Ch.204Futile Escape

In the depths of the forest, the skills of the three dark elves we encountered were, honestly speaking, several notches below those of Atelier’s attackers.

However, their leader, the one-eyed man, left us with significant damage in exchange for his life.

The damage being the destruction of the Steel Thousand-Mile Horse, Ancestor, which had been through thick and thin with us since we acquired it from the ancient ruins.

“I can’t believe it… He sacrificed himself just to kill the carriage, no, the horse.”

“…It’s a rational tactic in its own way. Even if they lose Iris, we won’t be able to reach the city in time now.”

“Mina, can you save Ancestor?”

“Not right now. We lack materials to repair the damaged parts, and more importantly, without the mana circuit that functions as its brain, there’s no way to control its movements.”

“Is this mana circuit thing in the head? Then the shattered head is…”

“It’s nowhere to be found. It seems to have completely disintegrated.”

“Hmm…”

To use a robot analogy, we understand the mechanical design but can’t revive the main computer.

Losing Ancestor like this is painful, but we can’t afford to focus solely on that problem right now.

“We have no choice. Let’s put Ancestor aside for now and concentrate on finding the dark elves’ base.”

“Are you okay with that, Will?”

“What’s done is done. We need to at least achieve our most important objective. In the worst case, even if we have to abandon Ancestor and the carriage, we can still make it back alive as long as we have the mock barrier tower, Stone House, and the artifact for mana supply.”

It’s not like Ancestor would be immediately fixed if we gave up on rescuing Iris, and if we miss this opportunity, we might never get another chance to save her.

“Let’s split into two teams. One or two people stay here to guard the carriage and luggage, while the others search for the dark elves’ base.”

“That sounds good. Then the ones staying here will be Mina and…”

“Wait, Jessica. I want to go with the team searching for the dark elves.”

“You, Mina?”

“That woman who appeared and disappeared used teleportation magic, right? That kind of magic leaves traces at both the departure and arrival points for quite a while. If I track it with my Magiascope, we might easily find their base.”

“Ah, I see… Then I’ll stay with the carriage. With my Repellation Field and detection magic, I can anticipate most situations, so it’ll be safer than having someone else stay behind.”

“Alright. We’ll be back as soon as possible, so be careful.”

Leaving Jessica alone makes me uneasy, but objectively speaking, it’s the most rational choice.

If Mina’s goggles—the Magiascope—can track teleportation traces, her company is essential, and it would be absurd not to bring Phyllis when going to rescue Iris.

Considering the possibility of close-combat fighters remaining at the dark elves’ base, we can’t leave Seti behind either, and no one can respond to unexpected crises faster than I can with my skills.

Reflecting on our recent battle, I don’t think there’s much chance that Jessica will face an overwhelming force attacking the carriage while we’re gone searching for the dark elves’ base.

If they had that much strength left, they would have deployed reinforcements before resorting to self-destruction, and prioritizing Iris’s evacuation over looting our carriage for spoils would make more sense.

“Alright, let’s depart immediately. Mina, can you track the teleportation traces?”

“Yes. They’re clearly visible. This way.”

We positioned Mina at the front and began pursuing the traces of the teleportation magic.

