A few days later, at the Operational Base...
"Here, take this. This would be your communicating device." I said as I handed Alicia a cream coloured necklace. "Your code name in the communications will be Alpha."
"Give it a test run." I told Alicia with a smile on my face.
Alicia took the device with a smile and went upstairs.
"Alpha to Zulu. Do you copy?" Alicia's voice rang through my communication device.
"Loud and clear, Alpha." I said nonchalantly as I pressed on the reply button.
I then turned to the rest of the party members.
"Alright, judging from how much stuff you carry, I guess you all are ready to head out." I said nonchalantly as I gave them a smile while Alicia returned back to where we was.
"If that's the case... Teleport!" I cast Teleport on myself and my party members and arrived at the Crimson Demon Village.
At the Front Entrance of the Crimson Demon Village...
"Ah shit, here we go again." I muttered under my breath as I rolled my eyes.
Meanwhile, my party members were probably feeling hungry, as their stomachs were crying out for food.
"Okay, did you guys have breakfast beforehand?" I turned my attention onto them as I asked.
Everyone shook their heads except for Alicia and Iris.
"Well, you guys go and have some breakfast first, I'll be waiting right here-" My stomach growled before I could finish what I was saying at that moment.
The atmosphere turned extremely awkward as no one said a word.
A few seconds later, Alicia was blushing and shivering as she was trying her very best to hold back her laughter. Iris covered her face with her hands to avoid letting me see her embarrassed expression. But I could tell she was blushing as her ears turned red as well.
"What an idiot..." Karu facepalmed himself as he muttered.
Loby gave me an empty stare while Chris gave me a smile.
"Well... How about let's go eat at a restaurant together...?" Yunyun suggested with a flustered tone as she fidgeted nervously.
A few minutes later...
"Welcome, customers! My name is Nerimaki, daughter of the owner of the number one pub in the Crimson Demon Village, and the one who will eventually become its owner! you guys (Onii-san tachi) seemed to be friends with Yunyun, so I'll give these to you as a special service. In exchange, would you please tell me how did you guys get along here?"
A girl with long, black hair placed a few dishes of food I didn't recall ordering on the counter before sitting down next to me.
If she's referring to Yunyun like that, she's probably one of her classmates or something like that, even though it isn't necessary for me to point that out since that is too obvious for people to figure that out.
She's most likely to be interested in how her classmate is doing outside the village.
"Please wait! That's my treat!" Nerimaki said with a panicked tone as she stopped me from taking out my wallet.
"Well, thanks for the treat then. What do you want to know?" I answered with a small smile.
"Guardian-san here invited me to join his party after he tested my strength! And of course, as the daughter of the Chief of the Crimson Demon Village, I would need to lend my power to people who needed it." Yunyun put her hands on her hips as she bragged.
"Nope, I definitely didn't go that far." I debunked Yunyun's rampant delusion as I shook my head with a blank expression.
"It is true that I invited Yunyun to join my party after testing her strength. But I think it would be a little exaggerated if you put it like the party wouldn't work without you." I said in resignation as I grabbed a piece of fried giant toad.
"Oh hey, that is delicious!" I exclaimed after I chugged down a cup of Neroid.
"The fried giant toad is crispy and well-flavored. Not to mention, it goes well with the cup of Neroid. Your pub has done well." I commented as I gave a small smile and a thumbs up at Nerimaki.
"Thank you very much!"
We did pay for the treats Nerimaki gave us in the end, since the seven of us went a bit too far and ate quite a lot of food there.
After eating at Nerimaki's pub (I don't really want to read the name of the pub since it's a bit indecent.), we went to Yunyun's house for planning our next step in locating the translation book for Wingdings.
At Yunyun's house...
"Well, let's get back to the main task." I summoned the book and pulled my sword out.
Then I channeled my mana into my sword, which blade began to emit a blue glow.
The words started to appear once again under the glow of my sword.
"Let's see here... There's a bunch of numbers here..." I opened the book and flip it to the page after the page where the note was.
It turns out the pages were completely filled with numbers.
"You son of a gun..." I muttered.
"Yunyun, go get some paper and a pen." I turned to Yunyun with an exasperated expression. "We got a lot of work to do."
Two very boring hours of copying numbers and finding hints and methods to interpret the numbers later...
"Finally... We found it." Loby sighed in relief.
"So this time it is located in the town centre, huh?" Karu muttered to himself.
