บท 111: The Path to the Summit
"Huh… This doesn't look very dangerous."
"Tell me that after we arrive at the top."
Markus nonchalantly retorted as he read a book.
"I've already told you about what happens in this path and you still think it isn't dangerous? Even a Magus has to take care when traveling through this place."
ROAAAAAAARRRR
An earth-shattering roar. Markus lowered his book and looked out of the window.
"Speak of the devil and he shall appear."
After a brief look at the direction of the roar, Markus pointed at Sebastian and then at the door.
"You, out."
"Eh?!"
"Don't you have Soul Armor? Use it and defeat that beast. I can guarantee your secrecy, everyone in this convoy is someone I can trust."
"..."
"Aren't you my bodyguard?"
Sebastian pursed his lips. He couldn't say anything after that. After taking off his scarf, he unwrapped Mile's spear from the cloth around it and then opened the door. The carriage didn't stop for him so he had to jump out.
He immediately headed for the direction of the roar and found a bear. It was at least twice as large as a normal bear and other than its red eyes, it had a grayish color.
"Steel Bear…"
It was a Caster-ranked beast. Sebastian would normally run after meeting one instead of trying to take it on but Markus had told him to get rid of it while fully knowing his capabilities.
"Balanos."
—Yeah.
BOOM
An explosion of green light followed by the armor wrapping around Sebastian's body.
He quickly ran straight at the bear with each step cracking the earth beneath.
He held his spear in one hand as lightning crackled around his body.
"Lightning Strike!"
Sebastian used the stance and immediately activated the technique. He traveled dozens of meters in an instant and hit the bear's hard stomach.
"Agh… I feel like I just used a sword to hit a metal wall…"
His spear wasn't enough to pierce through the bear's defenses.
"Roar!"
The bear roared and swiped its arm at Sebastian.
Instead of dodging, Sebastian caught the bear's arm and then struck out with his spear at the bear's armpit.
"ROOAAR!"
The bear backed away in pain. Though Sebastian couldn't pierce through the bear's steel-like defense, he had studied about them before.
The weakness of a Steel Bear lay in parts of their bodies where armor would limit their movement. The armpit, behind the knees, the neck, and a few other parts were without any armor and only had tough and thick flesh to protect them from attacks.
It was impossible for any regular person to pierce their skin with a weapon.
However, Sebastian was backed with the Soul Armor's power and pierced through easily.
Sebastian swung his spear. The blood gathered on the blade splattered on the ground.
He put the spear behind him and raised his other hand. Sebastian gestured for the bear and although the bear wouldn't be able to understand him, it should still somehow interpret it as a challenge with his instincts.
"ROAR!"
As expected, the bear understood. It dropped down on all fours and snorted.
Sebastian took a stance and waited.
"..."
The bear moved first. It couldn't help but want to attack Sebastian after being provoked. Sebastian allowed the bear to near and when it was within the range of his spear, he took a step back.
"Thunderclap."
The bear was stunned. Sebastian's thunderclap had hit its head directly.
"Roaaaar!"
The bear couldn't see clearly and began hitting all over the place. Trees were sent flying with a single hit.
"Multicolored Flame Thrust."
Sebastian thrust his spear at the bear's stomach. He didn't mind that the bear was mindlessly swinging. He fearlessly jumped into the bear's attack range.
The flame-covered spear pierced into the bodies. The fusion of blue and orange were hot enough to melt through the bear's body and pierce through it completely.
"Auuu…"
The bear groaned as blood leaked out of its mouth. It dropped down with a giant hole in its stomach.
Without Soul Armor, Sebastian wouldn't have been able to kill it.
Just as Sebastian managed to catch his breath and was about to go back to the carriage, he heard another roar in the distance.
"..."
—Take the corpse.
"Yes…"
Sebastian resigned himself to his fate and sunk the bear's body into his shadows before running over to the next beast.
…
"Good work." Markus told Sebastian as he entered the carriage.
Sebastian looked at Markus with a pitiful gaze.
"Who do you think I am? My daughter? That won't work on me."
Sebastian groaned and sat in his seat.
"So there's a limit to how long you can use Soul Weaving. Strange, seeing as how a person's limit shouldn't be so low and neither should your power be so high."
The power of Soul Armor would only be a little stronger than the person themselves. However, Sebastian was just an Apprentice and defeated Caster-ranked beasts one after the other.
That meant he was at the very least, as strong as a new Magus.
