Right now, we're waiting by the tree that houses the teleport points.
According to the elves, the imperial army has already arrived at the outer perimeter of the barrier.
Whether they try to break the barrier, attempt to use the teleport points to invade or cause some kind of chaos with brainwashed elves, I'm definitely expecting them to act today.
It looks like I'm not the only one who feels that way since the rest of our group is sporting equally tense expressions.
And then it happens.
Suddenly, there's a loud clamor from the direction of the teleport points.
Something's going on in there. And, as we predicted, it's something bad. "Let's go!" I shout to everyone and run inside the tree to the teleport points.
All the teleport points connected to the elf village lead into this tree.
Like most of the buildings in the elf village, it's a room hollowed out from one of the giant trees that grow in the forest, not a man-made building.
As we enter the tree's dome-shaped interior, we find a young man surrounded by elf guards. "Hey!" he yells.
"Nobody told me I'd be surrounded as soon as I teleported here!"
The elf security all thrust their spears at the boy at once, but he suddenly disappears before they pierce him.
What just happened?
"Hey, careful! I could've died, y'know! Are you trying to kill me or what?! Oh, I guess you are, huh?"
The boy's hyperactive voice bounces off the walls, seeming very out of place.
Something about it gives me déjà vu.
I've never seen this boy before, but somehow I feel like I know him.
Which can mean only one thing.
"Kusama?"
At my doubtful call, the boy turns to face me.
"Oh, hey! If it isn't Shun, Kanata, and Kuniyan! Long time no see! And Shinohara and Kushitani, too. S'up?"
The young man greets us cheerfully, as if oblivious to the angry elves who just tried to kill him.
He's a reincarnation: Shinobu Kusama. Kusama was always a hyperactive guy in our old world, and clearly, that hasn't changed in this one. In fact, he's so unchanged that it's a little creepy.
"Kusama, if you know who we are, does that mean you're fine with being enemies?" Katia speaks to Kusama in Japanese.
That's right. Kusama recognized us.
If he was able to tell who we are without being introduced, that means he already knew about us beforehand.
And he used the teleport point to infiltrate the village.
That means he's knowingly become our enemy.
"R-riiight. Yeah, I guess you could say we're enemies, huh?"
His tone is reluctant, but still, his answer is clear.
"All right, then! We'll do our best not to kill ya!"
"Yeeek! No way I can take on all of you at once!"
Kusama shrieks, obviously flustered.
When I Appraise his status, I know he's not bluffing.
Yes, Kusama's stats are high.
But they're about on the same level as Tagawa's.
He's not overpowered like Sophia.
My one concern is the Ninja skill, which I've never seen before.
It definitely looks like a unique reincarnation skill.
But doesn't giving him the unique skill Ninja because he has the ninja-esque name Shinobu seem a little too on the nose?
Elf spears strike out toward Kusama again.
They jab right through Kusama's body—or so it seems, except Kusama is no longer there.
It's happened again. Just like the first time, it looked like Kusama was hit, but the space is actually empty.
This must be the effect of the Ninja skill.
I push past the elves who are trying to kill Kusama and stand directly in front of him.
The elves definitely aren't going to be able to handle this.
I lunge forward, making it look as if I'm about to swing my sword down at him, then instead take another step as I go for a body slam.
"Huh?!"
My body passes right through Kusama without touching him.
Then I see the real Kusama in front of me.
So his mysterious power of evasion is actually the power of illusion.
It's no ordinary illusion, though. It's almost like he's making copies of himself that disappear when they're attacked. It's a duplication jutsu, one of the effects of the Ninja skill.
The Kusama in front of me now is the real Kusama.
I try to hit him with the butt of my sword. Kusama dodges it by hopping backward.
However, Katia and Fei are already behind him. Katia's rapier and Fei's fist close in on him from either side.
"!"
"Whaaa…?"
Their attacks pierce nothing but air. He must have used duplication Jutsu to dodge again.
The annoying thing about this technique is that he can switch places with the duplicates he creates.
It basically gives him the ability to mimic Short-Range Teleport, making him very hard to capture.
"You trying to kill me?!"
Kusama reappears a short distance from Katia and Fei.
Then Kushitani's Wind Magic chases him down.
"Gwuh?!"
Looks like it hit him this time.
The mass of compressed air smacks him square in the stomach, and Kusama tumbles to the floor with a strange exclamation.
Tagawa and I close in to catch him.
But then Kusama's fallen figure disappears.
He's swapped places with a duplicate again.
What an annoying ability. I quickly look around, searching for Kusama. There! He's standing on one of the teleport points. Beneath him, the circle starts to glow.
He's trying to use the teleport point to escape!
"You're not getting away!"
Tagawa charges after Kusama.
"Dammit! Wasn't this supposed to be an easy job where I just sneak in here for a minute?! Stupid geezer!" Kusama curses.
He brandishes the sword in his hand.
As soon as I see the sword, my instincts scream that there's danger.
I rush over to stop Tagawa from charging toward him, then Appraise the sword.
"All right, I'm outta here. You guys better run, too." Kusama throws the sword.
It flies through the air, much higher than necessary.
"Everyone, get outside now!"
Right as I cry out, the teleport point glows, and Kusama disappears.
After it's been used once, it takes a short while before a teleport point can be activated again.
