Advent of the Three Calamities

Chapter 735: The Madhound of Presepe [2]

‘This is an extremely troublesome situation.’

The longer I lingered, the more the temperature seemed to plunge. The cold now bit sharply at my skin as I licked my lips, honing my focus on my surroundings while activating [Mana Sense] in an effort to pinpoint the sniper’s location.

And yet—

‘Nothing. I can’t feel anything. Where in the world is he…?’

It was as if he had completely disappeared from the world. Even the ‘Melanchony’ couldn’t trace anything at all.

How was this possible?

Was this some sort of bone skill? A domain…?

To make matters worse, it felt as if something had latched onto me, and that my location was now exposed to everyone.

‘What sort of skill is this? Why didn’t I hear about this before…? It has to be another bone skill, at the very least of the Terror Rank… Maybe even Disaster.’

I could tell that this was a marking unlike anything I had ever felt before. Regardless of what I tried, it wouldn’t leave.

The situation was extremely troublesome.

But as if that wasn’t enough…

Swoosh! Swoosh—!

I also had to account for the twin standing before me. He wasn’t particularly hard to handle, but every time I tried to close the distance, the “invisible” sniper would abruptly cut me off.

‘Focus. Focus.’

Xiu! Xiu!

Weaving through the barrage of incoming attacks, I forced my focus onto locating the sniper. At this moment, he was proving far more troublesome than the twin.

‘…If I’m not wrong, this should be the Madhound, but as far as I’m aware, he was never supposed to be this strong. Something is not making sense at all.’

Something about the situation felt off, but I didn’t have time to think about it as I hastily looked back where I saw a gold streak shoot in my direction. The speed was so fast that I had to be extremely focused.

A green orb appeared in my mind as my speed increased and I dodged the incoming attack.

Though the arrows were astonishingly fast, what made them truly difficult to counter was their unpredictable trajectory. It was as if they had materialized out of thin air.

They gave me little to no time to react.

‘Where? Where? Where…?’

Scanning my surroundings, I tried to anticipate the next volley of arrows. But before I could even position myself, the air behind me shifted, and my expression tightened in alarm.

“Shit!”

I didn’t have enough time to block the attack as it came hurtling right at me.

BANG—!

“Huek!”

A crushing weight pressed against my chest, threatening to crush me, as I barely envisioned a pink orb while being shoved several steps backwards.

The ground buckled beneath my steps, and before I could regain my footing, a chill ran down my spine. I lifted both hands, threads bursting from the earth to intercept the incoming attacks with pinpoint precision.

An icy mist rose in the air, washing me in cold air and rendering my vision null. The surrounding temperature dropped even further, with the mist fusing with the surroundings.

‘Domain!’

I grew alarmed, feeling my movements starting to slow down.

Swoosh!

An attack came from above.

I hurriedly jumped to the side, a golden streak shooting past me.

“….!?”

Just as I managed to block the attack, several more golden streaks flew toward me, each coming from a different direction.

‘Shit!’

I pressed the ground, activating [Step of Supression], and just barely managed to slow them down as red hands emerged from the ground, attacking each arrow.

Fast!

Faster!

Each attack from the two of them was becoming faster with each second!

Bang—!

The mana in my body drained rapidly.

I wasn’t given any time to breathe at all. When I defended one attack, another one would come. The temperature also continuously dropped, the influence of the domain growing stronger by the second. Worse still, with [Mana Sense] active, I could see several figures rapidly closing in on my position.

The situation was turning more and more disadvantageous for me.

At the rate things were going, I was set to lose.

I couldn’t afford to lose. Not like this.

‘I need to quickly think of something.’

I darted my gaze around, searching for anything useful while scrambling for a way to deal with the sniper. But with each passing second bringing another attack my way, thinking clearly was becoming nearly impossible.

Swoosh—!

“…Huerk!”

Unable to dodge in time, the arrow struck my shoulder, and blood spurted out.

‘Shit!!’

My expression quickly shifted as the pain registered in my mind.

It hurt a lot, but the pain wasn’t the problem. The problem was the fact that the attack had hit me precisely in the bone, rendering my entire arm numb.

The air grew chillier as my breathing paused.

Looking around, the figures around me were extremely close.

The situation was dire.

And in such a dire situation, I clenched my teeth and pressed my hand against my eye.

[Eye of Existence]

In that moment, everything paused.

Whether it was the sniper’s assault or the twins’ strikes, everything came to an abrupt halt. This was the same for the approaching figures.

“Cough!”

The mana in my body halved at once as a green orb appeared in my mind, and I rapidly shot away, pushing past the domain and blending with the surroundings as I quickly made an escape.

“Cough! Cough—!”

This entire situation…

Something was off.

I needed to take some time to recover and better understand what was happening. At the rate things were going, I was going to lose.

***

Not long after.

Rustle⁓ Rustle⁓

Several figures emerged from the bushes at once, all staring at each other in confusion.

“What just happened? Where did he… go?”

Confusion flickered across their face as a tall figure surveyed the surroundings with a composed, unshaken expression.