"Well, it's getting late now, so it would be the best for us to start searching for the book next morning."
"You're right. Dad, is there any rooms for their accommodation?" Yunyun asked Hiropon, the Village Chief of the Crimson Demons.
"Dad?" Yunyun called out and turned to his direction, and discovered his absence in the house.
"Well, fine then. We will go somewhere else then, considering the fact that there are a few inns in the Crimson Demon Village." I sighed at the Village Chief's chuunibyou tendencies, even though the trait was common among the Crimson Demons.
"I understand, see you tomorrow." Yunyun waved us goodbye as we left her house.
So, we asked Loby to bring us to an inn before he returned to his house.
After entering the inn, which was the foremost inn in the Crimson Demon Village, or so I heard.
Actually no, it's not like that. The sole reason for it to be the number one inn in the Crimson Demon Village is that it is the only inn in the Crimson Demon Village. What else would you expect?
Anyway, we got assigned to a large room after we arrived at the inn.
The thing is, the room has bunk beds. And before I knew it, Chris, Karu and Iris have already chosen their beds.
I am absolutely certain that you are extremely familiar with bunk beds. So as you may have expected, there was only one spot left.
But still, sharing a bed with a girl... Seriously...?
"What's wrong with the two of you?" Karu asked as he slightly tilted his head in confusion. "You two can share the bed together, I mean, 'accidents' are least likely to occur between the both of you, considering how 'well' you two get along. Take this chance to bond a little while you are at it."
Alicia and I looked at each other with flushed cheeks.
"Well... I guess we have no choice then..." Alicia said with a flustered tone as she fidgeted nervously.
In the end, Alicia and I did share the bed together that night.
To be honest with you all, it actually feels good to share a bed with a girl.
But the one thing that wasn't good is that the bed could barely fit the both of us.
Our bodies pressed against each other as the bed was too small.
"Hey." Alicia whispered. "Can you move over a bit? It's getting cramped in here."
"I don't think I can, or rather, can you move over a bit please?" I whispered back.
Our eyes met as we stared at each other silently.
Then we were engaged in a fight trying to gain more space as we pushed against each other a few seconds later.
We panted heavily as our bodies got even hotter and broke into sweat. Moreover, due to the fact that we pushed against each other as hard as we could, it got more difficult to breathe as time passed by.
"You know what? I am just going to do this." Alicia sighed in resignation as she laid on top of me.
"Hey, hey, I'll feel troubled if you lean over all of a sudden."
Alicia ignored me and placed her head onto my left arm, her face touching my chest.
The situation got a little awkward as we stared at each other in the eyes wordlessly.
"We have met a few times before Iris introduced us to each other, do you know that?" Alicia said as she broke the silence.
"Did we?"
"Yeah we did. The first time we met was when you, uh, first entered the Royal Castle." Alicia recalled her memory as she giggled inside the blanket.
"Well, I mean you aren't completely wrong there. I did entered the Royal Castle, but I was unauthorized back then." I answered as I laughed as well.
"Back when you stormed into the Royal Castle, you literally ran past me. You were the guy who wore that black and purple outfit at that time, right?" Alicia reminisced with a smile.
"Black and purple? Oh right, that's me." I pondered a while as I remember I wore the Shadow Core Outfit during my intrusion of the Royal Castle.
"For the second time, that was when you left the Royal Castle. I heard you killed someone out of a fit of rage. And when you left Iris-sama's bedroom, you bumped into me." Alicia continued as she told me the details of our second encounter.
"Is that so...? Well, I didn't expect anyone else would see this side of me. That was really unsightly of me. Please keep this a secret from the others." I sighed in resignation as I requested Alicia not to spill the beans.
"No, that isn't what I meant. Anyone should have the right to cry in certain situations. Not to mention, I don't think I have the right to judge you back then." Alicia shook her head as she reassured me.
"Thanks." I replied and gave Alicia a smile.
"Also, let's just change the topic. Do you want to hear how Iris-sama's childhood was?" Alicia brought up another topic with a bright smile.
"I would love to! Fill me in with the details." I answered with a excited smile.
Then we talked about Iris' childhood until we started to feel drowsy.
The next morning...
"Holy shit, did they really cross the line?" Karu asked.
"Well, seems like I win, Karu. Time to pay up." Chris' voice rang through my ears.
I slightly opened my eyes and saw Karu handed Chris a pouch of coins with a reluctant expression.
