CH 44

—The hero Ark is carried off stage by the Royal Castle Guards, and as early as the third and final duel between the SS vs. the heroes group is about to begin.

“[Princess Leia SS Spera] vs [Agranis, the sorcerer of the heroes’ group]! Both go to the stage!”

At the same time as Morgan-san’s words, Agranis teleported onto the stage. The surprise of the Royal Castle Guards was combined with gasps of breath.

…Heh, how can I say, she looks like she’s used to engaging in combat. The sudden teleportation just now is probably a sort of performance to bring the mood into their own flow.

“Spera-san, in any case, don’t let your guard down. I can guess the general level from the stories of the mountain range they’re struggling with, and I don’t think we’ll lose normally, but… that sorcerer Agranis or whatever she is, I don’t know for sure what she’s capable of doing.”

“Rest assured, Gustav-san. It is not possible for me to lose to a human sorcerer.”

“No, that’s a total defeat flag!”

“I’m off then.”

“Wait!”

Without regard to anything I say, Spera climbs onto the stage.

“Well, I wonder if she’ll be all right…”

“Umm… the only thing I can do is hope she’ll be okay.”

Nina, like me, seems to be somewhat on edge.

… Anyway, I hope she doesn’t let her guard down and gets caught flat-footed.

“The third match, let’s begin!”

A signal was given by Morgan-san, and immediately Agranis moved.

“[Dimension Fleurs Arrows]”

As Agranis chanted, a large purple ball of light floated around her, and then it seemed to shoot out like a machine gun, surrounding Spera. And that was not all.

“[Lake of Kruzia, fallen, ugly, rotting indigo algae, so sink the saint with your filthy, brittle hands – Duckweed Bondage]”.

It was a chant I had never heard before. As soon as she finished chanting, filthy sludge tentacles extended from the ground around where Spera stood, constricting and binding her body.

“That was…?”

“I’ve never heard of this magic before…!”

The guards around the area all rustled. I’m a little surprised, too. …What is this long chant that seems to be made up of words found by digging through black history notebooks? It was as different from a chant that simply uttered the name of the magic. Of course, there is no magic in the game that has such activation conditions.

…Agranis, I had assumed that there was something about the character that I didn’t know, but I didn’t expect that she even used magic that I had no knowledge of.

“Hmph, how do you like it? Do you get a taste of my sorcery?”

Agranis flashed a scornful smile at Spera.

“I have been studying sorcery for 100 years, and my level has also exceeded 39 with the amulet of a hero. As a sorcerer, I no longer have any enemies other than the Demon King! Now, what can you do, you lazy slacker Elf whose only merit is a long life? Is there anything you can do?”

“—”

“No? Hmph! Yes, all your victories up to now were for nothing. If I finally demonstrate my superiority as a genius sorcerer, that will be the end of it! I’ll take Sir Gustav and Miss Nina!”

Spera doesn’t utter a single word, but simply looks at the tentacles that bind her tightly with round eyes. In the eyes of almost everyone, Spera was clearly and overwhelmingly inferior.

“Gustav, are you worried?”

But even under such circumstances, Nina looked up at me with a nonchalant expression on her face. She must have thought that I was feeling uneasy about something because I had been so silent.

…No way, no way, no way.

“No, I was just thinking.”

“You mean about Spera?”

“Not quite, I guess. I was a bit worried about Spera at first, but… you know?”

“Right. Agranis is playing with the wrong person.”

“Yeah, Totally.”

Nina and I both look at each other and chuckle.

I look up at the stage and see that the situation has accelerated even further. Perhaps Agranis had invoked some unknown magic again. A huge purple ball, also unknown to me, enveloped Spera, and was surrounded by purple spears.

But I am not worried at all. Because Spera’s expression, which was always cool and composed in the manner of a “Cool woman” whenever she made a joke of any kind, was now distorted into what? Isn’t that a twisted in wholeheartedly delightful look?

“…What are you laughing at?”

Agranis squinted doubtfully. That’s just as well, because at first glance the overwhelmingly disadvantaged Spera was suddenly all smiles.

