185 episodes
48 The Floating City (2)
Is it because of the dense trees?
Or is it because of something else?
“ Damn it, damn it!”
Someone was swearing and running through the dark forest with no light coming in.
A woman with a strong body with light gray hair tied into one.
The woman was Lynette, a member of the expedition expedition ‘The Digging Eyes’, which had only five of them in the Empire.
“ Why is this only happening to me again!”
Although she vomited a cry of mixed irritation and fear, Renette never slowed down.
No, rather, I increased the speed even more with all the strength I was breastfeeding.
It was obvious that the moment I slowed down, the ‘those’ that were chasing me would take my life.
‘ I am the X God who accepted the quest!’
The place where Renette is now is the ‘Forest where the sun never rises’ at the northwestern tip of the empire.
The reason she was in the capital and was being chased all the way to this far place was because, like the last time, a request came in as an expedition.
A quest from ‘Black Fairy Village’, the only village that exists in the forest.
The content of the request was that some mysterious and strange things had appeared in the center of the forest for some time and asked to investigate them.
Arlos, the leader of the expedition team, who felt similar to the request from the village of Hoyre, tried to send Renette, who had solved the request, once again, and after refusing several times, she eventually accepted it on an unprecedented condition.
And the first scene that Renette, who accepted the request, arrived at the ‘Black Fairy Village’, was the black fairies that were annihilated without even leaving their bodies, and ‘something’ chewing on the corpses of those fairies.
‘ What the hell are those?’
With that thought, Renette turned her head slightly and looked at the ‘something’ that was chasing her.
gurgling-
They looked like werewolves on the outside, but they were bizarre creatures whose whole body was made up of a blood-red liquid.
No, it was questionable whether they could even be called living things.
Because there were no internal organs that a living thing should have.
Of course, Renette had never seen or heard of such a being.
‘ Now is the limit!’
The breath that fills to the limit and the legs that become heavy as if they were weighted with cast iron.
On the other hand, those monsters were chasing at the same speed as the first, as if the concept of being tired didn’t exist.
finally,
“X foot!”
Renette, who uttered a loud swear word, stopped running and turned back.
It was decided that it would be better to fight back while there was even a little bit of strength left, rather than die in vain, completely exhausted.
“ Even if I die, I will take one of you with me!”
Renette, who drew her sword, rushed towards the monsters with a scream like a scream.
Crackle!
Finally, it was the moment when the monsters with their mouths wide open, which were absolutely impossible with the structure of the jaws of creatures, were about to attack her.
Whoops!
The body of the monstrous creature that rushed in front of it exploded without even leaving a shape.
“… … uh?”
Because it wasn’t what he did, the moment a blank voice came out of Lynette’s mouth when she saw the scene, boo boo bubbuk!
The bodies of other monstrous creatures behind them also began to burst continuously without any warning.
with him,
“ Looks like you’ve come to the right place.”
A terrifying yet familiar voice echoed in her ear.
In the eyes of Renette who turned to him, a woman with red eyes, smiling while looking at him, entered.
“ Everyone, you!”
“ Have we met again?”
A woman waving her hand to Renette, who shouts with her eyes wide open.
It was Riosina.
“ Now… … .”
Soon after, Riusina moved slowly and approached Renette, looking towards Renette, who was still looking at her with her eyes wide open.
“ Let’s go find out where these guys come from.”
He smiled and opened his mouth.
* * *
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Magic warfare.
It was an event called the flower of the exchange meeting as a place where wizards representing the empire and wealthy cities competed with each other.
The purpose was to improve each other’s magic level through good-natured competition, but the battle itself had no choice but to separate winners and losers, so now that time has passed, it has spread to a kind of pride battle.
That is why the one who lost in the magic proxy battle went to great lengths for three years to win the next proxy battle.
‘ But I’m going to send Prince Zion out to such a vicarious battle.’
Adegripa’s deputy mayor, Arkendelt, thought so and looked at the arena where the budding wizards’ proxy battle was taking place with complicated eyes.
Kwagwagwagwang!
As the youngsters who will lead the next era, their standards were unbelievably high for their age, but Archendelt could not focus on that.
‘It’s not even a new proxy war, it’s a free proxy war.’
The exchange conference was divided into two parts.
A new proxy war in which promising players participate and a free proxy war in which high-ranking wizards participate.
Among them, the one in which Prince Zion participated was the free proxy war.
‘ Are you sure you think the proxy war is a joke?’
Archendelt shook his head in denial of that thought.
Because of that, the face of the wizards of the other empires who participated in the proxy war was great.
‘ I’m sure I’ll be embarrassed… … .’
In order to save the face of the royal family, it was a situation where they had to think about giving up on purpose.
Akendelt looked at the other wizards who were shivering while looking at the roster to see if he had similar concerns, then turned to Ahmad, who was constantly exclaiming in excitement as he watched the game from the side.
“ I… … Ahmad, I have a question for you.”
“ Tell me.”
“ Does Prince Zion know how to use magic?”
I already knew it wasn’t, but I was asking just in case.
But the answer he got back was as expected.
“ As far as I know, Prince Zion cannot use magic.”
“ But why did you participate in the proxy war? It must be difficult to fight.”