Coincidentally, Alicia opened her eyes a few seconds after I opened my eyes. Then she closed her eyes again a few seconds later.
Then I looked to my right side and found three pairs of eyes staring at us.
"Guardian-san, I want to sleep for five more minutes~" Alicia said in an affectionate way, like a cute little girl asking her dad to extend her sleep time.
"Okay, I know what you guys are going to ask, and the answer is no. Alicia and I both didn't become adults last night." I turned my attention onto the three and stated with a blank expression.
"Hey... hey, wake up! You are going to drool all over me if you don't wake up!"
After changing in the inn and headed towards the town centre...
"Alright, here we go. Chris, if you please." I turned to Chris and asked her to activate Treasure Detection.
"Leave it to me!" Chris answered with an energetic demeanor and gave me a thumbs up before she searched for the translation book.
Karu on the other hand looked at a random direction and whistled a tune. But that wasn't the main point though. The most important thing was he would somehow managed to get a note wrong for every five seconds.
I don't know whether he did it on purpose or not, but that was cringy as fk nonetheless. Let's just assume that he suck at whistling.
I will be sure to teach him how to whistle properly if I had the time and chance for that.
Anyway, it seems like Chris found where the translation book was, since she was tapping my shoulder during this entire time I stared at Karu.
"I have found the translation book, it's somewhere-"
"Every combat personnel please gather at the front gate! It's the Demon King Army!
Wow. Such cliche development.
Great timing you have there, Demon King Army. I will definitely beat the shit out of the guy or Demon King's General who led the monsters here at a time like this.
"Guardian-san, what should we do?" Yunyun tapped on my other shoulder as she asked nervously, as if she was worried of the well-being of the Crimson Demon Village and its inhabitants.
But it wasn't like I couldn't understand her feelings, this is her home after all. On top of that, her father is the village chief of the Crimson Demons.
"Do you even have to ask?! Go!" I said with an exasperated tone as I headed towards the front gate of the village.
At the Front Gate of the Crimson Demon Village...
"Summon Core Constellation: Wind Aquila." I hid behind a building and closed my eyes as a large pastel green eagle circled above the Demon King Army.
So I was viewing the Demon King Army from the Wind Aquila's point of view at that moment.
And it's kinda scary to find out that there were a lot of monsters standing outside the gate. There were 10 square arrays of the Demon King Army personnel, and according to the Wind Aquila's calculations, there were approximately 6606 monsters in each square array.
However, the thing that concerns me the most was not the sheer number of monsters. Or rather, one of the square arrays was full of black robed personnel and held magic staffs, about one-fifth of them held an evil version of a staff a priest would wield.
Of course, I activated the Aura Perception System within the Core Constellation and found an extremely sinister aura came out from that one particular array.
"Yankee, be sure to look out for one of the square arrays among the Demon King Army. I have a bad feeling about them." I warned Yunyun as the Wind Aquila returned to where I was.
The atmosphere at the front gate became extremely tense as no one moved a muscle.
Even though a battle broke out a few seconds later and broke the tension.
"Core change, Pegasus to Aquila." I stayed on top of one of the buildings as I changed my Core Outfit.
And then I knelt with one knee and adjust the scope of the magic rifle, in order to search for the leader of the massive legion.
But holy shit, it is a bit difficult to search for the Demon King General since too much magic spells blocked my vision.
Yeah, I am serious here. I couldn't get a visual on my target thanks to a ton of Advanced spells flying towards the Demon King Army.
So, at any rate, I channeled my mana into the magic rifle, regardless of whether I can see my enemies or not.
A bolt of Cursed Lightning went flying towards me all of a sudden.
I activated the Light Absorb Shield on my bracer and absorbed the spell.
I am not going to complain anyway, since that guy gave me some more free mana, I don't really see the reason why should I complain about that.
So I extended the barrel of my magic rifle, put on my goggles and aim at where that Cursed Lightning came from.
'I don't know if I got this, but here it goes...!'
I prayed silently and pulled the trigger.
A wide aquamarine beam fired from the gun barrel and flew into the unknown at a high velocity.
And everyone, including my party members, stop fighting and looked at me with stunned expressions.
By the way, since I extended my magic rifle, the magic rifle fired an explosive beam and blew at least a platoon of heavily armored monsters into ashes.
