Pendragon's Infinity Gauntlet

Page 185

What should she do? Faced with Jing Shen's question, she did not answer immediately.

Tsuchimikado let out a small breath to catch his breath. He carefully put the red pen that he had been constantly waving into his pocket and held the sticky, dyed colored paper in both hands.

Then she said:

"Tyr. It doesn't matter which way it is, use some magic. I want to know where the obstacle is coming from."

What a cold statement.

The God of Purification was startled, but Tyr remained completely expressionless.

“After Oriana read Tyr’s life force, he used the ‘Shorthand Codex’ to hinder our actions. That counter-attack spell must have also used magic. So I set up a ‘Divination Circle’ around you that can react to his magic, like litmus paper. This is an unused magic circle that no one’s magic has passed through yet. The ‘Divination Circle’ can react to the magic of the counter-attack spell and activate it, and can also calculate where the magic is coming from, as well as its direction and distance.”

Tsuchimikado picked up a piece of red-dyed paper and squatted down on the ground. Then, she moved the paper as if wiping it with a rag on a table. Immediately, a red circle about two meters in diameter appeared on the ground. After she finished her work, she stood up with a bored expression.

The emotionless voice, as if reciting an instruction manual, made Shirogane wonder if Tsuchimikado was even mentally sound. She frantically grabbed Tsuchimikado's shoulders:

"But there's no other way, Tsuchimikado! You should know what will happen if we fight our way in, right?! If we do that again, Tyr will fall again!!"

"once again?"

Tsuchimikado frowned incredulously:

"Who said that? It can't end in one go, can it? Tyr can't step down here. At the very least, after destroying the counterattack spell, she has to activate the 'Four Arrays of Reason' to find Oriana again. Before that, if she can't find the location of the counterattack spell with one 'Divination Circle Array', then no matter how many times she tries, she'll have to ask her to try again."

Jingshen's expression changed.

"...Are you serious?"

In contrast, Tsuchimikado chose to confront the enemy head-on:

“Pure God, you seem to have forgotten something. Let me remind you. Even if Oriana Townsend isn't in front of us, even without the clash of swords or bullets, this is still a war of lives. Nations or even the world could be overthrown by its outcome. Do you understand?”

"But……!!"

Jingshen kicked the ground with the soles of his shoes.

"If victory could be assured at the cost of Tyr being injured once, I could understand. But why can't even that be guaranteed!? In that case, no matter how much damage this guy takes, it might not have any effect! And even if we can discover and disrupt the counterattack spell, you still want to drag a wounded Tyr into battle? Don't be ridiculous!! I can't agree to this!!" At this crucial moment, the Cleansing God swallowed the last line of dialogue.

...Tsuchimikado, you clearly hate fighting while injured, which is why you had Tyr use magic in your place...

"I understand, let's do it that way."

Tyr agreed to this proposal, which no one would think made sense.

But you...!!

"Purifying the spirit and exorcising demons? That's disgusting. Stop pretending to be familiar with me. If this can solve everything, then there's no problem."

After she finished speaking, she glared at Tsuchimikado.

"Conversely, no matter what happens, we must find the location of the counter-attack technique. And this problem can only be solved by us; we cannot allow it to escalate into a bigger problem. Understand?"

Tsuchimikado, who was being glared at by her, did not look away.

"OK. I will absolutely not let this escalate to the point where Index is ordered to be forcibly deported. I will definitely protect his life in Academy City. Is that your condition?"

Hearing Tsuchimikado's words left Jōjin speechless.

No matter how many wounds Tyr suffered, he was always thinking only about the happiness of some boy.

Even if you don't exist in that happy world.

Even though the place I used to be has now been taken over by the Purifying God and Exorcising Demons.

She won't stop just because of this fact.

With his back to the Cleansers, the mage Tyr Magnus took out a rune card from his robes.

Divination Array.

Without hesitation, Tyr stepped into the red circle that Tsuchimikado Haruka had drawn on the ground.

"Purifying the Gods and Exorcising Demons... Your presence here is making me very unhappy."

The red-haired priest said in a firm voice:

"Why aren't you with that child? If that child is unhappy because of this, it's all your fault."

Then, the runic flames exploded, and the counter-attack spell was activated at the same time.

A scream rang out, followed by the sound of someone falling to the ground.

This is how Tyr Magnus lived.

Tyr Magnus lay motionless on the ground.

The autumn wind blew slowly through the maintenance yard, gently ruffling her black clothes, but she remained unresponsive. She appeared to still be breathing, but her condition was far from optimistic.

