Volume 3 - CH 6.2

And so the training continued, three weeks later.

Most of them had attained level 2 of the no chant skill, and some of them had attained level 4.

The ones that got to level 4 were the ones who had opposed me in some way, Tarshal, Aegan and the others, the five who had participated in the mock battle.

I knew they were determined to get back at me, but I didn’t see this coming…it was worth the effort to train them.

I gathered everyone together.

“Now, I know this is sudden, but the five of you who fought last time are going to have a mock battle with me. The purpose of this is to see how much you have grown in the last three weeks of training. If I don’t see any growth, you’ll have to start the training all over again.”

Almost everyone’s face turned pale at those words. Yeah, they weren’t really psyched about the idea.

“…I see. If that’s the case, I will be giving it my all.”

“If you didn’t, I was going to make you start the training all over again.”

Aegan was full of motivation, but his face tightened up.

Returning to the village from the Sea of Trees, we headed for the clearing we had used in the last mock battle.

As the five of us faced each other, the elves cheered us on.

“Give it your all!”

“Definitely! I don’t want to go through that hell training again!”

W-Was it really that bad?

It is true that somewhere along the line, I made them use magic until they ran out of mana, and beat them up to a pulp during practice exercises… 

Of course, Finne, Tendo and the others, and Kusel as well seemed relatively unconcerned, but I wonder if it was actually quite hard for them? Well, I’d like to think that they became this strong as a result.

While I was thinking about this, the five of them were setting up their weapons of choice.

“We don’t need a signal to start, do we?”

“Of course not.”

Everyone gulped and the air became tense.

Aegan was the one who broke the silence. 

In the blink of an eye, he was upon me, swinging his dagger. I drew my sword to block, but Aegan quickly retreated, probably realizing that he could not win in a contest of strength.

In the next moment, the other four were deployed around me, each unleashing their own magic along with Aegan.

Yeah, the magic is more powerful than before. 

Well, I am not about to stand around and get hit, so I shoot the exact same magic back at each of them to cancel them out. 

“Isn’t that cheating?”

“Say…do you think we can do that too?”

“With practice, yes.”

I overheard Suzuno and Asakura having this conversation, so I answered them. 

Meanwhile, the elves kept unleashing more and more magic spells.

I slashed and canceled out the various magic flying at me with my beloved black sword, the Benizakura. 

As soon as I cut through the mass of water, the magic exploded and I was enveloped in mist. 

I quickly tried to disperse the fog with wind magic, but magic and arrows came flying at me, and some of them tried to engage me in close combat. It’s probably a strategy to take away my vision and besiege me from all sides.

“Whoa.”

Too bad I possess detect presence.

I evaded the attacks completely, and when I saw an opening, I used wind magic to clear the fog. I could keep going like this, but I’d be invisible from the outside.

However, Aegan and the others were not disheartened and continued their attack.

Their coordination and the force behind the magic is much better than before.

“That’s a pretty good response.”

I praised them so, but I didn’t get a response, as if they didn’t have the leeway to.

The rear guard shot arrows enveloped in wind at me, but I knocked them down with my beloved sword.

I quickly looked for the two vanguards slashing at me from behind, and at the same time, arrows were flying at me again.

I flicked the arrows with my sword again, but at this point, Aegan, who had erased his presence, rushed in.

It’s an excellent coordination that anyone wouldn’t be able to react to, but I didn’t panic.

I hardened my left hand, the one without the sword, with the diamond skill and tried to repel the attack. But then, Aegan unexpectedly threw a dagger at me.

I reflexively knocked it away, but Aegan had already retreated.

“——A decoy”

In the next moment, magic more powerful than before came flying at me from the five who had positioned themselves around me again.

It landed squarely, sending up a cloud of dust.

“Did we get him?”

“Like I said, that’s usually a flag.”

But of course, it couldn’t break past my barrier magic.

Aegan mutters as he saw me, unperturbed when the dust cloud clears.

“I thought we finally got him…”

“Erasing your presence was a good move. I didn’t notice it until too late myself. Your coordination is definitely better than before——now then, final round, be sure to hold your ground okay?”

With that, I invoked the same intimidation as I did the last time.

“Ugh…”

This time, all five of them endured it, but it won’t be fun if that was it now would it?

I activate the combined magic of earth and fire. 

At first glance, it appears as just a lump of earth, but it has fire magic trapped inside. The moment it lands or is destroyed, it will explode.

By the way, this clearing is covered with barrier magic, so there is no need to worry about the fire spreading to the forest.

The elves avoided it without difficulty, but their eyes widened when they saw the explosion.

“Wh! What the hell?”

“Hahaha, interesting right? Magic can be arranged…if you get hit, it’ll hurt just so you know.”

I laughed as I fired off spells one after another.

Of course, if they really do get it, it’s game over, so I reduced the speed and power to the point where they could just barely avoid it.

Aegan and the others were just running away, and they seemed to have no clue how to fight back.

“Here’s another one. ——Genuine* Yamata no Orochi!” (TLN: Meaning original or true as opposed to imitation)

I invoked a spell that was an adaptation of the combined magic of gravity, darkness and fire that I had used in the Perdis capital, Yamata no Orochi.

The whole body is still black, but this time the body is made of earth compressed by gravity magic. And each of its eight heads breathes fire, water, wind, earth, lightning, ice, darkness, and light, the basic attributes except for recovery.

Everyone was surprised at the magic they had never seen before, except for Finne.

Perhaps because she had seen it once before, she wasn’t that surprised, but she tilted her head at the difference in appearance.

