The delegation had come to a halt. The adventurers extracted magic stones from the defeated wyvern while the civil servants took a break. Most of the knights and Ignus, the group’s negotiator, watched from a distance.
“This was my first time seeing a wyvern, and I have to say, its sheer size is shocking. Nature is truly wondrous. I can’t believe something that large can fly,” Ignus said as he marveled at the creature.
“Right?” Ryo replied, standing beside the man. For whatever reason, the water magician nodded in smug agreement.
A few feet away, the knights Zach and Scotty bombarded Abel with questions.
“What the hell happened, man? We saw the wyvern heading this way, then it suddenly dropped out of the sky. Lucky for everyone, the adventurers made quick work of finishing it off, but we’re still confused. Do you mind explaining it in a way we can understand?” Zach asked.
“I-I wouldn’t even know where to start, honestly...” Abel replied. Though flustered, he did his best to avoid giving him a straight answer. Occasionally, he glanced furtively at Ryo, who’d been quick to escape and take refuge next to Ignus, the highest-ranking bureaucrat here. Of course, Abel couldn’t hide the resentment in his stare, given that his friend had essentially abandoned him.
But that didn’t mean he could tell them the truth: that Ryo had happened. That information would’ve been impossible to cover up. Eventually, it’d reach the nobles in the royal capital and cause untold problems. And what then? He couldn’t imagine Ryo just going along with the whims of the aristocracy. He might appear kind, but Abel knew better than anyone how terrifying Ryo could be when angered. Whether he liked it or not, the image of him in Whitnash, facing off against Oscar, the Inferno Magician, was burned into his mind...
So, Abel—a stand-up guy, as always—thought he had no choice but to turn himself into a breakwater against a potential ocean of trouble.
Abel hastily came up with some reasonable excuses, and time marched on—but the delegation was about to face its next crisis.
“About thirty people are approaching from the north!” Ryo yelled from beside Ignus. “Five hundred meters away.”
The adventurers and knights sprang into action immediately.
“Hurry! Into the carriages!”
They guided the civil servants, slow to react, back toward their vehicles. At the same time, the knights formed a shield wall on the north side of their encampment, and their squires readied bows behind them. The magicians and priests among the adventurers prepared to fire from behind the safety of the knights, while swordsmen, lancers, and other melee classes took positions both within and on the flanks of the shield wall. The knights had devised this formation to intercept any potential human attack. The fact that they worked together so smoothly despite almost no prior training was a testament to the skills of both the knights and the adventurers, as well as the communication of their leaders.
Watching them from the corner of his eye, Abel ran up to Ryo.
“You’re sure it’s people and not more monsters?”
“I am. I can’t say for sure they plan to attack, but given the timing, it’s very likely. For some reason, from the way they’re running, I get the feeling they’re assassins from the Sect.”
“Whoa. You can tell that much?”
“I’m improving day by day, you know?”
Passive Sonar hadn’t given Ryo very clear information in the past, but after becoming much more proficient with his water magic, he could extract much clearer details from the spell. It was just like he always said: Hard work always pays off!
Ryo promptly reentered their coach and peeked out the window.
“Uhhh, why are you inside the carriage?” Abel asked.
“What do you mean ‘why’? We’re guests, aren’t we?”
Ryo had only given the earlier warning because he promised Shoken to tell them if anything beyond the usual monsters showed up. He had no intention of overstepping. Considering that he and Abel had been kept out of the loop as far as strategy went, and seeing how well the adventurers and knights were working together, Abel and Ryo could actually derail the knights’ plan if they interfered.
“I can provide support from inside the carriage,” Ryo said. “But it’s better if you stay outside, Abel!”
“Oh, yeah, ’cuz that’s real freaking fair.”
Despite his grumbling, Abel did exactly that. In a crisis, it would’ve been easier for a swordsman like him to act if he were outside. Magicians, on the other hand, could cast spells even from inside the carriage. Every job was different, and the world, unfortunately, never seemed to play fair...
When they were about two hundred meters away, the attackers fired a volley of arrows. Several pierced the carriages’ exteriors, but no one was hurt. The others were perfectly safe behind the knights’ shields.
A moment later, white smoke began to hiss out of the attachments at the end of the attackers’ arrows. Causing damage, apparently, hadn’t been their goal. Using the smoke screen as cover, the attackers began to approach—a favorite tactic of the Sect of Assassins.
“This again?” Ryo muttered, and then he started chanting in his mind.
Squall. Freeze.
Without warning, a torrential downpour slammed into the area, and the dense, blinding rain swept away the thick, white smoke. At the same time, the clusters fixed to the arrowheads froze over, preventing them from spewing more smoke. Ryo was familiar with this tactic because of Sherfi and his raid on the Sect’s headquarters. More than that, he was annoyed that this seemed like their only strategy. For an assassin, however, it was remarkably effective. Even better, it was incredibly versatile, usable in virtually any situation. Carrying multiple sets of tools was often impossible, but with this one, you could get by just about anywhere—especially since it was rare to encounter first-rate magicians like Ryo, who could wash away the smoke with rain, or Lyn, who could blow it all away with air.
Ryo’s Squall swept away the white smoke, exposing the attackers less than a hundred meters from the delegation. They were obviously disoriented, but it did not take them long to realize they were in too deep to turn back now. They had no choice but to defeat the enemy in front of them and return triumphant! Each one of them arrived at this conclusion, including their leader, Natalia.
The only assassin losing her nerve was the woman following Natalia. Sensing her lack of resolve, she turned to the other assassin.
“Rosalia, it’s too late to turn back now,” Natalia said. “We charge.”
“Yes, my lady,” Rosalia said, even though she was riddled with anxiety. She was a highly trained, top-class assassin who could defeat two knights bare-handed. However, her greatest asset wasn’t her melee prowess, as you might’ve expected, but her talent for dark magic. In fact, she was the only member of the Sect who could wield it.
In Phi, a magician’s elemental affinity was determined at birth. Dark magicians were rare, however, and no incantations could grant someone the ability to wield dark magic if they weren’t born with the affinity. As a result, there were no dark magicians in the Central Provinces... Without spells or mentors to guide them, a young dark magician could only learn through repeated trial and error...