Chapter 21. S-rank mission. Part 3. The whole plan is down the drain!

The next day, in the morning, Gildarts stood in front of one of the houses, no different from the rest. A couple of minutes later, the door opened and an old man came out of him, in a simple gray shirt and trousers, with the letter "S" on his chest, and as soon as he saw the magician, he abruptly grabbed his chest and almost fell down the stairs.

- What's the matter with you, the elder, - the magician asked with a grin, - I'm alive, alive, these little teeth could not overcome me.

- Have you seen them? - With fear in his voice, he asked.

- Yes, and even sent about fifty to the next world, the weaklings are still those, - but with the next words, his smile disappeared, - But they took my student, so, old man, you better tell me everything you know, otherwise ...

- Good mister magician.

Gildarts, ready to say something else, froze abruptly and looked at the old man in surprise.

- So simple?

- If you were able to defeat these creatures, then you are strong enough.

- If so, then spread it.

- Let's go to my house, I'll tell you everything, - and without waiting for the consent of the magician, he turned and entered the house, Gildarts had no choice but to follow the old man.

***

Both sat at the table and were silent for about a minute.

- Speak already, - unable to bear the silence, said the magician.

- Where to start, - sighing, the old man poured himself some tea and taking a sip continued, - The loss began exactly five months ago. The first two weeks, we did not pay attention to it, because death is normal, but when it happened for the third time, we were worried and turned to the Duke. But he answered only a week later that we were silent about it, that he would figure it out himself. And we that, we ordinary people, believed and again a week passed, disappeared again, then again and again, unable to bear it, we again came to the Duke, but he did not even come out to meet us, but simply passed on through the maid so that they would leave and not chat language.

- And?

He sighed heavily and looked tenderly at the photograph on the table, which showed a girl with long brown hair, brown eyes and a bright smile, hugging an old man.

- The next day, at our request, a group of six magicians arrived in the city, which promised to investigate, but as you know, the next day, they simply disappeared, but what is most interesting, the loss stopped for three weeks. We thought that they coped with it and just left without saying anything, but we were wrong. After all, after three weeks, everything resumed again, but everything became much worse, the children began to disappear almost every day, and so on for a whole week. And at the end of the week, a creature came to me similar to the one that you destroyed, but three times larger and it can speak skillfully.

- You say three times more? - the magician asked in surprise, because even those monsters with which he coped were at least equal in strength to magicians of A-rank, and the red one was almost S-rank. This means that there is a monster equal in strength to an S-rank mage, which made Gildarts begin to worry about Eros. After all, it was the titan who proposed this delusional plan to hit the enemy base, but if such a creature is hiding there, then the situation is simply terrible!

- Yes, it said that we would ask the guilds for help and the lives of the other children will depend on us, because if the magicians do not come, they will start after them, so only three months later, we turned for help. Magicians come almost every week, but not alone and did not survive until the morning.

As soon as the old man finished, Gildarts thought deeply about the whole damn thing.

- Hey, why are you telling me this? - Frowning, the magician asked, - According to the last conversation, I can say for sure that you were also forbidden to talk about them either.

- So it is, - with fatigue in his voice, he said, - But there is one exception, - a sad smile appeared on his face, - If the magician survives until the morning, then we must bring him into the house and tell everything ...

The next moment, a herd of goose bumps went down Gildarts's back, he looked at the ceiling ... From him eight pairs of red eyes were looking at the magician.

Without hesitation, Gildarts grabbed the old man and unleashed his power. Under pressure, the house was simply blown to shreds.

- It was close, - with relief, the magician drawled, - You should have warned me at least.

- Don't lie, man, - a rough, hissing voice sounded from the smoke from where this creature came out, - You noticed me from the very beginning, as soon as you approached the old man's house.

Gildarts just laughed out loud at the monster's words.

- You're right, - putting the shocked elder on the ground, he began to knead his fists, - It's hard not to notice such a carcass like you, but I didn't know exactly where you were hiding.

- Gry!

- Fu doggie, - the monster growled even more and rushed at the magician, but Gildarts easily intercepted his paw and threw it in the opposite direction, flew back, where he was already met by Gildarts's fist. All that was heard was the dull sound of a blow and the crackling of bones.

The monster, like a broken toy, lay on the ground, showing no signs of life.

- It's strange, of course, usually such animals, only sensing my strength, ran away from me as far as possible, and these themselves climb, - the magician stretched out thoughtfully, stroking his chin, - Okay, tell me what else you know, - looking at the old man, he saw, as he looked behind his back with wide eyes.

