By the time Gordon grasped the situation, a significant amount of time had already passed.
“You useless bastard!”
Nearly ten days had passed since his subordinate reported the disappearance of the dark elves and he didn’t report back to his superiors for nearly 10 days. The organization’s higher-ups became suspicious and contacted Gordon.
It was only then that Gordon realized that even his subordinate had gone missing, and he couldn’t hide his anger at the fact that he now had to handle the matter personally.
He was already sensitive due to the expedition team interfering with his research, and now the member he’d entrusted with the task was nowhere to be seen.
Of course, that fellow was surely lying cold somewhere, so Gordon eventually stopped his research and turned his attention to the problem itself.
However, Gordon’s anger didn’t last long.
His temperament was quite fickle, but more importantly, he didn’t see the situation as entirely bad.
“Using these guys for experiments might work.”
When he looked at the dead bodies of the expedition members brought by his missing subordinate, Gordon decided to use them for his long-standing chimera research.
The chimeras were quite the conspicuous creatures, so the organization had judged it wasn’t the right time to use them yet, but given the current circumstances, there was no reason not to use them now.
“Besides, they said they would come soon too. These should buy us some time. Hehehe.”
And so, the mad alchemist approached the fallen corpses with a disturbing grin on his face.
“Please, do not disappoint me, my children.”
Not long after he became engrossed in his work, Gordon heard from an ordinary member about the expedition’s status, which made him smile even more.
“A human who deciphered the elves’ magic circle? How interesting!”
Though the expedition team had annoyed him, Gordon couldn’t suppress his curiosity at such news. Which is to be expected from an alchemist.
“Indeed, there was someone quite useful among those annoying insects. Hehe.”
Gordon asked the member for the name of the person who piqued his interest. When he heard his name, he started muttering it to himself.
“Shane, Shane… he might make a good assistant. If he resists, I’ll have to fix him up a bit.”
Even at his age, he never got tired of the new tasks.
And so, Gordon hummed a tune as he awaited the arrival of the expedition team.
“If you think it’s not worth answering, then we’ll just have to make it worthwhile.”
When one of the imperial knights called Evernick said those words, all the knights beside him emanated auras from their weapons.
Indeed, each member of the imperial guard knights was a fourth-rank expert, and many were close to reaching the third-rank master level.
It was not just a coincidence that they survived the dark elves’ surprise attacks; the killing intent they exuded was truly overwhelming.
However, Shane did not falter and calmly gazed at them.
Perhaps it was because Shane had effectively avoided their surprise attack just moments before.
The imperial knights who had accumulated considerable skill throughout the years instinctively started to gauge the magical power around them.
Seeing them like that, Shane opened his mouth.
“You’re more cautious than I thought.”
“There is nothing more terrifying than a prepared mage.”
Although failing to kill a mage at this distance would be a disgrace for a knight.
Still, they were cautious.
Soon, one of the knights who confirmed that it was safe spoke.
“If you surrender quietly, I’ll grant you a painless death.”
“As always, you imperial knights have a habit of spewing nonsense with such conviction. The idiot who died at my hands recently said the same thing. There is no such thing as a painless death.”
“Tsk. So, Harpe died at your hands after all.”
As expected, Shane already knew the imperial guard knights’ intentions.
Evernick who stood at the forefront felt a slight chill run down his spine.
The composure and depth of thought of this mere 18-year-old boy were astonishing.
If their leader Dominic had let his guard down even a little, who knew what their standing with the imperial family might have become.
“Let’s go.”
The entire knights charged all at once.
Surely, this was the level of fourth-rank experts.
They had endured many hardships together and were now charging together, leaving Shane no room to escape.
“Tinder.”
At the same time, Shane cast a first-circle spell, the triple-layered Tinder, which caused flames to erupt all around him.
When six flames burst forth with the spell, the knights’ steps halted.
“…?! Brace yourselves!”
Just a first-circle spell.
In terms of firepower, it might only cause minor burns. But with three layers, it was not something to be ignored.
Still, it was only a first-circle spell.
It wasn’t enough to harm the knights who were covered in aura.
When the knights covered themselves in aura at Evernick’s command, the flames vanished instantly.
“It’s not the typical firepower of a first-circle spell… there is definitely something special about it.”
The knights flinched momentarily at the unfamiliar spell that was different from the usual magic projectiles they had seen, but that was only for a brief moment.
Realizing that this level of magic couldn’t harm them, they quickly regrouped.
However, this was exactly what Shane wanted.
“Among the things you said earlier, there was something correct.”
“What?”
“You said a prepared mage is terrifying. That’s absolutely true when I look at you now.”
