Published: July 4, 2025
Ryo and Abel quickly headed north, relying on the map provided by Captain Sonjang.
"That captain earlier seemed so pitiful."
"Huh?"
"He looked like he was about to break from your questioning, Abel."
"Really?"
As Ryo shook his head with a sigh, Abel tilted his.
At first, when he saw his frozen comrades, he felt that way, but afterward, he seemed determined to respond.
He felt like he was doing his best to save his comrades.
"That's all because you suddenly froze another person, right, Ryo?"
"Th-That's not my fault! It worked when I tried the ice coffin!"
Ryo replied in a flustered manner to Abel's questioning.
He knew that after covering himself with Ryo's water attribute during the downpour, the ice coffin could freeze mages and sorcerers.
However, just using the ice coffin alone wouldn't be enough to freeze a mage or sorcerer.
So, he thought it would be impossible again and threw the ice coffin.
Especially since the opponent was a phantom being.
It was partly experimental.
And then, he succeeded in freezing them...
"What on earth are phantom beings...?"
"Yeah, they're definitely different from the non-humans we've faced so far."
"Absolutely..."
"The first two... or should I say two entities? They vanished when I tried to knock them out."
"That's right! Those were the 'vessels,' right? They were fragile... But the fact that the captain brought them means they could be effective against humans if used properly."
"Weren't we told that they could use sorcery if given commands?"
Abel recalled some details he had extracted from General Yun's head.
"Huh? Was that information written down?"
"I think it was."
Saying that, he promptly began flipping through the paper.
Of course, he was moving quickly.
"Yep, it's written here."
"You’re quite dexterous, Abel..."
"Is that so?"
As Abel found the relevant section and pointed it out, Ryo praised Abel's nimbleness.
Thanks to Ryo's magic, they were moving almost in a straight line through the forest, causing minor destruction along the way.
After all, even though they had the map provided by Captain Sonjang, they reasoned that a straight line was faster...
Of course, the map was being used as a reference.
It depicted the area from the capital of the Chououchi Empire to the border of the Payu Nation, and even part of northern Payu, making it a fantastic resource for the two who had no prior knowledge.
However, as they moved in a straight line...
Thirty-six hours later, the two found themselves on a cliff overlooking a road below.
"There's something like a checkpoint down there, right?"
"Where are we?"
It seemed both Ryo and Abel had ended up in an unexpected place...
They looked over the map again together.
There was no checkpoint near where they were supposed to emerge.
"Ah! Here it is!"
Ryo found it on the map.
"No, isn't it quite far away?"
Abel tilted his head.
The mark for the checkpoint was considerably distant from where they were supposed to pass.
If that was the case...
If they were to head toward the Empire's capital from there...
"We're going to have to pass through the location where Captain Sonjang said the main forces of the Chououchi Empire are stationed."
"That's troublesome."
Ryo's finger slid across the map, and Abel frowned.
That finger clearly crossed the spot where Captain Sonjang had marked with an X, saying, "The main forces are here."
"We should avoid that."
"I would, but I won't stop you, Abel. If you want to charge in, make sure to take down the phantom king or those around him properly."
"Yeah, I’ll pass."
Both Ryo and Abel agreed to avoid the main forces of the Chououchi Empire and head toward the capital, even if it meant taking a longer route.
Another thirty hours later.
"There are a lot of phantom beings."
"How did it come to this...?"
The two had remarkably arrived near the main forces of the Chououchi Empire.
To be precise, they were about four hundred meters away, thanks to Ryo's passive sonar...
"Abel, we didn't come here to start a war."
"Right. We only came to rescue the emperor."
Ryo and Abel confirmed their objective.