Ep 199. Warmonger. (6)

  ‘Am I dreaming?’

  It wouldn’t reach.

  No matter what he did, it wouldn’t reach.

  Be it firearms, explosives, or even the dagger he held in his hand…

  The items that the Creator herself had made – items that were ever close to ‘perfe’ – were helplessly fading to dust at the touch of a single ray of light.

  Staring at his dust-turned equipment, the elf let out ay ughter.

  “Are you finished? I expected more from a deity’s servant.”

  “…”

  Whether he was finished or not didn’t matter. With all his ons seemingly evaporated from his hands, there really wasn’t much left to do.

  And soon, the elves began to exge gnces with each other, avoiding the dragonlord’s gaze in unison.

  ‘...We o retreat.’

  Be it Denon’s soldiers, or their guild’s hunters, or even mages who were sileng their firearms, the shadowguards had been fident in the ability to handle what came their way.

  But the bck-horned woman before them was beyond their realm of thought.

  While single-handedly subduing one of them, the woman’s magic had precisely ied their equipment, right on the mark. Had she wao, it should’ve been easy for her to aim for their heads, not their firearms.

  So, no matter what happens…they had to make their escape, and notify their liege of the hreat.

  With simir thoughts in mind, the elves soon began to exge small nods with each other.

  A team of four shadowguards had remained behind in Kavir. Although one had been captured already, three more of them yet remained.

  And thankfully, those three were currently surrounding the dragonlord from various angles. If they were to turn and flee in unison towards opposing dires, then there was a good ce at least one would make it out.

  In moments, the three abruptly turheir backs against Serenis.

  With their eyes fixed on the distant walls of Kavir, the elves began to speed towards the surroundi. But…

  “Not so fast!”

  With the voices of two mages ringing in unison, one shadowguard soon found himself surrounded by enormous, magicked ice pilrs. The spell’s ice reached far above his head, trapping him in pce before crashing down upoarget like an avanche.

  Another shadowguard found herself being showered by a rain of mana bullets – and in the brief moment she spared to take cover, a swift kick to the gut that followed would send her sprawling backwards.

  And, as for the st one…

  “…”

  Serenis seemingly stood idle as she the bck-cd figure shrunk into the distance.

  And, ohe elf was at a suffit distahe dragonlored wore a faint smile as she raised her hand into the air.

  Orbs of light began to form above her head – much like the spell she’d use minutes ago.

  Only this time, it didn’t end with one.

  As one formed, awo would take its sides; as the two formed, another four would as well. The prismatic spheres tio multiply in number until they had practically swallowed Kavir’s skies whole.

  Even as he ran, the shadowguard watched in horror at the spectacle unfolding in the distance behind him.

  His fears only grew when the orbs began to crackle.

  A thunderous noise shook the dense desert air. One by ohe orbs began thten like heated irons – until eae began to fire rays of light, striking the deserts like small meteorites.

  And, to the shadowguard’s dismay, the craters in the sand were growing rapidly closer as the magicked rays seemingly chased after him.

  It hardly took any time until the shadowguard turned his bace more. With his feet carrying him as fast as he could possibly manage, he tio run for his life for another few minutes. Sounds of exploding sands tio hammer into his ears as he ran, denying him any form of respite.

  “…”

  After a while, Serenis only withdrew her spell when the elf had pletely disappeared from sight. She stared at the distant path of craters she’d formed, following their trail eastward to where the elf had disappeared to.

  A thin smile formed over her lips as she looked into the distant horizon.

  …Which was in stark trast to her brother’s open jaw.

  “…What the hell was that…?”

  “Hm?”

  Hearing Patrick’s voice, Serenis finally turned back to face her brother and Iris. Eae had made over to the rooftop Serenis was standing on, each dragging an unscious elf in their hand – which were soon piled on top of the ohat had been choked unscious by the dragonlord.

  “Are y to destroy the whole desert or something?”

  “Patrick, you ot ‘destroy’ a desert. A nd bees one when it is destroyed.”

  “…That’s beside the point. That was plete overkill.”

