The First Real Assault
After the first genuine attack by the assailants, we passed through four nations and suffered three additional ambushes. Out of those, Adela’s senses caught two in advance, allowing us to turn the tables and strike first. The third one, however, came from attackers who weren’t black mages, so we didn’t notice them until they were practically on top of us. Fortunately, the Ikelos units standing twenty-four-hour watch detected them in time and we took them out. Still, the constant ambushes soured the escort party’s mood.
“What’s for dinner tonight?”
“Obviously grilled meat.”
“Krrrh! Thanks to the inventory, we can eat fresh ingredients whenever we want!”
Well, to be precise, only the Central and Southern members were in a bad mood. For the Northerners, ambushes were basically daily life, so three attacks weren’t nearly enough to change their demeanor. I wasn’t sure whether to be glad about that or not.
A timid-looking cadet, watching the nonchalant adventurers, asked cautiously, “We’ve been ambushed three times already. Are you really okay with this?”
“At least they weren’t Wood Gore. That’s something.”
“Those things are born on the same level as first-rate assassins.”
“I’d rather deal with ordinary humans than assassin trolls that blend into the environment and suppress their biological rhythms.”
The cadet looked horrified at the adventurers’ casual remarks. It was completely outside his common sense. Knowing that, the adventurers burst into loud laughter and gazed at him as if he were adorable.
While everyone was laughing and chatting, I sent my summons out to scout the surroundings and muttered with a puzzled expression, “Was the Central region’s security always this bad?”
“Why the sudden question?”
“It’s just strange that there are multiple organizations in each country capable of launching attacks on us—even if they’re basically suicide missions.”
An attack only counted as an attack if it matched the target’s level. You couldn’t call bandits who got wiped out by the weakest academy cadets an “ambush.” That was just garbage disposal.
In that sense, suffering three real ambushes meant three battles that required the full strength of the escort party. The fact that such powerful forces were scattered all across the Central region was genuinely surprising.
“At this rate, I can’t exactly call the Central region a peaceful place anymore.”
At my comment, the cadets standing near the Ruin siblings gave bitter smiles. The fact that even a Northerner—who lived in the most dangerous environment by survival standards—would say such a thing left them with complicated feelings.
Isabel, the eldest daughter of the Seraris Viscounty whom we had coordinated with before, let out a sigh. “As peace dragged on, corruption began eating away at the nation. Meanwhile, the deep grudges and darkness from all the large and small wars have become tangled like a ball of thread. It’s reached the point where we don’t even know where to start fixing things.”
“How bad is it, exactly?”
“Would you believe that over the past ten years, three thousand noble houses have fallen?”
“Whoa, that makes perfect sense now.”
That meant an average of three hundred families per year had been destroyed. The number probably included quasi-baron ranks like knights, but even then, it was staggering. With that many ruined houses, there would be plenty of descendants nursing grudges. Among them, some would surely possess mana breathing techniques or hidden trump cards. If all those people had thrown themselves into this chaotic era, it explained why the shadow organizations had grown exponentially. There was nothing easier to handle or recruit than someone blinded by revenge. As for the disposable grunts to bulk up the organization’s numbers, they could just tempt the suffering citizens under corrupt nobles.
“Wow. Looking at it this way, it’s a miracle the Central region hasn’t collapsed yet.”
“All those side effects have been piling up, and now they’re finally starting to explode.”
Ruin was right. They had somehow managed to hold it together until now, but as the empire began to shake and cracks formed in the peace, everything that had accumulated burst forth, causing the chaos to spiral out of control at an exponential rate. The result was the organizations now attacking our escort party.
One thing still bothered me, though.
“Just who the hell is targeting us?”
The question was the true identity of the group aiming for the escort party.
“Every single one of them had a geas cast on them, so we couldn’t even trace a tail.”
“For them to orchestrate attacks of this scale, they can’t be small fry.”
“They’re obviously holding back, but I have no idea what they actually want.”
Right now we were letting it slide because there hadn’t been major damage and escorting Aron to the North was the priority. Otherwise, we would have scoured the area to find the mastermind.
I grumbled while using the Ikelos to check for any more attackers nearby.
“Neon, got any information?”
“I may be from the Flame of Doom, but I don’t know anything about their side.”
“If you were going to defect anyway, you should’ve brought more intel.”
“How was I supposed to know this would happen? Besides, if I’d dug deep enough to know the connections between shadow organizations, I would’ve been dead the moment I met the inquisitors.”
He had a point, so I didn’t argue. In any case, the attackers were basically just walking golden goblins that filled our pockets, so there wasn’t much to worry about. Still, not knowing who was behind them left a slightly unpleasant feeling.
“Even after flipping over the nobles, we got nothing.”
“Actually, those lords were even more shocked and tried everything they could to find out.”
The law is far, but the fist is near. The local lords, who had no confidence in enduring the wrath of an escort party full of powerhouses capable of casually destroying fortresses, immediately unleashed every ounce of their political skill the moment they learned of the attacks. They deployed soldiers, posted notices offering huge rewards to witnesses, and sent letters to the higher nobles they served. It was such textbook damage control that it was hard to complain.
After traveling like that, we finally entered the empire. Now that we had reached the heart of the chaotic Central region, it would be strange not to prepare for more attacks. While I continued thoroughly searching the area with my summons until the very last moment, Isabel asked with an uneasy expression, “But we have distinguished guests from the South with us. Is it really okay to camp in the forest?”
“To uproot something properly, you need to put out an attractive bait.”
“So that’s why we’re deliberately camping in the forest instead of entering a city?”
