The Youngest Daughter Of The Great Wizard Of The Famous Swordsmanship [EN]: Chapter 178

178. The Situation of the Expedition (3)

“So don’t force me to make that choice. Even if you don’t say it, I’m suffering enough right now.”

Daniel bit his lip and barely managed to answer.

“Understood.”

“And by now, His Majesty might find it strange that contact has been lost and send an additional investigation team. Just hold on a little longer until then.”

“Yes.”

Joshua smiled faintly and gestured to the knights who were waiting.

“Move out. I know everyone is tired, but don’t let your guard down.”

“Yes, sir!”

The expedition searched the area again with hope, but they couldn’t escape the endlessly looping space.

* * *

Rozette and Lucas searched around the base camp like people who had half lost their minds. But they still couldn’t find any trace.

They widened their search radius and found a small village, but even there, the villagers said they hadn’t seen the expedition recently.

-They did come by. His Highness the Prince came himself to check if anyone had been harmed by the monsters or injured. Everyone was so touched by His Highness’s consideration.

-When was that?

-I think the last time was about a week ago. I haven’t seen the expedition for the past few days. Now that I think about it, it’s strange. Whenever monsters appeared, the knights would come and check on us.

Rozette, recalling the conversation from a moment ago, suddenly snapped to her senses at the sound of Pipi’s beeping in the distance.

[Beep!]

“What happened, Pipi? Silver? Did you find Silver?”

Pipi, who had been scouting the area, sat on Rozette’s finger and shook her head.

[Pii…….]

It meant that she couldn’t find Joshua or Daniel, let alone Silver’s aura.

‘This is definitely strange.’

Familiars can sense each other’s aura. Familiars who are as close as Pipi and Silver can easily find each other even if they are a bit far apart.

So if Silver was near this area, Pipi should have already found her. But the fact that Pipi couldn’t find Silver meant…….

‘Could it be that Silver has disappeared?’

Familiars are not affected by physical attacks. There were two ways for such a familiar to disappear.

First, if they suffered a critical hit from an attack imbued with mana.

It was theoretically possible, but in reality, such cases were rare. Familiars were partners that only wizards who had reached a certain level or higher could summon, and they had correspondingly strong abilities.

Although Pipi had almost no offensive power, Silver had strong offensive and defensive power. This meant that she was unlikely to suffer a critical hit and disappear easily.

‘Then the second assumption…….’

The second case in which a familiar disappears is when the summoner dies.

Familiars are creatures summoned by the summoner’s mana. No matter what happens, as long as the summoner is alive, the familiar maintains its form.

Even if the summoner loses consciousness or mana, the familiar does not disappear. Rozette had used up all her mana when she was young, but Pipi remained perfectly fine.

However, if the summoner dies, the familiar disappears immediately. This is because the connection with the summoner is severed.

‘That can’t be.’

Rozette clenched her fist tightly to shake off the ominous thoughts that kept flowing through her mind.

‘There’s no way Joshua and Silver could be taken down so easily by monsters. Daniel and Lord Roten will all be safe.’

She couldn’t find the bodies of the three people even when she looked around. Not only them, but there were no bodies of other members of the expedition.

This meant that there was a high possibility that those who had gone out to subjugate were still alive.

“Ha, where the hell did they go? How can there be not a single trace?”

Lucas looked at Rozette’s dark expression and ruffled his hair with both hands.

“Did they sink into the ground? Or did they soar into the sky? How is this even possible!”

“…….”

“Or did they move to another place as a group? There was definitely a wizard in the expedition, right? Kid, can they use group teleportation magic?”

“Impossible. Teleportation magic other than mana portals is virtually impossible for anyone. If that were possible, I would have used magic instead of walking here.”

“Well, if you can’t do it, how could another wizard do it? Then what else is there? Is the situation so serious that they are hiding?”

“Hiding?”

Rozette raised her head and asked, and Lucas explained.

“When you go to war, you disguise yourself and hide, right? I was wondering if that’s possible with magic. A way to erase all traces and not be detected by the enemy.”

“…….”

“It wouldn’t be easy to carry Daniel and other injured people around, so I thought they might have hidden them somewhere.”

It wasn’t that there was no such method. There was a way to separate space with magic and block contact with the outside.

