[Extreme Mastery Achieved: 「Metal Reinforcement」 Complete]
◆ Purification of Mana Quality.
◆ Attribute Bestowal.
Purification of mana quality. Beneath it, a new line: Attribute Bestowal.
This signifies a mana aura.
It means my mana has embraced a single ‘characteristic,’ and simultaneously serves as an indicator of what realm I have reached.
[Mana Purification: Metal (金屬) · Obliteration (磨滅)]
Simply put, mana purification means the primordial impurities within my mana have been washed away and replaced by a specific nature.
“……Hmm. So he had a plan.”
Yihelm nodded and muttered.
The barrier, which had shaken as though it would shatter under the demonic bombardment, had already been repaired, now containing even sturdier mana.
The dual attributes of Metal and Obliteration.
Just as ice dwells within Yulri’s mana, just as shadow permeates Yusepin’s mana, just as wind coils around Sirio’s mana—
My mana, too, has reached that realm.
I turned to look behind me. Countless knights and mages, and roughly speaking, named figures were there.
“I will take the barrier. You all prepare for war.”
“……Ah, yes.”
Dellik and the knights moved first, followed by Yulri and Rapel.
However.
“Then what about me?”
Ipeurin strode briskly to my side. And then she shouted with a voice full of confidence.
“I will protect the Professor!”
I said.
“Get lost.”
“What?!”
Peurimien, who had been hovering nearby, chimed in.
“A mage protecting a mage is a waste. It is not very efficient, either.”
“…….”
Ipeurin puffed out her cheeks, and I spoke to her.
“You help the knights atop the barrier.”
That suits her far better.
Her mana quality, mana capacity, and talent for destruction magic are all so overwhelming compared to mine that there is no other way to describe her.
“……Fine.”
Ipeurin pursed her lips and turned around. Her previously shuffling footsteps changed to a sprint with the boom—! of the ninth bombardment.
“Rest easy. I shall also pull my weight.”
Peurimien’s words telling me to be at ease.
Knowing her origins, the bloodline of Jeokgwe, I am not entirely comfortable, but at least for now, there are no variables of death where she is concerned.
“I’ll leave my back to you.”
Tak—!
I stomped the ground with my staff that assists my mana.
Without wavering in the slightest from that position, I focus my attention on the barrier.
———!
The tenth bombardment.
But it cannot leave even the smallest scratch on my mana.
At the very least, attacks composed of demonic energy will be unable to pierce this ‘Obliteration Mana’…….
* * *
…Beyond the destroyed land. The army of myriad demons was flooding in.
Ria slapped her forehead upon seeing that sight.
If the barrier had been breached, if the defenses had been uncertain, this would have been a continent-ending event!
In other words, it also meant the overall difficulty of the main quest had risen sharply!
“Ria. Can you do it?”
Ganesha asks Ria, who is gnawing on her fingernails.
Right now, they are observing the ‘turtle’ in the demonic forest.
“Huh? Ah, yes. Of course I can. What about you, Reo?”
“Me too! Of course!”
Reo is a typical martial artist, but slightly peculiar in that he is a ‘ranged brawler.’
Reo’s punches extend incredibly far.
Ah, not like a rubber man from some pirate ship. When he throws a punch, the same force and weight is transmitted at least 50 meters.
“Shing-shing— Shing-shing— I even learned boxing from Ria!”
“Yeah! Hoo!”
Ria also exhaled deeply. After calming her body and mind, she spoke to Ganesha.
“Then I’m ready!”
“Good, good~”
Ganesha smiled brightly and snapped off a nearby branch.
The branch, saturated with demonic energy, burns human flesh, but Ganesha is unbothered.
“I’ll pop the turtle first. After that, just follow my lead, okay? Trust your combat instincts. Growing your senses is important too~”
Having finished speaking, she nonchalantly gripped the branch. She pulled her arm back straight like a javelin throw. And then.
Kwaaaaaaa─────!
She threw it.
The branch that sprang from her hand distorted the air currents as it surged forth.
A supersonic discharge several times faster than a bullet. It plunged into the turtle’s muzzle like an eruption, and the creature screamed.
Gruuugh———!
It must hurt like hell.
Ganesha’s two characteristics, 「Vajra Indestructibility」 and 「Myriad Convergence」.
「Vajra Indestructibility」 literally makes her entire body as hard as diamond, and 「Myriad Convergence」 causes that body’s hardness to spread to ‘every object she uses.’
In other words, even the ordinary branch Ganesha just threw becomes a ‘Vajra Indestructible branch’ at the moment of throw and impact.
“Hup!”
Ganesha threw branches in succession, but due to the noisy barrage, her position was very easily exposed.
