Ch.105Chapter 105. First Elder Kilbis (4)

“Who is that?”

The face of the First Elder was one I’d never seen before.

I thought it might be someone I knew, like Landgar, but it was indeed a stranger.

“Damn it.”

The First Elder, with his long hair, was grimacing while covering one eye.

His movements were so quick that I thought he was young, but he appears to be around the same age as Landgar.

Tap—

When the First Elder tried to escape after his robe was stripped off, I immediately rushed in without giving him a chance.

For a moment, his face was exposed, and I almost got distracted looking at it.

“What is this…!”

The First Elder was visibly shocked by the Black Shadow Sword passing through his magic.

It was an impressive technique.

Even I was having my mental energy severely drained every time I used it.

The Black Shadow Sword opens space around it to pass through physical obstacles, then closes that space again at the exact moment the sword strikes the opponent.

Theoretically, it was the ultimate attack that could penetrate any defense.

However, actually implementing it in reality was incredibly difficult.

‘Just thinking about how much I struggled to master this makes me shudder.’

I suddenly recall the days when I racked my brain daily to use this technique.

It was extremely difficult.

Whoosh—

“You’re really good at dodging, aren’t you?”

The First Elder was remarkably agile for a mage.

I wasn’t swinging my sword with the intent to kill, but even so, it was impressive how he continuously evaded my blade.

It was starting to get annoying.

“I’ll end this quickly…”

Woooong—

Just as I was about to finish my sentence to the visibly flustered First Elder, a familiar vibration and sound reached my ears.

The sound of space moving and vibrating.

Both the First Elder and I turned our gazes toward the source of the sound simultaneously.

“Urgh.”

With the sound of space opening, Commander Ordin appeared on the spot.

Why would he show up at this timing?

I couldn’t help but frown.

“You!”

Shing—

Commander Ordin briefly touched his forehead as if dizzy upon arrival, then immediately drew his sword.

A sword pointed either at me or the First Elder, I couldn’t tell.

“Hoh.”

‘Ugh, why at this timing?’

Ordin appearing when I was in the middle of cornering the First Elder.

He was certainly not a welcome face.

‘So the warp point wasn’t one-time use.’

“You bastards!”

Ordin shouted while looking back and forth between me and the First Elder.

Neither of us seemed particularly threatened by him, though.

“Today I can avenge O’Neil against both of you at once.”

Ordin said this while summoning massive mana to his sword.

Boom—

As blue mana enveloped Ordin’s sword and exploded with light, there was a sound of air bursting.

In the brief moment I turned my attention away, the First Elder escaped.

“Oh come on, seriously.”

He was truly unhelpful.

Ordin seemed momentarily confused by the First Elder’s sudden disappearance, then naturally pointed his sword at me.

“Black Shadow Corps, you bastard!”

“Damn it, I almost had him.”

“…I don’t know why you were confronting that guy, but…”

“…”

“You’re still an enemy of our kingdom, that hasn’t changed.”

Tap—

After saying his piece, Ordin immediately charged at me.

Having just faced the First Elder who was a mage, the speed of Ordin the knight was on a completely different level.

Clang—

The black mana of my Black Shadow Sword and the blue mana of Ordin’s sword collided, creating a clear ringing sound.

A high, clear sound that seemed too pure to be just metal striking metal.

It was the sound of purely refined mana colliding with mana.

Clang— Claaang— Chang—

In an instant, my opponent changed from the First Elder to Commander Ordin.

Just a moment ago, I was busy attacking and pushing the First Elder back, but now I had to focus more on defense.

At least I didn’t have to use the technique I was using against the First Elder, so my head hurt less.

Chang— Chang— Clang—

‘He’s fast indeed.’

This time I needed to use my body more than my head.

The movements of Commander Ordin, who once shattered my arrogance, were fast and sharp.

Claaang—

“…You’ve improved since then. Thief!”

“Is that a compliment?”

As our swords locked deeply for a moment, Commander Ordin spoke first.

I wasn’t sure if it was a compliment or not.

“A thief is still a thief!”

Fwooosh—

With those words, Commander Ordin’s sword glowed even more intensely.

I decided this attack was better dodged than parried.

Rumble—

“Whoa.”

“What’s this now?”

Suddenly, the ground began to shake violently.

So violently that it was impossible to maintain balance while standing on it.

Tap—

The First Elder and I leaped into the air simultaneously, as if by agreement.

The ground was still shaking with a thunderous roar, and holes were beginning to form in various places.

‘This must be the First Elder’s doing.’

I recognized it immediately.

This was 100% the First Elder’s technique.

