Leap (5)

“…Is your Mana sufficient?!”

Colin shouted, brushing off a shard of frost that had fallen on his cheek. He seemed slightly, no, quite surprised, but the rumored Red Witch was an ally, not an enemy. More important than being afraid was figuring out how to use her. He was cold-blooded.

“I’m fine!!”

I shouted, hugging Colin’s back tightly, my voice hoarse.

“….”

He just nodded silently. If I shouted any more, my voice would be completely gone. He knew this too, so he didn’t say anything more.

‘Fast.’

The world becomes a line and is reflected in my eyes. The world seen from the side, riding behind Colin, was several lines.

The horses’ advance, using reinforced hooves, was fast enough to evoke a blitzkrieg. The plan was to ignore the monsters around us and head straight for the destination. After that, we would use the new weapons supplied by the magic tower to wipe out the monsters. Here, high-risk monsters like ogres and drakes were our responsibility, mine and Colin’s.

However. There were times when monsters appeared that could keep up with the horses’ speed. Griffins and wasteland spotted wolves that we had encountered before overtook us and stuck close.

“Captain! Five wolves on both sides! No way to evade!”

However.

Colin didn’t take out the new weapons.

“Red Witch-!!

Call the Red Witch.

“-I’m counting on you!!”

Then it will be resolved.

-Keureureureu!!!

The wasteland spotted wolves stuck close to the horses, aiming for ankles and such. They only stuck to supply soldiers who were inexperienced in mounted combat, looking for opportunities. Having figured out the bastards’ tricks, I used Mana to create threads and tightly bound their lower bodies.

‘It’s a technique I’m using for the first time, but…’

There was a technique I had been wondering if it would work for a while. A magic I hadn’t tried because it was dangerous to use in crowded places. No. Let me correct that. It was a bit of a misnomer to call it magic.

Because this is interference, not creation.

I spread out both palms. I modulated the Mana flowing like a waterfall, directing it solely to my fingertips. I wove thousands of strands of Mana to create a magic circle.

I placed my right hand towards the ground and my left hand towards the sky.

Palms shining brightly like sapphires. A faint blue afterimage remained on my fair skin. Feeling that insignificant vibration, I focused my mind. The surroundings were noisy with the soldiers’ shouts, but my mind was as still as if time had stopped.

I aimed for a single moment in an eternity of time. I closed my eyes and poured all my concentration into grasping the Mana flow in the surrounding area.

Faintly shining blue lines between my closed eyes.

The ground and the sky.

Began to be clearly distinguished.

I grabbed the line of the sky and the line of the ground and brought them under my control. Above my palms. Hundreds of millions of thin, long lines intertwined in the blue magic circle. I didn’t miss a single one. The world was bound as one line.

At that moment.

‘Now.’

My right hand, clutching the ground, went up.

My left hand, swallowing the sky, went down.

Reverse.

__

The ground and the sky intersect.

‘Scatter.’

-Kkae, kkaegaeng?!

“C, Captain?! The horses are floating up!”

“W, what on earth is going on?”

“Red Witch-!!!! What have you doneee-!!!!”

Colin shouted, grabbing the shaking reins.

It wasn’t a shout filled with blame. It was a cry that came from pure bewilderment. Reflecting him, his face was full of surprise, so it would be more accurate to say admiration than anger.

Looking down, the high sky that looked like it would fall at any moment ‘was visible’. But, looking ahead, the same land and rocks as usual greeted us.

The floating sensation wasn’t a lie. The vibration of kicking off the ground wasn’t a lie either. All were true sensations, so it wasn’t a delusion or hallucination.

I scattered the boundary between the ground and the sky.

“Hauuu… Now we can keep going to our destination without meeting any monsters.”

The wolves that were following us would have ‘fallen’ into the sky and died.

“Augh… My head.”

Did I concentrate too much? My vision blurs. I intentionally burst my eyeballs and then reconstructed them before the blood flowed, regaining normal vision.

