Mistaken for a Dark Priest
“Anak? You dare mock me with that name! Stop spouting nonsense, you Dark Priest scum!”
Dark Priest. Only then did the situation begin to make sense.
“…Haa.”
A sigh escaped him. Like Elena, this man was probably one of those working to improve the public image of summoners while hunting down the Dark Temple. And without a doubt, that deer-like being had sensed the color of his soul and, just like Elena had, concluded he was a member of the Dark Temple.
A dark soul, a summon from the demon realm, and to top it all off, he had launched a preemptive attack. From the other side’s perspective, there was no room for doubt.
Moreover, the man had been going around introducing himself as Anak while performing good deeds. Hearing the real Anak claim the same name must have sounded like outright mockery.
Anak wanted to explain in detail, but the already agitated opponent was already drawing sigils in the air and across the ground. Judging by the composition and arrangement of the sigils, he wasn’t a high-ranking summoner, but the sheer number and speed had to be acknowledged.
What appeared in the air were giant bees, while earth elementals manifested upon the ground.
“You seem to trust that summon. Watch closely as it falls!”
At his command, the summons charged straight at Jequirak. Already struggling against the now-enlarged deer, Jequirak had no chance of holding out once these new summons joined the fray.
“Jequirak, you fool! What a pointless thing to do!”
Anak reached into his coat. If he showed the communication crystal Elena had given him, this misunderstanding might be cleared up. But the moment his hand went in, he realized the pocket felt lighter than expected. He remembered leaving the crystal behind in the study when he had gone back to retrieve his artifacts.
“Of all times!”
He could return to the study immediately, but those few seconds might be enough for Jequirak to be defeated—or, conversely, for the desperate resistance to injure the opponent.
Anak extended his hand. It was repeating another unnecessary situation, but there was no choice. He had to subdue the opponent first. Or at least send Jequirak back before fetching the crystal.
Sigils floated in the air, and at his call, dark elementals revealed themselves.
* * *
“……!”
Geil swallowed hard without realizing it as he stared at the countless sigils rising in the air and the black shadows that followed. They were dark elementals, high-ranking spirits of darkness, and both their numbers and summoning speed far exceeded his expectations.
The dark elementals blocked the earth elementals and giant stings that had been rushing toward the opponent’s summon. While the earth elementals were on equal footing with the dark elementals, the giant stings were no match for them.
—See! I told you not to underestimate the opponent!
Green light extending from Duran’s antlers struck Jequirak, but the snake evaded by soaring sharply into the sky. However, several dark elementals that had been blocking the giant stings were pierced by the light and vanished.
The gems on Jequirak’s body, now airborne, glowed before pouring down countless flames. The indiscriminate bombardment, caring nothing for friend or foe, damaged the earth elementals, giant stings, and even the dark elementals, but Jequirak paid it no mind.
Then, turning toward Duran—who had pursued it through the flames—Jequirak gathered all its mana and unleashed the strongest attack spell it could cast.
—Take this!
Jequirak’s entire body seemed to be dyed in black light, and soon black lightning bolts darkened the night sky even further as they struck Duran.
Normally, the mana Cootlekeus could contain had limits, and the spells it could use were merely amplified in power through increased mana rather than true high-level magic. Yet the spell Jequirak now cast was undeniably high-tier. Having poured every last drop of mana into it while leaving only the minimum required to stay airborne, its power was incomparable to anything before.
—Not bad!
Duran understood this as well. It shrank its massive body back to its original small form and wrapped itself in an even denser, more intense green aura.
The black lightning was halted by the green aura. For a moment it seemed to push the green light aside as if about to break through in several places, but that was all. The lightning stopped, unable to wound Duran.
Duran saw the anger and humiliation in Jequirak’s eyes. While Cootlekeus was certainly a troublesome creature to face, it was no match for Duran.
Anak saw it too. In that brief moment, he had used the dark elementals to eliminate the earth elementals and bring down nearly all the giant stings.
“Jequirak!”
At Anak’s call, Jequirak reluctantly flew toward him. Turning its back on the enemy was humiliating, but the outcome was already decided, and with its mana exhausted, Jequirak had no other options left.
Though it suffered a wound on the tip of its tail while Geil and the griffon blocked its path with swinging swords, it eventually managed to return to Anak’s side, evading Geil.
“Are you satisfied now?”
Jequirak only snorted roughly in response.
“Go back quickly. That’s the only way this pointless situation ends.”