“From what I hear, there have been several terrorist attacks in cities too.”
Rather than a crowded city full of civilians, the forest—where we could run wild without restraint—was far better. That was why we had intentionally set up camp in the woods and openly provoked them.
Apparently the strategy was something she hadn’t expected, because she still looked anxious. Ruin smiled gently at her.
“Don’t worry. We have Lord Hornst with us, remember?”
“If it’s Grandfather… yes, he’s reliable no matter what happens.”
Noticing our gazes, Hornst grinned widely from the center of the campsite. Thinking we were just playing around, he even waved. I waved back, then watched Adela and Neon goofing off with their usual back-and-forth before a powerful signal suddenly slammed into my mind.
It was a signal I could never mistake. I shot to my feet reflexively, drawing the attention of the entire escort party who had been preparing camp. When they looked at me with eyes that said “no way,” I gave them a firm nod and pulled the spear-sword from my inventory.
“It’s an ambush. One of my Ikelos was just forcibly unsummoned.”
“Nice!”
“Finally, a real attack!”
“They’ve been poking at us half-heartedly all this time. Looks like proper opponents have finally shown up!”
At my words, the adventurers cheered and were the first to leap up. Once we passed this area, the road would run close to cities and the North’s influence would grow stronger, meaning there were essentially no more ambush points. We had also sent a request for reinforcements through the communication magic tools carried by the guild staff, so there was a high chance we would link up with allies soon. This was effectively the final ambush, so the entire escort party wore fierce smiles.
These fools had dared to attack them without knowing their place. There hadn’t been any real danger, and it was nice that their pockets got filled, but it was still annoying. They stood up to settle the score before heading north.
I had been about to call back the scattered summons when I noticed the continuous unsummoning signals and smiled.
“Jackpot.”
Although they had been spread out for scouting, the Ikelos were by no means weak. They were the first creatures I had chosen after becoming a summoner, so I had poured a lot of experience into them out of affection, raising them significantly. For them to be taken down meant the enemy had some seriously skilled fighters. It seemed they also knew the characteristics of the Ikelos.
Looks like this won’t be a boring fight after all, I thought, abandoning the idea of calling them back and instead ordering them to run wild as they pleased. Confirming that a considerable amount of experience was flowing in, I drew a summoning circle in the air.
“Anyway, even if they get unsummoned, I can just summon them again.”
Just as demons returned to hell when they died, my summons simply returned to their original dimension when killed. No matter how hard the enemy tried to kill them, they would revive. It must be incredibly infuriating to watch, but what could they do about it? If they were that upset, they could summon demons themselves.
Every time a summon was forcibly returned, it reappeared from the summoning circle. I had summoned a full twenty Ikelos, so it consumed a huge amount of mana, but that didn’t matter. I could just recover it with store-bought mana potions.
I leisurely took a potion from my inventory and drank it. At that point, the enemy seemed to have given up on hiding and began revealing their presence one by one. I examined the faces of the foes emerging from the bushes.
“Black knights, black mages, and undead, huh.”
“They came fully prepared.”
“It’s a full mobilization of the forces of evil.”
I let out a low whistle at the unusual aura they gave off compared to the ones we had faced before. Adela and Neon seemed to feel the same, because they wore smiles full of fighting spirit. Both of them had adapted perfectly to the adventurer lifestyle—when a strong enemy appeared, the first thing they did was smile.
Satisfied by the sight, I stepped forward with deliberately cocky movements.
“Whoa~ Look at all these new piggy banks. You guys must have some good stuff on you, right?”
My open provocation drew a strong reaction from the attackers. Seeing them grip their weapons tightly, clearly wounded in their pride and radiating killing intent, I chuckled. The individuals presumed to be the leaders of the assailants stepped forward.
“I don’t know how you noticed the black mages, but thanks to that, everything’s gone completely wrong.”
“I told you not to rely on the weak ones.”
“I thought summoning a high-ranking demon would at least let us inflict some damage. I never imagined that would fail too.”
At the end, a tall woman with striking white hair that had red highlights and a short, black-haired pretty boy looked our way. The aura radiating from them made my smile deepen.
“They don’t seem to be the boss, but they feel like executive-level. Gold-rank too. This really is no ordinary organization.”
“Too bad. Looks like you’ll have to face both of us at once.”
“You’re the one with the South’s new secret weapon, right? You’ll have to come with us.”
Perhaps because they were rare talents even in the North, their attitude was one of absolute confidence in victory. I let out a small laugh. In any case, these two weren’t my opponents.
After finishing my provocation, I stepped back. As if they had been waiting for that exact moment, Hornst and Aron stepped forward.
“I’ll take the woman.”
“Then I shall handle the boy.”
“Will you be alright alone?”
“It will be close, but I am a Grand Mage. With my subordinates fighting alongside me, we won’t be pushed back.”
If the enemy had Gold-rank fighters, we simply needed to respond with Gold-rank fighters of our own. When the representatives of the North and South stepped forward, the enemy finally dropped their relaxed demeanor, realizing they couldn’t afford to be careless.
“So it’s a battle of the leaders, huh?”
“I’m jealous of the North and South. Having powerhouses like these wandering around so casually.”
As the leaders of both groups, now fully unleashing their power, began a contest of auras in the center, the attackers and the escort party lined up facing each other. Neither side was made up of weaklings. Whether they had grown strong through steady effort or by contracting with demons, every single person present here was a mana user.
The tense standoff lasted only a moment.
“Grrrrraaaagh!”
“Kwaaaang!”
The undead and summons that didn’t fear death charged forward, and that became the signal for the real battle to begin.