71
After her friends left the logging ground, Selena summoned six Sylphs. The Sylphs, as beautiful as the elven Spiritual who evoked them, twirled over Selena’s head, fluttering their airy clothes. Selena, who climbed up a large tree, asked the Sylphs.
“Please erase the traces of my friends.”
The Sylphs caused gusts and whirlwinds around the logging ground. Sand, leaves and twigs stirred up, disrupting the traces of the fierce battle. After a while, the winds stopped, and the Sylphs flew away along the road to the southeast, carefully erasing Id and Lara’s tracks. Selena, who came down to the narrow path to the southwest, summoned two Gnomes. The Gnomes that looked like baby bears or big dogs rose from the ground.
“Run.”
Gnomes ran southwest toward Icarus’ territory, disrupting the footprints left behind by Cronos’ reinforcements when they had come up to the logging ground. Selena followed them, leaving her faint footprints. Having run about ten kilometers at high speed, Selena sent gnomes back to the Spiritdom, then climbed up an oak tree. She returned to the logging ground, jumping from tree to tree.
*********************
Count Perkins’ Rangers arrived at the logging ground three hours after the battle between Id’s party and Duke Cronos’ reinforcements. James Cronos, who had been running anxiously for a couple of hours after losing communication with mage Aldebaran, witnessed the disastrous scene. Two bodies were left unattended at the logging ground, and Knights killed by severe burns were scattered in the forest south of the vacant lot. James muttered to himself.
“They are Aura Beam Owner Chris and Knight Commander Gabriel of the Pegasus Order.”
Mage Antares said in a trembling voice, indicating the forest burnt by the Hellfire.
“Someone cast a Hellfire. That’s not human magic. Did the blue dragon come here? The Pegasus Order and mage Aldebaran seem to have been eradicated by a single Hellfire.”
James Cronos had seen Wizard Regulus and two Black Bear Knights burn down without a trace by the Hellfire at the gold dragon’s lair. He thought the Hellfire’s power was tremendous, but the scope of its application was not that broad. James Cronos and mage Antares went into the forest to examine the bodies of the Knights. Seven Knights were killed by severe burns, three by the Aura Beam, and six by arrows. James told Antares.
“Some of the Knights, along with Aldebaran, seem to have been hit directly by the Hellfire and turned into ashes. However, considering that the burnt range is not that large, there are likely to be survivors.”
Antares agreed with James’ guess. James instructed the Rangers to find the survivors and check in which direction Id’s party went. After searching around the logging ground for about an hour, Ranger Commander Harry reported to James.
“There are no survivors around here. If there were survivors, they would have gone southwest along the path over there. I think those we had been tracking also went the same way. There is no trace of human movement elsewhere. Perhaps they went after the survivors who had fled.”
“Then let’s hurry up. We have to catch up before we miss their marks.”
Ranger Commander Harry said with a determined look.
“I’m out of this mission. Even if Duke Cronos would be angry or Count Perkins would rebuke me, I can do nothing about it. I don’t want to kill all my men.”
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Harry led his Rangers’ Unit back to the north along the way they had come to the logging ground. There was no way to persuade the Rangers, who witnessed Aura Beam Owner Chris being halved by Id’s Aura Beam. The faces of the two mages, Antares and Fomalhaut, who followed James to the southwest along with the narrow path toward the territory of the Icarus Empire, were filled with intense fear. Selena had been watching their movements for an hour or so, standing on a branch of a leafy tree from a considerable distance. After confirming that the Rangers had returned to the north and that only the remaining three had disappeared to the southwest, Selena moved from tree to tree again. In the sky, three Sylphs flew, guiding Selena to her friends.
James and two mages, who descended the mountain about twenty kilometers, met nine Pegasus Knights resting on the side of the path. The defeated Knights sat down on the ground in disarray. One of the nine survivors, David, was one of the three Pegasus Knights who could use the Aura Blade. As the other two were killed by Id’s Aura Beam, now he was the only one in the Pegasus Order. James asked David. James tried to speak in a calm tone, but still, his voice was filled with anger.
“Did you guys run away from the battleground?”
