Chapter 71: Return to the Frontier (2)
‘They took the bait!’
Lucion immediately felt as if he had a fishing rod trembling in his hand.
[Why does he look so excited when the enemy is here?]
Russell opened his mouth in wonder.
The fact that the enemy came here meant that there was really a madman who tried to touch the Imperial family and the frontier.
By the way, it has been said since ancient times that you shouldn’t touch a madman.
When Ratta stared at Lucion, Lucion patted Ratta as if covering her eyes.
[Working hard on the preparation would be useless if a guest doesn’t come. Maybe Lord Lucion is happy thinking of that fact.]
Bethel stepped out of the carriage and looked around.
[There’s no warlock.]
[Instead, the wizards are thoroughly prepared.]
Russell also followed Bethel out of the carriage and felt the waves of mana around him.
As if they had known this place in advance, a huge magic was being prepared around the carriage.
[The magic is almost done. As Lord Lucion said, he would have been in big trouble if he didn’t prepare this much.]
Bethel held back her itching hands at the mana that felt like a gigantic membrane.
[Of course. Whose student is he?]
Russell nodded with pride.
As Bethel said, if Lucion hadn’t prepared more deeply for the magic, even the Imperial Knights would have suffered a lot of damage.
However, the escorts were already wearing some strong shields.
[That shield will never be pierced.]
Russell said with certainty.
“Don’t worry. The hunters have already moved.”
Carson spoke calmly so that Lucion did not panic.
The wizards were strong.
But once in a while, those who were drunk on their own power were bound to come out.
This was called the wizard’s rampage.
When the wizard’s rampage started, the odds were even, so hunters were created to kill the rampaging wizards, and now those very same hunters raised their swords to kill the wizards.
The hunters had set off before the carriage departed
Lucion thought the hunters were probably hiding near the wizards by now.
“It’s not once or twice that I’ve been attacked by the enemy, so I’m not nervous. But I feel sorry that I could only stay still in the carriage like this.”
“This escort is for you, so you don’t have to mind it.”
“Yes, I will wait calmly until the enemies are slaughtered.”
Lucion put a macaron that Hume had given him before getting into the carriage into his mouth.
He put a macaron in Ratta’s mouth, who had opened her mouth to ask for it too.
—Ratta is all good.
Like Ratta, Lucion also had no worries
Russell was telling him what had happened, so Lucion waited for Luminos to be thoroughly trampled as if listening to the radio.
Russell climbed up around the stopped carriage and looked down.
[Now, the knights are maintaining their formation and guarding the carriage. The barrier is also working well.]
Then Russell headed a little further.
[A total of 20 wizards. Ten of them are using great magic, four are ready to blow themselves up, and six are… Well, they seem to be wary of the surroundings. But what can they do?]
Russell drew a sneer.
As Carson said, the hunters had already moved, and most of the wizards were within the range of the hunters.
It was enough to show the confidence of the hunters that they could kill them at any time.
[Would it be faster for the hunters to kill the wizards than for the magic to be triggered?]
Russell raised an eyebrow in interest.
[The wizards who chose this place even though they knew it was a forest were fools. There is no other ruler of the forest like a covert hunter.]
Bethel also voiced derision.
The wizards were not suited for covert work.
As the magic was huge, the waves of mana that fluttered around them also grew bigger, making them easy to be detected.
[The hunters are moving.]
Russell said with a smile.
The wizard’s most vulnerable moment was when they chanted a spell to use magic.
Russell himself knew this, so the hunters who hunt wizards must know it all too well.
The hunters took care of the wizard who scouted the surroundings.
As a pair, one covered their mouths, and the other choked their necks with a thin wire and finished them at once.
Quietly, quickly.
They really were hunters.
[All 6 members of the reconnaissance team are dead.]
Upon hearing Russell’s report, Lucion felt that the macarons that melted in his mouth were so delicious.
‘Now there are 14 wizards left.’
Lucion listened to Russell’s report, feeling the silence that had landed in the carriage.
[Two people who were preparing for magic died.]
[Anothe one died.]
[Five people are left.]
As the number of dead wizards gradually increased, Lucion felt the thing that covered the surroundings was being lifted.
[The magic collapsed.]
At Russell’s words, Lucionhad a hard time swallowing his laughter.
In the end, the worst thing happened to the wizards.
When the magic collapsed, some of the manas used in the magic flowed back and attack the casters.
If it was such a huge magic, maybe they were half-dying or completely dead.
‘As expected, power is the best.’
With the title of saint, he had so many knights surrounding the carriage, along with the magicians and the barrier magicians.
Lucion patted Ratta and looked at Carson.
Carson’s expression was still stiff.
He didn’t lose the tension because he deeply felt the fact that a single mistake could have great consequences just like when Lucion was taken to the enemy’s country in the past.
Lucion turned his gaze and looked out the window.
Suddenly the movement of the knights became hectic.
[The enemies seem to have noticed that their fellow wizards are dead. All that’s left is the suicide bombing.]
Russell came down to the carriage.
“Now! Spread the shield!”
At that time, Heint shouted, feeling a huge mass of mana coming from all directions.
The best way to deal with suicide bombing was to hide behind a strong wall.
Didn’t they bring a barrier magician for this?
The barrier magicians, who were scattered in four directions and hiding among the knights, unfolded the shield they had prepared in accordance with Heint’s voice.
Buzz.
Calm light spread near the barrier magician.
A look of embarrassment lingered in the eyes of the running wizards.
It was their complete loss.
