Chapter 121 - Manpower with Labor (7)

After Baltren and Roman departed beyond the door.

Gephardt accepted that the situation wasn’t particularly good.

At this rate, I've only done others a favor.

If things had gone according to plan, he would have been the owner of this legacy.

The plan was for the two elves from Shadow to check Baltren while he and the traitor he planted in the Naturalis branch quickly subdued Blobel.

Then the four of them would eliminate Baltren together. But this plan evaporated completely with the appearance of Roman's group.

The current situation was flowing in the exact opposite direction of the plan.

Fortunately, by killing one Naturalis alchemist who didn't need to be kept alive, they maintained a 4v4 balance in numbers.

However, the problem was that ultimately, the two sides that entered beyond the important door excluded themselves.

If those two fight and mutually destroy each other, there might be a chance...

Though he highly valued the youngest who handled spatial magic that even the Abyss School hadn't fully implemented yet, in the end, he was still just a youngster.

Moreover, that mana.

It was a Devil Sorcerer's mana.

With Devil Magic, realizing spatial magic is possible. It came up as a highly likely method on our side too.

Gephardt, though belonging to the Abyss School, was an alchemist rather than a mage by origin.

He didn't know as well as mage-born individuals about mages' long-cherished wish to recreate the lost magic, space-time magic, but he at least knew why the approach through Devil Magic, which was considered so promising, was abandoned.

It was simple.

The price was too high, and there was no way to summon a devil with authority over space-time.

Honestly, there were plenty of mages willing to sell their souls if they could reliably summon a Devil.

But to borrow that level of authority, the Devil would naturally have to be a high-ranking Archdevil.

Such Devils demanded massive sacrifices just for summoning.

What if one managed to summon one with great effort, but its authority turned out not to be related to space-time?

It became wasted effort.

It was what was commonly called not being cost-effective.

At that point, it was better to just research Abyss artifacts or Abyss gates.

Anyway, spatial Devil Magic was surprising, but that was about it.

Having used it twice, he might suddenly die in the middle of fighting.

Baltren wasn't the type to just take it if someone used spatial magic, and Roman's skills apart from spatial magic were clearly not even Expert level no matter how one looked at it.

In the end, will Baltren take it?

Inevitably, he'd have to make another deal with Baltren.

Anything was difficult only the first time; after that, it got easier.

From the moment he colluded with Abyss Worshippers, Baltren was no longer a pure city Explorer.

First, I should deal with these guys.

The opponents were just an immature brat with good bloodline and a Dark Elf he barely remembered.

It would be better to prioritize the elf here.

Setting aside the bizarre combination of being an elf and a Devil Sorcerer.

The atmosphere she gave off wasn’t to be taken lightly from the start.

Additionally, among the intruders, she was the only Expert-rank along with the Red Spear.

That elf was most likely the greatest combat power of that team.

Full power from the start.

The stored alchemical formula activated, burning the prepared catalyst.

Though invisible to the eye, Mea's intuition caught the change.

"Shield."

Now there was no need to call names.

The price disappeared due to the existence of the substitute, and the rank paradoxically raised by branding twists even the pact with the Devil, elevating her.

An intense flash occurred before her eyes.

It was the result of the alchemical formula Gephardt chose, an explosion formula.

The unidirectional force emission of the explosion directed at Mea was swallowed and disappeared into the suddenly appearing shadow's maw.

"Huh?!"

Gephardt was momentarily flustered.

The recent explosion formula was the implementation of a pseudo-volcano using sulfur and topaz.

In terms of power alone, it would compete for the top among Gephardt's possible alchemical formulas.

"W-what was that just now?"

Blobel, who had been tensely trying to interfere with Gephardt's alchemical formula but missed the timing, felt the same.

Gephardt was clearly a level above Blobel as an alchemist.

Especially in theoretical aspects, he was among the best in all of Golden Intellect, so the completeness of his alchemical formula was flawless, leaving no room for interference.

Mea very simply blocked the highest efficiency alchemical formula that even Blobel admired.

Tap tap—!

The sound of something running.

Mea remained still.

The footsteps sounded as if several were overlapping.

"Graaah!"

"Grrr!"

Two wolves born between the blinding flash and the shadow that swallowed it ran.

Mea's familiars.

The wolves of the Word, Solargarmr and Managarmr, split left and right as if Mea spread her wings wide, aiming for Gephardt.

If I block both sides, she'll thrust from the front.

Then, all he needed to do was block all directions.

Gephardt raised his mana and activated the next alchemical formula.

And this time, Blobel wasn't late either.

