Chapter 10 The Black Scripture
Harry really, really had bad luck.
Two weeks had passed since he sent surveillance and infiltration teams to the Slane Theocracy, but they had been unable to find the special operations unit known as the Black Scripture.
Well, he now knew that happened because they weren't in that country but here, in the Re-estize Kingdom, right in front of him.
Potter luck indeed.
He and Shizu had been returning from a mission, walking calmly in the night towards E-Rantel when the automaton suddenly stopped, sensing the presence of a dozen individuals coming in their direction.
"Bandits?"
"Very foolish ones, if they think they can attack James-san… but they give me a bad feeling"
Instantly alert, he asked her to explain herself, but she only answered with a whisper of "Is just… like intuition"
From what he remembered, Shizu didn't have many skills that could identify items, or general information about the enemy (such as HP, MP, AGILITY, and so on) but Harry certainly could. He would need to amplify his range of detection though.
"Is there anyone else in our surroundings, other than them?" he whispered
"None that I can sense, James-san" Nodding in understanding, he made his armor disappear, replaced by the clothes he used as a Magic Caster. He quickly used all the Anti-information magic he could think of and, once that was finished, placed concealing charms on both, himself and CZ Delta.
"[Distant Vision]"
Harry had to blink a couple of times at the sudden little screen that appeared in a corner of his vision, very much like it had used to when this was a game.
Coming towards them were a dozen humans, each with a different set of armor. Their equipment did not have a simple appearance, and seemed to emanate great power. Recognizing them thanks to the memories he had taken from Clementine, he cursed under his breath at the unexpected encounter. Who would have imagined that the Black Scripture would come to him fully equipped?
The group had an aura that was very different from the humans he had encountered so far in this world. It was like the difference between a mouse and a lion.
"[Discern Enemy]" Identifying the enemy's estimated level, he was surprised to see that one of them had an astounding level of 70, the others not far behind with a mixture of 60s and 50s.
After that he made sure this information wasn't false by using [See Through]. The level and status remained unchanged, but their physical appearance seemed to shift. So they had been using a magical item to conjure a fake face…
"[Sense Enemy]"
Confirming that indeed, they were the only ones here, he decided it was time to activate the plan he had discussed with the guardians.
He sent a [Message] to Albedo, giving her instructions of the location they would use to meet up. He needed to equip the World Item if he wanted to be safe against the one the old woman was wearing.
"CZ Delta, we'll start moving towards the meeting point. Don't take your eyes off them, not even for a second. I will be supporting you with [Distant vision], but the reaction time would be longer if we depend on it."
"Understood, Hadrian-sama" the maid said with a nod. Seeing her walk backwards would have been funny in any other situation, but right now it only slowed them down. Sighing in resignation, he picked her up and carried her like he had done with Aura, an arm under her knees while the other one supported her back. This way, she could look at them over his shoulder and he could run at top speed without distractions.
Apparating would have been faster, but he didn't want to lose sight of the enemy not even for a second, and leaving behind the maid was out of question.
Arriving after a couple of minutes, he put down the pleiade (was that a blush?) at the same time a [Gate] appeared in front of him, stepping out were Aura, Shalltear and… Albedo?
"Go back Albedo" Harry whispered dangerously after taking down the concealment charms. He didn't have time for this!
"Hadrian-sama, please reconsider! There's no better shield than me" a fully armored Albedo answered, her world item held strongly in her hands. She had shivered at the glare he had given her, but her voice had been steady and filled with determination.
Sighing tiredly, he figured Pandora and Demiurge would be enough to plan a strategy if something came up. They would be fighting inside the dimension made by the world-item, so surveillance wasn't going to work on them. Demiurge had orders to bring back-up troops if he received a signal from any of them.
"You'll be supporting Shalltear on the front line then. Work together to defeat the enemy, I expect to see actual team work, yes?" he saw her nod once before dismissing it, having more important things to worry about. Taking the gauntlets, he put them on before turning to the now-visible pleiade.
"Delta, what's their position?"
"They're still walking towards our previous location. The humans have a defined formation, and appear alert and on guard of their surroundings. They don't seem to have realized our presence, nothing in their attitude changed when we moved towards here." was the swift report of the maid.
"Excellent. Aura, come here" he said to the elf and proceeded to place concealing charms on her.
"Your mission is to guard the only exit, make sure no one escapes from the dimension"
"Yes, Hadrian-sama!"
"Shalltear, go all out and ripe them to pieces. Don't worry about the old woman with the World item; I'll take care of her before joining the battle" if only the Black Scripture had been in their country, he would have focused on the one with the World-item and leave the rest for another day, so the solo-mission would have sufficed. But since they had come so nicely to his territory, he figured he would use the guardian's help to get rid of the problem from the root.
"Understood, Hadrian-sama!"
