Chapter 201
"Wow! Oooooh!"
Watching the birds take flight in perfect unison at Wichasha's command, Dick kept exclaiming in admiration.
"That's insane! So this is the power of druids!"
Maelyn felt like crying.
It wasn’t fear from being kidnapped—no, it was the sheer frustration and sorrow of wondering why she had to be stuck with a guy like this.
Whether or not Maelyn looked at him with disdain, Dick kept chatting away with the Hupa tribesmen as if they were old friends.
It was hard to believe this was the behavior of someone tied to a chair and held hostage.
"Wow, I didn’t know different druids could control different animals!"
Dick’s sociability shone through no matter the time or place.
"Oh, but I heard the person you’re chasing, Belya, controls rats and insects, right? If that’s true, wouldn’t it be super easy to find us in this city?"
Maelyn turned around with a furious expression. Why the hell would you say that out loud!?
"Finding our location with her power is impossible."
Wichasha stated flatly.
"We’ve set up 200 totems all across the city. They are imbued with druidic secret arts that interfere with animal control. Unless she goes around and finds and destroys every hidden totem within the day, she won’t be able to pinpoint this place."
"Damn~ That’s some thorough prep, chief!"
"Not that it matters even if she does find us. We’ll just fight her then."
Wichasha clenched his fist.
"However, if we attack someone summoned by Keyzen, it could become a problem. We'll cleanly take her life only after she fully renounces her post."
"Aha! So that’s the deal!"
Dick nodded eagerly, laying on the flattery. Maelyn let out a deep sigh.
"Chieftain!"
At that moment, a Hupa tribesman rushed in and whispered into Wichasha’s ear. His expression hardened like ice, and he turned his head sharply, fixing a piercing gaze on Dick.
"You little bastard, trying something funny…"
Dick just smiled brightly.
"Move to the backup hideout immediately!"
"Yes, sir!"
One of the tribesmen easily hoisted Dick up, still tied to his chair, flipping him upside down. Dick let out a grunt and chuckled.
"Ah! The blood’s rushing to my head, chief!"
"We’re relocating because of you!"
Another tribesman approached Maelyn. She shrank back and glared at him.
"Hey, let me make this very clear! If you lay even a finger on me—"
But the man ignored her warning and grabbed her firmly by the shoulder, showing no interest in a struggle.
‘Ugh, that hurts!’
Just as he tried to lift her chair—
BOOOOOM!
A thunderous explosion shook the air, loud enough to split ears. The ceiling blew apart.
Debris rained down, followed by thick clouds of smoke and dust.
"W-what’s going on!?"
As the Hupa tribesmen murmured in confusion, someone dropped down from above.
Clatterrrrrrrrr!
Clatterrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Amid the swirling dust, silver tentacle-blades sliced through the air in all directions, sending Hupa tribesmen flying. The man who had been grabbing Maelyn was also flung away.
Her eyes widened as she shouted,
"Simon!"
Simon landed on the ground, his cold gaze sweeping over the Hupa tribesmen. Upon spotting Maelyn, he smiled.
"I’m so glad… Are you hurt anywhere?"
* * *
30 minutes earlier.
A tavern in the slums.
"Ugh, how annoying."
Belya scratched her head with a disgruntled look, as if something wasn’t going as planned.
"What’s wrong, Professor?"
Simon asked quickly.
"I can’t properly control my little ones. Seems like those Hupa bastards have scattered totems around."
She stood up, and a whiff of something chemical and dangerous seemed to fill the air.
"I’ll have to go check it out myself. Leave finding your friends to me. You go hole up somewhere like a guard station or something. Don’t go wandering around and getting caught."
With just that, she disappeared through the gaping hole in the tavern ceiling.
Simon, now alone, sighed.
‘Guess I should try looking again too.’
Just as he was about to leave the tavern—
Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeech!
A scream-like sound rang out in the distance.
‘That sound…!’
It was the sound of Dick’s new invention, the music box. It was a signal that Kamibarez had found something.
Simon dashed out of the tavern, running toward the direction of the sound.
‘Lantern! Lantern! Where is it?’
He found it quickly. Since the thousand lights hadn’t yet flared up, the lone floating lantern in the night was clearly visible.
Simon ran toward it at full speed.
"Kami! Where are you…!"
"Simon!"
He saw her raising a finger to her lips, signaling him to be quiet. Simon quickly approached her and asked in a low voice,
"You found them?"
"Yes, I think so."
With the same hand still on her lips, she pointed to the ground. There, dried crimson droplets clung to the floor.
"Blood?"
"Yes. It’s Dick’s blood scent."
As expected of a vampire, Kamibarez was hypersensitive to the scent of blood. It wasn’t difficult for her to identify people by their scent.
"I think Dick deliberately cut his finger or something while being dragged and let it drip on the floor. I followed the trail of blood and found some suspicious men."
"That’s so like Dick."
Simon smiled. There was no one who could beat him when it came to cunning.
"Lead me to where the trail goes."
"Yes!"
The two crept through the darkened streets.
"There."
Pressed close to a wall in the alley, Kamibarez pointed with her finger. Two robed men loitered near a dilapidated building.
They were tall, broad-shouldered, and heavily built. These weren’t just random thugs forced into guard duty, they were clearly high-level warriors.
If they couldn’t take them down in one strike, the guards would immediately flee and alert the others inside.
