Isekai Mahou wa Okureteru! (WN) c22

CHAPTER 22: MAZOKU, THEIR POWER
—Just as everyone was frozen in shock.

From within the forest, several vaguely humanoid figures appeared.

The wings of a bat, the horns of a goat, and a reddish, rust-colored body. These strangely diverse parts nevertheless fit together seamlessly, resulting in a hideous silhouette.

The existence of such a creature was quite the common occurrence in fantasy stories. They were the enemies of the Hero, oddly-formed creatures from the Abyss that thrust the world into chaos.

When comparing aggression, they far surpa.s.sed even the magical beasts and monsters whom were also enemies of humanity.

These beings, however, were capable of human speech and possessed highly durable bodies, traits attributed to them in all stories.

However, that aside, they were actually divided into a handful of types and tribes according to the variances between them.

…Our world never had monsters or demons. This is my first time seeing anything like this, Suimei thought to himself as he watched their enemies fly closer.

Although he’d had numerous experiences battling non-human ent.i.ties back home, but this was still his first time ever encountering creatures like this, which almost seemed to have leapt straight out of a fantasy painting. Even when compared to the dragons of antiquity described in his own world, they were nothing alike. For that matter, even something like a vampire was quite a bit more human than these things. …This was, of course, referring to their appearance. If you were to enumerate all the discrepancies, the list would never end.

He would never guessed that in a fantasy world like this one, between demons and subhumans, he would encounter demons first.

—In any event, there was a new problem. Even though they’d now confirmed their enemy’s ident.i.ty to be that of the Mazoku, that answer only raised the new question of what they were doing here.

(From what that minister with the parted hair said, after the Mazoku took the north, they’ve been relatively quiet…)

This was something he couldn’t understand. While the Mazoku might have claimed the northern nation of Nos.h.i.+as for themselves, there should still be at least two countries and a mountain range between their territory and here. For them to appear here of all places was extremely unnatural.

That was, of course, only a.s.suming you were thinking normally. These creatures were not human, and it was perhaps a mistake to try and evaluate their actions through a human viewpoint. It was also entirely possible that they freely moved about as they would, and that any humans they encountered would focus solely on defending their own kingdoms only, never bothering to stop them from advancing.

Man…

If that was really the case, then this was deeply troubling.

Either way, worrying about this now was rather beside the point. Accordingly, Suimei stopped trying to figure out why they were here. His gaze sharpened, and bloodl.u.s.t filled his eyes as he stared down his enemy.

He focused on a single Mazoku before him, who had seemed to have targeted him as well.

Suddenly, it waved its arm fiercely in his direction.

The Mazoku had seized the initiative.

Was that mana or was that ether?

He saw a circular ball of energy gather in its palm, taking on a fearsome shape before flying in his direction, arrow-like, with a vigorous wave of the Mazoku’s arm.

Like h.e.l.l I’d get hit that easily— Suimei scoffed as he evaded the incoming attack, which whistled through the air.

The attack cratered the ground, casting up a cloud of dust as it hit, but Suimei was entirely unharmed. Though it had been as fast as an arrow, but to the eyes of a magician, it might as well have been standing still.

Simultaneous with its attack, the Mazoku’s wings began to beat furiously as flew in his direction.

Suimei raced to meet his enemy, who was swooping downward out of the air straight for him.

This threw off his enemy’s visual perception.

The Mazoku touched down, only to miss its target. If he had attempted to dodge either backward or to the side, while he’d have thrown off the Mazoku’s initial targeted point, it would have been able to fix its flight path mid-course. Since he had instead dashed directly toward it, however, it had been forced to slam on the brakes, and so—

Sha!

Suimei and his enemy’s bodies crossed one another. The wind howling as it struck, the Mazoku swung its claws toward Suimei. Perhaps owing to the fact that it hadn’t had time to properly adjust its prepared actions, its hasty attack also forced it off-balance.

Exactly what Suimei had been aiming for.

Pivoting off his left foot, he dodged the arc traced by its claws. Grabbing its arm, he took up a karate stance meant for throwing your enemy.

“Haa—”

“—!”

Suimei upped his speed yet further. Under the effects of the increased force, Suimei slammed his foe hard into the ground.

The Mazoku rolled several times. Despite all this, it didn’t seem to have been injured. It immediately rose to its feet before taking off into the air once more.

It hovered in the air, its wings flapping as it cautiously maintained a certain distance from Suimei.

Having been taken down from the air once already, it was a bit apprehensive. Even if it hadn’t actually really been hurt, it nevertheless hovered in place, its concentrated bloodl.u.s.t nearly tangible as it spoke in a coa.r.s.e voice.

“Accursed human, using that kind of strange technique…”

“Calling it ‘strange’ sure is rude. It just takes a bit of skill is all.”

“Hmph…”

Suimei kept his guard up even as he mocked his enemy. The Mazoku snorted contemptuously in response, its tone angry.

However, or rather, what Suimei really wanted to say was—

“So you guys can speak, huh?” he said, straightforwardly saying what was on his mind.

