69 – Pursuit (2)
A loud sound echoes in the shabby abandoned building.
However, it did not leak out due to the barrier set in advance, and only hovered inside the building and rang in the ears.
“Mary Yang!”
As the electric shock created in front of the woman rushed toward Marie, who was in the rear, Aden, who was guarding her avant-garde, let out a sharp voice.
At the same time, Mari, who was getting her nerves on edge, sprayed the catalyst into the air.
A translucent silver shield was created hastily to protect the small girl.
Within seconds, it collided with the approaching electric shock, scattering intense sounds and sparks in all directions.
Caang!
Eventually, the shield that could not withstand the electric shock shattered and scattered into fragments of magical power.
Fortunately, the electric shock was completely dissipated, but the expression of Mari who blocked it was not very good.
In the first place, the catalyst itself is a tool for wizards to urgently borrow and cast magic that would otherwise have been impossible.
In the process, a large amount of mana is consumed, and it is no wonder that the usual amount of mental fatigue is poured out.
Moreover, not only did he block the attack this once, but he was already starting to feel tired.
“Are you okay?”
“Good enough.”
But no matter how much Mari likes to grumble, she wasn’t immature enough to show it in this situation.
She laughed as she lightly brushed off her clothes at Aden who asked with her worried expression.
She tries to estimate the number while groping for the remaining catalysts in her arms, but her hands keep shaking.
I had foreseen the battle in advance, but I guess it was because I felt the pressure when it was actually going to happen.
‘Still, I think the training I’ve been through has been helpful.’
Marie inadvertently recalled Belle’s face and withdrew her hand from her embrace.
At first she expressed her dissatisfaction with why she wanted to involve herself in some kind of training among themselves.
When she realized that she had this in mind and that she did, she felt a little grateful.
Well, since Belle is also the one who got me involved in this, though she never intends to say thank you to her.
“It lasts quite a while. Did I underestimate that I was a freshman?”
From noble mtl dot com
Melissa takes a step forward as she taps the heel of her high heel on the floor, and her words, mocking or complimenting, spill out of her mouth.
Aden’s eyebrows furrowed upon hearing that, and she opened her mouth to blatantly criticize her opponent.
“Stop acting like a professor.”
“… Are you acting? What are you talking about?”
It was Marie, not Melissa, who was surprised by Aden’s words.
Neither has she heard from Aden that Melissa is currently being manipulated.
Actually, this was something Arden didn’t say on purpose.
I was still being pushed back with all my might, but I was worried that if I heard that the other person was being manipulated, I would somehow adjust my strength.
On this side, fighting with the determination to kill was an unavoidable last resort.
Although she now opened her mouth provocatively, the heat of her opponent rose and she revealed the fact without her knowledge.
“… Literally. That Professor Melissa is being manipulated by someone. Perhaps the controller is hiding somewhere in the building watching us.”
Generally, manipulation-type magic that manipulates the opponent in this way is largely divided into two categories.
Instead of being able to fully use the person’s abilities, magic that can only be used under fairly limited conditions such as distance or time.
Or, magic that can be used with almost no restrictive conditions, instead of only gaining control over the person’s body.
Among them, the magic that Melissa is currently receiving is most likely the former.
In other words, the caster himself must inevitably hide himself somewhere nearby and watch it.
“Then isn’t it useless to defeat it? In the end, it would just be a waste of time.”
“Right. For now, I have no choice but to wait for salvation to come. At that time, we will be able to solve the case by dividing into a search team and a combat team.”
Aden’s words were the right argument, but it was a plan that did not even ridicule Sirius, who was hearing this through Melissa.
It would be difficult for the outsiders to send rescue this way anyway, as they were busy trying to ascertain the cause of the explosion in the main building and protecting the cadets.
To make matters worse, there is no way to contact or send a signal to the outside world due to the barriers already placed around it.
Even while they are spinning their heads like this, Sirius’ main body is approaching the place where Astesia’s blessing is based on the information found through Melissa’s memories.
Even if salvation arrives later, it means that by then you have already secured the target.
‘I guess he thought I wouldn’t be able to do anything while controlling this female professor.’
As it would have been for mages like idiots, that didn’t apply to Sirius at least.
If you just take Astasia’s blessing and go outside, then you should be able to hide her body in the phantom’s hallucination and escape.
It was the moment he tried to arrive at a place he had read in Melissa’s memory while controlling and moving the main body with a sneer.
