Chapter 38
The arrows weren't coming only from Kaian's front.
They approached from every direction and at different speeds.
Perhaps the dark elves were using some unusual kind of bow.
There was almost no sound as the arrows flew.
Interesting.
Between [Shadow Song] and this, the dark elves seemed to use some surprisingly original magic.
Two unfamiliar types of magic in a single day!
Thump. Thump.
Joy surged through him.
And the feeling that those two spells wouldn't be the end of it made Kaian even happier.
He laughed brightly.
"That's it! Show me! Even bugs can do interesting things!"
Kaian pulled up his mana again.
Finn, wrapped in turquoise light, shot out of the pocket on his chest.
Flutter! Flash!
Their eyes met.
Kaian immediately cast the spell.
"[Shape Shift, Tempest Eagle.]"
Whoosh!
Finn instantly transformed into a giant eagle.
Almost at the same time, Kaian silently cast another spell.
One that searched his subspace for a desired item and brought it directly to him.
[Quick Draw.]
Whoosh!
A large, sturdy perch flew out of the subspace bag at his waist and landed neatly in Kaian's hand.
Finn, now transformed into the Tempest Eagle, flapped in place and firmly gripped the perch with both feet.
Whoom! Whoom!
Meanwhile, Kaian studied the arrows that had gotten even closer.
Whoooosh...
A translucent purple liquid coated the tips.
Hmm. Looks like poison, but I don't know what kind.
His collecting instinct awakened.
Kaian loved moments like this during battle.
Changes.
Discoveries.
Sudden inspiration.
They thrilled him enough to make his body tremble.
A mage's time was longer and more complicated than everyone else's.
But it was also infinitely more colorful.
It was the only time Kaian truly felt free.
Ahh. This really is the best.
The beauty of changing things gently stirred his heart.
Pleasant desire urged his lips forward.
Whoooosh...
The arrows had already reached him.
Finn, in the form of the Tempest Eagle, flapped impatiently as though scolding him.
Flap! Flap! Whoom!
"All right. Let's go."
Kaian expertly hung from the perch.
Then he whispered a spell so short it felt like part of a dream.
"[Soar.]"
The arrows coming from every direction passed harmlessly through empty air.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The eyes of the squad members drawing their next arrows trembled.
"...!"
To them, Kaian seemed to have suddenly vanished from the sky.
None of them could understand exactly what had happened.
But they had no time to analyze it.
The enormous Tempest Eagle was diving directly toward their squad.
Shoooooosh!
And hanging upside down from the perch beneath the Tempest Eagle...
Was the Reaper.
With his knees hooked over the perch, Kaian drew a bow while hanging upside down.
"Hey! Your arrows are pretty nice! Let me have some!"
The scene was utterly unreal.
Normally, anyone would need time to understand and accept what they were seeing.
Unfortunately for them, mercy was not one of the Reaper's virtues.
The squad members shouted instinctively.
"A-a bow! Dodge!"
Even while shouting, confusion flashed through their minds.
We're using [Stealth]. How does he know where to shoot?
That wasn't the most important question right now.
Surviving came first.
"Down!"
"Hide!"
Among the squad members was one particularly unlucky dark elf.
He had felt unusually good today.
Until the hunt began, he had believed that excellent condition was a blessing.
My accuracy will be higher.
My evasion should be faster too.
But now...
He cursed his excellent eyesight.
Because thanks to it, he could clearly see the five arrows drawn in the Reaper's hand.
That's... That's an actual Reaper.
The overwhelming sight froze his legs as if magic had bound them.
Then his eyes met Kaian's.
"Huh? You saw me?"
"Fu..."
"Give me your arrows and I won't eat you."
The Reaper of the Forest smiled beautifully, full of anticipation.
Then he released the bowstring.
Shoooosh! Thud!
"Urgh!"
Kaian heard groans from several other directions.
Apparently the other four arrows had also hit.
His hearing had been enhanced by [Double Enhance].
Then [Second Eyes] confirmed that the mana signatures of those targets had completely vanished.
Kaian grew even more excited.
His [Multi Control] was working perfectly in real combat.
Great combination!
He immediately nocked five more arrows.
Then he cast another spell without chanting.
[Attraction Shot, Arrow.]
Swish!
Swish!
Shoooosh!
The arrows shot in five different directions.
Each pierced a target's heart.
Their accuracy was so precise that it looked as though magnets connected the arrows to their targets.
That was the effect of [Attraction Shot].
[Attraction Shot] was a spell that made an attack pursue a designated target.
It was most commonly used with ranged weapons.
But how could Kaian designate someone currently using [Stealth]?
A proud smile spread across his face.
Well... I can actually see them a little.
It wasn't because he had simply enhanced his eyesight.
The key was [Second Eyes].
The spell analyzed mana flow within a twenty-kilometer radius.
Whenever Kaian used it, he could see tiny distortions in the locations where the dark elves were hiding.
At the center of each distortion was a black point.
Kaian guessed that point was the place where mana was most concentrated.
In other words...
The heart, where the Imaginary World was rooted.
He designated that point as the target for [Attraction Shot].
He doubted his prediction was wrong.
Still, arrogance and carelessness are always worth guarding against.
Kaian prepared another safety mechanism for more accurate attacks.
