How to Survive as a Genius Spy in the Game Chapter 257 - Elf (4)

Right after encountering the elves, I was fairly certain that my plan had succeeded. It was because of their reaction.

I pretended to be a devil worshipper. If the elves had any contact with devil worshippers, there would have been a different reaction.

If they had already joined hands, there would have been a conversation at that time, so what I said would have seemed like meaningless nonsense.

I don’t think they were acting. It was right after seeing the corpse of Shahri, who was an Archmage even when she became an idiot, upon entering the elves’ forest.

It’s not easy to think that far while enduring the fierce pressure I was giving in such a shocking situation.

Moreover, it’s even harder to act. In the first place, there were three opponents, and none of them seemed to be acting.

‘But what is happening with Devil’s Blood?’

It was hard to hide my bewilderment. The moment I thought it would be perfect if Devil’s Blood manifested, the blood responded.

Was it because I praised the devil? No way… But I wouldn’t have wanted Devil’s Blood to respond.

Right after dealing with the sphere related to the Great Devil in the east, I definitely felt that something had changed in Devil’s Blood.

However, it didn’t feel like it activated when I wanted it to. I’ve tested it since then.

‘Is that not it? Am I not sure?’

At that time, I did feel tremendous fatigue after Devil’s Blood manifested. It was like a recoil. At the time, I thought it was a combination of resisting the devil’s power and fatigue.

Looking at it now, I thought it could be another possibility. Like a cooldown, the blood might only respond to my will after a certain period has passed.

It was a possibility that couldn’t be ignored. It’s not very convincing that the blood responded just because I praised the devil.

I’ll have to check this as time passes. It won’t be difficult to know whether it can manifest at will at regular intervals, or if it’s because I praised the devil.

Even if it’s the latter, it doesn’t matter. It’s not like my reason or thinking has changed right now. I just need to use it.

‘That’s enough for now.’

I stopped my deepening thoughts. The elves were right in front of me. For now, I planned to deal with only two of them. I targeted the mage and the warrior.

One of them needs to deliver the message I left. The reason I left the archer is because he was the one who was most angered by my words.

-How dare a devil worshipper…!

Moreover, judging from what he said to me, it seemed he didn’t like devil worshippers very much. Originally, in such battles against multiple opponents, the primary targets should be the mage or archer in the rear.

But I timed it with the arrival of reinforcements, and the archer had retreated far back, so it wasn’t particularly strange.

When the mage and warrior perished, the reinforcements arrived. Those who approached nearby quickly grasped the situation. A Sword Energy flew in a straight line.

Baaaam-! The white Sword Energy flew in, cutting down the surrounding trees whole. I lowered my head and raised my Ghost Blade.

In this fight, I can’t use Sword Energy.

‘A Sword Master is too easily identified.’

Not only the Sword Energy that reveals one’s own color, but there are also too few of them on the continent, making it too easy to guess. Since I can’t use winds either, this fight had big restrictions for me. However, there were no parts I was worried about.

Pelia’s Ghost Blade can withstand Sword Energy. It might be difficult to clash head-on, but it’s possible to deflect it.

In the first place, since the blade isn’t physical, there’s no worry about damage. Moreover, with Devil’s Blood unexpectedly manifesting now, my senses were sharper than usual.

The Worst Condition has been resolved. It’s hard to express in numbers, but if my best condition in the past was 6 times normal, now it’s about 4 times that standard.

‘It’s a state not far inferior to the best condition.’

If the manifestation of blood is really possible at my will, as I need to confirm, it meant I had become even stronger just by resolving the Worst Condition.

Anyway, my purpose is just to instill hostility towards the devil and its followers in these guys. There’s no need to face the Sword Master specifically.

Although I can’t use Sword Energy, my physical abilities are absolutely not inferior. It was enough to just avoid them properly.

I jumped into the air, stepping on the trees falling from the Sword Master’s Sword Energy.

With rising visibility, I stood on the branch of an intact tree. Moving forward. I stepped on the end of the branch and leaped towards the tree on the opposite side.

It could have been a bad move that easily made me a target because the gaps between the trees were wide, but it’s okay. I was planning to enter the middle of the enemy lines anyway.

The branches and leaves disappeared, and the view opened up wide. I had become the elves’ target. Arrows flew fiercely from below. The same was true for Sword Energy.

I twisted my body in the air, deflecting the dangerous ones with my Ghost Blade. Because my speed was fast, there was almost nothing directly aiming at me.

Only a few arrows aimed at predicting my movement and one Sword Energy. I deflected a few arrows and twisted my body again to avoid the Sword Energy.

“He’s running away!”

It was their misunderstanding. I ran on the branch I targeted, then kicked off the tree trunk and descended.

The guys below were in a panic. As I landed, I swung my sword horizontally, taking down two of them, then ran again into an open space.

An arrow rain flew to where I had been. The Sword Master approached me at a fast speed, but my speed was similar to his.

However, I was deliberately closing the gap little by little, as being too fast could arouse suspicion.

‘I don’t intend to fight for long.’

For a strong person like me within the devil worshippers, it’s natural to use the power of darkness.

Usually, it’s brought out in moments of crisis, but now could be considered sufficiently critical.

