Frieren: Reincarnated As a Demon

Chapter 183: the magic spy team is defeated

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Without even opening her eyes, Solitar remained completely focused on analyzing this legendary artifact.

Though she was explaining it aloud, her tone was strangely high, as if the sheer act of studying it filled her with excitement.

Behind her, Ash sat on a fallen tree trunk, absentmindedly feeding an apple to Linie, who was perched on his lap.

At the same time, he couldn't help but feel a little concerned—

He was supposed to return to Magic City by noon.

But at this rate, that was definitely not happening.

Then again—there was no helping it.

With the barrier breached and the attack underway, they couldn't just suddenly stop everything and turn back.

At the very least—

They had to take Demont Pass, the enemy's border checkpoint.

Otherwise—if they retreated now, it would only give the enemy a chance to recover.

Worse still—

It would leave enough time for the Empire to send reinforcements.

Ash wasn't afraid.

And compared to humans, he had far more time to work with.

But there was no reason to waste the opportunity before him.

And at least for now—

The Magical Special Forces, who loved nothing more than interfering, would probably stay out of it—

Or so he thought.

Because before Solitar had even been analyzing the barrier for too long—

Ash noticed five magicians appearing on the other side.

They wore Gestapo-like uniforms, police-style dress hats, and light-colored cloaks.

Ash's expression twitched slightly.

"…They showed up just when I thought of them?"

Solitar simply smiled and turned toward him.

"I'll leave it to you to deal with them, okay~?"

"Ah, it's just five small fry with a bit of strength. No need to worry about them."

Although he said that—

He was the only one who could say such a thing.

On the opposite side, the magicians from the Magical Special Forces stared at him—

Their expressions filled with pity.

To them, he was nothing more than an ignorant fool.

After all—

The Shadow Warriors had existed for over a thousand years, dating back to the Empire's unification.

They were a special organization designed specifically for assassination—trained to eliminate magicians.

Naturally, the Magical Special Forces had an equally long history.

They were an elite unit of the Imperial Army, composed entirely of magicians.

In other words—

They were a force made up of the strongest magicians in the Empire.

A unit created to suppress civil unrest and defend the borders.

It was true that first-class magicians from the Continental Magic Association were considered the strongest magicians on the continent, including the Empire.

But the Empire had spent thousands of years militarizing magic.

Their magicians were combat specialists—experts in hunting down other magicians.

Because their role was to suppress internal conflicts, they had extensive experience in hunting human magicians.

They had never taken the so-called first-class magician exams—

Simply because they had no need to.

In a one-on-one fight, they might not always be able to defeat a first-class magician.

But that only applied to veteran first-class magicians.

If the opponent was a newcomer, like Fern or Ubel, who had merely been interviewed for the title—

Then it would be nearly impossible for them to win.

Against a magician trained specifically for battle, they wouldn't stand a chance.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the Magical Special Forces alone had the power to annihilate an entire nation.

One of the magicians glanced toward their leader, muttering under his breath—

"…We should capture them alive as soon as possible.

If Lord Baxter gets truly angry, we'll all be in serious trouble."

The captain of the Magical Special Forces, Haywood, a magician powerful enough to rival a veteran first-class magician, was an old man who looked to be in his sixties. He silently lowered the brim of his hat and walked forward.

"Understood!"

Faced with this nightmare of imperial magicians—the captain who made all the imperial magicians tremble in fear—not a single one of his arrogant subordinates dared to say anything. They quickly followed behind, waiting for the barrier to open so they could capture all three alive and hand them over to Baxter.

Three people stood at the edge of the barrier. Solitar was still concentrating on her analysis and didn't care at all about the arrival of the Magical Special Forces, leaving everything to Ash.

"Those guys look so annoying. It's rare to get a reward from Master Ash, and now they suddenly jump out…" Linie bit into the apple in her hand unhappily, muttering before raising her head and asking innocently, "Master Ash, when they come over, can I kill them too?"

"…I'll take care of that. Your mission is to protect Solitar."

"Ahhh… I want to do it too."

"Don't be willful."

As Ash bit into the apple Linie handed him, he couldn't help but think… somehow, this apple really seemed to taste better when he ate it alone. He was even a little worried that he would be led astray by Linie. After worrying for a while, he finally set Linie beside him and waited.

Not far from the barrier, a small opening suddenly appeared, and the members of the Magical Special Forces all rushed in. The member at the front, a magician skilled in close combat, raised his wand, preparing to be the first to launch a surprise attack on the three of them.

However—just as he lifted his wand, before his magic circle had even formed, before his body and wand had fully passed through the outer layer of the double-layered national defense barrier—his body was no longer under his control, and his vision tilted strangely, making it impossible for him to see the target anymore.

But the magicians behind him could clearly see that Ash in the distance had suddenly disappeared, leaving only a residual afterimage. The next moment, he was already beside them, as if he had moved through space, brushing past them and appearing behind them. However, their companion at the front seemed completely unaware of this and remained standing motionless.

Only their captain, Haywood, vaguely realized that it was Ash's hand knife that had slashed across his subordinate's neck. It was clearly just a simple strike, yet it drew a unique trajectory, carrying the force and sharpness of a blade, splitting the magician's neck and body in two. It was so sharp that even the flesh seemed slow to register the cut.

As Ash created space for them to pass, a thin red line appeared.

The magician who had been standing stiffly in place suddenly had his head fall from his shoulders, and blood gushed out like a ruptured well. His body collapsed to the ground only after Ash had already walked away.

In an instant, literally in an instant, it happened and then it was over. The entire process happened so quickly that their minds couldn't react. At first, they even thought their companion had simply frozen in place. It wasn't until his head hit the ground, until they crossed the barrier, until the opening closed again, that they realized what had truly happened.

Looking at his fallen subordinate, blood still gushing from the wound, Haywood frowned but immediately realized that it wasn't the hand strike itself that had cut him down—it was the force that emerged before the strike that had caused all this.