"Albedo, act according to the situation, you'll be leading the attack. Define a strategy against the enemies based on the information we got from the memories"
"Yes! I will not fail you, Hadrian-sama!"
"Good. Then we start at my signal" turning around so he had the enemy on his vision, he asked CZ Delta to leave, opening another [Gate] for her. After that, he used some buffs on himself and his team to enhance their skills. Figuring they were as prepared as they were going to be, he gave the starting signal to Aura before placing concealing charms on himself, becoming invisible once more.
He watched from the corner of his eye as Aura unrolled the parchment and activated its power, [Image of Mountains and Rivers]. Shalltear, Albedo and Harry were protected by their World Class Objects, so they would not be trapped in the alternate world created by parchment. Instead they would appear in the painted world that would replace the region of reality that would be devoured. However, being the user of the object, Aura would be automatically absorbed into the alternate world.
They were going to willingly enter of course, while usually the World Class Objects could not affect other World Class carriers, it was possible if those carriers accepted their influence. It was unlikely a user would accept such a thing so readily without having more information, which meant the old lady was going to be left alone while the rest of her team was trapped.
Watching attentively the enemy group, he apparated at a safe distance behind the old woman the moment the rest of her team was gone. Rising his arm, he silently casted [Triple Maximize Magic: Magic Arrow].
A magic circle appeared in front of him, and 30 white arrows of light, made of mana, were released towards their target, leaving a shining trail behind them.
Actually, [Magic Arrow] was a low-level tier magic that had the advantage of never missing the target, even if it was relatively weak. He had used [Triple Maximize Magic] before that however, so the level of his attack was now comparable to a 8th tier spell.
The old woman didn't even have a chance to move before the spell hit her, her bloody corpse falling to the ground. The dress was a World-item, so it hadn't suffered physical damage, and now it was only getting dirtied by the blood.
He used [True death] on her body in case someone tried to resurrect her, before summoning his elder wand to transfigure the corpse into a bone. A World-item could only be affected by another, so the result was a single bone hidden in a suddenly-empty dress.
Picking up the dress, he placed it in the bag he carried around his neck, along with the bone. He would dispose of the body in Nazarik's grounds, just to be sure.
When he had apparated behind the woman, the sky had "broken" as if it had been covered by a thin glass. Whoever had been monitoring the Black Scripture had been forcefully blocked by Harry's presence, due to the Anti-information Magic.
Satisfied it had only taken a couple of minutes, he quickly accepted the influence of Aura's World-item to enter the dimension were his guardians were currently fighting against the other dozen people.
Still invisible, he took a moment to process the current status of the fight happening in front of him. The surroundings hadn't been changed on the surface, so he was still standing in a pasture that was close to a forest, the only difference being the mist that now surrounded the huge area.
A muscular, robust man lied dead on the ground, a broken mirror-like tower shield resting near his left hand. He had a hole in the middle of his plated-armored chest, and judging by the size of the injury it had probably been caused by Shalltear's divine weapon. He recognized the man from Clementine's memories as the one in the 8th seat, Cedran.
Near to him lied another corpse, this one of a thinner man with pointy black hair, a chain loosely grasped in his hands. He was missing the right part of his abdomen, some organs peeking out of the ripped flesh, very dead indeed. This one was in the 9th seat, Beaumarchais.
Farther away lied the bloodied body of a woman with long blue hair, a huge witch's hat near her head. Her dress code was weird, with one sock white while the other was blue, the clothes leaved very little to the imagination. Her eyes stared unseeing at the sky, as blood coated her surroundings. She had been slashed diagonally through the middle of her body, the injury deep. Albedo was probably responsible for this one, even if it hadn't been a direct attack since that would have cut her in two. This one had held the 11th seat.
Three others were magically frozen in place.
One was a burly man with blond hair that was slicked back, which reminded him briefly of Malfoy. He was equipped with a decorative set of armor and a very large lance around the length of his body. The 6th seat.
The other one looked like a school girl, with short, very light brown hair and orange eyes hidden behind purple-framed glasses. She was wearing a female school uniform and carried a light purple bag. The 7th seat.
The third was a muscular man with tanned skin and white hair, his chest was bare, but his arms and legs were heavily protected with an armor that had a style similar to a samurai's. He was carrying a giant black axe that was actually bigger than himself. The 10th seat.
The rest of the group was still fighting, the most troublesome being the captain (1st seat), a young man with long black hair and sharp red eyes. He was wearing an ornate armor, and was barely holding his ground using his divine weapon, a lance, against Shalltear's Spuit Lance.
If Shalltear could focus only on him, he would already be dead, but as it was the vampire was also fighting against a man covered from head to toe in a material that looked similar to spandex, the color of black and red of the uniform contrasting against the white ribbons that covered his hands and feet. A ninja and the one in the 12th seat.
