episode_0028

*****

‘The sword… , it’s heavy.’

The weight of a sword made from magical power can be set freely. Surtur’s own strength was not that great for an awakened person, so the weight of the sword was rather light.

In other words, the fact that the sword felt like a thousand pounds meant that the current battle had lasted for a long time.

“Raon, how much from now on!?”

“Drought, no… , Two feet up, somehow!”

Surtur barely suppressed the involuntary laughter that was about to come out. It was the first time that Raon’s magical power had fallen to its limit, both in training and in a real situation, so it felt quite refreshing.

Although it may not be a sentiment worth feeling in the current situation.

Appreciation is perception and reality is reality. Surt brought his half-escaping thoughts back to the situation in front of him.

First, understand the surrounding situation. At first, I was able to somehow fight off the incoming chimeras, but at some point they became too much for me, and now all I could do was hold on.

Fortunately, thanks to practicing even when I was very tired, I was able to keep my posture from collapsing.

Next is the current response. When you come out in front to meet your opponent, Raon from behind uses flame magic to wipe out the entire area, including Surtur himself. It was a method that could be used because Surtur had a high level of fire resistance.

Jabberwock was protecting Raon, who was chanting, and Kirlops, who was crouching. If there is free time, it appears from the shadows and also serves as a guerrilla.

The limit has arrived. Surtur, who judged that, retreated to the rear and called Jabberwock.

“Jabberwalk! Let’s do some maintenance!”

“Okay. Everyone gather here!”

The surrounding shadows rose like waves and attacked the four people. The three people except Jabberwock unconsciously held their breath as it felt like sticky air was entering their noses.

“Yes. It was really successful. You will be able to rest for 7 minutes with this.”

“… Thank you.”

It was only after Jabberwock gave the OK sign that I took a deep breath.

The entire area around the four people was filled with black. According to Jabberwock, it seemed to be inside the shadow he was using as a potential.

It’s like an emergency escape skill, so it can’t be cast for a long time or continuously, but it was one of the few ways to reliably gain recovery time during a busy melee.

Surtr also immediately remembered that Jabberwock had to concentrate to create this space, and walked over to sit next to Raon and Cyclops. It was important now to regain a little more stamina.

“Su, Surtr!? The wound… Please wait, cast recovery magic right now──”

“No. Save your horsepower. If your magical power runs out, everything is over.”

In fact, there were many wounds, but none were fatal. Surtur’s defense skills were not bad, and Raon’s magic was powerful, but those alone were not enough. Was I really lucky or something?

“I guess the enemy has no intention of killing us.”

“… but. If we were going to set a trap that would instantly regenerate monsters infinitely, we could have installed something more dangerous.”

No one talked about why. This was because the three members of the Surtur team had some idea of the reason, and Cyclops did not have the presence of mind to pay attention to that.

“It’s good to take a break, but you have to think of a way. If I go outside like this, it might really be the end this time. Raon, were you able to figure out the structure of the barrier?”

“No. Just chanting is the limit, so that’s it… .”

So is this a repeat of what happened just now? When Surtur tried to wrap his head around the despairing fact. Helping hands came from unexpected places.

“I think I understand, to some extent… .”

“!? Could you use magic?”

Shaking my head. Cyclops opened his mouth and shook his head. If he had combat ability in the first place, he couldn’t have stayed still during the fierce battle just now, so it was only natural.

“I don’t know much about magic. The structure of the barrier is also exactly… . But, the souls of those chimeras. I saw a circular route. With these ‘eyes’.”

“… ! Tell me about that in more detail!”

Raon rushed in with his eyes shining, and Cyclops slightly leaned back and talked about what he had seen.

What Cyclops talked about wasn’t that long, but after listening to it, Raon slowly muttered something and fell into his own contemplation.

“Well, this is… ?”

“Ah, you can just leave it alone. I guess they are guessing the structure of the barrier from what you told me.”

“Well, it’s possible… ?”

“Well? Because I don’t know much about magic either.”

As the two of them had little knowledge of magic and had no interaction with other wizards, there was no way to know how outrageous Raon was doing. In the end, the topic naturally turned in another direction.

“… I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“I was nothing more than a piece of luggage. Mare, no, I didn’t even notice that fake Mare… ”

“Oh, it’s fake after all?”

