episode_0044

44. Sarah’s Finishing Touch.

Sir Jackison and Sarah were currently waiting in front of the fortress gate. Their role was to eliminate mid-sized undead. Currently, they didn’t have much to do.

If they were less skilled, they would have been mobilized for various odd jobs such as shooting arrows or transporting supplies.

However, their strength was treated as a strategic weapon, and they were simply taking a comfortable rest.

Sir Jackison, unable to bear the boredom, spoke to Sarah. It was a natural course for him, having already experienced multiple waves over many years.

“By the way, where did you meet the wizard Johann? It doesn’t seem like a simple connection.”

“Johann? Hmm…”

Sarah pondered for a moment. Eventually, she opened her mouth.

“There was a desperate moment, and Johann saved me, which became the catalyst. If Johann hadn’t saved me back then, our current relationship wouldn’t exist.”

“Oh! How romantic! A rescue? A development that would only appear in heroic tales!”

“Haha…”

She could only give an awkward laugh. She could never get used to this passionate knight’s personality. He was a type rarely seen in modern times.

“What kind of situation was it? I swear on my knight’s honor, I will never tell anyone!”

Sir Jackison’s tone was slightly excited. He had received several benefits from Grand Duke Rhodeson and was getting closer to becoming the head of the family. His temperament had become much milder than before.

Sarah hesitated at the knight’s direct question.

“That is…”

Should I make something up appropriately? I want to ignore him, but I have to endure it for Johann’s sake.

While she was struggling, an event occurred that fortunately changed the subject of the conversation.

“……!”

“……!”

A huge amount of magical power had gathered above their heads.

Of course, if it was just large in capacity, they wouldn’t have paid attention. However, it was extremely precise and subtle.

If the senses of the two swordsmen were even slightly dull, they would never have noticed.

The next moment, the mass of magical power fell rapidly onto the battlefield.

Whoooooooosh!!!

The delay between the speed of the mass felt immediately after launch and the explosion. Sir Jackison instinctively calculated the distance and was soon startled.

‘Heh, even though it exploded far away, the aftereffects of the magic are so clear…’

He could indirectly understand the power of the spell. Sir Jackison sent Sarah a look of admiration and said.

“Your lover seems to grow every time I see him. You’re very lucky with men.”

“……”

“Of course, so am I. Ever since I met the wizard Johann, I feel like I’ve always been lucky. It’s like rewriting the future.”

“……”

Sarah still didn’t answer. She just stared blankly at the top of the fortress wall.

Eventually, she said in a soft voice.

“……I guess so. I think I’m very lucky with men.”

With her eyes fixed, the corners of Sarah’s mouth stretched wide.

“I must never let him go.”

***

Starting with Johann’s explosion magic, the mages in the inner fortress also began to deploy spells one after another. However, most of the spells were terrible in power, and only the elder-level mages were comparable.

The elder-level mages in the inner fortress were sweating. They were flustered by the appearance of a new monster.

‘Last time, he used a great spell using waves, and this time he brought a fire-type spell again. Tsk, tsk, I can’t even believe he’s a math wizard.’

‘He’s different from that rude guy who just spews fire mindlessly. His magic assembly is so precise it’s creepy.’

Mages are closed-minded, and as such, only the chosen ones can enter their community. If this wave period ends, that math wizard will surely take a seat.

However, unlike the elder-level mages’ thoughts, Johann didn’t care about them.

‘If I catch the boss, the path to the second floor will probably open. That is, the “reward room” may open.’

Johann had already received rewards from the tutorial achievements. And he also knew how big the difference in rewards was with first place.

If things continued like this, it seemed obvious that Johann would take first place in contribution points. Johann was vaguely aware of this.

However…

‘It’s not enough to simply get first place. The reward system of the tower is very elaborate. The more overwhelmingly you get first place, the more the reward will increase.’

Johann moved his hands here and there. In response, the flames that Johann had scattered on the battlefield swayed.

It was the core of fire magic, showing the continuity to its extreme.

After waving his hands for a while, he suddenly hesitated.

“————.”

It was the concept of incantation that he learned from Jerry, the generous tree.

