< Chapter 157: Determined Move (2) >
One day before departing from the ancient Dragon’s Lair.
After finishing the final equipment check, I was taking a walk in a nearby park to get some air into my brain.
“Sigh.”
I’m getting nervous.
I went out for a walk to relieve tension, but the more I walked, the more nervous I became.
‘It will be fine, right?’
This is a golden opportunity.
A golden opportunity to deal with the Unknown. I did my best to seize this golden opportunity.
I have some confidence in victory.
I have the last fortress called the Stone of Creation, and I have prepared a variable called Maestro.
‘I really did everything I could.’
But being anxious was inevitable.
The fact that I have to face the Unknown at a pace faster than the national competition.
The fact that, thinking about what has happened so far, nothing has gone as planned.
Having physically felt the momentum of the Unknown (Master) at the airport.
Now that the decisive day is approaching tomorrow, the trembling is growing more.
I have to calm this trembling.
“Hoo….”
I took a deep breath and looked up at the sky.
The stars look quite clear. A beautiful sight that can’t be seen in the original world that uses fossil fuels as the main energy source, not magic.
Staring at that sight, I stood still for a long time.
Until my mind calmed down, I kept looking up at the sky.
About an hour passed like that.
“Let’s go back.”
Finally, I had sorted out my mind.
* * *
July 29th.
The day of the decisive action has arrived.
It took 1 hour for over 40 guild members of The One to complete their individual preparations.
2 hours to brief them on the operation.
30 minutes to reorganize the ranks.
After a total of 3 hours and 30 minutes of preparation, we safely entered the ancient Dragon’s lair.
“There’s nothing special at the initial part, just as reported.”
“Don’t be complacent. We knew that there was nothing special at the beginning from the reports of the previous raid teams, didn’t we?”
Chatter from The One guild members around me reached my ears.
It seems everyone has somewhat relaxed compared to the beginning.
Everyone seems to be not letting their guard down, maintaining the best condition with the appropriate level of tension.
“Four gargoyle statues spotted!”
“To the front line, first squad!”
At Luke’s words, everyone moved as one body. There wasn’t a single superfluous movement in their actions.
“Two are immune to magic. The other two are confirmed to be immune to physical attacks!”
“I marked the physical immune gargoyles!”
There was no need for separate orders. Everyone seemed to know what they had to do, initiating actions simultaneously.
“The gargoyles with the marks have been defeated!”
“Next! To the front, third squad!”
I couldn’t help but admire their movements.
That superhumans with a minimum rank of A could show such perfectly coordinated actions.
This is why they are called the strongest guild in the world. I realized that in real-time.
“Amazing, isn’t it?”
Was my expression quite amusing? Tay smiled slightly and asked me. I closed my half-open mouth and replied,
“Yes. It’s tremendous.”
Well, there is no room for me to step in. In reality, even without the intervention of the four single-number members including the master, the raid is going smoothly.
“How is it? Don’t you feel like joining the guild after seeing this in person?”
“…Hmm. Rather, I think I did well to refuse.”
“Huh? Why?”
Tay opened his eyes wide.
“…I don’t have the confidence to fit in and match the timing and combinations precisely.”
“Aha.”
Tay nodded his head with an expression that seemed to say ‘So that’s what it was?’.
“You don’t have to worry about that. Anyway, superhumans with a unique battle style like yours can’t fit into those ranks.”
“…My style is unique?”
“Yeah. When I went back to the U.S. this time, I watched your battle videos, it wasn’t at a level that someone could control, you know?”
Susan chimed in.
“You’re like a wild animal. Very free, yet sharp.”
Susan looked far away at the one-man army, Luke, who was controlling the formation, and chuckled.
“The boy might be more suited to a position like Luke’s.”
“Luke?”
“You’ll see.”
At that moment, Luke’s magical power surged as if exploding.
“All members retreat to the fourth row!”
“Retreat!”
Simultaneously, all members except Luke began to retreat.
“Watch closely. You’ll understand why they say a single number has a different caliber.”
