Ch.106How to Save an Enemy (5)

Fire is equal before all life. Given just a bit of oxygen, it will devour any being.

“Aaaaargh!”

I had been conserving my magic stones all this time.

For this very moment.

The warm energy was driving away the chill of the magical realm.

“Y-you insolent…!”

“I care about cooking mushrooms evenly. This side isn’t cooked thoroughly.”

“Kyaaaak!”

Even Director Adora was shocked at the sight of the unceasing flames.

“That fox… what on earth did she make for you?”

“My kid is a bit cold-blooded.”

“…Your kid?”

“I taught her, you know.”

Riyo once told me something.

That if we became closer, she would make me a rifle instead of a crossbow.

Though it wasn’t a gun, she made something even better. It showed how the fox sisters thought of me. Since she went this far for me, I absolutely had to return alive.

“Director.”

Director Adora nodded.

“Stand behind me, Major.”

The Director drew her sword.

“While it’s distracted by the flames, we need to take its head cleanly. Can you match my timing?”

“Of course.”

To handle this without complications, I need to use that magic. The preparation will take time, but if the Director can hold out, our victory is assured.

I took a calm, deep breath.

Though I hadn’t coordinated with the Director many times before, I felt confident we could pull this off. I took out my magic stone and poured all my magical power into it.

But then.

Rumble.

Suddenly, dark clouds began to gather in the sky. And then.

Whoosh!

“H-huh?”

“Goddess, is this right?”

The flames that had been clinging to the old woman’s body were being extinguished rapidly. Simultaneously, a cold wind swept in, causing Kalon and Olivia’s bodies to sway unsteadily. Unable to maintain balance, the two drones landed.

The Director clicked her tongue and advanced.

Clang!

The old woman blocked the Director’s blade.

“…How foolish, truly foolish. You clearly have no idea why this old woman is called the ‘Witch of Calamity.'”

Heh heh heh.

An ominous laugh crawled up my spine.

“Witch has long been a title given to peculiar beings. Those who control weather, bewitch people, and survive even death… such beings.”

Very subtly, I could feel mana stirring.

“Don’t tell me she’s using spores to condense water vapor?”

“What kind of magic is that?”

The blackened old woman revealed her rotten teeth. She twirled her foot like a dancer.

Clang!

The Director’s sword was deflected. The old woman then swung her hand. Her fingernails, grown gnarled like black-wood mushrooms, wriggled and twisted in various directions.

“With such sluggish movements, you won’t…”

“That’s just an illusion.”

Stab!

A sharp needle pierced the Director’s left leg.

“Aagh!”

“The upward attack was a deception. I stabbed the leg first so my prey cannot escape. Hmm?”

“Pierce through.”

The old woman tilted her head to avoid my spell.

The Director staggered back precariously. She seemed about to fall backward.

But.

Thud!

The Director stabbed her sword into the ground and steadied herself forward.

“…Well, fine.”

Trembling shoulders, shaking legs.

I couldn’t see her face, but she must have been grimacing.

My heart skipped a beat for a moment, but I calmly observed the situation. I concealed my magical power and buffered the magic stones that would finish off the old woman.

The Director spoke.

“Deception and trickery are the virtues of a mage.”

***

The Witch of Calamity frowned.

Despite having her leg properly stabbed, the Magic Kingdom general was standing there with a smirk. She pulled her sword from the ground and muttered quietly.

“By the way, why aren’t you using spatial magic? If you used it again like last time, you could finish us off for sure. Just sitting around like this… it’s no fun.”

The reason she couldn’t use the maze was because her power hadn’t been replenished yet.

With all the totems destroyed, it would take considerable time to rebuild them, so until then, she would have to win purely with hand-to-hand combat and simple magic.

She couldn’t reveal such a weakness, so she made up an excuse.

“This place is where all sorts of medicinal herbs necessary for his revival grow. It’s practically a sacred ground. I cannot use such powerful magic in a place that should remain pure and noble.”

“Ah, so you’re too scared to use it?”

“…Though this old woman may not be what she once was, I can still subdue the two of you easily without the maze.”

“Well then, let’s see you try.”

Whoosh!

As she approached the general, a spell shot by the male officer flew at her like an insect.

“You can’t get any closer to the Director.”

“A woman who would die soon anyway…”

This time, she launched a spore spell at the male officer.

The female general blocked it with her magic.

“If you want to kill the Major, you’ll have to step over me first. Don’t you know the proper order?”

This was starting to get annoying.

The witch had already suffered considerable damage from the earlier burns. It felt like her skin would split and ooze fluid with the slightest wrong movement. Though she was continuously making it rain to cool her body, it wasn’t enough.

