Chapter 128 : Chapter 128
Chapter 128. In Other Fronts (4)
Even after returning to the castle, Laura couldn't shake the astonishing image of Roden from her mind.
For Roden, who normally couldn't utter a single word to Michael, let alone herself, to have changed so confidently.
The shock Laura received from him was considerable.
'What is this?'
Roden's demeanor was certainly different from before.
In the past, Roden couldn't bring himself to speak carelessly in front of any of his siblings.
He couldn't even make eye contact, let alone speak, and he would fidget with his fingers or tremble nervously all the while.
It was only natural, as he alone had remained a 1-star while all his siblings had reached the 6-star level.
In reality, Roden's life would be over the moment any of his siblings decided so.
After all, the Glockner family's Succession War considered taking a sibling's life a matter of course.
Therefore, Roden had no choice but to be wary of his siblings, and thanks to that, he survived.
This attitude of Roden's made him seem like such a moron, incapable of even competing, that no one bothered with him.
But the Roden of today was not the moron from back then.
Not only was his demeanor confident, but he also gave the impression that he wasn't interested in himself or Michael at all.
He had even remained completely still, his expression unchanging, in a situation where the two of them were about to clash.
At first, she thought he had frozen in fear, but that wasn't it.
Hurtfully, Roden seemed to be feeling a boredom akin to a predator watching two herbivores fight.
Just like Malena or Leon looked at their other siblings.
In fact, this was the reason Laura hadn't fought with Michael and had instead sighed deeply and ended the situation.
She hadn't wanted to lose face and fight in front of Roden.
And then she belatedly realized.
She couldn't read Roden's aura level.
'Is that moron's level truly equal to or higher than mine?'
For Laura, who had considered Roden's talent a hopeless case, it was a shock.
At the same time, she became curious.
Why had Michael decided to cooperate with Roden?
And why was he subtly taking Roden's side?
Although he tried not to show it, Laura felt as if Michael was defending Roden.
She even got the unbelievable impression that he held Roden in higher regard than himself.
'Was that arrogant Michael right? Was I really not paying enough attention to the other corps?'
In the end, Laura couldn't hold back and summoned the commander of the Red Wolf Unit.
The Red Wolf Unit was the name of the elite guard unit that Laura cherished.
One she had created to face Malena, her lifelong goal.
“You called?”
The commander of the Red Wolf Unit asked, kneeling on one knee, and Laura nodded.
“Find out what happened in the 3rd Corps. Focus on Ernst.”
***
As soon as he returned to Biluk with Michael, Roden convened a meeting with all the main battalion officers above the rank of Deputy Company Commander.
And there, he shared information about the Black Bell Corps.
Then, they began a discussion on how to catch them.
After a long silence, the first to speak was Chevalier.
“Tracking them will be manageable somehow, but enemies who escape using a mobility-type crystal orb. I can't think of a suitable way to catch them.”
The others present seemed to agree, nodding their heads.
Indeed, asking a knight for a solution to a magical problem was absurd.
“How about we just tie their hands and feet the moment we meet them?”
“That would be meaningless. It seems the magic artifact activates just by chanting the activation word.”
“Then should we gag them?”
“How? Should we just punch them in the Adam's apple as soon as we meet?”
“Oh! That's a good idea!”
“What do you mean, good? It would be faster to just cut their throats than to punch them in the Adam's apple.”
“Ah. Right.”
In the end, the discussion went around in meaningless circles.
The conversation between the two Deputy Company Commanders was proof of that.
For that reason, Roden watched them for a while before speaking.
“There’s no point in staying like this. Let’s all disperse and think of a method on our own. Dismissed.”
Michael remained in the room after the officers were dismissed.
“What are you planning to do?”
“For now, we’ll have to track the Black Bell Corps and find a way to hold them down somehow.”
“Will a method emerge just by doing that?”
“We have no choice. There are no other brilliant ideas that come to mind.”
“Hmm.”
At Roden's conventional answer, Michael seemed somehow disappointed.
It seemed he thought Roden would have some ingenious method.
But Roden insisted he had no such thing, and for that reason, Michael had no choice but to back down.
“I’ll try to think of a method as well.”
After everyone had left, Roden was lost in thought.
'It's not that there's no method at all.'
That was right.