“I wonder if this Yamata no Orochi is based on Japanese mythology.”

“Oh, maybe so.”

Tendo and Suzuno were having such a conversation.

Of course, they’ll notice. But it’s not quite the same.

“Go!”

When I gave the order, the eight heads attacked Aegan and the other five, unleashing their magic.

The five of them froze at the sight of the magic they had never seen before, but they quickly returned fire.

The elves’ attacks, while being evasive, caused a wound on the head of the Yamata no Orochi…but the wound closed up in an instant.

“Is that more of a…Hydra, maybe?”

I heard Asakura muttering.

Oh, guess I should say as expected. I’m sure she’s a bit of an otaku*, so she must have some knowledge about fantasy stuff. (TLN: A nerd, geek) 

It didn’t seem to ring a bell, and Shinonome tilted her head.

“Hydra?”

“Yamata no Orochi does not have the ability to heal, but Hydra, famous for its deadly poison, does. It regenerates itself after every cut, which is what we call immortality.”

“…Isn’t that too OP*?” (TLN: Overpowered, too much of a cheat)

“…Well, it’s Yuki afterall.”

“…Guess you have a point.”

Hey, don’t be convinced so easily, how rude. Screw it, I don’t have the time for those guys right now. More importantly, how are Aegan and the others going to deal with this magic…

Yamata no Orochi pursues the elves, unleashing more magic.

“Damn it, there’s no way to cancel them out with our numbers! We’re gonna focus on evasive maneuver!”

“Argh!”

It is impossible to cancel out all eight attributes. Focusing on evasion here is the right call.

Following Aegan’s instructions, they all tried evading desperately, but one of them got hit.

As if they had found their prey, the eight heads converged upon him.

In the meantime, the elves, who had taken their distance, launched a simultaneous attack.

The Yamata no Orochi burned away the incoming wind-covered arrows with a breath of flame.

Another head unleashed wind magic, and the flames gained momentum.

But in the midst of it all, there was one who ran up the back of the Yamata no Orochi.

Yes, it was Aegan.

Aegan moved directly to the neck of the fire attribute and unleashed the Wind Cutter that he seemed to have been chanting.

The body of the Yamata no Orochi is made of compressed earth. This made it reasonably sturdy, but the blade of wind had easily cut off its head.

“Ooh, not bad.”

I have to admit, this was unexpected.

Aegan smiled and fell to the ground along with its head. 

However, in the next moment, the head of the fire attribute that had just been cut off grew out of the cut surface.

The Yamata no Orochi is not a living creature, but only a magic that I had given form.

If it loses its head, I just have to create it again.

Aegan’s face was tinged with surprise.

And when he landed, he and the other elves quickly distanced themselves from the Yamata no Orochi.

The elves struggled to get at the head again, but no matter how hard they dropped it, the head kept growing back.

Since I’m the one who’s sending the magic power to recover, they could just target me instead. However, it seemed that they didn’t have the luxury of doing so, as the Yamata no Orochi was attacking in waves.

This situation continued for a while, and just when I thought it was time they gave up, Aegan made his move.

He whispered something to the four of them, and then suddenly created a mist and all of them rushed at the Yamata no Orochi.

Coming up with such a strategy this late in the game, have they finally become desperate?

Inwardly disappointed, I was about to have the heads intercept them when the five of them took unexpected actions.

They all dropped their weapons and swung their fists.

I was curious as to what they were going to do, so I stopped Yamata no Orochi’s movement for a moment.

In the next moment, the elves, one by one, blew off the heads of the Yamata no Orochi with their fists, which were filled with the full force of their attribute magic.

I see, so they struck with their fists clad in magic power* itself, not magic, and then released the magic power at the moment of impact. Didn’t expect it to be that powerful. (TLN: Also known as mana, henceforth could be interchanged to avoid confusion)

Aegan and the others continued to try to blow off the other three heads, but I am not about to let that happen.

“Surprise, surprise, but I guess this is it.”

The remaining earth, water, and lightning heads unleash their attacks simultaneously.

As I tried to manipulate the earth to restrain their feet, the five of them quickly leaped to avoid it, but then a huge water ball attacked them and swallowed them.

“Mugaa?”

The five of them panicked as they couldn’t breathe and struggled to get out of the water.

The water ball was quickly released and they dropped to the ground, but were still breathing heavily and could not move.

In the meantime, a cage made of lightning surrounded the five of them. 

Looking at the slowly narrowing cage, Aegan sighed in resignation.

“…Looks like there’s no way out. Master, we give up.”

With the surrender of Aegan and the others, the game ends.

“Hmmm…well, I guess you passed. There are still some loose ends to work out, but that’s something that can only be worked out with experience. Now then, onto the next batch.”

I said, looking around the direction of the elves.

They all shook their shoulders and turned pale, but there was no way they could choose not to try.

“Come at me. If you pass, you won’t have to go through the training again!”

I said and unleashed my intimidation.

～ 

I grouped several of them together and had multiple mock battles——the results were excellent, and they all passed.

Not as good as Aegan and the others, but all of them are now quite capable of combat.

Naturally, I had Tendo and the others participate in the mock battle, and it seems their evasion and decision-making abilities had improved. Well, it looks like they still can’t beat the four heavenly kings of the demon tribe…and quite frankly, I’m not sure if these guys can beat them, really.

Finne had also grown quite a bit in her abilities, and Kusel was…right. She had become even more of a muscle head. Kinda makes me wonder, who in the world gave her an A-rank…