Ch.121121. Raid (3)

The ceiling of the 7th floor—or rather, the floor of the 8th floor—shattered completely. I shot upward through two floors at once, stopping somewhere between the 8th and 9th floors. Debris from the floor and ceiling floated in my field of vision. On the faintly visible 7th floor, Natalie stood with her arm outstretched, glaring at me. The pitch-black magical power of the Calamity writhed as it flowed out.

“I won’t let you escape.”

The magical power wrapped around her tentacles and shot toward me again. I used the debris as footholds to flee from the approaching tentacles. The tentacles crushed the fragments and coiled like a whirlpool. The pitch-black magic enveloping the tentacles like an aura was reducing everything it touched to dust.

“My tentacles are far sharper than a swordsman’s blade.”

Without the power of training, I would have been in danger. I frowned at the physical pain I hadn’t felt in quite some time. Natalie was right. Her power could easily shatter a sword covered in aura. Most knights wouldn’t even leave bones behind.

“How will a professor without a sword deal with this?”

My footing was unstable. There was a limit to how long I could suspend myself in the air with magic. If I hesitated even a little longer, those tentacles would grab my limbs and tear me apart. Or they would rush to impale me as they were doing now.

So, I let go.

Releasing power. The most fundamental body and mind state when handling great force. I completely relaxed my strength. I could almost hear Holy Sword’s voice in my ear, telling me not to try to overcome strength with strength. I lightly placed my foot on the edge of a tentacle.

“Got you.”

“Never take your eyes off your target, Natalie. I taught you that before.”

Our gazes met—Natalie’s gleaming eyes and my downward glance. When I let out a light chuckle, confusion spread across her face. She still didn’t realize my foot was standing on her tentacle. A single moment of counterforce was all I needed. I put strength into my knee, kicked off the tentacle, and spun my body around.

“Neither carelessness nor overconfidence is allowed. Even if you knock down your opponent, even if you pierce their heart and kill them, don’t make any judgments about the outcome until the fight is truly over.”

A whoosh of wind brushed past my ear. I flew to the wall of the 8th floor and landed. With the increased distance, my field of vision widened. I gained time to assess and devise a response.

“…I’ll have to buy time with hand-to-hand combat and make my way to the 10th floor.”

All I could rely on was my pure physical body. To completely resolve the situation, I needed to retrieve Holy Sword or the veil from the 10th floor. For that—

“You’re quite good at escaping.”

Natalie emerged through the hole in the 8th floor. Using her tentacles as legs, she crawled up slowly, reminding me of a mechanical octopus from a movie. The pitch-black magic flickered in her eyes like eye makeup. That eerie ghost fire looked down at me as if trying to crush me.

“Isn’t attacking from a distance rather cowardly?”

“I’m a mage, Professor. It’s natural for me to attack enemies from afar. The first rule a mage must never break when facing a knight: ‘Don’t give them distance.’ You know that, don’t you?”

The tentacles gathered again. I looked at them and cracked my neck. The tentacles were poised to lunge at me at any moment. She was probably waiting for me to move.

“Then it’s only natural for you as a professor to close the distance, right?”

I took a step. Simultaneously, the tentacles flew toward me to block my movement. Their trajectory was as I expected. Without hesitation, I grabbed the tentacle. The pitch-black magic of the Calamity tried to corrode me but had no effect. Natalie’s expression froze for a moment.

“-?!”

“There isn’t just one correct answer in combat, Natalie.”

I yanked the tentacle hard. The transfer of force couldn’t happen quickly enough. Natalie was pulled toward me and crashed into the wall. I pulled her in and kicked her upward. Launched from the center of the 8th floor, she crashed into the ceiling. Not stopping there, I kicked off the wall, jumped up, and sent her flying along with the ceiling.

Then, landing on the 9th floor, I couldn’t help but frown.

“…Why is she so hard?”

It felt like kicking steel. I staggered but let out a hollow laugh as I watched Natalie getting up on the opposite side. I had kicked her hoping she would lose consciousness, but she was remarkably sturdy. After shaking her head, Natalie returned to her usual expressionless face and glared at me.

“You’re still so gentle, Professor.”

Not a single wound. Maybe just some dirt in her hair. Her scale-covered skin didn’t even seem to get dirty. Looking at the tentacles she raised threateningly, I clicked my tongue.

“I haven’t felt any intent to kill me in all your attacks so far. Even though I’m trying to kill you like this.”

“Do you think I’m simply too foolishly kind to kill you?”

Natalie showed a very faint smile, as if to say “isn’t that right?”

“You thought if you taught me skills and gave me your heart, allowing me to be with people, you could change me. Isn’t that what you thought? No, you can’t. I can’t be that way.”

I frowned as I looked at Natalie.

“No. The reason I haven’t killed you isn’t because of such a belief. I can save a person’s life, but changing a person’s heart is something I cannot do.”

Natalie tilted her head as if she couldn’t understand.