The Mazoku simply snorted once more.

“—Hmph. Pitiful humans. You actually think that the ability to speak is something only you possess?”

“When it comes to human languages anyway.”

Suimei’s answer was delivered without any anxiety whatsoever.

“You really think language is something only humans have? You humans sure are stupid.”

“…’something only humans have’? Not at all. If it’s your language…”

“Quit your jabbering.”

From its answer, Suimei could tell it had misunderstood and frowned. It looked like conversation would be impossible from here on out. Having spoken its piece, the Mazoku closed its mouth, radiating bloodl.u.s.t.

“Hmm.”

Faced with this monster pressuring him, Suimei, weary of it all, simply gazed it at indifferently.

Its claws, so disturbingly like the mouthparts of an insect, began to twitch restlessly, giving rise to an instinctual feeling of revulsion. The conversation was over.

…The Mazoku had stopped talking, but that didn’t mean it had started to attack either. The attack it had suffered earlier had it on guard, and it watched his every movement, waiting for an opening.

So it’s watching me… In that case…

Suimei, too, kept an eye on his opponent as he felt out for the presences around him.

The merchants appeared to have hidden themselves already as they were nowhere to be seen. The others were already engaged in combat with the Mazoku, and from the caravan ahead, he heard the others roaring, surges of magical power, and the dangerous sound of things being smashed.

It seemed the Mazoku had focused on the area where the bodyguards had gathered.

From within the depths of the forest behind him, he could feel far more magical presences than had appeared before the caravan. Lefille must have engaged them already. By holding the majority of their forces herself, she’d greatly lessened the pressure on the caravan itself and diminished losses greatly. In this sense, her actions had been a most effective countermeasure.

…As he contemplated the situation, Suimei stuck his hand into his pocket, his eyes never leaving the Mazoku across from him. Suddenly, its wings opened wide.

I guess it’s about time to act.

“Die…”

“Take this!”

—Snap!

As Suimei’s fingers made this sound, the ground under the Mazoku – about to fly straight for him – suddenly exploded.

“Wha—!”

The sound of an explosion filled the air.

But that was just a smokescreen.

The magic invoked by the snap of his fingers obstructed his enemy from continuing forward.

At that moment, Suimei leapt backward to create some distance. Exhaling, he activated another magic.

“…Now then, let’s see just how strong these enemies of this world’s humans are.”

With a low mutter, Suimei gathered the requisite mana.

With a sideways glance, Suimei pictured in his mind the numbers and corresponding equivalence relation of his magic array, and spoke to activate his prepared magic.

—This was the Kabbalah’s most prized technique, the Sefirah.

“—Flamma est lego. Vis wizard…” (By this magician’s will, flame, converge.)

From the scattered magic arrays that appeared in the air, a raging flame burst forth.

The flames soared toward the Mazoku, as if attracted to it.

The Mazoku, however, didn’t move. It allowed itself to be drowned in fire.

Eh?

Seeing that his opponent hadn’t bothered to so much as dodge, Suimei was taken aback. Was it that his enemy was stupid or that it had a way to deal with his attack?

As his spell continued to wreathe the Mazoku in flame, Suimei pondered what kind of countermeasure his enemy might have prepared.

This was magical fire, a blaze that would never be extinguished until it had disintegrated its target… Or at least, that’s what was supposed to happen. Instead, peering into the fire’s depths, he saw his enemy’s carefree figure, completely unharmed.

At long last, disturbed by some force or another, the flame was blown away.

“…No use, huh?”

The remnants of the inferno fading from its body, the Mazoku, perhaps responding to Suimei’s mumbled words, spoke in a stunned tone.

“…You seriously thought you could defeat me with a pitiful magic like that? I’ve been seriously underestimated here.”

“…”

…The magic just now had been too weak, huh. The Mazoku’s body showed no signs of having been burned.

Even though his enemy seemed to think that he had been looking down on it, the truth was Suimei really hadn’t been all that stingy with either mana or spell technique. Nevertheless, the Mazoku standing before him didn’t look to have so much as been singed.

He’d originally thought to decide the battle with a single spell. Indeed, he looked to have severely underestimated his opponent. He’d used a spell in accordance with what he judged the enemy’s ability to resist to be based on the amount of mana he sensed within the its body. The effected result, however, had been entirely outside of his expectations.

Once more, the Mazoku extended an arm, gathering power.

This time, however, it didn’t bother with arm motions. The lump of power shot forward on its own.

His foe seemed intent on a long-range battle. Suimei casually dodged with room to spare. Power gathered once more on the Mazoku’s hand.

Thereafter, as though a solo marksman, arrows of energy flew at Suimei one after another.

Suimei raced around, evading each attack, taking care never to get too close to the wagon carrying the caravan’s cargo.

Trying to suppress me with sheer numbers, is it…?

As Suimei ran, he observed his foe’s facial expression, which began to grow ever more anxious.

Any normal person would already have been done in. It seemed he was more of a troublesome foe than the Mazoku had expected.

