Chapter 62 - The Black Medicine

The lightning bullet released from Ferda's grasp pierced through the head.

The sight of him collapsing and scattering blood was so incredibly foreign that no one could immediately respond.

"W-What the!?"

The enemy forces couldn't even properly grasp the situation.

Following Ferda's preemptive strike, Concillus and Marco stood up and stepped into the enemy camp.

"Gah!"

"Urgh!"

Concillus and Marco cut down the two men at the very front.

Only then did they grasp the situation.

"It's an ambush!"

"R-Run away!"

Just as they were about to fall into chaos, a woman shouted.

"You idiots! There's no retreat anyway! Raise your weapons!"

At the command of the dark elf, Director Linne, the panicking soldiers drew the weapons they were wearing.

Director Linne raised her staff.

"To think you'd dare ambush this place! The one who sniped us better show themselves immediately!"

Ferda willingly showed himself at her words.

Director Linne's eyes widened.

"Grey hair and blue eyes, you are... Ferda Valdrova."

She recognized Ferda.

"What a surprise. I wanted to see the face of the bastard who destroyed my home, but to think you'd come all the way here yourself."

"Are you glad?"

"I guess you could say that. Because now I get to kill you with my own hands. Kill them all!"

The underlings rushed toward Ferda.

At that moment, a quiet energy began to circulate from Concillus and Marco's bodies.

A knight's mana, aura, enveloped their entire bodies.

A knight wielding aura boasts the strength to fight a hundred men.

Taking on a mere twenty Servant-class enemies was an easy task.

SWOOSH!

Every time Marco and Concillus drew a trajectory, the underlings collapsed helplessly.

The underlings, who were no better than a disorganized band of mercenaries, quickly lost their morale.

The dark elf grew furious watching that sight.

"You useless pieces of trash! Secretary!"

"Y-Yes? Yes!?"

"Come here!"

At her gesture, the dazed secretary approached.

The dark elf took out something from the bag she was carrying.

It was a syringe filled with black liquid.

The dark elf forcefully jammed it into the secretary's neck.

"Gah!?"

The black liquid was sucked into the secretary's body.

"Urgh... Eugegegek!?"

The injected secretary began to convulse with the sound of his entire body twisting.

Concillus instinctively sensed the threat and shouted.

"Marco! We must stop him before he transforms!"

"Leave it to me!"

Marco raised his sword and rushed toward the mutating man.

"Not a chance!"

The dark elf's palm aimed at Marco.

A magic circle was drawn from her hand.

What she used was human magic.

It was Force Rush.

THUMP!

"Ugh!"

The space in front of her palm compressed, turning into a shockwave that sent Marco flying.

He had failed to stop the man's mutation.

"Ugek! Gegegek!"

The man's body swelled up as he let out bizarre sounds.

At the same time, his skin began to turn a dark color.

It ripped through his clothes and only stopped growing once it reached the size of a grizzly bear.

It raised its head.

Black skin, red eyes, and sharp teeth.

It was the undeniable, typical characteristics of a Demon.

"A Demon...!"

"Among them, it's a Bouncer."

Physique-specialized Demons capable of snapping even binding magic with brute strength.

Marco and Concillus felt a sense of intimidation at the sight.

"Gehehehe!!! Me too! I've received His grace too!!"

The Bouncer jumped around in excitement like a child who had just received a toy.

Unaccustomed to controlling its strength, the room rumbled every time it stomped on the floor.

That vibration made even knights who had navigated countless battlefields freeze up.

However, even that failed to draw Ferda's attention.

Ferda's eyes were fixed on the dark elf's bag.

'She took the syringe out of that bag.'

And there was no way only that syringe was inside.

'I must secure that item no matter what.'

Ferda turned his eyes and ordered Concillus.

"Count, take care of that Bouncer. Can you do it?"

Concillus answered.

"If I cannot overcome a wall of this level, how could I hold my head high?"

"My sword belongs to you, Regent!"

Concillus did not back down.

Inspired by him, Marco also gathered his courage and gripped his sword.

"I understand your resolve."

Ferda reached out his hand.

"But there is no need to make things unnecessarily difficult."

A magic circle being drawn on his hand.

Ferda chanted a spell.

"Frenzy."

The magic circle dyed in black shot out in the form of lightning and pierced the Bouncer's head.

"Gehehe! Ge... Geuk?"

Struck by the magic, the Bouncer stopped giggling and grabbed his head.

"Geuk... Geuaaaack!! Aaaack! It hurts! It hurrrtts!!"

The muscle monster began to rampage while clutching his head.

He began to smash everything around him indiscriminately.

"Gah!"

"What are you doing?! We're allies, blegh!"

A slaughter akin to unleashing a mad dog in a chick farm began.

The underlings were ground down in an instant.

