A Half-Drunk Potion Still Lasts Only Half as Long
Drinking only half a bottle of an invisibility potion did not mean your body turned only half invisible. It just meant the effect lasted half as long.
While Curtis bought time with a barrage of thrown daggers, Shrakhim had desperately crawled away. He had covered a fair amount of ground, but in the end, it had been pointless.
“Did you honestly think you wouldn’t be spotted? How could a body that big move without making a sound?”
“...Damn it.”
He almost wished he had just played dead instead.
“Playing dead would not have helped you. A far more dreadful despair would have been waiting for you instead.”
The cult leader hoisted Shrakhim’s body up and slammed him into the ceiling.
“Ghk!”
After being lifted and thrown back down onto the floor again and again, Shrakhim finally went limp.
“What a hideous creature you are.”
The cult leader snorted at the sight of him twitching face-down on the ground.
Then he turned Shrakhim onto his back. Was he trying to make him comfortable for his own sake?
“Look up.”
“U-up...?”
What came into his wavering vision was a massive stalactite.
“H-huh?”
The enormous stalactite was trembling. Not because his vision was shaking, but because the cult leader had slammed Shrakhim’s body into it over and over.
“What was it you said earlier? Something about how I was wasting magic I’d need later?” The cult leader laughed hard as he repeated Shrakhim’s taunt. “Yes. Using my magic to kill useless trash like you was a mistake.”
Even if the cult leader had not deliberately triggered it, the great stone above them was clearly about to collapse soon enough.
“I’ll show you mercy. Just as you said, I won’t waste my mana on garbage like you anymore. I’ll let you live, so go on and struggle however you like.”
* * *
Meanwhile, Axel was far from Shrakhim. The invisibility effect was still holding, but he had no idea when it would wear off, so he was hiding behind a stone pillar and watching the situation unfold.
Finding the exit had not been difficult. There were elves everywhere guarding it.
“Hah. To think we’d be made to suffer this much by nothing but humans...”
Lucy growled as she shoved back her hair, which still stood on end from the lightning spell.
“And from trash like that!”
Her wounds had been healed, but the wound to her pride showed no sign of mending.
“Please calm yourself, angel. Didn’t you find that man Shrakhim and defeat him? Truly, it was remarkable.”
“Haa. Yes, I did punish that fat maggot. I couldn’t cut his throat myself, but it’s fortunate that the Archangel will personally deliver divine punishment to him.”
Just as Lucy was regaining her composure thanks to one mage-priest’s flattery...
“That’s ridiculous. What exactly is so fortunate or remarkable about it?”
A tall male elf looked down at her with a cold snort. He was Valepin, the Spear of the Ice Wave, who handled the north among the Four Heavenly Angels of the Cliad Sect.
“Spear of the Ice Wave. That thing you just said... who exactly was it meant for?”
“Yes. Is there anyone here besides an angel who is worthy of my respect?”
“...Are you mocking me?”
“How could I? Among the Four Heavenly Angels who share the same sacred mission, you are the only one of noble blood. How could a mere youth like me ever dare to humiliate someone like you?”
Lucy glared at the much younger elf, her cheeks twitching.
What a brazen little brat. He grudgingly showed respect to me because I was older and of noble blood, but he was really trying to say that since we were both counted among the Four Heavenly Angels, we were equals, wasn’t he?
“If you have something to say, say it quickly instead of watching my reaction after every word.”
“Of course.”
Valepin wiped the smile from his face and got to the point.
“Defeating that Shrakhim was not remarkable at all. As the angel just said, he was nothing but a maggot. Would it not be laughable to boast about catching a single insect?”
“You little—”
“Please, hear me out. The Archangel personally putting that thing down was not fortunate either. It was like calling a dragon to burn a slime. So tell me, how do you think the Archangel must feel?”
“Ugh.”
At the mention of the cult leader, Lucy forced her anger back down.
“Th-that... I’m sure the Archangel was deeply disappointed. To have to dirty his noble hands by dealing with such an insect...”
Where the heat of her outrage had drained away, there was no cool clarity waiting to replace it.
Only smoke-like worry billowed in to fill the emptiness.
“Disappointed? That would be fortunate. The Archangel is probably deeply angered by our repeated failures. We must redeem ourselves and cool his wrath.”
“How?”
