Chapter 168

The two magic circles that Ringus deployed were not much of a stretch .

The encryption isnt that complicated, and as an added bonus, there was a slight lag before it was activated, and because he was trying to measure the timing, he was unused to controlling two magic circles at the same time .

I exploited the gap in that lag and rewritten the magic formula regarding the trajectory of the magic circle .

Youd better not shoot that .

When I warned him, there was a moment of confusion on Ringus face, but he quickly twisted the edges of his mouth and laughed off my words .

I dont understand Water, form, spear .

At the same time, Ringus shouted, I heard a voice chanting the same spell as Ringus from behind me .

I turned around and saw with my naked eye that Marias, who was supposed to be a hostage, stood up and pointed his fingertips at me .

Thats why I said I didnt understand, Abel Belek!

I can hear Ringus sneering at me .

The magic that Marias exercised has already been activated .

The water in the shape of a spear is approaching me with tremendous force .

But the spear of water, which I had rewritten the trajectory of beforehand which was fired by Ringus, pa.s.sed over my shoulders and clashed with the spear of water which Marias fired, deflecting its trajectory .

Surrounding me, the four water spears stabbed into the ground, and the magic power to maintain their shapes broke and exploded back into just water .

Wha- ! Im-, impossible

Ringus was upset and took two steps back from the scene .

N-, no! I, I shoot it straight to that kid there!

Ringus hurriedly speaks in excuses .

He wants to explain to Marias that he didnt interrupt himself on purpose .

Thats why I told you its better not to shoot it .

I looked back at Ringus lightly .

Ringus was glaring at me while clenching teeth .

Now I know, Ringus is ordinary .

In terms of magic skills, hes probably one rank lower than Icarus .

There doesnt seem to be any need to be so cautious .

Once again, I turn back to Marias .

The indigo-haired girl, still in her servants ap.r.o.n from her time at the mansion, was glaring at me with ruthless eyes that killed her expression .

Again, I ask you, its not like you just wanted to take me by surprise, right?

I see, so you thought there must be a trap since you got called out, so you had that wooden puppet watch your surroundings .

Marias was right, I had let Ortem observe the surroundings .

But thats not all .

Ive been focusing on you from the beginning .

When I say this, Marias eyelids react slightly .

It was a small movement, so its hard to discern, but it was probably upsetting .

Its just that she hadnt been ragged until now, even while lurking near her lord .

This is very different from Ringus, who was rather emotional .

Even if Marias was able to see through the previous actions using magic, that alone would not be enough to perfectly match the trajectory of Ringus magic and intercept him .

Since Marias magic was faster than mine, I wouldnt have been able to deviate from its trajectory by b.u.mping it normally .

I manipulated Ringus magic as I was improving it and breaking Marias magic with pinpoint accuracy .

This would have been impossible if I hadnt been able to read Mariass magic circle .

This was possible because I had kept Marias personally on alert for Asura 5000 .

Asura 5000 could handle the thought waves of the Evil Bound .

After confirming that Marias had used the magic circle, I had Asura 5000 communicate Marias magic circle technique to me through the thought wave, and then I broke the encryption of the magic circle to read its trajectory and have it hit the Ringus magic .

Since when did you suspect me?

In hindsight, it was suspicious from the beginning, but the fatal one was during the Hamelin riot .

Marias was aware of it, too, but she narrowed her eyes somewhat sullenly .

There were two points to be made during the Hamelin riot .

The first was that Hamelin was waiting for the Private Army meeting place with a demonic beast lurking there .

Second, the rendezvous point of the Private Army was far too suitable for an attack .

Therefore, I once questioned Lark because I thought that the person who proposed the private armys rendezvous point was suspicious .

At that time, Lark said that he felt as if he had made up his mind .

He probed others and got confirmation that it was indeed the lords suggestion .

But its a bit hard to imagine that Lark was deliberately trying to destroy this territory .

However, Marias would be in a position to advise Lark on the day before the meeting and guide his thoughts accordingly .

In fact, when we first met, I had seen Lark, the lord, leave the decision-making process to Marias, who was just a new servant .

It was a trivial decision, but it was a somewhat bizarre scene .

If we a.s.sume that Marias is responsible for cajoling the lord from within, then Marias actions are all suspicious .

Lark had said that Marias frequent departure from the lords mansion was to visit the grave of his father who was killed by Nalgarn .

But there was no guarantee that Marias father had really come to the vicinity of the f.a.ge territory .

Even if she had made up a suitable corpse for her father, I could no longer confirm it .

If the visit to the grave was a lie to mislead Larks eyes, then Marias had the time at her disposal to manipulate the territory .