Anyway, if his opponent wanted a long-range battle, then that was rather advantageous for Suimei as well. Trading blows from a certain distance was an ideal situation for a magician.

Hounded by transparent arrows of energy, Suimei constructed another magic.

—Since last time’s magic had failed, he would use an even more powerful offensive spell.

“—Flamma est lego. Vis wizard hex agon aestua sursum!” (By this magician’s will, flame, converge. Raging flame, give form to its death throes!)

The scene from earlier repeated itself as numerous magic circles appeared once more. This time, however, they weren’t solely to be found in the air, but were rather also on the ground, and all over their surroundings. Moreover, there were at least fifty percent more appearing than had previously. Their destructive might was also incomparably greater.

Fire poured forth once more, both raining down from the sky and surging up from the ground, swallowing the arrows of energy whole as it screamed toward its target.

“Sh…”

The fire this time unsettled the Mazoku. It started to dodge, but it was too late. Its delayed movements were meaningless in the face of the approaching flames.

The brilliant flames seized upon their target.

However.

“…How weak! These flames!”

“…!”

Fiery lines drew a whirlpool of flame encircling about the Mazoku, caught in the eye of the storm. Noticing that the flames were again unable to cause it harm, it ceased its attempts to evade, instead opening its mouth to speak.

Ignoring the searing flames, it waved its arm in Suimei’s direction.

“I’ve had it with you!”

An enormous ma.s.s of power came flying his way, consuming the remnants of Suimei’s spell and turning the trees behind Suimei to dust as it approached.

Nevertheless, an attack of that level was something that Suimei could avoid with ease. He took a firm leap backward.

In the next instant, a cloud of dust, thrown up by the attack, crashed into his person.

Suimei held up a hand to protect his face as his mind raced.

Even that attack didn’t do anything…

The enemy before him, a Mazoku.

What was it about it that rendered his magic so ineffective?

Looking it over, he couldn’t find anything that would grant it such a resistance. That his magic would be utterly impotent was hard to believe.

…Its mana levels aren’t anywhere near enough to resist the magic I’ve been using, but it doesn’t look like it’s an innate, physical resistance either…

His enemy definitely did not have the ability to weaken his magic enough to extinguish it, nor should the Mazoku be in possession of a body with a magical resistance of such a degree either. Even if its body was extremely durable, but from the sensation he’d felt when he’d sent it cras.h.i.+ng into the ground, it wasn’t at a level that surpa.s.sed other lifeforms.

It was conceivable that it had innate resistance to fire, but for it to be to the extent that it hadn’t been so much as singed by his flames was not.

If he were to a.s.sume that it was not a resistance to fire, but rather the ability to extinguish its flames, then several possibilities existed.

That was because fire created by magic was quite different from the naturally occurring phenomenon.

The flames called forth by magic were unlike the naturally occurring phenomenon, which would only occur when the conditions of a fuel source and sufficient oxygen were met. Instead, it operated via the medium of a reconstructed mystery, essentially forcibly inducing the combustion phenomenon. Aside from ignition conditions, magical fire would simply burn along the path outlined by the spell.

Subsequently, unless you countered the magic process directly, the flame would never go out until its target had been completely consumed.

Of course, if it was a simple spell on the level of a firestarter, then that was a different matter, but it should go without saying that the type of magic Suimei had just invoked was of the other type.

So why was it that the fire brought about by his magic wasn’t working?

…He was thoroughly confused by this matter, but he nevertheless focused on his surroundings for the time being.

Battle was still ongoing all over, but there were no signs of having lost any ground to the Mazoku. This was because the attacking Mazoku were far outnumbered by those guarding the caravan.

The other escorts don’t seem to be having any problems. In that case, let’s try this…

Then, in that case…

s.h.i.+k!

Suimei evaded the slash of his enemy’s claws. Continuously he dodged as the Mazoku continued to chain its strikes.

“In that case, there’s another reason why it’s not working—”

“You just don’t shut up, do you…”

“—Your clinginess is really getting on my nerves!”

“Hah!”

Suimei roared as he snapped his fingers.

Even though the Mazoku was subjected to his attack from close range, it was essentially unharmed. Nevertheless, he’d accomplished his goal of sending it flying.

“…You brat. Using the same magic over and over like an idiot!”

“Sorry. I don’t have that many magics on hand, after all.”

“Uaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—!”

The Mazoku snarled, its figure growing hazy. Reacting purely on instinct, Suimei threw out an arm.

“Primum excipio!” (First bulwark, local activation!)

To prevent the charge of the Mazoku, accelerating nonstop toward him, Suimei activated this physical defensive magic.

As if the magic array had been granted a power of some kind, at the moment of contact, a shrill noise accompanied flying sparks.

“W-what—?!”

A thoroughly shocked expression appeared on the face of the Mazoku, seeing this defensive spell for the first time. Suimei took the opportunity to consider the strange feeling of disharmony that filled him.

…What in the world? My magic was clearly ineffective earlier, and yet the golden fortress completely stopped its attack?

If his opponent had an ability that would directly affect magic itself, then his defensive magic should have been disrupted just now. Even if it wasn’t able to completely shatter his defense in an instant, the subsequent shock should have broken through.

However, that had most definitely not happened. Its attack had been rendered entirely impotent. Consequently, an endless tide of questions streamed through Suimei’s mind.

“W-what just happened?! How could I be stopped by that thing?!”

“Ha, isn’t it obvious?!”

“Impertinent brat—”

—The Mazoku, coming to the realization that attacking wasn’t working, and concerned about a counterattack, placed some distance between them.

As Suimei frowned, the sound of an explosion came from not far off. Keeping the Mazoku in his peripheral vision, he turned in the direction the sound had come from. There, a caravan escort had destroyed another Mazoku with an explosive magic.

A fire magic.

And yet, unlike when he had done so, the Mazoku was scorched by the flames, and drew its last breath.

“That guy…”

What the heck?

Even though his magical flames had been entirely ineffective, it was nevertheless now evident that the Mazoku did not possess any sort of exceptional, innate resistance to flame.

Suddenly, as Suimei was evaluating the situation, a male voice suddenly called out.

“Hey! What are you doing?! Get back!”

“Hmm?”

“You! The guy with the black hair! Pull back!”

Enemy defeated, he’d noticed Suimei’s situation.

The other adventurers, their Mazoku eliminated, rushed over.

Looking more closely, he recognized them as the party that Lefille had happily conversed with.

As directed by the warrior adventurer, a girl – the party’s mage – chanted as fire sprang forth from the end of her staff.

Perhaps having noticed, the Mazoku suddenly flew backward with a flap of its wings.

So that magic is one to be avoided…

Sensing the danger, it pulled back. Although it had previously tried to avoid one of his spells, but this time it really retreated a good distance, perhaps owing to the difference between his magic and hers when it came to effectiveness was against the Mazoku.

Next.

The adventurer who had raced to his side spoke.

“Get back. We’ll take care of things.”

“No, it’s okay. I can do it.”

“What do you mean you ‘can do it’…?! You were clearly in a desperate situation!”

“Desperate? No, not at all…”

“What else would you call it?! That Mazoku is as healthy as can be!”

Well, on the surface of things, that was undeniable. But that just meant it’d take a little more time is all. That Mazoku posed no threat to him whatsoever, not to mention he hadn’t yet used his true strength.

All the same, since he’d been unable to bring his foe down, from an outsider’s point of view, he was indeed locked in a desperate battle.

“…Maybe, but either way, I still want to continue.”

“No way. Retreat back to the caravan, we’ll take care of this.”

“Eh? No, no, that’s a problem!” Suimei rejected the adventurer’s words with a shake of his head.

Indeed, it would be troubling for Suimei. If he were to simply leave this in someone else’s hands, then he’d never be able to unravel the enigma of why his magic was so ineffective against the Mazoku. He would leave without knowing precisely just how much power it took to take down his enemy. Considering that he wasn’t in any danger, he couldn’t just allow the mystery to remain unsolved.

And yet.

“Huh? What problem are you talking about? Once we take that thing down, there won’t be any problems left, right? Now then, hurry back to the caravan—?!”

Not entirely paying attention as he spoke, the adventurer’s words suddenly stopped short.

That was due to having to avoid something that flew his way – the Mazoku’s attack.

The adventurer at Suimei’s side didn’t seem to have thoroughly grasped the attack, as he unnecessarily leapt a great distance away.

Realizing that its attack had been avoided sight unseen, the Mazoku circled around horizontally, as if gliding, while drawing close.

It attempted to flank them in order to attack from a blind spot.

“s.h.i.+t, it’s already here!”

Gripping his sword, the adventurer advanced a step, seemingly intending to protect Suimei, something that he should feel grateful for.

However, both feelings of grat.i.tude and nervousness vanished before Suimei’s next incantation.

“—Astrum micans profundum. Cupio csuspento is ut vomica!” (—Sea of stars, transform the Blessed Mother’s words into a curse!) [TN: The author completely butchered the Latin on this one. I mean, they usually only barely make sense, but this time, he included both a term that doesn’t exist – “csuspento” – as well as one that makes no sense in the context it’s used in – “vomica”. If anyone knows how to fix this incantation, I’d very much appreciate some suggestions.]

Below Suimei, a magic circle the color of dayflowers appeared. In order to quicken the construction of the magic, within the palm of his right hand, he constructed a “refined spell archetype”.

“Ha! Have you still not realized that your magic is useless?!”

He definitely understood. However, magicians were the kind of being that would endlessly pursue every hypothesis until each and every one had been disproven. As long as possibilities still continued to exist, they would never give up.

“—Stella maris!” (Go! Cursed, frozen star!)

—Cursed Stella Maris.

As he released the magic sphere in his hand, several bluish magic arrays manifested before him, the refined magic releasing its power.

