章 21: Chapter 21: Encountering a Mage!
He quickly arrived at the south area of the Sanctuary after a few minutes of running.
After his eyes scanned the entire path, he went on to the next, continuing to repeat the cycle. After hastily searching, he eventually completely searched the whole area.
'Nothing here. I'll do the west path next as it's the closest.'
With some life essence directed on the sole of his feet, Luck's speed was extremely fast, his appearance like a blurry shadow. Soon, he arrived at the west area before repeating the same process.
After a few minutes, to his disappointment, he hadn't found anything.
However, his heart didn't waver. He promptly went onto the north area next.
As Luck made his way to the next area, the wall to his side suddenly exploded.
Boom!
Luck quickly dashed backwards, raising his arms up to his face.
With Luck's reaction speed, he had managed to evade the brunt of the fragments of rocks that were like shrapnel from a grenade.
However, he couldn't dodge all of it due to how close the explosion had been, causing a few sharp rock fragments to pierce his forearms.
Gritting his teeth slightly, Luck lowered his forearms to see what had happened. He quickly noticed the hole in the wall.
As Luck realised what had happened, he drew a breath of cold air. 'I didn't even realise how close I was to the centre. It seems a stray attack from the cloaked people had nearly hit me once again!'
After tensing and manipulating his muscles, the rock fragments inside him were pushed out as blood gushed out of his forearms. Using his life essence, he stimulated his Alpha Cells as his wounds quickly closed.
After healing himself, Luck continued to the north area.
He knew he didn't have much time left. Considering how the sounds of explosions were becoming much more destructive, he guessed their fight was reaching a climax.
As Luck arrived at his destination, he immediately halted his steps.
"This..." Luck was at a loss for words. In front of him, he saw towering ivory spikes that protruded out of the ground.
The scene was gruesome, causing Luck's hairs to raise slightly.
Children that he had a vague impression of could be seen pierced through their stomachs, their expressions one of agony and misery. Their lifeless bodies were in the air, skewered by the bone spikes — like a forest made of corpses.
'This must be the work of magic users...'
This made Luck even more wary towards magic users. He felt some relief that he decided to not seek their help.
Luck carefully walked past the forest of corpses, making sure he didn't graze the bone spikes. If this was an ability from one of the mages, touching it could possibly reveal his location.
Luck decided he'd rather not find out whether this was true or not.
Once he made his way past, he continued his search.
After running a bit more, he curled his lips.
"This must be the place!"
Just ahead of him was a massive hole. At his time at the Sanctuary, he knew this hadn't existed. It was something recent!
Luck slowed down his pace as his eyes scanned his surroundings.
'I need to be sure there aren't any traps or surveillance. Anything created by magic users is sure to instantly kill me!'
After spending a few minutes looking for anything unusual, as anticipated, Luck discovered the same unusual runes he found all over the Sanctuary. This time, however, it was on the floor.
'Are these engravings special? It looks like someone had simply carved some nonsense on the floor at first glance. But what if they are like sensors or a trigger that senses life essence and explodes...' Luck contemplated.
These symbols were similar to the ones on the walls he found months ago, however, when he tried interacting with those ones, nothing happened.
'Perhaps a sort of... magical rune?' Luck thought. Using his memories of modern Earth, where he's seen a good amount of fiction, he guessed each of these engravings has different effects.
He doubts the people who engraved these symbols here would simply do it for decoration...
Despite his suspicions, Luck knew he had no real way to deal with it. He also wasn't stupid enough to touch or destroy it.
The best thing he could come up with was being as far as possible.
'I'm currently a few metres away and nothing strange is happening.' Luck silently spoke as his eyes looked up. 'If my estimation is right, the ceiling should be about 4 metres high. Will this distance suffice?'
Deciding to try it out, Luck scaled the walls before his fingers eventually gripped onto the smallest grooves of the ceiling. Now, he was hanging off the ceiling with one arm supporting his entire weight.
Despite this, his expression didn't change in the slightest. With all his training, such an action was effortless.
Once all of his limbs were on the ceiling, he decided to carefully crawl to the hole.
Luck was like a spider. Having this thought, Luck couldn't help but be somewhat amused. He felt like he was some kind of friendly neighbourhood hero. He never expected that one day he would be able to do such an impossible feat.
It wasn't long before he arrived on the other side. Making sure that no runes were near him, Luck silently dropped back to the floor.
He was currently in front of the exit. Briefly analysing the hole, he noticed how there was absolutely no light. Luck guessed he must be extremely deep underground if that was the case.
As Luck was about to take a step, he suddenly felt a bad premonition as goosebumps travelled throughout his entire body.
A voice suddenly resounded behind him, causing a bead of sweat to roll down his face. He didn't even detect his presence.
"Where might you be going?"
The voice was calm and composed, yet held a chilling coldness to it.
Luck knew that the person behind him was unfathomable. He quickly thought of a response so as to not anger the stranger behind him.
Turning to the voice, he saw a man with black hair and devilish scarlet eyes. Wearing a luxurious robe and an eery smile on his face, he gave off the air of a scholar, however, Luck wasn't fooled.
'This guy gives off the same feeling as Lord Thel! He's extremely dangerous!'
"This– I was simply curious!" Luck chuckled nervously. "This place has been trembling so I was just trying to find a safe place to hide. I've been stuck in this place for quite a while and have never seen this hole before..."
