Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: To the Battlefield (4)
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An old wizard screamed as he ran frantically through the forest.
“Keuk!”
Then his foot caught on a tree root, and he tumbled down.
Fortunately, the ground was blanketed in damp, soft moss, so he wasn't badly hurt.
“Huk... Hek... Weok...!”
The wizard clutched his chest and curled up tightly.
After sprinting like a madman, his heart felt ready to burst.
His oxygen-starved muscles trembled uncontrollably throughout his body.
“Kuh... Hek...”
But he had to keep running.
He couldn't stop.
He needed to escape that eerie voice as quickly as possible.
Otherwise, he would surely lose his mind...!
“Wait? It's gone...?”
But the horrific curse's whisper echoing in his head had suddenly ceased.
The wizard steadied his breathing and gathered his thoughts.
So what the hell was that voice...?
“This is bad...! So an enemy wizard has snuck up near the fortress!”
When a human voice suddenly rang in his head out of nowhere, he naturally assumed it was magic.
Then it spewed such a vile curse that robbed him of reason, scaring him into fleeing.
But if that was the case, it meant enemy troops were prowling around the fortress.
He shouldn't have come out here.
He'd walked right into their trap.
“Impossible! How did they pierce my magic to get into this forest...! After all the months I poured into it!”
When the scout reported spotting the enemy's camp in the plains a short distance from the forest, he'd dismissed it.
The spells he'd layered on the forest outskirts were his life's masterpiece.
Just glimpsing them from afar scrambled the mind like a curse.
If you couldn't decipher the runes, blood would pour from your nose until death; even if you could, madness followed.
So he'd scoffed that the enemy efforts were futile.
Instead, he'd made a fool of himself.
“Huk huk...! There he is! Wizard!”
“Damn. How's this old coot so fast...”
A half-dozen soldiers had apparently followed the wizard.
Of course, to them, it must've looked like he'd suddenly gone senile and bolted.
“Hey! We can't just stand around here!”
He had to warn them.
The enemy assault...!
Shuuk! Thunk!
“Hwaaak...! My leg!”
One charging soldier suddenly toppled.
Upon closer look, a dagger was embedded in his thigh.
“Kwaak!”
Ping—
In that instant.
The dagger yanked free on its own and flew back the way it came.
Magic!
“What? Enemy!? In this forest?”
“It's a wizard! The enemy's wizard has struck!”
The wizard's blood ran cold.
Already, he'd witnessed two spells.
The voice in his head and the magic animating the dagger without touch.
Plus, breaching his forest perimeter clearly required yet another spell.
Only one conclusion.
These Castel lunatics had assembled a wizard squad and invaded!
“They're all wizards! Don't give 'em time to cast—overwhelm them upfront, fast!”
“Yes, sir!”
“There they are!”
With that, the soldiers charged as one at the four figures emerging deeper in the forest.
In that moment, the wizard sensed something off.
One of the four was a dwarf elf.
Naturally, older than she appeared, so likely a wizard.
But the other three looked unmistakably young humans...
Not just wizards?
“No. That blond one's a short-eared elf?”
The blond youth held the dagger that had returned, in his left hand.
He must've cast the spell.
That impossibly pretty face screamed short-eared elf.
“Push hard!”
“Charge! You Castel monk bastards! I'll show you a real man!”
The charging blond youth reversed his grip on the dagger.
Srrrrung—
He lightly parried the soldier's swung sword.
“What...!?”
Then he whirled like a dancer to the soldier's flank.
Drew his waist sword and slashed the ankle clean.
“Kwaaak!”
“Wh-what! He ain't a wizard!?”
An elf wizard after all!
Long-lived as they were, some wielded swordplay and spells alike, or so he'd heard.
“Take out the others first... Kwaak!”
The youth in traveler garb kicked off a tree, leaped high, and smashed a soldier's skull with his knee.
Far too young for a wizard—not to mention movements honed to perfection.
Srrrrung—
“Kuh...!”
“......”
And the Castel-uniformed youth with the piercing gaze.
One soldier bled out from the throat, lifeless by his blade.
These were foes to size up carefully before engaging.
Total miscalculation.
“Won't hold back just 'cause you're a little chit!”
Meanwhile, a soldier lunged at the dwarf elf.
Whoosh—
“Huh...!?”
But his sword passed through her, and she dissolved into smoke.
“Nyah nyah. Over here~.”
The dwarf elf peeked from behind a tree.
Damn it all.
She was already mid-spell.
Puk—
“Kwaaak!”
Exploiting the lapse, the sharp-eyed swordsman ran the soldier through the chest.