  “But I didn’t kill anyone.”

  “…? You didn’t?”

  “No.”

  Squinting, Patrick stared at his sibling’s indifferent expression for a moment longer.

  He then looked beyond Kavir’s walls – towards the desert Serenis had been bsting at.

  A trail of craters stretched into the distance. And not just small craters, either – entire dunes had seemingly been paved out. It was almost like a massive riverbed that was devoid of any water.

  “…You’re tellihat they got away from…that?”

  “They did.”

  While Patrick looked to the dragnolord with an incredulous expression, she still didn’t seem bothered o.

  If anything, she seemed retively amused at her sibling’s rea.

  “Speaking of magic...you’ve improved, haven’t you? I see you’re wielding your new spell rather profitly now.”

  “It’s not like I was sg off while you were away.”

  Serenis beamed a warm, proud smile as Patrick shuffled in pce from the sudden reition.

  “But do not grow overfident, Patrick. A small respite, and Light will surpass you before you are even aware.”

  “…Sure, sure. Look, we just get to these guys instead of me? What are you gonna do with them?”

  Soon, Patrick shifted his attention from his sibling to the three elves.

  Or to be precise, three unscious, equipment-less, and professionally bound elves.

  Oh, and Iris. Who had made them like that in the first pce.

  “…What? Got a problem?”

  “Oh, nothing. Just…admiring how you’re trying to be an enforcer outside of our own try. Didn’t think you’d have brought binding prisms along.”

  “Of course I did…wait, did you not carry around your prisms during duty?”

  “Nope. Kept ‘em shoved in my office.”

  “Is that why you kept using istead to bind people?!”

  “Hey, it worked fine!”

  “…”

  As the two mages broke into anument, Serenis’ gaze face eastward once more.

  ‘They ged their dire.’

  Outside Kavir was an expansive desert. To ge one’s dire would mean that the individual had a clear goal in mind when doing so.

  In general, Karia lied to the east. But to their immediate east, there was…

  “Hey!”

  Before she could finish her thoughts, Serenis snapped back to reality as Patrick called to her, one hand pced on her shoulder to seemingly shake her awake.

  “No reason to pout. We got 3 out of 4 – that’s det. One of them’s bound to know where the deity is, so you probably don’t o worry much.”

  “…I never did pout. Nor am I worried.”

  “Oh, really?...Sorry. Kinda hard to tell with your faow.”

  “Light was just fine reading my facial cues.”

  “…You like her more than you like me, don’t you?”

  “I like a lot of things more than you.”

  “Hey, what the hell?! After all that cooking I do for you without even a thank-you?!”

  With a loud sigh, Iris rose to her feet, shaking her head at Patrick.

  “Oh, pipe down. She gave you a lifetime’s worth of mohe least you do is cook her food.”

  “…”

  And once her words had swiftly put her friend to silent mode, Iris then began to address Serenis once more.

  “Serenis. You referred to these elves as Letherien’s servants…how did you know?”

  “I did not.”

  “…I beg your pardon?”

  “I did not know whether they were truly reted to a deity or the like. I ainty that what I was saying was true.”

  Though, when none of the elves had bothered to deny her, Serenis’ suspis had turo certainties.

  “…Then…about the st one…you let them flee on purpose, did you not? You could’ve struck them down if you wished. I don’t uand why you’d choose to to let your assaints flee.”

  “…”

  A brief pause followed as Serenis retraced her memories.

  If this deity of creation was anything like the warmongers of her own era, then this was the most effective measure in drawing them out.

  “…Surely they wouldn’t tuck tail and flee,” Serenis cluded simply. In fact, she was almost certain that they wouldn’t.

  In her experiehose who seek war of their own accord had often carried one of two reasons for doing so: power, or eai. But being a member of the Twelve, there was hardly any ce that Letherien needed more power; hence, eai was the most sensible answer.

  Serenis had learned how to toy with sudividuals hundreds of years ago.

  And if this deity was anything like her behemoth sibling, they’d uand the i message their messenger was likely bringing to her this very moment.

  ‘I am here. e challenge me.’