Chapter 490

Chapter 490: The Enemy Has Two Elements!

This questioning time is not for the sake of hearing an answer. He can only reply with yes or no. And I don’t know what to ask since he can’t reply with other answer. He can’t talk, and he can’t write or read.

This questioning time is to make him let down his guard so I can have the element of surprise. I need to capture him and bring him to Varadis. This way, Marie and the others can test their invention on him. Once their invention work on this boy, we can assume that their invention will work on other artificial master level mage that will come.

For now, I’ll ask him random questions.

“Hey, do you know that it’s time for kids to take a nap?” I said. To which I can see Shirley with her palm covering her face.

The boy answer with a shake of his head. Which mean he doesn’t know that kids take a nap at this time. But after that, it seems like he was curious about Shirley’s reaction as he looked at her hiding location.

“Oh, don’t worry about her. She’s a shy person. Just like me. Which is why we cover our face with a mask,” I said.

I can’t make him hostile to us. I need to catch him by surprise.

.....

“Leave her be. I’m more curious about you. Where did you come from? Oh, wait, you can’t speak. But you can at least point to where you came from, right?”

And then, he raises his hand. I prepare myself in case he suddenly casts a magic to attack me. But it’s not an attack. He just raises his hand first, before he points his finger to where he came from. He’s pointing to the east. Probably from Arturo. Or maybe that city in the center of the continent, Lenko.

“So, you’re from the capital?” I asked.

For now, let’s pretend to not know and just say that he’s from the capital. Well, the capital is where he points at as well. We are at the west side from the capital right now.

He shook his head and raises his hand which he used to point the west a bit higher.

“Oh, further than that? Is there another city that way? Hmm... Are you pointing at a city beyond the capital?”

He nodded his head. And I keep guessing random answers until I finally say the correct one.

“You’re from Arturo? You’re from another kingdom?”

The boy nodded his head.

“Oh, I see. Well, I should have guessed it sooner. I know that there are many people coming here for the tournament. We too came from another country. We’re from Varadis. We’re hunters who wants to see the tournament. Isn’t it amazing that we finally have a way to find who is the strongest mage in the continent? I used to dream of being the strongest as well. But I’m too weak and can only take low-rank quests. But I want to see the gap between me and the strongest mage. Though just any one of the participants should be stronger than me already,” I lied.

The setting is we’re hunters from Varadis who want to see who is the strongest mage. I want to tell the kid that we are weak to let down his guard.

But the kid didn’t react at all. I guess knowing that I was looking at him made him think that I’m not weak at all.

“What are we doing in this forest even though we’re weak? Well, although we’re weak, we have good teamwork! I have a really good eyesight that can see things from afar. And with my eyesight, she will aim to where I told her and shoot magic from afar. That’s how we became good enough to stay here! Though it seems like there are not many monsters left here. And I’m thinking that it’s time to return. By the way, what about you? You should be younger than me. From what I can tell, you’re younger than fifteen. Do you have innate talent in magic that awaken your element when you’re this young?” I asked.

I’m also probing if he will say the truth or not. I know that he’s a successful experiment of the Professor. If he nods his head, that means he can lie. If he shakes his head, that means he is still na?ve and can only say the truth. Unless he doesn’t know the real answer.

He started pondering for a while, and he finally replies with a nod. He can lie.

Maybe because he can’t speak, he spends most of the time thinking. That’s why he knows when to lie. And he can only nod or shake his head, so no one will think that he’s lying. What a pain.

Well, it’s not like I’m going to interrogate him.

“Wow! You must be so talented! I envy you! By the way...”

I walked closer to the boy while asking him a question. So far, he didn’t get suspicious of me. And I can get closer to him easily.

“...since you’re talented, would you like to join our party? You can be the main attacker, while the two of us will be your support. This way, you don’t have to worry with your back. We will end up being seen as riding on your tailcoat, but we’re fine with that. How about it? The split will be fifty-fifty. You will get half, and the two of us will get the other half. How about it?” I asked while approaching him closer and closer.

He refused my offer. But I keep negotiating further while approaching him closer step by step.

“How about 60:40?”

The boy still refuses. So, I keep negotiating.

“61:39?”

He shook his head.

“67:33?”

He keeps refusing.

“Fine, 70:30?”

The boy still refuses. But I have reached within an arm-length to him.

“Final offer, your arms!”

I transformed Blobbies into a sword, and swung it at his arms.

He is about as strong as me without Aura and magic. But I still have the upper-hand with my experience and technique. I managed to cut his right arm, but for the left arm, I only managed to put a scratch.

“No!” Shirley shouted. She must be thinking that I’m killing the boy. But no problem. I’m only cutting his arm off. As long as it’s properly stored, I can reattach it back later. But I need to be careful of the boy first.

He keeps his distance as he flew back with wind magic. Meanwhile, I kicked his separated arm toward Shirley’s location.

“Freeze it so I can reattach it back later!” I said.

“You’re too cruel to a child!” Shirley said as used ice magic to freeze the separated arm.

“Good. I can reattach it later. Now that the enemy is hurt, I can... oh shit. He’s also a healer,” I said as I saw the wound on his arms, the wound got healed in an instant. The control of his healing is to his whole body, not to the wound alone. But seeing the wound instantly healed means that he’s at least expert level in healing magic.

“Fuck, you’re a healer? Also, a master level?”

He shook his head. As long as his healing is not master level, it should be fine. I heard that a master level healer could even revive the death. It was just a myth. Or at least at this time, I can only hope so.

Seeing that I’m hostile, the boy raised his left hand toward me and cast a Wind Slash to attack me.

That’s fine. As long as he is not used to use magic without pointing his hand toward his target, I can dodge it easily. His hand might be fast, but not enough to get his attack hits me.

Also, the lost of one arm means that he needs to adjust his body balance now. It’s impossible to adjust it right away. Even if he has a strong body, since it’s not through training but through experiment, he shouldn’t be able to balance his body well so quickly.

...though he’s flying now. Balance doesn’t mean much if he can just fly in the sky. Although he looks unstable flying in the sky, he can still do it well. As expected of an artificial master level wind mage.

Still, a wind element and healing element. This could be troublesome. He can heal from any wound I give him. Which mean I have to knock him out quickly before he can use any healing magic if I want to capture him.

I need to get serious. If I half-assed this, I would die.

“WhO Are yoU?” the boy spoke with weird tone.

“Fuck! You can talk!?” I asked.

“It iS PAinfUl tO speAk. WhO Are yoU?” the boy asked again.

“At the moment, I wish I am someone who can save you. Please do not resist. I have to make sure you won’t be able to use magic so you won’t harm anyone,” I said.

My plan is to cut off his arms, and then put the collar around his neck. If he has no arm, he won’t be able to remove the collar forcefully like the Mohawk Girl back then.

But this fight might be harder. Especially since my goal is to capture him and not to kill him.

Well, if I’m in trouble, I’ll just ask Shirley to help. She’s already informing the others through Sonia that I’m fighting. Reinforcement will arrive. But I want to capture him before the others arrive.