Ch.203Battle, and Sacrifice

‘Ping-‘

As we approached the second destination where the Dark Elf stronghold was presumed to be hidden, a sharp warning sound echoed through our minds.

It was the same sound that had warned us of the Dark Elf attack near Atelier.

“…They’re here.”

“Seems they’ve found us properly this time. Though there’s still a possibility they’re just outlaws.”

While preparing for this investigation, Jessica had created a detection spell called ‘Detect Humanoid’ by adapting the intruder detection effect of the Repellation Field.

It’s a spell that transmits a telepathic warning when humanoid lifeforms other than party members are detected within range. Unlike the original Repellation Field, it can maintain its effect while moving, and its range is quite wide at a radius of 30 meters.

Although it didn’t get a chance to prove useful at our first destination, as we spotted campfire smoke outside the detection range first.

“Jessica, how many enemies?”

“It just increased to three. Should we keep approaching and pretend we don’t notice? Or stop the carriage and confront them?”

“Confrontation is better. If those detected are really Dark Elves, it would be safer to let them know we have detection capabilities.”

Repellation Field and Detect Humanoid only sense the presence of intruders within range, without pinpointing their exact location or distance.

But the enemies wouldn’t know that, so they’d take note that we have means to see through invisibility magic, making Dark Elves hesitant to use stealth magic during combat.

To maximize the effect of this psychological shackle, I stopped the carriage, climbed down from the driver’s seat, and addressed the Dark Elves hiding nearby.

“You three there. Care to stop this childish hide-and-seek and have a conversation? We didn’t come here to kill you or take you as slaves.”

As Jessica who had been sitting beside me, along with Seti and Phyllis from the cargo area, armed themselves and exited the carriage, three Dark Elves revealed themselves from behind a large tree ahead of us.

They consisted of a slender man with a scar over one eye, a short-haired man with a considerably large build, and a tall man who appeared to be about 190cm with sharp eyes.

“A group composed of four different races—quite an unusual composition. What brings you here?”

“We’ve come to retrieve Iris Aedra, the Elven Elder’s successor who was kidnapped by your people five years ago.”

“Hmm. I don’t know of any elf by that name.”

“There’s no use hiding it. We came here after learning from Calliope that she’s here. Or are you going to claim she’s someone else because there’s a number after her name now?”

As Phyllis pressed them with a stance ready for battle, the one-eyed Dark Elf at the front clicked his tongue and twisted his expression.

“Foolish Calliope. To succumb to human interrogation and open her mouth… what a waste of her 218 divinity.”

“Whether you condemn or punish that woman is your business to settle among yourselves. What will you do? As I said earlier, we have no intention of fighting to the death if we can just get Iris back.”

“And if we refuse to hand her over?”

“Then I’ll do exactly what you did to me five years ago. I’ll defeat anyone who stands in my way and take Iris back by force if necessary.”

As Phyllis aimed her repeating rifle and issued the grave warning, the three Dark Elves adjusted their weapons and took combat stances.

The large man held a wide curved sword, the one-eyed man wielded two daggers, and the tall man held a flat, ring-shaped throwing weapon called a ‘chakram.’

“So negotiations have broken down… a pity.”

With those words, fierce attacks erupted between the two groups.

“Lightning Bolt!”

“Stone Bullet!”

A silver lightning bolt shot from Phyllis’s gun barrel while a violently spinning stone flew from Jessica’s fingertips toward the Dark Elves.

“Magia Deflector!”

“Haste!”

The one-eyed man with two daggers suddenly moved at an unbelievable speed, while the large man extended his free hand to deploy a translucent barrier.

The Lightning Bolt and Stone Bullet were blocked by the barrier, and from behind it, a blue-glowing chakram flew in a curve toward Jessica’s nape.

‘Ta-tang!’

Two magic bullets fired from my titanium revolver struck the incoming chakram, causing it to change its trajectory dramatically and return to the tall man.

It seems to be a magical weapon that always returns to the hand after being thrown.

‘Kang! Chang! Chang! Chang!’

Seti desperately blocked the one-eyed man who rushed toward Phyllis with movement like fast-forward playback.

He was barely managing to deflect the daggers while preventing the attacker from reaching Phyllis behind him.

To make matters worse, the large man with the curved sword also began charging toward Jessica and me with his magic barrier deployed.

Though we had the numerical advantage at 5 versus 3, our party’s greatest weakness was having only Seti capable of close combat.

‘Ta-ta-tang!’

“Flame Lance!”

‘Fwoong!’

When neither my three revolver shots nor the Flame Lance could penetrate the magic barrier, the large man grinned and quickly closed in on us.

Just as he shifted his magic barrier to the side and was about to swing his sword at point-blank range, a large magic circle spread across the ground around Jessica.

‘Kang!’

“What!?”

Despite the large man moving his left hand aside, the magic barrier remained in place, blocking his curved sword.

