The time left until the Traveling Merchant's invasion was about to end.
In just a matter of hours, the Kingdom would face the most mysterious [Event] we had ever seen.
A man capable of messing with my system, breaking the description, and forcing an [Event] to trigger without my input...
Even though we had gotten much stronger since the war on Maides' Island, the Traveling Merchant's Event difficulty line indicator was still in the extreme red edge.
Miwen: "If it looks impossible, even for a moment, I want you all to run back home."
Standing atop the Kingdom's wall, I repeated the phrase the girls had already heard a million times before.
Licia: "Hm. We've already sent the requests to leave, so no need to worry."
Even though most of the girls were living in the Kingdom, losing it would only be a minor inconvenience. However, Licia reassured me with her usual smile, and for a moment, I truly believed nothing would go wrong, despite my better judgment.
While Licia held my hand, Claire leaned against my shoulder, flashing a confident smile.
The other girls seemed much more anxious, even more unsure of what to expect than us. The only exception was Mia, who sat by the wall, rocking her hanging legs back and forth.
Before accepting the [Event], I spent my [Kingdom Points] to obtain Beatrice's recently acquired [Wind Magic] and [Earth Magic].
I shared both my [Wind Magic] and [Fire Magic] with Ellie so she could coat her arrow and deal even more damage with her absurdly powerful Gift, but...
That was the last preparation the girls and I came up with.
Hoping I could use the [Kingdom Points] and [Gacha Tickets] I had saved today and get this over with by trading with the guy without a fight, I accepted the [Event], forcing it to start early.
Miwen: "Get ready..."
[Invasion! The Traveling Merchant Arrives!
Before an invasion can begin, the user must add a plot of land to the Kingdom from which the invaders will come. This addition is free of charge.
Please note that Invasion Events provide greater rewards upon successful completion.]
As usual, I was bombarded with information my Gift could've told me beforehand.
Still, no matter how great the rewards were for defending the Kingdom compared to abandoning it, I wasn't much tempted. Keeping my life sounded like the much better deal.
Claire: "...The forest is expanding, Miwen."
I added the new plot of land in the square right in front of the previous one, turning the Kingdom into a large corridor.
The fog cleared before our eyes, and in its place, dark green treetops stretched as far as we could see.
Claire: "Won't that give them cover? Want me to start a fire?"
Her eyes were filled with desire.
I had no idea what her problem with forests was, or if she just enjoyed seeing large fires, but...
Miwen: "Save your mana. Whatever the case is, they only one straight path towards us."
Claire raised her finger, as if she were about to make a point, but unable to think of anything past 'I wanna set it on fire', she drooped her shoulders.
Licia: "That weird fog surrounds the forest on three sides. Since there are no landmarks or signs, maybe he'll get lost and tired?"
Optimistic as always, Licia tried to see a bright side and lift our moods, but the tension in the air was far too palpable for it to-
????????: "Eh? You think I'm an idiot?"
The silhouette of a tall man with long silver hair appeared between Licia and me in the blink of an eye.
The man wore a white suit perfectly tailored to his body and a gentle smile on his face.
If not for the bloodlust I felt emanating from him, he'd be the personification of elegance.
????????: "To be honest with you, the time prison was a much better idea. I've never been delayed so much in my life... I'm awfully annoyed by it."
His eyes reflected something so deep, it felt heavy.
Even someone like me, who had lived in relative peace, could tell...
This man had seen more blood and death than anyone on Earth.
Merchant: "...So, which of you was responsible for this prank?"
It wasn't just his eyes that felt heavy.
His words made my breath stop in my throat, and I struggled to answer him.
Miwen: "If you're talking about this land, that would be me. I'm responsible for-"
I finally pushed the words out, only for his long stare to make me flinch.
Merchant: "No. I don't think so."
He took a step back, letting his eyes reflect my figure in its entirety.
Merchant: "There's no Demonic Power or Divinity within you. And you don't look like one of the Endless, either..."
The smile he wore changed, curling upwards.
Merchant: "Although... Your Gift might be the closest thing to an Endless I've seen in a while. Seems like I didn't waste my time, after all."
He scratched his chin, and a lighthearted chuckle escaped him.
Merchant: "...Alright, I've decided. The rest of you I can do without. But you... I'll have you bring me to-"
He raised his hand.
Miwen: "Claire!"
I shouted before he could his move, and in the time he wasted speaking to me, everyone had put a distance.
Using some of my [Kingdom Points], I summoned an entire house at his exact location.
The speed at which he moved through the forest wasn't normal, but whether it was physical ability or something like teleportation didn't matter.
I used more [Kingdom Point] to launch the house in the air, and while he was still trapped inside it, Claire's flames burst the entire building into fire.
At the same time, I threw more houses into the pyre, each with a random design, turning them into a burning labyrinth with no windows or doors to escape into.
The smoke should be enough to suffocate him to death, if Claire's fire didn't do the job first.
Merchant: "That's surprising. How did someone with such a low-level used [Green Magic] and [Gravity Magic] without mana or a relic?"
He appeared from thin air in exactly the same place he was before.
Merchant: "Then again, I stopped reading your Gift's effects at the [Beverage's Banner]... I suppose the houses came from that 'gacha' ability?"
Speed wouldn't have done him any favors in midair like that. His ability had to be teleportation.