"Let’s curse them before we engage."
"That sounds good! But they’re a bit far. What if we miss?"
Simon raised his arm, checked his wristwatch, and grinned.
"I’ve got a trick up my sleeve."
The two men in robes stood guard at the hideout entrance.
Their job was simple: respond to anything suspicious and report it inside.
Aside from occasionally dragging away drunkards causing trouble on the street, it wasn’t particularly difficult.
"Looks like it’s starting again."
The man on the right said, speaking in the Hupa language.
A thousand lanterns began to rise, filling the night sky with countless glowing lights.
The man on the left replied,
"Why do they even do that?"
"No idea. Maybe because you can’t see stars well here."
"More than that, this neighborhood is so stifling. I just want to kill that woman already and get back to the grasslands."
As they chatted, two lanterns that should have been floating upward began wobbling weakly and descending instead.
"Hah."
The man scoffed.
The lanterns fell near them.
"Guess someone can’t even launch a lantern properly."
"There’s a hole. Must’ve snagged on something and ripped."
They kept chatting, picking their noses without much care.
Then, the magic circles hidden inside the lanterns suddenly flashed.
<Sickness> <Blood Pressure>
Simon’s and Kamibarez’s curses, in the form of smoke, extended and pierced through the two guards’ bodies.
"...!"
Both men staggered from intense dizziness. Simon seized the moment and dashed in like a gale, slamming his fist into the stomach of the man on the right.
"Urgh!"
As the man bent over, Simon leaped up, planted his foot on the man’s back, and drove his elbow down onto the back of the man’s head, knocking him out.
"Chief!!"
The other man shouted as his comrade fell in an instant. Just as he moved to respond to Simon, something latched onto him from behind, covering his nose and mouth.
Pff!
Something was injected into his nostrils from the attacker’s hand. A burning sensation filled his nose and mouth, followed by a gush of nosebleed and fading consciousness.
‘Intruder!’
The man fought to stay conscious and reached behind him, forcibly yanking off whatever had clung to him.
A small girl with pale violet hair let out a faint groan and collapsed onto the street.
"You little—!"
Just as he was about to stomp on her, CRACK!—his vision spun.
Simon’s fist crushed the man’s face with a fierce blow.
Before he could even rise from where he’d been thrown, Simon dashed in and kicked him under the chin.
The man collapsed, eyes rolled back.
"Kami! Are you okay?"
Simon rushed over in a panic. Kamibarez gave a firm nod and took his hand to stand.
"Yes, thank you, Simon."
Once she was up, Simon quickly stripped the robe from the man on the ground and yanked up his shirt.
"Wah!"
Kamibarez gasped and covered her eyes. His torso bore strange patterns painted in natural dyes.
"They're the Hupa tribe. No doubt about it."
"So Dick and Maelyn really are being held here."
"Yeah. It’s only a matter of time before they notice their guards are down. Let’s hide the bodies and prepare for infiltration."
"Okay!"
Clenching her fists, Kamibarez nodded. She grabbed the body of the man who had fallen further away and heaved...but it wouldn’t budge.
She sighed, activated her Internal Darkness Divergence to boost her strength, and dragged the man off to a corner.
Simon had already moved his target aside and was calculating the infiltration route.
‘Wait a sec…!’
He looked up at the building’s ceiling, and his eyes lit up. A magic circle was visible on the roof.
‘Maelyn’s black magic.’
Reading the formula, he recognized 'Frost' and 'Concentration'. If it was Darkness element, it had to be Maelyn.
Even while captured, she had subtly released Darkness energy to remotely draw a magic circle on the roof. A true Ivory Tower elite.
‘Then I’ll go from here…’
Simon pointed out the infiltration route to Kamibarez with his fingers. She nodded and began preparing black magic of her own.
Then Simon pulled two zombies out from subspace and positioned them on the roof. He stepped back, readying Corpse Explosion.
Just then, voices echoed from inside the building.
"You said there was a trail of blood in the hallway?"
"Yes, sir!"
Seems like Dick’s blood trick had been discovered.
The enemies were coming out. If they saw him or Kamibarez preparing black magic, they might be caught.
‘We go now.’
Simon signaled Kamibarez for entry, then clenched his fist toward the zombies.
‘Corpse Explosion!’
BOOOOOM!
The two zombies detonated in massive explosions. The ceiling of the steel-framed building collapsed, debris falling and dust clouding the interior.
Simon dove into the chaos.
Amid the smoke and dust, visibility was poor. The shouts of confused Hupa tribesmen echoed all around.
Landing safely, Simon stomped hard with his left foot.
‘Open Gate!’
Clatterrrrrrrrr!
Clatterrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
From within the thick dust, silver tentacle-blades lashed out in every direction, sending Hupa tribesmen flying.
‘Now! Where are Dick and Maelyn?’
Simon scanned the surroundings. Someone was lifting Dick, still tied to his chair, while another man reached for Maelyn, also bound.
Simon sent his Overlord toward Maelyn’s assailant, launching him away, then opened subspace and pulled out a skeleton.
‘Go.’
Clack! Clack! Clack!
Bones flew like magnets to Dick’s chair, lifting it and pinning it to the wall.
"Simon!!"
Maelyn’s voice rang out. Simon turned to her uninjured figure and smiled.
"I’m really glad. Are you hurt anywhere?"
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters