Chapter 62: The Black Medicine

The electric projectile that shot from Perda’s hand pierced through her head.

The figure that collapsed, scattering blood, was so unnatural that no one reacted immediately.

“Eh… wh-what, what is this?”

The enemies couldn’t even understand the situation.

After Perda’s surprise attack, Consilus and Marco advanced into the enemy’s interior.

“Kagh!”

“Kugh!”

Consilus and Marco cut down the two men in front of them in a single strike.

Only then did they understand what was happening.

“It’s an ambush!”

“R-run!”

Just as they were about to fall into chaos, a woman shouted.

“You useless fools! There’s no retreat anyway! Draw your weapons!”

At the order of the dark elf, Director Linne, the soldiers drew their weapons.

Linne raised her staff.

“How dare you attack this place! The one who fired, show yourself!”

Perda responded by revealing himself without hiding.

Linne widened her eyes.

“Gray hair, blue eyes you are Perda Valdrova.”

She recognized him.

“How convenient. I wanted to see the face of the one who destroyed my refuge, and you come to me yourself.”

“Does that make you happy?”

“Now that you say it like that, yes. Because I can kill you with my own hands. Kill them all!”

The subordinates charged at Perda.

At that moment, a calm energy enveloped the bodies of Consilus and Marco.

The knights’ aura covered their entire bodies.

A knight who uses aura can face a hundred enemies.

Fighting twenty servant-level subordinates was trivial.

Whoosh—

Every time Consilus and Marco made a move, enemies fell without resistance.

Those subordinates, little more than a disorganized group, quickly lost morale.

Seeing that, the dark elf grew furious.

“Useless! Secretary!”

“Y-yes?”

“Come here!”

At her gesture, the secretary approached in a daze.

The dark elf pulled something from her bag.

It was a syringe with a black liquid.

She stabbed it directly into his neck.

“Keh?!”

The black liquid was absorbed into his body.

“Ugh… ghkghghk?!”

The secretary began convulsing as his body twisted.

Consilus immediately sensed the danger and shouted.

“Marco! Stop him before he changes!”

“Leave it to me!”

Marco rushed forward with his sword toward the mutating man.

“Don’t even dream of it!”

The dark elf extended her palm toward Marco.

A magic circle formed in her hand.

It was human magic.

Force Rush.

Boom!

The space in front of her palm compressed and exploded into a shockwave that threw Marco back.

They failed to stop the transformation.

“Ghgh… ghkghk!”

The man’s body swelled as grotesque sounds escaped him.

His skin turned dark.

He tore through his clothes and grew to the size of a gray bear.

Then he raised his head.

Black skin, red eyes, and sharp teeth.

The typical traits of a demon.

“A demon…”

“Among them, a bouncer.”

A type specialized in physical strength, capable of breaking even restraint magic.

Consilus and Marco felt the pressure.

“Hehehe! Me too! I’ve also received His grace!”

The bouncer lost control like a child with a new toy.

Unable to control his strength, each blow made the room tremble.

Even veteran knights tensed at the vibrations.

But none of that caught Perda’s attention.

His eyes were fixed on the dark elf’s bag.

‘She took the syringe from there.’

And it wasn’t possible that she had only one.

‘I must secure that object.’

Perda looked at Consilus and gave the order.

“Count, handle that bouncer. Can you do it?”

Consilus answered.

“If I can’t overcome something like this, how could I still call myself a knight?”

“My sword belongs to the regent!”

Marco also regained his courage.

“I understand your determination.”

Perda extended his hand.

“But there’s no need to complicate it so much.”

A magic circle formed in his hand.

Perda recited.

“Frenzy.”

The black circle shot like lightning and pierced the bouncer’s head.

“Hehe… he… eh?”

The bouncer stopped laughing and grabbed his head.

“Guh… Aaaah! It hurts! It hurts!”

The monster began to go mad, destroying everything around him.

“Kugh!”

“What are you doing? We’re allies— agh!”

The scene turned into a massacre.

The subordinates were torn apart in seconds.

“It hurts too much!”

His fury was about to turn toward the dark elf when she quickly cast another spell.

“Restrain!”

A rune-shaped spell pierced the bouncer’s head.

The monster calmed instantly.

“Do you know who I am?”

“D-director?”

“You’ve finally come back to your senses. If you understand, hurry and eliminate those wretches!”

“Y-yes!”

The bouncer, now recovered, charged at the two knights.

“How dare you humiliate me in front of the director! I won’t forgive you!”

Marco and Consilus took the attack head-on.

Boom!

“Ugh!”

“Hmm.”

Both were pushed back by the impact.

But they held their ground.

And by holding, they could counterattack.

Slash!

The aura, capable of cutting flesh and bone like radishes, barely managed to pierce his hardened skin.

“Hahaha! I’m stronger! I’m strong!”

The battle between the two knights and the bouncer reached a critical point.

In that balance, those who would decide the outcome were the mages.

It depended on the support of Perda and the dark elf.

The dark elf was the first to deploy a magic circle.

The spell was Slug Time.

A spell to slow the aura-wrapped knights and give the bouncer an advantage.

“Slug Ti—”

Before finishing the incantation, she detected the attack.

What she saw was a mana projectile.

It struck directly against the magic circle.

“Gh!?”

The mana-charged circle exploded.

“Breaking a magic circle with a Mana Shot…?”

Linne was stunned.

‘Few can identify the weak point of mana and use it like that…’

Her eyes glowed blue.

She tried to measure Perda’s mana level.

And she wasn’t wrong.

‘A novice regent who barely reached the 4th circle can do that?’

