Ch.146The Main Character (4)

# Main Character (4)

KWAAAAAAANG!

The battle between Legion Commander Force and Garnet caused massive damage to the surroundings with just its aftershocks.

As Garnet wielded her flaming sword with explosive flames, the ground melted into something like a lava field, which Force then overturned with a single hammer strike.

The power of the Legion Commanders who ranked among the top five was enough to transform the environment itself.

‘Just keep going like this.’

The situation favored Garnet.

She was repeatedly attacking one-sidedly without allowing Force to land even a single hit.

Consequently, Force’s tough and hard skin was accumulating more and more wounds.

However…

‘But how long can I keep this up?’

The reason Garnet had the upper hand was because she hadn’t allowed even a single attack to land.

And that meant if she took even one hit, she would likely be rendered unable to fight.

She had to dodge every attack while whittling down her opponent. And that meant investing considerable time in wearing him down.

‘Close combat was the right answer, but…’

Garnet had chosen close combat from the start, knowing it would take a long time to defeat Force.

Bombarding him with hellfire from a distance would drain her power first.

So she aimed to achieve maximum efficiency with minimum expenditure.

She pushed Force back by utilizing her authority along with her swordsmanship.

And stamina consumption wasn’t particularly problematic.

If that had been an issue, she wouldn’t have engaged in close combat in the first place.

If there was a problem…

‘My head feels like it’s going to split.’

It was an issue with her mental strength.

Her mind was constantly calculating Force’s movements to avoid all attacks, causing her considerable fatigue.

She thought she’d be fine, but fighting on the edge of death was causing much more intense fatigue than she had anticipated.

The hammer looked terrifying even from a distance. Just imagining being hit by it made her shudder.

“Right, this isn’t working. I really can’t win alone.”

Garnet created some distance and breathed heavily.

She had forgotten to breathe in the extreme situation.

Having abandoned her goal of defeating Force, she prepared to fight just to hold him back.

She couldn’t win alone.

That meant she needed help.

‘If the hero party joins, things might change.’

The plan was to defeat Twelve early and then jointly attack Force.

That plan had already been discovered by Twelve, but…

‘I just need to hold out a little longer.’

Garnet was confident they could defeat Twelve.

***

Swish swish swish.

Legion Commander Twelve was facing the hero party while maintaining solid defenses.

Their objectives were opposed to each other.

One side needed to hold out while the other needed to press forward. If the faster side would win this battlefield, that was exactly what he wanted.

For Twelve, who had endured a terrible school life, withstanding one-sided bullying was nothing.

“So impatient! Do you think you can accomplish anything like that?”

Twelve sneered at Millia and Eirene who kept bombarding him with magic, and manipulated his sand.

He bound Tina and Extra who charged at him with swords in close combat, and properly utilized the space between them and the rear forces to limit their attacks.

‘Yes, dealing with multiple opponents is my specialty! Even Chulsoo who grabbed my arms from behind! Even Younghee who kept punching my stomach couldn’t kill me!’

School days.

Even in moments when he truly felt like he would die, he survived.

And now the hero party?

Did they think they could inflict violence worse than his school days?

Even if they could, Twelve had hardened. Not his body, but his heart.

He had developed a steel-like heart that wouldn’t break for trivial reasons.

His heart, already shattered to pieces during his school days—no, ground to powder—had now become sand that could no longer be broken down.

That was also why he had a natural aptitude for sand magic.

“Hit me all you want! You won’t be able to defeat me with that level of attack!”

“Truly impressive.”

“Hmm, hmm. I am indeed.”

People who have endured long periods of contempt and mistreatment tend to become prideful at the slightest praise.

Twelve grinned at Eirene’s words, which she had spoken as if bored.

“Then let’s keep hitting you. Until you cry out in pain.”

“…!”

Twelve saw Eirene sneer at his confidence, and memories of his past flashed before him.

‘Hey, did this loser just confess that he likes me?’

The most painful memory of his school days.

A heart carefully packaged and delivered.

And the woman of his first love who mocked him by spreading it to others.

“You! Will! Never! Be able to defeat me!!”

Twelve shouted with more sincerity than ever before. His voice was so compelling that even Eirene, who had been preparing holy magic with a relaxed demeanor, flinched.

“We won’t know until we try.”

Wriggle!

Millia moved her tentacles as if to counter Twelve’s violence.

Her versatile magic. Magic that could freely move and apply all kinds of magical effects to whatever it touched.

That magic began to advance to the next level.

“What! A magic circle?!”

A magic circle drawn with tentacles.

A ritual magic of the wide-area annihilation type, typically used by the military.