“Maybe, I think so. The shape of the soul changed, but an ordinary person would not be able to do such a thing. I don’t think the teachers would notice that disguise… No, that’s not what I wanted to say… ”

“Are you sorry? You don’t have to worry much about that.”

“Still… .”

Cyclops lowers his head gloomily. Surt was trying to comfort him inadvertently, but he soon swallowed what he was trying to say with a bitter smile.

What can you say? Surtr is also in the same situation, worried about his own weakness.

In the end, they are weak. At least in this battle, Surtur was a little better than Cyclops, but he still didn’t have the power to solve the incident directly. Because he had been keenly aware of his own weakness recently.

In the end, all I could do was complain, not comfort.

“Still, seeing a soul is treated as dangerous potential. If it were truly dangerous potential, it wouldn’t be like this.”

“… ? no. The reason I was reluctant──”

“──Okay! okay! Nice, thank you, Cyclops! Thanks to you!”

The moment Cyclops was about to respond to Surtur’s words with a sigh. Raon, who was struggling with the thinking person pose, got Eureka! Cyclops’ words were drowned out by the fact that he hugged Cyclops and ran around with the momentum of shouting.

“Have you found a way?”

“Yes! No, um. To be precise, it is only a possibility. Still, if we had Surtur’s flame, wouldn’t everything be possible?”

“That’s enough to make you feel good. Well done, Raon.”

“Yes!”

The atmosphere brightened as if drawn by the brightly smiling Raon. Cyclops also smiled shyly, as if he was happy to be of help. The remaining break time passed quickly with just planning the strategy.

In fact, it couldn’t even be called an operation. The central part of the barrier discovered by understanding the structure of the barrier. Because it was a simple plan to destroy that part with Surtur’s ‘flame’ and collapse the temporarily created subspace.

However, simplicity also meant that the goal and work to be done were clear. The four people came out of the shadows with the hope that they could overcome the situation.

“Huh? Didn’t he run away? Oh, what a surprise. You were surprised because you thought you missed it. If you’re hiding, you should say you’re hiding.”

At that moment, I faced despair.

Long blonde hair, a tall voluptuous body, and wings made of membrane. The appearance they saw the moment they were trapped in the barrier showed that the woman had turned into a mare and was the shadow that had trapped them here.

“Now that I think about it, I didn’t introduce myself. Nice to meet you, I am Lilith, an executive at Genesis~. Well, even though I’m an executive, I’m still in charge of things like this!”

I didn’t think I could get rid of that villain who introduced himself as an executive at Genesis right away. In the end, all Surt could do was try to talk.

“… Why did you put us in a place like this? Is this ‘spark’ your goal too?”

“Ah, well, that too? Maybe that old doctor doesn’t care at all. Still, the main purpose is to use you as hostages. Are you willing to be held gently?”

“Is that possible?”

Even as he answered like that, Surtur was a little surprised.

All of Genesis’ villains that had attacked so far were aiming for Surtur’s flame. I don’t know why, but I naturally realized that Surtur’s flame was important to Genesis.

‘The purpose is such that such fireworks are treated as a bonus. It would be nice if I could figure out what it is… . There will be no time for that.’

“Well. If there had been a doctor like that, he would have been caught a long time ago. Really, I thought he ran away so I came to follow his traces, but he only evacuated for a short rest. We ended up not being able to use chimeras for no reason.”

Villain──Dismissing Lilith’s suggestion, Surtur organized the information in his head. The enemy is quite powerful just by looking at his appearance. The fact is that chimeras will no longer appear. If you use them as hostages, they will most likely not kill you.

And, Lilith probably doesn’t know that Surturs have figured out the structure of the barrier.

“This means that you must receive additional allowance. Basically, just creating a barrier is enough to complete the calculation──Oh my.”

Surt didn’t respond to that. Because I already knew that my opponent used mental magic. Once the necessary information was obtained, the conversation was fruitless.

“Sone!”

‘… I can’t help it this time. Fine, don’t die.’

Flame of the End. The flame that burned everything that came from Sarah, the spirit of flame within Surtur’s body, formed on Surtur’s sword.

