6 – Mountain Village

[Destroying Heaven Sword]

A sword that unleashes shockwaves.

It pushes the Blade Monster away.

But the power was still lacking.

More teeth chipped off the sword.

‘It’s going to break.’

If it breaks, I can just switch to something else.

Amel, seeing that the villagers were far enough away, began to gather more Magical Power from her surroundings.

The wind blew around her, and dirt and leaves rose like hair standing on end from static electricity.

She gathered Magical Power.

And leaped back in.

The Blade Monster swung its seven arms, each wielding dozens of large and small blades.

The blades came slashing all at once.

There was no gap to squeeze through.

But there was still a hole.

Amel leaped into that hole, and the blades deeply cut her head, cheeks, shoulders, arms, waist, chest, thighs, and feet.

But none of them were fatal, and she slipped through the hole like an eel, landing in the Blade Monster’s arms.

She thrust her sword out as if bursting forth.

[Destroying Heaven Sword]

[Thrust]

Paaat!

The sword pierced the Blade Monster’s chest.

The power of [Destroying Heaven] was unleashed while it was impaled.

It exploded from the inside.

With the explosion, thuk. The sword broke, leaving only the hilt in her hand. Amel immediately kicked her leg up.

[Destroying Heaven Kick]

An expanding kick.

The shockwave pushed the Blade Monster away, sending it flying.

It wasn’t as powerful as she would have liked,

…Or was it?

It wasn’t too strong, and it dealt just the right amount of damage to send the Blade Monster flying, so she figured it was balanced in a game-like way.

Anyway, while she was thinking that,

The Blade Monster rolled across the ground, stopping only after smashing through several trees as thick as her thighs.

Approaching the fallen Blade Monster, she eyed the [Magical Power] dwelling within it.

It was definitely her [Magical Power],

But another will was interfering.

But it wasn’t as good as the original owner.

As the owner of the [Magical Power], she commanded.

The use of [Magical Power] is forbidden.

The [Magical Power] that had been used like an engine for the Blade Monster cut off its supply, and it lost strength and fell again as it tried to rise.

The Blade Monster couldn’t lift its heavy body and twitched, and Amel watched it, examining the state of the [Magical Power].

‘The Doll is still Sealed.’

Of course, this Seal wasn’t using magic like a Seal spell, but was simply using [Electricity] generated from [Magical Power] to suppress the [Doll] in a very simple form. If it was suppressed by that, it was as good as a Seal.

But,

‘Heeh.’

That [Doll] bastard.

It learns.

Through learning, it interferes with Amel’s [Magical Power], inducing [Magical Power] to be emitted from the [Magical Power].

The emitted Magical Power is just ordinary Magical Power, so it uses that Magical Power to express its will to the outside.

The Blade Monster is also a result of that.

If she left it alone, it would be a disaster.

Zhiing.

“…Huh?”

The abdomen where the [Magical Power] is.

The Blade Monster’s abdomen turned red.

It was about to explode.

She had forbidden the use of [Magical Power], but there was Magical Power mixed in with the Blade Monster and residual Magical Power remaining. All of those gathered in one place and became explosive Magical Power, turning red.

Her mind had already grasped the situation and intuitively knew how to solve it, but her body couldn’t keep up with the speed.

She hadn’t prepared [Electricity] either. Without [Magical Power], there was a certain interval in all Magical Power manipulations.

A stuffy frustration.

And the satisfaction that came from it.

‘Yeah, I need to get hit sometimes from making mistakes.’

It was boring to only succeed without any Sylph.

In her accelerating thoughts, she looked at the Blade Monster on the verge of exploding, and it exploded before long.

She was swept away.

She flew away.

She curled up her body.

She protected her body with her arms and legs.

She bounced once on the ground.

She planted her feet on the ground.

She braked, clutching her arms.

She put all the Magical Power she had gathered into defense so that it wouldn’t be torn off by the impact of the explosion. Even so, her arms throbbed as if they were about to be torn off.

Not having [Magical Power] meant that she had to protect her body with only [Strength] and [Stamina], but even though her [Strength] and [Stamina] at level 34 were much higher than others of the same level, they were insignificant compared to [Magical Power] and the additional defensive abilities provided by [Magical Power].

It was far from enough.

“Ouch, haha.”

Really.

It felt like she was finally fighting at her level.

Of course, she didn’t know what level the Blade Monster was, and what color was it? She didn’t even get a chance to check.

Anyway,

She was somewhat satisfied with the restricted play combat, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to recover the [Magical Power].

The [Doll] was still dangerous, and seeing the Blade Monster made her even more convinced and responsible for recovering it.

This world was just a game,

But the NPCs lived like people.

She didn’t want to ruin the peace of others for her own satisfaction. Even if they were NPCs.

“Cough, cough.”

Ugh.

It hurt.

Hahaha.

Amel headed towards the epicenter of the explosion.

Only the flesh of what had been the Blade Monster remained in the middle of the brown plain, which had been cleared of all the trees.

It had tried hard to kill Amel by self-destructing, but the residual Magical Power alone couldn’t kill Amel.

Sticking her tongue out at the [Doll]’s struggle, she took out the [Mithril Sword] from her Inventory and looked for the [Magical Power] within the flesh.

The [Magical Power] was there.

But,

“..?”

Something was strange.

Was it always this small?

She raised the [Mithril Sword] and cut into the flesh. A metal orb imbued with [Magical Power] was buried in the flesh.

She pulled the orb out with the [Mithril Sword], tossed it into the air, and snatched it.

She stared intently.