“I didn’t want to use this because it costs me lifespan.”

This won’t do.

She needed to finish this quickly and rest.

“…Sacrificial Rite.”

She addressed the demon.

And made her request.

“In exchange for scraping away at my lifeline, grant me the power to defeat these ruffians before me.”

A sound of the heavens and earth shaking echoed in her ears. She felt as if she were floating alone in the empty universe, and after a moment, a demon wandering in higher dimensions answered the voice of the lowly creature.

“It shall be done.”

That’s when it began. The surge of power.

Crack.

Internally, she felt something breaking off. Probably her soul and lifespan. She didn’t care. It was something she had to be prepared for from the moment she offered herself as a sacrifice.

A deal with a demon is like an addictive painkiller. At this moment, she felt no pain whatsoever. The witch sprang forward from the ground.

Crunch!

Her knife hand pierced through the female soldier’s arms, legs, and neck simultaneously. It happened in an instant. The woman couldn’t even scream. Her vocal cords were damaged, and she was pushed over.

“Kuh, kugh.”

With her blackened other hand, she struck the woman’s face.

Crack!

The general with the shattered face went limp. The impact to her brain would have killed her instantly. Though it was annoying that she maintained her beauty even when damaged, it didn’t matter.

She raised her head and looked toward where the male officer should be.

No matter how they learned about the white herb, she would never hand over the medicinal herb that could revive the descendant of that warrior…

“…Huh?”

He was gone.

The next moment, she felt an eerie presence behind her.

No way.

“…!”

Teleportation magic.

And illusion magic.

Using both simultaneously.

Since when?

Since when had she not moved a single step?

To begin with, illusion magic should be forbidden, right? For what reason would an official mage of the Magic Kingdom use forbidden magic?

Perhaps, from that siren?

The siren of Eoyin Island was a considerable monster. Did they really defeat her?

While questions piled upon questions, the illusion lifted. Suddenly, the Magic Kingdom general was charging toward her. Despite blood pouring from her left leg, she didn’t stop. She was actually getting faster.

“Deception and trickery are the virtues of a mage.”

Ah, so that’s when it started.

There’s no way they would have come just the two of them without preparing a trump card. The drones from earlier were the first, and this attack is the second. Even if she survived this, there would be a third.

The female soldier deliberately offered her leg. She induced complacency. If it was intentional to make her think the two weren’t coordinating well like last time and were clumsy, then she had taken the bait completely.

How thorough they were.

“Falling Flower.”

“Light the way.”

Slash.

Where her neck and torso were severed, flames of dissolution bloomed.

***

The spores that had been swirling around gradually settled. The Witch of Calamity had fallen.

“Ugh.”

Director Adora, who had pushed her physical limits, collapsed. I immediately rushed over to support her.

“Are you alright?”

“If this looks alright to you, kuh, you must be blind…”

“Why did you take such a rash action? This wasn’t part of the plan, was it?”

“I thought she would let her guard down if I took this much damage. It worked perfectly.”

The Director chuckled and poked the old woman’s corpse with the tip of her sword.

“I think you got stabbed in the wrong place.”

“Probably. I’m losing too much blood.”

“Are you feeling dizzy?”

“No.”

The moment after saying that, the Director leaned her head against my body.

“Damn it, the world is spinning.”

I knew it.

As the Witch of Calamity died, the dark clouds dispersed. The rain stopped. Kalon and Olivia buzzed up into the air.

“Phew, finally able to fly again.”

“We’ll look around for the white herb. Lohnstein, you take care of that woman’s first aid.”

I nodded. It was fortunate that the Director and I weren’t the only ones here.

The amount of blood she was losing was not trivial. She might have had an important blood vessel damaged. At this rate, she could die. The thought made me dizzy.

The Director, dying?

The first face that came to mind was my direct superior, Captain Tedman Giford. Though not as much as Admiral Abraham Dietz, I had many interactions with him during my service as an officer. Despite his prickly exterior, he was a good person at heart.

His daughter is dying. Because of me. While trying to protect me.

The thought made every nerve in my body stand on end.

Absolutely, under no circumstances, could I let her die.

Based on what I had learned during officer training and from the Saint, I began emergency treatment. I pressed firmly on her thigh to stop the bleeding and tore off part of my hip pouch strap to use as a tourniquet. I even applied hemostatic ointment from the medical kit the Saint had prepared for me.

“Erich, I found the white herb!”

“There’s something glowing white over there!”

I laid the Director down and gathered the herbs, filling my backpack.

Our business here is done.

Now we need to return so Director Adora can be properly examined by the Saint.