novelraw Chapter 37 : Mage Hunting (3)
Chapter 37 : Mage Hunting (3)
Chapter 37: Mage Hunting (3)
The search yielded no significant results for several days.
North of Remtana stretched an open plain.
There were hardly any trees to block one’s view and you could see a colorful painting from the wildflowers that took root in the open plains. It was a great spot for a late spring picnic, but a terrible place for a shady mage to hide.
Kadim decided this direction was a dead end and turned east instead.
The outskirts were dotted with small farms, and beyond that lay terrain similar to the north. But even then, he still got nothing.
Eventually, Kadim tracked down the Consul and asked if there were any other leads worth following.
Enrico grimaced and rubbed his temples.
"That's the thing... There was a scribe who worked under Ymir that I wanted to question, but she hasn't shown up at my office for several days now. She left a letter saying she had to step away for personal business, but something about it doesn't sit right with me. I'm investigating whether Ymir might actually be involved in all this."
Kadim's brow furrowed. That didn't sound promising at all.
He changed his approach. He asked if there were any terrain features suitable for hiding, even if they were a bit distant.
Enrico pondered for a long time while looking at the map before pointing somewhere.
“Other than the Twin Gorges to the southwest, the only place that stands out is this rocky mountain to the west. It’s about a four-hour walk. But there aren’t any caves or anything there... I really doubt Ymir would be hiding out in a place like that...”
Kadim examined the spot where Enrico's finger rested. Then his lips slowly curled into a smile.
"No, I think that's the right place."
He set out for the western part of Remtana immediately.
His sprint was as swift as the wind itself. The four-hour journey took him less than half that time. When Kadim arrived at his destination, he clicked his tongue.
The moment he got close, he felt an eerie sensation crawling up his spine like insects. A damp, heavy presence rising from underground, a jumbled mix of something foul, similar to what he'd sensed from the troll. No doubt about it, he'd found the right place.
Kadim lifted his head and gazed up at the rocky mountain.
The landscape was familiar.
Just like the Twin Gorges, this rocky mountain was a place he'd visited both in the game and during his first playthrough.
There used to be a side quest where you had to get back a necklace stolen from a noble. He’d chased the bandits who raided the noble all the way here to their base and this place was that exact place.
From the outside, it just looked like a low, empty rocky hill. But hidden underneath was a massive underground fortress built by some ancient, fallen kingdom to hold out during a war.
‘So someone's still using this place, huh.’
The entrance to the fortress was completely indistinguishable from ordinary rock. It was enchanted with special magic so that the rock would crumble and the entrance would open only when a password was spoken. The place was old, but it was perfect for shady types trying to lay low.
Kadim already knew the password. But he didn't enter the fortress right away. He wasn't fully prepared to face the mage yet.
Instead, he hid in the crevices between rocks near the entrance and observed for a while.
After waiting for a while...
Rumble—
Suddenly, rocks that had looked perfectly solid began to crumble away. And through the gap, small monsters came pouring out.
—Screech, screech!
—Screeech!
—Screech, screech, screech!
They are Monoeyes. Monsters he'd encountered before.
So the mage was definitely here. Four Monoeyes took flight into the sky, and the crumbled rocks floated back up, putting the entrance back together like magic.
But one of them sensed something off.
—Screech?
Instead of flying up like the others, it lowered its altitude and examined the rock crevices. It swept the area, and before long, it came right up to the barbarian's face.
Kadim snatched it out of the air in a flash. Then crushed it in his grip.
—Squeeeak!
It let out a high-pitched scream as bits of flesh oozed out between his thick fingers. Kadim wiped the remains off on a rock and prepared to head back.
Tonight, he’d raid this place as soon as his preparation is complete.
***
When he got back to Gullak's shop, Kadim heard something completely absurd.
"...I failed."
"What?"
"The weapon modification you asked for, I failed."
That vicious face twisted with fury.
Is this crazy old coot serious right now?
He bragged so loudly about being on the same level as ancient Dwarves, and now he says this? Moreover, he got the guts to tell him that after using him as a garbage disposal for that undrinkable dog-piss ale?
A strong urge to kill started bubbling up deep inside his chest.
Fortunately, there was no need to act on it.
"...I failed with two of them. I tried to melt the bottom of the shards to make the handle piece, but the blessing disappeared. So I only managed to make these four by sharpening the tips. I feel like an idiot after bragging so much.”