“…?! Ah!”
Finally, Evernick noticed their surroundings illuminated by the Tinder spell and scowled deeply.
Boom!
Before he could say anything further, explosions that could not even be compared to the previous Tinder spell erupted from the floor at the same time.
The shockwaves from the explosions pounded mercilessly on the knights covered in aura.
“You should have paid better attention to your surroundings.”
Underneath the feet of those knights, the roots of the Sistur Tree which reacted sensitively to heat were intricately entwined.
Of course, it was still not enough to take down experts of their caliber with just that level of explosion.
However, what Shane had prepared was far more than this.
“What is this… guh!”
Black spikes emerged from the knights’ shadows.
Each one pierced the hearts of the knights without exception.
“How… how is this possible…?”
Evernick whose heart was also pierced looked at Shane in disbelief.
“It’s nothing to be surprised about. They died by their own magic.”
“What… do you mean by that…?”
“There’s no need for you to know. Didn’t I say earlier? There’s no such thing as a painless death in this world.”
“This…”
Unable to continue speaking, Evernick lowered his head with a look of bitter resentment.
“Hmm. Indeed, it’s quite useful.”
Shane ignored Evernic’s death completely and reflected on the recent battle.
In terms of sheer strength alone, Shane was far inferior to them.
However, the reason he could defeat them so easily was because, as he had said earlier, he had meticulously prepared as a mage.
Thanks to that incident, things are going well.
Last time when he rescued Dilaila and fought a member of the Knights of Judgement called Daira at Count Salier’s villa. That experience proved to be of great help.
The Knights of Judgment used their unique aura which was a mix of magical power and Origin power.
The aura’s attribute was “Absorption”.
With this absorption attribute, the Knights of Judgment were grim reapers to mages and held overwhelming superiority against other knights. The absorption attribute he extracted from Daira was currently creating an incredible synergy with Shane’s Origin of “Greed”.
Additionally, the darkness attribute of the dark spirit was added and it just made this battle much easier. Shane had hidden his Origin along with the darkness attribute in the shadows of all the imperial guard knights before they all arrived here.
Until then, the knights didn’t feel anything strange in their shadows because there was no magic infused with physical force there, but Shane had left one command.
It was to absorb the magical power that the knights normally emitted and master its properties.
Thanks to this, he made it so that the magical power of the knights did not have any resistance. And through the Tinder spell, he infused fire magic into the roots of the Sistur tree.
As a result, the explosion of the tree roots granted physical force to his Origin hidden in the knights’ shadows.
The ambush was indeed perfect, and the knights didn’t even realize what had hit them until the moment they were pierced through their hearts. It could be said that they died without a clue.
[…. You dealt with them first, Sir Shane.]
At that moment, the voice of a dark elf called Obern came from behind Shane.
Since the last time he met with the elf queen Priscilla, the dark elves had acknowledged Shane’s command and willingly chose to follow him.
Being sensitive to magic, the dark elves judged that their presence would not have a positive effect on their kin.
[Are you hurt? We apologize for not arriving in time.]
[No, it’s fine. I didn’t need your help anyway, and it’s not your turn to act yet.]
[…….]
Obern answered by quietly lowering his head.
Seeing Obern like that, Shane asked quietly.
[Do you regret coming under my command?]
[Not enough time has passed for that yet.]
[There will be many times when you have to stain your hands with blood.]
[That was already settled with my sister… the Queen. We will not regret choosing this path, Sir Shane, as long as you support our kin.]
Obern was an elf born of the same bloodline as Priscilla.
While they were sealed here by the Great Seal of Akasha, Obern had rationally thought about how the world had changed and where he should be.
As a result, he chose to submit to Shane in order to increase his influence in the human world for the sake of his kin sealed in the great forest.
Being of the queen’s bloodline, Obern already had the firm trust of the dark elves which naturally translated into leadership.
For Shane, it was a welcome development that such individuals came to him on their own.
[How is the current situation?]
[So far, the humans… I mean, the expedition team hasn’t been overpowered. However, there is a being rapidly approaching this place from the outskirts of the forest.]
[Coming without hiding its presence. It definitely means to settle things.]
[Judging by the detected magical power … if that being joins, it is impossible to predict what variables will occur in the expedition team.]
[Can you transmit its magical power to me?]
[Yes. Please wait a moment.]
Although he had become a dark elf and could no longer use the pure magical power of an elf,
Obern had lived here for over a hundred years, even by ancient standards.
He could still use the elves’ communication network that connected the trees to each other. and soon he received part of the intruder’s approaching magical power from the forest.
Hoo.
And that magical power wasn’t entirely unfamiliar to Shane.
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