C255: Seridan Iron Feet (2)
"Ehh."
War wizard Frank Buckler sighed angrily as he drank a cold beer.
"How long do we have to stay in this stuffy underground mine?"
It has already been more than three months since slaves started mining rare metal in the mine.
Surveillance and management are all done by the guys below, so they had nothing to do. Even so, trying to spend more than three months in a place where there was no sunlight, he felt like he was losing his mind.
'Damn it, it was better when I was able to relieve stress with the slaves.'
Since the things to enjoy were limited, he relieved his frustration by torturing the slaves until a month ago since the decline in the number of slaves disrupted the amount of rare metal mining and Frank was no longer able to mess with slaves.
Of course, if they openly rebel, then he could act in "self-defense." However, the slaves were tactless, so they deliberately lowered their heads in front of Frank. That made it difficult for him to find fault with them.
After that, Frank has been drunk every night for the last month.
Suddenly, he thought that the old days were good.
At that time, there was nothing to fear as a war wizard. He was talented, and was born with a natural sense, especially when it comes to fighting. Of course, outstanding talent brought pride, and Frank's pride eventually caused problems within the military.
He disobeyed his boss's order and caused a mutiny.
Under military law, there was nothing to say even if he was executed immediately, but Frank did not die.
The country appreciated his ability, removed his identity and used him for illegal activities with a promise that if he completes his job successfully, he'll live his life again.
For that alone, Frank endured a long, long time.
Of course, it wasn't just bad things. There were fewer annoying orders, he was freer than when he was in the military, and he got a lot of support.
'I think there are two people who are similar to me here.'
There were two more war mages who caused trouble and were responsible for the dirty work. In a way, they were Frank comrades, but Frank didn't want to get involved with them because he thought he was cleaner and better even if he was stuck in the same dump.
It was the moment when Frank lay on the bed of a barracks to get a proper sleep.
"Hmm?"
Frank opened his closed eyes. He could feel the scent of a strong person.
No it wasn't just a feeling he was calling him on purpose with a wave of mana.
Frank immediately rose from his bed and headed outside the tent. There was someone standing in the vast underground square full of artificial light that was off limits.
'What's that?'
It was a man covered with swaying shadows that fluttered like a cape behind his back and a crow mask on his face.
"What the hell are they doing here?"
Frank was smiling around because he couldn't hide his joy in saying that.
"I don't know where you came from, but you know that this is a restricted area, right?"
"……."
The shadow did not answer.
"Well, I don't think it's a good thing to come here, seeing that you've come all the way here with such magic."
It didn't matter. No, it was better.
"Don't die easily. It's been a long time since I've been able to get rid of boredom, but it's not fun if it ends quickly, right?"
Frank used magic to create 5 fire spears and threw them at the shadow.
At that moment the shadow moved. It seemed to be a simple spell, but the magic was completed at a terrifying speed that could not be compared to Frank's.
The mass of ice generated collided with the fire spears and both disappeared.
Frank's eyes glowed at the sight.
"As expected, you are one of the best."
Otherwise, he would not have sneaked into such a secret place and openly fought with him.
Frank looked down on the shadow on the outside, but on the inside he acted with thorough calculation.
Not expecting his first attack to succeed, Frank went right into the next spell but at that moment, the shadowy man moved.
The cloak of shadows fluttered and narrowed the distance from Frank in an instant. It was like spreading wings, not a cape.
'Close combat? That's a pretty good judgement.'
Frank smiled inwardly at the sight and stepped back immediately, completing a spell. For him, a war wizard, it was too easy to cast spells while moving.
This time it was a stronger magic than before as the head of a snake made of flames opened its mouth wide to devour the shadow.
At this rate, the intruder will throw himself into the snake's mouth but before that he used his magic as countless awls of ice grew like chestnuts in the snake's mouth and tore off the snake's head.
"Are you a war mage too?"
Frank asked, but there was no answer.
The serpent of fire disappeared and embers scattered everywhere and Frank stretched his arm in the air.
Countless embers were sucked into his hands and compressed into a circle.
As soon as he tried to throw it the shadow approached Frank and a silver blade was aimed at his neck.
At that moment, Frank grinned as the sphere of flames held in his right hand stretched long and took the form of a sword to block the blade wielded by the shadow.
"Did you think you would win in close combat?"
Usually, wizards are considered strong at long distances and vulnerable at short distances.
The same was true even when wizards fight. They compete to see who can cast his spell first, shoot their magic from distance and try to block the opponent's magic.
The fight was basically very static rather than dynamic. It could be seen as common sense, not prejudice, that wizards are weak in close combat.
But war mages were different.