"Where do you think you're going!"

At first, perhaps because she had been caught off guard once, she was overly tense.

But knowing how strong our side was, there was nothing to fear!

The interference formula Blobel deployed opened a gate in the iron fortress wall surrounding all directions.

The two wolves diving through there leaped to avoid the bear's paw extending from the gate.

"Egon...!"

Blobel grumbled, full of irritation at the traitor's activity.

But Mea calmly prepared the next magic.

Her emotions were still too dull to be swayed by such things.

"Plant doubt, Ventrix."

Mea had to have nightmares, offering dreams as payment to her first Devil, Eclipto.

And Mea's second Patron Devil took the memories she had left as payment.

The Devil that ate memories, Ventrix's authority was the same as the price.

It stole memories.

"What... was it?"

There were such times.

Moments when one was about to do something but suddenly couldn't remember.

That was exactly the situation Gephardt was experiencing.

He was about to use an alchemical formula but suddenly forgot how to do it.

This shouldn't be possible.

Gephardt's memory was beyond excellent, bordering on perfect recall ability.

Even in old age, he had never experienced common forgetfulness, so his bewilderment was immense.

That bitch dares...!

It was all too clear that Mea had played some trick on his memory.

Dragging this into a long battle was far too dangerous.

If she could tamper with memories, it might not just be these momentary lapses but could cause a real loss of knowledge.

If that happened, how much knowledge like secret techniques would be lost even if he managed to escape?

He must end this quickly.

"Very well. I'll play along."

Rumble—

The ground shook.

The structure of the Forgotten Temple was reconstructed into the shape of a giant snake.

Maximum output construction formula.

The alchemical formula activated by using the Forgotten Temple itself as the main material and degrading himself to a secondary material was Gephardt's life itself.

Gephardt's full power, abandoning escape and aiming for certain destruction of the enemy, was unleashed.

"Regret and die in agony!" Gephardt shouted.

While Blobel trembled at the overwhelming alchemical formula, Mea thought.

He talks too much.

I should finish this quickly and go see Roman.

§

Before Gephardt and Mea's fight reached its climax.

Leaf and Rei's battle with the elf pair also continued without either side gaining a clear advantage.

Not only were the elves skilled, but surprisingly, their coordination surpassed Leaf and Rei's.

Clearly, in terms of individual skill, Leaf and Rei were ahead.

Rei over the swordsman elf.

Leaf over the mage elf.

Their abilities were definitely superior, but the synergy between those two was excellent enough to make up for that deficiency.

So it was natural for complaints tinged with irritation to burst from Rei's mouth.

"Are those guys' thoughts connected or something?"

"That... probably is the case."

"What? Really?"

"Elves can make mental connections with each other. It's tricky, but if they've been partners for a long time, probably..."

"Ugh, how annoying."

No matter how close Leaf and Rei were and how well they matched, they couldn't compete with those who truly shared thoughts and moved without a moment's delay.

"What about us?"

"Huh?"

"Can't we do it?"

"Um..."

It was something she had never thought about.

Mental connection wasn't something even elves did casually.

Elves born from the same root.

In other words, it was something done by those who had been together for a long time within the same tribe at least.

In the old days when the World Tree was intact, it was possible through the bond via the World Tree, but...

Then, wouldn't it be possible?

Leaf, who carried the seedling of the World Tree.

Surely, it would be possible, even if it wasn’t with another elf. 

"I'll try."

"Good. Let's go again. This time we're aiming for the swordsman."

All the words spoken were lies.

It was a bluff.

Deceiving the keen hearing of elves was practically impossible during battle.

These words were deliberately spoken aloud to plant doubt in the elves' minds about whether they were really aiming for the swordsman.

Rei kicked off the ground.

A nimble movement beyond lightness.

Rei's body, leaping like an agile beast, changed from predator to bird of prey as she ran through the air.

Leaf stared straight at Rei's back and strongly wished.

May my thoughts reach you!

And, for the first time, the World Tree seedling dormant in Leaf's body extended its roots.

[Attack straight on!]

Rei felt it.

Someone else's thoughts, not her own, penetrating her mind.

As if saying, “You're not a beast-folk but an elf,” with that resonance.

Leaf's thoughts, transmitted through something, moved Rei's will.

What, it works for us too.

I knew it would work.

Rei grinned.

Rei's fist, which gave a feint motion as if running towards the mage past the swordsman, dug into the swordsman's weak point with speed enhanced by Aerial's boost.

Crack—!

One strike.

A strike that tilted the horizontal scales sharply to one side.