Looking from the scope, it seems like I dealt some damage onto some Crimson Demons who went a little bit ahead as well. No one lost an arm or a leg, but they still got heavy wounds nonetheless.
And I figured they had the misconception of the magic rifle was Friendly Fireproof, since some of them just move straight ahead without looking at their surroundings.
I would say, couldn't they be more careful while fighting, even though they were formidable, and had high intelligence stats?
Well, back to the topic, where was I again...? Oh right. So I fired the magic rifle and left everyone staring at me with stunned expressions. From here, it was just an one-sided battle as the monsters were wavered by the power of the magic rifle while the Crimson Demons on the other hand, attacked the Demon King Army like crazy.
But then, the mysterious array was unharmed, even being bombarded by advanced spells cast by the Crimson Demons.
It didn't take that much time before the tide was turned and the Demon King Army started to regain the upper hand. The Crimson Demons were retreating slowly.
'They will be annihilated at this rate... Hm...?'
Just when I was thinking whether or not should I use the rifle to take out the mysterious group, I found out that they were evading Alicia's attacks.
Suddenly, an idea came to me. What if, they are extremely weak in close-quarters combat? And physical damage hurts them the most? What will happen if I attack them with my mana channeled weapons?
"Core change, Aquila to Pegasus." Wanting to find out their weak points, I changed my Core Outfit, summoned the Wind Aquila and flew towards the battlefield.
After flying to the designated spot, I turned the Wind Aquila back into the Wind Core and landed on one knee.
"Partial change, Pegasus to Phoenix!" I muttered as the pair of slash blades and the nodachi appeared on my back.
"Alright, let's do this." I muttered as I pulled out my pair of slash blades.
I lunged at one of the black-robed people and channeled my mana into the slash blades, which the edges started to turn into a cream colour.
'Chaotic Flash Slash (Sen-ko Ran Zan)!' I shouted the skill name internally as I swung them in a quick succession.
However, a spear almost impaled my head from the right as I swiped my slash blade and blocked the preemptive strike.
And it turned out it was one of fallen monsters. But it turned black and its eyes emitted an eerie purple glow.
"Fkin necromancy." I muttered as I cut the fallen monster into pieces.
"Hey you guys! Watch out for these people. There are some necromancers within their ranks." I called to my party members through my communication device.
'But still...'
"Lima! Use 'that skill' and take them all out!" I asked Loby to cast Phoenix-plosion through the communication device.
"Eh? But I haven't master the skill yet... Are you sure about that...?"
"Don't worry about that. I have a good idea. Besides, even if you failed miserably, I can still find a way to cover it up like I always did." I encouraged Loby as I continued fighting against the undead.
"I'll try..." Loby's voice and footsteps rang through the device, probably because he was heading towards the monsters.
Loby POV
"Lima! Use 'that skill' and take them all out!" Guardian's voice spoke through the communication device as I retreated with my fellow clansmen.
Wait, what? I mean, I don't mind using Phoenix-plosion here, but it's probably useless, considering I just barely managed to use the skill.
"Eh? But I haven't master the skill yet... Are you sure about that...?" I voiced my doubts upon Guardian's idea of casting a spell I haven't master completely yet. After all, he is a tactician who would do all the preparations and plans beforehand. Since when did he become a reckless warrior like that? It wasn't like I hate this change at all, but it was too sudden, you know.
"Don't worry about that. I have a good idea. Besides, even if you failed miserably, I can still find a way to cover it up like I always did."
Guardian, what are you planning? You are giving me bad vibes for casting the spell.
Well, screw it. I am definitely not going to take responsibility if anything happens.
And so, I ran in the opposite direction and replied "I'll try".
After a few seconds, I prepared my staff and started to recite my incantation.
"By my efflux of my deep crimson, the time of awakening has come! Now, Phoenix, awaken from your slumber, rise like the sun, spread your wings and soar! Pitiful creatures, synchronize yourself with the red-hot flames, and atone for your sins once again in the flames of Hell! Burst through, PHOENIX-PLOSION!"
"I'll try..." Loby replied.
Let's hope he knows this is a matter of life and death and can manage to pull this off...
I silently say my prayers as I sliced another undead monster into pieces. However, since the undead monsters kept on regenerating, so we had a hard time fighting them.
"By my efflux of my deep crimson, the time of awakening has come! Now, Phoenix, awaken from your slumber, rise like the sun, spread your wings and soar high!" A familiar conjuration boomed from my communication device as Loby began to recite his incantations.