“It’s theoretically possible. But realistically, I don’t think they could hide that many people like this.”

“Possible? Really?”

“Theoretically. But I don’t think it’s actually possible…….”

“Whether it’s theoretical or not, if it’s possible, we have to track it down! If the expedition hid in such a way, can you find them?”

“I’ll give it a try. Pipi, come here.”

Rozette knelt down on both knees on the floor. She closed her eyes and placed her palms on the floor, and Pipi sat in front of her and closed her eyes.

“From now on, I’m going to track the traces of mana in this area. The area is so wide that I need Pipi’s help. The flow of mana will change, and monsters that sense the abnormality might rush in. Can you defend us?”

Lucas gripped his sword tightly with a tense face.

“I have to. Kid, you trust me, right?”

“Yes. And I’ll be defenseless, so please.”

“Don’t worry. Who am I? I’m Lucas Adrian!”

Rozette felt Lucas’s presence blocking her as if protecting her and let mana flow into her palms. At the same time, Pipi bristled all over and helped Rozette.

Lucas gritted his teeth at the mana that was surging greatly around him.

‘This is no joke.’

It wasn’t directed at him, but the pressure was so strong that he felt overwhelmed.

‘I hope everyone is safe.’

Lucas gripped his sword tightly and looked ahead. As Rozette said, he saw a monster walking from afar, sensing the abnormality.

The monster that appeared this time looked like a huge tiger, with a sharp horn on its forehead.

Lucas smiled as he looked at the huge monster’s fangs.

“Come on, you.”

* * *

Lucas’s shout and the unique cry of a beast echoed in my ears.

Even as Rozette felt Lucas defending her and fighting the monsters, she couldn’t help him.

All she could do was find the flow of mana as quickly as possible.

‘I can feel it.’

When she heard Lucas’s opinion, Rozette was half in doubt. No matter how she thought about it, she didn’t think the wizard who participated in the expedition could cast a spell to defend this wide area.

But when she actually investigated, she felt that the flow of mana in this area had been artificially manipulated.

‘And the place where that mana is heading is…….’

Rozette slightly opened her eyes and looked around. Behind Pipi’s body, which was concentrating, a pink line was stretched forward.

It was when Rozette was paying attention to where the line was heading.

“Keuk, kid! Are you still far?”

Lucas, who blocked the monster’s fangs with his sword, shouted with difficulty. The monster, which was initially one, had become five before she knew it.

On the floor, three monsters that Lucas had dealt with were lying dead, bleeding green blood.

“It’s not hard, but I think more of them will come.”

At that time, one of the monsters that was guarding lunged at the defenseless Rozette, baring its fangs.

Lucas quickly pulled out his sword and tried to cut down the monster, but the first monster bit his sword tightly and wouldn’t let go.

“Not my sister!”

Lucas twisted his body and blocked Rozette’s path. It was the moment when the monster jumped high towards Lucas.

“……!”

Rozette, who jumped up from her seat, waved her hand greatly. At the same time, the wind turned as sharp as a blade and tore the monster’s body to pieces.

“Kid! Did you find it?”

Lucas kicked the monster’s belly and asked. Rozette looked around at the monsters growling at her and answered.

“Yes. I don’t know what happened, but like you said, there are parts where the mana has been artificially manipulated.”

“Then let’s go quickly. Let’s deal with these guys first…….”

“Oppa, step back.”

Lucas, who now had good teamwork with Rozette, jumped high and stepped back. At the same time, blue flames soared from the ground and engulfed the monsters’ bodies.

“Let’s go!”

Rozette ran past the monsters writhing in pain. She ran for about a minute and then slowed down.

“Is it here?”

“Yes.”

Rozette wrapped mana around her hand and stroked the air, and sparks flew from the empty air.

“There’s a barrier here.”

“Daniel is in here?”

“Probably.”

“Can you break it?”

“I have to break it no matter what. Just stay away, Oppa, in case something happens.”

Rozette gritted her teeth and poured in mana. Unlike expected, the mana barrier did not break easily.

Cold sweat formed on her forehead and neck as she concentrated.

[Piiiiiit!]

Pipi also helped Rozette by giving strength to her whole body.

And then.

A sound like glass breaking rang out.

Then, a space appeared in front of Rozette, barely enough for one person to enter.