“Don’t tell me you don’t understand your situation because it was too fast to for to prosess?”

“No, I do know. It’s very good magic. It’s all from a tradition I don’t know, and it’s also very well trained for a mere human… Hmm, it’s very interesting.”

“…Hm. I wonder if elves, who live for thousands of years without doing anything, are dull to the point of insensitivity? I won’t kill you, but an arm or two will do!”

Agranis held her hand out towards Spera, and instantly the arrows and spears that had surrounded Spera were shot from above, below, right and left.

“Hmph! It’s no use dodging or repelling them! That purple sphere can bounce any magical attack that comes within itself. In other words, unless you can do something about that sphere, you will suffer a perpetual rain of arrows and spears that will keep bouncing around inside it!”

“It’s good sorcery, Agranis and all. But it’s still not quite ready yet.”

“…what?”

Instead of answering, Spera snapped her fingers. Then, the slime began to move, the sludge tentacles that had been binding Spera’s body up to that point. They swallowed all the arrows and spears that flew at her.

“Eh?”

“You neglected to clean up after your magic. Since you were able to give the order to tie me up, I even accepted the order afterwards. But you only bound me and gave up the right to command me… there’s no reason why you can’t be taken over.”

“That’s ridiculous…?”

“It was quite interesting magic, by the way. It must have come from a different civilisation, so it was worth analysing… Now, it’s time to get this sphere out of the way – [Irace Magic].”

Spela chanted, and in an instant the sphere surrounding her vanished.

“Tsk! [Dimension Arrows]”

Agranis takes a distance and creates a purple arrow again. But sudanck! Sudanck! And they were shot down before they could be released. By Spela’s ball of flame, which was released with no motion at all.

“Ugh, no way…! No way, Chantless Magic?”

“What are you surprised about? It’s the basics of low-level offensive magic, the basics of chantless art, which is matter of fact for a sorcerer .”

Every time Spera points a finger, a fireball flies in that direction. All of Agranis’ attacks were controlled by Spela the moment they were launched.

“…. the game is over.”

“Yes.”

Muttering like that, Nina and I were already at ease. Spera, who was fighting on stage without danger and rather happily, was no longer defeated.

“It must have been a lot of work… moving Spera-san.”

“Well… if anything, it was harder to carry the massive amount of magic books in Spera’s house than it was to evacuate all the elves.”

“How many times did you have to make the carriage go back and forth…?”

“Four times.”

The large number of magic books in Spera’s house, all of which had been read through until they were in tatters. According to them, Spera had hardly ever left her village. She didn’t hunt. She didn’t tinker in the fields. She just stayed at home, reading, researching, and testing magic books… for about 300 years.

…A slacker elf? That’s absurd.

“I don’t know what Agranis is… but if you want to beat Spera-san in magic, you have to be ridiculously high level first.”

On stage, Spera, who was in complete control of the situation, had Agranis cornered to the edge. Agranis was on the defensive with a purple shield against a barrage of small fire magic. Paling… oh, it cracked.

“Kuk, [Absolute Shield]!”

“I’m tired of seeing that.”

A flaming sword extends from Spera’s hand, cutting the purple shield Agranis produced in half.

“Anything else? Are there no more others? Any magic you haven’t cast yet?”

“Nah…nah…ah…!”

“…There are none? That’s a pity. Then let’s put an end to it – [Time Disruption].”

And Spera chanted this as she pressed her hand against Agranis’ chest, which was now at zero distance.

“Yes, now she won’t be able to move her body as she wants for a while. Nor will she be able to avoid my next attack. Like this.”

The fireball from Spera’s finger went towards Agranis’ unprotected face… and deviated to the side just in time.

“Well, I guess you did well for a human… but my victory is no surprise.”

─ ─ Spela, the most powerful person in the Elven village. Level 43, her expression somewhat radiant. She must have been very happy to have seen a new type of magic.

“The winner, Spela!”

At the sound of Morgan-san’s voice announcing the decision, Nina and I lightly bumped our fists together.