Elqueeness [EN]: Chapter 262

Night Patrol (1)

The first night’s patrol commenced under a veil of secrecy. The plan was to move without torches, relying solely on moonlight and heightened senses. This was to obscure their path and disorient any potential enemies.

However, the plan proved quite challenging for their own forces. While they had initially chosen relatively easy routes, they were now deep within the mountain range, surrounded by a dense forest. Features easily distinguishable in daylight blurred into indistinguishable shapes in the dark. The nearly identical trees were, needless to say, even harder to tell apart. Navigating such a place without torches felt akin to walking blindfolded.

“How are we supposed to find our way in this darkness without any light?” Alisa asked, her voice laced with unease as the surroundings deepened into complete obscurity, making it difficult to see anything with human vision.

Marcus, with a knowing grin, pointed towards a tree. Following his gaze, Alisa noticed a faintly glowing patch near its base. The light was so subtle that it could easily be missed if one wasn’t specifically looking for it. This faint luminescence appeared intermittently on trees ahead at regular intervals, serving as makeshift signposts.

“…Is something applied to them?” Alisa inquired, intrigued. Count Marcus nodded approvingly.

“It’s the fluid of a Muta, an insect-type monster known for its bioluminescence [glowing biological light]. The scouts who went ahead marked the path. We simply need to follow these marks.”

“I see,” Alisa replied, nodding with a hint of wonder. However, her expression abruptly shifted, becoming strangely stiff. She quickly scanned their surroundings, appearing visibly anxious.

“What’s wrong, Alisa?” I asked, concerned.

“Um, El, I think we need to be careful,” she responded, her voice hushed.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I have a bad feeling.”

To call it merely a premonition felt inadequate; the ‘feeling’ Alisa described carried a significant weight. I lowered my voice instinctively and asked, “…Is that, precognition?”

“I’m not sure. But it feels similar to the feelings I’ve had before crises. I have a feeling that if we follow that light, something very bad will happen.”

It had been a while since Alisa had experienced this kind of ‘feeling.’ The recent period of peace had perhaps made them complacent. It was a stark reminder that the war had truly begun.

“Should we tell Count Marcus to stop going forward?” I asked.

“In this situation? No one will listen,” Alisa replied, shaking her head.

“We could tell them you have precognitive abilities.”

“No, I’m already being treated like the daughter of Sphere [likely a reference to a character or entity known for foresight or influence], I don’t want to become more of a hassle. Besides, I don’t think stopping here would be particularly good either.”

“Is that a feeling too?”

“Yes. I just got that feeling.”

“Hmm, a dilemma,” I muttered.

Going forward presented a problem, but stopping was equally problematic. This situation had become exceedingly difficult. Fortunately, Alisa’s ‘feeling’ wasn’t a fixed prediction of the future. It was more like a warning signal, indicating that something was about to happen, but not necessarily that the outcome would be negative.

“I’ll let you know if I see anything strange, so be prepared,” I told her.

“Okay,” Alisa nodded, her face tense as she held her breath. The others who had overheard their conversation also began to cautiously scan their surroundings. I focused intently, searching for any signs of danger. I wondered if there were ambushes nearby, but I didn’t detect any presence other than their own troops. Any other movement seemed to be just small wild animals.

‘There’s nothing particularly wrong,’ I thought.

Even after moving for some time, I couldn’t identify any potential threats. The surrounding area seemed equally benign. As time passed without incident, the group gradually began to relax. Alisa, too, seemed to think she might have overreacted, and a hint of embarrassment crossed her face.

The strange feeling, however, originated from an unexpected source. This was something only I could perceive: the number of Naiads [water nymphs] and Undines [elemental beings of water] in the vicinity was increasing. Most of them were clustered on the ground. Under normal circumstances, this would indicate the presence of a large spring or lake nearby. But all that lay before them was a dense forest. What was even more peculiar was that so many water spirits were holding hands with lower-level earth spirits. Anyone observing them would think the two types of spirits were on a date.

“Doesn’t the ground seem a bit softer here than elsewhere?” I heard a soldier whisper.

“It does. Did it rain?” another replied.

The effect was noticeable even to ordinary people. Whispered comments drifted back from the soldiers walking ahead. I stared blankly at them, then glanced back down at the spirits busily moving around on the ground. It didn’t feel immediately dangerous, but it was undeniably unsettling.