Sssssss……!
The condensed demonic magic of the cult’s mages. At times like this, Ganesha is unexpectedly useless. Because she is a typical martial artist, she lacks efficient means to counter magic.
Other than beating the casters to death.
“Ria?”
“Leave it to me!”
Thus, it is Ria’s turn to step up. She closes her eyes and focuses her mind. She draws up the mana within her body like a thin membrane.
Then, a rippling blue veil forms in the empty air.
Kwaaaaa─!
Immediately after, the demonic magic surging toward this place.
However, the demonic energy cannot pass through her veil, and instead, swaaaash──!
It pours down as water spray.
This is the talent of the character named Ria─ 「Decomposer」.
Be it demonic energy, mana, or anything else, it is a fairly high-grade characteristic that decomposes by consuming mana.
Thus, Ria blocks the demonic energy and magic, Ganesha once again hurls branches at the turtle, and Reo suppresses the demonic beasts climbing up from below with ranged boxing.
It is the perfect combination and teamwork…….
“Hmm?”
However, at that moment, Ria senses something strange.
There are not many cult mages controlling that turtle. Only about ten.
Not even any warriors protecting them.
When they appeared before, there had definitely been hundreds of them.
“……Ah!”
Ria realized too late.
“This is a decoy!”
“……Decoy? Why a decoy? Where’s the decoy?”
Reo asks while swinging his fists.
“No, not that kind of decoy!”
Ria shakes her head as if frustrated and points toward the barrier in the distance.
“The cult’s forces are probably right now…….”
Recordak’s rear gate.
The cult will storm the place where the bare minimum of knights and prisoners remain to defend it.
* * *
Boom──! Boom──!
The sound of magic exploding.
Ssschwick───!
The screech of ballistas spewing arrows.
Do not flee, kill them──! For His Imperial Majesty──! Show that loyalty──!
The cries of knights entering the battlefield.
You f***ers──! Die─! Just die, you goddamn──!
The desperate struggles of prisoners gripping their weapons.
“……Hmm.”
A man with long white hair watches the war unfolding so desperately from afar.
“It seems they are holding out somehow.”
Zeit von Brugang Phairlden.
The place he stands is a mountain ridge some distance from Recordak’s entrance.
“Deculain protects the barrier, and Yulri, that one…… is engaging in battle.”
As he quietly observed the situation.
Zeit’s eyes widened round.
Fwhiiiiing——
A black wind gusted, and below, a crowd of uninvited guests draped in robes appeared.
“Uhum…….”
They were clearly poised to march on Recordak. Their killing intent surged fiercely, and bizarre, ominous demonic energy speared skyward.
“This world truly refuses to leave me alone.”
He had not come specifically to aid Recordak’s front lines…… but truly, it could not be helped.
Zeit, who had been stroking his chin in thought, leaped down from the mountain ridge.
Ka-boom──!
Closing thousands of meters in a single leap, he blocks the cult’s path with his own body.
Like a great tiger leaping over a cliff, or like a bolt of lightning striking from the sky. An utterly unexpected appearance to the enemies.
Zeit, alone and unaided.
He asks.
“Who might you lot be?”
Then, one of the uninvited guests who halted their march, a cultist priest, solemnly speaks his name.
“……Zeit.”
To such an extent that even the cult, which despises the continent’s barbarians, knows Zeit's might well. They fear him greatly.
In fact, the very reason they have hidden and nurtured their strength until now is also due to the single barrier that is Zeit.
“Ah, yes. It’s me.”
However, Zeit enjoys the fear they feel toward him.
“I heeded my old son-in-law’s words well. That fellow said the Southern expedition this time would be the continent’s strongest…… Thanks to that, I prepared my defenses quite stringently.”
Crack— crack-crack-crack—
He said so while loosening his hands.
“And so.”
The cult’s numbers now are in the hundreds, and their opponent is a single Zeit.
“It seems I have some time to spare.”
However, it is the cult that steps back.
“I came up for a moment.”
Creak—
This time, the sound from his neck.
Those insignificant movements and sounds press down on the cult like a giant press.
“However, it was too embarrassing to go see him in person.”
Thud—.
A single step taken by Zeit.
“I am sorry to my stubborn younger brother who knows nothing as well.”
Hwarrruck—— Mana ignites. Frost fragments float beside his body.
That aura constricts the cult’s breath.
“……And all the more so to Professor Deculain.”
Zeit muttered bitterly, sighed, and scratched his hair once.
“Anyway, my mood at present is quite foul.”
The atmosphere’s momentum changed drastically. He raised his head and glared at them.
His previously nonchalant expression twisted like that of a beast, and his hair swaying in the mana drifted like a ghost’s.