“Then why aren’t you trying to kill me even now?”

“Keep evil god worshippers alive as much as possible. Especially those at their core. I have a reason to keep you alive and capture you.”

At my words, Natalie’s smile deepened slightly.

“You’re lying.”

==

Again.

Daphne Ephiphone bit her lip as she eliminated the monsters violently pounding on the door. The noise was intensifying. While the documents needed to stop the comet were safely protected as the magic tower was being completely destroyed and collapsing, Daphne had no information about what was happening outside.

“Is Nella…”

Was Nella safe? Where was Ilroy now? Were the monsters only causing havoc inside the magic tower, or was the entire royal capital in this state?

It was a familiar situation.

Daphne glared at the door. When Ilroy went into the fog, when Marianne Prim followed after him. Daphne was always the one watching and waiting.

Even though she had gained enough strength to move on her own now. What was she so afraid of that kept her still?

Daphne stood up. She had magic to spare. She was confident she could maintain the protective magic of this place perfectly while still fighting at a certain level. At least, she was confident she could fight as well as Nella, who was at the edge of the 5th circle.

“…It’s not like Ilroy told me to wait.”

Daphne reassured herself and gathered her thoughts. Even though the room was protected by defensive magic, the magic supply might become unstable if Daphne moved too far away. To compensate for that—

Daphne rummaged through the documents and pulled out a sheet of paper. The result of formulas she had worked on through sleepless nights. The paper showed a circle representing the circulation of magic power and a formation with characters and symbols revealing the structure of the spell.

“Calculations don’t need to be simple.”

That applied to ordinary mages below the 3rd circle. For Daphne, it was better to enhance the completeness of magic with complex and advanced formulas. Magic power manifests from the heart. Like a spider weaving its web, threads of mana bound together at Daphne’s feet, creating the spell.

“Using ‘Barrier,'”

Spatial transformation. Expansion, contraction, and isolation. The magic circle of heart power that began to distort the laws of the world burned. Despite the pain, Daphne didn’t even blink as she completed the spell. The magic formation made of blue mana began to shine, enveloping the entire space.

“I’ll make this room into a single independent world.”

Daphne recited the concept of the barrier aloud. Speaking out loud helps establish the magic. After attaching the sixth ring, she could also prevent unnecessary mana from being consumed in the process. The magic power circulating fiercely along her blood vessels created a small whirlpool. A blue light network appeared in Daphne’s purple eyes as they reopened.

“This is how it’s done.”

The entire research lab was enveloped in intense light. And after the light subsided, Daphne was standing in a corridor that had become ruins. Daphne blinked, clenched her fist a few times, and smiled with satisfaction.

It worked.

CRASH!!

And from the far end of the corridor, monsters—or rather, “implantees”—came pouring in. She had already faced about 10 of them. They were all likely evil god worshippers who had implanted fragments of the Calamity into themselves. Daphne stretched out her hand again to block the approaching implantees.

“…Just how many of them are there?”

Daphne spread her magic to survey the 10th floor again. Dozens of presences were lurking in the corridors, but that wasn’t what was important. Daphne turned her head toward a particular presence, her pupils trembling.

“Ilroy?”

It was the hero’s presence. Only Ilroy could have such a powerful yet non-threatening presence. And Ilroy’s presence was clashing violently with something else. Something with magic that was not as powerful as Ilroy’s but extremely ominous. Daphne’s eyes filled with bewilderment.

When did he return to the magic tower? And what on earth is he fighting?

The presence was coming from below, the 9th floor. Without time to think further, Daphne moved. What was important was that the hero’s situation didn’t seem good. It didn’t seem like a fight Ilroy would lose, yet he was being pushed back.

“…What is this person doing now?”

The presence was getting closer. Daphne sighed and ran toward where the presence was approaching. She could hear sounds of destruction and collapse. The presence, rising from below, finally reached right beneath Daphne’s feet.

“-!!”

And the floor collapsed.

Daphne reflexively created a wind of magic to lift herself into the air. And Ilroy, who came up through the floor, showed a surprised expression when he saw Daphne waiting right in front of him. His clothes were a mess, but he didn’t seem injured.

“Isn’t it about time you stopped running away?”

Then came a girl’s voice. Daphne faced a girl with a bizarre appearance who was also rising. Her face and black hair. Daphne recalled the girl’s name and also realized why Ilroy had been continuously pushed back.

“Professor?”

“Yes, I think it is about time to stop running away.”

Ilroy answered Natalie while turning his head to Daphne. A playful smile spread across his face. Daphne immediately understood what Ilroy wanted.

“I have that with me right now.”

Ilroy tilted his head, and Daphne smiled back as she summoned the barrier. Ilroy’s eyes widened at the sudden rift that appeared in the air, and they grew even wider when a familiar sword fell through the rift.

“A gift for you.”

Ilroy caught Holy Sword as it flew into his hand and grinned.

“Thank you.”

And the 10th floor was once again enveloped in light.