Captain Albas bent over and pressed his finger against the ground before quietly nodding.

“I think I more or less understand what is going on.”

He looked around.

Counting himself, the two twins, and another figure, there were four in total. He could also sense the Madhound’s presence, steadily drawing closer to their location. Turning his attention towards a certain direction, Albas pinched his fingers.

His eyes flickered with a certain glow before returning to normal.

“…Our target must have used some kind of ability that makes us forget about him. Considering I forgot who he was and what we were doing, I’m convinced that’s what his skill does. Since all of you experienced the same thing, I’m certain of it.”

Calmy laying out his thoughts, Albas analyzed the situation.

“This is a little unexpected, but I’m sure that such a technique is exhausting. He must’ve used a lot of mana, and he’s also very much injured. If—”

“So? What’s the holdup? Let’s get rid of him.”

A cold voice cut through the air as a black-hooded figure appeared, leaning against the thick branch of a tree, their hand pressed to the trunk while their cold gaze swept the area.

The air grew noticeably tenser under his presence.

“My mark is still present. Whatever he does, he will not be able to run away. Let’s not waste time and directly hunt him down. He’s an easy kill.”

“No, far from it.”

Albas shook his head.

“While it is indeed true that we managed to come out on top in the first exchange, based on the information that I’ve learned, this is still far from his true capabilities. He has also yet to use his Emotive Magic. I’m not sure why he hasn’t used it yet, but I’m extremely wary of it. I’d rather we stick to the plan we discussed beforehand.”

“And…? We’re winning. The plan is meaningless.”

The Madhound cocked his head, his sharp gaze narrowing as he stared in a certain direction.

“Wait!”

Despite Albas’s protest, the Madhound ignored his words.

He extended his hand, and the mana in the air coalesced into a bow of pure energy before him. The atmosphere thickened as he reached forward with his other hand, his back tightening as he drew the bowstring taut.

An invisible film seemed to stretch from beneath his body as the color of his eyes shifted completely. The world transformed within his gaze, his vision expanding in every direction, sensing even the slightest changes in his surroundings.

Standing by the tree, he looked down where another figure stood.

With a single nod, the figure raised its hand. A magic circle formed.

Then—

SWOOOSH!

A golden arrow tore through the air, shooting directly at Julien’s figure in the distance.

Though the distance was considerable, it meant nothing for the arrow. A magic circle suddenly enveloped it, and in an instant, it vanished from sight; only to reappear directly in front of Julien, who seemed to sense it just in time and disappeared from the spot.

“Tsk!”

It was just unfortunate that the attack missed.

The Madhound’s eyes sharpened. He was just about to follow up when another voice drifted in the air.

“Listen to the captain, he isn’t wrong.”

Almost instantly, the Madhound halted. He lowered his head, eyes settling on the serene figure beneath him. With short brown hair and narrow eyes, he exuded a sense of ease, even as the world around them fell into silence.

He lazily leaned against the tree, his eyes calmly scanning the pages of the book in his hand.

Under his presence, not even the Madhound made a noise.

“It is never good to underestimate an opponent. Even if they’re trapped. Considering how important this task is, we must make sure that everything flows well and that we stick to the safest method possible. Our opponent is definitely not someone that we can take lightly. Even if you have my help.”

No one said a word.

This included the Madhound as he hopped down the tree, and the bow in his hand faded.

Had it been any other person, he wouldn’t have listened.

But before this man…?

“I understand.”

In contrast to his earlier defiant, cold demeanour, he now seemed far milder and calmer.

As his feet touched the ground, his gaze drifted to the book in the man’s hands, his eyes following the intricate runes etched across its cover as a faint glow began to emanate from it.

As if noticing his gaze, the man raised his head and met his gaze.

“Don’t worry. The effects that I cast on you should still last for a bit. In case they do fade, I can cast a new one. That’s the last thing you should worry about. In fact…” Pausing, the man’s gaze drifted towards a certain direction. “We should worry more about something else.”

***

Bang—!

A crater gouged the earth as a massive foot slammed down. Within the crater lay two figures, clad in silver armour, their bodies convulsing on the ground, utterly unresponsive.

A pair of cold eyes stared at the twitching figures.

“….”

Pebble sat in silence in one of the trees, its gaze extremely cold.

Despite defeating two people at once, the cat felt no satisfaction at all. As a will, the cat shared a lot of its strength with Julien. In that regard, Pebble had only managed to defeat the two people due to Julien.

This wasn’t…

Its strength.

This was just borrowed power.

Pebble wasn’t satisfied with this. Pebble wanted to be like Owl-Mighty and Wobbles.

It wanted…

To prove that it was the same as theirs.

That… it was a mighty dragon and not a cat.

Slowly lifting its gaze, Pebble looked up at the sky. The vast expanse of blue, dotted with clouds that barely veiled the yellow sun hanging above.

“How long…?”

Pebble mumbled, its eyes falling into a subtle daze.

“…How long until I can touch it?”