Ch.417Episode 16 – The Six Million Dollar Man

Three sorcerers standing atop a collapsed building. One spy leaning against a board. And a magician caught in the middle.

With clear eyes, she surveys the area. What remains in the wake of sorcery’s passage is faint dust, mana rippling like smoke, and death.

Her blue eyes bore no exceptional color.

The gaze that stared at the ruins was like someone who had just awakened from sleep, not so much distinctive as slightly hazy. At a glance, it seemed to create a melancholic atmosphere.

“…Did you do this?”

Those were the first words Camilla uttered after looking around. Her gaze was directed at the sorcerer standing tall on the building debris.

In response, Fatima pushed aside her fellow sorcerer who was looking back at her, and took a step forward. Toward the magician who was glaring at her.

“What if I did?”

“……”

Shhh. Ha. Her inflated chest deflates slightly.

Camilla exhales the deep breath she had taken and answers as she pulls her hand out of her pocket.

“I was just asking to confirm.”

With those words,

Her fingertips, lowered toward the ground, began to ripple.

Episode 16 – The Six Million Dollar Man

The air begins to ripple. Like the way space shimmers when strong sunlight beats down.

It’s the precursor to an ability.

Frederick, holding his gun, looked at Camilla and spoke with difficulty.

“What are you trying to do?”

“I need to fight.”

Camilla answered as she took a step forward. Hearing her words, Frederick exhaled sharply as if horrified.

“You’re going to face a sorcerer? Camilla, are you in your right mind?”

“Yes. I’m perfectly sane.”

“You’ve never fought before!”

Whether she couldn’t hear or chose not to listen, Camilla silently moved forward, ignoring the voice calling her name.

Fatima watched her approach.

“You want to fight?”

No answer came. That itself was the answer.

The sorcerer began to snicker as if finding it ridiculous.

“I’ll give you credit for guts. But what can you do alone?”

“……”

The sorcerers exchange glances.

The sorcerer who had created the water curtain puts her palms together and assumes a stance. The one who had summoned the wind approached as if to support his injured comrade, but Fatima waved him off.

Pressing firmly against her blood-stained abdomen, Fatima stepped up onto the debris.

The scene resembled a gladiator looking down at a challenger from a height.

Camilla silently continues walking toward the sorcerer. Being a magician, not a sorcerer, she didn’t form hand seals before combat.

Fatima, looking down at her, smiles more deeply.

When facing a sorcerer, the most important principle is maintaining distance.

The most efficient and effective way to subdue a sorcerer is to stay beyond the range of their sorcery and bombard them with attacks. So how could she not smile? Here was someone offering their neck to be killed.

‘How stupid.’

Fatima muttered inwardly.

Not even knowing the basic approach to facing a sorcerer, yet daring to confront multiple sorcerers alone. The audacity.

She crosses her fingers, connects her fingertips, and creates a channel.

What flows through the invisible channel is mana.

The mana flowing through the path in her hands gradually takes form, completing the spell.

Even as the sorcery nears completion, Camilla continues to approach.

One step, then another. Steps without hesitation.

Fatima gauged the timing of her attack by the opponent’s stride. Just a few more steps. Just a little closer.

That’s when it happened.

Camilla, who had been approaching silently, suddenly stopped. It was at that moment that Fatima, preparing her attack, narrowed her brow.

One step. Just one more step remained.

“……”

With eyes that seemed bloodshot, the sorcerer glared fiercely, but Camilla didn’t look up at her. She merely glanced at what was in front of her, as if checking a room before entering.

Nothing unusual could be seen on the ground reflected in her blue eyes. But magicians don’t just have eyes to see the world.

As magicians aspire to view all things through magic and reach principles, the eyes that peek behind the veil to glimpse truth detected something unusual in the flow of mana in the air.

That’s why Camilla cast her spell.

The rippling air at her fingertips converges into a single point. A tiny, bright red flame like a small glass bead.

Camilla, having concentrated mana into a point no larger than a glass marble, aimed her hand at the sorcerer.

She extends her index finger and cocks her thumb. With the rest of her fingers curled, the hand shape with only the index and thumb extended resembled a pistol.

It was a playful gesture, but her attitude was deadly serious. Forming her hand into the shape of a gun, Camilla pointed her finger at the sorcerer and bent her index finger.

Like pulling a trigger.

And,

“Bang.”

A massive explosion engulfed the sorcerers.

*

An enormous flame filled my vision in an instant. Like paint splashed on a white canvas, the whole world was dyed red.

With the explosion, the area momentarily brightened. The piercing brightness made my eyes close involuntarily.

“Holy sh…!”

The explosion swept not only forward but completely across the left and right as well.

In the wake of the flames, the only people maintaining their integrity were Camilla herself, who caused the explosion, and me, who was fortunately behind her.

Lying on my side in a crouched position, I raised my head and shouted.

“…What the hell was that?!”

“My magic.”

While I raised my head and looked around, Camilla straightened her bent index finger, blew on it with a “whew,” and added:

“I wasn’t just goofing off for five months, you know.”