Haruka Tsuchimikado said:

"A reaction...it's happening! The 'Divination Array' is reacting. Here, based on this change...the direction is northwest?"

Tsuchimikado didn't even glance at her fallen colleague. Tyr was completely out of her sight; her gaze was fixed on the red magic circle about two meters in diameter surrounding Tyr.

"The distance from the 'Shorthand Manual' reaction... judging from the color intensity, it's about 302 meters. It's set up so close, yet the reaction hasn't moved at all. Just as I predicted, meow. This means Orianna can't possibly go too far. Instead of desperately running away, walking slowly should make it easier to blend into the crowd. Hey, Pure God, do you have a map, meow? I want to know what's at a location 302 meters northwest of here."

"Tsuchimikado..."

Jōjin stood there, trembling slightly, but Tsuchimikado didn't notice. When she realized Jōjin wasn't responding, she still didn't turn around and said to Jōjin:

"Pure God, a map, a map. A guidebook for the Great Star Festival is fine too. Oh, and a GPS map on my phone. I'll try to find it myself."

"Tsuchimikado—!!"

When Tsuchimikado came to her senses, Jōjin suddenly grabbed the front of her gym uniform. The gold ornament hanging around her neck was torn off with a loud clatter. Overwhelmed with rage, Jōjin couldn't resist trying to destroy the magic circle on the ground with her right hand. In the end, she stopped herself, thinking of Tyr lying on the ground, completely ignored.

Tsuchimikado, his chest gripped, calmly stared at Jōjin's face: "Jōjin, you don't need to worry about Tyr."

Chapter 329 Specific Location

Chapter 329

"That guy is also a professional mage. He should have the patience to withstand spell attacks. In fact, the spells Oriana set up are mainly for 'disruption' rather than 'attack'."

She said casually to the angry purifying spirit:

"To put it simply, this counterattack technique is to 'make Tyr's magic power idle.' Magic power is made from life force. If it continues to idle, it's like an engine burning out. The human body will also change, meow. That's how it is. Cleanse, at first glance, it looks like heatstroke. There's no need to make a fuss about this."

"Don't talk to me like that! Don't you know who she hurt herself for?! Why are you being so cold?!" Just as Jōjin increased her power to pull Tsuchimikado closer,

Crackling sound.

Tsuchimikado's temples cracked slightly.

As the blood cells slowly emerged, the side of her abdomen, covered by her gym uniform, gradually turned red from the inside. The red color spread, revealing a gruesome sight, like being stabbed by a blade.

"Tsuchimikado...?"

Shirogane hurriedly released his grip on her chest. Tsuchimikado's expression remained unchanged.

"This is a 'divination circle' that reflects the magical power of the spell transmitted by the other party and conveys distance and direction. Something this convenient can't be activated without using magic power, right, Purification..."

Jing Shen was taken aback.

That's right. If it's just drawing a magic circle, a spell that can be used without magic power, then Index should be able to do that too. For someone who can't use magic power, this would be a perfect trick. But the God of Purity has never seen Index use such a thing, nor has he ever seen him proudly explain a magic circle like the "Divination Circle".

Tsuchimikado's breathing was a little erratic, but he continued:

“Compared to the exploratory magic that Tyr used… my magic is obviously inadequate… even so, I would have ended up in this ugly state.” She pressed one hand against her blood-soaked side and said, “Listen up, Purifier. As you said, it was all my fault that Tyr fell. If I had used more advanced magic, this wouldn’t have happened. I admit that. So hate me however you want.”

She strained with her legs, barely managing to keep her body from collapsing:

“But I succeeded. I will find the counter-attack spell set up by Oriana and destroy it. Moreover, I will use this hand to stop the transaction of the ‘Thrusting Sword’. This debt is settled for now. As for the remaining interest, after everything is over… I will definitely repay Tyr with interest.”

She couldn't possibly be indifferent to Tyr's injuries.

Because he was acutely aware of this, Tsuchimikado decided to maintain a ruthless attitude, all in retribution for his fallen comrades. The sooner the battle ended, the less burden Tyr would bear.

Tsuchimikado smiled slightly as he looked at the stunned Shirogane before him.

She seemed to be saying: I hurt Tyr and that has changed, so don't suddenly change your attitude.

"Purify God, map. I want to know what's at 302 meters to the northwest. The 'Shorthand Manual' of the counterattack technique set up by Oriana must be there."

“Oh…oh…”

Since the guidebook for the Daihasei Festival is quite thick, it's impossible to carry it in a gym uniform pocket. Jōjin uses his phone's GPS to locate the coordinates of the places designated by Tsuchimikado.

result.