Furthermore, just yesterday, when I happened to overhear Lark discussing the contents of the application for permission to use magic that I submitted, Lark had said this .

Since Euris took him out like that, if were indifferent, it will lead to a big loss of trust . Something, a compromise that the boy might be willing to accept Marias and Rinoa would know more about that point, so Id rather like your opinion .

He had mentioned Marias name before Rinoa, the deputy head of the Alchemy Division, as the person to consult about magic .

Obviously, shes not just a servant .

Looking back, I can even think that the reason Lark was so firm in his response to my application for permission to use magic was because Marias was consulting with him behind the scenes and guiding Lark to the extent that he wouldnt be suspicious .

If they were each one of them, it could be considered as a mere thought, but if they are all here, I have to suspect her indeed .

Even so, the reason I didnt bring my suspicions to the surface is because I dont want to become an adversary to Lark .

If I showed my suspicions, I will risk antagonizing Lark, who was being coaxed by Marias .

If I turn Lark into an enemy, I will be a drifter magician with no authority .

I would lose my foothold in the current situation .

Thats why I was waiting for Marias to produce a complete rag or give up and leave the territory, but Marias didnt produce any decisive rag .

How could you do all that and then stay by your lords side with a nonchalant look on your face?

I thought the f.a.ge territory was an authority struggle between Icarus, Ringus and Lark, but that was actually not the case .

Marias, Ringus boss, was probably using Lark and Icarus to give Ringus authority .

In effect, it was Marias one-man theater .

However, for a person who had worked so closely, there were still some questions left unanswered .

Its just our luck that we turned Hamelin against him so easily in such a deliberate place .

I only did so because I was confident that I would get it done right there, and Im a little annoyed when people say it was easy .

Marias seemed to have a surprisingly high level of pride, so she took a bite out of it .

High Priestess Marias! You hide for now, Ill buy you some time, and in the meantime .

Ringus exclaims .

Apparently, Marias is called the High Priestess .

Marias lightly sniffs her well-formed little nose and turns her hand to Ringus .

Ringus you cant even be used as a decoy against that thing . If you die here, your later plans will be a bit far-fetched . Stay away .

Wha- B-, but

Its a bit of a ha.s.sle to clean up afterward, but since you couldnt finish him off by surprise, lets have at him for real . Thats why I took the trouble to come all the way out here for that purpose . Ill lend you a little help from Levi-sama again .

Hearing Marias words, Ringus gulped .

He silently bowed his head and quickly ran backward .

Now I hadnt expected that I would be fighting a sorcerer of this cla.s.s in f.a.ge territory but to think that we would be able to crush the largest military force in the Dinrat Kingdom at this stage of the war, perhaps its a blessing . I had some doubts about the Popes leaders.h.i.+p, but in the end, it was worth it for me to go .

Its nice that you think so highly of me, but on top of that you think youve already won .

It was surprising .

When I left the Marren tribes village, I believed that there must be an enemy stronger than Greater Bear out there .

Up until now I had a series of consecutive victories, and I wondered if there was no opponent who could compete with me, and I felt a sense of loneliness and selfishness, but I never thought that the time would come when I would be declared a superior opponent .

Perhaps the reason I had gotten so involved in such a dangerous case was my pride that I could handle it, that I wouldnt get killed .

Its true that Ive been put on the back burner until now but thats because I didnt have an accurate grasp of the uncertainty that is you . Once you know, youre just a bigger obstacle .

I gasped at the pressure, anxiety and faint antic.i.p.ation I hadnt felt on my skin in a long time .

It was bad luck . If only I hadnt been sent to such a remote area, I would have become a very famous magician . If your magic power was a little lower, I would have asked you to become a believer of Levi-sama but you are dangerous to carry around like a magic bomb .

Marias points his hand at me .

In the palm of her hand, a crest emerges .

Two spears, apparently simplified versions of Levis spear, often used in the Riveras, are embedded in the crest .

Levi-sama, please lend us your power

I can feel Marias magic power swelling up .

Dont tell me thats the summoning crest of the water G.o.d Levi?

Continuing on, a large number of summoning crests appeared on Marias body and filled her skin .

Its not the equivalent of five or six bodies .

There seemed to be twenty of them lightly .

Summon .

Marias shouted .

Mariass surroundings glowed, and countless demon shadows appeared to blend in with the light .

So youve been taming spirit beasts and demons with the magic power of the water G.o.d?

If that was the case, it would make sense that they had a large number of spirit beasts subordinate to Hamelin, who was highly dangerous and difficult to capture .