The ‘Black Forest’ was surrounded by towering trees. Their branches were thick and long, their leaves enormous. They grew so densely that the forest was dark even in broad daylight.
“Bat squadron, infiltrate the forest from all four directions. But do it slowly.”
“Roger~!”
Dick took off to relay my orders. My bat familiars could see with light during the day and with echolocation at night. Even in a pitch-black forest like this, they could clearly detect the movements of people or monsters.
A short while later, Dick returned.
“Master~. There are people at the carriage~! They’re collapsed~!”
“Is it Dorothea?”
“There are three of them, so I doubt it~. They look like they can’t move, near the carriage~.”
“Got it. I’m going in.”
I activated my ‘Flight’ skill, entering the forest from the air and letting Dick guide me to the carriage. Just as he’d said, there were three people collapsed among the trees—one man and two women, all wearing Magic Guild robes.
“Relay this to the squadron: Do not enter the forest. Stand by at the perimeter. Dorothea may already be in a combat-ready state. Regroup with me later. After I enhance you, we’ll enter the forest again.”
“Roger~!”
Dick flew off again. I moved toward the fallen mages, pulling a cloth over my face just in case.
“Are you alright? You’re from the Magic Guild, right?”
“…Ugh… ahh…” One of the women looked up at me.
“Y-You are…”
“I came after receiving a report. You’re from the Guild, same as me, correct?” I wasn’t lying. I did get a report from Dick, and I am a member of the Guild.
“…Dorothea Samuels… is… here. She… is dangerous.”
“Dangerous?”
“She… was trying to get the ‘specter’… to put inside… an Ancient Artifact…”
With that, the woman lost consciousness. She wasn’t dead, but her pulse was weak. It felt as if her life force had been drained.
“I’ll get them out of the forest. Activate: Boosted Enhancement: Double.”
I carried the mages out of the woods, gathered the bat squadron, and assigned two to stand guard. On the wings of the remaining ten, I drew sigils for Boosted Enhancement and a few attack spells. Preparations complete.
“Don’t push your luck. If you think it’s an enemy you can’t beat, get out of the forest immediately. Got it?”
“““Roger~!”””
With Dick and the others in tow, I entered the forest once more.
The Guild’s senior mages must have been searching for Dorothea in teams. They probably got a tip, came here to capture her, and were attacked and incapacitated. …Was Dorothea still in the forest? If so, why hadn’t she fled?
“…Well, I guess I’ll find out soon enough.”
I flew through the air, pushing deeper into the woods. The bats reported no abnormalities. Their stamina wasn’t draining, and no stray magic was hitting their Anti-Magic Shells.
I drew the staff from my belt. It was a new one Rhodelia had remade for me, since the last one broke in the magic duel with Alex. She had rushed to get this one prepared.
“Deploy: Anti-Magic Shell. Go.”
The staff shot off into the depths of the forest, flying high and reflecting the moonlight that pierced the canopy. Using its light as a beacon, the bat squadron and I followed. We advanced for twenty minutes without incident. I was just thinking I’d turn back after ten more minutes when—
Fwon.
“Master!”
“I see it! Everyone, dive!”
An instant later, a gray beam of light shot through the space we had just occupied. My staff, flying ahead, was enveloped by it. Its Anti-Magic Shell automatically deployed, blocking the light for a split second before the staff clattered to the ground.
“—What was that light?”
I picked it up. The sigil I’d drawn was gone. What’s more, it was completely drained of mana. Was the mana sucked out…? No, that’s not right. Considering the condition of those mages, it seems it drained life force itself.
“…Like a vampire beam.”
That’s why those mages were collapsed.
“…This is bad. I’ve never seen magic like that.”
“What’s the plan, Master~?”
