MAEPG: Episode 24
Episode 24 Hahoe Mask (2)
Heinz the Second was traveling smoothly with the siblings.
He concealed his energy and rarely intervened, and he hired mercenaries with the abundant money he had to guide and protect them.
“Ugh… M-monster…”
Of course, there were some who turned into bandits along the way.
It couldn’t be helped in this world.
“Tsk, what a waste.”
I detached myself from the last mercenary’s neck and threw his withered corpse to the side.
There were already several corpses in the same condition piled up there.
I wiped the blood from my mouth, adjusted my clothes, and then turned around and left the bushes.
“Ah! Mister! Are you done?”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
I put the siblings, who were waiting by the wagon, inside and sat in the driver’s seat, taking the reins.
I had learned from Walter, the driver I had hired at first, and now I could handle the horses to some extent on my own.
It was the result of practicing whenever I had time.
‘The mercenaries I hired this time were a bust. It can’t be helped, considering how bad public order is.’
Even seemingly decent mercenaries could turn into bandits at any moment once they left the city.
It was fortunate that nothing had happened so far.
‘But thanks to that, I was able to suck blood after a long time. I could have endured longer, but it’s better to suck blood whenever I get the chance since my power is restricted.’
Especially guys like these, who habitually killed their clients and stole their belongings, didn’t deserve any mercy.
‘We’re heading east for now, but… I can’t keep doing this forever. I need to start thinking about what to do.’
We were currently in the remote western part of the continent, so we could travel without being detected, but I didn’t know what might happen in the future.
As I was driving the horses, lost in thought, I glanced back.
The bushes where I had been a moment ago.
A black shadow flickered for a moment.
Heinz the Second was traveling smoothly with the siblings.
He concealed his energy and rarely intervened, and he hired mercenaries with the abundant money he had to guide and protect them.
“Ugh… M-monster…”
Of course, there were some who turned into bandits along the way.
It couldn’t be helped in this world.
“Tsk, what a waste.”
I detached myself from the last mercenary’s neck and threw his withered corpse to the side.
There were already several corpses in the same condition piled up there.
I wiped the blood from my mouth, adjusted my clothes, and then turned around and left the bushes.
“Ah! Mister! Are you done?”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
I put the siblings, who were waiting by the wagon, inside and sat in the driver’s seat, taking the reins.
I had learned from Walter, the driver I had hired at first, and now I could handle the horses to some extent on my own.
It was the result of practicing whenever I had time.
‘The mercenaries I hired this time were a bust. It can’t be helped, considering how bad public order is.’
Even seemingly decent mercenaries could turn into bandits at any moment once they left the city.
It was fortunate that nothing had happened so far.
‘But thanks to that, I was able to suck blood after a long time. I could have endured longer, but it’s better to suck blood whenever I get the chance since my power is restricted.’
Especially guys like these, who habitually killed their clients and stole their belongings, didn’t deserve any mercy.
‘We’re heading east for now, but… I can’t keep doing this forever. I need to start thinking about what to do.’
We were currently in the remote western part of the continent, so we could travel without being detected, but I didn’t know what might happen in the future.
As I was driving the horses, lost in thought, I glanced back.
The bushes where I had been a moment ago.
A black shadow flickered for a moment.
___________________
[Hmm, the quality of a blood-drained corpse is quite low.]
It must be because even the energy that would have been used for transformation after becoming an undead had been taken.
Hans looked at the four skeletons standing in front of him, stored them in his subspace, and turned around.
They were low-level, but they were better than nothing.
[I’ve bought some time by coming to this world, so I should find a quiet place and delve into the mysteries of magic.]
I didn’t need to eat or sleep.
I didn’t need any metabolism, so I could devote all my time to researching magic.
I floated my body and headed deep into the forest.
Actually, the monster forest where I first encountered the dark mages would be better if I was looking for a place with no people.
But that place…
‘I feel like I’ll run into vampires or dark mages. It’s better to seclude myself in a nameless mountain far away so I can research in peace.’
I chose a cave located deep inside and settled down there.
I politely asked the residents who were already living there to leave, but they refused to budge, so I had no choice but to turn them all into undead.