They could cast spells while moving and were lunatics who studied combat-related magic and how to kill enemies efficiently, not the magic of developing the world.
So instead of being weak in close combat war mages preferred to fight at close distances and Frank was that kind of person.
"A sword fight? If you stick to me, I'll be more grateful to you!"
Frank laughed at the intruder who attacked him.
"Looking at you using the maneuvering technique and coming closer, you seem like a war mage with some fighting experience, but even so, to me……."
At that moment, the eyes inside the crow mask curved like a crescent moon.
'Is he laughing?'
Frank, who was engaged in a sword-to-sword battle of strength, felt a chill run down his spine.
'What? Did I miss something?'
Strangely, he didn't feel good.
'Usually, it doesn't end well when I feel like that.'
Frank struggled to suppress his anxiety and decided to focus on the person in front of him. Whatever the case, fighting cannot be avoided.
'I'll do my best to kill him!'
Frank swung his flaming sword with a murderous intent in his eyes.
* * *
Feeling the wavelength of the mana in the distance, two other war mages arrived at the scene where the fight was taking place.
One was short and looked like a child, and the other was tall.
"This is Frank's accommodation."
"How many people are here? Is there a security breach?"
The two dark-skinned war mages looked around as they stood where the battle had taken place. They couldn't feel the wave of the magic collision that they felt a moment ago anymore.
That means the fight was over.
"Hey. Look over there."
The short war mage pointed to one side where a bloodied body was lying.
"Frank!"
The body of war mage Frank Buckler dispatched to the rare metal mine was lying there dead. His glaring eyes seemed incredulous of his defeat.
"I can't believe they got Frank."
"I guess the intruder is not an ordinary person."
"If you look at the traces, it wasn't attacked by several people. It was only one person and he was also defeated in close combat."
"Frank lost in close combat against a wizard?"
"Doesn't the result tell you? And if Frank's dead, that means the intruder is also a war mage."
Both wizards naturally put their backs together and were wary of the surroundings. It hasn't been that long since the mana wave disappeared so the intruder that killed Frank was still there.
Then all of a sudden all the lights that lit the wide interior of the cave were extinguished. In a flash, darkness came and robbed them of their sight.
"He blocked our view?"
"That's an effective trick but it's too obvious."
One of them took a metal can out of his waist. When he pulled the string hanging from the end of the barrel, a light popped out and shot into the air.
The surroundings were filled with much brighter lights than before the lights went out and the war mages looked around carefully to find the enemy hiding in the brightened landscape.
Under the white glow from the top of their heads a wriggling shadow appeared at their feet.
"……!"
The sensitive war mages felt that something was wrong and immediately threw themselves away.
Soon after, countless thorns soared under their feet, penetrating the spot they were until a while ago.
If they had been even 1 second late they would've become skewers.
"Magic? Where?"
The small war mage questioned the magic that appeared under his feet while the tall one looked around with a staff in his hand.
The two were on guard and waited for the enemy's attack.
They planned to wait until the enemy used magic then one person was going to defend and the other person was going to attack.
Even if they couldn't defeat the intruder with that, if they knew his location, they could win by applying pressure slowly but they never heard of magic coming out of a shadow.
As they waited a man black and wearing a crow mask on his face appeared from the shadows.
The two war mages were confused when an intruder appeared in the place where they were standing a while ago.
'Was he hiding under the ground? No, but it wasn't an attack from under the ground. It was literally a shadow.'
When I was thinking about it, Rudger, the black shadow, opened his mouth.
"Aren't you going to come?"
"……!"
Both war mages exchanged glances and nodded.
The short war mage pulled out two daggers while the tall one inserted mana into his staff and the two of them rushed towards the shadow at the same time.
* * *
"Brother!"
Hans ran to where Rudger was along with Seridan.
"We've done it successfully!"
While Rudger dealt with the war mages, the slaves in the mine took their weapons and launched a surprise attack in the middle of the night.
Since all the patrols had been killed the slaves attack happened when everyone was asleep so they could not resist.
The rebellion was a success and as soon as Hans confirmed it, he immediately moved to find Rudger.
There are a total of three wizards in the mine and Hans thought that it might be dangerous for Rudger to deal with all three alone.
"Brother…"
Hans, who rushed to the scene full of traces of the fight, was speechless due to the devastation in front of his eyes.
Rudger was fine. He stood still, and near Rudger were the bodies of the war mages.
The short war mage, who wielded daggers, was stabbed to death by his dagger and the war mage who used a staff had his head smashed and his stomach was pierced by the staff he was using.
"You're here?"
Rudger looked back at Hans and asked.
"Oh, yeah. The…… I'm here to help……."
Hans looked blankly at war mages bodies and muttered despondently.
"……I was worried for nothing."