Chapter 17 | The Assassin Experiments
Dia, Tarte, and I were off to confront the demon that had appeared.
Horse-drawn carriages are so slow, I thought idly. Maybe next time, I’ll try making some kind of primitive automobile. I should be able to manage that. The poor roads would be a problem, though.
“This is our first job, my lord. I really want it to be a success,” Tarte said.
“I feel the same way. We have to prove ourselves to those in the central government who see me as nothing more than a sacrificial lamb. Remember, if the demon-killing field fails, that means we’ve lost, and you should only concern yourselves with escape.”
The universally accepted rule was that only the hero could kill demons. However, I had produced magic that turned that law on its head. It was our only shot at victory, and if it proved unsuccessful, we’d have to flee.
Of course, I wouldn’t let that be the end of it. I’d return to my research to figure out where I went awry.
“Ah, that reminds me. While I can only maintain it for thirty seconds, I can produce the field, too,” Dia stated.
“Really?” I questioned.
“Hey, why do you doubt me? I’ll show you later.”
Short though it was, it would be incredible if someone other than me could cast the spell necessary to slay demons. Constructing the field required a lot of mana, which drastically decreased my combat ability.
If I could leave activating the field to Dia, I’d be able to stay in the battle. Assassination might even be possible.
“That’s amazing. I had no chance of using it,” Tarte responded.
“You’re better with martial fighting. We both have different specialties. Being able to do everything as Lugh can isn’t normal. Truthfully, I want to fight on the frontlines like you, Tarte, but I’m stuck with these arms no matter how many push-ups I do.” Dia flexed her arms. They were skinny and soft. She trained, but her physical makeup made it difficult for her to build muscle. “Also, I did some more research into the demon-killing formula, and I feel like I can send the field flying.”
“Flying?” I asked.
Dia mimed a gun with her hands and made a bang noise. Adorable.
“Yeah, the way we constructed the spell, the field forms around the caster. But we could compress it so it could be propelled like a bullet. I can reconfigure the formula to make that happen. That would reduce the field’s effect time, though. It would likely only last about two seconds for me. You might be able to keep it potent for ten, Lugh.”
I couldn’t even begin to imagine how she would revise the equation to achieve such a thing. Yet if Dia said she could, then I trusted her.
The reduction of effect time was because instead of using yourself as the origin for the spell, you’d be firing it as a projectile, which relied on instantaneous mana discharge.
“That sounds good. Can you try developing it for me? There could be many uses for that. It would be great if you could finish it before we arrive.”
“I’ll do what I can, but don’t get your hopes up,” Dia responded. Then she spread out some documents and began to work on some calculations.
Despite her telling me not to, I couldn’t help but feel excited. I devoted the time we had until arrival to pondering a way to slay a demon in two seconds.
Assassination would have the highest chance of success. The trouble was the lack of information on the target. While the government had provided some documents, they were not especially helpful. I couldn’t form a plan of attack with this information alone. There was nothing I could do but study what was available and expect to learn on the fly.
The journey took several days, but we finally arrived at our destination—a town that bordered a neighboring domain. For a provincial settlement, it was large. It was a prosperous center for trade, as well as a popular tourist destination. Many beautiful stone buildings should have lined the street. However…
“This place looks like a jungle,” Dia commented.
“I don’t see a single person,” Tarte added.
The structures were all overgrown with ivy, and the streets had been flooded with trees. Curiously, there didn’t seem to be any animal life.
The three of us stood at the entrance to the town, beholding this inauspicious sight.
I looked over the documents again. Apparently, there had initially only been one tree, and it then spread incredibly quickly and engulfed the whole town.
Those who had fled early on survived, but there was no word from anyone who’d remained. An armed contingent was sent into the settlement to investigate, yet not a single one of them returned.
After that, an attempt was made to clear away the parasitic plants by burning them with fire. That also went poorly. Only the most intense heat burned the trees. Even if they did catch fire, they quickly regenerated any damage. The military operation failed, and not a single soldier involved survived. The report stated the vegetation ate them.
It was then decided that this had to be the work of a demon, and I was sent to deal with things.
“Hey, Lugh. Are we entering the town? If these trees actually ate people, then we’ll have enemies all around us,” said Dia.
“There’s something I need to do before we move in. Get behind me, you two.”
When I accepted this job, I’d made sure to confirm one thing: whether I needed to save those swallowed by the trees. The government responded that even if there were survivors, rescuing them was a hopeless endeavor. Thus, I could use whatever method I wished.
Of course, I wanted to help the trapped civilians, but I didn’t understand what this forest was, and running headlong into it seemed like a bad idea. For that reason, I needed to perform some experiments from a safe distance.
“You can see it, right, Dia?” I asked. “These plants are all one entity.”
“Yeah. They have mana, and they’re connected to an unnatural degree. The only thing that explains it is this being one creature.”
“I’m thinking the same thing. Let’s do some poking. Keep an eye on their mana for me.”
My first experiment was to toss some warm meat into the town-turned-forest. There was no response. Next, I sent in a domestic pig I’d purchased on the way here.
“SQUEEEEEEEE!”