Her doubt grew.

It was a lethal technique against complex magic like Slug Time.

“What are you doing? Use magic already.”

Perda provoked her.

“An elf who abandoned the blessing of nature to use human magic, and still loses in magic?”

“At most you’re 4th circle. Isn’t that arrogant of you?”

Perda also gathered mana to measure her.

Her level seemed similar.

“Don’t lie. I know you’re 5th circle.”

“My eyes aren’t for decoration. With 4th circle it’s enough to read mana circuits—”

“Do you think I’m stupid enough not to recognize the method of the Aquinas school?”

Linne’s eyes widened in shock.

Before she could ask how he knew, Perda cut her off.

“Don’t make that face. It’s unpleasant.”

Perda also prepared his magic circle.

A high-level Magic Blast within the 4th circle.

A powerful, complex, and slow spell.

But Perda was already an expert mage.

All processes were faster than others.

Even so, his intent was clear.

He was underestimating his opponent.

“Ridiculous provocation!”

However, the circle lost strength before completing.

It wasn’t Perda’s will.

“That’s right. As you said, I’m 5th circle.”

Even though her secret was revealed, she didn’t care.

“I don’t need tricks like mana weak points.”

The difference in circles was enough.

She could crush him with pure power.

A purer, superior mana destabilized Perda’s circle.

The situation was unfavorable.

‘She uses the Aquinas school method.’

A school focused on power, compressing mana by sacrificing lower levels.

It can deceive the opponent and enhance high-level magic.

Although she appeared to be 4th circle, she actually had compressed 5th-circle mana.

In a direct confrontation, Perda would lose.

“Do you know something?”

Perda always lived facing superior opponents.

If strength wasn’t enough, he used technique.

If technique wasn’t enough, another method.

And if nothing worked, he kept fighting anyway.

“What, is there a monster under your desk?”

“What?”

Just as she was about to ask what nonsense that was—

She felt something.

A blue light under the desk.

It was part of a magic circle.

“How did you place a circle there—?!”

“Lightning Bolt.”

Crack!

A bolt of lightning pierced through the wooden desk.

And pierced the dark elf’s head.

“Aaaagh!”

The spell was cast from Perda’s Shadow Hand.

Throughout the entire fight, he had moved his shadow beneath the desk.

The Magic Blast was only a distraction.

‘It worked.’

Perda had doubted whether it would be useful in real combat.

But now it was clear.

As long as he concealed his cards well, no one would notice.

“How disappointing.”

Perda said.

“The Aquinas school is based on hiding information from the opponent. And yet you still get caught off guard.”

It was mockery.

And also disappointment.

“Though I didn’t make good use of the opportunity either.”

That attack could have killed her.

But Linne did not fall.

She staggered and stood back up.

“Ghh…!”

She held her left eye.

Perda observed the wound.

The lightning had entered through her jaw and exited through her eye.

“You have good instincts. I tried to kill you immediately, but you managed to deflect the blow.”

“You damned short-lived human!”

The dark elf glared at him with hatred.

Perda responded with a crooked smile.

“Perda Valdrova! I will remember this humiliation!”

The dark elf pulled out a scroll as a last resort.

It was emergency escape magic.

When she tore it, light burst around her and completely enveloped her.

“Eh… d-director?”

The bouncer stared in shock at the place where she had disappeared.

Without his mage, he was easily subdued.

Marco and Consilus, after the intense battle, breathed heavily as they watched him.

“Huff… huff… I never imagined I’d fight demons.”

“Same here. And at this age, too.”

“Talk later. Only 20 minutes remain.”

“Yes.”

With the heat of battle still in their bodies, they began searching.

Since they had been organizing information before abandoning the place, the data was partially sorted.

They collected everything, while Perda headed to where the director had disappeared.

‘Escape magic doesn’t transport belongings.’

Because of its speed, it leaves everything behind.

Even clothes.

What remained was an empty set of clothes.

And a leather alchemy bag.

Perda opened it.

Inside was a diary and a box.

In the box were syringe-shaped ampoules arranged in a grid, each with a label.

— Doppler

— Butcher (prototype)

— Dark Sorcerer (prototype)

All names of knight-level demons recorded in history.

In addition to the Doppler they knew, there were new ones.

‘It wasn’t just the Doppler.’

What they had seen so far was only part of the problem.

‘This is enough… and the record?’

Perda opened the diary.

It was filled with incomprehensible symbols.

‘A code.’

Designed to prevent interpretation.

Perda knew it instantly.

That diary was worth more than everything else.

He placed it in the sample bag and closed it.

“Count, we have what we were looking for.”

“Understood.”

The information retrieval was a success.

They withdrew in silence.

***

Meanwhile, the other three advanced toward the laboratory.

Zed, rubbing his body inside the thermal gear, pushed forward against the storm.

“Damn, it’s freezing. Who the hell builds something in a place like this?”

“Lower your voice. What if they hear you?”

“Relax. Not even an orc shouting would be heard in this weather.”

He complained with every gust of wind.

The other two ignored him.

Finally, they found the entry point.

“It’s empty.”

Unlike the resting area, the laboratory had already been evacuated.

Only useless large objects and trash remained.

And explosives prepared to destroy everything.

“That demon was right. They were going to blow everything up in six hours.”

“Not necessarily.”

“What do you mean?”

“That it could be right now. Are we really going to trust demons? Move.”

Their mission was to rescue the demon.

The test subjects were being held there.

There was no point in moving them.

They would probably be buried along with the explosives.

And that was exactly the case.

“What the hell is this?”

But when they saw it with their own eyes, they were horrified.