David replied despondently.
“A girl’s magic attack burned mage Aldebaran and some of my colleagues without a trace. The Aura Beam Owner cut Gabriel and Chris in halves. To be honest, I don’t even remember how I escaped from there. We were no match for them. I’m sorry.”
James and David appeared on the communication crystal of Duke Cronos, who was anxiously waiting to hear from the reinforcements. James reported in detail what he had seen and heard. However, he intentionally omitted the story that the survivors of the Pegasus Order left the scene during the battle. The shocked duke remained silent for a long time. In the dragon hunt, he lost two advanced Knight Orders, a six-circle-master mage recruited with a fortune and an Aura Beam Owner raised by decades of hard work. The seven-circle Wizard Regulus’ death strained his relationship with the Icarus Wizard Tower. Despite these enormous losses, he eventually failed to acquire the Dragon Heart. James continued to report.
“Rangers searched everywhere around the battleground but could not find out which direction they had gone. It is impossible to track them down anymore when the frightened Rangers have withdrawn. I’m sorry.”
Duke Cronos instructed.
“David, return to Cronos City with the remaining Knights. James, go to the Ramada Hotel in the Free City Blackfield and wait until further instructions are given.”
While Duke Cronos’ other sons could not even become Knights, his third son James was one of the Knights using an Aura Blade, who were less than a hundred throughout the Icarus Empire. The duke could not easily give up on him in spite of his failure.
*********************
Selena knocked on the window of the upstairs room of the hunter’s log house where her friends stayed. Said Lara, who opened the window.
“Strangely enough, it doesn’t break. Are you too light, or is the branch too strong?”
Selena was standing on a thin branch of a persimmon tree. Selena, who smiled at Lara awkwardly, entered the room.
“How’re Sasha and Spica.”
“They are alright.”
Sasha and Spica were lying on two single beds in the room, respectively. After hearing Selena’s brief on Cronos’ pursuit’s movement, Id told Selena and Lara.
“You guys go to the next room and get some sleep. I’ll be here.”
Spica came to her senses the following day, but Sasha was still unconscious. Selena occasionally summoned Sylphs to look around the mountain village. In her spare time, she concentrated her mind on evoking an Undine. Circulating manna in accordance with the method she modified after meeting Tristan, Selena tried to accumulate manna in her forehead despite repeated failures. Selena was confident that the condensation of manna in the upper manna hall would be possible.
As soon as Spica came to her senses, she circulated manna all day long. Spica, who finished her manna circulation late at night, told Id and Lara.
“When manna ran out after casting the Hellfire, I thought I would die. It took more than twelve hours to restore manna to my manna hall. I don’t know how long it will take for my Dragon Heart to be restored.”
Id looked worried.
“You’d better not use the Hellfire for the time being. You were lucky this time.”
“I can’t use it anyway unless my Dragon Heart is recovered, even if I want to. You should train me harder in my swordsmanship.”
The Hellfire was considered the exclusive property of red dragons.
“Vega had been obsessed with Hellfire since even before she was a thousand years old. I guess she didn’t like gold dragons considered weaker than red or blue dragons. However, Hellfire imprinted on Vega’s magic sword is like a childish prank compared to that used by Bermut, the red dragon in the State of Ultimate, who had sent the Devil King Mara back to the Devildom. I heard that Bermut’s Hellfire had the power to burn an entire human city in a moment. Vega should have focused more on the magic like Perfect Storm that suited a gold dragon.”
Lara imagined the scene of the red dragon Bermut using Hellfire. She trembled at the image of hell in the story that her mother told in her childhood.
It had already been thirty years since William Cronos obtained an Aura Beam at the Mudria Wizard Tower. Id thought that not a few people besides William Cronos would have won the Aura Beam during that time. The Aura Beam Owner he had met the day before was evidence to support his thought. Id did not know how many Aura Beam Owners Duke Cronos or other nobles of the Icarus Empire would have. Although he defeated Duke Cronos’ Aura Beam Owner the day before, Id was unsure of the outcome if he met two or more Aura Beam Owners simultaneously. That would have put his friends in danger. Id’s worries deepened.