Chapter 1110 – 1110. Dark Moon
The stiffness lasted only a moment.
They held their guns, back to back, and scanned their surroundings.
“Who’s there!”
“Show yourself now!!”
“Shit….”
Lieutenant Ollok ignored his subordinates’ commotion and quietly surveyed the area. There was no sign of anyone. The regular sounds of insects hidden in the plants calmed his mind.
“Don’t move recklessly. This is an air trap.”
“Lieutenant, I’ve never heard of such a thing. What kind of trap is it?”
“It’s a magic trap. I believe it’s military-grade vision magic. I don’t have much experience with it either. Damn it. That woman, she said she was a combat mage, and she’s learned something annoying.”
He explained to his subordinates, recalling what he knew about air traps.
An air trap is an invisible trap. Once activated, it generates a shockwave or a wind cutter. Corporal Gralton had his head split open by a wind cutter and died instantly.
‘I heard the activation trigger for air traps is strict… Damn it, she set it up well.’
The important thing is how to deal with air traps.
The first method is mana detection. It’s easier if you can use mana or have an item with mana detection capabilities.
‘…We can’t do either.’
To detect mana, you need to be able to sense it.
In other words, you need the talent of mana affinity.
‘If I had mana affinity, I wouldn’t be here right now.’
Most people can’t sense mana. That’s normal.
‘The other way is… to wait until the air trap disappears. I heard air traps can’t last long without a medium.’
But if they stopped the pursuit here for an hour, they would lose their target. This was the Lumel Forest. If they went too deep, even he, who was familiar with this place, would have to worry about survival.
Money and women flashed before his eyes. He was too hungry to give up either.
‘…The activation trigger for air traps is contact. It activates the moment it touches the body. Since magic power isn’t infinite, there must be a limit to how many air traps can be set…. If we don’t pursue directly and change direction slightly, we can avoid the air traps.’
Lieutenant Ollok led his subordinates and resumed the pursuit. The smiles that had been on their faces were long gone.
One of the subordinates following Ollok felt a strange sensation. He stepped on the ground, and a soft, squishy feeling was transmitted through his foot.
Boom!
The ground exploded. There was no fire. The air burst, creating a shockwave.
“Aaaaaaah!”
The subordinate, whose legs had been blown off, screamed and rolled on the ground. Ollok looked at the subordinate with cold eyes and pulled the trigger of his rifle. Bang. The subordinate died instantly.
“He was already a goner. I just relieved his pain.”
“…But Lieutenant.”
“Think about Major Bag. Do you think he’d send us to the hospital if we got hurt?”
“……”
No one didn’t know what kind of person Major Bag was. Everyone shut their mouths.
“There’s no time to dawdle. Just follow me closely. Air traps only activate when they touch the body. Watch the ground I step on and my movements carefully, and follow them. Understood?”
“Yes, Lieutenant.”
Lieutenant Ollok felt his nerves fraying. Air traps could be set not only on the ground but also in the air. In other words, if he was unlucky, his head could be blown off.
‘I’m avoiding places where traps might be set, but it’s not perfect. Damn it. I wish I could put my subordinates in front of me…. But they’re not loyal or anything….’
If he did that, there was a chance that his three subordinates would point their guns at him. They would kill him and run away.
Whoosh.
An eerie sound rang out, and an air trap activated. This time, it was a wind cutter. Ollok realized he was safe and turned his head back.
The bodies of two of his subordinates were sliced and fell to the ground. Blood and intestines spilled out from the clean cuts.
“Hiiiiiiiiik!”
Lieutenant Ollok’s last remaining subordinate screamed and collapsed. He was the most timid of the subordinates.
“…What happened?”
“W-Well, Sergeant stumbled a little, and then I heard a whooshing sound….”
“Indeed. He was incredibly unlucky.”
Lieutenant Ollok wiped the cold sweat from his brow and smirked. He actually felt it was a good thing. He pointed his rifle at his subordinate.
“From now on, you’ll lead the way.”
“L-Lieutenant?”
“Follow my orders if you don’t want to die. Don’t take it badly. I’ve been taking the risks so far. It’s just your turn now.”
“P-Please, spare me.”
“Don’t be stupid. Move.”
The subordinate moved forward with a tearful face. Lieutenant Ollok looked at his back and drew a big picture in his head.
‘When I find them, I’ll immediately fire magic bullets to subdue them. I’ll kill the man and keep the woman’s torso intact. And then I’ll kill this guy too. I’ll take only the most expensive equipment and run. I’m sick of military life. Maybe defecting to the Republic wouldn’t be so bad.’
•••
Lexi and I leaned against a large tree, taking a break. Our eyes were fixed behind us. Someone was walking toward us.
“Ha, haha. I finally found you.”
It was a man with a lieutenant’s insignia on his collar. His uniform was covered in blood. His right arm was severed, and pieces of intestines were stuck to his chest and lower body. The intestines were probably someone else’s.
‘He’s gone mad.’
His eyes were glazed over, saliva was dripping from his mouth, and his head was covered in cold sweat.
Unable to overcome the fear of death caused by the invisible air traps, he had finally gone insane.