Gulak carefully lifted four daggers from the rack and set them down.
The handles matched the metal sheaths, which glowed with a reddish shine. Even with the blades still sheathed, a subtle heat rose from them. The sheaths were the only things keeping it from being unbearable.
Kadim carefully gripped one of the handles. The carved grooves fit perfectly against his large palm. He grabbed the loop attached to the sheath and drew the blade without hesitation.
Whoooosh—!
A red blade flared to life with intense power. The shard used to be blunt and broken, but now the tip is sharpened for stabbing. The hellfire reeking of sulfur screamed to incinerate flesh right this instant.
It was a dagger made by melting down the Paladin's armor for the handle and sheath, with fragments of a broken Divine Armament as the blades.
This was the only way to use the Divine Armament without getting burned by its nasty rejection.
Honestly, Kadim had doubted these weapons could even be made at all. Under the circumstances, this was a highly satisfactory result.
He grinned and encouraged the dejected blacksmith.
"These are excellent weapons. Thanks, old man. If I hadn't left this to you, I probably wouldn't have gotten a single one, let alone four."
Only then did Gulak show a relieved smile, revealing his broken front teeth. His front teeth might have been broken, but his pride as a blacksmith remained intact, and today, he'd added another layer of self-respect to it.
After collecting his refurbished Mosquito as well, Kadim pulled out a generous amount of gold to pay him. Then he immediately returned from the smithy to the inn.
It was time to get the rest of his gear ready.
He layered tough leather pauldrons he'd gotten from the central market over his cloth clothes. Waxed his leather boots and tied the laces tight. Cinched his iron-reinforced belt securely and attached all his weapons in order to the straps and loops. Then he portioned the demons' blood into small bottles and tucked them into his pockets.
The blood from the Original-type demon that had given him the agility enhancement buff had already clotted and rotted. He'd need to use it all up in this upcoming fight.
The blood from the Possession-type demon wasn't in terrible condition. Since the mage seemed skilled in mental magic, he packed two vials of that specifically.
There was only a mere mouthful of Hydra's blood left, so he decided not to use it unless it was an absolute emergency. Drinking three different types of blood in one night would trigger a serious degree of madness.
With his preparation complete, Kadim rolled his shoulders and leapt out the window. And then he sprinted toward the west once more like a gale.
The orange sunset blurred past him as he ran. The blue twilight creeping up from behind told him that the sun was done for the day. There was no moon tonight, so without any moonlight, the evening felt colder and darker than usual.
Racing through the encroaching dusk, Kadim arrived at the base of the rocky mountain and realized something.
He hadn't been the only one making full preparations during the day.
—Keek, keeek!
—Shhhh, shhhh...
—Grrrrr...
—Kuwooooo!!
Goblins’ gleaming eyes, Orcs’ heavy breathing, Gnolls holding thick bones like cubs,Harpies flapping around, and even roaring Trolls...
Monsters of all kinds that would never normally cooperate were gathered in groups to block the entrance to the mountain as if they'd known Kadim would come.
"Ha."
Kadim laughed in disbelief.
He'd known the mage could control monsters, but he hadn't expected this many. He'd heard that monsters in the area had been wiped out, so the bastard must have set up some monster farm inside the fortress.
You'd need a whole city's army just to stand a chance against a crowd this size. And that probably wasn't even all of them. The mage would have left monsters inside the fortress too.
Any sane person would retreat when faced with this kind of horde alone but Kadim didn't think that way.
No matter how many enemies there were, his job didn't change. It just meant he had a few more heads to chop off.
The barbarian twisted his features into a savage snarl. He pulled a bottle from his pocket and chewed down the rotting demon blood with wet crunching sounds.
A terrible blood-scent rose, clogging his sinuses.
—Keeeeee!
Once the bloodlust that heightened his muscles and nerves had fully spread through his body—
BOOM!
Kadim kicked off the ground and charged.
"HRAAAAAAAH!"
Suddenly, the barbarian vanished from the monsters' sight.
—Gurk?
Then reappeared before them as death incarnate.
SLASH!
—Hhrk...
The goblins at the front line saw the afterimage and tried to let out a warning cry, but the only sound they could produce was the sound of blood spurting from its face. It didn’t even realize that its head had been split in half.