And so, the goblins, reborn as undead, cleaned the inside of the cave, including the urine they had peed while refusing to leave.
I didn’t have a sense of smell, but it was still better to have a clean place.
[I need to set up a barrier. I’m always wearing a concealment field, but it’s better to be more thorough.]
I used all the knowledge I had newly learned, including concealment barriers that hid dark magic power, to hide the hideout.
I wouldn’t be staying long, but the vampires, who had been badly burned by Hans, would be grinding their teeth.
If they were True Bloods, there was a possibility that they would chase after me using methods I didn’t know.
[…Done. This should be enough.]
I meticulously set up barriers, including external intrusion detection, dark magic power concealment, illusions, perception inhibition, cognitive distortion, and loss of direction.
No one would be able to get near it unless they were at a considerable level.
I sat down in the middle of the cave and focused.
‘First, let’s analyze the magic.’
Thus, the real research began.
[Hmm, the quality of a blood-drained corpse is quite low.]
It must be because even the energy that would have been used for transformation after becoming an undead had been taken.
Hans looked at the four skeletons standing in front of him, stored them in his subspace, and turned around.
They were low-level, but they were better than nothing.
[I’ve bought some time by coming to this world, so I should find a quiet place and delve into the mysteries of magic.]
I didn’t need to eat or sleep.
I didn’t need any metabolism, so I could devote all my time to researching magic.
I floated my body and headed deep into the forest.
Actually, the monster forest where I first encountered the dark mages would be better if I was looking for a place with no people.
But that place…
‘I feel like I’ll run into vampires or dark mages. It’s better to seclude myself in a nameless mountain far away so I can research in peace.’
I chose a cave located deep inside and settled down there.
I politely asked the residents who were already living there to leave, but they refused to budge, so I had no choice but to turn them all into undead.
And so, the goblins, reborn as undead, cleaned the inside of the cave, including the urine they had peed while refusing to leave.
I didn’t have a sense of smell, but it was still better to have a clean place.
[I need to set up a barrier. I’m always wearing a concealment field, but it’s better to be more thorough.]
I used all the knowledge I had newly learned, including concealment barriers that hid dark magic power, to hide the hideout.
I wouldn’t be staying long, but the vampires, who had been badly burned by Hans, would be grinding their teeth.
If they were True Bloods, there was a possibility that they would chase after me using methods I didn’t know.
[…Done. This should be enough.]
I meticulously set up barriers, including external intrusion detection, dark magic power concealment, illusions, perception inhibition, cognitive distortion, and loss of direction.
No one would be able to get near it unless they were at a considerable level.
I sat down in the middle of the cave and focused.
‘First, let’s analyze the magic.’
Thus, the real research began.
___________________
Azantu.
It was a city that had been under the control of the vampire clan Brokoslack until recently, but now it was occupied by the Main God Church.
However, the Church couldn’t directly occupy the territory of another kingdom.
They requested the Talia Kingdom to station their army and conducted an investigation with their cooperation.
In the process, the city’s leaders, who had been under the influence of vampires, were arrested one after another.
Of course, the gangs in the back alleys were no exception.
Clank, clank
A holy knight in pure white armor walked through a passage and headed towards the basement.
It was a place where traces of battle were left everywhere.
“Archbishop Latiaus.”
The holy knight, arriving at the basement, softly called out to the middle-aged man standing still inside.
“You’ve arrived, Sir Tuskin. How are things going?”
“Yes, we’re in the final stages of tracking down the remaining vampires. The kingdom’s soldiers have been a great help.”
An unexpected clash with the vampire clan.
They had succeeded in killing most of the vampires through encirclement, but they had also suffered considerable damage, and some, including a True Blood, had escaped.
Later, while investigating the traces, they learned that they weren’t on the same side as the Immortal King’s descendant, but since vampires were also clearly evil, it didn’t change anything.
The problem, however, was their purpose.
“Our goal is to prevent the resurrection of the Immortal King. We couldn’t just ignore the evil in front of us, so we intervened, but it’s time to move again. He must be building his power even at this moment.”
They were a unit organized to stop the Immortal King in the first place.
They were currently tracking down the vampires after discovering their traces while investigating Azantu City in pursuit of his whereabouts, but they couldn’t spend all their time here.
