Chapter 504 – Silent Assault

“Go—”

I launch Balor from the deck toward the sea, fully charged with magical power.

Balor flies out over the sea and continues northward across the water. His purpose is scouting—to observe the general formation and scale of the enemy from above.

The time is before dawn, earlier than when the eastern sky begins to lighten. Several hours ago, we left the main forces with Caduceus and began separate operations to eliminate the ambush units.

Whether Hybla’s reconnaissance team returns or not, Waldom is likely deploying troops on the plains suitable for ambushes, preparing for battle while simultaneously planning both an invasion and interception against Queen Eldorene, who is believed to be in the southern sea.

We’ll crush them with a night attack and dawn raid. In other words, this is the prelude to the capture of the City of the Sea, Grantios.

From Waldom’s perspective, this is an ideal location for interception—easy to deploy troops and set up ambushes. They’d be foolish not to utilize it.

I left Caduceus with the main forces to synchronize with the Sirius’s movements.

The Sirius will continue to conceal itself and advance from a different direction than the main forces. We’ll conduct reconnaissance through Life Sense and night vision monitoring, then launch a surprise attack on the ambush units.

We expect the enemy to have at least some preparations against surprise attacks. I myself need to go outside the ship… I’ll probably have to use my monocle to check if they’ve deployed any barriers meant to deceive our detection.

“Grace, over here.”

“Yes.”

I take Grace’s hand and release the seal on the Cursed Tool. As the seal is undone, Grace’s blue eyes turn red. She flexes her hand lightly, opening and closing it as if adjusting to the sensory changes.

“If I find anything, I’ll contact you via the communication device.”

“Be careful, Theodore.”

“We’ll also contact you via the communication device if we discover anything.”

“Mm. Understood. Well then, I’ll be off for a bit.”

I nod at Claudia and Ashley’s words, then also nod to everyone who came to see me off on the deck before moving to the ship’s underside.

I wrap myself in a Light Magic field and advance along with the ship.

The seabed forms a depression… but numerous rugged rocks protrude from the bottom like spears, making visibility quite poor. It’s a terrain that could be called an underwater forest of rocks.

According to Queen Eldorene’s account, during the reign of a previous queen, they manipulated water to carve the seabed rocks, creating terrain suitable for deploying ambushes… Apparently, the purpose was, of course, to gain an advantage in intercepting enemies on the plains stretching south of the City of the Sea during emergencies.

Naturally, if Waldom and his forces explore the area around the City of the Sea, they would notice the southern plains and this location. If they were to place ambush troops here… assuming Queen Eldorene and her people also know about it, they would likely employ mechanisms to avoid detection. For example, concealment barriers like the ones we used when camping.

In any case, if there’s a separate force of considerable size, they could either directly attack the enemy’s flank advancing across the plains from here, or circle around to attack from the rear. Even if the presence of ambushes is known, troops must be allocated for defense, which works to the advantage of the main forces deployed on the plains. Therefore, troops will definitely be stationed here.

By increasing the Sirius’s altitude, we expand our field of view and search a wider area.

If hiding ambush troops, which positions would be optimal? Places difficult to spot from the plains side yet easy to launch attacks from would naturally narrow down the possibilities.

And—I discovered them hiding behind the rocky terrain at almost the exact same moment my communication device received a message.

They reported discovering three lookouts watching the plains ahead. I also detected those lookouts through Life Detection. Their reactions match those of the Sea King’s Familiars. However, given their numbers, they probably aren’t the ambush force itself.

Probably… they’re lookouts doubling as messengers for shift changes. It seems they have at least some preparation against night attacks. They’re the ones who would notify the main forces on the plains and the ambush troops likely at the bottom of the depression about enemy attacks, coordinating movements. Since these guys are here, the main force must be hiding nearby.

I have the Sirius stop temporarily to search the surroundings.

…Found them. While searching the area through my monocle, I detect slight fluctuations of magical power at the bottom of the depression. A reaction from a concealment barrier. It seems it doesn’t have the same precision as Halvaronis’s concealment barrier. The ambush troops are probably hiding inside that barrier.

We’ll crush the ambush troops with a surprise attack here… but first, we need to eliminate the lookouts. I’ll return to the ship temporarily and coordinate movements with everyone.

“—Mm. Ready.”

Sheila says this while doing light stretches.

“Be careful, Sheila-chan.”

“Leave it to me, Irmhild.”

The team for the surprise attack on the lookouts consists of me, Sheila, Seraphina, Forset, Sion, and Marceska. Additionally, Auria will provide support from the rear.

