Discovery (2)
A whiff of gunpowder stung Selena’s nose, but there was no lingering trace of Mana.
“Wh-what was that? What happened?”
Elodie, just as startled, turned around.
The attack had pierced through her Mana detection, which was shocking enough, but neither Frondier nor Selena had reacted either.
“It was an old-fashioned bomb!” Selena exclaimed.
“O-old-fashioned?”
“A bomb made the old way, without using Mana or magic engineering. It must have been buried beforehand and detonated remotely!”
Bombs had neither Mana nor life. They didn’t require someone to approach to detonate.
“D-does that mean our vehicle triggered some kind of switch on the ground?” Basileo asked, the most natural conclusion.
“No, that’s impossible,” Selena refuted.
“W-why not?”
“Because other vehicles use this road besides us.”
Though traffic was light, it wasn’t nonexistent. Selena had seen a car ahead of theirs before the explosion.
If it were a simple pressure-activated mine, it would have detonated under the previous vehicles.
This bomb was undoubtedly meant for them.
‘Someone’s watching! From somewhere outside my, Lady Elodie’s, and Master Frondier’s detection range!’ Selena thought.
“Get off the road!” she shouted.
“Got it!” Lily swerved the car immediately, careening off the paved road and onto the rough grass.
Boom! Bang! Crash!!
Explosions ripped through the road, sections of asphalt where Selena and the others would have been driving erupting into the air.
And ahead…
Frondier’s vehicle was still on the road.
“Oh, no! Master Frondier!” Selena cried out.
The bombs were planted under the road. Getting off the road ensured their safety for now.
However, at the rate the bombs were detonating, the moment they turned a corner, they’d be caught in the blast.
—Menosorpo.
A rune unfolded in an instant, and obsidian enveloped the entire car.
Whoosh!
Boooom!
Just before the next explosion, the car shot into the air, narrowly avoiding the blast.
The car door opened mid-air, and Frondier emerged.
“Who is it?” he asked, his voice deceptively calm yet laced with a chilling intensity.
Frondier gradually expanded the range of Menosorpo, his senses radiating outward, searching for the enemy.
He reached the same conclusion as Selena.
Someone was watching them from a distance.
“Let’s stop the car. We don’t know where the next bomb will go off,” Selena said.
“Good idea,” Lily agreed, hitting the brakes.
One car rested on the grass, the other hovering in the air.
Both vehicles came to a standstill in that peculiar position, everyone on high alert, scanning their surroundings.
An overwhelming sense of unease gnawed at Frondier.
‘I can’t detect anything, even with Menosorpo’s range.’
When he’d been at the Tyburn and Yeranhes, Menosorpo had been vast enough to encompass the entire barrier. Yet, he couldn’t find anything.
‘They’re detonating bombs here by triggering them from outside my detection range… This isn’t a matter of technology or skill. It’s a trap that’s been meticulously prepared over a long time.’
And it meant that someone had been waiting for Frondier to arrive for just as long.
Information was being leaked.
The thought was bitter, but he had to push it aside for now.
He had to find the enemy, hidden somewhere, waiting to strike.
—Suddenly.
“Ah!”
This time, Elodie reacted, her Mana detection finally catching something.
But it wasn’t a human.
It was a single arrow, hurtling towards them.
And its target…
“Selena!” Elodie shouted. Selena, sensing the shift in the wind, instinctively knew the arrow’s trajectory.
By the time she turned her head, the arrow was right before her eyes. Fired from an extreme distance, it was moving at an impossible speed.
Swoosh!
The arrow pierced through Selena—
Or rather, it should have. In a flicker, she seemed to melt into the shadows.
“That was dangerous,” Selena said, reappearing above Frondier’s shadow.
Just before impact, she had used Transference to escape.
“The shadow I extended to protect you, Master Frondier… I used it for my own safety…”
“Use it however you need to,” Frondier said reassuringly.
And then—
—An arrow that nevermisses its target.
Pzzzt!
The arrow, having seemingly missed, changed its trajectory mid-flight, hurtling towards Selena, who stood next to Frondier.
“…Ah.”
A momentary lapse in concentration after dodging the first attack.
The arrow pierced through time, aiming for her back.
In front of her stood her master, whom she had to protect at all costs.
Clang!
This time, Frondier, eyes wide open, reacted instantly. His Obsidian shot out, intercepting the arrow in front of Selena.
Crack!
The arrow pierced through even Obsidian—
And then, through her.
Both Frondier and Selena’s eyes widened in shock.
“Pielott!!”
The arrow, meant for Selena, had been stopped. By Pielott, who had thrown himself in its path.
“…G…ah…”
Pielott gasped, pain contorting his features.
‘My aura…!’
He had moved before he could even think, let alone defend himself.
But Pielott always maintained a layer of protective aura, an instinct honed from countless battles.
The arrow had pierced through that aura.
Through Frondier’s Obsidian, through Pielott’s aura, through his toughened flesh, the arrowhead protruded from his back, glinting menacingly.
“Pielott! Don’t move!” Carla yelled. She was the most skilled healer among them.
Pielott forced a smile, despite the pain.
“This… This really hurts…”
His bravado and humor did little to mask the sheen of sweat on his face. Carla couldn’t bring herself to smile back.
“Sit down slowly. I know it hurts, but we’ll remove the arrow later.”
“Y-yeah, I know.”
Slowly, Pielott relaxed his muscles, even sitting down was an excruciating effort.
But then, something finally registered on Frondier’s Menosorpo.
His face contorted in a grimace.
“…Monsters.”
Read ahead by supporting me on Ko-fi. Tiers starting at 10$ per month and you can access upto 40 advance chapters! Choose your tier by clicking the 'Support me' button! Join our discord server for latest release updates and novel discussions. Rate and review this novel on NU to help people find this novel. Bonus chapters on reaching milestones. Happy reading!