How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 352

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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A fierce wind brushes against my face. Since there wasn’t even a hint of moonlight, we had to rely on mana and the ground to run. Even though we had set up sound-dampening magic along our running route, I couldn’t help but feel anxious that these air-cutting sounds might reach the enemy.

 

The people running with me now are Leo and all of 98th A including Mecklenburg—along with one Arcane Mage from the Papacy who had been attached to them—and Alexandra Schumacher from 91st A. The rest of 101st had joined up with 91st A.

 

Alexandra Schumacher and the others were following behind us at a distance, prepared for an attack, while Mecklenburg, who had the most field experience, was leading the way right in front of me, and Leo was to my left.

 

I slowed down slightly and asked Alexandra Schumacher, who was following from behind.

 

“Your Majesty Schumacher. Can you move only oxygen with your unique ability?”

 

“Hmm, I don’t know much about the academic principles of this ability, so I can’t do it intentionally, but… my ability is probably closely related to oxygen among the gases that make up the atmosphere. I’ve blown up the Training Ground a few times, so my guess is probably right, isn’t it?”

 

Blew up the Training Ground? What a troublesome Student that must have been… The fact that he could create wind like Adelbert was significant, so even if he couldn’t move only certain gases separately, it wouldn’t be a big problem, but if it were possible, it would naturally be even more beneficial. Then, Alexandra Schumacher asked in a serious voice.

 

“I don’t use my unique ability often because I’ve caused so many problems. My Colleagues often forget about it unless there’s a special operation. But how do you remember my ability?”

 

“I knew because it was written in the materials I received in advance. Don’t we need to know everyone’s abilities when planning strategies?”

 

“His Majesty Hohenzollern’s judgment is not wrong.”

 

I showed a brief smile and regained my original speed, moving forward. The distance from the back widened considerably again. Only the sound of wind remained by our side. Leo, who had been running beside me for a while, said quietly.

 

“The wind keeps blowing north. They must have predicted that we would target the northern part of this coordinate system.”

 

“That’s right.”

 

“What if they deliberately went in the opposite direction of the wind?”

 

This wasn’t a question. It was definitely not a question.

 

If I think about it carefully, yes, that’s possible. If there’s someone with a favorable unique ability, they could deliberately act contrary to our predictions. But if not, there are areas where variables should be considered and areas where they shouldn’t. From their perspective, if they can successfully hide, they can completely defeat us, so letting mana flow into the air to reveal their ‘actual location’ would be unnecessary. It might be different if they let mana flow to a false location.

 

Leo definitely knows this too. He’s not someone who can’t think of what I thought. He simply wanted to seek certainty from me, and I could understand that reason. Having already experienced the worst, he had no choice but to be wary of all possibilities.

 

“That won’t happen. Are you confident now?”

 

“…”

 

“Your Highness.”

 

The moment I said that and demanded an answer, Leo was startled and brought his hand to his mouth while looking at me. I gave a soulless smile and immediately shut my mouth.

 

‘…Ah, damn it.’

 

Right, people should live with one identity after all. Leo’s variable control psychology seems to have been properly cleansed by giving him another shock, which is fortunate, but the problem was that the honorific I used with Leo had stuck to my tongue for so long that it moved first. It wasn’t a mistake serious enough to be a big problem, but as soon as I thought that, Mecklenburg, who had been running ahead, jumped up and covered my mouth.

 

“What, what, just now…! You…! Jokes should have limits! How much joking do you usually do! Let’s talk after we return!”

 

“…”

 

“Captain?! Why suddenly…!”

 

Several members of 98th A who had been running from behind shouted in confusion at that loud voice. Is he trying to help? Right, he’s shouting at the artifact, so how could it not be… Since there was nothing to report to headquarters, I had already turned off the transmission function, and he must have turned his off too, and the remaining six were running at some distance from us anyway, so they couldn’t hear. Setting aside the fact that overreacting like this makes it look worse, and putting aside the fact that my ears are ringing, I’m grateful for his sentiment. If my mistake had been serious enough to be a real problem, I would have been prepared to turn back time myself later. Leo began frowning at him like he was looking at a madman, so I quickly removed his hand and replied.

 

“It was just a mistake, Grand Prince. And everyone, stop here!”