“For now, you and the others stay back. And…” I relayed my new plan to Dick. Honestly, I could just go home. I could spin a story: I went out for a walk, heard a scream, and stumbled into the ‘Black Forest.’ I found some collapsed people and helped them. They said they saw Dorothea! That would probably work. The senior mages would come, but it would be a pain if she escaped in the meantime. And besides…
“…I really hate the idea of someone this dangerous existing in the same world as Iris and Martha.”
“Come out, intruder.”
A voice called from the darkness. A woman’s voice.
“You dog of the Magic Guild. This is a good opportunity. You can be a test subject for the ‘Ancient Artifact’ I have inherited.”
“Stop lying.”
“…Lying?”
“‘Ancient Artifacts’ are supposed to be useless,” I said. “I’ve heard about it. They were all sealed, which is why the ‘War of the Eight Kings’ turned into such a quagmire. What good is a piece of junk like that?”
“…Ah, yes. That’s right.” The woman seemed to laugh in the darkness.
“Because of the Traitor Sage, the ‘Ancient Artifacts’ were sealed. But not all of them. The strongest of them all… its seal was incomplete. And that… is this.”
Fweeeen.
I heard something moving.
Fweeen. Fweeen. Clank. Clank.
What emerged from the shadows was a woman accompanied by some thing. How could I even describe it? Armor? No… I’d never seen armor like that. It was twice the height of a full-grown man, and easily twice as wide. Its entire body was made of some metallic substance, but it was shaped like a person. Two additional arms sprouted from its back, glowing a dull gray and writhing. The color was identical to the ‘vampire beam’ I’d seen earlier.
It looked like someone was inside the armor, but I could only see part of their face. They were completely limp, not moving a muscle. I couldn’t even tell if they were alive or dead.
“This is the strongest ‘Ancient Artifact’—the Lord of Phantoms,” the woman declared.
“We, the survivors of the Sanctuary Church, have passed this down for generations. By adding the spirit of a priest to this, we will create the ultimate, eternally-moving weapon—”
“Activate: Ifrit Blow.”
ZUDODODODODODO!!
I aimed for its arm, but the fireballs I unleashed simply hit the ‘Ancient Artifact Armor’—the Lord of Phantoms—and vanished. They weren’t even deflected. They just disappeared, as if they’d been absorbed.
“It’s useless.”
“Interesting. Is its surface coated with some kind of mana-draining mechanism? Is that why ‘Ancient Magic’ has no effect, and why those senior mages were taken out so easily?”
“…Who are you?”
“Likewise, who are you?”
“I am Dorothea.”
The woman stepped out from behind the Lord of Phantoms. She had long green hair and wore a black robe. Her eyes were sharp and narrow, her lips curved in a faint sneer. …I knew people just like her in my past life. She looked exactly like the Holy Knights who had shown up behind a weeping Lyle.
“So you’re Dorothea Samuels.”
So this was one of the Church’s remnants. One of the people who had thrown the world into chaos—no, one of the people who had made my child, Lyle, cry, and who had caused Alice’s Rinkalation.
“You’re a real piece of work.”
“…Troublesome?”
“It’s been nearly 200 years since that war, and you’re still going on about the Sanctuary Church. Of course it’s troublesome. Stop getting your kicks by waving a dangerous weapon around near my kid! It’s annoying, so go do it somewhere else. Or better yet, just disappear.”
“Hah! The dull-witted mages of this era could never understand the intent of the Sanctuary Church!” Dorothea laughed, tilting her head back. “Our lofty plan is—”
“That Lord of Phantoms runs on the mana of the person inside it,” I cut in. “You planned to use the specter as its new body. That’s why you tricked Gael Wolfgang into summoning it. You were going to use him as the spirit’s host and stick him inside that armor.”
“—Wha?!” Dorothea recoiled. Bullseye.
“Wh-What are you? How could you know that—”
“I can tell when someone’s unwell just by looking.” The person visible through the gap in the armor was limp, their face a deathly pale. I’d seen it countless times in my past life. It was the face of someone weakened, drained of both mana and life force.
