sucked it all in like a starving maw.
So it wasn’t filling up on its own over time?
Why had the orb’s mana increased?
Could it be an artifact that absorbs mana from dead living things?
After killing Kalik’s Kran scouting party, I hadn’t had a chance to check it properly.
I’d been too busy dealing with Nen’s emergency treatment to spare any attention for my subspace.
And this...
The quality of the mana was on a completely different level from a magic stone.
It’s incredibly pure!
Completely refined mana.
It was strange.
This might be far more extraordinary than I thought.
Still, I couldn’t be certain yet.
After all, we had only taken down a handful of magical beasts.
It could just be a coincidence, so I should look into it a little more.
I dismantled the magic circle at the entrance and recovered the magic stones.
Then I wiped away every trace of our presence so thoroughly that no one looking into the cave would ever guess people had stayed there.
“That should do it. Let’s go, Nen.”
“Are you planning to leave Rowen for good?”
“Yes. I’ve got no reason to linger anymore.”
Nen nodded with a bitter expression at my answer.
“It’s the smart choice, Hans. To be honest, Rowen is already finished.”
“Finished?”
“Even the count has given up on defending the territory. He’s already preparing to retreat to Bellat, the southern military city. He must think reinforcements probably aren’t coming.”
“Reinforcements aren’t coming?”
“I don’t know the details. But apparently things in the capital are getting very complicated. That’s why the count told me to hurry back and protect Lady Ellen.”
There was a war on, and now there were problems in the imperial capital too.
That meant the situation on the front lines was likely to turn very ugly indeed.
Come to think of it, that was probably why Kran Kingdom’s scouts had been roaming around near Rowen as if it were their own backyard.
This is a mess.
The imperial family was turning a blind eye.
The great nobles of the city were already backing away.
So of course the refugees would keep pouring out in an endless stream.
“Then you’d better head straight to the capital, Nen.”
Nen nodded.
“I have to escort the young lady.”
“I’m planning to go to Luber Village.”
“Luber Village?”
“Go south past Bellat, the military city, and keep going.”
“I need to get to Bellat too. I was going to look for a carriage to the capital there.”
“Perfect. Let’s travel together as far as Bellat, then.”
Since our roads overlapped, I suggested we stick together until Bellat.
Nen’s face brightened a little.
“Yes, that sounds good.”
“Then let’s go.”
We left the narrow cave at once.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The brush in the forest rustled violently.
Men in black leather armor gathered in a cluster.
Another elite Kran scouting party.
Among them was a mage in a robe.
“Over there.”
On the dirt floor, where blood had dried into a dark stain, five corpses lay sprawled in a heap.
Standing in the middle of them, the scout leader Boros nudged one of the bodies with his toe.
“That’s Kalik.”
“They were all wiped out.”
The five elite members, including Sword Expert Kalik, lay there like discarded baggage, all reduced to corpses.
“Their belongings?”
“As you can see, nothing. Their coin pouches, swords, armor, emergency rations, even their flints—everything’s gone. Completely stripped clean.”
The subordinate pointed at Kalik’s body.
The man lay face-down on the dirt in nothing but his underwear.
“Everything except the undergarments. They looted him very efficiently.”
Boros narrowed his eyes.
“Was it that maid bitch?”
The mage standing beside him, Dekan, let out a snicker.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Kalik split that bitch’s side open good and proper. I saw the flesh part with my own eyes. It was a wound that should’ve spilled her guts.”
He licked his lips.
“A body in that condition is supposed to kill Kalik? That’s like a rabbit biting a tiger’s throat out. Impossible.”
“Then who killed Kalik?”
Boros crouched and examined Kalik’s corpse.
His throat had been cut cleanly in one stroke.
That was all. There wasn’t another wound on him.
“Was it the work of bandits? They took everything of value.”
“There’s one suspicious thing.”
Dekan shouted as he looked around.