 

“…?!”

 

I’ll try to blend in by using the fact that there’s another guy with a similar title. I pushed the extremely flustered Mecklenburg with mana and stopped, raising my hand. The Mages following behind stopped all at once. Having reached a point, I turned on the transmission function of both artifacts again and said to Mecklenburg.

 

“Now, can you sense it from this point? Please find if there are people.”

 

“…”

 

Mecklenburg looked at me with a face wondering when he had ever spoken in detail about the range of his abilities.

 

Just because someone uses water-related abilities doesn’t guarantee they know everything about the properties of water flowing through all things, but he could definitely distinguish between water in the ground, water in trees, and water in people. At least I knew that was possible for him. Mecklenburg didn’t ask me that question and quietly placed his hand on the ground.

 

“There’s no one within at least 500m in all directions from this point.”

 

“Good. Wittelsbach.”

 

“No traps either.”

 

Leo, who had been sending mana through plants, withdrew his mana from a certain point and stood up. Good, no people and no magic set up. I looked far into the distance, toward the bottom of a low hill, and said.

 

“For now, there’s still some distance, but we’ve gotten closer to the Forest.”

 

We divided the northward path into two branches—we would enter from the east, 91st A from the west—and there was a Forest to the east. We were heading there.

 

Let me explain some theory here. What lay before us was marshland with some streams, plains, Forest. And a sky that wasn’t clear at all.

 

Regarding marshland, it’s best to avoid attacks as much as possible and find detours. This is because it’s terrain favorable to defenders. However, this doesn’t particularly apply to Mages who can deploy barriers to cross marshland.

 

Absolute advantages in combat are hard to find, and even within terrain that’s lumped together as one type, various advantages and disadvantages arise, but now isn’t the time to discuss every type, so I’ll skip that. Now let’s think about the Forest. If defenders have their backs to the Forest, the Forest also becomes quite favorable terrain for them. If defenders have the Forest in front of them, this is the worst for defenders, and if defenders are inside the Forest, this has balanced gains and losses for them and is generally not considered the optimal choice. And if defenders have the Forest at their backs, this becomes the defenders’ best choice. This is because attack, retreat, and resource procurement can all be carried out smoothly. Of course, this theory becomes meaningless if either the defensive or offensive side has warp coordinates in hand.

 

And at this time, the Bishops’ goal is to buy time without being discovered until their stamina recovers, and since the above theory is from the Human era, it seems clear what Mages, who have relatively more freedom of movement compared to non-Mages, should choose.

 

[Found them!]

 

Just then, communication connected from Squad 91B.

 

In other words, hasn’t it become very clear where we should be if we were Bishops? The Bishops would be stationed in the Forest, and among those, at the entrance.

 

Therefore, my first order to headquarters was to find all the Forests in this coordinate system. Since we couldn’t abandon the south while moving key personnel to the north, I moved Squad 91B there to search.

 

“Good. Now only we remain. The problem is that we’re in an open field, but the reason they didn’t bother setting traps is because they can observe us with their own eyes if we move further north from here. With these long grasses, stealth magic has its limits too.”

 

No matter how dark the day is due to clouds, it’s true that inside the Forest is darker than this field, and it’s also true that the field is brighter than the Forest. I said to Leo.

 

“Wittelsbach. We begin from This Location.”

 

The strategy was already set while coming here. He would now send mana through the ground and pinpoint the exact location of the Bishops in the Forest.

 

Leo, who had one hand on the ground and the other raised in the air, folded his fingers one by one. 5. 4. 3. 2…

 

“Reached.”

 

The mana Leo sent through plants reached the Forest. This was the signal. I shouted the coordinates I had calculated based on our travel distance.

 

“Corviniano 795:348:494!”

 

The moment Leo grabbed my wrist, I opened my eyes on ground about 400m away from where I had been standing, closer to the Forest. A strange noise erupted.

 

Kwaaaaang—

 

A muddy black curtain shot up to the sky, surrounding the Forest in the distance. I had to raise my head high to see its end curving inward. It was certain that the Bishops were inside there. Ah, so this is how you plan to prevent us from entering.

 

[Ten people. All ten of the Munich-Freising Bishops are here.]

