Without even time to scream, the black mass closed the distance and the unfortunate quick-footed hobgoblins were soon torn to pieces and sent flying through the air.
It arrived all too soon before the eyes of the ten trailing hobgoblins. Without any time for them to take a stance, the black longsword had already scattered their entrails and bodily fluids around, while the eyes popped and tumbled around on the ground.
The Dark Knight caught up to the last group containing the archgoblin.
With a reverberating dull metallic sound, the archgoblin raised its voice mixed with uneasiness. The archgoblin was wearing heavy clothing, so although it was on the slower side, it had the strength to persist. The archgoblin was particularly crafty in that it surrounded itself with hobgoblins to raise its own survival rate.
However, it was a foolish idea before an armor spirit filled with murderous intent. If one wanted to survive, there was no choice but to run in the opposite direction the instant one faced it.
The Black Knight whose momentum had not dropped even the slightest bit passed through the last group while mowing them down.
This all took place in an instant. The hobgoblins had become lumps of meat without even understanding what had happened. They had worn death instead of armor.
In the end, not only the fast footed hobgoblins ran out of luck, all the goblins that had been perceived as an enemy by the walking disaster had simply ran out of luck.
「Whoa, come on. Tell me this is all a lie.」
「Commander……..what in the world is that.」
Graia with both eyes opened wide stood still as the tragedy unfolded before his eyes.
The Black Knight who had won easily over a goblin platoon did not cease moving. Shaking off Graia’s expectations, it dashed towards the fort with its momentum intact.
A black assassin’s dagger approached the goblin fortress. In the face of absolute death, the goblin fortress fell into a state of panic. One goblin after another ceased to exist, leaving only dead husks that coloured the scene.
Unable to move, the deployed forces waited on the cliff with blank surprise and eyes opened wide to the tragedy unfolding before their eyes.
They were knights. Overcoming the battlefield time and time again, they were proud of the skills they possessed. Up until the present, they had never before encountered a demon that inspired such dread. However, they prided themselves in mustering up the courage in their hearts to come back and secure victory.
As for fear, those who knew it were able to overcome it.
However despite all that, veteran warriors with long military service had their hearts and minds shaken by fear of the Black God of Death below.
They did not want to stand in front of that. Such hopeless fear grasped their hearts and minds, and hung over their pride like a finger.
It was not fear anymore, it was a curse.
Their hearts and minds broke. Just imagining standing in front of that sword cut off all their hopes. Every swing of that black flame extinguished a light of life.
However, there was no need for the knights to get involved. The goblin’s force showed no resistance nor were they able to run away as a single swing of a sword changed their path to one leading straight to hell.
The Dark Knight who finished the execution bowed to Mira and returned to black fog. At the same time, the knights timidly advanced in formations to begin inspecting the fort.
「That thing, what was it?」
Graia’s party was walking from the wooded area towards the fort in a cautious manner. Before long, they joined the other troops. They received a report that there were no surviving remnants of the goblins forces in the interior of the fort.
Mira and the knight troupe turned to walk towards the capital of the Arkite Kingdom, the Lunatic Lake.
When the subject of the Dark Knight’s strength came up, the knights smiled wryly and were relieved from the bottom of their hearts that it was not an enemy. Mira gave off the sense that such unnatural strength was commonplace.
「I never would have thought that its true strength was like that.」
「Our turn never came.」
「When I thought about what could have happened at that time, I felt relieved. Miss Mira is amazing.」
「So cute.」
「You……」
「Err, um…. that is….」
「Anyway, I wonder just how strong it was.」
「Oh, yes. That’s right. If it was an adventurer, I would guess that it would be as strong as the 『Genji』the Strong Hammer or 『Kazari』 of the Crimson Scorched Earth?」
「No, not at all, it surely wouldn’t go up to legend class.」
「Is that so?」
「There cannot be such a monster that would willingly form a contract.」
「I know right~?」
Hahahahah! While the conversation talking about Mira was getting heated up, said person was talking with Graia about the country’s present situation.