“By finding the ones hiding somewhere after drinking invisibility potions. Of course, that alone won’t be enough. We’ll have to drive them into such despair that it will send a sweet fragrance rising to the Archangel’s incense burner.”
Axel, who had been hiding and listening, felt his heart drop.
“Hmm... that’s not entirely wrong. But the Archangel ordered us to guard this place and the exit well. If we leave and those insects slip out, wouldn’t that be a serious disaster?”
Lucy, suddenly uneasy, pointed out the danger rather than the reward.
“As long as all of us are gathered here, those insects won’t even dream of escaping. They’ll only dig deeper holes and keep hiding. That will just make them more annoying to find.”
“So you want to leave a gap on purpose and catch the insects when they crawl out?”
“Exactly. If we merely stand guard here, the Archangel will not be pleased. It would only mean we carried out an entirely obvious duty.”
“That does make sense. He does want results brought before him.”
After a moment of thought, Lucy raised her staff. The ceiling opened wide, and sunlight poured down.
“Fine. If we’re going to do this, then we should at least give those insects a single ray of hope.”
When she struck the ground with her staff, the floor that had been showing through the lower level became opaque once more.
“Purification!”
At the same time, the milky limestone water running along the cave floor turned transparent and sparkled in the sunlight.
The cave, which had been swallowed in darkness, found light again.
“As long as those men have invisibility potions, darkness is no ally of ours.”
Even for elves whose night vision was sharp, finding invisible fugitives in a pitch-black cave would be extremely difficult.
“The light of purification will help us find the traces left by those insects. No matter how invisible they are, they still leave marks on the ground.”
Watching Lucy link holy power, mana, and intellect so smoothly, Valepin and the other elves could not help but marvel.
“Truly impressive, Guide of Twilight.”
“Hmm. Are you really saying it’s ‘truly impressive’? Still, it would be awkward if everyone left their posts. Some of you must remain here.”
Even as she held onto her resentment, Lucy gave careful orders.
“As you wish. Then I’ll lead the mage-priests in the search, and you should remain here as a precaution, angel. Utsang, Syo! You two will attend the Guide of Twilight well.”
“As commanded.”
Valepin quickly gave orders to the warrior-priests who followed him.
“The rest of you, follow me!”
“Yes, sir.”
The other elves promptly went with Valepin. They were already exhausted by Lucy’s temper tantrums.
“What? W-wait...”
Before she could stop them, Valepin and the elves were already walking away. Lucy ground her teeth as she glared after their backs.
That little upstart. Was he planning to catch the fleeing insects and take all the credit for himself? And why did the priests follow a guy like that? Infuriating bastards!
“Please rest easy, Guide of Twilight. Even if those insects come sniffing around here, we will catch them.”
To Lucy, whose mood was already thoroughly twisted, that sounded like, So even if we catch them here, don’t worry, we’ll be the ones to do it, not you.
“Who told you to speak!”
Axel had thought about striking while they were distracted, but he held himself back. The elves were on guard against invisibility, and the numbers were three to one.
For now, I just have to wait until the tall bastard gets far enough away.
Valepin’s group was climbing the high walls as they searched.
Going by what those pointy-eared bastards said, Shrakhim seems to be dead. Curtis must have escaped safely... but damn it, I have no idea where he is now. I can’t stand this. I’ll have to get out of here by myself.
Axel began moving quietly.
Once I report everything here to the Count of the Border Region, I’ll have to come back and save everyone.
He picked up a heavy rock and hurled it at a low section of ceiling away from the exit.
- KWAARRR.
Thin stalactites rattled and came down in a tumble.
“What was that?!”
Lucy, still angered, snapped her head around.
“Were they hiding over there? I won’t let them get away!”
“It’s dangerous to go alone. I’ll stay at your side.”
Syo tried to stop her and insisted on accompanying her.
“What did you say? I don’t need the help of some—”
“They’ve got daggers plated with Karoum.”
Lucy had been about to dismiss him, but she swallowed the words and instinctively touched her throat. She remembered how Curtis had nearly slit her neck and killed her earlier.
“Haa... fine. But Utsang, you stay here.”
“As the angel commands.”
Axel, who had secretly wanted all three of them to disappear if possible, cursed inwardly.
Damn it! No choice. Still, if it’s only one of them, I might be able to do something!
Now that Lucy and Syo had gone to check the source of the noise, this was his chance.