Therefore, it was important to hit-and-run appropriately. When I repeated a similar process about 3 times, the distance with the Sword Master had clearly decreased.

Just as I was about to flee into another space, a middle-aged elf blocked my way.

“Stop.”

“Would an inferior being stop just because you say so?”

“Inferior? How amusing.”

He thrust his sword. I pretended to barely block it. The acting wasn’t difficult. It really was sharp.

He was at least as strong as Rudehrn. I didn’t think I could win if we fought one-on-one.

Blocking his consecutive attacks with the Ghost Blade, I showed a cornered appearance. The sword coming in horizontally was violent. I raised both the Ghost Blade and my sword.

Chang-! The long sword shattered in front of the Sword Energy. The Ghost Blade barely received the Sword Energy. I didn’t resist unnecessarily. I flew backwards from the force.

My back hit a tree trunk. My back stung slightly. The tree seemed to have broken about halfway. As leaves and small branches fell and dust rose, the Sword Master approached me.

I barely managed to hold back a laugh at his leisurely appearance.

‘Does he think the fight is over because the sword broke?’

It’s a bit odd to say this about someone stronger than me, but I thought he might be quite lacking in experience. Even if he’s stronger than me, he’s still an elf.

He must have killed someone before, but it can’t be more than those in the outside world. It’s relative, that is.

Of course, he can’t think I’d run away in this situation, but if it were me, I would have restrained the body first to prevent suicide.

Since there was no need to warn him, I spoke while leaning against the tree.

“Listen, you pitiful ones.”

While doing so, I inserted the fingers of my right hand, where the broken sword had been, into the inside of my sleeve and hooked them onto the connected string.

It was a special smoke bomb I had prepared when coming here. It was designed to emit black smoke to look visually related to the devil.

“Soon darkness will find you, so worship the father in the deepest place.”

“Do you think those are your last words? You won’t be able to die here.”

I smirked at the Sword Master’s words and pulled up the corners of my mouth. Perhaps sensing something strange, the Sword Master’s eyes changed.

He rushed towards me. He seems to think I’m going to commit suicide. I pulled the ring on my finger while infusing mana into the amulet.

Black smoke billowed up and the world turned upside down. From the outside, it would look like I disappeared with the smoke. Not a bad performance.

By the way, it’s still the same here. You’d think I’d get used to it by now, but the season inside the amulet was still offering unchanging discomfort.

‘Let’s get out quickly.’

***

A month had passed since leaving the southwest. After escaping the elves’ forest and meeting Casmak, I immediately returned to Chenarus.

There wasn’t much progress on the problem of the devil and its followers. Although we belatedly sent manpower to the east, it was difficult to see results.

We couldn’t form an expedition including me and Erendil. It was too dangerous. It was indefinite to search in that vast east.

I also thought we might be able to find the devil through a tool that detects Devil’s Blood.

However, we couldn’t actually use it. Because the devil would also know my location. Rather, we would be attacked.

It would likely become dangerous even if I brought Erendil and the Sword Masters.

‘There are too many.’

No matter how good we are, if tens of thousands of soldiers and the devil attack together, it’s difficult to devise a countermeasure. We wouldn’t be able to escape even by dragon.

If the devil flies in and attacks only the dragon, there’s no way to deal with it in the air. We would be trapped in the east.

Instead, we changed our thinking a bit and worked hard to find Devil’s Blood remaining on the continent. Since the devil of domination was in the east, it didn’t matter if it detected my location.

Of course, it was annoying to face the devil of domination every time I used the magic tool. What was irritating was that it looked at me with a vile smile.

‘It’s definitely plotting something.’

I felt a bit frustrated in a situation where I could guess what it was. Even if I wanted to do something, there wasn’t much I could do.

I was just doing what I could. Of course, Devil’s Blood would be needed even if they tried to summon the Great Devil through that black sphere.

We worked to delay that. In that way, we were able to find 3 Devil’s Blood while flying around the continent on a dragon for a month.

However, we didn’t dispose of the Devil’s Blood. Instead, we safely gathered them in one place in Chenarus. We judged it was a better choice than killing them.

‘The highest level of vigilance. Rather, we designed it as a trap for them.’

I rather hoped they would come. Anyway, the last time we discovered Devil’s Blood was 9 days ago. There was little substance after that.

Since the east was too dangerous, we decided to subjugate the dwarves in the northeast mountains.

The front line establishment with the eastern Trafal Mountain Range was completed, and the dwarves started to spread Flynn Powder starting from the northeast.

I planned to hide my appearance as much as possible. Then the devil wouldn’t be able to move because of the Great Devil, and the subjugation wouldn’t be too difficult.

Two days before heading to the northeast like that, we received intelligence from the east after a long time.

-Although we couldn’t find the base of those in the east due to the strict security, we discovered circumstances of them closely plotting with the dwarves in the northeast mountains.

-It seems to be a separate matter from the mass production of monsters that Lord Carl Schurtafen warned about. There were more movements of people than animals. It was so severe that 3 search teams were annihilated.

Those in the east were the elite of the empire. I felt this information was not ordinary. And I felt a subtle sense of discomfort at the mention of people’s movement.

Something smelled dangerous. Now that we’re heading to the northeast mountains, we’ll probably find out soon.