Acceleration, acceleration, amplification, and then refinement.

Hail with a vapor trail. Comet-like bullets of magic. Taking into the air, these frozen stars plummeted toward the Mazoku.

“Ice?! —Wha?!”

The Mazoku raised its alt.i.tude and escaped backward.

As the magic comets impacted the ground, ma.s.sive icicles surged upward like blooming flowers. The icy moisture created by the icicles instantly froze the Mazoku’s torso, even in the air as it was.

“…Tch. Its a lot weaker. I guess that’s the best I can hope for without either Spica or Sirius in the sky…”

It was the same as when he’d enacted his Meteor magic. As expected, magic that relied on the constellations was difficult to wield in this other world, seeing as neither they nor the stars of his world appeared in these skies.

Unable to draw on the power of the stars, the magic’s might had weakened considerably.

“Hehe, you’re too naive, human! If you think ice is going to— W-wha?!”

“Heh. Sorry to disappoint, but this is a different type of magic from the ones I used before. I don’t think you’ll find it that easy to break free.”

“Something of this level – s.h.i.+t! Why can’t I break this brittle ice?!”

Trying to escape its prison, the Mazoku pounded on the icicle with great strength, though it didn’t so much as shudder.

—Cursed ice.

A frozen phenomenon recreated by the Sefirah of the Kabbalah. Astrology had been used to further strengthen its effect, and a curse had been interspersed throughout. An icy magic of the water element, the product of three separate magic systems interwoven with one another.

In addition to the frozen shards it created, it would also follow the trails left by the moisture it summoned, imprisoning its target in an mysterious, frozen barrier.

Adding in the fact that it also carried a curse, this was a most vicious magic. With the added effect of the curse, simply breaking the ice itself was insufficient to escape its grasp. Yes, this was cursed ice. As long as you did not destroy the curse itself, the ice would never melt, nor would it ever shatter.

Finally, something worked… Suimei thought to himself as he watched his enemy.

Actually, it would have been far stranger for it to not have worked. Despite the fact that he was extremely surprised to see that the Mazoku had not itself been frozen, he had nevertheless expected as much when he had enacted this spell.

Even if the Mazoku possessed some sort of abnormal magic immunity, even if the power of his spell, unable to resonate with the stars, had weakened, this was still a two-layered ice magic. Escaping this frozen prison would prove unnaturally arduous.

…The adventurer suddenly patted Suimei on the shoulder.

“What’s this? So you can use two elements! That’s pretty impressive!”

“Well, something of this level…”

“Don’t be modest. I’m really seeing you in a new light here!”

“Eh, no…”

That really wasn’t anything special. Suimei was left in a strange mood. The adventurer called out to his companions—

“Alright! Let’s do it now! It can’t move, so let’s give it all we’ve got!”

Suddenly.

“—□□□□□□!”

The Mazoku roared at the heavens.

The howl of a cornered beast.

A piercing cry. Just like that, the Mazoku gave voice to its hatred, the sound ringing in the ears of all those around.

At the same time, its mana levels started to soar, it having seemingly drawn on every last one of its hidden reserves. This caused a dark, dense, foul cloud of power to gather around its body.

What? Mana? N-no, this is—

While Suimei tried to put his finger on the familiar air of dark energy that had begun to overflow, the adventurer called out loudly.

“C-c.r.a.p! The ice is going to break!”

“Hmm?”

Suimei interrupted his train of thought and turned to the adventurer. The adventurer seemed afraid of the power the Mazoku was now displaying. The joyous expression formerly adorning his face had turned anxious once again.

Suimei, on the other hand, was as calm as ever.

“Why?”

“What do you mean ‘why’? That’s the power of a Mazoku when it’s serious, you know?! It’s going to break that ice with ease!”

“Well, no, that’s not going to happen. It doesn’t matter how much struggles, it’s not going to be able to break those icicles,” Suimei replied calmly.

“Not going to break you say? What kind of leisurely things are you saying?! Look!”

” ‘Look’…?”

His gaze followed the direction the adventurer’s finger pointed in.

There was the Mazoku, the same as before. What was, however, drastically different were the deep cracks running through the cursed ice binding it.

“Huh…? Wait, oi oi oi! You’ve gotta be kidding me?! That’s a curse! A hex! How can it possibly break like that?!”

“Why are you only surprised now?”

“Nonononono, how could anyone remain calm after seeing that?!”

Suimei was practically screaming, the scene unveiling itself before his eyes had so blown away any notion of common sense. He continued to watch.

What the h.e.l.l is going on? The cursed ice is really breaking… This is insane.

—The type of magic known as hexes weren’t simply curses. Hexes were a specific technique belonging to the curse system of modern magic. Briefly described, they did not use feelings of resentment as a foundation, but were rather entirely artificial, manufactured from beginning to end.

Different from the terrifying destructive power or powerful bindings that were born of deep feelings of resentment, hexes were able to directly reproduce the effects of these spells without the underlying requirement of these negative feelings. Dispelling a hex required directly targeting the technique itself, which required a thorough understanding of such things in addition to a fair amount of skill.

