Hahoe Mask (2)
Heinz II was traveling smoothly with the siblings.
He concealed his aura and rarely stepped forward, and with his overflowing money, he hired mercenaries to serve as guides and guards.
“Guhhh... m-monster...”
Of course, among them were those who turned into bandits along the way.
In a world like this, it couldn’t be helped.
“Tsk, all they did was ruin my appetite.”
I pulled my mouth away from the last mercenary’s neck and tossed the withered corpse to one side.
Corpses in the same state were already piled up there.
I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth, straightened my clothes, then turned and walked out of the thicket.
“Ah! Mister! Are you done?”
“Yes, let’s set off now.”
I loaded the siblings, who had been waiting beside the carriage, inside, then sat on the driver’s seat and drove the horses.
After learning from Walter, the coachman I had first hired, I had now become able to handle the horses to some extent on my own.
It was the result of practicing little by little whenever I had time.
‘The mercenaries I hired this time were a dud. I suppose it can’t be helped when public order is a mess.’
Even mercenaries who looked perfectly fine might turn into bandits the moment they left the city.
Rather, the fact that nothing had happened until now was probably good luck.
‘Still, thanks to them, I was able to drink blood for the first time in a while. I can hold out longer, but my strength gets restricted, so it’s better to drink whenever I get the chance.’
Especially bastards like these, who habitually murdered their clients and stole their possessions, deserved no consideration.
‘For now, we’re continuing east, but... I can’t keep doing this forever. I should start thinking about what to do.’
Perhaps because we were still on the remote western edge of the continent, we had been able to travel without being discovered, but there was no telling what might happen from here on.
As I drove the horses in thought, I glanced back.
Into the thicket where I had been just moments ago.
For an instant, a black shadow rippled.
***
[Hmm, corpses that have had their blood drained are greatly inferior in quality.]
It was probably because even the energy that would have mutated them into undead had been stolen.
Hans looked at the four skeletons standing before him, then stored them in subspace and turned away.
They were low-grade, but better than nothing.
[Coming to this world has bought me time. I should find somewhere quiet and explore the mysteries of magic.]
There was no need to eat and no need to sleep.
Since he required no metabolism of any kind, he could devote all his time purely to researching magic.
I lifted my body into the air and headed deep into the forest.
In truth, if I were looking for a place without people, the Monster Forest where I had first encountered the black mages might be better.
But that place was...
‘I feel like I’d clash with vampires or black mages there. Rather than that, going into seclusion in some nameless mountain far away seems like it would let me research more quietly.’
I chose a cave deep within the mountains and settled there.
I first tried politely asking the residents who had moved in before me for their understanding, but they hunkered down as if daring me to do my worst, so I had no choice but to turn them all into undead.
Then I had the goblins, reborn as undead, clean the inside of the cave, including the urine they had leaked while crouching there.
I had no sense of smell, but it still felt better for it to be clean.
[I should set up barriers. I’m always wrapped in a concealment field, but it would be better to make things more certain.]
Beginning with a concealment barrier to hide my dark mana, I mobilized all the newly acquired knowledge I had to hide the refuge.
I would not be staying long, but the vampires who had been badly burned by Hans would surely be grinding their teeth.
If they were at the level of true bloods, there was a chance they might pursue me through means I did not know.
[...Done. This should be enough.]
I carefully surrounded the place with barriers for detecting outsiders, concealing dark mana, illusions, cognitive interference, perception distortion, loss of direction, and more.
At any ordinary level, no one would even be able to come near.
I sat down in the middle of the cave and focused.
‘First, shall I begin by analyzing magic?’
And so, my full-fledged research began.
***
Ajantu.
It was a city that had belonged to the sphere of influence of the vampire clan Brokoslak until just recently, but now the Main God Church had taken it.
However, the Church could not directly occupy the territory of another kingdom.
They requested aid from the Kingdom of Thalia, stationed troops there, and proceeded with their investigation with the kingdom’s cooperation.
In the process, the city’s leaders, who had been bewitched by vampires, were arrested one after another.
Of course, the organizations in the back alleys were no exception.
Clank, clank.
A holy knight clad in pure white armor passed through the corridor and headed to the basement.
It was a place where traces of battle remained everywhere.
“Archbishop Latius.”
The holy knight who arrived in the basement quietly called to the middle-aged man standing still inside.
“You have come, Sir Tuskin. How are matters proceeding?”
“Yes. The search for the remaining vampires has now entered its final stage. The kingdom’s soldiers have been of great help.”
A collision with a vampire clan that no one had expected.
They had succeeded in killing most of the vampires through encirclement, but their side had also suffered considerable damage, and some, including the true blood, had escaped.
Afterward, while investigating the traces, they learned that the vampires had not been on the same side as the Immortal King’s successor, but vampires were also clearly evil, so that changed nothing.
The only problem was their objective.
“Our goal is to stop the Immortal King’s resurrection. Though we could not pretend not to see evil when it was right before our eyes and thus stepped forward, it is time to move again. At this very moment, that fiend is surely gathering strength.”
They were, from the beginning, a unit organized to stop the Immortal King.
While following his trail and investigating the city of Ajantu, they discovered traces of vampires and were conducting a search with the kingdom’s army, but they could not devote time here forever.
“Of course. However, at present, we cannot determine where that fiend has disappeared to. We have no choice but to wait until the Saint contacts us again.”
All traces had suddenly been cut off.
They had no choice but to stand by here.
Of course, that did not mean they had only been crushing the remnants of the vampires.