Mira obtained information about the current situation of the Arkite Kingdom. Right now, eight of the nine Elders who were keystones of the national defense were absent. Each of the towers had delegated representatives. Also, Mira confirmed the fact that Danbulf had not been alone in his disappearance thirty years ago.
In less than one year, all the nine Elders of the Silver Linked Towers had disappeared. Soon, however, the master wizard 『Luminaria of Calamity』 had returned from her disappearance ten years later.
Based on Luminaria’s advice, this affair had been discussed behind closed doors by the upper echelon of the country. They officially announced this as the Elder disappearance case. Until then, those especially talented researchers who had served as aides to the Elders acted as their representatives. Even so, there were still big differences between them and their predecessors so there was a limit to the responsibilities they could bear.
Mira, in addition, called up the chronology from the menu and reviewed the description from twenty years ago. Certainly, the Arkite Kingdom had announced the Elder disappearance case.
Elder Luminaria. This name sounded familiar to Mira.
When Ark Earth Online officially released, she had one close friend who she had a friendly rivalry with.
She had brilliant crimson long hair similar to that of a rose with a strength of will to match. She had the appearance of a model with an abundant chest and tall figure that matched that of a model. It was a figure that anyone would look at.
She was the embodiment of men’s dreams. This was the Luminaria that Mira knew of. And because the player inside was a man, he was a guy who told dirty jokes without hesitation. An uncomfortable feeling was born anew in her mind.
Luminaria also disappeared, although she suddenly came back 20 years ago.
Her situation of having disappeared 30 years ago was the same as Danbulf. In other words, the player that was Luminaria and the player that was Danbulf suddenly disappeared at the same time and reappeared.
Although, the time that Danbulf and Luminaria reappeared was different. They both disappeared at the same time. Though, one of their appearances had changed.
In Mira’s mind, the next place to go to had been decided. Luminaria was in the same situation as herself, so there was a strong possibility of her being the player that Mira knew of. She may learn something if she spoke with her.
Her destination was the place where the silver towers were located, Arkite kingdom’s greatest town, the 『Silver Horn』 where all their magic and military affairs were gathered.
They advanced on a woodland path between the trees and before long, they arrived at two forking roads. On the left path was the road to Arkite kingdom capital, 『Lunatic Lake』. On the right path was her destination, Silver Horn.
「Well then, be careful when returning.」
「It is safe here, while I would have liked to say this line, Lady Mira had the strength to protect herself. I could not say this at all.」
While laughing out loud, he stroked Mira’s head. Grimacing at the burden on her neck, Mira brushed his hand off and said 「Stop treating me like a child.」 The surrounding knights gazed at the heartwarming scene.
「Because this was a special case, the reward will not be through the guild. Please visit me at Lunatic Lake when you finish your errands. I will talk to the guards to let you through.」
「Hmmmm, well then I will come visit you when I have free time.」
「Ah, I will be waiting.」
Saying so, the knights left through the left road, and Mira went towards the right road.
Red began to seep into the blue sky peeking through the gap between the trees. When she confirmed the time from the menu that floated in space, she determined it to be past 5:00 pm.
According to memory, she had walked about an hour on foot from the Silver Horn Crossroads. She had not yet come halfway through the journey. However, that was simply because Mira had constantly stopped to view anything of interest.
She carefully observed the butterflies suck nectar from flowers with great interest and she dug up earthworms causing her to twitch her face.
And with fatigue that had not been felt in-game up till now, she took several breaks.
When Mira closed her menu, she felt a bit hungry and remembered the apple pie that she had been keeping in her item box. When she placed her fingertip on the icon within the box, a tiny icon began to grow in substance. It continued to grow until it was full size and materialized in her palm.
Mira squinted at the thing that had appeared on her palm. It had already been one week since the apple pie had been placed in the item box. Although this was something which she had created 30 years ago as confirmed by the description, she could not detect an abnormality.
