Chapter 96

We sped through the city in the Golem Car. At a speed approaching sixty miles per hour, the city’s residents looked at us in shock. They quickly cleared the way to avoid a traffic accident. I appreciated their quick wit. Since I was in a hurry, it wouldn’t have been strange if I’d mowed down a person or two.

Scanning the streets restlessly, I questioned Nerea in the back seat.

“Where is Mihana now?”

“She has just left my mansion… remarkably, it appears she has made off with the documents I was keeping under strict supervision.”

“The ones showing the connection with the Empire?”

“Yes. She is currently fleeing in a stolen vehicle with those documents in hand,” Nerea stated with a solemn expression.

Hearing that, I had to suppress the urge to burst out laughing. It wasn’t that Nerea’s reaction was particularly funny; rather, I was impressed by Mihana’s initiative. I’d pegged her as a bit of a coward, but she was acting quite boldly. To think she managed to snatch Nerea’s hidden documents amidst all the confusion. She might be the type who shows her true worth when cornered to the extreme.

“Is this the right path?”

“Yes, it is correct. Go straight for a while… no, turn left. She is choosing routes specifically designed to shake us off.”

Nerea groaned, a troubled look on her face. It was only natural she’d find it strange. Despite the distance between us, Mihana seemed to grasp our pursuit route perfectly.

Mihana can use magic, but she is by no means elite. Skill-wise, she’s on the same level as an average mage, if not slightly below. Even if she’s been seeking instruction from the Sage, she’s still nothing more than an amateur. Alice had already confirmed that Mihana is incapable of using wide-area detection magic.

Yet, Mihana was moving as if she accurately sensed our position. It was no wonder Nerea was bewildered. Had this been my first time witnessing it, I would have been in the same state of mind.

But the reality was different. Alice and I had spent a great deal of time researching and deducing the nature of Mihana’s ability. While there were still parts lacking confirmation, we were beginning to grasp the full picture. I had already prepared several countermeasures. I hadn’t expected to reveal them in a situation like this, but it would serve as a perfect surprise for her.

After several narrow misses, we finally caught sight of Mihana’s vehicle ahead. She was driving toward the city outskirts. The roar of her engine echoed as she charged down the street at breakneck speeds. I accelerated the Golem Car until we were driving side-by-side with her vehicle.

Opening my window, I called out to her in a casual tone.

“Hello there, cool lady. Want to go to a club with us? I know a great cocktail.”

“…”

Mihana shot back a look of pure contempt. It seemed she didn’t care for my joke.

“By the way, I hear you got your hands on the evidence of Nerea’s dirty laundry? Not bad at all. You’re living up to the Assassin King’s expectations.”

“This has nothing to do with you. More importantly…”

Mihana trailed off, glancing at Nerea in the back seat. Her face showed a flash of surprise, which was quickly replaced by a fed-up sigh.

“What a disgusting pair. Honestly, it’s not even funny.”

“You seem to be in high spirits. Is our friendship bothering you?”

A large carriage was parked ten yards ahead. I swung the steering wheel sharply to avoid it. Meanwhile, Mihana’s vehicle hit a patch of broken cobblestones, lifting her tires off the ground. She passed the carriage in a perfect two-wheel tilt. The vehicle slammed back down immediately and resumed its pace alongside the Golem Car.

I whistled at the driving technique, which seemed like a string of impossible coincidences.

“Incredible. Why don’t you switch careers and become a stuntwoman?”

“All you ever do is joke around, isn’t it!?”

Mihana yanked her wheel, slamming her vehicle into ours. The Golem Car shook from the impact, and my control slipped for a split second. Sensing a rollover, I immediately adjusted the steering and recovered. As I watched Mihana accelerate to pull away, I felt a prickling heat in my chest—the fire of my heart beginning to burn.

“…You’ve done it now.”

I grabbed a shotgun from under the seat. I’d blow out her tires or her engine with this. That should stop her.

A moment later, Mihana’s vehicle suddenly decelerated, hitting a wooden crate on the roadside and going into a spin. Amidst the high-pitched screech of brakes and a cloud of white smoke, the vehicle drifted toward our rear.

“Tch.”

Clicking my tongue, I shifted my arm and fired two rounds from the shotgun. The spread of buckshot peppered the wild car body. Holes opened up in the side doors and the edge of the hood.

However, that was all. The vehicle finished its spin with convenient timing and continued driving as if nothing had happened. It seemed the shots hadn’t damaged the internal machinery. My aim must have been thrown off by the irregular movement.

I tossed the empty shotgun to Alice.

“Reload it for me.”

“Leave it to me,” Alice said.

This time, I drew my handgun and fired in rapid succession. Almost simultaneously, the front of Mihana’s vehicle was covered in ice. She had used magic. The instantly generated layer of ice blocked the bullets, mitigating the damage to the vehicle. In that brief window, Mihana swerved around a corner, sparks flying as her car scraped against the walls, and disappeared into the back alleys.

“Good grief, what a wild mare…”

I chuckled and lowered my handgun, then issued instructions to Nerea, who was fidgeting in the back seat. “Tell me a route where I can head her off.”

“Understood!” Nerea replied, eager to please. She immediately began to navigate. She was likely spreading her clones in every direction, speaking while cross-referencing the city’s layout. While gathering and processing information in real-time while monitoring Mihana’s movements must have been a Herculean task, her guidance didn’t falter for a second. As expected of a Sorceress serving as a Representative of Eurea.

I drove the Golem Car exactly as she directed.

“Ah, she has stopped inside an alley! She’s starting to double back the way she came. This is strange; she shouldn’t have realized our current location yet…”

“She predicted we’d try to head her off. That’s the only explanation.”

What’s more, her timing was impeccable. Without Nerea’s surveillance, we would have lost a significant amount of ground. It truly seemed like Mihana was consistently choosing the optimal solution. I pulled the Golem Car into a sharp U-turn, returning to a point where we could intercept her.

During the turn, Nerea spoke up again. “Sh-she turned into a narrow passage. She’s forcing her way through by smashing through the walls of an abandoned house… It seems she intends to take the shortest path out of the city.”

“Hahaha, a bold move. Let’s catch her and sue her for property damage.”

She was probably past the point of caring about appearances. And she had nerves of steel. At this rate, she’d escape the city before we could catch up. That would be a pain. I had to settle this inside the city for sure.

I caught Nerea’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “Use your illusions to buy some time, but be careful not to let her sense you. Can you do it?”

“Of course! I shall execute it immediately.”

“I’m counting on you.”

Illusions were, as the name suggested, arts used to deceive the opponent. In this world, they were a specific genre within magic and sorcery. While the mechanisms and methods varied, the primary effect was showing the target a fantasy. Nerea would apply this to Mihana via her clones.

If the deductions Alice and I had made were correct, Mihana wouldn’t be able to handle illusions. Furthermore, casting an illusion would likely weaken that bizarre evasion ability of hers. It might not be obvious to the naked eye, but some sort of malfunction was bound to occur.

Originally, we had planned to use Alice’s magic to show her illusions. However, now that Nerea was an ally, I judged it better to leave it to her. When it came to the application of deceiving someone, sorcery apparently held the advantage over standard magic. For a Sorceress like Nerea, this was essentially her specialty.

“I have cast the illusion upon her. I am currently making her misperceive the surrounding scenery. How shall we proceed?”

“Can you lead her toward us?”

“Yes, it is possible!”

As the Golem Car sped down the city’s main thoroughfare, a house far ahead suddenly exploded. I brought the Golem Car to a halt. Bursting out from the wreckage with a deafening roar was Mihana’s vehicle.

The car body was even more battered than before, dented in countless places. Not a single pane of glass remained, and one of the rear tires was flat. It drove with a grating sound of friction. The fact that the vehicle was moving at all was likely thanks to Mihana’s ability barely keeping it functional. Even while hampered by the illusion, she seemed to be avoiding fatal damage somehow. I had to offer a modicum of praise for that sheer tenacity.

Mihana’s vehicle swerved violently, going berserk as it slammed into obstacles left and right. People nearby scrambled to get out of the way. The car was charging straight toward us. Nerea’s illusion must have been showing her a clear, false path. The three-hundred-yard gap closed rapidly.

The preparations were complete. Mihana hadn’t noticed our presence yet. It was time to deliver a powerful blow.

“Nerea, grab those black cylindrical bombs over there.”

“Um, how many do you need?”

“All of them.”

I took the five bombs from Nerea and lit them with a lighter. Leaning out of the window, I hurled them forward. Black smoke billowed from the bombs as they tumbled across the cobblestones. The smoke rose in thick clouds, filling the entire width of the street in an instant. The oncoming vehicle vanished from sight.

“Alice, the wind.”

“Right, I’m on it.”

A tailwind generated by Alice’s magic pushed the black smoke forward. I couldn’t see it from here, but the smoke must have spread across the entire area of the main street, perfectly obstructing Mihana’s path. I gripped the steering wheel and hovered my foot over the accelerator.

“Doesn’t look like I can hit eighty-eight miles per hour here.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Just talking to myself.”

I slammed on the gas, and the Golem Car lunged forward. With that momentum, I dove into the black smoke. My vision was immediately cut off, so I strained my ears. The sound of an engine approached from the front. Even as I felt my pulse quicken, I didn’t let off the gas.

“Oh.”

The word escaped my lips involuntarily. Tearing through the thick black smoke, Mihana’s vehicle appeared. Her eyes widened, and she frantically tried to turn the wheel.

But it was too late.

The next moment, with a tremendous impact, the two vehicles collided head-on.