Well, let's hope we don't die on this one. I mean, even though we have Eris, who is the Goddess of the Afterlife, on our side, I would hate to die in a dumb way like this.
"Pitiful creatures, synchronize yourself with the red-hot flames, and atone for your sins once again in the flames of hell!"
Loby continued chanting as we kept on fighting against the undead monsters.
"Burst through, PHOENIX-PLOSION!" Loby's voice echoed through the communication device as Alicia, Iris and I got ourselves surrounded by the legion of undead monsters.
Alicia and I stood back to back with our weapons drawn, Iris was standing between us. I pulled out my nodachi after I thrust the slash blades into the ground besides Iris, in case I have to use an AOE skill to protect the three of us.
Meanwhile...
"Burst through, PHOENIX-PLOSION!" Loby shouted the skill as he pointed his staff towards the undead monsters.
"See? It wouldn't work." Loby said dejectedly as a small Phoenix flew out of the staff.
"Wait for it." my voice spoke up through Loby's communication device.
Loby then looked up and saw the small Phoenix used all its might to extend its wings. After three attempts of doing, the Phoenix succeeded and emerged as a larger Phoenix.
"See? It wouldn't work." Loby sighed dejectedly.
Really, couldn't you put a little more faith in your Phoenix-plosion? It wouldn't hurt to believe in it a little more.
"Wait for it." I pressed the reply button as I said in a slightly louder voice, since the undead monsters were a bit too loud.
A larger Phoenix-shaped Explosion was flying towards out direction, reducing every monster standing in its path into ashes.
'I knew it.' I thought to myself as I summoned the Fire Phoenix and evaded the Phoenix-plosion with Alicia and Iris.
The undead monsters on the other hand, blew up and disintegrated into cinders by the moment they made contact with the Phoenix-plosion.
"You did it. You crazy son of a gun. You did it." I said with a proud tone as I felt happy for him.
"Partial change, Phoenix to Pegasus!" I grabbed the broadsword on the Phoenix's back while the pair of slash blades and the nodachi detached from my back.
Then, I sheathed my sword and looked down.
"How could this possible? It shouldn't be that strong... What did you do?" Loby asked with disbelief as I looked at the black-robed people, who were scattering in all directions.
"Really, you should wait for a few more seconds before you celebrate." I sighed as I talked to Loby on the communication device. "I have seen it through the Fire Phoenix. Your Phoenix-plosion reborn after it dissipated back then. It spread its wings, and blew more trees up."
I pulled my sword out and leapt as I wanted to start the second part of my experiments as soon as possible.
I channeled my mana into the sword, which the blade turned blue. Then, I spun my sword as a lightsaber and advanced.
I caught up to a necromancer a minute later, then the necromancer dodged my attacks left and right as fast as he could.
However, I spun my sword even quicker and took a huge hit off the necromancer.
With his movements getting more slower as time passed by, that wounded black-robed man tripped and fell onto the ground. Then he raised his hands up in the air as if to say he surrenders.
Since that guy was rendered harmless and raised his hands in defeat, there's no point in inflicting damage upon him any further. So, I left him alone and continued to advance.
I chased down the black-robed people as they scattered in all directions, probably because they were getting scared as they couldn't use the fallen monsters as pawns like they just did a few moments before.
If I want them to stop running and deal some damage to them at the same time, I only have one skill that allows me to do both.
'Well, I guess it can't be helped then.' I thought to myself as I thrust my sword into the ground.
'Holy Repulsion!' I shouted the skill name internally as I channeled my mana into the sword and shattered the ground.
When I used Holy Repulsion at that time, some flashbacks of me killing a few defenseless young men back then appeared in front of my eyes.
"That's right... Kill them." The dark voice boomed within my mind.
"I... I shouldn't..." I muttered as I held my head with one hand and my sword on the other.
"Do it." The dark voice said (or rather, ordered) in a way that resembled Sheev Palpatine from Star Wars a lot.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
"But I refuse (Daga Kotowaru)." I answered as I opened my eyes.
Knowing full well the fact that those hooded people are immune to magic, I controlled the amount of light magic and create a crater big enough to contain all of them without allowing any single one to escape.
After capturing the black hooded people, we returned back to the Crimson Demon Village and continued searching for the translation book.
"It should be here somewhere..." Chris said as we went back to the town centre.