On the other side was a blonde woman with summoned angels surrounding her, using holly magic against the vampire. The clothes were similar to that of a nun, if you ignored the green color and the knee-length skirt of course. She was the 4th seat.
Some yards away, Albedo was ruthlessly killing Basilisks, among other creatures a man was summoning from his rings. He looked a lot like Clementine, so Harry immediately recognized him as her brother, the 5th seat. Supporting him was the 3rd seat, a man wearing a black cloak, with a brown thin staff that Harry recognized as a divine weapon, even if it seemed like wood to the naked eye. There was also a petite swordman with medium brown hair and green eyes. His swords had a spiral pattern, and was wearing a cape with an alarm clock pattern and a miniature top hat. The 2nd seat.
Having analyzed the fight, Harry prepared to add his two cents and support his guardians. If he hadn't been invisible, the others would have been able to see the emerald eyes glowing, magic seemingly swirling in them.
"Step back at my signal. Try to put as much distance as you can from the enemy, otherwise you'll get caught in the cross fire" was the [Message] he gave to the fighting guardians. He waited until he heard the yells of "Gah!" that symbolized a "yes" before activating the magic.
"Expecto patronum!" the white, luminous stag ran towards the middle of the battlefield, the enemy halting momentarily at the sight, while the guardians remained unperturbed. He had told them it was an alternative to the [Message] spell, the disadvantage being that this was visible.
Well, it had been a disadvantage until Pandora pointed out the enemy wouldn't know their purpose, and may get distracted thinking it was harmful.
"Now!" Harry's voice resounded through the battleground, coming from the luminous creature, a moment after that he silently activated [Time stop]. Moving as one, the two ladies kicked the ground to step back, leaving a small crater in the surface. They were still moving backwards, getting away from the confused enemy when the time stopped.
Albedo had put a good amount of distance between her and her group of enemies, but Shalltear had been followed by the ninja, who was now frozen mid-air, in the space between the vampire and the captain of the Black Scripture.
His spell had also frozen the guardians, since "Friendly fire" was allowed now, hence the necessity of them getting away from the enemy.
[Delay magic: Mirror's reflection] he used pointing to the area in front of Shalltear. This way, a barrier will reflect half the amount of damage the vampire would have received from the ninja's attack.
[Delay Magic: Spear hostage] an 9th tier spell, it was stronger than [Immobilize Mass Species], mostly because the area of effect was way smaller and the method of "restraining" the enemy's movements was by using spears to pierce them from the ground. It went without saying that it also inflicted damage, even if the condition was that the target had to be touching the ground.
[Delay magic: Mantle of Destruction] a 10th tier spell, its effects were to drain living force from everything in the area of effect, making it way too destructive and mana-consuming. It also took some time to activate, hence the use of the previous spell.
Harry's still concealed form walked calmly into the battlefield, only stopping once he was at Shalltear's side and took her arm; ready to apparate them to Albedo's position. He didn't think the vampire was in range of the spell, but it was better not to risk it.
Time running out (pun intended); several things happened at once when the flow of time resumed.
The ninja bounced off the barrier with a cry of pain, the momentum bringing him closer to his captain.
The ground was momentarily illuminated by several blue dots of light before spears came rushing out of the surface, piercing anything alive that was on their effect area. The ninja had yet to touch the ground however, so he was briefly spared the suffering. At the same time, Harry apparated, letting out a surprised scream of "Wait!"
Then an obscure layer of pure, dark magic descended upon the Black Scripture, swiftly muffling their cries of agony. It absorbed everything under it, including the corpses and the previously frozen warriors that were in the range of effect. Once the destructive magic touched the ground, all the life seemed to be absorbed, leaving behind dead, infertile soil.
For a moment everything was silent, until Harry's sharp cry of pain pierced the wind.
AUTHOR NOTE:
Good heavens, this was eternal. Too many characters at once, it's impossible to keep up!
I'm not good with describing appearances (I'm trying to fix that, but is difficult) so if you want to see the characters that conform the Black Scripture you can see them with Google's help :P there's a wiki about Overlord that helped me a lot with this chapter really xD
Before you reclaim about it, I'm aware [Distant vision] doesn't work like that, but was too lazy to meddle with the whole summon and unsummon stuff.
So, thanks for reading, sorry-not-sorry about the cliffhanger, but I wanted a break from writing without making you wait too much, so… yeah.
I received some comments mentioning that changing from "he" to "I" was confusing in the first few chapters (which is true) so I went back to edit them. They should be ok now, I hope I didn't miss anything.
Feel free to leave me comments and reviews, those make me stronger :v (I wish!) nah, but it really helps to motivate me to write faster :P Next chapter's gonna be interesting, and it should be easier to write than this whole, character-introducing shit, so I hope I can get it ready by next week.
See ya around!