Ch.103103. Guardian of the Desert (3)

Turning back time briefly to when Gregory’s group was engaged in a desperate battle against the Sphinx in the distance.

[S-Sophia… Are you alright?]

“…Yes. Thank you, Astra. Thanks to you, the prophet is regaining consciousness.”

Sophia, who had barely regained consciousness thanks to Astra’s healing, quickly accelerated her thoughts and began contemplating how to intervene in the battle unfolding in the distance.

Realistically speaking, Sophia’s direct participation in combat would be of little help at this point.

Sophia’s specialty, celestial magic—particularly lightning attacks and “celestial attributes”—would pose little threat against the Sphinx’s superior magical resistance.

Naturally, even powerful celestial magic classified as extreme would have limited effect.

As for engaging in close combat, Sophia’s melee skills were insufficient to make any impact in a mid-tier battle.

With her injuries further reducing her already low physical capabilities…

‘…I have no choice.’

In this situation, Sophia decided to use an extreme method, even if it meant pushing herself.

[I ask. I ask again. Who are the fairies playing in the forest?]

She was attempting an application of fairy summoning magic.

Normally, fairy summoning magic consumes a fixed amount of magical power and sacrifices to summon specific fairies, but there exists an exception to this rule—a summoning magic that calls forth random fairies.

This magic isn’t bound by the rule that prevents summoners from calling forth beings beyond their capacity, and with luck, one could summon incredibly powerful fairies.

However, all magic operates on the principle of equivalent exchange.

In other words, this random fairy summoning magic incurs appropriate penalties for deviating from conventional summoning laws.

The most obvious drawback is that the summoned entity is completely random, potentially resulting in a fairy far below the magician’s capabilities.

Additionally, fairies summoned through this method aren’t bound to servitude upon arrival.

Summoned beings are typically already under the summoner’s control from the moment they appear, due to the structural characteristics of summoning magic.

However, this random fairy summoning magic only brings forth fairies in a neutral state.

To control a fairy, one must either defeat it or offer something in exchange to form a contract, meaning that even if a “stronger fairy” is summoned, the summoner cannot control it.

But… what if one reverses this thinking? What if control was never the intention to begin with?

[…I beseech you. Your power, the power of fairies, to this place. Summon an unbridled fairy to this location.]

She observed the fate of summoning a fairy with capabilities exceeding her own, specifically the extremely rare chance of summoning a high-tier fairy.

And now that the summoning of a high-tier fairy was confirmed through her observation, Sophia twisted and distorted the magical formula with all her might, forcing in the elements she desired.

[Being trapped in the reins of madness, in the yoke of frenzy! Come forth to this place now!]

The first element Sophia inserted into the summoning formula was magic that would cause the summoned being to fall into “frenzy” until the summoning was dispelled.

Since fairies, due to their pure nature, are closely associated with madness, it was surprisingly easy for Sophia to modify the structure of the spell—much easier than she had anticipated for such a forced insertion.

Meanwhile, her next strategy was equally simple.

[Behold this product of the sun, this creation of the primordial god! Look directly at your enemy, recognize and attack!]

No matter how much the fairy’s mental barriers were weakened by frenzy, Sophia had no means to precisely control a high-tier fairy.

She was merely designating the Sphinx as the frenzied fairy’s primary target.

It’s fundamental for living beings to prioritize dealing with the most threatening enemies.

Therefore, this magical effect wasn’t particularly difficult to incorporate either.

Rather… for Sophia, it was purely the magical power required for the summoning that was burdensome.

She had already depleted all the magical power stored in her mana reservoir.

Most of the magical power within her body was consumed as well, and now she was barely continuing the incantation by borrowing Astra’s magical power.

And then…

To state the result first, her intended summoning was successfully completed.

[■■■■■■■■■─!!]

“I-I succeeded…”

[That’s a high-tier…!]

A high-tier fairy with a mind tainted by madness appeared where the magic circle had vanished in a flash of light.

※ ※ ※

[──■■■■■■■■■■!!!]

-─KWAAAAAANG!!

There was momentary confusion at the unprecedented situation of a frenzied high-tier fairy suddenly appearing during battle.

“That one is…”

Seeing the fairy challenging the Sphinx head-on, I was able to identify its identity.

Melusine. This half-human, half-dragon fairy has the appearance of a naked beauty with two snake tails and a pair of dragon wings, possessing characteristics befitting its nature as both an elemental and a fairy.

Even the weakest Melusine possesses at least lower mid-tier power, and older Melusines can naturally grow to high-tier.

Of course, as a half-human, half-dragon species with some draconic traits, Melusine possesses excellent physical abilities and close combat skills, as well as magical powers appropriate to its fairy rank.

[■■■■■■■─!!!]

But… thinking carefully, something feels strange.

Why would a fairy like Melusine appear in a frenzied state and attack the Sphinx?

Melusines typically inhabit clean rivers or lakes rich in natural mystique.

In contrast, this desert of death where we’re currently located is… the worst environment for fairies due to its powerful death mystique and necromantic energy.

‘…It must be Sophia!’

Therefore, my conclusion was that Sophia must be the one who summoned this half-human, half-dragon fairy.

I suspect she’s trying to buy time using this high-tier fairy.

The fairy with its half-human, half-dragon body, consumed by madness, charges at its target (the Sphinx).

Each of Melusine’s actions manifests as distinct magical attacks, each containing enough power to wound the Sphinx significantly.

Dozens of dragon-headed water streams writhe like living things, targeting the Sphinx.

Every time the fairy swings its arms, water blades formed from its nails fly toward the Sphinx’s body, and with each exhale, water bombs form in its mouth and shoot toward the Sphinx.

-FWOOOOOOOOSH!!!

Of course, the Sphinx wouldn’t just take the attacks passively and counterattacks by enveloping itself in heat, naturally causing the area to be shrouded in steam…

[Form of the beast… envelop my body…!!]

Meanwhile, having completed my animal transformation, I began to flee without a moment’s hesitation.

The formal name of the animal form I took on was the Golden Thorn Scorpion.

Despite its grand name, it’s not particularly strong among scorpion-type magical beasts, but I deliberately chose this form.

The reason being that the Golden Thorn Scorpion can move faster than anyone else in the desert.

With its desert-specialized “natural assimilation” ability, the Golden Thorn Scorpion can blend into the natural environment even in this desert of death, and the advantage gained is a dramatic enhancement in mobility.

It can swim through sand as if it were water, unaffected by terrain, and because it assimilates with the environment itself, it can move at unimaginable speeds—limited to desert environments, of course.

Thanks to this, with my body half-buried in the sand, I could move at a speed almost identical to Corin’s…

[Astra! Take Sophia and run!]

[───Yes!]

After joining up with Astra, who was carrying the exhausted Sophia, I began to distance myself from the “mythical” battle unfolding in the distance without a moment’s hesitation.

And… what happened next was pure coincidence.

We were so focused on escaping that we failed to observe our surroundings. Sophia, the only one who could have foreseen this “accident,” had collapsed from exhaustion due to her excessive use of magic.

And to make matters worse, the ruins buried beneath the direction we were fleeing were on the verge of collapse. Coincidence upon coincidence piled up.

-─KUGUNG!!

“[[…?!!]]”

The ceiling of the ruins beneath the ground we were traversing collapsed without any warning.

Since we were right in the middle of crossing it, we plummeted to the bottom without any chance to resist…

And at the bottom, there happened to be an ancient teleportation magic circle, damaged enough to activate just once.

Before we could resist, we were transported to a strange location by the damaged teleportation magic circle.