“Of course. But right now, we can’t grasp his whereabouts. We have no choice but to wait until the Saintess contacts us again.”
They had suddenly lost all trace of him.
They had no choice but to wait here.
Of course, that didn’t mean they were just taking down the remaining vampires.
“But fortunately, we’ve had some success. The trail of the bastard, starting from that small village in the western monster forest. And the things he did in this city.”
Latiaus had been focusing on reading the memories left on the ground using holy magic in places where his traces were strong.
As time passed and under the influence of magic power, they became fragmented and faint, making it impossible to grasp them perfectly.
But he could clearly confirm some parts.
‘My name is Hans.’
‘Remember this. I am Hans of Oath of Heaven’s Defiance!’
A being wearing a strange mask, exuding an ominous aura from his entire body.
A gloomy voice that seemed to echo from hell.
The imposing figure wielding undead and dark magic.
Hans, the descendant of the Immortal King.
‘It won’t go your way, Hans! I will stop you, even if it means burning this body to ashes!’
Archbishop Latiaus clenched his fists and strengthened his resolve.
Wooong—
At that moment, the holy symbol hanging around his neck vibrated.
“This is… Sir Tuskin, please excuse me for a moment.”
“Don’t worry, Archbishop.”
As Tuskin gripped the hilt of his sword and started to guard the surroundings, he immediately knelt down, held the holy symbol in both hands, closed his eyes, and prayed.
[Archbishop Latiaus. Can you hear me?]
[Yes, Saintess.]
The Saintess’s voice, which should be at the headquarters, echoed in his head.
It was an ultra-long-distance communication holy magic using the holy symbol as a medium.
[We’ve detected the Immortal King’s energy again. It’s faint, but… I think I can grasp the direction.]
[That’s truly fortunate! I’ve also had some success while investigating here.]
The Saintess and the Archbishop exchanged information through communication.
[…I see. Hans. He’s growing faster than expected. We formed a subjugation force as soon as we confirmed his appearance, but he’s already at that level…]
[We can’t waste any more time. We’ll start tracking him again immediately.]
[Then I’ll leave it to you, Archbishop. I’ll keep an eye on him too, in case he disappears again.]
Wooong—
The communication ended with their greetings.
He stood up and looked at Tuskin, who was guarding him.
“Sir Tuskin, prepare for departure. The Saintess has located him.”
“…That’s truly fortunate! As expected of the Saintess.”
“We can’t pinpoint his exact location yet, perhaps because of some trick he used, but we know the general area, so we can search around there. The rest is up to us.”
“I’ll prepare immediately.”
Tuskin, the Paladin, hurriedly left to organize the troops.
Latiaus looked around for a moment.
The place where his traces remained.
Clench—
‘This time, for sure!’
He clenched his fist once more, strengthening his resolve.
Azantu.
It was a city that had been under the control of the vampire clan Brokoslack until recently, but now it was occupied by the Main God Church.
However, the Church couldn’t directly occupy the territory of another kingdom.
They requested the Talia Kingdom to station their army and conducted an investigation with their cooperation.
In the process, the city’s leaders, who had been under the influence of vampires, were arrested one after another.
Of course, the gangs in the back alleys were no exception.
Clank, clank
A holy knight in pure white armor walked through a passage and headed towards the basement.
It was a place where traces of battle were left everywhere.
“Archbishop Latiaus.”
The holy knight, arriving at the basement, softly called out to the middle-aged man standing still inside.
“You’ve arrived, Sir Tuskin. How are things going?”
“Yes, we’re in the final stages of tracking down the remaining vampires. The kingdom’s soldiers have been a great help.”
An unexpected clash with the vampire clan.
They had succeeded in killing most of the vampires through encirclement, but they had also suffered considerable damage, and some, including a True Blood, had escaped.
Later, while investigating the traces, they learned that they weren’t on the same side as the Immortal King’s descendant, but since vampires were also clearly evil, it didn’t change anything.
The problem, however, was their purpose.
“Our goal is to prevent the resurrection of the Immortal King. We couldn’t just ignore the evil in front of us, so we intervened, but it’s time to move again. He must be building his power even at this moment.”