Susan’s smile deepened.
“Rise.”
With Luke’s short command, magical power stretched out in all directions.
Black magic, seemingly representing Luke’s true nature.
However, it was slightly different from the repelling magic unique to demons, bringing a heavy awe to those who witnessed it.
As it seeped into the ground,
Crash!
Dozens of undead soldiers revealed themselves from the ground. Although they appeared to be simple skeletons, their black bones and dark armors declared they were not just simple skeletons.
I swiftly activated the dragon eye.
My mouth dropped open at the same time.
‘…Unbelievable.’
The amount of magical power each skeleton soldier possessed was outrageous.
‘At least A-rank…’
Approximately 50 skeleton soldiers, all harboring magical power equivalent to an A-rank superhuman.
“Undead created through special methods using specially processed monster bones infused with Luke’s magic. They are called Black Bones.”
“…Black Bones.”
As Tay explained, the Black Bones began to act.
The scene of the distinctively role-oriented Black Bones ravaging the monsters in the Dragon’s Rest was truly a spectacle.
If the superhumans who were fighting earlier were like middle school football players, the battle exhibited by the Black Bones was Premier League.
The difference was that prominent.
“…They expect us to coordinate like that?”
“However I look at it, it’s unbelievable.”
The superhumans who had left the battlefield laughed dryly. Everyone was shaking their heads with nervous expressions.
It was Luke who was in charge of the guild members’ battle training.
“But, if he is that strong, isn’t there no need to act in groups?”
No matter how you look at it, it seemed like Luke could easily overwhelm the remaining guild members alone. Was there a need to move in such a large group?
“There are some limitations in use, so it’s essential to have people to fill in those gaps.”
“Like a cooldown time.”
“Somewhat similar.”
I see.
While we were having this conversation, Luke’s ‘Black Bones’ were diligently slaughtering the enemies.
‘The more I see, the more magnificent it becomes.’
I firmly understood why single numbers were called incomparably unique even among S-rank superhumans.
‘…Anyway.’
I glanced at the Master, who was steadying his weight at the back.
‘He still doesn’t seem to have any plans to act.’
* * *
Three days have passed since the start of the strategy. So far, the Master (Unknown) doesn’t seem to have any intentions to act.
It would be a bit too burdensome even for Unknown to strike a surprise attack at this early stage.
And rightly so, because Luke, Susan, and Tay, the trio of Single Numbers, are much stronger than I expected. They are so formidable that even Unknown cannot recklessly confront them.
‘…Is this the power of Single Numbers(top rankers)?’
If I just protect these three well, I might be able to handle Unknown without doing anything myself.
‘No.’
I need to be more vigilant, in fact.
Even if he was caught off guard, Unknown managed to handle all three of them alone. This directly relates to the fact that Unknown is more powerful than I anticipated.
‘By the way, Maestro is late.’
It was about time for Maestro to start moving, but there’s no news. Did he sense something strange and backed off?
‘No. There’s no way Maestro, who is blinded by achievements, would refuse that proposal.’
What I conveyed to Maestro through Hermit and Lust was this:
As Maestro suspected, Hermit is indeed a traitor. Hermit found a way to nullify the oath of absolute obedience. Furthermore, Hermit is plotting to assassinate Unknown. There’s no separate evidence, but if the prediction is correct, you’ll be able to find Hermit laying traps around Dragon’s Rest right after Unknown enters it. If you ambush and catch Hermit at that moment, you can regain Unknown’s trust.
…So I said.
And I really stationed Hermit near the Dragon’s Rest. Having him pretend to set up traps. It was certain that Maestro would find Hermit and immediately initiate an action to capture him.
Once they start fighting, Hermit will consume a potion that I handed over in advance to nullify the ‘oath of absolute obedience.’
‘When the oath of absolute obedience is undone, Unknown will find out about it.’
He would probably think that Hermit is dead, considering there aren’t many ways to break that oath.
‘Then, Unknown will immediately check it.’