 

Leo’s clear voice came through the artifact. He had warped me and then warped to a spot one step closer, striking his staff into the ground, and would have counted the number of people affected by the mana on plants. I looked at the Vitriol curtain spread in the distance and thought quickly. Penetrate or don’t penetrate. If we break through here and enter, it’s a Forest, but the moment we break through and enter the Forest, the Vitriol will be restored to surround the Forest, and the Bishops’ attacks will rain down on us, trapped like mice in poison. Unless we flee to side coordinates that have expanded 200 times and become very distant, we can never survive against 10 people using Vitriol. In other words, the paths remaining for us are only three: 1. get attacked, 2. flee, or 3. wait until this curtain goes out, that is, until the Bishops flee to another location. It’s truly a hopeless sight, and they must have drawn this picture too… Thinking so, I shouted loudly.

 

“Everyone, begin!”

 

Kwaaaaang—

 

Mecklenburg, who had been targeting a small stream in the distance, struck down his staff. The air became humid and breathing became stifling. A huge curtain spread across the ground and in front of us, and one of 98th A raised his wand to the sky, sending a thin light shooting upward. From the south where we hadn’t gone, someone else’s thin light also burst. Signal flares indicating the Forest’s location.

 

Who should we inform of the Forest’s location at this point?

 

Flash—

 

“…!”

 

“Ugh!”

 

I heard gasping sounds around me. A massive beam of light incomparable to the wand’s light crossed the black night sky and struck down over the Forest. Light that erupted from the sky, not the ground, covered surrounding objects in an eerie white color.

 

Kurrrung— Kwaaaaang—!!

 

My blood ran cold. The ground shook with a thud. I gritted my teeth and poured all my strength into my staff, accepting the vibration transmitted through my whole body. Lightning. This was my first time seeing Cheringen’s unique ability directly. An ability you’d only see in movies—my initial thought wasn’t wrong. Instinctive fear swept through my entire body. It felt like that electricity was being transmitted through my legs, so I thanked the fact that Cheringen didn’t have a unique ability to conduct electricity through mana along with his lightning ability, and shouted.

 

“Schumacher!”

 

Kwaaaaang—!

 

The surroundings, which had darkened again after the lightning, suddenly turned red. With an explosive sound, growing flames engulfed the trees, and sparks flew here and there in the wind. The entire Forest was engulfed in flames.

 

Alexandra Schumacher from 91st, who had thrust down her staff ready to jump out at any moment, caught her breath and lightly swept the sky. Immediately, wind rushed from behind, and there was no problem breathing. Even in this chaos, the plant stems in the Forest could be seen moving fiercely.

 

[Four.]

 

Leo said quietly. His voice came overlapping through the artifact and air. Leo walking from the distance looked at me and continued.

 

[Six remain out of the ten Munich-Freising Bishops.]

 

“…”

 

Success. We’re not the only ones who use unique abilities.

 

If they trouble us with unique abilities, we can also face them with unique abilities.

 

The Mages around me, who had been catching their breath with tense faces, turned their heads toward me. When our eyes met, their stiffly hardened lips slowly rose upward. Someone standing behind let out a long breath and muttered.

 

“…Four Bishops at once…”

 

“Haha… whew…”

 

I heard laughter. Sorry to break the mood, but there isn’t much time to bask in victory. I stared at the blazing Forest and spoke.

 

“Six out of ten. Now the remaining six likely have unique abilities optimized for survival.”

 

[Commander!]

 

Then Narke’s voice, who had headed in the opposite direction, pierced my ears. It took quite a while to realize that was calling me, but the next words awakened all our minds.

 

[Four Bishops are at 2 o’clock from the starting point!]

 

I heard swallowing sounds. Someone gripped their wand tightly.

 

Good. So you’re fleeing in that direction.

 

“Warp?”

 

Calculating coordinates was basic, but naturally, it wasn’t easy work. Narke shouted after about 10 seconds.

 

[Corviniano 794:354:495!]

 

“Everyone, move!”

 

Kwaaaaang—

 

As soon as we changed positions, strong wind tousled my hair. Pitch-black Vitriol was right in front of us.

 

Chaeng— Kwang—!

 

I deflected the Vitriol flying from the darkness and said to Mecklenburg behind me.

 

“Let’s coordinate our breathing once more.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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