Anyway, that was why what was happening now was simply unbelievable. A curse originally wasn’t something that manifested physically the way other magic did. For it to be destroyed in this manner was like a certain famous monk who’d subdued a painting of a tiger.

“S-s.h.i.+t! Everyone, take him down, NOW!” the adventurer beside Suimei shouted, as Suimei frowned worriedly.

Sounds of acknowledgment echoed from all around.

The other adventurers traded glances and nodded before proceeding to take action. Unfortunately, the torrent of black energy pouring forth from the Mazoku sent them all flying.

“D-dammit! Don’t get too close!”

“Use magic! Kill it with magic!”

“—O flame! Become a spear and pierce my foe!”

As commanded, the magicians began to chant.

It wasn’t well thought out, though. Judging by what had happened earlier, if it was just the Mazoku they were dealing with, then perhaps their magic would have been sufficient to break through its defenses. This time, however, the Mazoku was surrounded by ice.

There had never been a reason to revoke a curse in their own world, and so Suimei lacked the ability to cancel the curse and break the surrounding ice.

Consequently, the magic intended to destroy the Mazoku weakened considerably.

As their respective magics landed, what appeared before them was the sight of the Mazoku, completely unharmed.

“What’s going on? How come our magic didn’t work…?!”

The adventurers were deeply shaken.

At this moment, the Mazoku’s power continued to surge forth as before. This tremendous power filled them with a fear they could not ignore.

This was a strange power, utterly unlike the feeling that came from a magician activating their mana furnace.

That power… I’ve seen it somewhere before…

But no.

…It’s about time for me to get serious. My hex isn’t going to last long before that power.

Suimei was concerned by the Mazoku’s power. Even though that strange power bothered him, he didn’t have the luxury of thinking about it now.

Indeed, the cracks running through the icicle were already steadily growing larger. Paying the price for this action, blood dripped from all over its body, its veins bursting due to the exertion. Nevertheless, if things were to continue down this path, it would break through its prison before it died, after which it would come straight for him.

He needed to destroy it before that could happen.

“—Flamme est lego. Vis wizard…” (By this magician’s will, flame, converge.)

“That spell again?! It hasn’t worked from the very beginning!”

“—Really? Although it’s the same spell as before, but I’m using all my power this time; you can’t just say it’ll turn out the same!”

“You really think you’re going to burn me with a piddling warmth of this degree?!”

“You sure are full of yourself, aren’t you, you phony demon! Don’t you dare look down on a magician’s flames!” Suimei yelled before beginning his next incantation.

“Hex agon aestua sursum. Impedimuntum mors!” (Raging flame, give form to its death throes! Grant death unto the one obstructing my path!)

Fire gathered. This time, however, it did not form itself into whips of flame las.h.i.+ng toward the Mazoku. Instead it became a whirling eddy of flame swirling around its target.

Everything caught in its path was turned to ash in an instant.

“—W-what? It’s different from last time…”

The fire’s light reflected off the ice, filling the backdrop of forest and sky with a blinding scarlet light.

At some point, a small magic circle had encircled a magic stone in Suimei’s palm, which burned with a deep orange flame.

—Speaking aloud the final activation keyword, Suimei crushed the magic stone.

“—Fiamma o Ashurbanipal!” (Burn like the sun, gem of Ashurbanipal!)

In an instant, the flames surrounding the Mazoku suddenly closed in, their terrifying might drowning out all sound.

The scene was suddenly rocked by an explosion as fire fountained out of the ground and the heavens were dyed a reddish-white. An explosive roar accompanied this dramatic display.

A conflagration.

Crimson waves of heat billowed outward, spreading in all directions.

Subjected to this terrifying explosive power, the Mazoku didn’t even have time to scream its last.

None of those watching had the luxury of noting this, however, as they were too busy protecting themselves. Defending themselves against the terrifying heat shooting forth was already taking their all.

…In the end, all that remained was the smell of burnt trees and a few flickering embers.

Even though he’d carefully adjusted the strength of his spell out of concern for their surroundings, a flame of this scale and the resulting shockwave had reduced the ground the Mazoku had been standing on to lava.

“W-what an amazing magic!” an adventurer called out, stunned.

The voice belonged to the young magician girl. Her words broke the others out of their stupor, after which they mirrored her sentiment.

“O-oi! Even the clouds have been turned black…!”

“Mid-level magic? B-but this destructive power…”

“Lava…? Isn’t this the stuff that comes out of volcanoes…?”

In this world, black smoke and lava weren’t that commonly seen. As those around continued to voice their shock, the first adventurer approached Suimei.

“Hey, you! Looks like you can really do it if you try! If you can do something like this, then you should just do it from the start!”

“Y, yeah. It’s my first time fighting the Mazoku, so I’m still getting used to things.”

“Really? Is that why you were so stingy with your magic? Next time, just go ahead and wreck the things!”

“Haa…”

That ran completely counter to what Suimei intended, though.