Anak summoned the dark elementals and had them surround him. He planned to send Jequirak back first, then head to the study for the communication crystal. But upon hearing Jequirak’s reluctant reply through their linked minds, his expression hardened.
“You idiot!”
At Anak’s gesture, a return dimensional gate opened. It led to the demon realm—though not exactly to the region where Jequirak lived, there was no time to be picky.
“Get in for now. Once your mana recovers, return to where you were!”
At the sharp command, Jequirak tried to resist, but the intense pressure weighing down on its soul forced it through the gate. Just as Anak prepared to return to the study, green light rained down from the sky.
Several dark elementals surrounding him vanished as the green light struck the equipped barrier.
“You seem to care for your summons. How long do you think that flimsy barrier will last?”
Geil was certain of victory. A few dark elementals remained, but the troublesome snake was gone, and cracks had already formed in the barrier from the previous attack. He was somewhat surprised that a mere equipped barrier had withstood Duran’s strike, but that was all.
“Duran!”
At his shout, more green light burst from Duran’s antlers, erasing the remaining dark elementals. Even as he watched, Anak did not summon any new creatures.
Knowing this was a misunderstanding, he had no reason to continue the fight, nor any desire to. All he needed was to fetch the communication crystal from the study, and everything would be resolved.
Seeing Anak reach into his coat, Geil and Duran tensed. Duran immediately moved to Geil’s side, while Geil scanned the surroundings, wary of a new summoning. And at that very moment, Anak’s figure disappeared.
“……!”
Geil blinked in bewilderment.
“Duran!”
Assuming it was concealment magic, he turned toward Duran. If it were concealment magic, Duran should have been able to see through it. But Duran shook his head. It was not concealment magic.
Geil ordered the griffon to descend. It was clearly not a dimensional gate or teleportation. Only archmages could succeed at such spells without preparation, and if the opponent possessed that level of magical skill, he wouldn’t have relied on an equipped barrier in the first place.
“…A portal scroll, perhaps?”
In truth, that was the only answer Geil could come up with. The only things capable of sudden disappearance without any preparation or activation process were portal scrolls or equivalent magical items. And in this case, his guess proved correct.
—Calm down, Geil. It’s not a bad thing for us that he left.
Duran spoke after reading the anger rising in Geil’s heart. From Duran’s perspective, the opponent had been incredibly strong. The darkness felt from his soul was intense, and considering the summoning speed and numbers, Duran had sensed he was equal to—or perhaps even above—Geil.
Moreover, the opponent had seemed accustomed to battle. Even while watching the snake suffer, he hadn’t attacked recklessly. Instead, he had calmly secured an escape route for the snake using the dark elementals. That much was certain. Unlike Geil, who had focused on sending mana to Duran and left gaps in controlling the earth elementals and giant stings, the opponent had shown no such openings.
Though Anak’s initial preemptive attack had been aggressive, his subsequent summons and the movements of the dark elementals had been somewhat passive for reasons Duran couldn’t understand. But if the opponent had attacked with full force, it would have been the inexperienced Geil who found himself at a disadvantage.
“I know!”
Yet even Duran’s words couldn’t extinguish the flames in Geil’s heart. He knew it too. Geil was a talented summoner. That was precisely why he could instinctively feel the gap between himself and the opponent in the speed, numbers, and control of the dark elementals.
In reality, while Duran had defeated the snake, nearly all the other summons had been wiped out. Geil knew better than anyone that he had only gained the upper hand because the opponent had been passive in attacking. If the dark elementals had all assaulted him and the griffon in the air, he would never have secured victory so easily.
“Damn it! To think I felt fear for even a moment against a mere Dark Priest!”
And that was what angered him most. As the disciple of Kainaknus, the Dragons’ Ally, feeling fear toward a summoner who sought to return to the Dark Temple was nothing but humiliating and infuriating.
—……
Duran watched Geil’s state in silence. Though it had been somewhat dangerous, perhaps this could become a valuable experience. Right now Geil was furious, but this encounter would surely temper his arrogance and sharpen his sense of reality in actual combat.
—It’s all right, Geil. Next time……
But just as Duran was about to finish, the vanished opponent reappeared. As the startled Duran and Geil prepared to resume combat stances, the opponent suddenly extended a hand, showing them something. In that instant, both Geil and Duran felt their minds go blank, forced to doubt their own eyes.
What he held was the special communication crystal that Kainaknus and Elena had given them.