Luck shot his gaze to the floor. He decided it was best to not provoke this person in the slightest. He may be strong, but he knew such strength wouldn't be able to help him in the slightest against magic users.
Luck was currently masking his presence, however, he wasn't sure whether it was effective or not.
"Who might you be, great sir? Are you perhaps acquaintances with Lord Thel?" Luck asked, his tone very polite and courteous.
Aurien narrowed his eyes slightly, his eery smile still on his face.
Luck felt goosebumps once again. His instincts screamed at him to run. However, he didn't dare to run away, at least, it was his last option.
But suddenly, Aurien laughed, partially easing the mood.
"Great sir? Haha! I wonder why you addressed me as that..."
Luck sweated slightly before quickly composing himself. He quickly replied, "Well... Your clothes are very expensive! You must be someone very important!"
Aurien chuckled slightly, finding the child's response amusing, "How astute, but that isn't the real reason, is it?"
'This person is really sharp. He probably realised how wary I am of him...'
Luck blinked before cautiously replying, "Your robes remind me of the one Lord Thel is wearing. His mysterious powers are unfathomable... I just had a hunch that you may have such abilities as well..."
"I see... I would have also come to the same conclusion."
Aurien seemed to be pondering over something before his eyes suddenly shifted to the runes on the floor and then back onto Luck.
Catching his subtle movements, Luck felt tense.
Seeing how blatantly anxious the boy was, Aurien laughed. "Hahaha! No need to be so nervous, kid. As for Lord Thel... we aren't necessarily acquaintances. He just owes a debt to a few people."
'Debt? So these people are his enemies?' Luck contemplated.
Slightly curling his lips, Aurien continued,
"As for me, I was simply hired by them to search for him. Alexander stole something and defected, immediately going into hiding. He is a very wicked man and is wanted by many!"
'Alexander must be Lord Thel's real name...' Luck silently noted.
"I see! Lord Thel is truly terrible!" Luck exclaimed. He revealed an expression of anger, hatred burning in his eyes.
Luck then showed a hopeful expression. "Lord Thel has tortured me in this place for so long! Will he finally be punished for his evil deeds?"
Clenching his fists until they bled, Luck asked, "Will great sir kill him? All the children here had been tortured in this place for what seemed like an eternity... I only want to leave this place and go back to my village... But Lord Thel has trapped us here. If you would like, I can lead you to him immediately!"
The man became even more amused. "Haha! You are an interesting child, but no. Alexander is already being dealt with. With so many people after him, I doubt he can escape."
Luck breathed a sigh of relief. "I see..."
Aurien began scrutinising Luck silently.
Feeling his gaze, Luck felt as if all his secrets were being revealed. He felt like he was naked and dropped into an icy lake, causing him to take heavy breaths.
"Well... You have somewhat lessened my boredom, child. You must truly want to see the outside world after being trapped here for so long."
Luck gently nodded his head in response.
Aurien chuckled slightly at the boy's enthusiasm.
Aurien had been told to guard this entrance by Lord Highwind to block any potential escape routes for Alexander. Of course, he knew it was just a ploy so he doesn't interfere with the subjugation. Lord Highwind had paid a hefty sum for his skills to track Alexander, however, he didn't trust him at all.
As such, Aurien was simply tasked with finding the defector.
Finding him had been unexpectedly difficult — he was even forced to use a relic to find his whereabouts.
Aurien had expected that Alexander had simply stolen a valuable treasure. But now that he had discovered that it was actually treasures of an ancient magi, he felt quite bitter. If he knew beforehand, he would've hunted him by himself.
Even if Alexander was too dangerous for him by himself, he could simply tell his own master. That way, he would've been rewarded.
Since this was a conflict of Vision Wing Academy, he had no room to interfere. Even if he covets it, plotting against Lord Highwind is very dangerous.
Thus, he had simply been guarding this hole.
So when a child suddenly appeared despite all the chaos, he was a little interested. He even saw the boy notice the runes.
Those runes were created by him. If it sensed a disturbance, it would instantly activate and unleash the spells he prepared. However, the boy crawled on the ceiling to avoid it. Of course, the runes would have activated even if the boy was on the ceiling, but Aurien stopped them from activating out of interest.
"This hole was created by us. It is a straight path to the surface, though you will likely have to climb for a while," Aurien spoke with a smile.
"Can I truly leave this place?" Luck asked, somewhat suspicious.
"Of course!"
'Despite this person seeming amiable, I have an extremely bad feeling...'
Throughout their interaction, Luck had been displaying an image of a bitter child who had been tormented for a long time. Everything had been an act so he could figure out this man's intentions.
Luck walked closer to the exit as the man watched with a smile.
Once Luck was just a step away from the hole, he abruptly stopped. He turned his head slightly, glancing at Aurien.
'This...'
Aurien had the same expression, however, what was unusual was that his eyes held a hint of mockery this time.
Luck became startled.
"Is everything alright?" Aurien asked, his smile seemingly more devilish and wicked.
Luck felt a chill run down his spine.
"I– I don't dare to."
"Hoh? What do you mean?" He spoke, his expression one of 'confusion.'
"I don't dare to take another step..."
週次パワーステータス
-- 推薦
ランキング 
-- 推薦
チケット