‘Not all soldiers have weak minds. There are also those who became soldiers out of necessity, like me….’
I didn’t pity him.
He tried to kill me and steal my equipment. And he would have tried to violate Lexi.
The man raised his rifle with one hand. The muzzle was pointed directly at me.
There was no need to use a split second.
I had already activated the magic.
Boom!
The air trap I had set up reacted to my will and created a shockwave. The man’s upper body exploded, and the remains were scattered on the ground. I got up and checked the man’s equipment.
Most of it was caught in the shockwave, but my goal was the bullets.
“…Oh. This guy has magic bullets. Forty of them.”
“Yeah. Cheap ones. But they’ll be helpful. Let’s take what we can.”
My backpack became heavier.
•••
I had desperately wanted a variable to occur in this mission, and the heavens had granted my wish.
“…We’re screwed. The information is wrong.”
Twelve hours after entering the Lumel Forest.
Lexi’s shoulders slumped as she looked at the empty enemy camp.
I understood what had happened as soon as I saw the situation, but I pretended not to know anything and asked her.
“Did the information leak?”
“No, it didn’t. Look around. The traces of people staying here are faint. It must have been abandoned for at least a month. The information was manipulated from the start.”
“The one who manipulated the information… it’s Major Bag of the 105th Unit.”
“He didn’t want to look incompetent to the higher-ups. One of the reasons he tried to kill us was to hide this fact. It’s frustrating. If we could use a radio, things would be easier….”
The Lumel Forest had special waves that made radios useless. It was impossible to communicate with the outside world through normal means. It wasn’t anything particularly mysterious. There were many areas where radio waves didn’t work, not just the Lumel Forest.
“Are we giving up the mission and going back?”
“Usually, yes. In this case, it’s the higher-ups’ mistake. We won’t be reprimanded even if we give up the mission.”
“…Major Bag is the problem.”
By now, he would have realized that his subordinates had been killed.
Would Major Bag back down like this? If he would have, he wouldn’t have started in the first place.
“With our strength, we can handle the 105th Unit, can’t we?”
“Major Bag isn’t an idiot, and he wouldn’t just mobilize the 105th Unit. He must have partners who have been smuggling with him. It’s probably an organization. Their strength is unknown. We can’t handle them alone.”
“Sneaking back… is impossible. They’ll be on high alert.”
Major Bag had been demoted and assigned to the 105th Unit. I didn’t know what kind of trouble he had caused, but he had been demoted to the 105th Unit. This was his last chance. The moment we left the forest alive, his military career would be over. He would be dragged to a military court and sentenced to death.
“…What are we going to do now?”
“What should we do? What’s your opinion?”
Lexi often asked for my opinion. She thought of it as part of the training. I deliberately gave wrong or 20% lacking answers to hide my abilities.
“I think we should hold out. Strategic Command values us more than the 105th Unit. If we go missing, they’ll come looking for us.”
In the ‘Battle Mage Project,’ I was one of the most successful cases. My existence was the result of the project. There was no way Strategic Command would easily give up on that result.
Above all, I had a slave seal on my right forearm. They would know that I was alive, so Strategic Command would track me down somehow.
“That’s an accurate assessment. From Strategic Command’s perspective, you and I are too valuable to throw away.”
“How many days do you expect it will take for Strategic Command and the 667th Unit to act?”
“About ten days?”
“That’s later than I thought.”
“They have things they’ve built up from carrying out missions. Strategic Command will trust us for now. Then they’ll sense something is wrong and start investigating. By then, Major Bag will be finished. We can leisurely carry out the mission in the meantime. There are probably resistance fighters hiding somewhere else.”
“Having to stay in this forest for ten days… that’s the worst.”
Slap!
I slapped my neck with my palm. When I lowered my hand, the corpse of a mosquito was stuck to it. I used the first-level magic, Water. I frowned and washed my hand with the water I had created with magic.
I was pretending to be annoyed, but inside, I was cheering.
‘I was wondering how to stay in the Lumel Forest longer, and things are happening on their own. I’m lucky.’
Lexi took out a map. She marked it with a pen.
“There are a total of six places suspected to be resistance bases. Let’s check them out slowly, starting with the closest one.”
“Right now?”
It was already dark. I didn’t know about Lexi, but I was tired. My legs ached, and my eyelids were heavy. Due to the effects of handling mana, my body was superior to that of ordinary people, but it was still inferior to that of warriors of the same level.
“Let’s take it easy. We’ll sleep at night and move during the day.”
Fortunately, Lexi was flexible in many ways.
We prepared for bed. We found a place with relatively few plants, flattened the ground with wind magic, and laid out a magic blanket. It wasn’t a supply item, but a blanket Lexi had prepared. It was enchanted to repel water and small insects. We set up wooden sticks and covered them with cloth. A simple tarp was created. Even if it rained, we wouldn’t get soaked.
While I was preparing the sleeping area, Lexi set up alarm magic around the area. It was a type of magic that would sound an alarm if a person or monster approached.
Lexi and I lay down on the blanket at the same time. It was comfortable, probably because it was a magic blanket.