“Still, fortunately, we have had our own gains during that time. The fiend’s trail, which began from a small village in the western Monster Forest. And what he did in this city as well.”
Latius had devoted himself to reading the memories left in the land through the Main God’s holy arts at places where the fiend’s traces were thick.
Time had passed, and the influence of mana had also affected them, so the memories were fragmented and faint, making it impossible to grasp everything perfectly.
But he had been able to confirm some parts clearly.
‘My name is Hans.’
‘Remember it. I am Hans of the Oath of Reversing Heaven!’
A being wearing a bizarre mask and exuding an ominous aura from his entire body.
A sinister voice as if echoing from hell.
The majesty of one who commanded undead and scattered black magic.
The Immortal King’s successor, Hans.
‘It will not go as you wish. Hans! Even if I must burn up this body, I will stop you without fail!’
Archbishop Latius clenched his fist and steeled his resolve.
Wooooong—
At that moment, the holy emblem hanging around his neck vibrated.
“This is... Sir Tuskin, excuse me for a moment.”
“Do not worry, Archbishop.”
As Tuskin gripped the hilt of his sword and began to keep watch over the surroundings, Latius immediately knelt on the spot, clasped the holy emblem in both hands, closed his eyes, and offered a prayer.
[Archbishop Latius. Can you hear me?]
[Yes, Saint.]
The voice of the Saint, who should be at headquarters, resounded in his mind.
It was an ultra-long-distance communication holy art using the holy emblem as a medium.
[The Immortal King’s aura has been detected again. It is faint, but... I think I can determine the direction.]
[That is truly fortunate! I have also had some gains while investigating this place.]
The Saint and the archbishop exchanged information through the communication.
[...I see. Hans. He is growing faster than expected. We formed a subjugation force as soon as his appearance was confirmed, and yet he has already gone that far...]
[I believe we must not delay any longer. I will begin tracking him again immediately.]
[Then I will leave it to you, Archbishop. He may disappear again, so I will also keep a close eye on him.]
Wooong—
With their mutual farewells, the communication ended.
He rose from his place and looked at Tuskin, who had been guarding him beside him.
“Sir Tuskin, prepare for departure. The Saint has located the fiend.”
“...! That is truly fortunate! As expected of the Saint.”
“We have yet to determine his exact location due to whatever trick he pulled, but we now know at least the general area. If we investigate the surroundings, that should suffice. The rest depends on us.”
“I will have them prepare at once.”
The holy knight, Paladin Tuskin, hurriedly left to organize the unit.
Latius looked around for a moment.
The place where the fiend’s traces remained.
Clench—
‘This time, without fail!’
He clenched his fist once more and made his vow.
***
A week had passed since Hans shut himself away.
Perhaps because he was not creating a magic that did not exist at all, but rather going through a process closer to disassembling and reassembling, he was beginning to see results of a sort.
He devoted himself to research, occasionally catching wild animals and testing directly on them.
On the tenth day.
He was overjoyed, thinking he had finally completed it, but as a result of experimenting on animals, its stealth was far too poor.
Not only did dark mana leak out, but their eyes turned bright red, making it obvious to anyone that something was wrong, so he began improvements.
On the second week.
Perhaps because he had reduced the amount of mana required for activation during the improvement process, its stability had fallen too much.
But when he tried to secure stability, its infectiousness vanished, so he had to rack his brains for a while.
On the third week.
[Graaaind— grind! Craaack!]
I was diligently grinding my teeth.
Black aura billowed up from my entire body.
I spewed out energy to a degree that would have been dangerous if I had not set up barriers in advance, then forced myself to calm down and barely suppressed it.
‘Now I understand why programmers grind their teeth at debugging.’
Fix this side and a problem appears on that side, over and over; then something I did not even touch gets resolved, making me happy, only for all the issues to burst out at once during the finishing work.
It was truly a time of endurance.
During that time, Heinz had passed through several villages and cities and reached the central region of the kingdom, but whenever I poured mental strength into Hans, Heinz often ended up blankly spacing out.
Each time, the siblings grew too worried, so I had no choice but to adjust Heinz’s share appropriately.
‘In any case, this is truly the end now...! Really, the last time!’
I stepped out of the cave to test the formula of the so-called “Contagious Familiar Magic Final Version_Revision_Second_FINAL(3)_ReallyLast.”
It was to catch an animal and use it directly.
After casting charm magic on several birds flying by and luring them over, I cast the magic to be tested on them and released them.
‘There’s nothing strange so far, and it’s fine. Now I just have to wait and see the results...’
As I waited, I could feel links connecting one by one due to the infectious effect.
I could appropriately control the number of connected entities from my end.
Even if multiple ones were gathered in the same place, it would be useless and would only waste mana for no reason.
It was while I was conducting the experiment, maintaining the magic at suitable intervals.
I felt something out of place.
‘What is it? I don’t sense anything unusual in the detection magic.’
The movements of the animals caught in the familiar magic were strange.
Aside from when they sent information to me, they should move as they normally did, but their current movements were as if...
‘They’re scared? All the animals I sent in every direction? Of what?’
For the experiment, as I cast magic on the animals, I had set the trigger for sending information to “when they encounter a monster.”
And yet the fact that no information was coming, but the animals were frightened, meant...
‘No way?’
I hurriedly changed the trigger.
To “when they encounter a human.”
Zzzzzzing—
Information was transmitted from all directions simultaneously.
‘How? Nothing was detected by the detection magic!’
The information conveyed by the animals.
A group whose appearances could not be seen was surrounding the area and slowly closing in.
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