She couldn't help but doubt her own eyes.

"This... Tsuchimikado, is it really northwest? It's definitely 302 meters away!?"

"To be precise, it's 318 degrees clockwise from north (zero degrees). It's definitely northwest, meow. The distance is a bit ambiguous, but it should be roughly correct."

“...that bastard.”

Jōjin showed Tsuchimikado a picture displaying the specified coordinates.

Tsuchimikado's face froze in surprise.

Jing Shen thought to herself: It's not surprising that she would react this way.

The image above depicts the very center of a middle school campus. A spaceship, slowly flying through the autumn sky, is broadcasting an introduction to the next match. Less than ten minutes remain before the match begins on campus.

The goddesses couldn't do anything for Tyr, who lay on the ground. They couldn't let the commotion leak out, as much as possible. Tsuchimikado once again set up the "Four Formations of Reason" shikishi (art paper) and magic circle next to Tyr to search for Oriana. Tsuchimikado said that while disrupting the counter-attack spell, he would contact Tyr by phone and ask her to activate the "Four Formations of Reason" upon receiving the message.

Tyr, lying on the ground, nodded slightly. Just that was enough to make one feel that she was "still alive," and the Cleansing God finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Tsuchimikado had probably anticipated her injury. She took a bandage from her gym uniform pocket and deftly applied it to stop the bleeding from her side. However, the bloodstains on her gym uniform couldn't be hidden. Going out like this would definitely cause a commotion.

"I'll figure out the clothes, you go ahead," Tsuchimikado said. Since there was nothing they could do standing there, Jōjin went ahead to the school in question.

So now, Jing Shen is running alone on the clear autumn trail. Children holding hands with elderly people, and men and women with guidebooks, cast curious glances at her, but she pays no heed. Passing through the slowly rotating blades of wind turbines, Jing Shen continues to accelerate, her phone in hand.

It was a call from Tsuchimikado.

"To be able to completely block Tyr's magic circle, and to use such a clever escape technique against a small group of pursuers, Oriana must have a good grasp of our situation. He deliberately set up a spell base in the highly visible arena. What an annoying guy."

"But even before the competition, is it possible for him to do these things right in the middle of the school? Could that guy Oriana have used some kind of magic that makes him invisible?"

"If he really knew that move, he would have used it when we were tracking him. By the way, Pure Spirit, how much time is left before the match starts?"

"Seven minutes. It should also be written on your electronic bulletin board."

Jing Shen kept running along the straight walkway while looking at the huge picture on the wall of the department store.

"In that case, the preparations for the competition should be over. The audience and cameras should be on site by now, right? It seems unlikely that we'll be able to sneak into the school now to deal with Oriana's 'stenography manual'."

The duration of a competition varies depending on the event, usually starting at around 30 minutes and sometimes lasting up to an hour.

Considering that the effective exploration range of the "Four Formations of Reason" is three kilometers, if they had waited until the end of the competition, Oriana should have escaped long ago even if he had walked slowly.

Chapter 330 Infiltrating Among Them

Chapter 330

"What should we do then? We can't just leave the counterattack spell on campus like this."

"Of course, Jing Shen. What competition is that school going to be holding?"

"What? Let me see—"

Turning the corner, Jing Shen began searching the electronic bulletin board. A cylindrical guard robot, moving slowly along the walkway, was reporting information about the nearby arena through a loudspeaker. Jing Shen listened and spoke:

"—It seems to be... a pitching competition. It's an inter-school competition, a large-scale competition that all students in the school participate in."

“I see. Ah, I just saw the information on the spaceship too. I don’t know what the ‘Shorthand Manual’ looks like, but it must be somewhere, meow. In that case, there’s only one way, Pure God… infiltrate the competition as a contestant.”

Jing Shen tripped over his own feet with his left foot and almost fell flat on his face.

Are you serious?

"During that period, the only way to sneak into the campus without arousing suspicion was with that cat. There should be hundreds of people in the inter-school competition, so it shouldn't be a problem to have one or two people infiltrate them."

"But we're high school students. It's probably impossible for us to blend in with a group of middle school students. Do you have any ideas on how to deal with that?"

"Purification of spirit is the essence of youth. As long as you exude youthful energy, no one will doubt you."

It seems impossible, doesn't it? Jing Shen couldn't help but hang her head in dejection. There were also television cameras broadcasting the match, and if she made a mistake, she would be greatly embarrassed in front of the TV.

At this moment, Tsuchimikado spoke in a lower tone than usual: