Chapter 100, Before the Battle (1)
While we were working as usual, Arlin was the first to notice something had changed.
Arlin had been engraving metaphysical patterns into the air with mana when her body suddenly stiffened in the middle of moving her hand.
I was standing right beside her, keeping her company, so I immediately noticed a faint irritation settle around her eyes.
Just as I opened the Gallery, wondering if she'd run into trouble setting up the trap magic, Arlin stretched out one hand and made a grasping motion.
The next moment, a solidified spear of electricity appeared in her hand.
Crackle. Crackle crackle.
Holding the spear of electricity that constantly spat sparks, Arlin silently closed her eyes and took a throwing stance.
In the blink of an eye, the spear left her hand.
A moment later, thunder roared across the entire area.
It probably wasn't a coincidence that the exact moment the spear vanished from Arlin's hand was the same moment lightning struck somewhere on the other side of the apartment complex.
“...Was there an intruder?”
“Yes. A biological reaction I've never seen before entered the apartment complex. More than one, and they were considerably different from humans.”
“So you're saying multiple nonhuman beings tried to enter the apartment complex?”
Arlin nodded at my words and extended her hand toward me.
Her pale white palm opened in front of me.
I had naturally learned what this posture meant after spending so much time with her.
I took her hand.
The instant my hand rested on her slightly cold one, the entire world turned white for a moment before returning to normal.
I looked around.
Instead of the central walkway of the apartment complex where we'd been standing moments ago, we were now at the entrance.
Arlin had teleported here with me.
I don't think I'll ever get used to this.
Feeling a faint wave of nausea wrap around my head, I looked at Arlin.
She was staring down at the ground.
Following her gaze, I saw something charred black.
It looked more like the corpse of a beast than a person.
Apparently, Arlin's lightning had killed it instantly.
Most of its body had already been reduced to ash, so examining it in detail was difficult.
Still, if I tried to guess what it had looked like while alive...
Hmm.
“A bird?”
It had two thin, short legs.
Its face had a section protruding unusually far forward, like a beak.
There were no visible arms.
Instead, where the arms should have been, there were huge body parts attached.
No matter how I looked at it, it must have looked almost exactly like a bird while it was alive.
The reason I said it looked like a bird instead of simply calling it one was because its body was ridiculously, absurdly huge.
Judging from the half-burned corpse alone, one wing looked like it would've been around three times the size of my entire body.
Its size was so absurd that I wondered if it was a Mystery.
But nothing new appeared in Lucy, so it wasn't one.
“What exactly is this? It's huge.”
“This is probably... a summoned creature belonging to the Museum.”
“The Museum?”
“Yes. It's a mid-sized organization with a purpose similar to the Mystery Protection Association. Instead of Mysteries, they collect objects with artistic value. It seems they sent a summoned creature for observation.”
Arlin frowned as she rummaged through the ash-covered corpse.
After searching for a while, she pulled her hand back out.
A round metal object rested in her palm, dulled beneath a layer of ash.
She held it out to me.
“The Museum always marks objects under its ownership like this. And the marks also contain location-tracking functions.”
Still frowning, she poured mana into the mark in her hand.
Powerful mana crushed it like an empty tin can.
She dropped the mangled mark to the ground and sighed.
“This is troublesome. I should've shot it down before it reached this place, but my detection was too slow.”
“Then do you think the Museum has also observed that a 900-series Mystery is about to appear here?”
“There's a very high chance. The flies arrived much sooner than expected.”
Anxiety and irritation briefly surfaced on her face before disappearing beneath her usual poker face.
I could sympathize with her.
Considering how large the omen of the Cloak of Erebus had become, we had never expected to hide it forever.
The scale of the phenomenon was growing day by day, so being discovered by other groups was only a matter of time.
Even so, we'd hoped it would happen after our preparations were complete.
But it looked like competitors would start gathering much earlier than we expected.
“Arlin, how long until all the traps are finished?”
“The installation itself is almost complete. The problem is inspection and adjustment... I think I'll need around three more days.”
“How much could that be shortened if Yeonhee helps?”
Lee Yeonhee had only just finished her assigned task yesterday and entered the final inspection stage.
If Arlin worked together with a healer, perhaps she could finish more quickly.
“If Lee Yeonhee assists me, I think it would take around two days.”
“So only one day shorter.”
“Magic causes more mental fatigue than physical fatigue. Healing won't help very much.”
“...I understand.”
Originally, the ideal flow we'd imagined was to finish all our preparations quickly and then defend the complex against any competitors who entered.
According to Eriel, 900-series Mysteries sometimes chose their own owners.
That was why we'd chosen this strategy.
While my companions defended the complex against intruders aiming for the Cloak of Erebus, I would try to get chosen by the Mystery itself.
For that plan to work, the most important thing was building a fortress suitable for defense.
For us, that fortress consisted of magical traps.
“I'll try to shorten the time as much as possible.”
After saying that, Arlin teleported away to continue installing traps.
I didn't follow her and remained where I was.