Most mages had one element among the five types of mana with which they felt especially comfortable.
An affinity.
If someone had an affinity, they could materialize that type of mana more easily and control it more naturally.
And ninety-five percent of elves have an affinity for wood mana.
Mana of the same attribute also naturally attracted one another.
So Kaian limited the material of his arrows to only one thing.
Wood mana.
"Custom-made elf arrows, you bastards!"
The special arrows were made by compressing large amounts of wood mana gathered from Vernas Forest.
They flew as though drawn toward the dark elves, who also materialized and used wood mana.
Swish! Swish! Shoooosh!
The squad members' hearts were pierced one after another.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Using [Double Enhance] and [Second Eyes], Kaian confirmed each falling enemy.
The extra safety mechanism works too.
I'll remember this and use it again later.
At the same time, Sarvel was also noticing the squad's numbers disappearing in real time.
Each time a connection through [Mind Link] broke, it felt like a thin spear piercing his temple.
Five.
Ten.
Fifteen... Twenty-five?
An entire squad disappeared from one movement by the Reaper?
Sarvel focused harder on [Mind Link], desperately hoping it was a mistake.
The number of vanished squad members didn't change.
Stay calm. We still have plenty of squads left.
Sarvel forced himself to remain composed.
[Do not panic! Second Squad, take out the short spears! Continue the plan. We focus only on exhausting his mana matter!]
The squad reorganized at their leader's order.
This time, dark elves with magic circles drawn over their arms and legs moved to the front.
They were still using [Stealth], so Kaian couldn't see their bodies directly.
But he could see that the distortions marking their locations had become much stronger.
"What? Their mana got stronger. Magic circles? Or potions?"
Magic circles seemed more likely.
Kaian had heard that dark elf elders were skilled with them.
And even the cheapest low-grade mana potion cost at least one gold.
Way too expensive for dark elves to waste casually.
Kaian remembered how shocked he'd been when he first learned the market prices of different potions.
At the time, he'd wondered why anyone would buy potions when expanding their Imaginary World was far cheaper.
Honestly, I still don't understand.
Magic circles were different.
A magic circle was a device that activated a predetermined spell when the caster simply poured mana into the prepared pattern.
Each circle could only accept a set amount of mana matter and magical power.
That made them useful for preventing unnecessary waste.
For a mage with a small mana pool or weak control, they could be a very good option.
It's not my style, though.
The fact that the amount of mana matter and power a circle could accept was fixed meant its maximum output was also limited.
Not flexible enough. I don't like it.
But large-scale magic circles?
Those were extremely interesting.
For a city-sized or even nation-sized magic circle, several mages pouring mana into the same formation would probably be most efficient.
I'd love to see one someday.
I'd love to try it myself.
Kaian couldn't contain his rising curiosity.
"No. I definitely need to collect their magic circles along with their arrows!"
His eyes shone with madness.
If the dark elves had changed their casting style, their weapons should've changed as well.
"Don't disappoint me by shooting the same arrows again...!"
At that moment...
Shoooooosh!
Shining short spears flew toward him.
There were arrows mixed among them too.
The total number of projectiles looked nearly twice as large as before.
"Hmm. More weapon types and more projectiles. Not a bad response."
But the short spears weren't aimed very accurately.
No. At this rate they're completely useless.
Kaian had the Tempest Eagle climb higher and easily escaped their range.
The poisoned spears passed harmlessly beneath him.
Whoosh!
Or so he thought.
Until a spear that appeared to be flying uselessly into the sky suddenly changed direction.
Whirrr!
It came at Kaian even faster than before.
Shoooosh!
"Whoa! What the heck?"
Kaian sent the Tempest Eagle higher into the sky.
He himself dropped and stepped onto floating leaves, dodging the remaining attack.
Had he separated from Finn because he was worried she might get hurt?
Because he had missed the timing?
No.
He could've dodged together with her.
There was only one reason he chose not to.
"Hey! What spell did you put on that spear?!"
Curiosity.
Kaian stared at it with shining eyes.
Will it come back?
Will it come again?
I hope it does!
Unfortunately, after changing direction once and charging him, the short spear didn't change direction again.
It disappeared back into the forest.
"Tch. That's disappointing."
But Kaian soon saw something else interesting.
The spear that disappeared into the trees didn't return to the original caster.
Instead, another dark elf threw it again.
Shoooosh!
"Ohhh! I knew it! I knew there was something!"
Normally, spells like this used a pursuit effect similar to [Attraction Shot].
Or the weapon would have a return effect that brought it back to the original caster.
But what the dark elves were doing was different.
A spear launched by Caster A was being transferred to Caster B or C before being thrown again.
What kind of magic circle are they using?
Kaian's eyes shone brighter than they had all day.
He was excited.
He was having fun.
"Hahahahaha!"
Until now, the dark elves must have easily pressured and killed their prey using this strange attack pattern together with [Stealth], [Shadow Song], and other techniques.
But today...
They hadn't encountered normal prey.
They had encountered the Reaper of Vernas Forest.
Kaian's chest swelled with excitement at the thought of giving the dark elves an entirely new experience.
"You showed me so many new spells."
His grin widened.
"It's only polite for me to return the favor, right?"