Her magic had changed dramatically after receiving the Grand Duke’s teachings. Whether it was decimating the locust swarm in the village with one blow or this—Camilla’s level was far beyond my previous memories.

“It’s not a properly constructed spell.”

If this isn’t magic, then what was that she just fired?

Recalling the explosion that had completely covered the ruins of the building, I gave her a questioning look, and Camilla, pushing out her lower lip, tilted her head.

“An adaptation? Just tweaking what I learned.”

“You call that an adaptation…”

It was such a remarkable statement that researchers who spend sleepless nights developing high-powered military magic would throw in the towel and curse, “Damn it! Talented bastard. This is bullshit!” But her expression remained utterly calm.

After answering in a composed tone, Camilla gestured to stop me as I tried to get up.

It meant the battle wasn’t over yet.

-Kuuuuuu…!

The debris that had been blown away and tangled begins to stir. With a sound like an earthquake.

An ominous light flows through the falling concrete pieces, and space seems to form as if something is emerging.

“…Earth-type sorcery.”

Camilla murmured softly. Once ignorant about magic, she now possessed knowledge even about sorcery. The Grand Duke must have taught her well.

People emerged from where the massive debris had rolled and fallen away. The sorcerers.

I had expected them to die in one blow, but they were still breathing.

Though not in good condition.

“Kuhek, k-keoek…!”

A male sorcerer who emerged from the debris makes choking sounds.

Whether he had used sorcery in that split second, he had somehow avoided death. But his condition was far from normal.

The sorcerer pounded his chest and opened his mouth wide. But instead of steady breathing, he only emitted grotesque sounds like someone suffocating.

I could see smoke rising like a mirage around him.

Water vapor.

The river-type sorcerer had drawn up groundwater to create a barrier just before the explosion hit. With the sewers torn open, water was abundant in the area.

But there was one fact the sorcerer didn’t know: when liquid transitions to gas, the freed atoms expand.

When heat is applied, water turns to steam.

In normal situations like boiling water in a pot, this isn’t a problem, but when water suddenly changes to steam, an explosion occurs. This phenomenon is observed during volcanic eruptions, where unexpected steam explosions cause great damage to the surroundings.

Of course, Camilla’s flames didn’t contain heat comparable to a volcano. More like pouring water on a hot pan.

But even pouring water on a hot pan causes an explosion.

“Huaaagh!”

The screaming sorcerer began rolling on the ground. He was trying to extinguish the fire on his body.

From his hoarse voice, distinctive coughing, and face contorted from burns, I could guess his condition. This guy had burns in his respiratory tract.

A patient with inhalation burns needs emergency room treatment. Considering that Hasan controls all the hospitals in the region, there’s no hope for this guy to survive the day.

While the river-type sorcerer was dying, Camilla’s gaze rested on him.

After silently watching the dying life, she moved her lips slightly, then turned her gaze to look at the debris.

“…Ha!”

Tap! A hand rose over the concrete fragments.

“I wondered what gave you the confidence to cause such a commotion alone…”

Swoosh, a human form appears from the hand pulling at the fragments.

“…so you had this talent?”

Fatima, crawling up from the debris, muttered while looking at Camilla.

The sorcerer who had stood at death’s door gave a sinister smile as she looked down at the magician.

*

A figure smeared with dust and soot. The sneering smile remains.

Fatima, emerging from behind the debris, first looked around.

Only ruins remain where the explosion had swept through. Though the ground had already been plowed once by earth-type sorcery, the magic’s range was overwhelming.

Soot covering the entire outer walls of the adjacent buildings. The flame that had burned an entire block was truly remarkable. The sorcerer looked at the path the fire had taken, then clicked her tongue when she saw the dying river-type sorcerer.

“He’s dead.”

“……”

“Well, that’s fortunate. One less mouth.”

The sorcerer mocked the death of another sorcerer. It was hard to find any guilt in her tone or expression.

Muttering to herself like a madwoman about how nice it was to split the bounty in two, or how it would have been better if he had held out a little longer. Then suddenly, in her usual voice, she spoke up.

“My name is Fatima. Yours?”

The sorcerer’s gaze turned to Camilla. The scene reminded me of knights revealing their identities before a duel.

But Camilla didn’t respond.

Instead, she opened her palm and concentrated.

The sorcerer watching the magician jumped down to the ground and clicked her tongue lightly.

“…Tsk. You should at least say your name before dying. Unlucky bitch.”

Thumb meets thumb. Fingers intertwine with fingers.

A mirage rises. Red waves ripple.

Camilla takes a big step forward, while the sorcerer lowers her stance and firmly plants her feet. The ground beneath her heel caves in, emitting an ominous color.

The dance of fire and sand began to unfold.

=

I just received the sketch for the new illustration I ordered yesterday.

It’s a sketch drawn to coordinate opinions with the artist before moving to the rough stage, but even though it’s not a rough, it looks very high quality. I’m really pleased with this sketch.