Suimei gave a vague reply to the smiling adventurer, resulting in a surprised question.

“What’s up? Wasn’t that the first Mazoku you’ve ever defeated? Shouldn’t you be happier?”

“Hmm?”

“What’s with that response? You should be more excited! Don’t tell me you’re tired already!”

“No, I’m fine…”

“Is that so? Well, alright then… Do take care of yourself, okay?”

“W-will do…”

“Good. It’s goodbye then.”

The warrior adventurer seemed to have misunderstood something, convinced that he was a novice to battle. He cast Suimei one last look before rejoining his companions.

Sending him off with his eyes, Suimei sighed tiredly.

“…Whatever. Forget it.”

Left in a state where he didn’t know what to say, Suimei nevertheless didn’t really mind.

Somewhat dejectedly he scratched his head, before pulling himself together and turning in the direction the Mazoku had come from.

So this is a Mazoku, huh…

This was the subordinate of the one he’d been called to this world to face.

He’d originally intended to take the opportunity to properly gauge his enemy’s strength, but in the end, he’d been forced to crush it with raw power.

To be honest, it’d hadn’t been difficult in the least.

While it had indeed taken him some time, but that was all. In fact, before Suimei had even had a chance to reveal his true strength, his enemy had already been turned to dust.

However—

“…Even though I used the flames of Ashurbanipal, it still took about a minute for it to die…”

He’d destroyed the Mazoku with a fire magic. Of the five great elements, this was the element that he was most proficient in. He was naturally suited to these magics, the destructive power of these spells could be easily seen, and their incantations were relatively shorter when compared to other magics.

And yet, destroying the enemy with a spell of this nature had still taken a whole minute.

That was far too time-consuming. The vast majority of things lasted but mere moments in the face of such flames. The Mazoku, however, were clearly the exception. Even a small fry like that one had proven this difficult.

Suimei’s face was stiff, his consternation visible.

Suddenly, something came whistling toward him from behind.

“What—?!”

Suimei turned a moment later. What he saw was the figure of something just like what he had just seen.

A Mazoku that had been sent flying.

—More accurately, pieces of a Mazoku.

Two pieces. Three. A twisted arm, a broken leg, and a severed head flew in his direction.

What the—

Suimei stared dumbly.

Dropping to the floor around him were scattered parts of a Mazoku’s body. Following soon after was the figure of Lefille, holding her enormous sword with a single hand.

From the shade of the trees, the girl held her silver and scarlet blade aloft. The girl currently before him bore no hint of the gentle atmosphere that had accompanied her at their first meeting.

Leaning forward slightly, her eyes glittered with vermilion light. The arm holding her weapon was taut as a bowstring, her form that of a fierce G.o.d.

A strangely audible gulp resounded through the area.

The sound became a signal. Sent flying along with the pile of parts that had been its companion, the surviving Mazoku rushed toward Lefille.

An ambush. It’d intentionally targeted the moment when Lefille had stopped, thinking it likely the moment that she would reveal an opening.

This “ambush” of its, however, had simply been wishful thinking.

Lefille hadn’t lowered her guard. Although she’d sent her enemy flying, she was as cautious as though it were still immediately before her.

Accordingly, she’d never left a combat-ready state.

In the face of that overpowering will, the Mazoku, struggling to the last, had no chance of victory.

Das.h.i.+ng toward her, Lefille slashed horizontally with her giant weapon.

She had not shown a single opening during that attack, from start to finish. The enormous blade seemingly causing a storm of wind to gust as it cut through the air.

Struck by this weapon, the Mazoku was cleanly split in two.

Immediately following, Lefille sliced again, this time vertically, from high to low. Her attack was like a whirlwind, and her twin strikes drew a cross in the air, this time parting the Mazoku’s body along its vertical axis.

And so the Mazoku met its end.

The girl’s movements, however, had not concluded.

Her actions now were superfluous. There was no meaning in continuing to slash a foe that had already perished.

Completely unconcerned by the fact that what she was doing now was quite literally overkill, she punctuated her kill by crus.h.i.+ng the Mazoku’s head with her sword, as if to say that she hadn’t yet had her fill.

“Be crushed… devil!”

Her half-mumbled words pa.s.sed through Suimei’s ears, words of loathing seemingly directed at an enemy not currently present.

…The indescribable oppressive atmosphere smothering the area suddenly disappeared. Lefille lifted her sword, and walked over to rejoin the others.

“…It looks like things are done on your guys’ end.”

“Y-yeah. You could say that…”

The one to answer had been the adventurer from just earlier, the one from the party that was familiar with Lefille. Despite the fact that Lefille had returned to her normal self, unable to wipe the shocking memory of the ferocious vision he had just seen from his mind, his answer was delivered rather stiffly.

Suimei, acting on behalf of both himself and the adventurer, raised a question.

“And your end?”

“Ah, yeah, it’s been cleaned to the point that not a one is left. There are no more Mazoku in that section of the forest.”