It’s not just controlling magic with will, but strengthening control by borrowing the power of language.

According to what Johann learned from Jerry, incantation was similar to a shower of praise.

For fire spells, the magic power is praised by modifying the magic words that fire spells like.

Then, the nature of the magic power gradually softens as if saying, ‘Okay, I can see that your heart is earnest, so I’ll help you.’

‘Don’t make it too long. Just as excessive praise feels like sarcasm, moderation is important.’

In other words, a mage who is proficient in incantation can be seen as a human who is very good at flattering.

When he felt that the magic power was feeling good to some extent, Johann slowly lowered the level of praise.

You can’t stop suddenly either. You have to maintain that feeling slowly and meticulously.

“Arrrrr dum!!”

Whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop!!!

The fire demons that were sweeping the battlefield, led by the explosion spell, all went berserk at once.

The magic power of the fire that had lost control would gradually fade, but the instantaneous firepower was outstanding.

As most of the small-sized undead were wiped out, it was now the time of the steel humans. Close combatants, including Sarah and Sir Jackison, ran across the field.

Clatter─ clatter─

The knights were all riding black warhorses, which were injected with a whopping 1% of demonic beast serum. The quality and size of the muscles were on a different level.

Grawaaaaah!

A strange sound that you couldn’t imagine a horse making! Sir Jackison smiled happily. Sir Jackison was a born warrior who gained a thrilling pleasure from battle.

“You! It’s good to see you so loud!”

“……”

In contrast, Sarah simply rode her horse silently. Sarah had never even ridden a riding horse in modern times.

She was focusing all her attention on riding this monstrous beast.

Sir Jackison exclaimed in admiration.

“Huh! Amazing! You’re learning combat riding very quickly!”

“……”

This was true. Although the ‘Riding’ skill had been added to Sarah’s status window, the skill was just a tool after all.

How you use it is up to the user.

In that respect, Sarah was clearly a born warrior too.

Before long, the two discovered a giant zombie.

“I’ll draw attention! You finish it off!”

It was a tactic that took into account Sarah’s light weight and equipment.

If she wasn’t there, Sir Jackison would have finished it off after putting the soldiers forward, but Sarah was a sharp dagger.

There was no need to take the risk of losing troops.

Eventually, the giant zombie, who recognized them, swung its tattered fist. The monster’s body was scorched here and there.

“Hahaha! The wizard Johann’s move worked perfectly! To think it has this much power against a medium-sized enemy!”

Sir Jackison cheerfully rotated his entire body. A sword strike containing superhuman strength came into contact with the monster’s fist.

Clang… Whoooooooosh!

At that moment, the flesh of the giant zombie, which seemed to have endured Sir Jackison’s sword strike, burst out.

The giant zombie’s figure, whose fist had burst out like that, naturally leaned forward.

Sir Jackison instinctively realized.

‘The inside is completely messed up. Just how strong was the heat…’

Anyway, thanks to that, the monster’s neck was close to the ground. It was like rice that had ripened and bowed its head.

Swoosh-

Sarah slowly drew her sword. The moment the light that came down from the high sky met the transparent blade, a diagonal line was drawn in the air.

“……”

Immediately after, Sarah’s position was different from before. She was slowly falling from near the giant zombie’s shoulder. Along with the monster’s head.

Just how quickly she cut it, Sarah and the head landed almost simultaneously.

Thud….

Only then did a heavy noise spread around. In contrast, Sarah, who landed lightly, looked at Sir Jackison.

“Let’s continue.”

“Haha, I’m all for it! How about that one this time?”

The undead he pointed to was a giant zombie again. A scorched one at that.

Sarah and Sir Jackison’s eyes met.

“It seems like we just need to finish what the wizard Johann worked on. Don’t you think?”

It was an effective method. It was a strategy of hunting relatively weakened undead instead of catching other fresh ones.

It was an idea that Sir Jackison naturally came up with to gain contribution points.

It might seem sneaky, but Sarah didn’t think so at all.

“Okay. Let’s kill the ones Johann burned.”

It also felt disgusting to give the undead that Johann had touched to someone else.