When it got close enough to a tree, vines extended from someplace unseen and ensnared the animal. Several branches stabbed into the pig, and it began to shrivel up until only skin and bones remained.
“That’s a nasty way to go, but it explains how the people disappeared,” I remarked.
“A carnivorous tree… If they’re all over the town, then that means everyone has already been eaten,” Tarte realized with a gasp. She brought a hand to her mouth.
As Tarte said, with vegetation covering the entire settlement, there couldn’t be any survivors. That meant I could go ahead with my next test without concern.
“See anything, Dia?” I questioned. She’d been watching closely, as I’d requested, making use of her Tuatha Dé eyes.
“There was a swell of mana when the pig was consumed. Nutrients are being converted directly into power.”
In short, these trees had been released into the city by someone who wanted to stockpile magical energy.
“Okay, my first experiment was a success. I learned two things. On to the next one.”
I tossed a barrel full of oil into town. It rolled until it bumped into a bough in the middle of the road. There was no response.
I aimed at the container and shot a fire arrow at it. It burst, releasing the oil inside, which then ignited. This particular substance was even more flammable than the typical variety, capable of producing large pillars of flame.
Like with the pig, branches extended toward the pillar of fire. It was as if they wanted to be torched.
“I knew they had a strong regenerative ability, but this is crazy,” I commented.
“It’s still just the typical sort of restoration, though. This isn’t the absurd ability demons have to reconstitute themselves that you described, Lugh. I see a lot of mana being used up, so these things aren’t immortal,” Dia replied.
The tips of the branches regrew even as they were smoldering. When the flames finally disappeared, the trees looked as if nothing had happened.
“That’s a significant discovery. Now to truly scorch these things,” I declared.
I pulled out a Fahr Stone from my pouch. Like the pig and barrel of oil, I’d prepared this for today.
I usually filled Fahr Stones with a set ratio of fire, wind, and earth mana. That way, I could use a large amount of air to increase the explosive force of the flames and scatter fragments of iron upon impact, creating potent bombs.
This Fahr Stone, however, only housed fire and wind mana. I’d prioritized combustion over explosive capability. It could produce an inferno far beyond what oil was capable of, even my modified variety. It was filled with the mana of three hundred ordinary mages, after all.
It only took a bit more magical energy to push the Fahr Stone to its critical point, and then it began to crack. I hurled it into the forest, and a moment later, it released all that stored power.
The crimson flames spread instantly and consumed an entire section of the settlement. The view was like hell itself.
“It’s scary but so pretty,” said Tarte, staring at the flames in a daze.
When the blaze subsided, not even ashes remained of the trees they consumed. The buildings survived because they were made of stone, though they were now adorned with black scorch marks of the vines that had clung to them.
“So the vegetation isn’t part of the demon itself,” I said.
“Yeah, they were probably produced by some kind of ability,” added Dia.
Initially, I couldn’t be sure if the strange greenery was the demon. That turned out not to be the case, though. This forest was nothing but a monster possessed of a powerful regenerative factor. Its nature allowed it to grow through grafting, which explained why the same mana flowed through all the plants.
This was both good and bad news. Since this greenery wasn’t the demon, it would be far easier to remove it. Unfortunately, that also meant we’d have to search this large town to find the demon.
“Dia, Tarte, we’re entering the town. We’re going to search for the target,” I declared.
“Yes, my lord! But isn’t it dangerous?”
“Yeah, you burned quite a large area, but the town is still full of those man-eating trees!”
“Stay close to me, and you’ll both be fine.”
I strode forward fearlessly while Dia and Tarte followed behind, looking uneasy. Even when we passed the area I’d incinerated, we weren’t attacked. The trees didn’t so much as flinch.
“My lord, why aren’t they attacking us?” Tarte asked.
“You’ve been using a spell. Does it have something to do with that?” Dia questioned.
“Yes. Remember the experiment I did before we entered the town? Tossing a simple piece of meat toward the trees didn’t elicit a reaction. But they did respond to the pig. The trees don’t have eyes, so they can’t locate prey visually. That leaves vibration, sound, heat, and breathing as the things they could respond to. They didn’t notice the meat when it was dropped near them, so we can eliminate vibration and sound. I made sure to warm it, too, and the plants didn’t respond to that, either. That only leaves breathing. More specifically, what they sense is the carbon dioxide we exhale.”
The purpose of my first experiment had been to test how the vegetation sought out food. The answer was the CO2 that animals emitted. My theory was substantiated when the tree branches had reached out toward the pillar of fire.
“So you’re removing the air around us and sending it up into the sky,” Dia deduced.
“That’s right. This way, we can move unnoticed.”
I was diluting our breath and blowing it upward. My mana recovery outpaced this spell, so maintaining it wasn’t an issue. Having to fend off attacks from every direction while searching for the demon would have left us exhausted by the time we finally found our opponent.
There was also a possibility that the plants shared information with the demon. If we wanted the upper hand, we couldn’t afford to fight them.
We had to find our enemy before it located us. Fortunately, it seemed like the trump card I’d prepared was going to be very effective.
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