The only problem was that he didn't have a line of sight.
Maybe he could go to places he had seen at least once, but that would mean the entire Kingdom was now a valid target for his ability...
There's gotta be a weakness or limit to it, though. Normyu's Gift was also pretty overpowered but had limitations placed on it when it came to both power and quantity. As for my own Gift, the limitation comes in the form of forced randomness...
Miwen: "We're going with the ice arena, go down, everyone."
The moment I said that, everyone jumped down from their positions on the wall towards the ground.
The ice users amongst us made ice slides, while Claire used her fire to propel herself.
Beatrice grabbed Anna in a princess carry, and they both safely landed on the ground thanks to her wind magic.
As for Ellie, she did something similar but also kept firing arrows at the Merchant while free-falling. It was a bit eerie how she didn't even look at the ground for a second and just kept her attention towards the merchant.
Thanks to that, though, she seems to have managed to predict his next position as he teleported everywhere, and an arrow, way faster than the others, reached his position the moment he teleported there.
It was no use though since he simply grabbed and broke it before it reached him.
At least this confirmed that it's not only his teleportation that was troublesome, but his physical abilities also seemed pretty high.
As soon as everyone landed, Mia, Licia, and I began to make the arena as fast as we could while scattering in every direction.
Merchant: "Hm... and what's that supposed to do?"
The ground was frozen solid, and we erected a bunch of ice pillars, effectively turning the whole place inside the walls into a mirror house.
Merchant: "Oh? You're coming at me? Ha! I'll at least recognize your bravery."
Given how much Mia and Licia were proficient with ice magic, these ice pillars ended up being as reflective as actual mirrors.
By using this trickery, we were able to create a bunch of visual illusions of people chasing after him, prompting the merchant to waste his mana attacking each and every single target.
Having him waste mana was a decent strategy since we had three different mana pools working together, but it wasn't only that.
Thanks to Ellie's wind magic allowing her to change her arrow's trajectory and the reflections of the ice pillars, she had suddenly become the most annoying archer in the world.
Arrows you thought were misfired would correct their trajectory towards you, some wouldn't be real, while others would appear to have been multiplied, making it hard to know where they came from and which one was real.
The bullet hell she created wasn't the only problem for him though. The images continued to run towards him even though not one of us tried to directly attack him.
In time, he noticed this pattern and stopped trying to destroy them, focusing on doing and destroying Ellie's arrows.
With that, we managed to trade his mana and energy for Ellie's unlimited supply of arrows.
If we kept at it for long enough, we should be able to win, and to make things even harder for him, we decided to send in a real attack this time.
Using the fake images of the mirrors, he had stopped attacking, I got close enough to stab him.
But the moment I did, I realized how much of a mistake I had committed.
Merchant: "I can still hear you, you know?"
...That wasn't a warning meant for me.
He didn't even have to pay attention to what I was doing, and actually let myself get close to him on purpose.
After all, there was no risk since I couldn't pierce him with my dagger.
No... that warning was meant for Mia.
She jumped from another direction, throwing her fists enhanced with ice magic, but the Merchant only grabbed her hand.
Mia: "Get out!"
She used her fists to try to freeze both of them together, like how Licia had once done with her sword.
This gave me enough time to jump back, but I couldn't allow her to be in such close proximity to him, and accepted the request she had left prior to this, making her leave the kingdom.
As soon as she was gone, the Merchant broke the ice block that Mia made around his hand.
Ellie tried to keep firing at him as soon as I left, but...
Merchant: "I've seen enough."
From his shoes, flames started to spread. It melted the ice, but even though Beatrice used her water magic to help as Licia and I kept trying to remake it, we couldn't compete with him at all, and in a matter of seconds, the whole arena melted away.
Merchant: "I hope that wasn't the last trick on your bag... hm? I can't sense the wolf anymore..."
...So he could sense us... there was no point in the mirror house then... still, he let us attack him for his own amusement?
Ah... I see... he's only toying with us.
The look on his face remains unchanged as if he's enjoying a little stroll...
I wasn't wrong... he looks at us as if we are the smallest of ants.
...So that's the case then.
Miwen: "Guys... thanks for the help."
Licia: "Miwen? wha-"
I accepted everyone's request, making it so that only the merchant and I remained in the kingdom.
Merchant: "Oh... If you can escape like that, I don't see a reason for you to sacrifice your life here... but I suppose I never understood that way of thinking to begin with."
Miwen: "Don't worry. I can't comprehend someone who'd do that either..."
That is to say...
Miwen: "I'm not making any sacrifice here, I fully intend on defeating you."
Merchant: "Hahaha! Seriously? A being like you couldn't even hope to survive a flick from me."
Miwen: "I know. It's exactly why you're going to lose."
I couldn't get a single piece of information using [Appraisal] on him, not even his name showed up, much less his skills, and that's taking into account that my [Appraisal] was capable of at least informing me of Melissa's level way back when it was only at level 1.
This by itself told me that this guy, as I feared, was in an entirely different league.
Melissa could probably take on an entire party of high-rankers back on Earth.
This guy? He might be able to defeat everyone on Earth single-handedly.
Given that, I now know that there's no way I'm losing here.
Merchant: "Give it your best shot then. If you entertain me enough, I'll at least give you time for some nice last words."
Our unfair battle commenced, and its result would lead both of us into a path we couldn't come back from.