The Mage Will Master Magic Efficiently In His Second Life - Chapter 161-2

 – – The third day of hunting Dark Zells.

The number of Dark Zells in the area around Nanami Town has been dwindling at a fast rate.

Initially, we would chance upon the Dark Zells even without much effort put into searching for them. However, now it takes some time before we can find one. It seemed like the Dark Zells were purposely gathered around here.

「Hey Zeph, looks like you’re working hard today too.」

We had just defeated a Dark Zell close to town and was in the midst of letting Shirushu search for the next prey, when a voice was heard from behind us.

When we turned around, Oaks was standing there.

「…Oh what, it’s just Oaks.」

「Hey hey. What a cold response to a friend who came all the way to meet you.」

Hold on, when did we even become friends?

Oaks ignored the astounded look on my face and turned to face the girls.

「Hello, ‘lady’?」

Oaks winked at Milly and Shirushu, and they greeted him politely while being slightly wary of him.

「…Hello, I am Milly.」

「My name is Shirushu.」

「Thank you for your courtesy. I am Oaks, a Holy Knight.」

「Ah…」

「That Holy Knight huh…」

Seeing Oaks smiling merrily, the two ladies seemed to sense that something was off.

Oaks distanced himself from them, then he approached me and beckoned me to lend him my ear.

「Hey hey Zeph, including that lady from the other day, aren’t you usually… surrounded by such beautiful ladies like them, eh? Why don’t you introduce just one of them to me?」

「Nope.」

「W-what an immediate rejection…」

「Then, excuse us, we’re in a hurry.」

I turned my back to Oaks, which was frozen in place. Then, I took Milly and Shirushu and teleported away.

「…Is that fine, Zeph? Is it okay to ignore that person…?」

「Don’t mind it. More importantly, Shirushu, did you find the location of the next Dark Zell?」

「Erm… There is a weak scent drifting over from the other side of those rocky mountains.」

「Hmm, that’s quite far away.」

The Dark Zell from a moment ago was close to the town, but this time it is quite far away.

I cast Teleport and found a Dark Zell when we went deep into the rocky mountain range.

「Let’s do this, Milly, Shirushu.」

「Yeah!」

「Yes!」

　　　　◆　◆　◆

Ilga watched and Zeph’s group teleported away, and grinned to himself.

That Dark Zell was the bait that was meant to lure Zeph’s group away from the vicinity of Nanami Town.

After all, the Beastfolk with an acute sense of smell and their high battle prowess was the biggest hindrance to the group of bandits.

During the night, the herd of Dark Zells was led to a field of Carna grass, which had the effect of erasing scents. Several other Dark Zells were then used to lure Zeph’s group to a faraway place.

(It’s a simple plan because we didn’t have much time… but it looks like it went well.)

While Zeph’s group was away from the town, a detached troop was on standby at the field of Carna grass. The plan is then to use the Dark Zells there to attack the town, then plunder the money and goods while the town is deserted.

(Alright, I think it’s about time?)

After confirming that Zeph’s group had teleported far away, Ilga initiated contact via telepathy to relay the message to his companions.

《This is Ilga. Can you hear me?》

However, there was no reply.

Ilga thought that it was odd, so he contacted other members of the bandits by telepathy.

《This is Ilga, please respond!… Hey, Arek! Stein! Goering! Please respond!》

No matter how many times he called out, or who he contacted by telepathy, no one answered.

(Damn it, what’s going on!? After all the effort we put into getting those guys off our back, if they come back now we’ll be in trouble. We’re racing against time here… Huh!?)

What caught his eyes was a black object in the direction of the field.

Ilga was astonished as he stared fixedly at the object that was still growing bigger by the minute… It was a Dark Zell.

However, its size was far greater than any other Dark Zell he has ever seen.

「W-what’s that…!?」

Ilga’s jaw dropped. At that moment, a voice resounded in his head. It was the voice of the leader of the detached troop, Zefald.

《Hey, can you hear me, Ilga?》

《Y-yes…》

《…By the sound of your voice, I guess you’ve seen that huh?》

By that, of course, he was referring to that gigantic Dark Zell.

Ilga was still unable to take in the situation, while Zefald continued.

《Listen carefully. Remember that herd of black-colored Zell that we gathered the other day? After we gathered a certain number of them, they suddenly began to combine.》

《C-combine… you say…? Don’t tell me that the guys were unreachable because they were eaten by that gigantic Dark Zell…》

《Nah, don’t worry. Everyone is in the middle of running for their lives right now. The gigantic Dark Zell moves pretty slowly, so it’s not that difficult to escape from it.》

To be able to direct everyone, Zefald was on higher ground with a few of his men, so that he could get a clear view of the whole area.