And one person was performing it. She intended to shatter Twelve’s solid defenses with overwhelming firepower.

“Do you think I’ll just stand by and watch?!”

The moment Twelve realized what Millia was trying to do, he immediately took action. Not only did he move sand to interfere with Millia, but he also caught the ankles of Tina and Extra who were trying to break through his sand at close range.

“If you continue with the ritual, your comrades won’t be safe either!”

“That’s unfortunate.”

“What…”

Despite Twelve openly holding two of her comrades hostage, Millia didn’t even blink. To make matters worse, Eirene, who had been standing behind her, began to set up a barrier to protect the front.

A means to protect herself from the magical impact.

There was selfishness in it that disregarded the safety of her comrades.

“Huh?! Huh?! Are you really going to fire?! No way?! Millia! That’s not it, right?!”

Even Tina, whose ankle was being held by Twelve, was shocked when she realized Millia was serious.

No matter what, they were comrades—was she really thinking of blasting them away with magic?

“This is actually better.”

On the other hand, Extra, who had already resigned himself to death, began preparing to die together with his enemy while cutting away at Twelve’s sand.

“Kuh…! You stubborn fools!”

Finally realizing that Millia was more serious than ever, Twelve threw the two he had been holding far away and strengthened his defenses even more.

“Huh…?”

Tina, who had been suddenly thrown far outside the range of the magic, looked at Twelve with a dumbfounded expression.

There was no reason to throw them so far away just to strengthen his defenses.

Twelve had thrown Tina and Extra outside the range of the magic targeting him, saving their lives.

“Why…?”

“The pain of betrayal from someone you thought was a friend… I know it well too.”

A rapidly building bond.

Tina could only tilt her head in confusion.

Extra, who hadn’t fully recovered, was struggling to get up from the ground.

This strange scene continued for a moment, and then Millia’s ritual magic was completed.

KWAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!

An explosion more intense than any other erupted on the battlefield that had been filled with continuous explosions.

The impact was so powerful that even Force and Garnet, who were fighting at a considerable distance, turned to look.

Keeeeeeeeee───

The brilliant light from Millia’s staff faded, and the tentacles that had been writhing grotesquely to draw the magic circle went limp.

A single strike that had consumed all the mana she possessed.

What remained after that strike was a wide plain.

And…

“Hehehehe…”

Twelve, who had survived such ritual magic despite taking it head-on.

Twelve staggered but did not fall as he glared at the hero party.

His sand had long since been blown away.

The umbrella he usually carried had lost its shape completely, revealing the blade hidden inside.

Bleeding all over his body and looking like he might collapse at any moment.

Yet Twelve emanated an incredible pressure.

“One isn’t a Legion Commander because they lead a legion… One is a Legion Commander because they can stop a legion alone.”

“Something’s wrong with your head.”

Twelve was now spouting nonsense.

Eirene frowned in disgust at his obviously made-up words and took a step forward.

“Do you have anything else to show? I asked if this is the end! Do you have any more crude techniques you can use?!”

Twelve vented his frustration as if he had been subjected to one-sided violence.

Although it was a situation where both sides were equally at fault since they were fighting to kill each other, in Twelve’s mind, his school days were already being reenacted.

“We do have more.”

“Hmph!”

As Eirene, who had been standing at the very back, took a step forward, Twelve extended his sword to manipulate the sand.

The sand that had been blown away by Millia’s magic once again formed a solid barrier around him.

“Nothing will change.”

Twelve was wounded and seemed about to collapse, but nothing had changed.

Even though he held a sword, he was not a swordsman, and even if he couldn’t stand, he had weapons he could wield.

Yes, he was a mage.

And because of that…

“No, the surroundings have already changed significantly. The terrible magical energy has disappeared, mana has been ignited, and conversely, holy power has become abundant.”

The destination of Eirene’s plan.

Everything she had done was solely to create this ‘environment.’

The miracle recreated by Eirene the Saintess.

KUUUUUUNG!

As Eirene formed a specific hand seal, the surrounding area began to shake.

Land contaminated with magical energy. A space where holiness was most difficult to remain.

Her sacred domain unfolded there.

“Dharma Wheel Seal.”

The reason she had been pouring out holy magic as if in a hurry.

A ritual magic performed by pushing away all the magical energy in the surrounding area and consuming all the nearby mana.

“Wh… at…?”

Millia can no longer fight?

No, that’s wrong. She made Millia use up all her mana to create the current situation because there was nothing more she could do.

The best plan. The best process. The best result that could be obtained through it.

“Now no magic can be used in this place.”

At that moment, the sand that seemed like it would protect Legion Commander Twelve forever collapsed, revealing his unsightly figure to the world.