Volume 3 - CH 12

Chapter 12 – The Clash

“Oh spirit of the earth, listen to my wishes and destroy the evil before me, Earth shaker!”

Puke, who had been preserving his magic power until now, cast an advanced-level earth magic towards the horde of Goblins chasing them from behind.

And then, the ground behind the squad began to tremble violently. The tremors became more and more intense, causing the Goblins to be unsteady on their feet and collapse to the ground. Following Puke, the other high-level magicians immediately cast advanced fire, water, wind and earth magic towards the Goblins, creating a flame storm that swirled right behind the squad, burning every Goblin on sight. Subsequently, on the left, a big tsunami swallows the Goblins one after another. Meanwhile on the right, the Goblins were cut into pieces by wind blades, and in a large area including outside those magic, spiked stones popped out from the ground and skewered the Goblins.

With this, they would be able to buy some time before another horde of Goblins came, that’s what Eto thought. However, that also means that the squad couldn’t engage in a long battle against the Red-Eye, as the longer they fight, the more probability they would get attacked by a horde of Goblins from behind. The only way for them to survive is to defeat the Red-Eye as soon as possible and retreat the moment the Goblins lose their control because of the loss of their leader.

Thus, with that in mind, the knights who were the vanguard of the squad directly attacked the Red-Eye, the adventurers and the magicians also followed them. However, the moment the knights raised their spear and tried to swing it down to the Red-Eye, the Red-Eye disappeared from their sight.

“Captain-!”

Hearing the magician’s scream, Eto looked back and saw that Puke, who was in the rear, had his chest torn, causing blood to sprout from there. Although there were other magicians around Puke, no one seemed to notice the Red-Eye approaching.

“What was that? That wasn’t at the level where it could be called high physical ability! It’s too fast!”

Zenith, the leader of A-rank party 『Arrow of Light』, shouted. His gaze was carefully following the Red-Eye, raising his alert level of the enemy before him as a very dangerous enemy.

Eto promptly approached Puke and applied Slow, which was considered a debuff.

“This will slow and reduce your bleeding. Quickly recover yourself with potions!”

Saying that, Eto left Puke to the magicians and stared at the Red-Eye, which had already returned to the entrance of the cave.

The Red-Eye just attacked Puke, who was the strongest in the squad. And Eto’s intuition told him that there is no way that was a coincidence.

Eto then slowly advanced his horse until he was just behind the knights and cast Dark to the Red-Eye. Eto’s support magic doesn’t require any chant like other magicians. He only needs to say the word ‘Dark’ to apply the debuff within plausible range. Needless to say, the short-word Dark, was the fastest debuff the current Eto had. However, at that moment, Red-Eye once again disappeared from their sight.

As the members of the squad were looking around, searching from the figure of Red-Eye, a muffled voice was heard behind Eto. When Eto looked back, he could see the long claws of Red-Eye had pierced Amou’s left arm. And the tip of the claws was aimed at Eto’s neck. In other words, had Amou not used his body to protect Eto, his life would have been gone in an instant.

“Father!”

Seeing that, Kohaku, who was riding the same horse as Amou, shouted. And as if attracted by that voice, Red-Eye turned its sight at Kohaku and grinned creepily1.

Judging that it would be dangerous to Kohaku, Eto once again cast Dark towards Red-Eye. This time, it seemed to be effective, as Red-Eye displayed a sign of being inflicted by an abnormal condition.

“Slow! Gravity! Pain!”

Knowing that it was his chance, Eto immediately cast debuff after debuff toward the Red-Eye, and brandished the one-handed sword that was enchanted with fire magic in his hand, towards the Red-Eye.

However, the moment the sword was about to reach the Red-Eye, it once again disappeared in an instant. And then, a grunt could be heard near the cave where the Red-Eye formerly stood. Yes, that’s where the Red-Eye moved to.

“T-that, was….. teleportation, magic….2”

Puke, who managed to heal his wound with potions, suddenly muttered, and Eto promptly released Slow from him.

“Puke-sama, did you just say, teleportation magic?”

“Aa. That’s definitely not Haste3… After it disappeared, right before it reappeared, I felt a faint fluctuation of magic power in the space. It fits the characteristics of the legendary teleportation magic.”

Puke stared directly in Eto’s eyes and said. From there, Eto could see a sense of crisis in his expression.