"Summon Core Constellation: Shadow Wolf." I muttered as a black wolf appeared in front of me.
The Shadow Wolf sniffed around and attempted to trace the book's scent down.
Then, I commanded it to sniff everyone once silently to find out who have the book. But just in case you are wondering, I commanded it keep on moving even it tracked the book down.
"Well, it seems like it's gone... Let's continue looking tomorrow morning." I shrugged as I said in resignation.
'I knew it. There's a spy in our midst.' I thought to myself as we returned to the inn.
At that night...
I shared the bed with Alicia again... Either they really trusted us a lot, or they want to confirm did we went up the stairs of adulthood.
I am telling you, it is definitely the latter, considering how they react earlier that day.
Also, the blanket was stolen, and I guess I know who were the culprits. So it couldn't be more obvious it must be the latter.
These sons of guns...
So right now, Alicia slept with her combat outfit equipped while I slept with the Light Core Outfit on.
Before I knew it, Alicia had her arms around me. Since she hugged me in her sleep, I could feel the sensation of her body, she was really soft.
All of a sudden, a black silhouette caught my attention as it leapt out of the window.
In order to chase after the unknown silhouette, I pried off Alicia's arms gently as I tried not to wake her up.
"Core change, Pegasus to Wolf." I muttered softly as the black and purple Core Outfit started to materialize on my body.
Then I put on a mask, leapt out of the window and went after the enigmatic silhouette in a badass way.
I used Concealment to hide my presence and chased after the silhouette. I knew it, the person was the spy, no matter who it was.
It stopped at somewhere inside the outer part of the forest.
So I hid behind a tree in order not to get myself busted and mess the whole thing up.
"What are you doing here?" A familiar voice asked.
I turned around and found Alicia behind me.
"You shouldn't be here-" I put my left index finger on Alicia's lips before she could say any more and get us both killed.
"Keep quiet for now. I will ask you a few things later on." I whispered.
We moved slowly and followed the person.
"Lurk." I activated the skill before the person looked back.
Did he see us? Let's hope not.
That person stared at our direction for a few seconds. And then, he walked towards where we were slowly with his weapon drawn.
The person stopped by an inch in front of us.
I knew we were going to get busted if it continues on, so while he stared at us, I summoned the Water Dragon and succeeded in making the person turned his attention back onto the opposite direction.
Then, the coast was cleared as that person fell for it and chased after the Water Dragon.
I disabled the Lurk skill and used some mana from the Core Supply Pack and created two Shadow Clones.
"Wait a second." I told Alicia as I went behind a tree.
"Okay I'm done." I whispered as I came back to her a few seconds later.
After that, we ran after the adumbration until he stopped.
As I expected, he was meeting up with his allies.
So, the Shadow Clones were hidden in the trees, waiting for the perfect time to ambush them.
When the figure handed a book to them, me and my Shadow Clones cast Shadow Bind onto the three of them.
Well, at least we bind two out of three people. The one we followed dodged the pitch-black ropes.
What comes up next was that the person attempted to escape.
All of a sudden, a cream coloured beam flew and hit the person on the leg.
'Who? Who is it?' Alicia thought to herself.
"Why would I even ask..." Alicia muttered as she looked up.
"Do you actually think you can run away from me?" I muttered to myself.
At this point you might ask, where was I? I knelt on one knee, with my rifle loaded with enough mana to fire a few more rounds. The one who was with Alicia was just another Shadow Clone.
Back when I went behind a tree...
"Shadow Clone." I muttered as a Shadow Clone appeared.
Then I leapt onto a tree and found two hooded figures standing, as if they were waiting for someone.
So I got into position and landed on one of the thicker branches.
"Core change, Wolf to Pegasus!" I muttered as the blue trenchcoat replaced the Shadow Core Outfit.
"Partial change, Pegasus to Aquila!" I said softly as the magic rifle appeared on my hands.
"Alright, let's do this." I muttered to myself as I adjusted the scope and channeled my mana into the rifle.
Anyway, the person didn't fall down and struggled to escape the scene.
"You just don't know when to give up... What a persistent guy in a hopeless situation..." I sighed as I took aim of his other leg.
After that, I pulled the trigger and shot the other leg.
The guy was immobilized as I shot his legs.
"You are not obliged to say anything unless you wish to do so." The Shadow Clone that was with Alicia moved forward and removed his hood.
Just when I thought I unmasked the spy within our ranks, however, it was a dummy.