Chapter 59
One might think it was unexpected, but in the original novel, black magic was described as not that bad.
The reason for this was that just as guns and swords were simply weapons, tools without concepts of good and evil, black magic merely means dark-aligned magic, so it wasn’t correct to say it was bad...
However, the reason black magic has a negative image is.
It was probably because black mages were doing things that humans shouldn't do for the growth of black magic.
I narrowed my eyes as I saw the numerous corpses visible behind the terrified black mages.
One of the things black mages did was “mass slaughter”.
In other words, it meant that black mages had killed so much that the concept of death had become dull to them.
It was truly laughable that these guys who thought so easily about the deaths of others were trembling in fear in the face of their own death.
Thinking that such behavior was infinitely disgusting and laughable, I lit Daisy's flames to purify this place.
***
Boom!
With a huge explosion, flames spread in all directions.
I stomped on the black mages who had turned to ashes and said to Siren, "Put these guys into the artificial sun."
"Okay."
Fortunately, it seemed they could be used as energy sources even if they were charred so black one couldn’t tell if they were a lump of charcoal or human.
As I was trying to clear this place more quickly as Liana had said, I saw a knight in black armor approaching from afar.
A knight?
Thinking that black mages wouldn't use swords, I was guessing it might be someone brought from outside when
The black knight glared at me, then gripped his sword tightly and started rushing towards me roughly.
...Something's strange.
There was nothing wrong with rushing to attack, but how should I put it, it felt like he was rushing in knowing he would die.
There was no sense of resolve at all, it felt like he was moving like a machine programmed to act this way.
Could they have done something?
It seemed highly likely.
Just in case, I was about to tell my companions behind me to step back and attack the enemy when suddenly, a hypothesis quickly flashed through my mind.
“A bomb.”
The hypothesis that he might be wearing thick plate armor and holding a sword to induce close combat bloomed in my mind.
I smiled slightly and stretched out my hand, overlaying mana on the opponent's shadow.
The moment I succeeded in overlaying mana on the shadow, I used that shadow to grab the black knight's ankle and tripped him.
Thud!
A dull impact sound echoed around as the heavy armor falls to the ground.
I looked down at the black knight, satisfied with the results of a week's training.
It's certainly strange.
Whether it was because of a mana detection interference spell or not, it was quite difficult to look inside the black knight.
Convinced it was a bomb, I was pondering what to do with it when suddenly an interesting thought occurred to me and I said to Siren, "Siren, can you cast a protection spell?"
"Yeah."
After lightly patting Siren's head as she nodded, I stretched out my hand and started controlling the shadow.
Although I've only practiced for a week and I'm not skilled yet…
It was enough to use in actual combat, albeit clumsily.
With that thought, I started slowly wrapping the black knight using the shadow.
Like wrapping an item tightly with black tape, I tied it tightly, then lifted it up.
Not bad.
If I used shadows like this, I could grab items without having to touch them myself.
With that thought, I lifted it and went inside, where I saw countless Chimeras waiting for me, drooling.
"Full of energy."
To be honest, rather than the strength of the enemies, the number of black mages and Chimeras in the laboratory was a bigger problem.
I had been worrying about what to do if there were few enemies, fortunately, there were more than I thought, so I was about to use Daisy's fire with a sigh of relief when
Wait... should I try using this?
I looked at the bomb... no, the black knight in my hand with shining eyes.
If it worked as I thought, I could create something more interesting than I imagined.
As I was smiling slightly, Liana looked at me and added a quick word, "I don't know what it is, but you're thinking of something crazy again, aren't you?"
Since it wasn't wrong, I deliberately ignored Liana and started injecting Daisy's fire into the black knight I had brought with the shadow.
Even though I was injecting the flames from a distance because there was an extremely high possibility of it exploding, unexpectedly, far from exploding, the flames kept going in endlessly, creating a true bomb inside.
I don't know if it's because the shadow is solid or if it's not exploding because it's trapped in the shadow.
Whatever the case, if this succeeded, it meant I could use methods like landmines or time bombs from now on.
Somehow I feel like I'm becoming closer to a terrorist than a knight...