If we want to chase Kusama, we'll have to wait until the teleport point is usable again. By then, he'll have already gotten far away.
But I can't worry about that right now.
Starting with Katia, the rest of my group runs outside, perhaps sensing the desperation in my voice.
The elves, on the other hand, react more slowly. I open my mouth to warn them again, but before I can speak, my body is forcibly pulled back.
"Mr. Hyrince!"
Hyrince sprints toward the door, carrying me along with him.
"It's no use. Forget them."
His clipped words effectively summarize the current situation.
The sword that Kusama threw pierces the ground.
Then it explodes with an intense flash of light.
Hyrince turns to face it, bracing against the coming impact with his shield.
He and I are blown away by the shock wave, and we tumble out of the teleport-point tree.
The explosion inside the tree tears it up by its roots.
"The teleport points…," someone whispers.
Standing up and looking around, I see that everyone in our group is safe.
But the elves who were inside the tree when it exploded are not.
The sword that Kusama threw was a magic sword with a self-destruct effect.
Magic swords contain a lot of power.
If you unleash all that power at once, it results in unbelievable destructive force.
The price is that the magic sword itself is destroyed in the explosion.
"Dammit!"
Tagawa shouts furiously.
"They must've sent in Kusama to destroy the teleport points and trap us inside the barrier!" That explosion must have destroyed all the teleport points. Those were the only way to get in or out of the elf village. In other words, everyone in the village, including us, is now trapped here unless the barrier is deactivated. The barrier that's meant to protect the village now imprisons it.
Glancing at my companions' faces, I see their expressions can be sorted into two groups. About half of them are frustrated like Tagawa, while the other half, especially Katia, are lost in thought.
Finally, my eyes meet with Hyrince's.
Right, I didn't thank him yet.
"Mr. Hyrince, thank you."
"Don't mention it."
If Hyrince hadn't rescued me earlier, I would've been caught in that explosion, too.
After making the snap judgment that there was no way to save the remaining elves, he left them, grabbed me, and ran.
Hyrince probably figured that if he didn't drag me out by force, I would have tried to do something to save the elves, even though it was impossible.
And he was probably right. I know all this.
There was nothing I could have done. I couldn't stop the sword from exploding or protect the elves from the explosion, or anything. If I had stayed behind, all I would have accomplished was adding one more death to the list. Still, I can't help feeling like I should have been able to do something. No, wait. There's still something I can do.
"Shun. Don't use it."
Hyrince shuts me down as if he'd figured out my decision moments before I did. He knows exactly what I'm planning now.
"Why not?"
"It's a miracle that most people wouldn't believe. You mustn't show it off to complete strangers. It'll only cause trouble in the future."
What I want to do is use the Mercy skill to bring back the dead. But Hyrince stops me. The reason he's not referring to it by name is because we don't know who might be listening.
Even I can imagine that if people found out I can revive the dead, it would cause a whole lot of problems. But if there was ever a time and place to use it, wouldn't that be now?
"Besides, doesn't it have certain limits, as far as we know? Can you even use it if there's nothing left but ash?" I have no response for that.
Mercy's ability to revive the dead isn't all-encompassing. If the body is severely damaged, it won't work. The bodies of the elves inside the still-blazing tree are most likely far beyond the help of my Mercy skill.
"Shun. Hang on to that power for now. The real battle hasn't even begun."
"What do you—?"
Suddenly, an overwhelming chill runs through me. It's a torrent of fear like nothing I've ever felt before. The power I'm sensing is far, far away.
That's the only reason I'm still standing.
If I felt that kind of power up close, I would probably pass out on the spot.
"What the hell is that?!"
Tagawa says what we're all thinking. Everyone looks pale and panicky. And as if that wasn't enough, the strangeness doesn't stop there.
The barrier covering the elf village disappears as easily as a soap bubble that's been popped.
"The barrier!"
I don't know whose voice that is. But all of us are staring up in horror. There's nothing else we can do but watch. As my thoughts slowly return to me, I understand the meaning of Hyrince's words.
I knew something was off. Even if we were trapped in the elf village, they grow their own food already, so it wouldn't be that big of a problem.
There would be no reason to turn off the barrier in a panic. If that was Hugo's goal, he's not as smart as I thought.
The imperial army would be the ones suffering if they stood around waiting outside for the barrier to be taken down.
There are dangerous monsters roaming out there, so they wouldn't be able to scavenge for food safely. I wasn't sure initially what the imperial army stood to gain by destroying the teleport points. From their perspective, they were just losing their only way into the elf village.
That's probably why Katia and the others looked like they were thinking hard about something. But if the barrier is broken, that all goes out the window.
We were operating under false assumptions. Kusama didn't break the teleport points to trap the elves inside the barrier. It's just the opposite. We were afraid that the imperial army would use the teleport points to invade the village, but they were worried the elves would use them to run away.
They broke the teleport points to prevent us from escaping.
"You guys better run, too."
I remember Kusama's words. Damn it. They were never going to let us run away in the first place! I shout immediately.
"Fei!"
"I know! But look the other way, all right?"
Knowing exactly why I'm calling for her, Fei begins transforming into her wyrm form. As she does so, we turn our backs to her.
"All right, I'm ready!"
With Fei's transformation complete, we hurriedly climb onto her back and take off into the sky. Our goal is the outer perimeter where the barrier used to be.
Because that should be where the imperial army is invading.