Jessica had instantly deployed a fragment of divine power that seized control of the magic barrier and wrested its authority away.

Caught off guard by his attack being blocked in such an unexpected way, the large man froze in confusion, and the magic barrier that had stood between us dissipated like a mirage.

His massive frame was now exposed defensively before us—a perfect opportunity to strike.

Although only one magic bullet remained in my revolver’s cylinder, the attack about to be unleashed on this Dark Elf wouldn’t end with just one shot.

‘Ta-ang—!!’

Countless silver magic bullets erupted from the barrel of Wolfsbane, which I had drawn with my left hand.

Even though the opponent wasn’t a lycanthrope, dozens of expanding penetration rounds fired at point-blank range had enough power to blow a massive hole through a person’s chest.

The large man’s body, which had been advancing with bulldozer-like momentum just moments ago, collapsed to the ground with a thud.

A single fatal blow. Instant death without a shadow of doubt.

“Armu 312!!”

“What just happened? How did the Magia Deflector—!”

“You should worry about yourself right now!”

Jessica said this as she opened her eyes and drew the Derringer pistol that had been holstered on her thigh.

The faint beam of light emanating from that tiny barrel signaled that her trump card was ready.

‘Ta-ta-ta-tang! Ta-ta-tang! Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tang!!’

“Ugh… AAAGH!!”

Under the relentless barrage of white magic bullets pouring from the tiny Derringer pistol, the tall man could neither defend nor evade, taking the hits one-sidedly.

His condition was so miserable that the large man who died instantly with a hole in his chest might have been the lucky one.

He never could have dreamed that such a terrible secret was hidden beneath this beautiful mage’s skirt.

“Chronos 366!”

“Grgh… R-run away, Betel 294… We are no match… for them…!”

The tall man couldn’t finish telling his comrade to flee before his breath ceased.

The one-eyed Dark Elf, now alone, leaped backward to distance himself from Seti, dropped his daggers, and slowly raised both hands.

“…This is it. We admit defeat.”

Despite the one-eyed man’s seemingly resigned attitude, we maintained our guard until the end.

The Dark Elf who had attacked us near Atelier had also tried to deceive us with clever words while aiming for a lethal surprise attack.

But in the very next moment, an event occurred that rendered our caution meaningless.

A small female Dark Elf suddenly appeared right behind the one-eyed man and plunged a sharp weapon dripping with dark magical energy into his side.

‘Shunk’

“I regret it has come to this, Betel 294.”

“Huh…?”

Internal strife? Or betrayal?

Didn’t Jessica say there were only three enemies within detection range?

As various questions raced through my mind, the stabbed one-eyed man gave a gentle smile to the woman who had attacked him.

“Heh… just as planned. Don’t worry and go now.”

“…Blink!”

With those words, the female Dark Elf vanished before our eyes.

Jessica, who had been startled by the sudden intruder, clenched her fist in frustration and explained:

“That was a teleportation spell. That woman was outside the detection range until just now.”

“Correct, female mage. You have keen observation.”

“What was the meaning of that action? We had no intention of interrogating you for information.”

Was he ending his life to avoid interrogation or torture?

If so, there would be no need to go through the elaborate process of dropping his daggers and being killed by his comrade’s dark blade.

The possibilities I could think of were either attempting a desperate power-up by injecting dark magical energy, or activating some last-resort measure with no guarantee of survival.

As if to confirm my suspicions, black tattoos began spreading from the side wound where the dark blade had pierced him.

“Everyone attack! I don’t know what he’s planning, but something big is coming!”

“It’s already too late! Haste!”

“Diamond Dust!”

‘Bang!’

‘Bang!’

‘Ta-ang!’

Using the acceleration spell once more, the one-eyed Dark Elf shrugged off Jessica’s freezing magic and endured shots from my revolver, Phyllis’s repeating rifle, and even Mina’s scatter shot as he charged toward Seti.

“Hyaaah!”

‘Swoosh!’

Seti desperately tried to catch up, swinging his spear.

But the one-eyed Dark Elf blocked it with his right arm, and despite sustaining a severe injury, he managed to slip past Seti and continued running.

His footsteps were headed not toward any of us, but toward where our covered wagon was parked.

“What the hell…?”

“Glory to our Great Mother!!!”

The one-eyed Dark Elf, blood dripping from his half-severed right arm, hurled himself toward Ancestor.

Ancestor reared up, trying to kick away the attacking Dark Elf with its front legs, but the ominous tattoos covering the Dark Elf’s body erupted in blinding light a split second faster.

‘KWANG—-!!’

Black magical energy, not flames, exploded violently, knocking us all down with a fierce shockwave.

Fortunately, the blast radius itself wasn’t very wide, so none of us suffered direct injuries from the explosion or shrapnel—but—

“Ancestor!!”

Our jet-black automaton that had reliably guided our journey had its entire head and neck section completely obliterated without a trace.