Ch.77Rescue Signals Are Dangerous (6)

Without turning her gaze back to me, Chaehwain finally began staring at Eric on the opposite side.

“Is that your trump card? It certainly looks powerful.”

“……”

Even facing Chaehwain, Eric still maintained his composure.

I ignored Eric and checked on JP who was being held captive behind him.

He didn’t seem like the type to do it, but who knows? He might take a hostage if things turned unfavorable.

“If you won’t come, I’ll make the first move.”

Rumble.

As Eric extended his hand, the ground shook and the air began to distort. Soon after, fierce winds began to whip around in all directions.

Whoosh!

CRASH!

It was an attack with overwhelming power like watching a small tornado. The raging winds shook even massive trees from their roots, and small rocks and dirt continuously struck my body.

Thud!

THUD!

CRASH!

Although I had already used a bone shield spell to protect myself, the attack was so widespread that it was difficult to maintain my balance.

In that situation, Chaehwain simply pushed forward through the wind in silence.

Seeing this, Eric let out a small exclamation of admiration.

“Not even a scratch? Impressive.”

Then he immediately shifted his gaze to me with a puzzled expression.

“This shouldn’t be the level of summon someone of your caliber could control.”

“…This is the real deal.”

What’s wrong with my level!

I frowned with rising irritation, but the increasingly powerful wind forced me to crouch down and curl up.

Rustle.

“It seems these attacks are meaningless. I’ll have to get serious.”

With a calm tone, Eric dismissed the wind and raised an enormous magical power, creating glowing symbols of a form I’d never seen before above his hand.

“I rose to the position of court mage in just 5 years there. And the magic I researched was…”

Whoosh!

“Borrowing the power of the sun.”

Ziiing!

BOOM!

Seeing the dangerous expansion of magical power, I threw myself from my crouched position and rolled away.

Fragments of soil scattered, accompanied by a massive explosion.

What I could eventually see was ground glowing red-hot as if lava had flowed over it, and a linear crater.

‘…I’d die if I got hit by that.’

It was an absurd attack similar to a laser. Though I couldn’t tell for certain from just one look, it seemed he was using a method of drawing and utilizing sunlight through magical power.

“The sun is the natural enemy of the undead. You have no way to counter this.”

That was certainly true.

Though I didn’t show it in my expression, this was quite an unfavorable matchup.

For a returnee, he was wielding a rather unusual type of magic.

However, Chaehwain simply continued walking toward Eric, unfazed by the sight.

“…You’re making a mistake. If that’s how you want it, I’ll end this in one go.”

As Eric drew up his magical power, magical symbols large enough to envelop both his arms appeared in the air.

What he created resembled a small sun.

Of course, the energy contained within was pathetically insignificant compared to the actual sun, but it was more than enough to incinerate everyone present.

Seeing this, Chaehwain momentarily stopped and took a stance. Then she placed her hand on her scabbard, turned her head, and glared at me.

“…Power, not enough. Give more.”

“M-more, even now?”

She ignores me when I speak but does whatever she wants at times like this.

Honestly, I was already exhausted from the aftermath of firing the flame breath, but Chaehwain mercilessly began drawing spirit energy from me.

Whoosh.

“Urgh.”

No. I haven’t even given permission yet!

I felt it somewhat last time too, but this is definitely strange. If a proper soul contract had been established, it should be impossible to take power at will like this.

But it’s beyond my control now. Despite feeling an inexplicable shame, I quietly transferred power to Chaehwain.

Whoosh.

“A-are you still taking more?”

Whoooosh.

“…Huh. J-just a moment, stop…”

Fwoosh!

“Ughhhh…”

Only when I was completely dizzy and staggering did Chaehwain finally stop absorbing and grip her sword once more.

Then, without a moment’s hesitation, she swung it powerfully.

“Sword of, Creation.”

SLASH!

CRASH─!

A ringing filled my ears as if my eardrums would burst, and the residual energy of refined spirit and magic filled the surroundings.

What appeared in the aftermath, which resembled the passing of a typhoon, was the sun still burning and maintaining its form.

“That’s unfortunate. Certainly powerful, but such an obvious attack can easily be countered.”

