Julian POV :
Getting your vision and hearing blocked is not a pleasant experience. However, I trained in blocking my vision, doing so when lives are at stake is dangerous. Seeing the situation, Magna was probably under that woman's magic too.
Vanessa and Magna enveloped me in a hug. "You came at the right time… we were in a pinch," said Magna.
"Big sister will reward you after we're done with this," said Vanessa.
"Sure, but let's deal with them first," I said.
We regrouped and restrained them with restraining magic.
"Two mages are missing. The total mages I counted were 20, but there are only 18 here," I said.
"There must have been a spatial mage among them," said Magna.
"I hope they don't call for reinforcements," said Vanessa.
We approached the villagers while casting Phoenix Robe on both of them. Though the machines stopped absorbing mana, the villagers were still half-dazed. We checked the condition of those lying around. Most were unconscious, but some had died. Both of my teammates didn't react much, as they had seen death before. Fate was really cruel to them. I don't know if those machines only absorbed mana or not, but I hope the villagers can regenerate the mana absorbed. They already have little mana, and losing that too would be devastating.
We escorted them outside the cave, and then we started taking out the machines we found.
We were halfway through when the woman regained consciousness. "No, no, no, this can't be happening. Lord trusted me with this mission. YOU MADE ME FAIL!! I WILL KILL YOU ALL!!" she shouted as her covered eye grew brighter and brighter with mana gathering in that place.
I had a bad feeling about this. "Get near me as soon as possible!" I shouted while moving back. All the villagers were escorted outside, so the cave was empty. I deployed the complete form of 'Blazing Shield,' creating a dome around us. Her eye shone with a light illuminating the cave, and her body exploded, releasing a shockwave that slid us a few meters back.
The explosion killed all the men along with the woman, splattering body parts all around. My shield blocked all the shockwave, keeping us unharmed. Seeing the body parts splattered all over made me a little nauseous.
No matter where I go, life is fragile; one moment it's there, the next it's gone.
"Thank God we have you, Julian. We could have been fatally injured by this," said Vanessa.
"Phew! That was dangerous!" exclaimed Magna. The power behind the explosion was enough to turn us into nothing more than the dead people lying there. The explosion destroyed all the machines in the cave, releasing a lot of mana into the surroundings. I was relieved that this place was away from mana beasts, or else hundreds of them would have rushed here to feed on the mana.
The woman who committed suicide was most probably thoroughly brainwashed. That eye was a bomb used to prevent information from leaking, I thought. We ran out of the cave before it collapsed as the walls were destroyed by the explosion. As soon as we came out, the cave collapsed.
The loud noise of the explosion managed to unnerve many villagers, who began panicking.
We controlled the panic, and the villagers were all escorted to their homes.
Still, the village was under an illusion from the outside, so we searched the entire village and found an artifact that was producing the illusion. We took it for further investigation.
We stayed the night, helping the villagers, and began our return journey the next morning after some magic knights came to take the machines and investigate the collapsed cave more. We slept in the forest during the night, taking turns guarding. Vanessa's magic created a comfortable place to sleep.
"I wonder what information they knew for them to give away their life rather than fall into enemy hands," said Vanessa while flying.
"Either they were brainwashed, or their devotion to the so-called 'lord' was so high that they would give away their life," I said.
"A weird cult emerged out of nowhere. I hope the higher-ups take this matter seriously," she said, with Magna agreeing with her.
We returned to the base in the morning of the third day and wrote our report together after cleaning ourselves. Like this, my first major mission came to an end.
Yami took out his communicator and contacted someone.
"Yo, mushroom head, it's your favorite captain. I have a report that needs to be discussed with Julius."
Somewhere in an Abandoned Temple:
A golden-haired man stood near a stone monument. On the monument, a pattern was carved with small holes in various places.
A portal opened near the man, and two people dropped out of it.
"Seems like you failed," the man said.
"Forgive me, Lord. The Black Bulls interfered," said one of them with a shaking voice while describing the people who entered their site of operation. The other one didn't dare look into the man's eyes.
"We will accept any punishment you give."
The man in question smiled and said, "I forgive you. It is human nature to make mistakes, after all. Humans cannot be perfect… Ensure that this never happens again."
"Yes, my lord," both of them said jointly before teleporting away.
The man moved closer to the stone and muttered, "So the four-leaf boy is already interfering in our mission. To be able to attack when senses are blocked… seems like Yami has trained him well."
He took out a stone from his pocket and placed it in a hole in the monument. As soon as he did that, he felt the mana inside him become denser.
"The time is approaching… we will have our revenge soon."