I knew he was up to something when he hid himself right after Ordin appeared.

“This is all because of you.”

“What?!”

“Seriously, I almost had him.”

Rumble— Swoosh—

After the ground had been vibrating for a while, a mist began to rise from it.

It was that black mist from before.

‘Sigh, I thought this would be easier.’

It wasn’t just mist covering the ground.

The black mist obscured what lay beyond, but I could feel the energy.

Numerous spells were taking form within the mist.

“Oh no.”

Commander Ordin, who had leaped into the air almost simultaneously with me, was now reaching his peak and about to fall back down.

I was in the same situation, but I had a solution.

‘It’s not perfect yet, but…’

Woong—

While in mid-air, I stretched my hand downward and opened a space.

From the slightly opened space, something gray quickly emerged.

Growl—

“Hup.”

It was Yongyong.

“Whoa.”

Yongyong growled as if displeased upon emerging, but he listened to me well.

He carried me on his head and caught the falling Ordin with his front paws.

Ordin seemed surprised when the undead wyvern suddenly caught him in mid-air, but he didn’t resist.

It was obvious that he would fall victim to the First Elder’s magic if he fell to the ground.

“What is this! Controlling an undead! As expected of you lot!”

“Yeah, whatever. Let’s cooperate for now. You need to save the students from Crescen too, right?”

“…Hmm.”

Caught in Yongyong’s front paws, Ordin seemed at a loss for words, unable to refute my point.

“Let’s save the students first, catch that guy, and then we can fight each other afterward?”

Ordin frowned deeply at my words but eventually nodded.

Swoosh—

At the same time, black spikes shot up from the mist-covered ground.

‘Holy crap.’

Unlike before, there weren’t just one or two.

At least hundreds of spikes shot up from the mist-covered ground.

With fierce and rapid momentum.

“Yongyong!”

Growl—!

Though I hadn’t completely tamed Yongyong yet, he seemed to instinctively understand the danger of the current situation.

The fact that he was listening to me instead of resisting as usual was proof.

Yongyong let out a low howl and then flew quickly.

“Uwaaaaah!”

As a result, screams could be heard from Ordin, who was caught in his front paws.

Whoosh—

Yongyong changed direction repeatedly to avoid the spikes shooting up from the ground.

The attacks were fast and dense, but any attacks Yongyong couldn’t avoid, I sent through to the other side of space.

Somehow, we managed to block the storm-like barrage of attacks.

The First Elder seemed unable to use wide-range magic consecutively, as we got a brief respite after the wave of attacks passed.

“Urgh, augh.”

Commander Ordin was making pained noises while clutching his forehead, still caught in Yongyong’s front paws.

“Yongyong.”

Growl—

Understanding my words, Yongyong hesitantly placed Ordin, whom he had been holding with one paw, onto his back.

“Urgh. Damn it.”

“I’m doing you a special favor here, you know?”

“D-damn it. To receive help from an enemy of the kingdom…”

“Be quiet, the next attack will probably come soon, so hurry and find the enemy…”

Boom—

As I was saying this to Ordin, the First Elder revealed himself with a sound of bursting air from the front.

I didn’t expect him to show himself first.

“Ah…”

“That’s…”

However, the First Elder didn’t appear alone.

Next to the First Elder, who was floating in the air, was Elaine, also floating in an unstable posture.

Elaine looked down with a pale expression, then looked ahead.

“Ah, Commander Ordin! And…”

‘Damn, what a dirty move.’

As soon as I saw Elaine appear with the First Elder, I understood his intention.

He probably brought her out deliberately to threaten me and Ordin.

“I was wondering where the undead wyvern that the Third Elder lost went.”

Unlike before, the First Elder spoke to me with a much more confident voice.

I really don’t like him.

“If you try anything foolish, I’ll drop Sinclair straight down.”

Whoosh—

“Ugh!”

As if to prove his words weren’t empty threats, the First Elder let Elaine drop.

Elaine fell rapidly to just above where the mist didn’t reach, then stopped.

Due to the sudden fall, Elaine clutched her chest and collapsed in place.

Of course, even though she collapsed, Elaine didn’t fall further down.

From the looks of it, Elaine seemed to be trapped inside an invisible barrier.

‘Rescuing her wouldn’t be difficult.’

The question was whether this was the only trick the First Elder had up his sleeve regarding Elaine.

“Y-you coward! Using a hostage!”

Commander Ordin, who had somewhat recovered from his motion sickness, shouted angrily at the First Elder, but the First Elder paid no attention.

“First, you’ll have to return that undead.”

The First Elder was smiling.

How annoying.