Pendragon's Infinity Gauntlet

Page 182

"—We nuns are all bridegrooms of the Son of God, therefore, sexual relations with others are tantamount to the sin of infidelity to the Lord… What I'm trying to say is…"

"Let's talk about it another day." Oriana simply changed the subject: "To put it simply, the spell I used on myself was destroyed."

That technique.

The procedure is called "internal and external tranquility".

Oriana used a type of magic similar to insurance. It was a spell that stole the energy from pursuers who wanted to track him. It had no effect when speaking face-to-face, but as long as he turned his back to the pursuer, the pursuer would think, "There's no need to stop him," or "I'll talk to him next time," and would become less inclined to stop him. This was magic created by applying a "dispelling idlers" spell.

During the spell's execution, even if flames or anything else appeared in Oriana's palm, no one would "want to stop him." This allowed him to proceed with his "transaction" plan with complete peace of mind.

For some reason, Oriana is unable to reconstruct the spells that have been destroyed.

"What is the direct cause?"

"do not know."

"What are the corresponding countermeasures?"

"I don't know either."

"..."

"Ah, don't hang up the magic talk! Big brother, I have no interest in wallowing in this painful silence."

"So what are you going to do next? Propose a solution."

“Well…” Oriana Townsend smiled slightly.

"...First of all, we need to get rid of that little brother behind us."

-

In short, after finding the Forbidden Arts Index, some trivial things happened, so I'll just go straight to the result.

Through an unintentional encounter, Jing Shen identified a suspect.

After parting ways with the class monitor, Shirogane made a phone call to Tsuchimikado and then followed behind the man.

In the line of sight of the cleansing spirit and the demon-slaying, the woman in work clothes—who was probably the deliveryman Oriana Townsend—suddenly turned into the street corner.

"...We've been discovered!?"

In short, she couldn't lose them. Jing Shen abandoned her clumsy attempt at tracking and began running through the crowd. Perhaps because television cameras were filming elsewhere, there weren't many people gathered along her path.

She followed the building's silhouette and turned at the right-angle intersection.

She could see the golden hair swaying farther than she had anticipated. Jing Shen chased after children holding balloons and couples holding hands, gradually increasing her speed. She thought to herself how lucky she was to be wearing athletic gear. Although it wasn't made of high-tech materials that utilized aerodynamics to reduce air resistance, it was still much more comfortable to move in than school uniform trousers.

Chapter 321 Tracking

Chapter 321

Although she ran with all her might, no one around her gave her any strange looks. Others probably thought she was participating in a race with obstacles. She grew faster and faster, already a kilometer away from the spot where she had collided with the blonde woman and separated from the class monitor.

Not to mention the botanical experiment site where the Catalogue of Forbidden Books was used for changing clothes; it's now so far away that even walking back is too much trouble.

Suddenly, a cell phone rang in Jing Shen's trouser pocket.

Running and talking at the same time is tiring. Jingshin decides whether to answer the phone based on who it's calling; the caller is Tsuchimikado Haruka.

She quickly answered the phone.

"Jing Shen, where are you!? Why aren't you waiting for me over there!"

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I might lose him if this continues!"

While they were talking, the figure in work clothes turned around again about twenty meters ahead.

"You bastard, where are you now? Where are you now?"

After turning the corner, Jing Shen couldn't help but murmur softly. The alley ahead branched into three paths. She pricked up her ears and ran towards the direction where she could hear footsteps. It was the straight middle path.

"The location... there aren't any road signs here! I'll email you my GPS access code. Try searching with that!!"

GPS-enabled phones have a "find friends' location" service. However, you must receive a unique password from the person being searched. The password updates automatically every thirty minutes.

After sending the password needed to provide his location information to Tsuchimikado's phone, Jōjin hung up. Of course, the GPS device had to be kept powered on for it to function.

She ran along the path for a while. The path was unexpectedly long, the narrow spaces between the buildings forming gentle curves along the way, making it impossible to see ahead. Jing Shen, continuing forward, finally managed to hear the sounds of a crowd and footsteps ahead.

"Huh!!"

Upon exiting the alley, he saw another main road. Looking around, Oriana ran to the right of the path that stretched to the left and right.

The distance was already quite far, about fifty meters. Running while carrying a large billboard (disguised as a billboard, but probably something else?), the speed was incredibly fast.