If that Zefald said that things were fine, then they should be.

Ilga felt relieved while Zefald continued to speak.

《Although we did not foresee this happening, this situation is still favorable for us. That gigantic Dark Zell is heading towards Nanami Town as we planned. We’ll aim for the time when the townsfolk evacuates.》

A sense of uneasiness welled up in Ilga.

He had a really bad feeling about the situation.

Ilga’s hunch had always proven to be right thus far. This time, when Ilga experienced the same chills as before, he objected without further thought.

《…That gigantic Dark Zell is suspicious. We don’t know what it would do, and it could be dangerous if we went along with the plan and let it attack the town…》

《You moron! If we ran away here, those henchmen won’t keep quiet after all the work you made them do! Even if it might be dangerous, we’ve got no choice but to do it!》

《– – Tch.》

Indeed, he’s right. After having the henchman take up the dangerous role of luring the Dark Zell, if we ran away with our tail between our legs and later tell them that there is no reward, the henchmen would surely go into a rampage and get out of hand.

If that happened, the subordinates would surely have doubts about Zefald’s qualifications as their leader.

Since we’ve already come this far, we can’t pull out. Ilga also knew that well.

《…I understand. Just in case, I’ll head towards the town too.》

《That would be helpful.》

With a short reply, communication with Zefald was cut off.

He was probably on his way towards Nanami Town too.

Zefald had been taking care of Ilga after all, and if this bandit group were to get crushed, Ilga would have to find a place to go next.

(At the very least, I should return the favor for the times he had taken care of me.)

Ilga pulled his hood over his eyes and teleported towards Nanami Town which the gigantic Dark Zell was drawing near to.

　　　　◆　◆　◆

「All right, all right.」

「Guh… Ugh…!」

Gradually, the red color faded from Shirushu’s hair.

In the past few days, Shirushu had to undergo Beast transformation multiple times.

Her control over the Beast state had improved greatly, and she was now able to get in and out of the Beast state in a shorter time than before. Even in battle, she could afford to pay attention to our needs.

「Fuu, haa…」

Shirushu inhaled deeply and exhaled as she gently brushed her pale, pink hair. Her cheeks were flushed and perspiration trickled down her forehead.

「Good work, Shirushu.」

「Thank you very much, Milly-san.」

Milly held out a towel for Shirushu, which she took to wipe the perspiration off her face and neck. Suddenly, Milly seemed to notice something as she abruptly turned to look eastward.

「Milly-san?」

「Something’s coming…」

Shirushu and I were drawn in by her statement and also looked in the same direction.

At a place further out from the distant Nanami Town, there was something. It was faint, but there was unmistakably something big and black.

It was so far away that I could only vaguely see it, but I could already feel its terrifying magic power.

This feeling was the same as that time when I was attacked by the black monster in the air.

「…Hurry, we’re returning to Nanami Town now.」

「Uruk!」

Milly cast Summon Servant to call out her familiar, Uruk.

From the light emerged a horse with wings and a horn.

Milly jumped onto its back and snapped the reins.

「I will go ahead and check out the situation!」

「Ah, if the town is in a panic, please lead the people to evacuate!」

「Please be careful, Milly-san!」

「Leave it to me!」

「Neeeigh!!」

With a high-pitched cry, Uruk flapped his large wings and soared to the skies.

While seeing Milly off, I took Shirushu’s hand and cast Teleport.

「…At any rate, isn’t that Dark Zell much bigger than normal?」

The closer we got to Nanami Town, the better we were able to see that gigantic Zell.

It looked like… a Dark Zell, but it was even bigger than the fort around the town.

People were scrambling to escape from the town as they all rushed towards the gate.

Milly had probably directed them there. Even from here, I could see her in the air, calling for people to evacuate.

「Uu, there’s a really awful smell…」

「For now, let’s just enter the town.」

Inside, the town was completely deserted and the stone pavements were damp with something like black sludge. Due to that, it was sticky and difficult to run.

The terrible stench, like the smell of rotten eggs, assaulted my nose.

「Ugh… I’m starting to feel sick…」

Shirushu’s face turned blue as she covered her mouth with her hand. For a Beastfolk who has a good sense of smell, Shirushu was probably having a hard time.

「Shirushu, please look around the town to check if there’s anyone who did not manage to escape in time!」

「W-what… Don’t tell me, you’re going to fight that gigantic monster alone, Zeph-san…?」

「Don’t worry, Milly is around too anyway.」

「…Best of luck.」

I bid farewell to Shirushu, then ran towards the black monster in the distance.