Sometimes, when a powerful individual passes by, spirits gather in large numbers. Initially, I thought it might be one of those phenomena, but I quickly dismissed the idea. Spirits that gather temporarily lack uniformity and are scattered randomly. In contrast, the spirits before me exhibited clear patterns in their type, number, and arrangement intervals. This suggested that the spirits were native to this location. My suspicion solidified: this place must have once been a lake. Yes, if only there weren’t earth spirits mingling with the water.

“A lake… with this much mixed soil? No, there’s probably more soil than water at this point,” I muttered.

Perhaps Alisa overheard me without realizing it. She looked at me with a puzzled expression, which quickly hardened into alarm.

“Count! Wait! Don’t go any further!” she screamed.

Startled by her sudden outburst, Count Marcus turned around abruptly. It was at that precise moment that the ground rippled, and simultaneously, the view seemed to drop. Or rather, it was the ground that gave way beneath them. The earth, which had felt solid just moments before, collapsed, and their legs were instantly submerged in sticky mud.

“Uwaaagh!”

“Wh-what is it!”

The panicked soldiers thrashed about in confusion. But no matter how hard they struggled, no one could escape the mire. In fact, it seemed the more they fought, the deeper they sank.

“Damn it! A swamp!”

“Everyone, get out of here quickly!”

“Where to? I can’t see anything!”

Chaos erupted among those who had fallen into the mud. Count Marcus looked equally surprised, his face paling with alarm.

“Everyone, don’t move! The more you try to get out, the deeper you’ll sink!” he shouted, his voice commanding.

The soldiers, gripped by panic, froze stiffly at his command. But the horses carrying them, naturally unable to understand, continued their panicked movements, showing no signs of calming down. The Count bit his lip, his gaze darting urgently to the adjutant beside him.

“How did this happen? Why is there a swamp here!”

“It’s the Hesur Swamp, Count! If there’s a swamp of this size around here, it can only be the Hesur Swamp!”

“Hesur Swamp? That’s in the opposite direction of where we were headed! Why did we come here? We should have been moving according to the markers!”

“It’s a trap! The markers must have been changed!”

The adjutant replied in a somber voice, his face already filled with despair. It seemed the enemies had anticipated that we would notice the ambush and travel at night. So, they found our location markers and redirected us toward the swamp.

If it were the kind that you sink into as soon as you step on it, we would have noticed it right away. But this swamp seemed to be structured so that it only collapses all at once when a certain amount of weight is applied. Thanks to that, too many people got trapped. If we had been attacked in this state, the damage would have been significant. Fortunately, the enemies didn’t seem to have the courage to come in here. That’s understandable, considering the swamp’s large area, there weren’t any places to hide nearby.

“I see. So, this is a phenomenon that occurs in swamps.”

I finally understood why the spirits of water and earth were so tightly bound together. As I nodded and muttered to myself, Alisa chided me.

“What are you admiring by yourself, El! It’s quite troublesome if you’re only realizing that now, you know?”

“Ah, sorry. It’s just that it’s my first time seeing a swamp properly.”

“Unbelievable!”

People were already submerged up to their thighs in the mud. Those at the edge were at least trying to find solid ground to escape, but those trapped in the middle of the swamp were helpless. Even if they didn’t move, they would only sink slower, not stop sinking altogether. Discarding as much equipment as possible to lighten their load didn’t make much of a difference.

“Everyone, stay calm!”

Unable to find a suitable solution, Count Marcus’s desperate cries echoed repeatedly. Being dragged underground in a situation where nothing could be seen must have been incredibly terrifying. The sound of people anxiously swallowing their breaths could be heard from all directions.

The only ones who remained calm in this situation were our group. Sibelius and Deron were just worried about getting their clothes dirty, and As was busy splashing around in the mud, finding it fascinating. Then, Lapis suddenly pulled out a long spear (he must have taken it out of his subspace [a pocket dimension or storage space]) and plunged it into the ground. He seemed to be checking the depth. The result didn’t deviate much from my expectations. It was a large spear that far exceeded his tall height, but it was being swallowed endlessly as he pushed it in. After confirming that it was completely buried and disappeared, he muttered with a refreshed face.