"It hurts so much! I said it hurrrtts!"

Just as his rage was about to turn toward the dark elf, she quickly chanted a spell.

"Restrain!"

The rune-shaped spell pierced the Bouncer's head.

The rampaging Bouncer instantly quieted down.

"Do you recognize who I am?"

"U-Uh, D-Director?"

"You've finally returned to your senses. If you understand, then hurry up and sweep those pests away!"

"Y-Yes!!"

Regaining his mind, the Bouncer rushed toward the two knights.

"Humiliating me like this in front of the Director, you bastards! I won't forgive you!!"

Marco and Concillus received his attack from the vanguard.

BOOM!

"Ugh!"

"Hmph!"

The two men were pushed back with a heavy rumble.

But they held their ground.

Because they held out, they were able to counterattack.

SLASH!

An aura capable of slicing through human flesh and bone like a radish.

Yet it was so tough that the aura could barely pierce the skin.

"Euhahaha! I've become stronger! Me! I'm strong!"

The battle between the two knights and the Bouncer formed a fierce standoff.

What played the decisive role in this tense battle were none other than the mages.

The victory or defeat hinged on the support of Ferda and the dark elf.

The dark elf unfolded a magic circle first.

What she intended to cast was Slug Time.

It was a magic spell that would slow down the two aura-clad knights to create an opening for the Bouncer.

"Slug Ti—"

She sensed an attack before she could even finish her spell.

What entered her naked eyes was a bullet made of mana.

It flew straight toward her magic circle with perfect accuracy.

"Ugh!?"

The magic circle infused with magic power exploded entirely.

"Destroying a magic circle with Mana Shot..."

Director Linne fell into shock.

She forcibly hid the bafflement rising in her mind.

'There are very few people who can see through and strike a mana blind spot...'

A blue glint swirled in Director Linne's pupils.

It was to gauge just how strong Ferda's magic power was.

And she wasn't wrong.

'A greenhorn Regent who's only reached the 4th Circle is handling mana blind spots?'

That only amplified her doubts.

It was a fatal technique against a complex spell like the Slug Time she had just tried to use.

"What are you doing? Hurry up and cast your magic."

Ferda provoked her.

"What will an elf who has hideously abandoned nature's grace to wield human magic do if she's outmatched in magic?"

"You're only around the 4th-tier at best. Aren't you being a little too arrogant for a fellow 4th-tier?"

Ferda also condensed his magic power to gauge her Circle.

The size was at a similar level to Ferda's.

"Don't lie. I already know that you're at the 5th-tier."

"My eye sockets weren't just carved out because I ran out of skin, Regent. If you've reached the 4th-tier, you should at least have the ability to read mana circuits—"

"Do I look like a fool who couldn't even recognize someone using the Aquinas School's cultivation method?"

The dark elf's eyes widened at Ferda's words.

Before she could even spit out 'How did you...', Ferda cut her off.

"Don't make that face. It just sours my mood."

Ferda also prepared a magic circle.

A powerful Magic Blast among the 4th-tier.

Because of its power, it was a complex spell with a long casting time.

However, Ferda was already a seasoned mage.

The entire process moved faster than any other mage.

But his intention in using that magic was clear.

It meant he was looking down on his opponent.

"Such a ridiculous provocation!"

But that magic circle lost its power shortly after.

It wasn't by Ferda's will.

"That's right, I am at the 5th Circle, just as you said."

Linne's hidden secret was discovered, but that didn't matter.

"Which is why I don't need to rely on cheap tricks like mana blind spots like you do."

Since there was already a difference in their Circles, all she had to do was crush him.

She dismantled the form of his magic circle with purer, higher-ranked mana.

Therefore, Ferda was actually at a disadvantage.

'The opponent is using the Aquinas School's cultivation method.'

The Aquinas School was a firepower-focused faction that abandoned lower-tier spells to compress their mana.

It had the advantage of deceiving opponents and amplifying the effects of high-tier magic.

If one looked closely at the dark elf's body, it appeared as though she possessed 4th-tier mana.

But in reality, it was compressed, high-purity 5th-tier mana.

If it came down to a battle of sheer weight class, Ferda's defeat was already a foregone conclusion.

"Do you know something?"

Ferda had always lived looking upwards.

If his weight class fell short, he used technique,

If technique fell short, he used the next method.

And if that method failed, he used sheer grit.

That was how Ferda had fought all along.

"That a monster lives beneath your desk?"

"What?"

What kind of bullshit is that?

Just as she was about to ask, she felt something from her desk.

A blue light illuminated in the dark space beneath the desk.

It was undoubtedly part of a magic circle.

"How is there a magic circle he—!?"

"Lightning Bolt."

CRACK!

A streak of lightning shattered the wooden desk and shot upward.