“I’ve been searching, but I can’t find the maid’s body. It’s nowhere in this area.”
Boros’ expression hardened.
The old knight dying after being struck down by Kalik.
He remembered the last name that man had cried out.
Master!
Nen... Run, now.
Boros’ face twisted.
“You’re saying that maid named Nen got away alive? There’s no way she killed Kalik herself.”
“She couldn’t have done it alone. She must have had help.”
“Find her at once. She must be too badly injured to have gone far.”
There was cold killing intent in Boros’ voice.
“Bring her back alive. Cut the tendons in her hands and feet first so she has to crawl, then strip the flesh from her bones. Do it the Kran way.”
He ground his teeth.
“I’ll soak Kalik’s grave in that bitch’s blood so he can sleep in peace. Move!”
“Yes, sir!”
They scattered in all directions.
But even after a long while, they found nothing.
“There are no traces.”
“Not even bloodstains... or footprints.”
Boros’ brow creased.
“It can’t be helped. I didn’t want to do this.”
He took out a black horn and smeared his own blood over it.
Crack.
The horn was slick with blood.
He lifted it to his mouth and blew hard.
Whooooo—
In an instant, the space ahead split open in darkness, and a beast slunk out.
“Grrr...”
It looked like a wolf, only twice as large.
Its black fur was threaded with glistening blood-red eyes.
Fresh crimson slime dripped from its mouth.
A sticky aura of darkness.
It was a magical beast.
“Catch the scent. Find out who killed them.”
Boros dragged Kalik’s corpse in front of the beast.
“No matter how well they erase the traces, they can’t erase the darkness left behind when a life is taken.”
The beast snuffled at the air.
“And if you find them...”
Boros smiled wickedly and whispered into the beast’s ear.
“The marrow in their bones is yours, every last bit. I’ll let you cut them open alive and gorge yourself on their warm innards.”
Grrrr—
A greedy growl escaped the beast’s throat.
Its blood-red eyes went mad, and then it launched itself from the ground.
Bang—!
Toward its prey.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Hans.”
Nen, walking ahead of me, suddenly stopped.
“I’m embarrassed to ask, but could you spare me a moment? Just a little while.”
“What is it?”
“I know where my master’s body is. It isn’t far from here.”
Nen’s eyes reddened.
“I can’t leave him for wild dogs or birds to tear apart. I want to bury him.”
“Let’s go right now.”
I followed Nen off the road and pushed through the undergrowth.
At the edge of the path where she had been chased by Kalik’s party, an elderly knight lay fallen among the grass.
His chest had been slashed deeply, and he was already dead.
“Master...!”
Nen dropped to her knees in front of him.
She sobbed for a while, then rose and began digging into the earth to bury the body.
At that moment—
Grrrr—
The nearby brush shook violently.
A low growl.
?
A huge black beast.
It reeked of dark energy.
A dark hound.
A summoning beast called forth by sacrificing the summoner’s own blood.
Once it caught a scent, it could track prey to the ends of the earth.
So it found us here.
It had followed the lingering darkness left at the spot where Kalik’s breath had ended, using the beast’s senses to track it here.
What a nuisance.
There was another troublesome trait to summoned beasts.
Even if you killed them, they would replenish their form and rise again after a short time.
If you wanted to sever the source, you had to kill the summoner who had called them.
Let’s bind it first.
Swish—
Transparent threads sliced through the air and poured out.
“Kyegh—! Kekegh—!”
The dark hound writhed madly.
But reinforced mana thread wasn’t something a low-grade summoned beast could break with brute force.
Then the men in black armor appeared.
“You can bind a summoned beast? You’re no ordinary one.”
“There’s the maid, Lord Boros.”
“Alive and kicking, I see. I’m surprised. I thought her side had been split wide open.”
The man called Boros turned his gaze toward me.
“So it was you. You took in that maid and cut Kalik down.”
“That’s right. Me.”
With my answer, I launched a surprise spell.