Until now, Surtur had never seen an enemy that he could not burn with this sword. Even that sword spirit was in a near-death state with just one blow.

So, this wasn’t a spark issue.

“Wow~, is this the flame of the apocalypse that I only heard about? If you guess correctly, you won’t be able to find a single bone. To wield such a fearsome thing, are you really a hero? If I get hit by that, it will burn so black that not even ashes will remain?”

“This, bastard… !”

Surtur’s ability was limited to putting flames on the blade of his sword. Therefore, no matter how powerful the flame was, it could only be swung in the form of a sword, and Lilith was easily dodging the flame that was swung like that.

The difference in technique and physical ability was simply too great. Surtur’s spirit was being undermined by the fact that all attacks missed within the range of the sword’s reach, and even those that barely made contact were illusions.

“It’s over now, Surtr! I’ll help you right away!”

Of course, Surtur was not fighting alone. In between Surtur’s attacks, Jabberwock intervened using his shadow to target critical points, and Raon, who had finished providing first aid, began chanting behind him.

At least they capture this villain. And if there is a gap… . With that in mind, Surtur continued to swing his sword.

“Samadhi Evolution!”

From the sky above Raon, a huge torrent of fire struck the wide area.

Thanks to Sarah, Surtur is virtually unharmed by fire, but the enemy is not. This was the most frequently used combination since the two began working as heroes.

“It’s cute. Hehehe. If this wasn’t inside the barrier I prepared, it might have been slightly dangerous?”

However, the purple magic energy that poured out of the magic circle canceled out the torrent of fire. The ominously discharging purple magic circles showed that the magical power was overflowing.

In general, wizards tend to vary greatly in strength depending on their ‘preparation’. No matter how great Raon’s talent was, he couldn’t break the magic of Lilith, who had been brought into his field in addition to the original level difference.

“Okay, I think that’s enough for that part. Of course you are the most annoying one.”

A blade of shadow that swings with the recoil that leaps out of the shadow. Of course, she blocked it as if it were natural, but even if she tried to counterattack, the target hid in the shadows again, so Liris couldn’t do much. Even if you show an opening and draw them in and then counterattack, they skillfully block you and then hide again.

Even so, in the end, it was only within the scope of ‘annoyance’ for Lilith. Avoiding the joint attack of Surtur and Jabberwock, Lilith first focused her bombardment on Raon.

“Aaagh!”

“Raon!”

“… ! Surtr, it’s dangerous!”

The moment when Raon was unable to withstand the difference in magical power and was swept away by artillery fire. Lilith approached Surtur, who half-instinctively turned towards him.

When Surtur came to his senses and looked ahead, the fully charged magic circle was already shining in Lilith’s hand.

“Damn it!”

The moment the magic was fired, Jabberwock, who appeared from Surtur’s shadow, took the hit instead and flew away.

“Jabberwalk!!!”

“Wow, this is a big one. I didn’t know that he would come to stop me.”

Originally, she had planned to deal with Surtur and then gradually attack him using magic circles, so Lilith smiled happily as the troublesome task disappeared.

“Isn’t it time for you to give up? Your friends probably aren’t dead yet. maybe? But if I keep fighting, my hands might slip~.”

Raon and Jabberwock, who were hit by magic, were seriously injured. It was a natural proposition for Lilith, who knew that too severe an injury would reduce her effectiveness as a hostage.

‘The kid over there… . Well, it’s probably okay to leave it alone. According to Bunche’s report, it seems that all you can do is see the soul.’

The child with soul poetry was just wearing a hoodie and muttering something.

If it was said that magic power was gathering there, she would be wary, but since there was no sign of that at all, Lilith decided to leave it alone. If you think about it, isn’t it all thanks to that kid that things turned out so easily?

On the other hand, Surtur charged again with the flaming sword, even though he knew it wouldn’t work.

It wasn’t desperation. Although the form changed slightly, the Surt team only carried out the initial operation, taking on their respective roles.

“It’s not over yet──!!!”

“It’s commendable that you don’t lose your motivation, but only if you rush in so openly──Huh?”

Lilith, who had been trying to avoid it without much thought as before, finally realized it. Surtur and Jabberwock’s attacks, which he thought were mindlessly swinging for a lucky punch, were actually targeting him in one direction.

