Chapter 54: Chapter 54: Mikhail’s Whereabouts
Lindley shook his head as he announced the bad news.
"That young mage is nowhere to be found. I had my undead search the whole garrison and turn it inside out, but there's no sign of him or the spear anywhere. I think it is highly probable that he has escaped with the spear."
"Where could he have gone?" Chris growled, punching the wall in frustration.
"To the capital, maybe?" Wilson asked thoughtfully. "He's the only survivor from the mage corps. All of the rest have been accounted for, and the chairwoman is being restrained right now."
"He'll probably want to hide somewhere. He knows he is no match for us." Rose shook her head and sighed. "Maybe we should just let him go. He won't be able to pose a threat to us."
"Are you really that naïve?" Lance asked, crossed. "After all the things he has done, do you think Mikhail will just go into hiding forever? No, he'll definitely come back to seek revenge on us…and save the bitch."
"That guy is too dangerous," Chris agreed solemnly. "You know what kind of person Mikhail is. He's madly infatuated and insanely obsessed with the bitch. He'll do anything to save her. Not only that, he has no qualms harming other people for his own agenda. Didn't you see him happily participate in all those experiments alongside the bitch?"
"Not only that, he gleefully apprehended and performed those experiments on the mage corps members who protested against the chairwoman." Wilson shook his head. "He definitely won't let us go."
"But how do we find him?" There was a note of panic in Rose's voice. "We don't even know where he went! He could have gone anywhere!"
"I can use [Acceleration] and scout ahead to find him," Stella offered. Everyone stared at her.
"Acceleration?" Lance repeated incredulously. I yanked Stella back and shook my head.
"Sorry, everyone. Stella is just being random. Ignore her. She doesn't know such a spell. And even if she did…" I turned to glare at her. "How exactly are you going to find him? Do you know which direction he went? Or are you going to run around in circles until you find him?"
"Um, that's…but…" Stella stammered. Then she brightened up. "We can start by searching the villages!"
"Which village?" Rose asked.
"I'll start with the nearest one. The one that's only two kilometers away from here." Stella produced a map. She was an amazing aide, having memorized the landmarks and everything. "It's likely that he'll take refuge there."
"Why would he do that?" Chris asked, puzzled. "All the villages are empty. That bitch took all the populations away. There aren't anyone in the villages."
"Not unless he plans to hide in one of the houses," Wilson suggested. "That sounds like something he'd do. Hide somewhere until the whole thing blows over, then come out again."
"In any case, it's pointless to stand around talking about this. We should go out and search for him." I began moving toward the exit. "Lindley, you stay in the garrison and guard the place with your undead troops. Let us know if Mikhail returns, and kill him if possible."
"Understood." Lindley did a short bow.
"All right, let's go." I nodded to the rest. While we strode toward the main gates, I turned to Chris and the rest. "Do you guys have any idea what the spear does? What sort of abilities it has? Does it nullify magic like the Chains of Void?"
"No, I don't believe so." Lance scratched his head and frowned. "I think the spear is supposed to absorb the life essences of its target? At least that's what the bitch said, but none of us understand what it actually does."
"Yeah, we don't know what that means concretely," Chris agreed. "But it's supposed to be some sort of vampire weapon, maybe?"
Stella and I exchanged a glance. Stella was only vaguely aware of vampire weapons because she had spent some time learning under Valerie, but I had a more specific weapon in mind. Especially because I was the owner of it.
The Blood Spear of Longinus.
That made sense. Miranda must have studied the Blood Spear of Longinus that I had used to pierce the hearts of Herman and Irene, and attempted to reproduce the cursed weapon. Her attempts to replicate their effects weren't entirely successful, but she was still able to craft the Chains of Void, which possessed the magic nullification ability of the Blood Spear of Longinus, and the spear, which contained the aspect of draining the life essences of its targets.
In other words, Miranda had failed to perfectly recreate the Blood Spear of Longinus, but she was able to split its abilities between two slightly inferior weapons. Combined, both of these weapons were basically the same as the Blood Spear of Longinus.
Honestly, Miranda was a genius, albeit one with twisted morals. I couldn't help but be impressed despite my hatred for her. Personally, I would never have been able to pull this off. Engraving runes and crafting enchanted weapons was not my forte.
However, now that I thought about it…
"Wait a minute," I said with a frown. "If this spear has the ability to drain its targets of their life essence, then why would Mikhail go to empty villages? If he wants to use the spear, shouldn't he go look for someplace where there are a lot of living things for him to absorb their life essences…to use whatever it is that the spear is capable of doing after sucking those life essences?"
"That's right!" Chris struck his palm with a fist. "Maybe he went to hunt monsters or something!"
"I'll fly up and take a look from above." Wilson quickly cast a wind spell to propel him off the ground, allowing him to defy gravity and hover in the air. "I might be able to spot him."
"Please do that." I nodded at him gratefully. "I'll be counting on you then."