Because the oath of absolute obedience allows some level of location tracking. He will confirm that Maestro is in a place close to where Hermit’s signal disappeared. He would deduce that Maestro killed Hermit.
What will happen then?
‘He will become impatient.’
No matter how much it is Unknown, he will definitely become 100% desperate.
He will be itching to figure out what has happened.
But unfortunately, the Dragon’s Rest is a dungeon completely isolated from the outside world.
‘You can’t understand the outside situation from here.’
So, what will Unknown do?
There was only one answer.
‘He will rush things.’
He will certainly try to expedite the disposal of The One as much as possible.
‘And when he rushes the plan, there will definitely be gaps.’
That was my goal.
But the most important Maestro remains completely silent.
‘It’s driving me crazy.’
Thanks to that, I’m the one becoming impatient.
…Since Maestro is careful in every matter, is he taking some time to assess the situation?
As I was pondering this with slightly pursed lips,
“Up front! Two all-type element guardians confirmed!”
“They are lion-shaped guardians!”
Finally, the genuinely dangerous guys have started to pop up.
“If they are lion-shaped….”
Tay sharpened his eyes and looked at me.
“They are completely immune to fire and ice attributes. They are assigned random weaknesses from the remaining eight attributes.”
“…The most annoying ones have appeared.”
Tay clicked his tongue.
Next to him, Susan was also frowning. It was natural, as these were like arch-enemies to the two who mainly used fire and ice attributes.
“They also ignore about 90% of physical attacks, right?”
“Yes.”
“…Then Luke is also useless.”
Now all three Single Numbers have become useless.
“Then I guess it’s my turn to step forward this time.”
In other words, it was my turn.
After catching the Master’s eye, I took a step forward.
“Step back.”
The master, who had somehow moved next to me, grabbed my shoulder to stop my movement and said.
“I will handle it.”
He stepped forward.
“There’s no need for the boss to step in necessarily…”
“It’s okay.”
Master interrupted Luke’s words.
“I also wanted to try something out.”
The master looked straight into my eyes. Clearly emotionless, yet his pupils carried a strange warmth.
‘…Expectation? Excitement?’
His eyes seemed to be expecting something from me.
“Everyone, step back.”
As the master took a step forward, the entire space trembled.
“…He’s serious.”
Susan mumbled seriously and then shouted.
“Everyone, evacuate!”
At the same time, the guild members retreated quickly with pale faces.
“Boy, we need to move back a bit more.”
“…Even from here?”
“I’ll explain later, hurry!”
“Oh, yes.”
I quickly flew back.
At that moment, the magical power of the master that had been pressing down on my body quickly diminished.
“What is that?”
No, he must have gathered the magical power that was naturally being emitted.
I activated my Dragon Eye.
“…My God.”
Could that be the amount of magical power that a single person can possess?
That magical power was clearly far surpassing S-rank.
…How on earth?
Even if he had opened the transcendental system, it was an unimaginably immense amount of magical power.
What was surprising was that it wasn’t the end.
Huuuuuuung-!
The wind started to flutter in the master’s right hand.
There was a rustling sound heard from all directions.
“Ma, Master has wind attribute?”
“My God… He became even stronger?”
Not just me, everyone was surprised.
The master was a superhuman who stood above everyone with just physical abilities.
Now, he had awakened ‘attribute magic’, a privilege called the chosen ones. It was natural to be shocked.
Of course, I was also among those shocked people.
“…Wh, what is this.”
But the reason I was surprised was a bit different from theirs.
‘That flow of magical power….’
It wasn’t because he used the ‘wind attribute magic’, but because the flow of that ‘wind attribute magic’ showed a movement similar to a certain ‘attribute’ I knew.
‘The musical staff called Sky?’
That was,
Maestro’s ability.
‘Why… does Unknown have Maestro’s attribute?’
My eyes trembled tremendously.
‘What is that?’
Is it an illusion?
In the view seen with the Dragon Eye,
It seemed like I could see something like Maestro’s soul behind Unknown.
< Chapter 157: Determined Move (2) > End
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