Gildarts felt a strong pressure of magical force behind his back and before he could turn around, he received a blow right on the back of the head, throwing him several meters. But he quickly came to his senses. Jumping up and looking at the enemy.

There was also a creature standing in front of him, on bent legs, swaying at the same time, and a trickle of dark maroon blood flowed from his mouth, and this picture was completed by a dent in his chest in the form of a fist.

- It's strange how you can still be alive ...? - said the magician, stroking his neck, - It's unpleasant, you know, - but they didn't let him complain for a long time, the creature attacked Gildarts again, - You became stronger and faster ...

He dodged the creature's blows, while trying to study the creature closer, while provoking him with insults, but he did not react to this in any way.

- What's wrong with you? - With annoyance the magician stretched out and with one sharp blow to the shoulder, tore off the creature's hand, but what made the magician wonder is that it did not pay attention to it and continued to attack him, - "Puppet ...?" - but Gildarts quickly threw this idea out of his head, - "Before that you were definitely alive, it looks more like a living dead man ... Yes, most likely it is, which means ..."

The magician no longer began to succumb to the monster and with the next blow, tore off that head.

- Can you still move? - the creature got up again and, swaying, attacked the magician and the fact that he had no head, it did not prevent him from seeing where Gildarts was, - Is it really a puppet? Although okay, I'll figure it out later, - the magician caught the hand of the monster, - I'll have to praise Eros later, for an interesting idea, - in his other hand he created a cube that began to grow rapidly. In a couple of seconds, it grew up to ten meters, absorbing both the monster and the magician himself ...

As soon as the cube disappeared, only Gildarts remained in place, and the monster and the destroyed house disappeared.

- Old man, forgive me for the house, - the magician said guiltily, looking at him.

- Really, you were able to defeat this monster ... And it all ended ... - falling to his knees, the elder began to cry.

- I would not like to upset you, but you are wrong.

- What?

- This monster was only a puppet, and somewhere the puppeteer himself is hiding, - again Gildarts looked at the Duke's mansion, not knowing why, but he was very drawn in that direction, - Okay, I'll go visit your Duke and once again forgive for house.

All the way, Gildarts was very worried about Eros, yet it was not necessary to listen to him and agree with this delusional plan. Although there is nothing to be done now, you have to believe in him that he will be okay.

When the magician was already a kilometer from the mansion, a red bracelet lit up on his hand, and the closer he got to it, the brighter the light became.

- There you are, - the senior magician grinned, stroking the bracelet, - Not a bad toy, then you will have to make him make another one for Kanochka ...

***

Eros looked with boredom at the protruding head of the creature, and occasionally at the bracelet on his arm.

"Where is this malaise, I've been waiting for it for about three hours!" - he thought with annoyance, throwing a piece of dried bread at the creature, but he again did not react, to the hit in the head. Children who saw this, out of fear, tried to squeeze into the opposite corner, so that the monster would not suddenly think of them, - "Strange of course ..." - at that moment, the stone on the bracelet lit up and became brighter with every second, - "Well, finally- then! Still, runes are top things! " - Eros nodded contentedly, stroking the bracelet.

The creature, which had not shown any signs of "life" before, suddenly stirred and went towards Eros.

"Alive?!" - the titan thought in surprise, watching as the creature approached his cage and slowly opened it, but his next action made Eros freeze, the creature did not go in his direction, but in the opposite direction to the rest of the children.

- Everyone, stand behind me, - Julie said confidently, covering all the children with her, but from the trembling voice, it was clear that she was afraid. The boy who first spoke to Eros also stood in front of her. But the creature did not pay attention to him and grabbed the girl by the hand, pulling her towards the exit.

But when they almost left the cage, the monster froze abruptly and looked towards Eros, who had removed the silver ring from his finger.

- Well, hidden penetration did not work, - the titan said with annoyance, looking at the frozen girl, - Why didn't you say that you were a magician?

The ring was specially enchanted with titanium to suppress its magical power, up to a C-rank mage. In this way he wanted to penetrate into the very center of the enemy's lair, and when he was as close as possible to the main one, stab him in the back. And he suppressed the strength so that the enemy would not pay attention to him and consider him an ordinary weakling.

That's just where Eros came from, could know that next to him, there would be such a weak magician, who did not even know about it.

The creature released the girl and reached for the titan ...