“It may not even serve as a venting of anger.”
The man called the current strongest on the continent.
The cult, having encountered him without warning, hurriedly attempts to formulate a retreat formation—however──
“……I suppose I’ll have to beat you lot to death.”
In that instant, Zeit charged.
Phaaaat───!
A sonic boom occurred simply from the speed of a human charging, and the ruptured air currents shook heaven and earth. The ground he stepped on was already horrifically overturned. With every stride, high-pressure explosions erupted.
And…….
Udeudeudeudeuk───!
The monstrous sound of flesh and muscle being torn apart.
Kwajijijijik───!
The sound of skulls being shattered.
Keuaaaaak───!
Screams of arms and legs literally being ‘pulled’ from bodies, of waists being severed.
Euak──! Euaaaaak──!
Here and now, a massacre quite different from the war at Recordak is unfolding.
“Welcome to winter. Know it as an honor that your end is me…….”
* * *
The war is unfolding as wars do.
Yulri feels it in her skin. On this battlefield filled with the scent of blood and death.
Kwadeudeudeuk──!
Countless swarming demonic beasts tear out prisoners’ throats. Sever knights’ arms. Rip apart legs.
Kwak─!
At one moment, a demonic beast’s claws pierce the heart of a subordinate knight.
Yulri cuts down the grappling demonic beast and approaches him.
However, his pupils already hold no light or life.
Without even time to pray for his soul, she merely closes his eyes, and Yulri swings her sword again.
Kwaaaaaa───!
The timely support of a mage descends. Wind laden with fire and oil blankets the earth.
Flames blazing across the skin, the monstrous howls of demonic beasts writhing in agony tear at the eardrums.
“Uryah!”
Deculain’s assistant, Ipeurin. An intermediate-scale fire-attribute destruction magic she had cast.
Yulri and the knights continue fighting amid the support of various magics.
“……Haa.”
However, the breath flowing between her teeth.
Quickening respiration.
Her chest gradually grows heavy, and pain pierces her heart. As if fingernails were clawing at her internal organs…….
It is due to the demonic energy seeping into her body.
“…….”
Yulri’s eyes gradually blur.
Her vision darkens, and her body refuses to obey her head’s will.
—Yulri! Are you okay?!
Coming to her senses at Gwen’s shout from somewhere, she moves her body again.
Overcome.
Right now, that single word is all that resides in her mind.
Overcome.
Overcome.
Overcome.
If I cannot overcome this demonic energy by myself, here and now.
If I collapse like a sickly person again.
—Don’t get cocky. A weakling like you is of no help at all.
Even at Deculain’s words.
—Know your place. You become a cripple inside demonic energy.
Even at those words.
—Are you going to be dead weight? Get lost.
Even at those words.
—Someone like you is completely useless. If you’re going to die, die alone. Don’t be a nuisance.
Even at those words.
—I cannot take a dying invalid as my partner. Would I bring shame to Yukrain?
Even facing all his contempt, she becomes unable to talk back.
She ends up proving that it is the truth.
“Kgh!”
Pushed back by the demonic beast’s attack, her whole body tumbles on the ground. Her armor is already smeared with blood and dirt, but Yulri rises without hesitation.
……She knows.
That this injury is of a kind she cannot overcome by herself.
The first time her dantian was damaged, she had been diagnosed with a terminal condition.
She had lived far beyond the six-month prognosis.
She had been told she could never live a life as a knight.
However…….
Deculain.
Rokpel.
Beron.
And all the others, when she thinks of everyone he had wounded.
She must not lose to him.
She cannot lose.
She hates the thought of losing more than dying.
No, not dying, but overcoming by herself.
That is what it means to defeat him……!
“——!”
She lets out a war cry and swings her sword.
Kwaaaa———!
A sword qi that splits the earth. The frigid mana emanating from the blade freezes all the demonic beasts on the other side.
“Oh, Yulri!”
Sirio’s encouragement.
“You’re okay now, right?!”
Gwen’s worry.
……And.
“Seems you’re trying your best not to become a cripple, in your own way.”
Deculain’s voice……?
Yulri turns that way in great shock.
“Ah……”
An illusion, or reality?
It is so unreal that she cannot tell which it is, but regardless.
Deculain.
He was standing there, leaning on his staff.
“Don’t look at me; look ahead.”
Yulri turns to the direction he pointed, opens her eyes wide again, and enters a combat stance.
Simultaneously, she realizes why Deculain has come here.
“……A demon.”
The tidal wave of myriad demons that seemed endless. At the end of that infinity, behind the countless demonic beasts.
A certain nameless demon has revealed its form…….