Touching the boundaries of the world is not efficient, and if you cast it over a wide area, your brain will explode. As I repeatedly said, it was useless. Maybe it would work if I gave up my body and tried it in an ethereal state… but I didn’t want to try it.

“Now, we can run, without worrying about, monsters.”

Centered on me.

An unstable boundary enveloping thirty soldiers.

The boundary would probably be restored in less than a second where we passed. The repulsive force was strong as the lines were forcibly tied, so the time it took to unravel was also fast.

The chance of someone witnessing the scattered boundary… would be none unless they were dragon-level. You can only see this dreamlike sight if you enter the boundary. Usually.

“An illusion and black magic… Haha!! Magic befitting the name of a witch!!”

This isn’t an illusion.

Let them think what they want.

I continued to make careful adjustments so that the soldiers wouldn’t be swept away by this unstable boundary. I was busy without a moment to catch my breath. There was no way they would understand even if I explained it, and it would be a problem if they did understand, so I just kept my mouth shut.

“It’s hard to change, direction!”

“Just go straight if you can. I’ll change the direction for you.”

“…Can you do that with magic?”

“I wouldn’t do it, if I couldn’t. Ugh….”

“Are you okay?”

“Sorry. My head… hurts.”

Colin worked his head hard, but eventually gave up trying to understand and grabbed the reins. To a knight, a magician is an incomprehensible realm. The opposite is also true.

“Don’t look at the sky. Don’t look down either. Just look ahead and go straight.”

My head hurts. Again, scattering the boundaries is not something to do. I thought it would work, so I tried it, but I didn’t know it would really work.

‘…This technique is sealed too.’

Creating a copy ego, ultra-long-distance teleportation, touching boundaries. With this, another technique that I will never use again has been added.

“Haa….”

My head hurts so much.

* * *

The scattered boundary immediately returned to normal when the magic circle was broken. Some soldiers vomited and asked if this was really an illusion, and I nodded vaguely in agreement.

“We’ll take a break for a while! Everyone, set up temporary tents!”

As a result of rapid advancement without the interference of monsters, using reinforced hooves, we were able to reach the Pahellen uphill road in less than three hours. Considering that the orthodox route takes six hours, it was a huge time saving.

“Ugh….”

And that was all.

Thanks to my efforts.

“Eugeugeuk….”

Holding onto the scattered boundary for three hours made me feel like I was going to die. I’m not kidding, I really felt like I was going to die. I thought about letting go in the middle, but the boundary wasn’t that simple. I couldn’t tell them to stop advancing either, so I endured it with sheer willpower.

…Let’s think of it as a cheap price to pay for interfering with the world.

“Hey. Are you okay? You can drop out if you want. Thanks to you, we were able to get here so quickly.”

“…I’m okay.”

“I’ve met a lot of people, but… among the people who say they’re okay, there’s not a single one who’s actually okay. I’ll ask again. Are you okay?”

The break time is ten minutes. A swift cleanup was required, so we couldn’t rest any longer than that. The Pahellen barony was still struggling to catch the monsters that were surging in like waves.

“…It seems like it’ll get more dizzy if I drag it out, so let’s kill them quickly and go back.”

“That’s a good mindset.”

While others were eating snacks or chatting. I just groaned for ten minutes.

My face contorted horribly.

Did I catch it from Shuriel? I used to be good at managing my expressions…

“Prepare! Our mission is annihilation!:”

The horses are hidden, and everyone arms themselves. I was bare-handed except for my robe. Colin was holding a greatsword as big as his bulk, and the soldiers had spears and swords, and two strange staffs attached to their waists.

-Chwaaaak!!!!

Soaring green blood. The goblin horde that blocked our path was all cut in half by Colin’s sword strike.

“We will move as quickly as possible!”

The goblins’ screams spread out.

“-Commence cleanup!!”

Colin ran towards the largest monster visible in the distance.

It was an ogre that had been reported in advance.

Ogre. It has the shape of a human, but its size and strength are not human. The characteristic of ogres is that they are generally ugly.

