Chapter 439: Magitek’s Diversity

Chapter 439: Magitek’s Diversity

The first one? Did she mean Muscle Magic? ...Huh, looks like she is. That look in her eyes says it all.

“Did you just... say something you are never supposed to say in my presence?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Start explaining the two other things already.”

Don’t think I’m about to back down now, ma’am!

“No! THREE things! Muscle Magic is VERY important!”

“All right, fine! Ugh... just start from whatever magic that is!”

“MUSCLE MAGIC!”

“Y-yeah, that. Muscle Magic. Ugh...”

Man, why does this little miss sound so embarrassed to say that?

I mean, it’s not an exaggeration to say that this Muscle Magic is the ultimate magitek... invented by yours truly!

“The Muscle Magic involves the directional applications of arcane energy onto a target, shifting the directions of their attacks.”

“Well, that sounds more practical than expected.”

“But of course, we’re up against Lucifer. Only a small amount of arcane energy can work on him, giving us a range of only one centimeter at most to dodge... Well, it might be safer to assume that we’ll get only a few millimeters.”

“So it’s not perfect... Well, I guess it’s good enough to avoid fatal inju–“

“–Yes, it’s not perfect... if you don’t have my muscles! ...Hmm? What’s wrong? Why the facepalm?”

“......If you weren’t serious about that, I would’ve already slapped you a few times by now.”

Irene must have been quite stressed out from working as the head of command of the Resistance this whole time. I can get overly excited when it comes to muscles — I should control my tone so that she can follow along.

“So you see, how the ‘dodging’ works is that you direct the target’s attack toward a desired location. Hehehe...”

“And what’s that laugh for? Good God, you are creepy...”

“Huh?”

“Don’t give me that ‘huh’! Can you not talk normally!? I swear, you’re driving me insane!”

Hmm, I see, slippage of sanity due to changes from the ordinary...

I never really thought of that. Is she not used to taking it easy once in a while due to how chaotic her ordinary days have been? Damn, that’s deep. Gotta write that down in the Principles of a Philosopher.

“............So? Are you done yet?”

“Yes, it’s perfect. I’ll show you an example...”

“...Huh?”Vissit novelbin(.)c.om for updates

I stood up and grabbed Irene’s wrist, pulling her up and thrusting her hand at my abdomen.

“Pretend this is an attack aimed at a weak point of my abdomen — the solar plexus. I’ll use arcane energy to redirect it toward where my muscles are more solid. As long as the attack goes where I want it to, I can use Muscle Control to fortify myself and deflect it, redirecting it again to my palm... like so.”

“No... You were right, actually.”

“So, the Gamma Lock?”

“Ah, right. It’s what you use to be able to confine multiple targets in a single boundary magecraft. It’s also an absolutely necessary magitek for the battle... well, more like war, that precedes our fight with Lucifer.”

“Both of those magiteks sound quite complicated to handle... It’s not at all what I’d expect from you, Asley.”

“You have THAT low of an opinion on me, huh...?”

“Well, on the outside, you seemed to be more of the type to go P-P-P-P-POWER!! You know?”

“Oh come on, I’m not THAT simple...”

“Of course not. You LOOK simple — and make the things you do look easy — only because you’ve spent so much time refining your complicated techniques. Most people aren’t able to see that.”

In other words, Irene was commenting on what I looked like on the outside when that was the only part she was looking at.

Well, she truly is a professor — able to give impressions from both professional and personal standpoints, carefully considering both perspectives.

And now I get it... Deep down in me, there IS a well-cultivated poll of knowledge when it comes to magic. But to others, it seems like I’ve been doing things without effort... Quite a wasteful way to look at things, I must say.

“Don’t worry. There’s no one among those fighting against the Devil King’s army who only looks at you on the outside.”

“Did you just read my mind on something?”

“It’s not like I’ve been a professor for so many years for nothing, you know.”

And exactly how many years is that? Is what I’d like to ask, but I’ll probably end up facing a threat scarier than Lucifer if I do, so I won’t– GAH!?

“...Um, why did you just slap me?”

“Because your face made it look like you were asking for it.”

“Now you’re reading expressions? That’s new.”

“Well, since you’re still this carefree, you’ll probably be fine.”

“Huh?”

“I mean, you’re still doing everything in your power to act like a fool, so...”

“HUH?”

With that, Irene began walking away, pretending to be clueless.

...Looks like she’s already started to see through my act.

That thing I made Pochi do... it’s something I shouldn’t have let linger in my mind. No matter how much I try to play the fool and cover it up, she would see through me. That’s what is truly scary about her.

Despite these thoughts, though, I can’t help but want to get back at her. It’s only natural — After all, I AM an actual fool.

“By the way, Miss Irene! I learned Rewrite Magic and Gamma Lock from Sagan, you know!”

“What!? I never knew about that! You’re saying Master Sagan was THAT powerful or something!? Hey! Asley! Are you listening to me!?”

She yelled out and asked, but I had already started walking away, pretending to be clueless.