The God of Purity frantically chased after Oriana.

Fortunately, his huge signboard was quite conspicuous in the surroundings, preventing him from immediately blending into the crowd. In a situation where she could easily lose track of him if she wasn't paying attention, Jing Shen had to keep her gaze completely focused on Oriana. This psychological connection narrowed Jing Shen's vision, and she almost tripped over the uneven road, failing to notice the people around her.

"hateful!"

Jing Shen cried out, and just as she was about to run forward again, someone suddenly patted her on the back.

It is Haruka Tsuchimikado and Tyr Magnus.

It's so fast.

They didn't chase after us from behind; instead, they ran out along a side path. They probably checked the GPS map, predicted Jing Shen's current location and direction of travel, and took the shortcut.

"Which one is it, Jing Shen? You just said you were disguising the 'Thrusting Hang Sword' as a signboard, right?"

"It's...that person...that blond man in work clothes."

Tsuchimikado and Stiyl ran in the direction Jōjin had pointed. The reason Jōjin was left alone was likely to show her that the experts' work was now in charge. However, Jōjin didn't adjust her breathing and continued chasing after Stiyl and the others.

"That's really troublesome...!"

As he ran, Olian glanced back and clicked his tongue slightly. Although the distance was about fifty meters, in other words, there were only fifty meters left between them. He tried turning, running into easy-to-get-lost side paths several times, trying to make the other lose him, but to no avail.

The man dressed up as a paint vendor holding a sign to make people think he was "working." Whether it's a hotel, department store, or restaurant, without the sign, outsiders would likely assume he's "taking a break." But by entering the store disguised as a customer, he'd inevitably be questioned by staff. Even if they asked for an explanation, he couldn't respond while fleeing, and repeatedly shaking off staff would make him quite conspicuous.

Even if one disguises themselves as a staff member and enters through the back door, a key and ID number are still required. Therefore, the only available route is the outside road, which is one reason why it's difficult to shake off pursuers. Even so, it's quite unusual that the pursuers could still accurately track them down at such a distance.

Moreover, by the time he came to his senses, the number of pursuers had increased from one to three.

At first, the first person doing the tracking seemed like a complete novice, but after the two new people joined, the accuracy of their work increased significantly. They were probably experts too. The other person must have read their mind and predicted their escape method in advance.

"I had heard that Academy City and the various church factions were unable to take action on the streets at the moment, but it seems I was too naive...!"

Oriana suddenly stopped. A large crowd had gathered ahead, seemingly from a television crew conducting an interview. Holding his "giant billboard," Oriana couldn't get through. The billboard was stuck in the crowd, preventing him from moving freely. Of course, he could abandon the billboard and run into the crowd, but that would be putting the cart before the horse.

He looked around and thought:

"Although it's a bit difficult, going that way should be the safest..."

After thinking it over, calculating, and making up his mind, Oriana ran into another road on the side.

Tsuchimikado ran the fastest, followed by Tyr, and then Shirogane. That was because Shirogane had exhausted herself running earlier; she should have been faster than Tyr.

Oriana, who was originally thirty meters ahead, suddenly stopped in the middle of the road, looked around, and then ran into the side road. Tsuchimikado, frowning as he ran, said:

"What's wrong? His behavior is different from before, meow... Has he changed his mind?"

She maintained her breathing and continued running. She felt that if she made even the slightest mistake, he would escape. Shirogane also strengthened her legs, chasing after Tsuchimikado.

Upon reaching the spot where Oriana had stopped, they discovered a television crew filming ahead. The excited announcements from the reporter sounded like something out of a nutcase to the locals of Academy City. The surrounding crowd was as dense as a train packed with people. Oriana must have changed course to avoid being blocked by them.

The God of Purity looked in the direction Oriana had fled.

"...Where is this? A bus maintenance depot?"

Before me lay a paved space.

This is a square space completely surrounded by buildings.

Chapter 322 Amazing Teammate

Chapter 322

It seems that, in order to coincide with the Daihasei Festival, unwanted buildings were completely leveled and a corner of the ground was quickly created.

Approximately thirty meters wide and several hundred meters deep, it gave no impression of being "wide" at all. Many large buses were packed tightly together, as if they were being piled on oil tankers, obscuring their interiors. At first glance, it appeared to hold about fifty to seventy vehicles. Metal pillars stood everywhere, and the entire maintenance yard was covered by a massive roof resembling galvanized iron sheets. Numerous metal robotic arms used by car factories to assemble vehicles hung from the ceiling.