Quaang!
“!?”
Beyond the vision he shared with Melissa, the wall of an abandoned building shattered with a roar.
Beyond the broken wreckage, light falls on the dark space.
Soon after, a woman appeared with a halo, and Aden and Marie’s expressions brightened.
“Rone!”
The opponent was none other than Lone, who had been asked by Bell in advance today and was searching around separately from Aden.
* * * *
The magical energy that was not leaking beyond the broken barrier begins to be sensed.
In response, Bell quickly moved her steps somewhere along with Lise Rotte, who was hiding in her shadow.
It was not a place where a battle was going to take place, but an underground workshop located under an abandoned building.
A place that was used in the past before the workshops used by cadets today, and now there are hardly any remnants left.
At that mysterious destination, Lizerote’s face was filled with doubt.
“How do you predict you will go there?”
“I will have no choice but to go. That’s why he crawled into this building in the first place.”
“Is that it?”
You mean their purpose wasn’t Astesia’s blessing?
Ligerote couldn’t hide her doubt and stared at the profile of Bell, who was running with her.
Recognizing that gaze, Belle’s gaze turned to her side and accompanied her words in an explanatory tone as they descended the stairs.
This is something I haven’t informed not only Lizerote, but also anyone around me who has decided to help with this in advance.
“Actually, since the schedule of the exchange meeting was moved forward, I have been working on a trick. Because I asked the president.”
“To Sir Olberus?”
“Yes. I knew that one of my enemies was a mage who used magic to manipulate others. I tried to use that in reverse to set a trap.”
I didn’t know at that point that Phantom would be involved in this incident, but it was possible because I knew that the incident would take place centering on Sirius.
Sirius’ magic does not stop at manipulating the opponent, but has a fraudulent effect of completely extracting all kinds of memories and information contained in the subject’s head.
This is also why he is good at infiltration and information gathering.
However, the problem is that since he has the ability to indiscriminately extract information, it is up to Sirius himself to distinguish between false information and true information.
It was this blind spot that Bell used.
“I asked the president to give a word in advance to some of the professors in charge of the academy. Like the fact that Astesia’s blessing is hidden in the workshop in the basement of an abandoned building.”
In reality, it is an empty space with nothing.
And I wanted to raise suspicion that there were no guards guarding the surroundings, so I also mentioned the reason for that.
From Sirius’ point of view, he would hear it all at once, so he would have been convinced in every way and headed there without a doubt.
“You mean you intentionally gave false information so that when the enemy stole the information, you tried to use it in reverse. Understood. But how could you be confident that this would work?”
“Rather than being confident, I made it so that it would work. You must have seen it today too. There were quite a few professors who wandered around the building alone.”
Since I saw the same scene in the shadows, I will remember it clearly.
At those words, Lisée Lotte pondered over her memories.
A low exclamation flowed from her mouth as she belatedly realized that the strange feeling she had been feeling for some reason was due to that.
“… Did you mean to leave it alone on purpose? To use as bait?”
“If you put it badly, that’s how it will be.”
Bell showed her wry smile at Lize Rotte, who questioned her incredulously with her eyes.
It’s best if it can be prevented in advance, so Aden and Marie inquired about the surroundings, and he himself went out and wandered around, but in the end it was no use.
However, if a watchdog was posted next to them or if a trick was done on their body in advance, there was a possibility that Sirius would notice it in advance, so I couldn’t do that.
It was like a gambler with a bit of risk, but somehow Bell thought it was fortunate that it worked well.
“I’ve felt it before, but you really are a bad-tempered kid. I have a dark side that doesn’t match my age.”
“I take it as a compliment.”
She used her as bait while not knowing what would happen to her ally, so Liserotte complained but had no choice but to admit that little bit.
It was a trap that she was able to set because she had clearly grasped her opponent’s ability in advance.
Right now, the more clearly I sensed the mana as I went down the building, the more I could tell that the enemy had fallen into a trap.
“By the way, is your friend okay? No matter how much the opponent is manipulated and unable to generate full force, sending only one person against an academy professor….”
“I sent it because he said he was okay. Well, since you’re a childhood friend, you have to trust me.”
Lizelote’s worried words were lightly passed by, and Bell remembered Lorne, who had left to support Aden alone.
She told me to just wait for her time anyway, so I won’t be too hard on her, but Lorne’s eyes before she leaves keeps bothering me.
Why? He didn’t even know why.