novel
| ← Ch.007 | Ch.009 → |
"Gravity Reduction! Semi-Gravity! Adjust Lift! Airflow Control!"
I cast four magic spells at once as I flew towards the opposite cliff.
Magic power was stable inside the village and there would have been no need to use so much magic power just for flying. However, I was inside the forbidden region of Olympus, where magic power moved more violently than angry bulls.
In my village, I could perform flight magic that required five times more magic power and spells that were twenty times more complicated than usual in my front yard. However, if that flight magic were cast here, it would take fifty times the usual power. Simply put, with my current magic power reservoir, I wouldn't last over a kilometer.
If I were to integrate the complex algorithms that I had developed with the magic spells, it was possible to significantly reduce the consumption rate of magic power. Even so, it was still a hefty amount that would be consumed.
The rift's ten-kilometer width was so wide that it was more appropriate to call it a cliff. I was barely able to pass through it with the amount of magic power I had.
-o-
Gawain was stunned to see Denburg fly off the cliff.
If the target he was pursuing was a flying monster or demon and not his brother, he would have imbued his arrows with magic power and shot it down. However, Denburg was a target that had to be captured alive.
"Huh... Captain, he could fly like that?"
Standing next to Gawain, Mac also watched in vain as the figure flew off into the distance. He was also implying why he had not been notified of such a possibility before.
But, Gawain's answer to that question was..."I didn't know either."
It was true. Gawain was aware of his brother's ability to cast magic but had not known that he was such a great magician that he could even fly in this forest. Although his own abilities were limited to simple magic, as someone who knew the craft, he was shocked to see that Denburg could fly in this forest without using any tools.
The best magician of the village, Elder Mirpa, was also of the belief that flying outside the village was a stupid move that only idiots who would stab themselves in the head would choose.
But to think that he would fly a distance of at least ten kilometers over a rift of unknown depth...
Gawain, Mac, and the other members of the squad felt that Denburg, like Doomstone, was a monster beyond the level of a human.
"Captain! We received a message from the commander!"
Gawain took the letter from the soldier and read it.
Urgent - Assuming that Denburg will'fly' over the rift, capture him alive before he arrives at the location. Should catching up with him fail, give up the pursuit and arrive at the seventh campsite by 7 a. m. tomorrow.
Gawain felt goosebumps as he read the letter. Hestia was clearly inside the village, but she had made a correct guess based on the information he had sent.
If Gawain hadn't seen Denburg fly across the cliff, he would have marked his sister's conjecture as a ridiculous delusion. But the boy had actually flown across the cliff, and she had managed to infer that merely from the hints that he had changed his course.
"We're moving!"
"Yes!"
Gawain bitterly smiled. Although they were his siblings, they were more similar to monsters.
-o-
I could see the other end. Luckily I encountered a favorable wind during the flight and managed to cross the rift with much less magic power than I had anticipated. With the amount of magic power I could currently feel, I had roughly 25% left.
According to my calculations, I should have had less than 10% remaining and would have had to rest for a while. With this much magic power, however, I think I could go all the way to the cave and rest.
Upon landing on the opposite side of the rift, I stretched to relax my body that had become stiff from the flight. Suddenly, I sensed the presence of people in the area. They were definitely people from the village.
"Come out!" I unsheathed my sword and shouted.
The pursuit consisted of warriors and guards. Since the warriors were chasing me from the rear, the ones blocking the front were most likely guards.
A guard was a battle maniac, so they would definitely confront me if I were to pull out my sword like this.
Sure enough, three guards revealed themselves from the forest.
Only three? More importantly, how did they know I would fly over the rift?
The fact that they were here meant that Gallahad or Hestia had ordered them. My brother, except during a fight, was not smart enough to anticipate my moves a few turns in advance. It had to be my eldest sister.
Hestia's strategy should have involved Gawain following my tracks and Gallahad following the latter to form an encirclement. I reckoned Gallahad would follow the route from behind the main pursuit and form a gigantic human net. However, there were clearly people waiting for me beyond the rift. As such, there were three possibilities for this situation.
First, Hestia thought I would fly over the rift from the very start. Second, she deduced that I would fly over the rift after seeing the change in my route. And third, she was forming an encirclement but also sent some people past the rift in case I flew over it.
The second possibility was not possible. Even if it were true, there still had not been enough time to send people over the rift. Additionally, Hestia did not have the information that I had the ability to fly over the rift as well as enough information to deduce my motivations for crossing the rift.
However, it could not be the first possibility either, for it was a strategy that basically discarded the encirclement. Being a cautious person, Hestia would not have employed such a bold strategy. Even if she had, she would not have sent only three people.