Behind Lilith was the center of the barrier. Since the liver is a crack, if it breaks, the collapse of subspace will be inevitable.

The question of how she found out about that was quickly erased from Lilith’s mind. Right in front of me was a terrible flame that would burn my soul if it hit me. If you defend yourself and pierce that child with magic in that short period of time…

‘what!?’

The decisive moment I had been trying to prepare for. Lilith realized that the speed at which her magic, or even her magic energy, was flowing had slowed down. As if submerged in something sticky.

As Lilith scanned the surroundings for the cause, a girl wearing a hood came into view.

“… curse… , die… , the arms and legs are all sewn together… .”

“That bitch!”

The target of the magic was immediately changed from Surtur to the girl and the Cyclops, but Surtur’s flame was already within a stone’s throw. Lilith was appalled by that fact and dodged the sword.

“Burn down!”

Pasasak. With the sound of magic burning away, the wall of the building that Surtur cut down became distorted.

However, upon seeing the subspace not collapsing, Surtur realized something was wrong. It was obviously not a wall, but something else.

“Quuk, one more time… !”

“That’s the end of the chance!”

Just before the flame sword was completely swung. Lilith’s magic flew directly into Surtur’s side. Although it was a hastily made magic, its power was enough to send Surtur flying away.

“Wow, gasp!”

“Phew! I was almost in big trouble. What is that, Anne!? I’ve never even heard of a sudden debuff without any sign of magical power!? I tried to keep him alive and use him as a hostage!”

Cyclops had already been completely devastated by Lilith’s magic, but Lilith seemed to not be relieved and kicked Cyclops. Even though he tried to stop it, Surtur’s body did not listen.

“Stop it… !”

“Really? Then it could be a soccer ball instead!”

“Wow!”

Surtur clenched his teeth while being kicked by Lilith. I was angry. Although I was aware of the difference in level between myself and the organization called Genesis, I still thought that if I took the opportunity, something might work out.

But what if you open the lid? Raon, who was much stronger than himself, couldn’t even hold out for a long time, and when he reached Jabberwalk, he was defeated because of his own stupid mistake.

“Now, I brought you back to the center of the barrier that I wanted to destroy. Would you like to take out that sword of fire one more time?”

“Ugh, buy──”

“I told you to take it out, but you really took it out.”

Sigh. Surtur’s magic that had been pulled up was dissipated due to the impact of the ship being stepped on. Unable to move even after being attacked with anger, Surtur realized one thing.

In the end, the first attack was not at the executive level, and the second attack was only survived because of Fafnir’s help.

Leaving Surtur alone, who could not move, Lilith began fiddling with the barrier.

“Still, it’s a bit of a waste just now. If that sword had been struck one more time, the barrier would have truly broken. Wow, I put several layers of defensive magic on it, but look at it all gone. You even went as far as gold, right? It’s ruined. If I leave it like this, it will collapse in a few hours… ”

Lilith looked at the center of the barrier and spoke teasingly to Surtur. There was nothing Surtur could do after hearing that story anyway. After a few hours, the whole situation would have already been over.

I have already survived several times with the help of others. Although he is said to be a hero, he saves more people than he saves.

Even though Surtur felt ashamed of that fact, he couldn’t help but open his mouth.

“Help, give me… .”

“Ding~, no one left~. It’s not a comic or a novel, so there’s no way a hero would come along just like this, right?”

It was just as Lilith said. Surtur now knew that the game was almost over when they fell into the trap.

Still, I couldn’t give up. Lilith sighed as if she was tired as she looked at Surtur, who was somehow holding on to her ankle while crawling on the ground.

“… Ah, really. This is why I don’t like people called heroes. Are you unable to understand the situation?”

That moment. A good idea occurred to Lilith. With a hint of suggestive magic in her eyes, Lilith knelt down and looked into the eyes of Surtur, who was lying face down.

“Now, look into my eyes. is it so. That’s how I see it so well.”

“Ugh, ah… .”

Just right. Lilith’s fingers snapped and a purple sword appeared in the air. Following Lilith’s hand gesture, the sword flew over each of the fallen personnel.

