Chapter 32 - Old Enemy 2

Cecil activated mana burst and kicked off the ground and dashed towards the nearest Blade Ursa.

The thought of taking down the monster with his own hands excited him a bit.

Cecil's movement was so fast that it looked like he teleported behind an ursa from where he was standing.

Cathy and Milly were naturally surprised seeing him move so fast, due to their surprise the two had involuntarily exclaimed,

"Shukuchi?!"

Only Lucia seemed calm after seeing Cecil move so fast for the first time. Earlier, Cecil had already secretly explained to her why he was suddenly able to use ground breaker.

So Lucia was fully aware of all the details to Cecil's Mana Burst. She only took a glance at Cecil and seeing him attack so eagerly, Lucia continued channeling her spell and sent them slicing towards the ursa Miles and Tyr were assaulting.

Milly quickly snapped out of her surprise after seeing Lucia's spell being launched at the monsters. She quickly followed suit and began firing at the ursas with flame lances.

'So he can also use wind magic spells.' Milly thought.

She took another glance at the small fox boy that was darting around at blinding speeds whilst slashing at multiple ursas with his sword.

*sigh* 'He was holding back while he was already holding back.' She lamented in her mind.

Milly had already thought that Cecil was finally showing his 100% after ambush this morning, but it seems Cecil had only used a fraction of what he was capable of.

On the side, Cathy mumbled to her,

"C-cecil's like a b-box of s-surprises..."

"Haha, there's more to him than this."

She turned a surreptitious glance to Lucia who was not far from her.

'Even Lucia's the same. Just where did these two pop out from?'

While she was thinking so, Lucia turned to her and said,

"Milly! Tell everyone to get back! I'll make an opening!"

"E-eh? Okay!"

Lucia put a stop to her barrage and started chanting loudly,

"Surge in multo igni–"

"W-what?!"

Milly recognized the chant right away. It was the chant to the intermediate fire magic spell Scorching Array. It was a spell only spell casters who had reached the Mana Sea stage could cast!

'I-isn't she only at the Mana Vapor stage!'

Seeing Lucia already halfway through her chant, Milly quickly shouted to the wolf and boys who were at the front.

"EVERYONE! GET BACK! LUCIA'S USING SCORCHING ARRAY!"

Tyr and Miles were surprised hearing that an intermediate spell was being used, they quickly backed off. The ursas that were attacking them tried to chase after, but Silver started stalling them by firing off Wind Sickles from afar.

Cecil was still in the heat of battle, but he already felt Lucia gathering a huge amount of mana from the surroundings ever since she started chanting.

Cecil upped his tempo and started indiscriminately slashing at any ursa around him. He was trying to bait some of the ursas so Lucia's spell wouldn't accidently hit the party they were trying to save.

Of course, Lucia wasn't that stupid enough to use the wide area spell and accidently affect her allies.

But even so, Cecil wanted to make precautions. He continued slashing at as many ursas as he could, when he saw that he had successfully garnered their attention, he started to back off.

The ursas were only monsters and didn't think any further except to rend the bastard who sliced their flesh. They saw he bloodied sword that Cecil was wielding and realized that the small fox boy was the source of their pain.

Seeing as the fox boy was backing off, the ursas immediately chased after him.

Cecil didn't activate his Mana Burst as he was backing off. He needed to lure the ursas away so he at least needed to be visible to them.

While he was retreating, Cecil was thinking about his earlier bout.

'I still can't slice them in half or chop off their arms even with the sword. I channeled enough mana into the blade so why can't I?'

Cecil was thinking about why, but then he suddenly felt that the mana in the air gather around his area quickly.

'Seems like Lucia's finished.'

He quickly activated his mana sight and looked around. He saw the mana in the air quickly forming into a spell crest. He activated Mana Burst and blinked away from the area.

Cecil arrived next to his party and saw that the ursas were dumbfounded when the prey they were chasing suddenly disappeared. Next to him, Lucia quickly finished her chant and pointed at the ursas.

"...–. Scorching Array!"

With his mana sight still active, Cecil saw that the fire element mana in the air quickly gathering. The mana then changed into fire and a pillar of fire rose up from the ground where the ursas he lured out were standing.

CRACKLE SHIIIIIIIIIIIIII

A high pitched screech accompanied the spontaneous combustion of flames that rose from the ground. The crackling was the sound of ursa being cooked.

'Heh, magic can really create something out of nothing!' Cecil thought.

Well, creating something out of nothing was a little bit of a stretch here. The flames were still created from mana turning into fire so it wasn't exactly 'nothing'.

'Anyway, since at least half of the pack is being roasted over there. Let's deal with the other half.'

Cecil leaned forward while activating Mana Burst again.

"Hup!"

With a shout he quickly disappeared from where he was standing. Silver also quickly dashed forwards to attack the remaining ursas.

Seeing the two's actions, everyone else besides Lucia, who was still channeling her spell, quickly remembered what they were supposed to be doing.

Milly immediately exclaimed,

"Lucia's dealt with half the pack now! Let's finish the rest and rescue that party!"

"OU!"

With a spirited shout, Tyr dashed towards the remaining ursas with Miles following right beside him.

With half the tribe of ursa out of the way, they could now see the party that they were supposed to rescue. There were still at least 3 people fending off the ursas while 2 others were being dragged away from the fight by 1 of their party members.

"CATHY!"

"Y-yes..."

Cathy ran forward while chanting a healing spell. Although they were far, as long as Miles and the rest attracted the ursa tribe's attention, she should be able to get to a close, but safe distance to be able to use a remote healing spell on the two who were injured.

Sure enough, with Cecil, Tyr and the rest attracting their attention, Cathy and Milly were able to get close enough to heal the injured party members.

"Healing Wave!"

Cathy finished her chant and pointed her rod at the two who were injured. As long as she was close enough and had visibility of her target, she would be able to successfully heal anyone!

"T-thanks!"

Surprised at the sudden healing spell, the boy who was dragging his two party members quickly looked up and shouted his thanks at them.

The ursas who sensed the healing spell from Cathy immediately roared ferociously and turned towards her.

This wasn't the first time this had happened and she quickly retreated along with Milly who was now firing magic spells covering their retreat.

"CECIL!"

Before Milly even shouted, Cecil had already blinked in front of the ursa who was just about to charge at the duo.

Cecil jumped up and kicked at the bear's face. With its head suddenly snapped back, the ursa was disorientated and started falling backwards.

Cecil wasn't one to show mercy so he quickly started channeling mana into his sword. This time though, he channeled more than he usually did.

'If my last strikes didn't work, then let's add more mana then!'

This was a reckless act on Cecil's part, but he was in the heat of the moment so he didn't care about the consequences.

He channeled enough mana into his sword that made the blade light up and tremble.

"URRAAAHH!"

With a shout, Cecil slashed his sword at the neck of the ursa while he was falling from his jump.

Cecil wanted to cleave off the monster's head, but when he drove his blade across the monster's neck, he felt as if he wasn't even slashing through anything.

'W-what?!'

BOOOOMMMMMMMM

As Cecil was surprised at the sensation he didn't feel from his hand, an explosion followed suit right after his momentary lapse of attention.