They were a unit organized to stop the Immortal King in the first place.
They were currently tracking down the vampires after discovering their traces while investigating Azantu City in pursuit of his whereabouts, but they couldn’t spend all their time here.
“Of course. But right now, we can’t grasp his whereabouts. We have no choice but to wait until the Saintess contacts us again.”
They had suddenly lost all trace of him.
They had no choice but to wait here.
Of course, that didn’t mean they were just taking down the remaining vampires.
“But fortunately, we’ve had some success. The trail of the bastard, starting from that small village in the western monster forest. And the things he did in this city.”
Latiaus had been focusing on reading the memories left on the ground using holy magic in places where his traces were strong.
As time passed and under the influence of magic power, they became fragmented and faint, making it impossible to grasp them perfectly.
But he could clearly confirm some parts.
‘My name is Hans.’
‘Remember this. I am Hans of Oath of Heaven’s Defiance!’
A being wearing a strange mask, exuding an ominous aura from his entire body.
A gloomy voice that seemed to echo from hell.
The imposing figure wielding undead and dark magic.
Hans, the descendant of the Immortal King.
‘It won’t go your way, Hans! I will stop you, even if it means burning this body to ashes!’
Archbishop Latiaus clenched his fists and strengthened his resolve.
Wooong—
At that moment, the holy symbol hanging around his neck vibrated.
“This is… Sir Tuskin, please excuse me for a moment.”
“Don’t worry, Archbishop.”
As Tuskin gripped the hilt of his sword and started to guard the surroundings, he immediately knelt down, held the holy symbol in both hands, closed his eyes, and prayed.
[Archbishop Latiaus. Can you hear me?]
[Yes, Saintess.]
The Saintess’s voice, which should be at the headquarters, echoed in his head.
It was an ultra-long-distance communication holy magic using the holy symbol as a medium.
[We’ve detected the Immortal King’s energy again. It’s faint, but… I think I can grasp the direction.]
[That’s truly fortunate! I’ve also had some success while investigating here.]
The Saintess and the Archbishop exchanged information through communication.
[…I see. Hans. He’s growing faster than expected. We formed a subjugation force as soon as we confirmed his appearance, but he’s already at that level…]
[We can’t waste any more time. We’ll start tracking him again immediately.]
[Then I’ll leave it to you, Archbishop. I’ll keep an eye on him too, in case he disappears again.]
Wooong—
The communication ended with their greetings.
He stood up and looked at Tuskin, who was guarding him.
“Sir Tuskin, prepare for departure. The Saintess has located him.”
“…That’s truly fortunate! As expected of the Saintess.”
“We can’t pinpoint his exact location yet, perhaps because of some trick he used, but we know the general area, so we can search around there. The rest is up to us.”
“I’ll prepare immediately.”
Tuskin, the Paladin, hurriedly left to organize the troops.
Latiaus looked around for a moment.
The place where his traces remained.
Clench—
‘This time, for sure!’
He clenched his fist once more, strengthening his resolve.
___________________
Hans had been holed up for a week.
He was making some progress, as it was closer to disassembling and reassembling magic rather than creating something from nothing.
He occasionally caught wild animals and tested them on them, focusing on his research.
Tenth day.
He was overjoyed, saying he had finally completed it, but when he tested it on animals, the stealth was too low.
Not only did dark magic power leak out, but their eyes turned bright red, so anyone could tell something was wrong, so he started working on improvements.
Two weeks.
The problem was that the stability dropped too much because he reduced the activation magic power during the improvement process.
But if he stabilized it, the contagious effect disappeared, so he had to rack his brains for a while.
Three weeks.
[Grrr— Click! Crack!]
I was grinding my teeth hard.
Black aura billowed from my entire body.
If I hadn’t set up a barrier beforehand, it would have been dangerous, as I was emitting energy to a level that could have caused trouble.
‘Now I understand why programmers grind their teeth over debugging.’
If I fixed one thing, another problem would arise, and I would be happy that a problem was solved without me even touching it, only for it to explode all at once during the final stages.
It was truly a time of perseverance.
Heinz had passed through several villages and cities and reached the heart of the kingdom, but whenever I focused my mental power on Hans, he would often be in a daze.
