The warriors were jolted out of their stupor as Arahon sprang out of the area and gazed in horror at his previous acts.
"He-he killed one of our warriors! High King, this is unacceptable!"
The people protested and demanded justice.
"Enough! Arahon is right, there are some demonic creatures that have infiltrated our ranks."
"My divinity reacted to the presence of demonic essence that diffused out of that warrior earlier. If that is not a reminder that one is a demonic creature, then what is?!"
No one managed to come up with a rebuttal to his arguments. He was the only radiant knight here that had an arsenal of divinity. Who was more capable and authorized to discuss more of such matters?
"Hah! What foolery!", a warrior suddenly shouted.
"High King, you don't have to go that far to defend your daughter and her classmates! That Arahon or whatever he is still killed one of us!"
Another warrior beside him was insulted by that person's words and punched him in the face.
"Bastard! You dare to go against the High King's words?! You must be an impostor, a demonic creature! Die!"
He unsheathed his long sword and tried to kill the warrior who disrespected their High King. The latter defended himself and the two put themselves into a fight.
"See? Look at his actions! Everyone, come over and arrest him!"
The warriors surrounded the suspicious man and threatened to skin him alive. "Lower your damn weapons and stop this at once!", High King Garron was insulted by their aggressive behavior.
"But High King, they are acting suspiciously! They could be a disguised demonic creature!"
"What disguised? You're only saying that to prove your innocence! Lower your arms, damn recruit!"
High King Garron was unable to control their emotions any longer. This worsened the situation and it was only the starting point.
The five students, however, observed at the sides.
'Strange, he's not a red-dotted figure so why is he openly opposing the High King as if he was a disguised demonic creature?', Jinmu mused, 'Are the disguised ones enchanting the minds of the innocent in order to cause chaos and plant distrust inside the army?'
Jinmu believed that this was the case. Since Arahon exposed the presence of the demonic creatures, it was expected that the enemy would fight back sooner or later.
Although it wasn't a cunning plan from the perspective of a student from the Heavenly Magic Academy, High King Garron and his aides didn't have the method to identify whether one was a demonic creature or not.
Otherwise, with the High King being a radiant knight and containing an arsenal of divinity within him, they would have identified the threat way before Arahon had arrived.
Lucan slowly walked beside him and whispered, "Say, Jinmu, should we intervene?"
Jinmu shook his head in denial.
"Now is not the time. Although we know where the demonic creatures are, we do not have the capability to hunt them down."
"We also cannot prove whether the warriors are impostors or not."
Blindly charging in was an unwise decision to make. What if the demonic creatures had several traps for them to trigger?
They didn't have divinity or other tools that would expose the demonic essence of a demonic creature. The reason they were able to identify them was because of the system's help.
Otherwise, they'd be as blind as these warriors are, far from the truth of the current situation.
"Big brother Jinmu, what should we do?", Emi was getting anxious, "If we let them fight against one another, things will get chaotic and we may not have the chance to fix it at that point."
"Jinmu, we should make a move soon. The demonic creatures will take advantage of our inaction and might even implicate us if possible.", Lucan added.
Their barrage of questions put Jinmu at an impasse.
'Lucan's right. The only reason the demonic creatures haven't targeted us yet must be because of Sir Veron's presence or Olivia's close relationship with High King Garron.'
He tried to refresh his mind by opening the system map.
'There are 18 red dots around the encampment. I don't know which one of them is doing the enchantment and individually going on them one by one is time-consuming.'
Amidst his confusion, a voice resounded in his mind.
'Brat, you need help?'
Jinmu's eyes widened, "This voice-!"
'You seem to have a way of figuring out the true demonic creatures from the others, yes?'
Jinmu nodded and displayed a calm expression on his face. The elf was astonished at how this young brat maintained his composure despite the pressure.
He smiled and discussed his plan.
'I can sense the fluctuation of mana which I assume is an enchanting spell being casted but I cannot fully trace out the origin of these disturbances. They've managed to hide their trail very well.'
'So I'm going to need you to pinpoint to me where they are. Can you do that?'
Jinmu hesitated not because he couldn't accomplish Veron's task, but because there were 18 demonic creatures in the vicinity. Moreover, they were scattered far from one another so reaching them all with limited time wasn't feasible.
He couldn't inform Veron either since the demonic creatures may be observing from a distance and Jinmu doesn't know how to communicate through Veron's medium.