I just need to stab his throat fast enough that he can’t make a sound... wait?
His stride stopped short. He had met eyes with Utsang, who was standing alone and looking around vaguely.
“There he is!”
The invisibility potion’s effect wore off, and his body was suddenly revealed.
“Damn it!”
Seeing the female elf charging at him with a two-bladed axe in both hands, Axel spun around.
I’d rather buy a little more time than die pointlessly here.
He spotted a staircase leading downward and ran for it, but...
“As if I’d let you!”
Valepin leapt down and blocked his path like a falling boulder.
“What? He crossed that distance in one jump?”
Axel stumbled back before he realized it.
“We’re not made the same as lesser trash like you.”
It was no exaggeration; he had not only leapt across a sheer cliff in a single bound, he had landed as if it were nothing at all.
“Tch. No choice then. Bring it on!”
Still, as a high-ranking soldier, Axel steeled himself for battle.
“I’ll humor your last struggle.”
When Axel saw Valepin’s longspear, he straightened his back and eased his stance.
Spear against dagger. He was already at a disadvantage in reach, and if he raised himself any higher, his exposed area would only grow. But there was a reason for his posture.
I’ll wait for the opening when that tall pointy-eared bastard thrusts.
When the spearhead came for his head or heart, he would duck low, evade it, and drive himself into Valepin’s arms.
“What?!
But Axel’s plan was crushed before he even got the chance to try it.
“A-a trident?”
As Valepin swung the spear shaft through the air, cold rushed out from the end of the haft, and a three-pronged blade of ice grew there.
“You damned bastard!”
Axel gave up on meeting him head-on and fled toward an open path.
“Consider it an honor that I’m using the Spear of the Ice Wave on an insect like you. Hyah!”
Rather than chasing him, Valepin drove the spearhead into the ground. Cold spread through the stream of water running along the floor.
“Aaah!”
Axel, about to leap over a puddle, froze in terror. The water had suddenly surged upward and turned to ice.
“Kraaaagh!”
The ice wall that had knocked him aside seemed as if it might shatter apart, but instead it crashed down like a wave.
“Ugh, ngh...”
Through the ice shards that tore across his body, a vicious chill seeped in.
“Taste despair.”
Ice spearheads slammed into both of Axel’s thighs, pinning him in place.
* * *
“Grrr... nghhh!”
Even lying down, Shrakhim still tried to move, but his lower back had been badly injured. All he could manage was to flail weakly with his limbs.
So this is really the end.
He even considered taking the healing potion from inside his clothes and drinking it, but the cult leader was staring at him with icy eyes, so he gave up on that idea. If it got taken away, it would only help those bastards.
“You don’t seem to want to continue this miserable life. Even when I offered to spare you, you did not run.”
“Ugh... ughh... mmngh... w-wahhh...”
Broken by despair, Shrakhim shut his eyes. The tears he had been holding back finally spilled out.
“Who gave you permission to close your eyes? Tear those eyelids apart. Make him unable to look away even if he wants to.”
“At once.”
The elf priest picked up Curtis’s dagger from the ground.
“Y-you lunatics! I’ll keep my eyes wide open exactly how you want, so stop it!”
“Then drive the sword into his scalp so he can’t turn his head.”
“Kuaaaagh!”
At the savage order, Shrakhim screamed.
“Ghh... you psychopaths... why the hell are you doing this?”
The cult leader looked down at Shrakhim’s face, smeared with tears and snot, and laughed uproariously.
“Why should I tell trash like you? Even if I did, would your empty head understand it?”
Unlike Lucy Perhela, he did not seem like the type to blab about his plans.
“When you go to hell, your father will be there to greet you. You can ask him then.”
“W-what did you say?”
As Shrakhim’s eyes widened at the ominous remark,
- PAK.
The elf priest approaching with the dagger crumpled over. It looked as if he had been struck hard in the back of the head.
“What?!”
What had smashed into the back of the elf’s head was soon revealed.
“Kuhk!”
A large stone hurtling toward the cult leader. He dodged by flying sideways.
“It must be boring, just floating around all the time, right? I’ll make those short little legs stick to the ground soon enough!”
“That voice... that bastard from earlier.”
Curtis, whom they had assumed had fled after failing to assassinate Lucy, had in fact stayed behind all along.