Every time that happened, the siblings were so worried that I had to moderately adjust Heinz’s share.
‘Anyway, this is really the end…! Really, the last time!’
I left the cave to test the final version of the ‘Contagious Familiar Magic’, tentatively named ‘Contagious Familiar Magic Final_Revised_2nd_FINAL(3)_ReallyTheLast’.
It was to catch an animal and use it directly.
After luring a few flying birds with charm magic, I cast the magic I wanted to test and released them.
‘So far, so good. Now I just have to wait and see the results…’
As I waited, I could feel the links connecting one by one due to the contagious effect.
I could adjust the number of connected individuals.
There was no point in having multiple individuals gathered in the same place, and it would only waste magic power.
As I was conducting the experiment, maintaining the magic at appropriate intervals, I felt something strange.
‘What is it? I don’t feel anything particularly strange with the detection magic?’
The movements of the animals under the Familiar spell were strange.
They were supposed to move normally except when sending me information, but their current movements were as if…
‘Are they scared? All the animals I sent out in all directions? Of what?’
While casting the spell on the animals for the experiment, I had set the trigger for sending information to ‘when encountering a monster’.
But the fact that the animals were scared without sending any information meant…
‘Don’t tell me?’
I hurriedly changed the trigger.
To ‘when encountering a human’.
Buzz—
Information was transmitted simultaneously from all directions.
‘How? I didn’t detect anything with the detection magic!’
The information the animals sent.
A group of invisible beings were surrounding the area and slowly approaching.
Hans had been holed up for a week.
He was making some progress, as it was closer to disassembling and reassembling magic rather than creating something from nothing.
He occasionally caught wild animals and tested them on them, focusing on his research.
Tenth day.
He was overjoyed, saying he had finally completed it, but when he tested it on animals, the stealth was too low.
Not only did dark magic power leak out, but their eyes turned bright red, so anyone could tell something was wrong, so he started working on improvements.
Two weeks.
The problem was that the stability dropped too much because he reduced the activation magic power during the improvement process.
But if he stabilized it, the contagious effect disappeared, so he had to rack his brains for a while.
Three weeks.
[Grrr— Click! Crack!]
I was grinding my teeth hard.
Black aura billowed from my entire body.
If I hadn’t set up a barrier beforehand, it would have been dangerous, as I was emitting energy to a level that could have caused trouble.
‘Now I understand why programmers grind their teeth over debugging.’
If I fixed one thing, another problem would arise, and I would be happy that a problem was solved without me even touching it, only for it to explode all at once during the final stages.
It was truly a time of perseverance.
Heinz had passed through several villages and cities and reached the heart of the kingdom, but whenever I focused my mental power on Hans, he would often be in a daze.
Every time that happened, the siblings were so worried that I had to moderately adjust Heinz’s share.
‘Anyway, this is really the end…! Really, the last time!’
I left the cave to test the final version of the ‘Contagious Familiar Magic’, tentatively named ‘Contagious Familiar Magic Final_Revised_2nd_FINAL(3)_ReallyTheLast’.
It was to catch an animal and use it directly.
After luring a few flying birds with charm magic, I cast the magic I wanted to test and released them.
‘So far, so good. Now I just have to wait and see the results…’
As I waited, I could feel the links connecting one by one due to the contagious effect.
I could adjust the number of connected individuals.
There was no point in having multiple individuals gathered in the same place, and it would only waste magic power.
As I was conducting the experiment, maintaining the magic at appropriate intervals, I felt something strange.
‘What is it? I don’t feel anything particularly strange with the detection magic?’
The movements of the animals under the Familiar spell were strange.
They were supposed to move normally except when sending me information, but their current movements were as if…
‘Are they scared? All the animals I sent out in all directions? Of what?’
While casting the spell on the animals for the experiment, I had set the trigger for sending information to ‘when encountering a monster’.
But the fact that the animals were scared without sending any information meant…
‘Don’t tell me?’
I hurriedly changed the trigger.
To ‘when encountering a human’.
Buzz—
Information was transmitted simultaneously from all directions.
‘How? I didn’t detect anything with the detection magic!’
The information the animals sent.
A group of invisible beings were surrounding the area and slowly approaching.
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