“Now, can you see it? If I just snap my fingers here, you all die? But I won’t kill you. Do you somehow know? I’m going to catch your colleague who is here with you.”

“Fafnir, uh… ?”

“Yes. You know what? If you were a real threat, you wouldn’t even try to take hostages or anything like that. What are you going to do because you’re scared? Then I might get stabbed in the back. So, in the end, that’s all you are.”

“… … .”

“Good. Because I was weak and fell in, I saved my life.”

A hand grabbing your ankle. The power in his hands, which could be said to be Surtur’s will to resist, was gradually released. Lilith smiled with satisfaction and the young magic in her eyes grew even stronger.

“Hehe. is it so. It’s game over anyway, right? So, if you let everything go and feel comfortable──”

“No. There is still one coin left.”

Kwasik. A small gap in the space created by the aftermath of the fire attack. A white, thin arm protruded through the gap.

“… Oh, what?”

The arm immediately grabbed Lilith by the back of her neck and threw her to the side. Lilith was thrown and rolled around on the ground like a pinball.

thud. thud. The other side of the barrier where the hand was sticking out was gradually collapsing due to the shock. Quang. The center of the barrier completely collapsed with the final headbutt. Beyond it was a horned hero smiling boldly.

“A hero has appeared!”

“Why are you here──”

Lilith stood up before she could say anything. With just one step forward, Fafnir burrowed into Lilith’s arms. Lilith could not react to that sudden rush.

“Ker, billion… .”

The price the wizard paid for allowing distance from the fighter was painful. A fist flying towards the abdomen. Although she reflexively blocked it, the impact passed beyond the magic barrier and shook Lilith’s body.

But the attack was not over. The biggest challenge in a battle with a wizard was how quickly the wizard could end it before he could cast a spell, and Fafnir also had no intention of missing the opportunity he had created by being caught off guard.

“To this extent… !”

Lilith’s eyes lit up. It is an illusion magic that uses only gaze without even a chant, so its power is weak, but in close combat, just a little illusion is enough. In fact, Surtur was not able to allow a single blow to Lilith because of that illusion magic.

“That doesn’t work.”

However, Fafnir’s fist followed Lilith precisely as if no illusion magic had been applied.

That speed. The mystery contained therein. None of them could be compared to Surtur’s sword skills. The movement to avoid it actually became poisonous, so Liris allowed a true hit.

“This is the mind’s eye!?”

“You know it well. Have you ever learned martial arts?”

Knee kick with answer. I managed to block it, but a kick came from the right as if I knew it would be blocked.

Contrary to her calm tone, the blow delivered was so powerful that it was hard to imagine that she was a small girl.

It is not an extraordinary power that shatters defenses like Surtur. However, if you hit it right a few times, these blows can be life-threatening. Considering that even dodging was extremely difficult, it was much more vicious than Surtur’s attack.

If we continue like this, we will lose. Feeling that sense of crisis, Lilith forcibly released demonic energy from her entire body. First of all, this was to increase the distance and gain some time to chant.

“One Coin is enough for you!”

However, the girl was able to break through the magical energy that would be difficult for ordinary people to detect by turning her small body around. Fafnir landed in front of the defenseless Lilith.

A roundhouse kick, clearly visible even to the devil’s eyesight, flew towards Lilith’s head.

Lilith didn’t even realize how she had blocked the attack. Anyway, seeing as the head was still there, I just thought to myself that it must have been clogged.

Although he was unable to block the subsequent attacks, nearly half of his abdomen was blown away.

“Ugh, ah… .”

“Where are you going?”

Lilith got up to somehow move her body to run away, but of course it wasn’t Fafnir who was watching. Even at a glance, it was a considerable level of evil magic, so Fafnir once again raised his magic power to finish it off.

“… Sheesh.”

But at that moment. The space around began to collapse. This was because when Fafnir came in, the center of the barrier was completely dug out.

Fafnir was worried about letting it end like this, but he soon shook his head and moved to take care of the Surtur team around him, not Liris. If left alone, everyone could have scattered, and if the condition of the fallen Surtr team was bad, it could have led to a life-threatening situation.

While Fafnir was taking care of his teammates, Lilith also hurriedly opened the door and headed to the space where the mysterious doctor was supposed to be.

*****