Chapter 108

Rider paused at the doorway, looking at the dark room beyond. Though it was faint, she could still sense the faint remnants of magecraft in this room, and traces of mana from a ritual of some kind. There wasn't much she could see just from the light that shone in from the corridor, just dirt and crow corpses, so she manifested a headlamp and strapped it around her forehead .It was part of the tools she possessed as a maid, as it was a prerequisite for a maid to be prepared for everything, including cleaning in dark places.

The lamp switched on and lit up most of the room, shining like a star in the darkness. The tree in the center of the room loomed out of the darkness like a giant, the branches spreading across the ceiling and all over the room, with little to no damage from the battle that had just occurred. The charms and talismans were all still in place, albeit some were sporting a charred appearance now, with signs of damage on quite a few.

Ignoring the stench of the dead crows rising from the ground, Rider stepped through, her gaze vigilant as she turned her head this way and that, the headlamp illuminating the room wherever she turned to. The room was mostly bare besides the tree in the middle, with vines and covering the walls and fungi growing across the edges, with some on the ground as well. Yellow and brown mushrooms with thin stalks sprouted from the ground, aided by the humid atmosphere in the rain to grow abundantly. The rich earth provided nutrients for them, and they sprang up naturally under the ideal conditions.

Poking the crows with her broom to make sure they were dead, she waded through the bird corpses swamping the floor and made her way to the tree. The mana concentration was highest there, and she could sense that the tree was a powerful Mystic Code of the Workshop built here. The talismans and charms, the environment of the room, the crows, all of it was tied to the tree. A link to a higher power, a catalyst for casting Grand Magecraft, there was no telling what it could be, but she had to investigate it to see if it could provide a clue to where the maguses in the underground base were.

Upon approaching the tree, she noted that there were patches of blood on the ground, darker patches of brown than the soil around it. Shiny specks reflected the light off from her headlamp, and when she crouched to investigate it, she noticed that there were shards of what looked like, glass, or crystal. Placing her hands on the dirt, she rubbed the material with her fingers, and realized that it was closer to plastic, without the brittleness of the glass or crystal. Dropping them back on the ground, she looked around some more, noting that the soil was disturbed here at the base of the tree, the dirt forming a shallow impression from somebody having sat there for a period of time, and then marks from the person moving as well.

Flicking her handgun upwards and into the darkness, she raised her entire arm and pulled the trigger, a bullet exiting the muzzle and traveling through the air to strike down the bird watching her from the shadows. Without a single squawk, the bullet pierced it's throat and struck down the crow, the bird falling from the branch it was perched on and falling onto the ground. A dull crunch could be heard as the bones cracked from the impact, the wing folding at an odd angle, and a blood spilled from the hole on its neck onto the dirt.

She had felt a presence watching her the moment she had entered the room, but she had chosen to ignore until she had pinned down what it was and where it was. After seeing the crows and the tree, she had guessed that there would be crow familiars in the room watching her, and after seeing the tracksat the base of the tree, she could roughly guess where the familiar would be positioned to see both the back and front. Out of the corner of her eye, she had managed to spot it, and it was a quick job to eliminate it.

Stepping over it's corpse, she went around the thick trunk to go over to the other side, following the tracks to the other side of the tree.

All she saw was more distrubed dirt, but it didn't look like the person had moved anywhere else after that. It was like they had dragged themselves over to the other side, stopped, and then disappeared.

Hm…

Swinging her broom casually, the force she generated with that one swing obliterated the dirt around the area, clods of earth flying into the air as the soil was torn up. Exposed by the swing, she could see the body of the magus half buried in it, and with one swift shot, she put an end to her life. The bullet bored into the magus's head and exited out the other end, easily breaking through the bone and skin.

After the tumult of sound, everything fell silent again, the dirt gathering in piles as blood leaked from the head of the magus.

Hidden in the dense leaves of the trees above Rider, just below the ceiling, Ayaka did her best to still her breathing, trying to remain hidden as she saw the fake body she had made destroyed. By climbing the tree and hiding in the numerous branches and leaves while simultaneously making traces of a body buried in the ground, she had hoped to fool the person coming in. Her element of earth helped here, allowing her to easily shape a clay doll, with the help of the blood from the crows earlier, the faux blood coming from them as well.

Hiding under the dirt would have been her first choice, but in the end she decided it would be better as a decoy for her to stay hidden in the tree. The dirt she had hastily used to hide herself in the soil probably wouldn't have been enough to fully disguise her.

Her reserves were completely spent at this point, so she could only hope that Rider fell for the bait and left. If she wasn't fooled and continued to search for her, she was doomed. Manaka had just been killed by her, and she had no strength left to cast magecraft. Her heartbeat resounded in her chest, the saliva drying up in her mouth as she looked on at Rider, expecting her to turn and meet her gaze at any moment. Clenching her fists and relaxing them, she did her best to still the trembling in her body, praying that the leaves didn't shake too much.

"AARTTHUUUURRR!"

The unmistakable roar made both Rider and Ayaka turn to the door, Ayaka almost falling from the tree in surprise.

Standing there, in the broken doorway that had just been smashed apart, was a tall warrior in dark armor, clutching a broadsword with intricate designs. The red eyes within the helm glared straight at Rider, a hate-filled gaze locking on to the familiar face it saw every waking moment in its mind.

Rider lifted her broom and whipped her guns barrel to face it, preparing herself for the incoming battle.