Chapter 36

Suddenly, from the right side of Rosetta who was walking at the front, a human figure donning black clothes rushed in at high speed .

The face was hidden with a mask, and held a black-bladed dagger in their hand .

The mask was the same as the ones I fought when I first met Tina .

It was the Tenebris Cult .

「Eh?」

She must have dropped her guard since we were already halfway towards the Royal Capital .

Rosetta’ reaction was delayed .

But Arti who was behind Rosetta, leapt forward in a single jump, and slashed her sword at the human figure .

If it was a regular person, that slash was too fast to dodge . However, the human figure dodged it by breaking their posture .

As Arti tried to follow-up with a second attack towards the human figure that had broken their posture, throwing knives flew towards Arti from her side .

Arti easily deflected those knives with her sword, but by that time the human figure who lost their posture was already running away .

It was wonderful teamwork .

「Eh, what just happened?」

Tina was surprised and halted her movement; at that time another human figure jumped over at her .

The weapons and appearance were the exact same as the one that attacked Rosetta .

I forced my way in between the human figure and Tina, and kicked the hand that was holding the dagger .

As I tried to pursue the human figure who flinched from the attack,

—-GOOOOOOH

A huge fireball appeared right behind us .

The colour of the fire was white and its diameter was about three meters .

I abandoned the pursuit and set up a barrier to protect my allies .

The barrier completely prevented the heat from the fireball from radiating inside .

Outside the barrier, the soil was melted by the heat and looked like magma .

It just speaks to the incredible power of the fireball . We wouldn’t have escaped unscathed without the barrier .

I looked around the surrounding, but couldn’t locate the mage who fired the magic .

The fireball was likely fired while simultaneously using presence hiding magic .

I concluded that it was a fairly high-ranking mage .

「It was quite a powerful fireball, but leave the defence against offensive magic to me . 」 I said in a loud voice to Arti and the rest .

Those who attacked with the dagger earlier were just decoys . The fireball was the real attack . They were quite well prepared .

There is no doubt that they gathered and prepared all these people after confirming that we left the academy .

In this case, it would be best to defeat the enemy mage first .

The tactic of the masked warriors seems to be to attack and withdraw; skilfully cooperating with each other and toying with the enemy .

They have amazing dexterity . Even Arti was having a hard time to cut them down .

Rosetta, who said she wasn’t suited to fighting, was now displaying good movements .

She pulled out her dagger to defend against the enemy’s slash, and nimbly hopped up and dodged another slash .

If she can increase the distance wide enough, she can shoot with her bow . It was a skilful movement .

However, the situation gets worse and worse .

The number of enemy masked warriors which was two in the beginning, have now increased to eight .

Even when I tried to help, I get attacked by the masked men .

When I try to kick them, they nimbly jump backwards and create distance .

As I tried to pursue them, another masked man aimed at Tina from behind .

Tina used a variety of offensive magic to attack the masked men, but none of it has dealt a fatal wound thus far .

They were pretty troublesome opponents who are specialised in assassination by groups .

「This is bad!」

「Calm down, this is no problem」

The moment, I shouted a response to Rosetta’s screaming voice .

A tempest magic was shot .

It is the kind of storm where you can’t stand again properly if you took it head on .

Inside that storm, magic blades were dancing boisterously . If we get caught in that, we would be sliced into fine pieces .

Although it can be prevented with a barrier, it was very large and requires a barrier in all directions .

It’s very troublesome .

I shook my right hand vigorously and shot out a tempest that was more powerful than the enemy’s .

My tempest countered the enemy’s storm, and then it entrapped the enemies inside it and minced them up .

「Gaaa」

The mage who had hidden their presence was no exception either .

They got caught in my tempest, became bloodied, and their presence was exposed .

Since I have begun counterattack with magic, I have to kill every single one of the enemies quickly .

It will be troublesome if some of them escape and bring back this information back to their base .

I used magic to find the people who were hiding nearby .

A further ten people were staying concealed . I will not let a single one escape .

I shot magic bullets at them .

「Gyaaah」

All the enemies in the vicinity, including the ones who were concealing themselves, were killed .

The moment I thought that, the fallen mage charged at me .

The mage seemed to have been playing dead .

「PIGIIII!」

Fluffy jumped off my shoulder and hit the feet of the mage .

The mage, whose legs were entangled by Fluffy, tumbled down to the front .

And the baby goat rushed there .

「MEEEEEEE!」

The mage was in a state where his feet were tied up . Thus, the baby goat served a powerful head-butt to his belly .

He could not reduce the shock by jumping back .

The rumbling sound of bones breaking can be heard and the mage fell on his back .

The mage started spouting blood from his mouth .

「Thank you, Fluffy and baby goat」

「Pigi」「Mee」

Both Fluffy and the baby goat looked happy .

I approached the mage . It is certain that he was dead .

However, he might still have some kind of clues hidden .

Just to make sure, I investigated the surroundings with magic one more time . There were no enemy survivors .

I should have left one or two of them alive to be able to interrogate them .

「I’m sorry to ask this, but please place everyone else besides this mage in one place」

「Understood!」「Yes」「Alright」

Rosetta, Arti and Tina, promptly started moving .

The baby goat and Fluffy curiously followed me .

I removed the mask off of the mage . His face was covered in the vomited blood before .

I already knew he was dead when I checked with magic, but due to habit, I checked for a pulse in the neck .

There was no pulse at all; the heartbeat and breathing were completely stopped .

So, I investigated inside the pocket for weapons and belongings .

「There is nothing useful…」

The weapon was likely doused in poison at an ordinary store . Even the poison which was used is a common rat poison that was sold in normal stores .

There was nothing special about any of his other belongings either .

Even the mask is manufactured with a black cloth which can be bought at any store . They were thorough in not leaving behind any clues .

「Arti, in such cases, what do you do with the corpses?」

Such cases mean cases after which they fight with the Tenebris Cult .

「If there doesn’t seem to be anything that can serve as a clue, you can just burn it」

As I gave up and tried to burn the corpses, the mage’s corpse began to bounce and enlarge .