Hoping that at the end of these traces, we would find Phyllis’s sister and successfully rescue her.

~~~ Dark Elf Base ~~~

“Haa, haa, haa…”

Dark elf woman Serka 484, who had returned to the base after carrying out the final orders from Betel 294, was trying to calm her heart that felt ready to burst as she caught her breath.

Among the five dark elves remaining at this base, she had the lowest divine rank and was of little help to the group, whether as a warrior, mage, or technician.

Her only special skill was the short-range teleportation spell “Blink.”

It was an overpowered spell that could instantly transport her to any visible location within 100 meters regardless of elevation differences, but it consumed a lot of mana and put strain on the heart when used consecutively.

She had used it once to approach Betel 294’s side, and three more times to quickly return to the base from the battlefield.

Using it four times in succession naturally caused her heart to scream in protest.

If not for the critical mission of evacuating Iris 036, she would have already collapsed on the stone floor of the base.

“Iris 036… get up. We need to leave this place as quickly as possible.”

“…”

Despite Serka 484’s urgent pleas, Iris 036—Iris Aide who had transformed into a dark elf—showed no reaction.

Over the past few years, she had only shown responses in three situations:

When receiving dark magic lessons from Chronos 366, when engraving formulas on the dark sword created by Armu 312,

And when someone fed her with a spoon.

Her behavior was more like that of an autistic child or a senile elder, hardly befitting someone with the overwhelming divine rank of 036.

Serka 484, not a natural-born dark elf but an elf who had transformed just three years ago, couldn’t understand the devotion and passion the other three showed toward Iris 036.

Or rather, she understood it intellectually but couldn’t empathize with it emotionally.

Therefore, the emotions filling Serka 484’s heart right now were not sympathy or loyalty, but irritation and anger.

“Iris 036! I told you to get up! At least walk on your own feet!”

“…”

Even after forcibly pulling her up by the hand, Iris 036 didn’t put any strength in her legs, just being limply dragged down from the chair.

Unable to control her emotions at Iris 036’s response, Serka 484 slapped the face of someone whose divine rank was 400 higher than her own.

“Slap! Slap! SLAP!”

“Get up! I said get up! Betel 294, Armu 312, Chronos 366… they all lost their lives so you could escape! You useless woman with nothing but a high divine rank!”

As soon as the words “high divine rank” escaped her lips, Serka 484 stopped her swinging hand and began trembling like an aspen tree.

“…What, what have I done!”

In dark elf society, divine rank was absolute power and an insurmountable social gap.

Moreover, the “first digit” of the divine rank carried even more significance than the numerical difference itself.

The reason Betel 294, Armu 312, and Chronos 366 could exchange opinions as equals was because Betel 294 thoroughly defined his raison d’être as “one of Calliope 218’s subordinates.” If he had issued formal orders, even Chronos 366 and Armu 312, whose divine rank differed by only 18, would have obeyed without question.

Just as Serka 484 had followed orders to stab Betel 294 with the dark sword, causing him to explode.

And now this dark elf woman, with a mere divine rank of 484, had slapped someone with the celestial rank of 036.

It was an offense that couldn’t be atoned for even with several lives.

If this became known, Serka 484 would face immediate execution as a traitor who defied the divine rank.

‘Should I run away?’

The thought flashed through her mind for a moment, but Serka 484 exercised superhuman willpower to resist the temptation.

If Iris had been merely a high-ranking figure invited to reign as an ordinary authority, she might have considered abandoning her to the humans and fleeing.

But Iris 036 was destined to be the vessel for the Great Mother.

For the dark elves, a fanatical group, the “Great Mother” was a value that took precedence over everything else, and Serka 484 was no exception.

‘I must save her… Somehow getting Iris 036 to safety and delivering her to other kin is the only way for me to survive.’

She had been forced to commit a grave discourtesy to save the bearer of divine rank 036 from the humans’ attack.

If, as a result, she managed to save Iris 036, perhaps her merit would outweigh her offense.

With this thought, Serka 484 began supporting Iris and walking toward the exit of the base.

Her heart was still screaming in pain from the consecutive use of Blink, but getting as far away as possible before the pursuers discovered this place was the top priority.

“Please, I beg you… you don’t have to walk on your own, but at least make an effort to stand and hold yourself up.”

Supporting and moving a limp adult woman is no easy task even for a strong man.

Blink couldn’t teleport with another person, and since Serka 484’s height and build were much smaller than Iris 036’s, carrying her on her back or shoulders wasn’t feasible either.

The only consolation was that Betel 294’s self-destruction would have caused massive damage to the pursuers’ carriage, so they would still need time to assess the damage and investigate the surroundings.

And the fact that finding a hidden base more than 300 meters away from the battlefield would not be easy.

‘They’ve lost their horse anyway, and they can’t survive long in the black mana. If they don’t want to die, they should be packing up and retreating toward the human city right now.’

Of course, they might make some effort to find the dark elves’ base to achieve their objective.

But what would they do once they discovered the base was empty?

In a desperate situation where black mana was tightening around their lifelines, would they continue a search with no clues or guarantees?

“They wouldn’t. Once they find an empty base, they’ll have no choice but to abandon the search.”

Having reached this conclusion, Serka 484 dragged Iris 036 out of the base.

If she could just evade their eyes for one day, this nightmarish time would end.

Or so she thought—

“Well, hello there. Good job.”

The moment she saw the silver muzzle of a gun right outside the entrance of the base, Serka 484 lost all hope and collapsed.

“BANG—!!”

The merciless white mana bullet fired from the muzzle gave Serka 484 no chance whatsoever.

Not for surrender, escape, or negotiation.