And while that happened.
“Hyah. Soldiers sorted, more or less?”
Thud—
“Kuhuhuhu...”
“Aaak! My leg...!”
“Kelok...! Can't... breathe...”
Already, three soldiers writhed and groaned at the blond youth's feet.
Thus, every soldier who'd trailed the wizard was dead or down.
“Not a single kill.”
“We're not soldiers, after all.”
“Only need the wizard alive.”
Seruk—
“Keuk...!”
The sharp-eyed swordsman slit the downed soldiers' throats.
The blond youth merely shook his head—no objection.
But that voice...
“Now, let's calmly chat with their wizard...”
“You vile scum! Stay back!”
The wizard, still sprawled, slammed the mossy earth with his palm.
Waterlogged moss pooled into a small puddle.
He smacked it lightly twice with his hand.
The scenery warped and distorted around them.
“Eueu...?”
“Ek! Dizzy!”
“Kuh! Damn...!”
The pursuers clutched their heads in vertigo, collapsing en masse.
His spell scrambled direction sense.
Short-duration at best—a few minutes' disorientation—but enough for escape...
“Huh...? Why him...?”
As he thought that and rose.
The blond youth charged straight at him, eyes shut.
“What? Eyes closed?”
The spell's fatal flaw.
Ignore the conjured distortions, and it fails.
He'd seen through it and shut his eyes.
But how?
How'd he anticipate the cast?
“Dispel it. Before your head rolls.”
“Hweok! W-wait! Stop! It'll slice!”
A chill blade kissed the wizard's throat.
And he knew for sure.
That voice.
The one that'd cursed him viciously in his mind moments ago.
Lian subdued the Black Moss Forest wizard, then bound him tight with rope.
Especially his hands—meticulously secured.
Against Delico Matron, he'd instinctively severed her hand.
Now he understood: spells demanded foci and prep gestures.
“Loosen it a bit! No circulation!”
“Want me to just chop 'em off clean?”
“Ah, no! I'll adjust quick!”
The old wizard fit Lian's stereotype to a T.
Hooked nose, wild white hair and beard.
Gray robes too.
Just swap the leather coif for a pointed hat—perfection.
“Urk. Stomach's still queasy.”
“My head's still spinning.”
“Fuu...”
Moments later.
Lian's group, who'd rolled dizzy on the ground, began rising one by one.
“...This would've been disastrous mid-fight.”
“Eh, with him here? Nah.”
Firka thumped her aching head, pointing at Lian.
Shutting eyes the instant the enemy cast.
Beyond mere reflexes.
Everyone else had been spellbound from activation.
Even Firka the wizard had watched the prep—
Which backfired spectacularly.
“Hey, scoot. Got business with him!”
Recovered, Firka scurried to the wizard.
Lian stepped aside post-binding; she booted the wizard's rear.
“Aigo, you brat! No elder respect!?”
“Pfft! How much older are you, really!?”
Firka might even edge the old wizard in years, but...
Lian held his tongue.
Young by elf or dwarf standards, still.
“Hey. How'd you flush this guy out, anyway?”
“Knew it—you! That nightmare curse...”
“Eh? Curse?”
Steal another spell?
Firka eyed Lian.
He grinned sheepishly.
“Meant to taunt him out. Guess his nerves were frailer than expected.”
Just rattled off past life's greatest hits.
Hit an unforeseen trauma, apparently.
“Hey, pretty boy. Who the hell are you? Not short-eared elf now.... Did a shaman best me!?”
“Firka. Same age bracket? Same wavelength?”
“...Shut it.”
“Hold on. You...”
The wizard squinted, scrutinizing Lian's face.
“Ah. You. The wizard hunter from rumors? Thought all hot air...”
“Oh. Famous there too?”
“Lucky timing. Fellow came sniffing 'cause of you.”
“Paula's lord, yeah.”
The wizard flinched, shoulders hunching.
Lian's glare cut colder than the blade at the wizard's neck.
“You two—same glare thinking of each other.”
“He around? Fortress still?”
“Regrettably, left yesterday.”
No lie.
No evasion.
Lian had half-anticipated it.
Learned of his forest presence three days back.
Plenty time to wrap up and go.
The key: what he'd done here before leaving.
“Kukuku. Ironic twist. One more day, your foe walks in. Maybe needed a seer.”
“Got his wish and split?”
“Heh. Why tell you?”
“Why not?”
Lian gripped his sword hilt, looming.
“Hm! Fair point, come to think!”
Short days ahead versus decades lived—but life precious still.