Chapter 255: Reinforcements (1)<hr> ? ? <hr>
「Alright then, Mira. We’ll go catch up with the rest.」
Following a brief conversation and Christina’s short demonstration of her abilities, the soldiers felt much more reassured to have Christina with them. Unlike her clumsy appearance, her swordsmanship was impable.
The soldiers realized they should not judge people by their appearance, while for some reason Desmond had a smug look as he said, 「I told you so.」
Now that they had all the help they could possibly need, they moved forward without hesitation. They had to catch up with the other half of the group who had gone on ahead to update them about everything.
「I’ll leave this ce in your hands then.」
There was something there that Fuzzy Dice wanted them to find, and the soldiers would do just that. Mira watched as they disappeared further ahead into the pipeways and told Christina to update her on the situation periodically.
‘Understood! We’re currently running after the first group!’ She replied instantly, and followed it up with a report. That made Mira correct what she said, telling Christina to only update her when something new happened.
After a short time, Anlutine’s head emerged from the water, telling Mira that she had found someone who was probably Fuzzy Dice.「I’ve found a male, wearing a gray cloak. Is that him?」
As long as she was within it, Anlutine had the ability to <em>see</em> everything connected to a body of water. That way she scanned the entire pipeways, and found a single person who could be Fuzzy Dice.
He had probably switched disguises again, ready toe out to the world as a nameless adventurer.
「Yes, that has to be him. What direction is he headed?」
Fuzzy Dice had to be heading to the exit of the pipeways, so Mira asked if there was any in the path he was taking. Anlutine closed her eyes and focused, before replying that she could not determine whether there were hidden doors there, but that he was heading straight to an outlet of the pipeways.
「An outlet… I see, he’s nning on leaving the city right away.」
That was the least risky option, so it made sense that Fuzzy Dice would do that. If he randomly emerged from a secret exit within the city and someone spotted him, it would lure the attention of the fans and the guards there, distracting them from the pipeways housing the secret evidence.
Leaving the city unseen would keep everyone’s attention on the pipeways.
The outlet was located near arge river to the southeast of the city. But it was a bit difficult for Anlutine to describe the precise location, so instead they agreed that she would guide Mira there once they were close enough.
「Continue monitoring him then, Anlutine. I’ll head out to follow above the ground.」
Mira needed to get out soon if she wanted to have enough time to set up an ambush, so she hurried back to the stairs.
「Alright, got it.」
Giving that short reply, Anlutine disappeared below the water again. Soon after, she reported that the thief would be outside within fifteen minutes considering his current speed.
「I need to move fast then…」
Just going down the stairs had taken a while, so going back up would take even longer, not to mention that it would be more physically demanding. So Mira decided to use one of the abilities she had gained recently.
<em>Exo-Summon: Dark Knight Frame</em>
As soon as she activated it, a magic circle lit up beneath her, from which a Dark Knight emerged, but as soon as it was out, it changed shape to fit onto Mira’s body. Eventually the magic circle turned into ck mes which coalesced into a single point, granting all that power to Mira.<sup>1</sup>
「This is my first time using it in battle, but it looks like it’s working.」
Mira, now looking like a valkyrie with ck armor, hopped around a bit to make sure everything was working, and then began running up the stairs.
That was her new ability, being able to wear Armor Spirits to enhance one’s capabilities. There was a lot she did not know about it yet, but at least she knew that it would give her an instant boost in mobility.
The Armor Spirit’s strength would be hers, while also increasing her defenses. If used properly, that ability would allow her to fully ovee the biggest weakness of summoners, which was their physical bodies.
She believed that ability alone would usher in a new era for summoners.
「This is incredible… It almost feels like I’m flying!」
Running up the stairs was also made effortless thanks to the Dark Knight Frame’s support.
She was expecting to face off against Fuzzy Dice soon, who already was known as a phantom thief of unrivaled skill, so it would be a good way to put her Dark Knight Frame to the test.
Soon, that became a secondary objective for her, on top of finding out the location of the orphanage she was looking for. With all of that in her mind, she soon found herself back in the mansion’s basement.
「Hmm… What happened here?」
She tilted her head as she looked around the basement. She was sure that she had retraced her steps perfectly, but she did not recognize the room. What had once been a room connected to the mansion had be a dead end.
「I’m certain that it was around here…」
She tried feeling around the wall where she remembered the entrance being, but all she found was a solid wall, with no hidden door or switch in sight.
「Does this mean…」
There was a thick solid wall in front of her. She was trapped within the hidden room, and it would be impossible to get out through ordinary means.
The pipeways behind her still had other exits, which Mira could easily find with Anlutine’s help. But as far as the soldiers and mercenaries went, it was easy to imagine they could end up wandering around aimlessly without ever getting out.
Mira red at the wall, realizing this had likely been the proprietor’s intention all along—to keep them trapped underground while he feigned innocence.
「He’s really lost it at this point.」
But that was a rather foolish idea. There was arge crowd outside of the mansion that had witnessed the soldiers and mercenaries entering the building, so if no one ever saw them leave, it would paint a very suspicious picture even if they did not know about the pipeways.
「Well, this is just an insignificant dy for me.」
<em>Summoning Magic: Gnomid</em>
While looking at the stone wall, Mira sent back Gnomid from her patrolling spot in the city, and summoned her again, and soon the small figure emerged from a magic circle next to her.
Gnomid was an earth spirit, who looked like a little girl around thirty centimeters tall. But despite her size, she effortlessly carried a stone hammer that was the same size as her.
「I have a job for you, Gnomid. Open a hole in this wall.」
After Mira said that, Gnomid gave a strong nod before trotting up to the wall, where she held her hammer back and struck the wall with it. After a short pause, the spot she hit turned to sand and crumbled away.
But it did not end there, as the pile of sand that formed began to move to the sides as if it had life of its own, opening the way.
「Nice job. That was really good.」
Gnomid ran up to Mira and tugged on her leg, wanting to be praised, so Mira picked her up and patted her head. That seemed to make Gnomid happy, as she began spinning her hammer in delight.
「Woah there, you’re really energetic, aren’t you?」<hr> ? ? <hr> <ul><li>Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)</li><li>Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)</li><li>Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)</li><li>More</li><li></li></ul><ul><li>Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)</li><li>Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)</li><li>Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)</li><li>Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)</li><li>Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)</li><li>Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)</li><li>Click to share on Mastodon (Opens in new window)</li><li></li></ul><ol><li>Silva: this description… sounds rted to this image from volume 13
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