'No, I don't need to tag them all. I only need to tag the nearest ones and delay the formation of the marks for each target.'
Jinmu planned to utilize his mastery of the domain mana synthesis in forming small magic array formations which would then act as a target beacon for Veron's attacks.
He only needed to prolong the formation of the earlier markings while going around and tagging the other demonic creatures. When he reaches the final target, the other beacons should be made at the same time he forms the final one.
In that way, Veron can simultaneously launch a surprise attack on those that Jinmu marked.
If Jinmu chooses the normal path and individually tags and attacks the demonic creatures, the others can react to the disturbance and can either retaliate or retreat.
As for running around without gathering suspicion, Jinmu covertly pulled out something from his inventory.
[ Mystic Cloak (Rare) ]
[ This cloak can cover the aura and presence of its wearer for a limited time. Bypasses detection spells not greater than formula 5. Requires large amounts of mana per usage. ]
[ Maximum duration per use: 30 minutes ]
[ Cooldown: 3 hours ]
This was one of the items that Jinmu received from the bandits that tried to abduct them in the Dark Forest several weeks ago. Fortunately, he had charged the equipment with mana beforehand.
"You kids, get out of here. We'll handle this.", High King Garron forced them out of the plaza with an escort of loyal warriors.
The situation was getting out of hand as the chaos worsened. Most of the warriors were suspecting one another. Nobody was willing to make a move and cautiously readied their weapons and shields.
It made things easier for Jinmu, however, as he put on the cloak without the rest noticing.
Veron followed in Jinmu's footsteps. Although his presence vanished, Jinmu would still generate sound nonetheless.
"Hey, where's Jinmu?", Solordo asked.
"What? Jinmu is missing?", Lucan was taken aback.
"Shh! Lower your voice!", Olivia hushed.
"But where is he? Did you see him go somewhere around?", Solordo insisted.
"Damn it, the demonic creatures might have gotten him…"
"Shut up, let's ask Sir Veron and Miss Haera instead. Maybe they knew where he went.", Olivia was angered by their presumptuous feedback.
'Don't ask where your leader is. He's doing something right now. Stay back and watch out for any demonic creatures nearby.', Veron's voice resounded in their minds.
They looked at one another.
"Is he… going to do something about the demonic creatures now?", Lucan was at a loss, "Why did he not tell us something about his plans?"
"Shut it. Jinmu must have his reasons. We will ask him later.", Olivia reprimanded, "For now, we must carry on normally and wait for the signal to intervene."
"You are kind of talkative right now, miss northerner. Did something happen while I was not around?", Solordo teased.
The 'miss northerner' sent out a cold glare in his direction to which he responded with a lazy shrug.
Emi tightly gripped her clothes and hoped for her big brother's success.
…
After a few minutes of walking around, Jinmu approached his first target and slowly set up a very small formation beneath them. The amount of mana he used up was so little that not only did it slip past the demonic creatures' senses; but it also delayed the construction of the beacon.
He did the same thing for the subsequent targets.
Veron, on the other side, finally realized what Jinmu was up to.
'He wants me to incapacitate multiple targets at once, huh? No wonder it is taking him long to set up.'
The elf didn't blame Jinmu. The young brat cannot possibly determine who was behind all the enchantments. Although his current plan was risky, it was better than nothing.
'His newer beacons are forming quicker than those prior. You didn't have to go that far, young brat.'
Veron readied himself while sitting on the ground.
He understood that Jinmu wouldn't be able to mark everyone assuming that they were scattered across the area. He also needed to wait for the beacons to completely form before attacking so that he would line up with Jinmu's timings.
'I think this is the last one.'
He sensed that the young brat's movements halted.
'Time must have run out. I'll teleport him out of there.'
He raised both his hands and started the teleportation process. Meanwhile, Jinmu felt his body suddenly vibrate in place.
'Senior Veron caught up with my whims. This action will surely attract their attention but…'
The man they were facing right now was a grandmaster magus. He let his body levitate before he vanished from the area.
"Ah!"
Jinmu's figure appeared in front of Haera and his classmates.
"Jinmu!", Solordo reacted and caught his frail body, "How'd you do that?!"
'This guy!', Lucan palmed his face. Solordo dared to be astonished about Veron's teleportation spell rather than worry about his classmates' well-being.
Before they could ask Jinmu what happened, Veron gathered a large amount of mana and proceeded with his attack.
'Greater Sonic Pummel!'
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