It pierced straight through the dark elf's head.

"Aaaargh!"

What cast the magic was Ferda's Shadow Hand.

Amidst the chaotic melee, Ferda had focused on moving his shadow underneath the desk.

Using Magic Blast was also intended to scatter her concentration.

'It worked perfectly.'

Ferda had wondered a bit about how useful it would be in actual combat.

But it became clear that as long as he kept his cards well hidden, no one would notice.

"How truly disappointing."

Ferda said.

"The Aquinas School is a faction that gains the upper hand by feeding their opponents unknown information. To think you'd be caught off guard by an opponent while using such a faction's cultivation method."

It was mockery, and at the same time, an expression of pity.

"Well... I suppose I couldn't properly utilize the opportunity either."

For Ferda, this had been an opportunity to instantly kill Director Linne.

However, instead of collapsing to the floor, Director Linne stumbled before standing tall once again.

"Kuuuugh...!"

Director Linne groaned.

She clutched her left eye and steadied her head.

Ferda examined her wound.

The Lightning Bolt had pierced up from under her jaw and exited through her eye.

"Your survival instinct is incredible. I planned to kill you instantly, but to think you'd manage to dodge the attack like that."

"Dammit! You fucking short-lived bastard!!"

The dark elf glared at him with venom-filled eyes.

Ferda simply offered a twisted smile as he watched her.

"Ferda Valdrova! I will definitely remember this humiliation!"

As a last resort, the dark elf pulled out a scroll.

It was an emergency escape magic.

When she tore the scroll, light burst forth around her and completely swallowed her body.

"U-Uh, Director...?"

The Bouncer stared blankly at the spot where the dark elf had vanished.

Having lost his mage, the Bouncer was easily subdued.

Marco and Concillus, having fought a fierce battle, let out heavy breaths as they looked down at the Bouncer.

"Huu, huu... I never dreamed I would end up fighting a Demon."

"Same here. To think I'd only get to see one after growing this old."

"Save the idle chatter for later. We only have twenty minutes left now."

"Yes."

They began their search while still carrying the lingering heat of the battle.

As information sorting was underway before abandoning the research facility, the top-secret intel and trivial files had already been somewhat separated.

They searched the area, while Ferda moved toward the spot where the Director had vanished.

'Emergency escape magic cannot transport personal belongings.'

A magic that leaves everything behind in exchange for its swift effect.

It does not allow the transport of belongings, let alone clothes.

What came into view were clothes discarded like shed skin.

And an alchemy bag made of leather.

Ferda ripped the bag open.

Inside was a journal and a single case.

Inside the case, syringe ampoules were placed in a grid-like arrangement, each bearing a label.

-Doppler

-Butcher (Prototype)

-Dark Sorcerer (Prototype)

.

.

.

All of them were aliases of Knight-class Demons recorded in history.

Aside from the Doppler, which he had learned of through the Chancellor's kidnapping incident, new aliases caught his eye.

'The Doppler wasn't the only threat, then.'

What he had seen so far was nothing more than a single tree, rather than the entire forest.

'This should be enough, so what's in the records?'

Ferda opened the journal found in the bag.

Unknown hieroglyphs were lined up inside.

'A cipher?'

It was written in symbols so that it couldn't be easily deciphered even if the journal was stolen.

Ferda's intuition spoke to him.

Hidden within this journal was something far more valuable than the scattered information lying around here.

Ferda placed the journal into the sample bag and locked it right away.

"Count, I have obtained everything I wanted."

"Understood."

The information seizure ended successfully.

They stealthily slipped away and began their journey back.

* * *

Meanwhile, the three men who headed toward the research wing.

Bundled up in winter gear, Zed pushed through the blizzard while vigorously rubbing his body.

"Shit, it's fucking cold. Why the hell would they build a house in a mountain valley like this?"

"Please keep it down. What if someone hears you?"

"Oh, don't worry. It's the kind of weather where you wouldn't even hear a fucking orc howling."

Every time the freezing wind hit his face, he poured out complaints, and the knights walked silently, listening to him grumble.

They soon found the designated point and went inside.

"It's quiet."

Unlike the living quarters, the research wing was already emptied out.

All that remained were unnecessarily bulky objects and trash.

And explosives prepared to bury the place entirely.

"That Demon was right. They really planned to smash this whole place within six hours."

"I'm not so sure."

"You think otherwise?"

"I mean it could be right this very moment. How can we trust the words of those demon bastards? Let's move quickly."

Their mission was demon rescue.

It was said that the test subjects used for research were locked up in the research wing.

They wouldn't bother transporting the captives as well.

They likely left them behind to bury them along with the explosives.

That prediction was spot on.

"What the hell is this?"

However, when they witnessed it with their own two eyes, they couldn't help but be horrified.