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 passer 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 participating 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 .