Although she hesitated a little to bring her small nose close, a fragrant smell of vanilla beans extended to her nose. At the same time, her stomach growled.
Mira made up her mind and with a wide open mouth, bit into the pie. A crunchy texture and sour apple taste greeted her mouth at the same time, taste was clearly simulated.
Then she opened the item box again and retrieved 『Appure』. This was an item that every magic class always had on hand. It would be no exaggeration to say that it was a prevalent item. It was a drink that was effective in raising MP recovery speed that had apple and milk in it.
She put her lips on the amber white liquid that had a faint sweet scent of apples.
「So good……」
Her thoughts leaked out unintentionally. The two foods had excellent texture and taste.There also was no issue with the feeling of food going down her throat. However, although Mira had never eaten apple pie up until now, she committed the excitement of her first taste in memory. Although 『Appure』 was not an item that could be seen in reality, Mira has become fond of its good flavor and taste.
「Fuuu.」 Mira leaked out a long sigh. She looked up to the sky at ease and gazed at the clouds drifting by.
The breeze rocked her hair and the sensation of that green scent tickled her nose. A moderate feeling of fatigue came upon her in proportion to how much she had moved. In addition, the appetising 『Appure』 and apple pie contributed to this pleasant feeling as well.
Whether she willed them or not, she experienced a diverse sense of reality. When this much circumstantial evidence had been prepared, the more carefully one tried to understand the present situation the more one could not exempt the chance that it was reality.
Therefore, for the time being, Mira had accepted this as a fact.
She would act based on the assumption that this was reality. Even if that wasn’t actually the case, it would only become a funny story later on. If that was the only loss, then it wouldn’t be a big problem. However, it would be too late to deal with the troubles if something did happen, thus she assumed the possibility that it was real. She may really die if she gets killed and may never get back up. People who ignored their bad feelings may end up having bad endings waiting for them.
First of all, as a person who had lived in this world for twenty odd years, Luminaria may know something. It was her top priority to meet her. She returned her attention to the road ahead and stepped forward.
Just when she was feeling fatigue from walking through a crossing and was about to hurry, it appeared.
Drool dripped down from the sharp canines protruding from its gray body. Mira recognized the figure which had approached slowly and raised a low growl.
It was called a saber dog, which was called the first hurdle for beginners.
There were a lot of players who were made to suffer from its agile movement and strong attack strength.
The surroundings were the territory of this saber dog. There was no one around and a weak-looking girl was walking alone on a forest path this far away from a town. It was so foolish that it looked almost suicidal.
Those who only looked at her appearance were unable to judge Mira’s true strength. At most, they would only be able to guess that she was a magician from her robed figure. Although they may think that she was a magician, the contents were still that of a developing little girl. Had adventurers been passing by, 9 out of 10 of them would have jumped in at that time.
All that was reflected in the eyes of the saber dog. It judged from her small stature that she was weak.
As for the monster named saber dog, its length was well over one meter. Even for adults it would be dangerous without any preparation.
The hunter’s thirst for blood reflected in its eyes and it carefully judged the distance between them to not let its prey escape.
Mira thrust out her right hand towards her opponent. And a feeling identical to that of a skill’s activation was felt at that moment. The saber dog’s pupils were now dyed in obvious fear and its body was crushed into a large red flower from its impact with many trees.
After all, the opponent was a lower class monster that was not comparable to hobgoblins. The skill Mira used was an initial skill of her second class 【Sage: Shock Wave】. It was merely a technique to send a shock wave forward, but if an expert on Mira’s level were to use it, weaker beings would be blasted away.
「It looks like there’s no problem.」
Because Mira was capable of using summoning arts, she used Sage Magic only as an experiment. And the experiment gave her the conviction that skills were able to be used in the same sense as the game.
Mira roughly brushed away the sparks that had fallen onto her and she hurried away without looking back.