With a contemptuous expression, Eric looked in our direction and extended his hand to deliver the final judgment.

“This is the end.”

Whoosh.

However, nothing happened.

The small sun merely emitted flames in all directions without moving at all.

Ignoring Eric, whose expression had turned puzzled, Chaehwain sheathed her sword and turned around.

Step.

Step.

“What is this…”

Eric’s body suddenly froze as he was speaking.

Chaehwain, who had been walking away, finally turned her head slightly and muttered quietly.

“…Your defense was obvious, easy to break through.”

Slash!

FWOOSH!

As Eric’s body split in two, the massive sphere of flames collapsed and engulfed the forest.

It was truly a strike from a higher dimension.

Eric’s last moment was falling with a bewildered expression, not understanding what had happened.

‘…I-I couldn’t see it either.’

Looking at Chaehwain returning to me, I felt an inexplicably eerie sensation.

To be honest, I expected her to be strong. Even in her undead state without fully regaining her power, she defeated Gordon without much difficulty.

But this strength is definitely abnormal.

Even if she had been powerful enough to be called the first S-rank hunter when alive, under current conditions, that power should have been greatly weakened.

‘She’s beyond the rules.’

I didn’t need to look far—just seeing the high-level undead following me and struggling was enough to understand.

Even Jack, considered the weakest among them, was originally strong enough to easily defeat three or four A-rank hunters.

It was clear that something beyond just the contract with me was at work in Chaehwain’s case.

Whoosh!

Thud.

CLANK!

“Is this the one who requested rescue?”

Once the battle ended, Trione, who had been hiding all along, appeared before me with the restrained JP.

I glared at him, finding it somewhat annoying, but honestly, he wouldn’t have been much help anyway, so I decided to let it go.

“Phew, thank you. I thought I was going to burn to death in the crossfire.”

JP, with a completely exhausted expression, pointed to his wrist and continued speaking.

“If possible, could you remove this too? I can’t use magic because of this damn piece of metal.”

“…Remove it.”

When I looked at Chaehwain and gave the order, she hesitated briefly before drawing her sword and slicing through the restraining artifact.

Slash!

Clang!

“Now I can breathe. Felt like I crossed the river to the afterlife at least three times.”

Honestly, when chatting online, he had the image of a playboy who chased after women, but in person, JP was surprisingly a handsome foreigner with good looks.

“Sorry for the late introduction. I’m Joseph. I work as an information broker across Europe. I have many questions, but…”

Joseph paused briefly and shifted his gaze toward the altar Eric had been guarding.

“I think we need to deal with this situation first.”

Since that was certainly true, we immediately headed toward the altar through the flames.

It was a structure of a design I’d never seen before, definitely not a method I was familiar with. As I examined it carefully, I noticed something strange and quickly checked the flow of magical power in the surroundings.

Rustle.

The traces of the magic circle that had covered the wide area were already disappearing, meaning that as Eric had said, the ritual had already entered an irreversible completion stage.

However, according to Bennett’s information that I had extracted earlier, a fragment of the being called “Master” should have been summoned through the altar by now.

Despite this, no magical flow could be detected from the altar.

Which means…

“…We’ve been deceived.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s not here.”

At that moment, a stream of crimson light began to rise from a location several kilometers to the north.

FWOOSH!

Rumble.

We hurried to that location, but all that remained was a completely destroyed altar.

It seemed we had been outmaneuvered.

“…They must have had more allies.”

“That’s impossible. I overheard their plans while I was captured, and there was no indication of that at all.”

Joseph grumbled in disbelief, but with the obvious result right before our eyes, it was impossible not to believe it.

‘A fragment…’

I was quite interested and wanted to research it, but this is unfortunate. Still, we’ve gathered a lot of information in various ways.

Without hesitation, I turned around and called to the group.

“Let’s go.”

There was no need to rush anyway. Hades would clean everything up soon enough. If there was anything I needed, I could get it then.

Just as we were about to leave, I sensed multiple presences coming from one side of the forest.

Feeling an odd sense of déjà vu, I exchanged glances with Trione, my face filled with exasperation.

Patter.

“Everyone freeze! Identify yourselves and state your affiliation!”

And so, we were surrounded by more than twenty hunters and had no choice but to be taken away.