Even their magic and suicide bombing.
However, once the mana simmered and they attempted to self-destruct, there was no turning back.
“Die!”
The wizard shouted with resentment.
Whoo!
It collided with the magician’s shield, but a loud sound was all that came out.
The shield only had minor scratches.
“As expected, the defense is magic-proof.”
Lucion had saved Peter, who would have been the best magician among those magicians if he kept living, and sent him to his organization.
‘With Peter, we can feel safe even in a suicide-bombing attack, right?’
[One person is still alive.]
As Russell noticed the only place with no sound, a wizard stood still, suppressing his rampaging mana.
“Listen, Saint Lucion Cronia! You are the symbol of this absurd world! We, Luminos, will kill you, step on your corpse and proudly reverse this absurdity!”
The wizard shouted with a blood stick around his neck and exploded with a ‘bang’.
The flesh and blood splashed everywhere, but nothing could stain the carriage where Lucion was.
A near-perfect victory
No one denied this.
When the hunters who came with the wizard’s neck returned to the carriage, the magicians stopped their magic, and the knights searched the area.
“Perhaps… Did you hear that?”
Carson asked with displeasure.
“What do you mean?”
It looked like the wizard was screaming something, but Lucion couldn’t really hear anything because his ears weren’t as good as Carson’s.
Instead, he saw a beggar-like red thread along with the wizard’s words.
But of course, the red thread had to appear.
In the , Luminos was one with the Hand of the Void, they must have been a middle boss.
“Never mind, it’s nothing.”
Carson declined to comment.
[A group of wizards called Luminos have declared war on you. How arrogant.]
Russell gritted his teeth and told him.
Bethel was surprised.
The fact that he was targeted by someone could act as a psychological burden since it meant he had to be careful as long as he was alive.
[I-Is this okay?]
Bethel asked cautiously.
[It’s better than being a fool without knowing anything.]
Lucion nodded slightly as if to agree with Russell.
‘…As a result, Luminos becomes entangled with me and Heint.’
Lucion had already expected it since he used the Imperial Knights.
However, even if his predictions were right, he didn’t feel very good.
In the , the Luminos group was entangled with Lucion and Heint.
‘But, well, these guys are over now.’
Lucion stroked Ratta again.
Whatever the process, Luminos had touched him and the Imperial family.
They wouldn’t be able to escape the wrath of the Emperor.
After all, the wizards of Luminos were similar to bamboo, so he had no intention of conciliating them.
‘I spilled information. The Emperor saw it at once, but if they’re crushed, it’s perfect.’
Lucion smiled and the carriage that had stopped moved again.
If he could convince the villains, he would help them change their minds.
If he couldn’t convince them, he could only gather his strength and step on them as he did now.
* * *
After Luminos disappeared, all the roads back to the frontier were smooth.
Except for the rattling of the carriage, the weather was good for a nap, and the atmosphere was bright since there were no casualties, let alone injuries, in Luminos’ attack a while ago.
Russell was excited at the sound of Heint boasting that Lucion was the biggest contributor to this incident, and Lucion pretended not to hear anything.
—But you know, Lucion.
Ratta blinked and looked up at Lucion.
Lucion’s eyes were half relaxed.
—Is the wizard ghost different? Ratta is really curious about that.
Russell and Bethel were the only special ghosts she had ever met.
‘I know. What’s different about wizard ghosts? I know you can’t have abilities while you’re alive, except for the death knights and a few ghosts.’
Lucion glanced at Russell.
[I just have a lot of knowledge in my head. Except for a few ghosts, you can’t use the power you used while you were alive. Because it would be a complete scam.]
—So is Russel one of those few ghosts?
[Right. Who am I?]
—Genius warlock! The evil genius warlock!
Ratta said with a bright smile.
[That’s right!]
—But why are you unlucky?
[Saying that I’m unlucky…]
At the moment, Russell frowned.
—What’s wrong? Are you sick?
[It’s nothing. It’s just that I became a ghost at a young age.]
‘Why are you flustered?’
Lucion confirmed the embarrassment in Russel’s eyes as he frowned.
However, Lucion slowly closed his eyes to the drowsiness of the tension.
They had a late lunch at a village gate.
It was the place where the fallen warlock appeared the other day, and where he first met Heint.
—Yom yom.
Ratta happily wagged her tail while eating meat, and Hume calmly attended to Lucion.
“Do you lost your appetite?”
Carson asked.
“No, I just stayed still because the wind was cool.”
The wind from beyond the window was still mixed with the smell of spring.
“Your judgment was very good. You saved a lot of people.”
Carson finally released his itchy mouth and praised Lucion.
“Rather than my judgment, It was possible because Brother listened to me. It’s all thanks to Brother.”
Lucion turned the credit to Carson.
This was true.
Thanks to Carson, they were able to prepare to stop Luminos before departure.
“Lucion.”
Carson called him with a heavy tone.
“You wouldn’t have wanted it, but your shoulders will be heavy. Every word you say will cause a big stir, and everything you want to do in the future will be noticed.”
Lucion looked down at the meat that had been cut and lowered his fork.
“The only existence in the world. The attention, jealousy, and hostility that you will receive are greater than you can imagine.”
“Yes, I know that much.”
Carson did not comment further on Lucion’s reply.
Instead, he brought up another question.
“Lucion, what do you want to be in the future?”
Lucion, who was tied up in the past and couldn’t move forward, cut off the past himself and climbed to this position.
Now he wondered if he could ask about the future, not the past.