The only presence I could sense right now were these three people in front of me. Thus, the third possibility was the only option remaining and these people in front of me were my sister's insurance.
In other words, their encirclement could not stop me.
"What, what is it? Why are you smiling?"
One of the guards in front of me asked in displeasure.
Oops, I think my face revealed my inner thoughts.
But what could I do? In this desperate situation, right when I thought I'd been captured, I could see a ray of hope. All I could do was apologize.
"Sorry, I have to go."
"Stop him!"
The guards frantically yelled in unison as they saw me lunging towards them.
I'm sorry, but you three can't stop me.
-o-
Gawain's message arrived at the village head's office that was currently acting as the headquarter for the pursuit. It said he had succeeded in catching up with Denburg, but the latter jumped off the cliff and flew across it.
In reality, Hestia had also been doubtful about her own premise even as she had been sending out orders. Elder Mirpa had risen to the rank of grand magician, but upon hearing this theory, he too had shaken his head in refute.
Even so, Denburg's actions were unexplainable without that theory. Besides, there had also been evidence that he may have had no choice but to take this drastic measure. Hestia had therefore confidently ordered the troops to move.
As a result, the theory that Denburg was a grand magician who surpassed Elder Mirpa and that he had a special flying spell was proven.
Well, Denburg often talked about theories and studies that didn't make sense. Hestia had once asked him how it felt to fly in the sky. He had simply lifted Hestia's body with magic in lieu of a detailed explanation. And although it was only flying to the village gate where magic power was still stabilized, she had tasted an indescribable sense.
Having been airborne for some time, she had asked her brother, "How did I fly in the sky?"
The answer was, of course, "Magic."
It was a very foolish question, but at the time, Hestia had been excited.
Rather than laugh at the question that she herself thought was stupid, Denburg explained the theories of gravity, air resistance, and levitation. Though Hestia lacked the knowledge of a magician, she had retained the deduction methods of the theories he had taught her.
No matter how brilliant a hunter may be, it wouldn't be possible to chase after tracks in the air. Since it was such, she now had to take up the baton herself.
Although she did not understand the full theory, in terms of just simple calculations, there was no reason why she could not imitate Denburg. So, based on his point of take-off she had obtained from Gawain, coupled with the data of atmospheric conditions of the forest for the last decade, she started calculating the location Denburg was most likely to land on.
Then, using Denburg's unique symbols called Korean, she repeatedly wrote and erased symbols and numbers on a black chalkboard until she had finally deduced the approximate point of touchdown.
Now, there was only one thing she could do...
It was time to utilize the insurance she had prepared just in case.
She sent off a messenger hawk.
-o-
"Youngest Master! Let's go back to the village!"
Dammit! What's happening?
This was already the fifth encounter with the pursuit squad. I'd definitely knocked out the first pursuit squad I met to prevent them from revealing my location. Since then, in case of an unexpected encounter with monsters or demons, I used the dragon's excretion as a catalyst to cast a simple spell that would prevent their approach. Even with these precautions in place, the pursuit squad kept coming after me as if they knew where I was!
Up until the encounter with the third pursuit squad, I had expected to eventually get out of this encirclement, but now I was forced to reevaluate.
What's happening? The encirclement is too tight.
At this rate, my magic power and physical strength would eventually run out and I would get caught.
What went wrong?
What did I miss?
Let's go back to the very beginning. No, I'd already crossed the rift and didn't have the magic power to return. Right after the point I crossed the rift, there were three assumptions I made.
Common sense dictated that the first assumption was wrong. Even as I thought about it again, Hestia wasn't an idiot to gamble based on her intuition when she didn't even have any valid source of information. The second assumption was honestly unlikely, but with Eldest Sister as an opponent, it was not out of the realm of possibility. But there was no evidence that she made such conjectures, and even if she did, there hadn't been enough time for her to form such a tight encirclement.
No matter how much I pondered over it, it still boiled down to the third possibility. I was almost certain...
"Hey! Don't bother me!"
I swung my sword and struck the sword of the guard who kept coming at me.
Dammit! I needed to think, but he kept bothering me by stabbing and retreating like a fly.
Like he was trying to buy time...
Wait, was he trying to buy time?
Why would he do that? With such a thick perimeter, there was no reason for him to do such a thing.
Wait, was this really a thick encirclement? It seemed like this was the part I missed.
I must think, think, think...
"You haven't formed an encirclement yet, have you?"
It was a theory. Although unproven, I spoke with a voice filled with certainty.
"!!!"
Bingo! The guards were startled by my words.
I love simple people.
| ← Ch. 007 | Ch. 009 → |