-Kueoreoaaaa!!!!

“Heueueup!!!!”

A greatsword as big as a person shines blue. The clash between the ogre and Colin. It’s hard to tell who the ogre is. But he didn’t seem overwhelmed. It seemed like he could catch it just fine without my help, so I turned my gaze elsewhere.

The soldiers moved in unison and began to clear out the low-level monsters. They were shabby monsters such as goblins and gremlins, but they were too numerous to be easily cleared out. I helped with the cleanup by providing indirect support such as putting barriers on the soldiers.

In that way, I spent almost an hour clearing out the lowlands.

However.

If we couldn’t break through the high ground, it would all be in vain.

A twisted dragon head guarding the hilltop, a drake. If you approach it, it spews flames even at the same monster.

‘There’s no need to approach it.’

-Kung!

I move away from the soldiers. Reaching the entrance of the uphill road, I gathered a considerable amount of magic power in the soles of my feet and caused a foot stomp. My intention was to explode the ground where the drake was standing.

But.

Was I too eager to finish quickly?

“I, is it an earthquake?!”

“-Get down!”

“What’s going on! Report to the captain first!”

-Kwaaaaaaaang!!!!

‘…Oops.’

I didn’t think about controlling my power.

A pillar of earth soaring into the sky. But the scale was too much to call it a simple pillar. The entire hill shook. The ground turned over and swallowed everything on it. The drake, as well as the monsters around it, could not help but be buried alive.

The soldiers quickly ran away, avoiding the flying dirt.

“What’s going on! Did the new weapon cause trouble, no. What on earth is this.”

Colin, who had just returned after slitting the ogre’s throat. He saw the overturned hill and gaped.

The hill had sunk deeply, exposing piles of stones on the outside, and yellowish-brown dust covered everything. Drake? Those guys were buried in the ground, only opening their mouths above the dirt and begging for oxygen. If left alone, they would probably die on their own.

“…Is that also black magic?”

“….”

I squeezed my eyes shut and thought of an excuse.

At that time.

“-It’s the rescue team! Everyone, join up!”

A blue flag visible beyond the sunken hill.

A dragon wrapped around a sword was engraved there.

‘Pahellen Barony.’

It was the soldiers of the Pahellen barony.

There were twelve soldiers. They seemed to have been in the middle of a battle, but they heard the shouts from the uphill road and immediately ran over. You could tell from their bright faces, which were different from their bloodied bodies.

“We will support you! Everyone, draw your swords!”

But those guys didn’t ‘support’ anything.

“…Did you, take care of them all?”

Is that man the leader?

He takes the lead more than anyone else and draws his sword.

But the monsters had already been wiped out for a long time.

Because some stupid bitch can’t control her power.

Therefore, he will not have the opportunity to swing his sword.

“Hmm….”

He wondered if he should be happy about this, but in the end, he chose to be happy. When he took off his helmet on the sunken uphill road, a naive-looking blond country youth appeared.

“My name is Kamier Pahellen! Thank you so much for helping the barony! May I dare ask your name and affiliation!”

Colin, as a knight who valued his master’s reputation and his own honor, although his behavior was close to that of a thug, could not refuse the polite request of a nobleman.

“I have come under the orders of Count Pahareu Chevalier Bridonia.”

“…Bridonia! I didn’t expect you to come running in just one day after sending the request for rescue. Thank you again.”

“Thank the Count, not me. And, Kamier, if that’s the eldest son of the Pahellen baronial family-…”

Colin and Kamier exchanged words with bright faces.

Whether they did or not. I, who was still dizzy, lay down on a nearby pile of dirt and caught my breath. I felt suffocated, so I slightly loosened the front of my clothes. White underwear is visible through the open front.

“Haa…”

I need to fix the habit of sighing whenever I get a chance.

“But, who is that lady over there…?”

In the meantime.

Kamier discovered me and blushed.

‘…Look or don’t look.’

I wanted to lie down like this for just one hour.