Shikkaku Mon no Saikyou Kenja~ Sekai Saikyou no Kenja ga Sarani Tsuyoku Naru Tameni Tenseishimashita~

Chapter 313: Strongest Sage, Discovers Someone Unexpected

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A while later.

We're walking toward Zadoria in aloha shirts Ruli made.

"Think it's about time we start concealing our mana."

I put [Mana Concealment] on Iris.

Iris's mana would have straight up revealed us no matter the disguise we put on otherwise.

With this magic… Her mana will be hidden unless it's getting specifically probed.

"…Iris-san's mana reaction disappeared!"

"Mathi-kun, you can do something like that!?"

Ruli and Alma were shocked at the disappearance of Iris's mana.

This magic is exactly like its name suggests, it conceals target's mana.

It's difficult to put on a bearer of enormous mana like Iris… But I can somehow manage now thanks to my reinforced magic circuits I got from Gaias resurrection.

That said, I can't fight while maintaining this, so I'm gonna need to remove the spell when we engage in a battle.

"Yeah. It's only been recently I can cast it on Iris… Let me adjust it a bit, having utterly no mana is not natural."

I adjust the output of [Mana Concealment].

Then Iris's mana reaction got to around average human's level.

Now we won't get found out the instant we enter the town.

…The mana leaking out of her is slightly different than that of human though so she still can be found out if you observe closely.

I check the mana reactions inside the town while thinking.

"…Doesn't seem like there's a demon at a glance."

"I don't see any demonic mana anywhere…"

"Maybe that magic really did kill it off?"

Ruli and Alma couldn't detect the demon's mana either.

But we can't relax our guard yet.

"Greater demons are great at hiding their mana. We're unlikely able to detect it unless we get close to it if it really intends on hiding its mana."

"The image I have on demons don't really fit with the word hidden…"

"Yeah. Hiding that much mana will be difficult, and they normally won't try to… But I believe it's doing exactly that right now. After all, 1,200 of its kins have just dropped dead recently."

And… The demon is most definitely on high alert right about now.

After all, this was right after the annihilation of other demons by way of [Eye of Heaven].

The demon probably has no clue about [Eye of Heaven].

That's my original magic… In other words, it had never been cast in the past several thousand years.

From demons' point of view, it must look like… some kind of unknown attack raining down upon the earth killing their kins.

…You're crazy if that situation doesn't put you on high alert.

At the very least, you'd attempt to hide your mana from being detected by this unknown enemy.

"Now that you mention it, that makes sense…"

"It's a shame that we can't use mana detection though."

Ruli check the surrounding mana after saying that.

But there's no response anywhere.

"…But it's not all bad."

"There's good things too?"

"Yeah. For example, the [Mana Concealment] I put on Iris… [Active Detection] will immediately expose it."

[Mana Concealment] is a magic that erases the target's mana emission en route, avoiding [Passive Detection] in the process.

But since [Mana Concealment] also erases mana coming from [Active Detection], the mana in that spot alone won't return to the [Active Detection] user… Creating an unnatural situation.

There are ways to deal with this problem, but it's not applicable to Iris due to her enormous mana.

"[Active Detection]… It's the magic that emit your own mana and then detect the rebounded mana?"

"Yeah. [Active Detection] can be used to immediately find [Mana Concealment]… But [Active Detection] is practically like announcing your own location. If the other party is trying to avoid detection, it won't attempt to cast the spell."

In other words… We're in a situation that discourage the usage of detection on both sides.

"Err, it's like we're both groping around in the dark then?"

"Close enough."

If the greater demon wasn't hiding its mana, both sides would have likely found out each other locations, and it would turn into a frontal brawl in Zadoria.

Compared to that, this situation where both sides can't see each other mana reactions will make the battle easier.

In term of pure power, I can't win against demons as usual.

The more it consists of technical matches, the higher my chance at winning.

We pass through the town gate while thinking.

Then… I found a familiar mana reaction inside the town.

This mana reaction… resembles Giruas.

"…Is that a mana reaction from Giruas?"

Giruas is a rank S adventurer from Raginia Union.

He lost to me in the rank up test, learned chantless magic and eventually got strong enough to kill a demon alone.

Wonder why that Giruas is here.

This place should be within Eis Kingdom's territory.