—Shhh...
The Orc next to him was next. The attack came faster than the creature could move its eyes. A blade thrust into its side, then burst through its ribcage. The Orc's body lifted halfway from the brutal force and went flying. The spurting blood was sucked into Mosquito's blade.
SLASH!
—Kiii...
—Kieee...
Kadim then stabbed a goblin through the neck and slashed its belly open. Cut off another goblin's hands and kicked it down. Smoothly pivoted to dodge a bone club swinging at his waist, then drove his blade deep into the snout of the gnoll that had swung it.
—Grrrl...!
The night was dark, and their opponent was too fast; the monsters couldn't even see the blade before it was too late. They could only register it through pain, the chilling sensation of being cut and pierced, and terrible burning heat.
Meanwhile, Kadim could see everything with perfect clarity. His enhanced physical agility and amplified senses fed him detailed information about everything. The retreating footsteps of goblins, the hesitating hands of orcs, the contorting snouts of gnolls, the smell of raw flesh, and the chaos of blood everywhere.
SLASH!
—Kwek!
He hurled a throwing axe and burst a troll's head open. The massive creature dropped its iron club and collapsed with a grand crash.
A large orc approached sluggishly from behind, aiming for the back of his head. Kadim immediately spun and deflected the orc's blade, which seemed to move in slow motion. Then he swept Mosquito in a wide arc.
SHHHRRRRK—!
Not just the attacking orc, but all the nearby monsters surrounding him were caught in the blade's sweep at once.
Skin tore, muscles split, organs ripped, bones shattered. The monsters became a bloody pulp of meat rolling across the ground. It looked less like they'd been struck by a blade and more like they'd been torn apart by a storm of blades.
Seeing the carnage made him worry he'd been too rough with the weapon.
Kadim glanced at the blade.
Maybe it's because an excellent blacksmith had worked on it, even after a series of brutal use, Mosquito showed no signs of damage.
The clustered monsters were decimated in one fell swoop, creating a small clearing around Kadim. Not a single monster on the ground dared step into that blood-pool clearing that promised certain death.
Now it was the sky-dwelling monsters' turn.
—Kirrk, kirrrrk!
—Kirrrrk, kirrrrk!
The harpies dove down with their claws out like hawks. Usually, any ground-dwelling creature would be sitting ducks against an attack like that.
But Kadim was an exception. Before the harpy could reach the ground, he leapt up and grabbed its ankle. Then he slammed its head into the ground with all his weight and momentum.
CRUNCH!
—Gak...!
The skull shattered and pale pink brain matter burst out like confetti. The remaining harpies fled back into the air in terror, flapping frantically. The shrieking monster birds flailed about in the air. Kadim decided to quickly finish off the rest of them too.
SHING, WHOOOOSH—!
He drew the short, heat-radiating blade from its sheath. When he hurled it, a single line of crimson flame streaked toward the sky, with three more lines followed in rapid succession.
Every throw hit a Harpy right in the shoulder of its wing. The fire from the impact burned the wings, then grew bigger and bigger until it swallowed their whole bodies in flames.
—KEEEEEEK!
—KEEEEEK, KEEEEEK!
The firepower of the hellfire-infused daggers was really outstanding.
The flame-engulfed harpies fell one after another.
Kadim approached the charred corpses to retrieve his daggers. Then he threw them skyward again, hitting another harpy's wings.
Kadim's terrifying throwing power made the daggers more threatening than fire arrows.
—KEEEEK, KEEEEK!!
—KEEEEEEEEK!!
The evening sky turned blood-red as if the sunset had returned.
Burning Harpies fell like kites hit by lightning, creating a show of fire and screams.
Too bad the show didn't last long. In less time than it takes to down a drink, the Harpies were burnt to a crisp.
—Kirrr, kirrr...
—Kirr, kek...
The charred bird-monster corpses sank into the pools of blood. Guts spilled out of an Orc cut in half, and a handless Goblin struggled to stop the bleeding. Next to a Gnoll puking blood from its cut snout, a headless Troll's body twitched on the ground.
The surviving monsters could see it now.
—Kiii, kiiiii...
—Kuu, kuuuk...
"..."
Standing in the midst of that mountain of corpses and sea of blood, the berserker wielded his blood-drinking sword and burning daggers with his eyes glowing red in the stillness.