My childhood friend the hero was genuinely angry

23 – Unexpected Encounter (3)

On the way to catch the warlock, I didn’t really talk to Alkena much on the way.

I didn’t have much to say, and nothing I wanted to say.

I was only hanging out together for a short time to catch the warlock, but in fact, I wasn’t even close enough to hang out with Arkena like this.

“Why are you staring at me like that…?”

I don’t know why, but I felt like I was growing more and more interested in Alkena.

Alkena kept looking at me with bright eyes. As if she was looking up to me, Alkena looked at me.

I feel very burdened with those eyes. Did i do anything…? No matter how much I thought about it, I had never done anything that would make her like her.

On the contrary, it seems like we really fought to kill each other until a while ago, but I feel a bit of a cognitive dissonance.

For this reason, I asked Alkena why she was doing this with a disconcerted expression.

“hehehe… Just.”

It was Arkenna who answered my question with a smile and matched her steps.

As expected, she was the one who gave me a good feeling while smiling silently.

“…”

What is the real reason?

I couldn’t figure out why she had a crush on me.

On the contrary, I feel that it is normal not to have a crush on someone.

Unwillingly, I even saw Alkena’s disgraceful appearance. Having a crush on me after seeing such a disgraceful appearance was not understood by the common sense of ordinary people.

If that’s the case, then the saintess doesn’t have the common sense of an ordinary person…? Thinking like that gives me a little goosebumps.

Her face is really pretty, but how did she end up like that…? I also feel a bit sad.

‘Let’s quickly defeat the warlock and break up with the strange person.’

Anyway, for me, Arcena next to me was quite burdensome, and I wanted to break up quickly.

And in order to do that, I’ll have to finish what I have to do now.

I continued walking to a place where I could feel the reverberation of magic, and finally arrived at my destination where I could feel the reverberation of magic.

“This is it?”

“Yes. This is it.”

A suspicious-looking cave located halfway up an unnamed mountain. The reverberation of magic is felt even more strongly in this suspicious-looking cave, as if it proves that there is a wizard here.

Perhaps there is a warlock here who put me in danger.

“Let’s go in.”

“Ba… I’ll go right in? This is a mage’s encampment…”

“Well, you can’t go in. It’s okay. It won’t be a big deal.”

Arkenna said she was entering this place, so I asked if she really wanted to enter, but I had no intention of going back or anything. I walked out into the cave as it was.

As expected, it was a dark and dark cave, but traces of people living there were definitely left here and there.

If you keep walking through this cave, you will definitely meet the warlock.

‘Hmm… Who is it?’

The black magician I’m about to meet, I don’t feel like the black magician is someone I don’t know.

Perhaps I know him well, and the warlock knows me well too? I want to.

‘Hmm… Maybe this itself is a trap?’

And when I think about it, I wonder why all of this is a trap.

The saintess was a decoy, and isn’t the real thing using the saintess to lure me here?

In the first place, I also wondered if the reverberations of magical powers might have been intentionally placed very shallowly so that I could find them.

Well, of course, it’s just a family, but I don’t think I can ever be vigilant.

‘It’s amazing.’

Various magical devices and traces of magic that were felt inside the cave were of a fairly high degree of perfection.

First of all, one thing was certain: the wizard, the current owner of this cave, would never take it lightly.

This level deserves a fairly high evaluation even within the Mage Tower. I walked out with a little curious mind.

# # #

“This is it…”

A dark and gloomy cave, perhaps this is where the warlock who tried to use himself to attack Xerath was connected.

Looking at this cave, Arkenna became very angry, and she wanted to punish the warlock right away. Because the sin of trying to use oneself was never light.

However, she felt sorry for letting her body in her anger. She should be calm now. Because this was the dark mage’s cave.

‘A wizard’s position is dangerous…’

Alkena is usually only present in churches, but her real job is to defeat the evil cultists.

She was the one who had always dealt with those who disrespected the goddess by force.

That’s why she has fought countless times with the cultists, including wizards. Because of this, she had no choice but to know very well about the characteristics of her people, who called her a sorceress.

‘This one looks quite… More dangerous…’

In fact, the tribe called wizards are not very powerful if they fight without any preparation. If they fight unprepared, they can easily win.

However, if they prepare and fight, the situation will be completely different. This is because they have the ability to install all sorts of magical tools and activated magic circles.

What if they build nests? What if you could make full use of things that you wouldn’t normally be able to use in battle? I assure you, the wizard will be more difficult to deal with than any other class.

“At times like this, start destroying slowly from the outside…”

That’s why I couldn’t make the foolish choice of just entering this place.

Because going in without taking any measures was no different from just throwing one’s life away.

So she decided to wait a bit.

If you slowly destroy it from the outside, even if it takes a long time, there’s nothing you can’t do.

That was probably the best way, and the safest way.

“That would take too long. Let’s just go in.”

“Yes…? Then bar… Let’s go right in? This is a mage’s camp…”

“Yes.”

“However…”

“It’s okay. It won’t be a big deal.”

But somehow Xerath didn’t seem to prefer that.

As if it didn’t matter at all, it was Xerath who was just trying to enter this place, and seeing Xerath like that, Alkena couldn’t help but be properly embarrassed.

As a wizard, he should know better than anyone that such a mage’s position is dangerous. Why the hell is he making this choice? I had no idea why.

‘For now… Let’s believe…’

But I decided to trust him anyway.

There must be a countermeasure for going in like this.

He’s Xerath, a former wizard of the warrior party, but no one else. There must be a countermeasure.

While thinking so, Alkena joined Xerath’s back and followed him.

He believed that nothing would happen if he trusted him.

She can also use barrier and recovery abilities as a saint herself. She thought it wouldn’t matter what happened.

“Kyaaagh…! It’s a trap… Huang!”

But that idea had to be shattered immediately. Contrary to expectations, it was Xerath who walked so confidently through the warlock’s cave.

The cave reacted to Xeras as if it were natural for Xeras to walk confidently without being careful about anything.

In an instant, countless magic circles were activated, and magic devices were activated. And they started attacking him and Xerath.

Seeing such a sight, Alkena had no choice but to feel that something serious had happened. He closed his eyes and faced his death.

There were so many magics and they were so powerful. No matter how much he himself was, if this much magic was being activated at the same time, he couldn’t block it with his own abilities.

There was no choice but to wait for death.

“What are you doing? Let’s go.”

But for some reason, death never came.

All I could hear was Xerath’s voice.

The saintess did not understand what the current situation was, so she looked around and examined the current situation.

And I saw all the magic circles and magic devices stopped.

“Huh…? Everything stopped?”

“Uh. Turned it off.”

“Did you unlock all that stuff in an instant?”

“Still, I’m a former wizard of the warriors’ party, so I should know how to do this.”

Xerath said that he had destroyed those magics so proudly.

Seeing Xerath like that, Alkena couldn’t help but be surprised once more.

‘That’s amazing. Really…’

The more I looked at it, the more I thought it was a monster.

How could one mage have this much power? Xerath’s power is still unmeasurable.

‘I don’t know who the opponent is… But it doesn’t matter.’

As I checked Xerath’s ability again, my worries flew away.

I don’t know what kind of mage the opponent waiting in front of me is, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to defeat Xerath as long as I’m a mage.