Chapter 132: Tracking

Lunchtime already concluded and most students are in their free time around the campus, hanging out with their friends or do miscellaneous things that they can get themselves busy. I don't know what happened after the incident in the cafeteria but I hope it is not as bad as we think. Now that I think about it, finding the perpetrator who blinded Yaya is not going to be easy. Since he was nowhere to be found even when I activated my Mana Scan around, it must mean he was far from the area of my Mana Scan range or he is using some sort of magic skill that would allow him to hide his presence from the Mana Scan coverage.

And what made him harder is the long-range attacks that can also cause trouble to protection magic users like me who can erect a barrier immediately. His attacks can transfer damage from the barrier to the user who erected the barrier, making him one of the hella dangerous individuals to face. What makes him harder to face is that we have no idea who it was and how old this guy is. He or she might be younger than us, the same age to us or older, everything about this guy is unknown.

What is worse than that is that he or she might have already blended along with the student body and the unsuspecting students we might meet might be the perpetrator.

"Kazuma, don't forget that humans and magicians have different fluctuations of mana in their bodies, so if we are going to find someone like the suspect who has no known info, mana fluctuations are the only way," Blue suggested.

"If that was the case, he might have already covered it with some sort of spell, equipment, or magic skill."

"Mana Fluctuations in the body cannot be covered or hidden by any spell, items, or any kind of magecraft you use. Your presence might be covered but hiding the mana fluctuations is not possible and that never changed even during the time where the magic users are the strongest beings on the planet. So that will be your only shot on finding this person."

I mentally take note of that and continue to follow Raigaki and Godou. Silently activating the ManaScan and keeping it running in my vision is nothing much for me. That way, I can immediately spot this person if I spot someone with different fluctuations in his or her body.

"Hey, Kazuma? Do you have any clue who this person we are dealing with? You have seen those arrow-like beams fired at us earlier, maybe those attacks are familiar to you?" Godou asked.

"That is a useless question to ask me. You know that I have barely seen any magicians except you guys in the chat group. All of our encounters lately are demons and monsters so I have no idea whose attacks are similar to that guy," I answered.

"Well, you have a point in there. But is there any other way for us to find him?"

I was about to relay the message on Godou when Blue once again started to speak in my mind.

"I would refrain from doing that if I were you."

"Why? That way, we can immediately spot the enemy easily," I said.

"Remember that the enemy is someone you don't know? What if he or she is listening? The perpetrator won't bother to stay near you guys if he or she still values his or her life unless its some suicidal bastard after hearing the method you use to track him or her. Once in a while, it is much better to conceal some information to guarantee the success of the operation and also to avoid mishaps and keep a backup plan in case things get awry," Blue explained.

"Your method is sly but it is a smart move. You have a point on that."

"Of course. Being someone older than you, experience, and knowledge are the ones I can easily impart to the younger generations. That way, mistakes will get lesser and lesser as the day goes by."

Raigaki just keeps himself quiet the entire time. He carried Kuma to avoid the students from finding out that Kuma can move without any mechanisms. He was calm and collected but I can feel that he is ready to assault anyone who will be proven as the enemy. His berserker side must have been ready to break out anytime which is bad since Yaya is not with us who can calm Raigaki easily.

The campus ground is now full of students walking around the place. I might have been calm inside but I am already having tensions while scanning every single student we passed by. As we continue to venture further around the campus, a very strong reaction suddenly appeared and not just a normal reaction, it was much stronger than Godou and Raigaki's mana fluctuations.

When I disabled my Mana Scan to see who is the one who emitted the mana fluctuations, I saw a little boy who seemed to be from a wealthy family walked by alongside two housemaids. He looked into my direction and grinned like crazy. And before I realized everything, he released a mental attack straight to my direction without any sort of warning.

"Mental Reflector!"

The voice of Inari echo in my mind and the mental attack that the boy released was immediately deflected and it disappeared. When that occurred, the boy looked at me in surprise but he grinned and shook his head before leaving.

"Is that the enemy?!" I frowned and grit my teeth. I felt that a strong mental attack that got reflected by Inari's spell.

"Master, you always need to be careful. If I didn't manage to block the incoming damage from his mental attack, your brain might have been toasted to crisp."

I paled when Inari said that. I might have died on the spot if she didn't save me from that. That was dangerous!

"Thanks for the save Inari-sama, you saved me there."

"Just be careful next time. I can't always be beside you all the time and protect like this so it is much better if you can protect yourself from those kinds of danger."

"I will keep that in mind, thanks for the reminder."

Godou and Raigaki seem to have not noticed the ruckus that kid give to me, but still, this is worrisome, is he the perpetrator? But he is just a child!

"That kid is indeed a suspect but based on the readings, he seems to have a different kind of magic power to unleash. The arrow-like beams earlier don't give off the vibe from him. Either he was the main perpetrator, connected to the real perpetrator, accomplice, or just a random kid who knows magic and tried to provoke you, it was either of those things."

"Should I tell Godou and Raigaki to the situation and how I found a suspect?"

"Keep it to yourself. We don't want chaos to ensue, especially Raigaki seems to be rather willing to beat up anyone he locked his eyes upon but be sure to keep an eye of any mental attack, if that kid will do it again, you can take an action immediately."

"Will it help to be secretive? I mean, we are looking for the culprit and anyone is a suspect. Finding the suspect right now by confronting anyone who is a suspect is much better."

"Based on the behavior of the enemy especially the way he releases the attacks to you guys without even showing his face to you guys is enough proof that he either wanted to keep himself unknown to you guys so if you tried to do the elimination method to the suspects, before that guy gets discovered by you three, he will escape and I am quite sure of that."

Just when I was about to close my Mana Scan, a huge amount of dark mana, similar to the mana I detected earlier. I can't be wrong this time around, it is the culprit!

Without waiting for Godou and Raigaki to move, I followed the dark aura's location. I can't let the perpetrator just run away and escape our grasp!