"I can see how you managed to match that Valian now. Though you won't be able to defeat a Magus, anything under that is simply your prey."
"..."
Sebastian didn't affirm or deny his words and sat in silence. He looked out of the window feeling a bit listless.
"Homesick already?"
Markus had hit the nail on the head. Sebastian groaned.
"Four—five months isn't a very long time. You've already lived 34 of those four, five months."
"...Is that an attempt at comforting me?"
"Take it as you wish."
Just as they talked, the carriage stopped. A few moments later, someone approached the carriage door.
"Master, this is our designated rest stop. We saved time because we hadn't stopped because of the monsters. Should we move for an hour more or stay here?"
"We aren't in a rush. We'll stay here."
"Understood. Men! We'll be camping here tonight!"
The man left. Markus looked at the closed door then at Sebastian.
"His name is Bryan Malborn, my most trusted aide. You should know his son very well."
"James?"
"Yes. Like me, he only has one child. If it weren't for the mission, he would be doing all he can to get a leave to play with his son."
"Hahaha…"
Bryan looked different than what Markus made him out to be, however, there was no need for him to lie.
"I told you about him because you'll have to be working with him a lot more from now on."
"I see…"
A few minutes later, Bryan called out to them once again. This time, it was to tell them that they were ready to camp for the night.
After deciding night watches and getting food ready, most of them decided to sleep. Nobody tried to drink any alcohol or stay up late. They knew that it was dangerous to do leisure activities in this place.
At around early morning, it was time for Sebastian's watch. His would be the last watch before they head to the summit again.
"Sir Bryan."
"You can just call me uncle. I've heard a lot about you from James."
Bryan sat beside the log that Sebastian was sitting on. It wasn't his time to watch, he just accompanied Sebastian.
"That boy, he's weirdly astute. He's also pretty quiet when around us. The first time he ever talked a lot was when he talked about his friends, and the second time was when he talked about you. You must've been able to get through his normally suspicious nature."
"He doesn't seem like that to me though…"
"He tries not to show it. In truth, he's very wary of any strangers and always observes them. You've become trustworthy in his eyes."
"I see…"
It was good to know that James treated him as a good friend. But, being observed? He hadn't noticed it before.
'I guess that's one more part I have to train.'
He was sensitive to gazes, but not without ill-intent. Even now, he still hadn't been able to master what Wisteria had told him about.
Just then, they heard a cry of a beast.
"I guess there's another one."
Bryan nonchalantly commented as he threw another twig at the fire.
"I'll go take care of it."
Sebastian stood up.
"Why don't I show you my house's ability instead?"
Bryan clapped his hands and stood up. Sebastian followed him without any trouble as they arrived at the location of the cry.
"A Giant Beetle."
Bryan whistled. Calling it just giant was an understatement. It was humongous. Even if there were a hundred of Sebastian, he still wouldn't be able to cover the size of the beetle.
"That's a peak Caster beast! Balanos!"
Sebastian wore his armor. He didn't expect that Bryan would be able to deal with the beast. After all, their house used mist and fog, how could it deal with a giant beetle with thick armor?
"It's alright. Just stand back."
Bryan snapped his fingers and the area was surrounded in mist.
The beetle noticed them and flapped its gigantic wings. It immediately flew toward them and Sebastian took a stance, he would be ready to fight at a moment's notice.
Just as the beetle was about to crash into them, the mist thickened and the beetle was caught in the air by a giant hand.
"?!"
Sebastian shivered. The beetle was already humongous but the hand was even bigger.
The hand slammed the beetle into the ground and slowly formed a body. It was akin to the titans that Sebastian had read about in backs.
Rather than the mist, it seemed to be formed from the clouds. It raised its other arm and struck the beetle.
BANG
The impact was so large that the beetle was crushed. Even Sebastian wouldn't be able to destroy its armor so thoroughly, however, the mist did it easily.
"Our power is to manipulate fog and mist. But, there's another secret to that power."
Bryan waved his hands and the mist near him dispersed.
"It's water. We are able to manipulate water as an extension of our abilities. I don't know about you but being crushed by a giant wave of water at high speed seems pretty dangerous to me."
Sebastian shivered. He had thought their house was only capable of illusions. And, although James did attack him with a small fog monster, this was on another level.
"I wouldn't be Lord Luna's most trusted aide if I'm only good at espionage. I'm also his most powerful subordinate.
"Shall we head back?"
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