Chapter 195
Chapter 195 Strongest Sage, Picks Chance
About six hours later .
We finished the quest smoothly and got the reward at the guild .
It was a boring but fruitful quest in term of intel gained .
We now know their technological level and the refineries" locations thanks to the map .
『So, what are we going to do now?』
『Right . . . Nothing good would come out of staying in this town anyway, let"s get them quick . We"ve grasped our enemy positions after all . 』
We were probing the surrounding mana reaction the whole time during the quest .
Result, found 32 sub-demons .
A standard amount for a group of sub-demons .
『But these sub-demons are good at acting in unison right? Wouldn"t it better if we waited until they"re scattered about?』
Alma looked at the surroundings as she said that .
The sub-demons have situated themselves around the center of the town indeed .
It"s probably a good idea to wait for the sub-demons to disperse in order to neutralize their union .
However-- .
『Nah, there"s no point in waiting . These demons must be holding their current positions . 』
I peeked at the mana reaction as I said that .
They"ve been making sure to absolutely stay in the center of the town .
This is probably done on purpose .
Since their sense-sharing is limited to 50 meter range .
And the sub-demons in this town are moving about while always maintaining their link together .
Thus, defeating even one of them would notify the rest of the sub-demons in the entire town .
This is most likely not a coincidence .
They must have willingly taken this kind of security measures to immediately detect any incident or attack from outside .
That all the refineries are located around the center of the town must be for this too .
『 . . . You mean, we"re gonna have to face these sub-demons all at once if we wanna beat them?』
『That would happen if we leisurely wait for them to join up with on another . However, if we attack sub-demons that are their on the way to join up with others and end the battle fast, we should end up only fighting a few . 』
Even if these sub-demons are gathered together, it"s not like they"re all smack dab crowding in one place .
These sub-demons are moving with a certain level of freedom within the 50 meter range limit .
『End it quick . . . The demons are all within a 50 meter range right? They"d join together in a blink of an eye when they"re that close . . . 』
『Not necessarily so . Because these demons won"t be going in a straight line . Each one should take about 10 seconds . 』
Well if there is a sub-demon acting as an intermediary in the center of the 50 meter range, they should be able to move farther than that, in fact, these demons are scattered about in a 200 meter range .
Even if all these demons were to rush here, it would still take a few dozens of seconds at least .
Ordinary demons would arrive in a few seconds by flying or breaking through walls, however, sub-demons don"t have that kind of strength .
『T-ten seconds . . . 』
『That much is enough when you"re ambushing a sub-demon . . . Besides I"ll be employing a scheme that will stop them from banding together easily . 』
『Scheme?』
『Yeah . Put a disguise magic that blurs your mana on yourself and beat them without having your face seen . . . In short, you want to prevent these demons from moving at their pace, that"s the knack for defeating sub-demons . 』
The past me went through some hard times defeating sub-demons in my youth .
Their individual strength is far away weaker than an ordinary demon, but it gets really troublesome when they band together .
『Beating a demon without having your face seen . . . I don"t think I could do that though . . . 』
『It is difficult . . . And that"s why it will be me and Iris that"s going to directly fight these demons . You two will pretend to be innocent pa.s.ser by and disturb the demons . Hide yourselves in the spot I specify . 』
Ruli and the girls are still not able to hide their presences while fighting .
There"s the difference in our level of experience and crest after all .
And Disqualified Crest is the most qualified crest for stealth action after all .
However, the demons would surely overlook them if they just hide without partic.i.p.ating in the fight .
However, I"ve been hiding Iris"s mana with magic from the moment we came into this town .
I don"t have the leeway to keep doing so while fighting the sub-demons for real .
And thus, Iris will be fighting too .
Iris"s fighting prowess is a good match for the sub-demons .
Sub-demons are good at union, but in exchange they have fundamentally low offensive powers, therefore, they can"t deal any damage on opponents with an extremely high defensive power like Iris .
Iris probably won"t able to hit the sub-demons either, but by acting as bait with her conspicuous mana, it should make my battle considerably easier .
. . . While thinking that, the sub-demons got into positions that"s easy to attack on .
I thought it would take another few hours before we got this chance, lucky us .
『Here"s our chance . Alma, and Ruli, go hide over there . 』
I pointed at a nearby shadow .
『I-I understand! Do we need to prepare anything?』
『I"ll release Iris"s mana later, use the confusion to make magic tools and slip them in . Make it a type of magic tool that will explode on ground contact . Something flashy would be good . 』
『I got it! Should I augment it on arrows?』
Usually, when Ruli augment offensive magic, she does it by augmenting Alma"s arrows .
Since simply putting offensive magic in a magic stone won"t help in hitting the target .
However, we won"t use arrows this time .
『No, just make it ordinary magic tools . . . Alma, you"ve learned how to use Wired Homing Enchant right?』
『I"ve been using Wired Homing Enchant all this time . . . Huh? Are you telling me to use it on magic stones?』
『That"s right . Throw them at the place the demon will step on when I tell you so . . . Can you do it?』
『Umm . . . No sweat!』
The 『Wired Homing Enchant』 that Alma usually uses on her arrows can actually also be used on things she throws .
Of course, using it with arrows is more powerful and effective, but this time we"re doing a specific method .
This technique doesn"t have many uses, but I was right to teach her just in case .
『Me, what about me?』
『Iris, you wait here and flail your spear around randomly at the demons!』
『S-so haphazard! . . . I can just run wild?』
『Your role, Iris, is to be a decoy . Just be careful not to stray too far, and go on a rampage!』
I look at the demons" positions afterward .
We"re currently right at the edge of the area where the demons are .
At this position, I can catch mana reaction of the entire group of demons there .
--Nice timing .