Needle Storm
Popopopopopat—!
Dozens of mana needles burst from my fingertips.
“Agh!”
“Kaaagh!”
The men lined up behind him didn’t even get the chance to scream before they fell, turned into porcupines.
Only Boros and the mage remained.
“Why did you let yourself be taken down so easily, Dekan? Aren’t you a 3rd Tier mage?”
“That bastard used a cowardly ambush... Leave him to me. I’ll kill him for sure.”
Dekan hurriedly raised his staff toward me, but I wasn’t about to stand there and watch.
Space Stitching
In an instant, I appeared behind him.
Third-Tier Alteration Formula: Stitching Seal
A modified version of Silence, the attack mages feared most.
It bound the mouth shut like sewing stitches, preventing him from chanting a spell.
“Nngh...!”
Stunned, the man’s mouth opened and closed helplessly, his eyes shaking with terror.
I’ve spent all my time studying how to deal with people like you using only a tiny amount of mana.
Ever since I was a 1st Tier utility mage.
And now that I had reached 3rd Tier proficiency, a novice 3rd Tier mage was no more than a flick of the hand.
Slice—
Dekan’s head fell soundlessly from his neck.
All of it had happened in the blink of an eye.
“That leaves only you.”
“You bastard... You killed Dekan too!”
Blue-white aura exploded from Boros’ entire body.
He was a Sword Expert, the same realm as Kalik.
“Hans! Please leave him to me!”
It was Nen.
Her eyes had gone frighteningly cold.
There was a fierce determination in them—she meant to judge the leader of that black armor with her own hands, the same sort of man as Kalik.
“...As you wish.”
I stepped back and subtly moved my fingertips.
Transparent reinforced mana thread flowed out of my subspace and wove itself densely around the area like a spiderweb.
It was a precaution in case Nen was pushed back.
“You filthy maid bitch, have you lost your mind!”
Whooooom—!
The long sword wrapped in aura cleaved through the air and came crashing down with a dreadful trajectory.
Clang—!
Sword and dagger collided head-on.
Nen’s body was driven backward.
In density and sheer weight of aura, she was clearly at a disadvantage.
“Heh... Not bad. But you’re still far off.”
Crash! Klang!
Boros’ sword kept hammering down in savage succession!
Nen desperately parried each strike, but she looked increasingly precarious.
Shhhk—!
For a split second, the tip of Boros’ blade grazed her shoulder.
The hem of her maid uniform tore away, and a bright line of blood sprayed into the air.
But Nen didn’t care.
As if that sort of pain meant nothing at all to her.
Clang! Kaaang!
Even as her body was being forced to its limits, her breathing never once wavered.
Huuuu, heeeep.
The independent breathing method I’d newly designed for her.
...The breathing method is working properly.
The highest-grade breathing art, one that turned a mutated core from a curse into a blessing.
“Hah, hah...! Why... why won’t you go down?”
Boros’ sword technique, which had so clearly flaunted overwhelming force, had begun to lose its sharpness.
By contrast, Nen’s face remained smooth and calm as ever.
Clang! Klaang!!
The tireless maid, Nen.
At last—
Her dagger slid along Boros’ sword blade at an angle and shot in like lightning.
Fwoosh—!
The cold edge pierced through Boros’ throat.
Crash!
The large man in black armor crumpled to the ground without resistance.
“I... won, Hans! It’s all because of the breathing method you taught me.”
Nen looked at me with an excited expression, as if she could hardly believe it herself.
Her eyes were filled with overwhelming emotion, joy, and gratitude all tangled together.
I smiled.
“Good work, Nen.”
As soon as Boros fell, the summoned beast he had called dissolved like smoke.
One Sword Expert, one mage, the other six, and one magical beast.
The gray orb in my subspace glowed even heavier than before.
It absorbed mana again.
Now there was no longer any doubt.
The secret of that strange orb that devoured death.
If I killed my enemy, mana piled up.
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