Just as she’d declared to the crowd before racing off, she’d destroyed them utterly. That was Lefille for you.

Although Suimei…

“Weren’t there more Mazoku in the forest than came out?”

“Yes. My original plan heading over was to completely clear them all out.”

“Hah…”

Suimei wasn’t sure what to say. Lefille revealed a fearless smile.

“You guys didn’t have any problems, I trust?”

“Nope.”

His answer had been direct, and to be fair, there truly hadn’t been any difficulties.

On that note, Lefille really planned on killing them all herself…

“I let some escape. I sure need more training,” she added regretfully.

Just what in the world is this girl…

Lefille slowly looked around.

“Just earlier, I had a really shocking sound from over here. Was that perhaps the cause of this scene of carnage?”

“Yep. That was a spell of mine.”

At his answer, she suddenly showed a look of surprise, though a bright expression appeared once more on her face immediately thereafter.

“As expected from you, Suimei-kun. How lively.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? It took this much just to take down one of them.”

“Wait, what? Just one?”

“Yeah.”

Her confusion was likely due to the devastation that had been caused to their surroundings. Suimei nodded, prompting another stunned question from Lefille.

“…I’d planned on holding up any strong ones, but I guess one made it here?”

“No, I’m pretty sure it was the same as the others. It looked just like the one you just chopped into pieces,” Suimei answered, casting a quick glance in the direction of the fallen Mazoku.

All the Mazoku that had attacked this area looked to be of the same type, as all bore the same resemblance to the devils of lore.

When it came to individual differences between them, however, that was another story. Either way, Suimei had never felt the slightest hint of danger from start to finish, and thus decided there hadn’t been any particularly strong individuals among their number.

“I don’t think so. Anything that would have taken this much to bring down shouldn’t just be any normal Mazoku… This is at least an intermediate level magic, if I’m not mistaken…?”

“Intermediate level?”

“Yeah. Is it not?” she asked.

…What’s qualifies as an intermediate level magic?

On that note, the magic of this world wasn’t split into the five main elements but rather eight, the distinction of which was rather unclear.

Magic was further divided into low level, intermediate level, and high level spells. When Reiji and Mizuki had learned high level spells, their escorts had been overjoyed. That memory was still vivid in his mind.

So just how are they defined?

When it came to magic, his world and this one differed wildly on both standards and specifications, and so this wasn’t a question Suimei was able to answer.

“…Sorry. I know it’s not the answer you’re looking for, but I don’t know what else to say. To be honest, I’m not really sure.”

Although Suimei’s answer was apologetic, Lefille nevertheless didn’t seem to be able to simply accept it.

“You’re not sure? Why not? You mentioned before that your father taught you magic… Did he perhaps never mention these things?”

“Oh, that. No, it’s because this is a magic I created myself.”

“WHAT—?! You created that yourself?!”

“Eh? What? Something strange about that?”

Suimei c.o.c.ked his head, puzzled by the flabbergasted reaction of the young woman.

Generally speaking, aside from a few basics and standard, well-known spells, his repertoire was entirely self-invented. While the constellations of astrology and their meanings were already established, thus resulting in a field that would not evolve, both magicians who practiced either the Kabbalah or hexes – very free-form magic systems – as well as high-ranked magicians frequently created magic of their own that capitalized on their specialties to achieve optimal efficiency.

“B-but… Is something like that really possible…?”

“Of course it is. As long as you have both time and knowledge, in addition to the ability to think outside the box, then it’s very much possible. To be more accurate, I should say crafting personal magics is a necessity, really.”

“I, I see. It sure sounds hard… being a mage.”

He wasn’t sure where, but Lefille seemed to have misunderstood something, as she incessantly mumbled to herself. The mage girl, standing to the side, timidly raised her hand.

“A-about that magic. From what I saw, it didn’t look any weaker than anything another mage would use, but… Well, it didn’t seem that effective on the Mazoku.”

“…Really?”

“Absolutely. Just where did my magic go wrong, I wonder.”

When it came to this topic, Suimei could only shrug helplessly.

Seriously, what’s going on here…

Though the topic came to an end without reaching a meaningful conclusion, Suimei nevertheless had a clue to follow.

In its last moments, that power that the Mazoku had shown. Suimei was certain he’d seen it somewhere.

That was a power that gave him gooseb.u.mps, a corrupt force that was somehow physiologically disagreeable.

Was that perhaps that power that the Mazoku wors.h.i.+ped—?

“…That reminds me. I heard before that the Mazoku wors.h.i.+p some kind of evil G.o.d…?”

Perhaps that was it.

—Just as Suimei was looking to unravel this mystery.

Lefille suddenly called out.

“…Suimei-kun. Everyone.”

“Hmm? What’s up?”

“It looks like things aren’t over just yet.”

Everyone turned.

Lefille tipped her head, pointing in the direction of the caravan. The others followed her gaze. There, the presences of more Mazoku could be felt.

“No way…”

Suimei’s words echoed the sentiments of all watching.

This battle wasn’t over yet.