All the vehicles are driverless, automated buses.

This must be a temporary maintenance depot for automated buses. A dedicated space needs to be set aside to provide washing, refueling, and other maintenance for the automated buses currently operating on the streets. In response to this extraordinary period, a three-shift system or other measures will likely be implemented. The automated buses undergoing maintenance here are part of the standby group.

The automated buses are only used during the Great Star Season, and this huge maintenance depot was prepared solely for that purpose. The Pure God once again realized the sheer scale of this event.

The automated bus marked "Return Trip" silently passed by Shirogane and the others, entering the maintenance yard. Tsuchimikado followed the slowly moving bus, and just as she silently stepped into the maintenance yard—

boom!!

Suddenly, blue and white flames erupted from the ceiling.

Unnaturally colored flames, as if passing through a transparent cylinder, fell directly onto Tsuchimikado's face. It might be a magical attack—but even if it was magical flames, they certainly weren't emitted by Tyr. If so, who released them?

"Damn it, are you switching to using runes to block our path now? Get down, cleanse your mind!"

Tsuchimikado immediately jumped back, intending to push Kiyokami over. But—

"What are you talking about? Shouldn't this be the person who steps in now?"

Tyr grabbed the God of Purification by the collar and pulled him forward.

"what?"

Tsuchimikado lost sight of the distance and rolled to the side, while Jōjin jumped out and stood under the blue and white flames.

Looking up, I saw a pillar of flame falling like a guillotine shovel.

"Huh?! What are you doing?!"

In a panic, Jing Shen extended his right fist as if throwing an uppercut. The blue-white flames scattered in all directions, disappearing before they could spread to the surrounding area.

Tyr shook the cigarette in his mouth and said:

"Wow, this is such a perfect division of labor that I never imagined. It's so easy to understand and implement that we can share the work like this."

"You...you...you bastard...!!"

The purging spirit trembled, and without thinking, reached out to grab the red-haired nun.

"You should hurry up and finish your task."

Tyr kicked her and then pushed her forward.

"call out!!"

A whoosh of wind blew past my ear. A block the size of a baseball flew through the bottom of the moving automatic bus ahead. Suddenly, it transformed into the shape of a sea urchin with a surface covered in sharp rocks, and bounced up to attack Jing Shen's jaw.

"Wait...wait a minute!!"

Suddenly, the Pure God extended his right hand, and the stone bullet shattered like an ice sculpture, disappearing into thin air. Tsuchimikado and Tyr, using the nearby parked automatic buses as cover, bounced to the left and right respectively. Unable to trust anyone else any longer, the Pure God jumped towards Tsuchimikado without hesitation.

Tsuchimikado, leaning against the bus wall, said to Tyr, whose back was against the opposite side of the road:

"Tyr, you stay here and stick the rune cards on standby, meow. I'm going inside to catch the delivery guy."

"Received. Should I use 'Expel Idlers'?"

"Thank you for your help. I don't want to use unnecessary magic, but it would be bad if the commotion here escalates. As long as the Index of Forbidden Books doesn't come here, it'll be fine."

Faced with the two experts conversing amongst themselves, Jing Shenxin asked with suspicion:

Wouldn't it be faster if we all moved forward together?

"Cleanse your mind. There are so many cover here, it's very likely we'll miss our target. If possible, a pursuit that seals off all exits is the best course of action."

So that's how it is; Jing Shen only realized this now. The war they're waging now isn't a war of "winning or losing," but a war of "catching or escaping." Once the objective changes, the strategies will naturally differ as well.

Tsuchimikado looked at Jōjin's face and said:

"By the way, Jing Shen, what are you going to do? I think it's safer to stay here..."

Tyr looked at the God of Purification and grinned:

"Yes, it's safer for me if you stay. Not for you, but for me."

Jōjin picked up the empty can from the ground and threw it at Tyr, determined to go with Tsuchimikado. Tsuchimikado peered into the depths of the prepared road from the shadows of the bus, then dashed off. Jōjin followed behind her. She thought, since she possessed the Imagine Breaker ability, shouldn't she be her shield?

"boom!!"