Thinking it was unavoidable to deal with black mages, I tried to shake off the truth.
"Anyway, it looks like it's going to explode big, so hide behind."
With those words, I threw the black knight wrapped in shadow far away and released the shadow.
At that moment, a huge shockwave burst out.
Boom!
An intense explosion sound that could deafen ears erupted, starting to shake everything around.
As I was admiring it, thinking I didn't know it would have this much power, Liana behind me asked me one question.
"I'm asking just in case... how far and how long can you maintain the shadow?"
"Infinitely, if there's enough mana?"
"...Ah."
Liana looked at me with an astonished expression.
It seemed Liana also glimpsed the potential of this power.
I looked at the burning surroundings and asked Siren if she could absorb these.
"Yeah."
She said it was possible in a nonchalant voice and lifted the artificial sun to absorb all of these.
Watching this, I raised the corner of my mouth, thinking I could clear out the black mages' strongholds faster than expected.
***
In a dark underground where not a speck of light shines, relying on blue magic stones that emit light, a man wearing a robe to hide his identity ground his teeth and said to those around him, "...So you're saying that crazy bastard smashed 34 strongholds in just two days?"
At those words, those around seemed terrified, shrinking their bodies greatly and starting to look at each other.
What was important now was not the truth of the matter, but a way to appease the anger.
So they tried to find a way to solve this by exchanging glances, but….
"On top of that, you failed to catch Elisia and that bitch Lilia?"
Because most of the plans had failed, there was no way to quell his anger.
So as everyone was trembling in fear, sensing their heads might fly off, a man with a kind smile walked forward and said to him,
"But one plan succeeded, so it's okay."
"What?"
"We created an opportunity for the church to directly intervene in the Carsaril family."
At the word opportunity, he calmed his anger and said, "Right, there was that. So is that going well?"
"Yes. Thanks to the terror attack we caused, it's judged that the church side can have a direct and indirect influence on the Carsaril family under the pretext of investigating black mages."
If it was the church's independent action, it would have been difficult to have a direct or indirect influence on the Carsaril family.
But after creating the opportunity of a terror attack, because the “imperial” side supported this action, it made possible what would have been impossible originally.
"Alright. Then, what's that bastard... Damian? Tell them to keep a close eye on that bastard. 34 laboratories... ha... things have become quite complicated."
He pressed his head, seemingly very troubled that they had moved a step away from what the black mages desire.
The man with the kind smile made a suggestion to him,
"Due to the destruction of the laboratories, all the manpower and test subjects we've gathered so far have disappeared. It seems we urgently need to procure humans."
"...That's right."
"So I have one suggestion. How about officially starting a 'war' now?"
The current method of procuring humans was kidnapping refugees created by war.
However, this structure was basically kidnapping only refugees gathering in cities and bringing them to laboratories, so the efficiency was quite low.
Therefore, if we cause a bigger war and make everything look like the work of “demon races”, not only could we kidnap, but we could use entire villages or cities as huge laboratories, so it was not a bad choice.
"Isn't it a bit premature? There should still be things in progress."
"Normally that would be the case, but because Damian destroyed too many laboratories, it's caused a big setback."
"...Hmm."
He pondered somewhat arrogantly with his chin on his hand, then waved his hand and said, "I'll think about it for now."
"Understood."
Judging by how he calmed his anger and listened to the end, it would be fair to say his mind was already leaning one way.
So the man with the kind smile added one more thing to him, "So I'm saying this, but isn't it time to start restraining Damian? Even if we can't kill him because of the Sword Master, it seems necessary to cut off his arms and legs."
"That's right... Okay, then I'll tell the church about that. For now, gather related information."
"Yes."
No matter how much he traveled with a Sword Master as an escort, he was still just a youngster who hadn't even reached mid-grade Sword Expert.
So he nodded, deciding to cut off the sprout before it grew too big.
***
"Liana, I'm just making 30 more bombs?"
"Ah, stop! Please stop making them!"
"No, it's fun every time I roll them inside, how can I not make these?"
"That's true, but...!"
I smiled proudly looking at the numerous bombs I had made with shadows.