“Sion, Marceska. Are you ready?”

“Yes, Lord Forset.”

“Mm. I’m fine.”

Sion and Marceska nod at Forset’s question.

“Then let’s go.”

I envelop my companions in a Light Magic field and swim from the deck toward the lookouts.

Seraphina eliminates sound, while the water spirits under Auria’s control prevent even slight changes in water currents or the transmission of scents.

This makes detection through vision, hearing, and smell impossible as we approach the lookouts, allowing us to crush them with a surprise attack.

“…Haa. I wonder if those who escaped will really come.”

“Indeed… It’s quiet. But didn’t they say that bastard Ruglus didn’t return from scouting south?”

“Don’t let your guard down. His Majesty Waldom said the mermaids fleeing south is proof of that.”

“That’s because the south side is the easiest to attack that city.”

“Hah, so the queen is eager to counterattack. Even though they fled without fighting because they feared us.”

“Most likely, they were concerned about the impact on the children.”

The Familiars show no sign of noticing. Perhaps to relieve the monotony of lookout duty, they’re having such a conversation. Seraphina is picking up the content from a slightly distant position.

Well… their assessment isn’t wrong. We position ourselves where we’re least likely to enter their field of vision, then approach as close as possible—meaning, directly above. Those paying attention to distant areas don’t notice our approach. Particularly, they aren’t paying attention to directly above. Once everyone is in position, we use hand signals as previously arranged to time the attack.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1—Now!

While amplifying magical power, I fold my five raised fingers one by one, and at the zero count, I slam a Magical Shockwave directly down onto one lookout’s head.

“Kah…”

Whether he was about to continue the conversation or say something, the guy’s eyes roll back.

“Huh?”

There’s no sound. Still, if the person next to you faints, you’d sense something abnormal. The moment the two remaining lookouts turn their gaze toward the one in the middle—Sheila and Sion, who had circled around, bring down the backs of their swords, infused with Fighting Spirit, onto the other two’s occiputs.

It must have been quite an impact, but thanks to Seraphina’s ability, it’s completely silent. As their bodies stagger from the head blows, Forset delivers a throwing technique as a finishing move, and Marceska uses her brute strength to smash their heads against the rock wall.

Once they’ve completely lost consciousness, we just need to cast Sealing Technique on them. Even if they boast robust bodies, that’s only when reinforced with Fighting Spirit. If they’re not in combat readiness, this is about what to expect.

The entire sequence is completely silent. The ambush troops inside the concealment barrier… either they’re sleeping or haven’t detected the abnormality. I let out a small breath.

Using Earth Magic, I create detailed models of them to stand in their place, while we take the real ones as prisoners back to the ship.

First, three of them. By having them wear Cursed Tools and hardening them with Earth Magic, they’re completely neutralized. After that, we can just toss them into the ship’s hold. When we returned, Marlene greeted us with a happy smile and applause.

Once the packaging was complete, Pietro’s clones carried them into the ship.

“My, my. Such efficiency… It’s dazzling enough to be mesmerizing.”

“With those movements from Lord Theodore and the others, even though we couldn’t hear any sound…”

As Pietro’s clones carry away the Familiars, Queen Eldorene and Rovisa blink in astonishment. It seems they were watching the proceedings through Life Sense.

“Then next… first, let’s cover their concealment barrier from above with a sealing barrier.”

“Mm. I leave it to you.”

“I’ll do my best.”

It’s Old Sigmund and Charlotte who nod. Valentina looks at Charlotte psyching herself up and breaks into a smile as if seeing something endearing.

As long as we’re not detected by the enemy, we’ll systematically eliminate them one by one with the same silent surprise attack as before. No, if they’re sleeping, maybe we can just directly cast Sealing Technique on them.

“Well then… My skills are itching to be used.”

Rosemary says this with a faint smile, floating a Magic Circle at her fingertips as if practicing magic.

Dark Magic Fourth Tier—Nightmare Labyrinth. It traps sleeping opponents in intense nightmares. Once caught in the technique, they won’t wake up until the effect duration passes or the technique is dispelled from outside. It might be perfect for neutralizing sleeping opponents for the time being.

Marlene also deploys a summoning Magic Circle, calling forth the dark spirit she’s contracted with. The plan is to worsen visibility during the assault so the enemy can’t even see their allies’ situation. At any rate, we won’t let the enemy prepare their stance or coordinate.

Well then… let’s proceed with crushing the quietly sleeping ambush troops. Given that they’re using concealment barriers and such, there should be a magician similar to Hybla among them. Being able to eliminate this in advance would be significant.