Roden actually had a method.
He just needed to use magic.
However, he hadn't yet decided which magic to use.
It was because he didn't know how the mobility-type crystal orb was activated.
Moreover, Roden speculated that the magic enchanted in the mobility-type crystal orb was at least 6th-circle or higher.
It was a teleportation magic with better performance than the 6th-circle magic, Blink.
That meant it might be difficult for Roden to dispel the magic with his skills.
'To dispel magic, my level needs to be at least one step higher.'
The same went for interference magic that caused errors in magic or blockade magic that froze the mana in an area.
They would have no effect unless used at a higher level than the magic in question.
Therefore, Roden was devising a way to prevent the magic artifact from being activated rather than directly blocking the magic.
This was also why Roden had said he would track the Black Bell Corps first.
He needed to figure out the operating principle of the mobility-type crystal orb.
'The best thing would be to meet the Black Bell Corps in person and see how they use the mobility-type crystal orb. Then I'd be able to come up with a countermeasure for it right away.'
But it wouldn't be easy.
The movements of the Black Bell Corps were so elusive that he might have to finish them in a single encounter.
'The fortunate thing is that there's one chance to meet them for sure.'
Roden was convinced that the Black Bell Corps would try something again when the 1st Corps' transport battalion officially resumed its movements.
This was also why he had asked Laura when the 1st Corps' transport battalion would be back to normal.
'In a month. I'll be able to meet the Black Bell Corps just by following the transport units.'
Until then, he had to think about how to block the Black Bell Corps' mobility-type crystal orb.
'For now, let's prepare a wide-area Silence.'
Silence was a 3rd-circle magic that silenced the target.
But at the 4th-circle, this magic could be used over a wide area.
Roden planned to enchant this magic on a piece of wood in advance and use it at the right moment.
This would make it impossible to use the magic artifact with an activation word.
'However, it's possible they don't necessarily use an activation word to use the magic artifact.'
They could also activate the magic artifact by breaking the mobility-type crystal orb or pressing a button.
For that reason, Roden had to prepare for this problem as well.
'For that, I need to prepare a Bind magic that restrains the body.'
Like Silence, the 3rd-circle magic Bind was a very versatile spell.
It was a magic that could easily restrain the body of someone of a lower level than himself.
From the 6th-circle, Bind could also be used over a wide area, making it a very suitable magic for this occasion.
'For now, let’s prepare like this. We’ll prepare other magic separately when we find out something about the Black Bell Corps.'
A few days later.
Roden left Biluk to track the Black Bell Corps.
And this time, the entire main battalion moved.
***
Meanwhile.
The Black Bell Corps, which Roden and the 1st Corps were tracking with fire in their eyes, were hiding under a cliff.
The Plumen River flowed before them, a place that could become dangerous due to flooding if it rained.
But at the same time, this danger made it a place that was less noticeable.
And in this place, the members of the Black Bell Corps were sitting in their respective places, eating beef jerky with expressionless faces.
Just as the sound of chewing beef jerky filled the air.
Fwoosh!
Suddenly, a white light burst in the clearing, and a figure appeared.
And in the figure's hands were a large number of blue crystal orbs.
Not only in his hands but also in the bag on his back.
The man who had been chewing beef jerky on the largest rock got up and asked the figure who had appeared out of thin air.
“How many did you get?”
“100 explosive-type crystal orbs, 100 recovery-type crystal orbs, and 100 mobility-type crystal orbs, sir.”
“Exactly enough for one operation. Why didn't you get more?”
“The command says this is all that's left. They said it's difficult to purchase more. The mage towers have raised the price of magic artifacts.”
“They should keep buying them anyway! Those stupid command guys. Do they still not know that we have no way to live without magic artifacts?”
The man called commander replied and shifted his gaze to one side.
There was a pile of magic artifacts left over from the last operation.
Most of them were explosive-type crystal orbs, and the numbers of recovery and mobility types were not very large.
“With those, at most, the entire force can use the mobility-type crystal orb up to two times. Considering we have to continue with guerrilla operations, carrying out a large-scale operation once would be the maximum.”
“A large-scale operation?”
“Yes.”
The man gave a cold smile and continued.
“We must once again trample the normalized 1st Corps’ transport battalion to pieces.”