Stared intently at the orb.

“….”

At that moment, as she looked at the [Magical Power] dwelling in the orb.

She felt the presence of [Magical Power].

From another direction.

“Huh? What is it?”

Amel hurriedly looked around.

North, east, south, west.

She turned around in a circle.

She felt the presence of [Magical Power] in all those directions, and even the sense of distance felt tangible… Huh?

“….”

Amel acted before she understood.

Gathering Magical Power, she [Leaped].

Amel, who had jumped high, immediately flew in a parabola towards one of the [Magical Powers] and saw the lump of flesh there.

It was a small lump of flesh, but it was a grotesque piece of flesh mixed with blades.

She felt [Magical Power] from there.

It even moved on its own.

The piece of flesh from the Blade Monster, noticing Amel’s approach, scurried away.

But,

Pak.

A sword flew in and pinned the piece of flesh to the ground.

After landing.

“….”

She approached.

She pulled out the sword stuck in the piece of flesh and cut it open, revealing a metal orb.

It was a metal orb the same size as the metal orb in her hand now, and [Magical Power] dwelled in it, and the [Doll] was definitely dwelling in this one as well.

It had split.

“Wow…”

So it was going to come out like this?

Amel clenched the orbs in one fist, and the orbs clumped together into one.

The number of [Magical Power] scattered around was 31.

2 in Amel’s hand.

1 with Dragon.

31 with the [Doll].

A total of 34.

‘Is it 1 level per one?’

“….”

Just as she was about to leap out to another [Magical Power] nearby. The presence of [Magical Power] gradually subsided.

“…Ha.”

It started to hide.

She had a lot she wanted to say, but for now, she remembered the locations of a few [Magical Powers] and leaped in, and fortunately, she could feel the presence of [Magical Power] nearby.

She saw how the metal orb had blocked the presence of [Magical Power]. The metal orb in the flesh was a little thicker than the previous one, and the color was also different. The surface of the orb was covered with another metal.

What covered the orb was,

Mithril.

It was coated with Mithril.

Mithril, which had high Magical Power conductivity, was closely attached to the [Magical Power], weakening the sensitivity of the presence.

[Magical Power] itself didn’t have a physical form, but when it dwelled in Mithril, the [Magical Power] stuck to the Mithril, and Magical Power seeped out.

Of course, this alone couldn’t dilute the connection between herself and the [Magical Power].

Amel and the [Magical Power] were connected by an invisible string.

Even so, the reason why the presence had faded was because the [Doll] had done something with the Mithril. She didn’t know how it had processed the Mithril to produce this effect, but…

‘This has become troublesome.’

This has become interesting.

So it wanted to play hide-and-seek?

“It’s unnecessarily competent.”

It had become a headache.

It had become interesting.

As expected of a Sealed ancient monster.

Its survival skills were extraordinary, as befitting a guy who had been Sealed because he couldn’t be killed.

What was the [Doll]’s core made of anyway?

Unless it was as subtle as a subatomic particle, the [Doll]’s core might not have a physical form like [Magical Power].

‘I can feel it if it’s nearby.’

Amel opened her closed eyes, placing the third [Magical Power Fragment] in front of her.

The presence of the [Magical Power Fragment] had been weakened by the [Doll], but it hadn’t completely disappeared.

No matter how far away it was, just like how the [Magical Power Fragment] implanted in Dragon was still detectable, the connection between [Magical Power] and herself couldn’t be completely severed.

That’s why, if she concentrated, she could feel the direction of the [Magical Power Fragments].

Amel closed her eyes again.

The faint presence given by the [Magical Power Fragment].

Although she could only detect one [Magical Power Fragment] located closest to her,

This alone was a blessing.

It was a silver lining.

‘But when am I going to catch all those?’

It was her own mess.

Let’s clean it up with grit and determination.

But,

‘This direction is…’

Amel opened her closed eyes and leaped high.

Reaching the apex of her parabola after Leaping, she felt the presence of people in the direction where the [Magical Power Fragment] was felt.

She heard sounds.

“…Block them!…”

“…Hold on until Amel-nim comes!!…”

“…Kyaaaak!!!…”

The villagers’ screams.

Amel landed along the parabola,

And again, she bent her knees.

She gathered Magical Power.

Light things around her floated against gravity, and Magical Power was injected into Amel.

She released the gathered Magical Power.

Propulsion was applied to her legs.

[Leap]

She soared like a rocket,

And flew low.

She drew a gentle parabola at a low altitude, slightly higher than the forest canopy.

By the time she had finished drawing the parabola.

The forest that had been blocking her view was cleared.

There were villagers,

And the 5-meter-tall Twin-Headed Bandit that they were facing. The Twin-Headed Bandit swung a bone axe around, threatening the villagers.

The back of the Twin-Headed Bandit.

Amel pulled her leg back.

Upward kick.

[Destroying Heaven Kick]

Amel kicked the Twin-Headed Bandit’s upper body with her foot, shattering it.

Kwajik!

She landed on the ground immediately after passing by, and raised her hand. Something fell into her outstretched hand, and she caught it.

Thupsuk.

She opened her hand to see what she had caught.

[Magical Power Fragment].

She felt the presence of the [Magical Power Fragment] that had soared up with her as she kicked the guy, and she stood in the position where it would fall and stylishly recovered it.

She shifted her gaze.

Keila was sitting on her butt.

She reached out her hand.

“Are you okay?”

“Huh? Oh, thank you.”

“It’s nothing.”

Amel pulled Keila up as she grabbed her hand.