Wilson did a mock salute before speeding upward like a bullet. I watched as his figure shrank, and then I turned my gaze back on the surroundings and hastily adjusted my glasses. I couldn't leave everything to the wind mage alone.
Using my enchanted lenses, I stared into the distance and magnified my vision. Occasionally, I would glance at the sensors that displayed readings at the corner of my lenses, but their range was obviously limited. In the end, I wasn't able to see anything. Not with the forest and hills blocking much of my vision. I had half a mind to approach and scale one of the hills to get a better look, but they were pretty far away, which made it difficult for me to choose which one to climb.
In the end, it was more practical to wait for Wilson to descend. He dropped down on the ground heavily, buffeting us with a huge gust of wind. From his frantic reaction and panicked expression, I could tell that he had seen something really terrible.
"I saw him," he growled, cursing under his breath. "That bastard…he's attacking a group of people! I can't see much from this distance, but he's that way…! Killing a lot of people!"
Rose followed his finger, turning toward the direction he was pointing at. She looked surprised at the news.
"A group of people? Who? There shouldn't be anyone around for miles."
"Yeah, all the villages in the region have been…annihilated, thanks to that bitch." As angry as he was, Chris was also taken aback by the information.
Wilson gritted his teeth. "I…I can't tell from this distance, but they look familiar. Especially those wagons and carriages. I think they are the gensies who we camped with last night."
For a moment, there was a stunned silence. Then Lance screamed, kicking the ground and sending a spray of lightning exploding from his body.
"Fuck!"
"Leave the raging for later," I snapped and turned to the brown-haired wind mage. "Wilson, how far away are they?"
"About ten kilometers. We should be able to get there in an hour if we run. Assuming we have the stamina to run continuously for an hour, of course."
That would take too long. The gensies wouldn't last for an hour. By the time we reached them, they would be completely wiped out. Additionally, Wilson had a point. The four mages in particular wouldn't have the stamina to run for that long. Stella and I were different because we were vampires, but I knew deep down that if I wasn't a vampire, I wouldn't be able to handle that sort of exercise. Shamefully, as a mage, I neglected physical training.
But now wasn't the time to complain the general lack of fitness that most mages were guilty of. Fortunately, I had an idea.
"That wind spell of yours that you used. Can you cast it on all of us? Fly us over to the place where Mikhail and the gensies are?"
Flying was a lot faster than walking. We could run there right now, but as Wilson said, it would take too long…and that was assuming the mages could run for that long.
"I'm sorry, I can't." Wilson shook his head. "I'm not strong enough."
"That's fine." It wasn't his fault. Rather, I should just improvise. "With your current strength, how many people can you lift up with your wind spell at once?"
Worst case scenario, I would have him just bring me and Stella over. Or me, if his limit was two. However…
"Only me, unfortunately." Wilson looked sheepish. "Flying is a very taxing spell."
Then he hardened his gaze.
"I can head over there first and buy the Gensies as much time as possible, delay Mikhail until you guys reach there."
"No!" Rose shouted. "It's too dangerous!"
"Yeah, I would prefer that you don't go alone." I shook my head. "As much as I appreciate your courage, throwing away your life recklessly achieves nothing. We'll need you for the battle ahead. We still don't know what abilities the spear can do…if it somehow gains the ability to cast wind spells by sucking your life essence, then you going there now will only make things more difficult for us later."
Certainly, Mikhail could use wind magic, but I would rather him being the only one wielding it against us over both he and the spear casting wind magic at the same time. Besides, I was pretty fond of the four mages and I didn't want any of them to die.
"I will use [Acceleration] and go on ahead," Stella said. "If I run at full speed, I should be able to cover ten kilometers in ten minutes. Klein, you stay with the others."
"Rejected. Same reason as before. I don't want the damned spear to be using your abilities against us." I was careful not to mention blood magic. I wasn't sure if the others were aware that Stella and I were vampires just yet. Stella knew what I meant, though, but she continued to argue.
"With your current condition, Klein, you won't be able to make it there even if you have two hours!"
"Huh? Why are you making me sound so weak?"
"But didn't your body deteriorate when all of your magical power was taken away by the Chains of Darkness? Right now you're slower than even an old man, your bones and muscles having weakened as a consequence of losing your magical powers. Please let me go ahead with [Acceleration]. Don't worry, I won't do anything reckless."
"What is she talking about now?" Chris and the others were gaping at Stella. I smacked her in the head.
"Nonsense. Let's not waste any time and start running now."
"When did you lose your magical powers? And is she mistaking the Chains of Darkness for the Chains of Void?"
"I didn't lose my magical powers…though admittedly I can't use them now because I am carrying the Chains of Void." I patted the chains that I had stolen from the now legless Miranda. Since Mikhail was a mage, I thought that bringing the magic-nullifying Chains of Void would be useful. The more trump cards we had, the better.
"What about your body? Do you need assistance…?"
"Just shut up and run."
Rolling my eyes, I suppressed a retort and proved that Stella was simply bullshitting by putting on a burst of speed and pulling ahead of the others (with the exception of Stella, of course).
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone