Chapter 119: Large-Scale Barrier
In response to Kalawarna's question, the group thought for a moment and then nodded.
Mittelt's appearance and characteristics were quite striking, and during her mission she would certainly reveal her true form. Combined with her identity as a fallen angel, anyone who had seen her would find it hard to forget.
"I saw her at Lake Miktsu around noon today. She seemed to be fighting with someone."
"I saw her in the western part of the forest, and she even teased me."
"I saw her flying toward the mountain peak carrying a box, humming a tune as she flew."
"I saw..."
After the youkai chattered for a while, Haruto grew increasingly confused.
"Wait, wait," he interrupted. "Tell me the time when you saw her too."
A moment later, based on the youkai's accounts, Haruto roughly pieced together what had happened.
Mittelt's mission should have been successful, but for some reason she hadn't returned. Instead, she had headed toward the peak of Mount Miktsu.
After thinking for a while, Haruto asked another question: "Who is the strongest in Mount Miktsu?"
"The strongest..." The youkai looked at each other, unable to come up with an answer for a long time.
They themselves were probably the strongest around, but they didn't dare say that in front of these three intimidating figures.
Haruto frowned and rephrased his question. "Who is the ruler, or manager, of Mount Miktsu?"
After a moment of silence, one brave youkai spoke up: "Mount Miktsu is chaotic, with frequent and complex comings and goings of people. There aren't many resources here either, so there's no such thing as a manager or ruler."
"Uh..." Haruto's mouth twitched. Alright, he had overthought it.
"So there's no one in this area with A-rank strength or higher?"
Several youkai answered in unison, "No."
"With that kind of power, who would still hole up here?" It was the same bold youkai who added, "As long as you're careful, A-ranks don't need to worry about being hunted. The human world is much more interesting than deep mountains and old forests."
Haruto glanced at the speaker. If the timing weren't inappropriate, he'd really like to chat with these youkai. Since they knew the human world was interesting, why commit crimes and become stray devils?
As long as they didn't act recklessly, no one would bother them for using some abilities.
With their strength, they could live quite comfortably in human society.
After scanning them briefly and confirming none were on the wanted list, Haruto said calmly, "I'll let you off this time, but if you show up in Kuoh Town, don't blame me."
As he spoke, he flashed the Gremory family crest on the back of his hand, making the youkai tremble with fear.
They didn't know Haruto's exact strength, but among the three, Haruto was clearly the leader, obviously stronger than the fallen angel who had instantly killed the wolf youkai earlier, and he was actually from the Gremory family responsible for Kuoh Town's security...
Only when Haruto's group had disappeared from view did the youkai dare to move and leave.
After hearing the local youkai's explanation, Haruto's group felt somewhat relieved.
Though they still didn't know why Mittelt had lost contact, she probably wasn't in life-threatening danger.
The three flew up the mountain path. Haruto had been using detection magic all along the way, finally discovering a highly suspicious spot near the mountaintop.
"Stop."
Haruto slowly descended to the ground, then approached the chaotic area he sensed in his perception.
Bzzz—
A sudden vibration echoed in their ears. All three felt dizzy, and the dark night before their eyes abruptly brightened.
"Lady Raynare! And Warna and Haruto!"
While Haruto was vigorously shaking his head, trying to quickly shake off the dizziness, a familiar voice came from nearby.
The lively girl's voice was full of surprise - it was Mittelt, whom Haruto's group had been searching for.
"Mittelt..." Haruto, being the strongest, recovered first. "I knew you'd be here."
When he detected something strange about this area, Haruto had guessed Mittelt was likely here.
"Mhm, mhm."
Mittelt nodded happily, then asked curiously, "But why did you all come here too?"
"Of course to find some naughty child who's been playing outside and forgot to come home." Yuuma rubbed her head, glaring unhappily at the perfectly fine Mittelt.
After confirming she was okay, her anger couldn't help but rise. She asked coldly, "Mittelt, why didn't you return after completing the mission? Why couldn't we contact you?"
"Lady Raynare, it's not that I didn't want to return - I couldn't return."
The golden-haired fallen angel girl in a maid outfit showed a wronged expression and explained, "After completing the mission, I saw there was still time and wanted to visit the mountaintop before flying back directly. But when I passed through here, I was suddenly sucked in. No matter how I walked or flew, I couldn't get out."
"Can't get out?"
Yuuma murmured to herself, instinctively surveying her surroundings, only to realize the scene before her was completely different.
Earlier, the three of them had been in Mount Mitsu, and it was the middle of the night, but now it was daytime, and the terrain didn't seem to be in the mountains at all.
Yuuma asked Mittelt, "What's going on here? Is there any danger? What exactly does 'can't get out' mean?"
Mittelt blinked, "Uh... I don't know where this is either. There shouldn't be any danger. As for not being able to leave... Lady Raynare, you should try it yourself. I don't know how to describe it."
Haruto overheard the conversation between Yuuma and Mittelt, and he also tried walking back the way they came, only to find that once he went beyond three hundred meters, he would be teleported back to his original position.
It was the same no matter which direction he went, and even flying upward yielded the same result.
Glancing at the solid ground, Haruto gave up on the idea of digging three hundred meters down.
Even with his current strength, digging three hundred meters down wouldn't be an easy task.
After wandering around for a while and combining it with the information Mittelt provided, Haruto had a rough idea of what was going on.
It seemed they were trapped by a large barrier—either hemispherical or circular—with a radius of three hundred meters.
This barrier only allowed entry, not exit. Once they reached the edge, they would be teleported back to the center.
Inside, it was peaceful and sunny, perpetually daytime, with no danger, but also no food or water.
Moreover, the barrier blocked both phone signals and the transmission of magical power, so Mittelt couldn't respond to Yuuma's attempts to contact her.
They didn't know how much time had passed—their phones had long since run out of battery—and the three women and one man sat in a circle, cross-legged, at the center point where they had been teleported in.
"What should we do? Should we try breaking it by force?" Haruto propped his chin on his hand, giving up on thinking and deciding to act recklessly.
They had tried all the conventional methods—searching for the barrier's center, looking for magical nodes, identifying inconsistencies—but none of it worked. They simply couldn't get out.
They hadn't even been able to figure out what this invisible barrier actually looked like.