“Humans can’t get out of here with their own power. Total annihilation is confirmed.”

“…Hey.”

I don’t know where he learned to be so creatively irritating. I’d like to conduct an in-depth study of the background in which that guy was born and raised. It certainly wasn’t a normal environment.

Fortunately, everyone was too distracted to hear what he said, except for one person, Alisa, who was right next to him.

“Oh, what should we do, El? Can’t we get out of here? Is it hard to save everyone?”

I looked at the small girl, who was at a loss with an anxious face, and then glared at Lapis. Of course, the guy who would never reflect on his actions just raised his head with a brazen face.

“Don’t listen to such words, Alisa. It just means it’s difficult to get out on our own. We can help them get out.”

“Won’t your identity be revealed, El?”

“Well, if it’s a situation where I have to reveal it, I can’t help it. But I don’t think we’ll have to go that far. Alisa, you’ll have to do some work again this time.”

“Yes, I will! What should I do?”

The word ‘total annihilation’ must have been stimulating. At other times, she would have complained about standing out, but this time she was very proactive. I gently stroked Alisa’s head, who was making a determined expression, feeling proud of her.

“First of all, everyone seems too scared, so let’s brighten the surroundings a bit. Lapis, do you have any lighting magic or something?”

“What’s the range?”

“Since we’re trying to calm people down, it would be nice if it covered the entire swamp. Ah, but without ruining the plan to move stealthily. Not too bright.”

“There’s no one nearby anyway. There’s nothing to be discovered, right?”

“I know. But I can’t convince these people of that. And it’s never bad to be careful. If a strong light appears in the middle of the night like this, it’ll be visible from quite far away. We can’t rule out the possibility of someone noticing.”

“Tch. How annoying.”

Despite making a dissatisfied expression, Lapis obediently began to manipulate mana.

“Sphere of Light.”

A faint mass of light bloomed on his palm. At first, I was a little taken aback. I had asked him not to make it too bright, but the completed light was smaller and dimmer than a firefly’s light. It barely illuminated one side of his palm, let alone the surroundings.

I was about to say something about him playing around, but soon, lights of similar size began to float from his entire body. They gradually left his surroundings and spread throughout the swamp. The sight of dozens, hundreds of faint lights spreading in all directions was spectacular in itself. Even though it wasn’t bright enough to clearly secure visibility, it was enough to capture people’s attention. The sounds of pain that filled the surroundings momentarily stopped as the light began to embroider the pitch-black space. People forgot about the chaotic situation and stared blankly at the mist of light.

“Beautiful…”

Alisa exclaimed, as if representing their feelings. I, too, couldn’t take my eyes off the sight. It was as if the stars in the sky had fallen down. Only the person who created this beautiful sight had a nonchalant face.

“Is that enough? With this brightness, it won’t be visible from outside this range.”

“Oh, yeah. Thanks. It’s pretty good.”

“Of course, it’s my work.”

I chuckled at his typical response. It’s scary how adaptable one can become. It’s a big problem that I don’t even feel like he’s showing off with those kinds of words anymore.

At that moment, Count Marcus, who had been넋을 잃고 있던 [넋을 잃고 있던 is a Korean expression meaning ‘넋을 잃다’ which translates to ‘being in a daze’ or ‘being mesmerized’] like everyone else, hurriedly looked towards us. A small hope arose on his face, which had been pale since falling into the swamp. It seemed that he had remembered that there were ability users in our group after seeing the magic of light.

“Lord Aldref! Is there any good way to get out of the swamp?”

After receiving the title, Alisa was often called by her newly received family name. In particular, those from noble families politely used the title ‘Lord’ to address her. Every time that happened, Alisa would make an awkward expression as if her whole body was curling up. This time as well, Alisa, with an embarrassed face, looked back at me with eyes seeking help. I opened my mouth in her place.

“Before that, I have one question to ask. Is it better to cross the swamp as it is, or is it better to go back?”

“If you’re asking about the route, it’s better to cross. In terms of distance, crossing the swamp is actually faster than passing through the Yakon Valley. If we can cross it, that is.”

“Is that so? Then we’ll have to cross.”

Since the distance is shortened, it seems that falling into the trap is turning into a blessing in disguise. As I nodded nonchalantly, expressions of bewilderment appeared on the faces of the people who were listening.