Book 16 Chapter 7
The strongest black magic group of all time!
Clash, Seven Souls (3)
“I can’t forgive this.”
Rista said.
“The moment you laid a hand on Lin, on my party member, any room for extenuating circumstances completely vanished.”
Friede exhaled a long stream of cigarette smoke and raised his head.
“Doesn’t something feel a bit off? The fact that Lin was captured so easily. Even though he’s eccentric, his skill is something we all acknowledge, isn’t it? But he was caught without even being able to put up a fight?”
“!”
“Lin must surely have some ulterior motive. What if Lin got caught on purpose? And Jussie, though he was strange today… he’s a truly sincere and kind person. He probably won’t do anything to harm Lin.”
“Even so, it’s true that Lin was taken, isn’t it? What if something happens to Lin because of this?”
“Then I’ll take responsibility for your lot and make them pay. They say the most painful way to die is by burning at the stake, don’t they?”
Friede took the kiseru pipe from his lips and spoke with a chilling expression. There was no way Friede could be at ease with a comrade captured.
“But Lin’s magic wavelength is completely hidden, what should we do? There’s no way to find him.”
Kies, who was once again using detection magic from a distant spire, shook his head.
“None, none, nowhere.”
Friede extended his wrist to Pipi, who had returned from patrolling another area, offering him a place to sit, and said:
“Rista, you don’t know much about the Hosen Kingdom, do you? In the Hosen Kingdom, there’s something called the Canal Line (運河列船).”
“I know that. It’s super famous, isn’t it? The canal that connects the Bellisor Great River and Hosen Kingdom’s royal capital, <Horusen>, to the sea.”
“It’s a work left by the Ten Great Archmages 130 years ago. They say the princess of the Hosen Kingdom was the most beautiful in the world back then, and the king promised his daughter to the man who could bring a brilliant idea to revive the kingdom, and that’s when the Ten Great Archmages stepped forward.”
“I know that too.”
“No, you don’t. The Ten Great Archmages built the canal in just five years, and around that canal, hundreds of merchant ships were constantly circulating, tied by ropes of magic.”
“I know that, and thanks to it, the movement of people and goods became so easy and fast that the kingdom experienced a great revival in an instant. That’s why the King of Hosen even took the Ten Great Archmages as his son-in-law and bequeathed the kingdom to him.”
In short, this means Leonia is a descendant of those Ten Great Archmages.
“Do you really not understand what that history signifies? It means that before that canal was built, most of the Hosen Kingdom’s territory was rough terrain, making travel itself inconvenient.”
“!”
“Those guys looked like they were in a huge hurry, didn’t they? Then they’ll surely try to travel via that Canal Line. Because it’s the fastest way to the capital. We should go there too.”
Indeed, the mercenary group [Lion’s Song] was planning to infiltrate this Canal Line and enter the capital.
[Seven Souls] had laid waste to most of the nation’s territory but maintained this Canal Line. They continuously transported people and goods to the capital, but their purpose remained unclear.
The Canal Line, a little past Pier 26, had a steep cliff rising on the right side, and this was their infiltration point.
“…….”
Leonia quietly looked down at the merchant ships passing through the canal in a line.
—Father, I will become a queen who can protect everyone!
She had left for her warrior’s training with such a resolve, yet to be able to do nothing at such a crucial moment… “I’m truly useless.”
“Many people are captured.”
Jussie said.
“What are they trying to do?”
Leonia slung her double-edged axe over her shoulder and furrowed her brow.
“If we kill and torture all the [Seven Souls] minions on board, one of them is bound to spill the beans. Cobb!”
*Whoosh…* Cobb’s arrow accurately struck the mast of the Canal Line merchant ship closest to the cliff.
A thick rope was tied to that arrow, firmly connecting the cliff and the merchant ship.
Starting with Leonia, the [Lion’s Song] mercenary group hooked onto the rope and swiftly jumped from the cliff onto the Canal Line.
“Grrr!”
“Roar!”
“Roooar!”
Three lionesses also hooked the rings on their necks to the rope with their own strength and infiltrated! Lin, tied to the back of ‘Hooroo’, the alpha lioness, laughed pointlessly even in that situation!
“Hehehehehehehehe…….”
[Seven Souls] was one of the highest-ranking organizations within the Black Church (the pillars serving as its general manager and leader) and commanded quite a few subordinate organizations. The enemies operating this Canal Line were also one of those elite organizations.
“Who are you?!”
No need for questions!
Leonia’s roaring axe blade!
“Aargh!”
“This fiend!”
However, the moment Leonia inhaled deeply into her lungs and then screamed as if squeezing out her very breath… the eardrums of the charging Black Hands (흑수) simultaneously exploded.
Lion’s Roar! Master!
No matter how elite the organization, they were no match for the Platinum Rank 2 mercenary group, which wielded the power of [King’s Flesh]!
“Thwack!”
“Aargh!”
Leonia was not alone! A great arrow strike simultaneously pierced the hearts of three black mages rushing out from the cabin!
“Wind Slash (風擦)!”
“Aargh!”
And a blade of wind cleanly severed the necks of the enemies guarding that deck!
“Wh-who are they?”
“They’re defeating the bad guys!”
“Th-that’s Princess Leonia, isn’t it? I heard she was captured!”
Jussie was freeing the restraints from the people captured on the Canal Line!
“We’ve come to help! You can be surprised later! For now, you need to get off here!”
As Jussie was leading the people, the next moment, he was directly struck by a spear thrust that was like a lightning bolt… no, a jet-black lightning bolt.
It pierced through the inner and outer walls of the merchant ship, shattered the bow of the next ship, and he tumbled over it, spewing blood.
In the spot where Jussie had just been standing, a girl was yawning, still in the posture of thrusting her spear.
“Ah, why did you come here… how troublesome.”
If one could feel attraction to evil, then the robe, designed as if to encompass all of it, was truly the uniform of [Seven Souls].
The rune embroidered on her back was Thunder (雷).
Zernix loved luxurious, beautiful, and cool things, and her artistic sense was clearly evident in this [Seven Souls] uniform robe!
“[Seven Souls]…!”
Murderous intent flashed in Leonia’s eyes. The black mage, who had appeared at an absurd speed, turned to Leonia and rubbed her sleepy eyes.
“I’m sleepy, so if I just kill everyone, I probably don’t need to report it, right?”
Then there was an attack that enveloped Cobb from above with a heavy blow, as if from an iron lump.
If Cobb hadn’t dodged immediately, he would have met a far more terrible end than the mast currently collapsing vertically.
In the midst of the collapsing dust, a woman clapped her hands together and whistled.
“Wow, you’re incredibly fast! That was an attack meant to kill! I’ll praise you for that! But for the next strike, I’ll put in even more effort!”
She also wore the [Seven Souls] robe, but perhaps prioritizing mobility, both her robe and trousers had been altered to half-sleeves.
The right arm she had just used for the attack, which had been glowing like metal from fist to shoulder, returned to its flesh color.
Cobb and Pencion instinctively drew their magic to its limits, feeling a murderous aura so intense it felt like their skin was being crushed.
And Lin, tied to the lion’s back and unable to see the situation, laughed.
“Hehehehehehe…….”
“What is it, show me too…” such a pathetic line would not suit the [Strongest Mage]!