“I’m assuming the armor runs on the user’s mana and life force. If so, the person inside eventually dies. No one would willingly use something like that. So, I figure they have to be controlled by magic or drugs.”
“…Who the hell are you!?”
“But finding a new puppet every time would be a hassle. A person possessed by a specter, however, is a different story. The spirit wouldn’t care if the host body dies; it could just find a new one. By doing that, you could operate that ‘Ancient Artifact’ indefinitely—”
“Kill him! Lord of Phantoms!”
“Activate magic! Bat squadron!”
The instant the Lord of Phantoms moved, my bats unleashed their spells.
“Here we go~! Force of Earth!!”
ZRUM!
The ground trembled. In response to the bats’ cries, countless rock spears erupted from the earth. I had drawn the sigil for Force of Earth on the wings of every bat in the squadron—the same spell Odette had used. It wouldn’t do anything to the Lord of Phantoms, but it would be effective against Dorothea. Plus, casting it all at once would shake the ground, which should be enough to stall them.
“A mere distraction!”
FWOOOSH!
The Lord of Phantoms swung its arm, and the innumerable rock spears were obliterated. But it had bought me time. I used the opening to hide behind a tree.
“It’s pointless to buy time, mage boy.”
CRACK! The Lord of Phantoms swung its arm, and the tree I was behind splintered and flew apart. I rolled away, moving deeper into the woods.
“Give up. This Lord of Phantoms is the natural enemy of mages. Swords are ineffective, spears cannot pierce it. It is an invincible knight.”
She was right. It was my natural enemy. A mystery beam that drains life force, plus an anti-magic coating. Even if I doused it in my ‘Mistel Blood’ and tried to Hack it, it would probably be repelled. To get a hack to stick, I’d need to damage the surface first and pour my blood directly into the wound.
…No choice. I’ll just have to summon a weapon that can do the job.
I cut my finger, letting my ‘Mistel Blood’ drip onto the ground.
“With my blood as the catalyst, I summon my vassal!”
I drew the summoning sigil on both hands. But I wasn’t calling Iris. I had other vassals. If I could summon Iris, who had drunk my blood, then I could definitely summon it. The one that had been steeped in my ‘Mistel Blood’ for two hundred years. The one that had absorbed my mana so thoroughly that it, too, called me ‘My Lord.’
“Answer my summons and come to my side! My vassal, the Holy Sword Rinkal!”
“—What?!”
Dorothea and the Lord of Phantoms started to move, but they were too slow. I had already drawn the silver Holy Sword.
Using Boosted Enhancement: Double, I dove into its range and unleashed a single slash. The blade of the Holy Sword Rinkal bit deep into the Lord of Phantoms’ arm, tearing through the armor. I saw the arm of the person inside and diverted the blade just enough to avoid it, continuing to rip the armor plate vertically.
And then—
“—GUUUUOOOOOOH?!”
The Lord of Phantoms’ arm was severed, crashing to the ground.
So, it’s an ‘Ancient Artifact,’ which means normal magic and swords are useless. But it seems the blade of an equivalent ‘Ancient Artifact’ can get through. Good to know.
“What are you?! How?! How can you cut the Lord of Phantoms? How?!”
“Who knows? Probably just old age.”
I used the Holy Sword to lop off the two extra arms on its back as well. Now it couldn’t fire that ‘vampire beam’ anymore.
Fweeeeeen…
Having lost its three arms, the Lord of Phantoms fell to its knees with a thud and went still. It had been running on fumes, forcibly controlled by a drugged pilot. With its armor breached and arms severed, it seemed to have shut down completely. I felt I might have overdone it, but our mission was just to find Dorothea. No one said I had to bring back the Lord of Phantoms undamaged. So, no problem.
“Now then, it’s time for you to talk, Dorothea Samuels.”
I leveled the Holy Sword at her. “Tell me about this ‘Traitor Sage’ you mentioned. I have a feeling I know who you’re talking about. So, you’re going to tell me everything.”
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