“ Heh heh, you never know. Your Majesty Zion must be thinking of something else.”
It certainly could have been.
The constraint placed on the magic proxy wasn’t ‘you have to use only this’, but ‘you can’t do anything’, because there were so many gaps.
Still, there was a reason why it was decided that way.
Because of the vague scope of magic.
On a small scale, if only spells organized by ‘level’ were magic, on a larger scale, magic, spirits, and divine magic also fell within that range.
That’s why I couldn’t pick exactly one and define that this is magic.
‘ Even so, if you don’t have basic magic skills, you can never win.’
Because the restrictions imposed such as prohibition of use of weapons, prohibition of physical contact, and prohibition of use of all martial arts-related abilities such as swordsmanship were terrifying.
‘ I really don’t know.’
Even while Archendelt was struggling like that, the proxy war continued.
And finally, the free proxy war begins.
The imperial participant in the opening match, which announced the start of such a free proxy war,
“ Huh, from the beginning… … .”
It was Zion.
Shion immediately walks to the stadium in the center with eyes that do not know what he is thinking when he hears the call.
Across the arena stood a dwarf wizard who was already seen as his opponent.
Elemental Tuner Grimel.
As his nickname suggests, he was one of the most powerful magicians who handled elemental magic and ranked 17th in the magic rank.
However, Grimel’s face was so distorted that anyone could tell.
‘ That’s annoying.’
In fact, he didn’t like it very much now.
It was a proxy battle that I had been preparing for three years since the last defeat.
However, Prince Zion, who can’t use any magic, is his opponent.
‘ What do you think of substitute warfare? … .’
I am so annoyed that my anger rises to the point of rising.
That’s why Grimel had no intention of keeping up with what Archendelt had previously told him to be gentle.
No, I was going to push it even harder.
‘ At the same time as the start, I will attack you so that you will never even think of participating in a proxy war again.’
No matter how imperial they are, they cannot be held responsible for injuries caused by proxy wars.
In Grimmel’s head, the thought that he would lose did not exist.
I had heard that Prince Zion was strong, but as long as he couldn’t use magic, defeat was almost certain.
Soon after,
Whik!
With a sharp sound announcing the start of the match, Tuhwahahahak!
Dozens of flame spears created around Grimel began to fly towards Zion.
Is he really the best wizard in the top 20?
Even though it was a very basic magic, the power of each of those flame spears was strong enough to blow away almost any house.
“ Such dangerous magic from the beginning!”
Akendelt’s eyes, watching him, were dyed with embarrassment.
In the meantime, Grimel’s flame spear, which had finally reached just before, was about to pierce Zion’s whole body.
for a moment,
Shrek-
All those windows disappeared.
As if it didn’t exist in the first place.
“… … uh?”
A questionable voice came out of Grimel’s mouth.
Because I couldn’t figure out what just happened.
“ What are you doing!”
Still, like a veteran of the battle, Grimel immediately regained consciousness and immediately fired the next magic.
This time, it was hundreds of arrows made of ice and a huge hand protruding from the floor.
His long-term cross-attribute magic unfolded.
But this time too,
Whoops!
Grimel’s magic disappeared right in front of him without reaching Zion.
and at that moment,
“!!!!!”
The wizards who were looking at the scene with Grimel’s eyes that were dyed with embarrassment rose from their seats.
“ I, that one!”
It didn’t happen because I knew what Zion was doing now.
On the contrary, it happened because I had no idea how it was done.
It was no exaggeration to say that the level of wizards observing the proxy war was the best in the whole of the empire and the wealthy city.
It was very surprising that they could not even grasp the fragments of the principle.
“ Dispel?”
Words that came out of one of the wizard’s mouths.
But everyone there knew that wasn’t the case.
In order to dispel, that is, nullify magic, the process of calculating the target magic in reverse was essential.
However, in the scene just before, such a process did not exist at all.
bum bum, bum bum.
slowly.
Shion moves towards Grimel, who is looking at her with trembling eyes.
“ What… … what!”
aah!
Grimel began to fire magic indiscriminately towards such Shion.
At the same time, a faint shimmering darkness around Zion.
The magic that touches the darkness is erased without leaving a trace like a stone sinking to the bottom of the water.
“ That power… … .”
It’s not against the restrictions, but it’s not magical either.
A heterogeneous power that I have never seen anywhere else.
When the astonishment of the wizards looking at him deepens,
“ Ahhh!”
In the end, Grimel, who had lost half of his sanity, began to unleash magic that should not be used in Dalian.
A high-ranking wizard known to always keep his cool under any circumstances.
There was a reason he, such a high-ranking wizard, lost his temper so easily.
bum bum, bum bum.
A terrible pressure emanating from the approaching Zion, swallowing up all the magic.
The pressure was getting bigger and bigger with Zion’s steps, and it was pressing down on Grimmel’s heart.
And finally, Shion, who came right in front of such Grimel, Tuk!
He lightly touched his final spell, which had just been completed in his hand.
That moment,
aa
Grimel’s spell contracted like a black star that sucked in everything in the world, and a huge wave of power erupted from him and crushed everything around him.
The dust rises up with him and covers the stadium.
Soon after, in the place where the dust was removed,
fight-
There was Grimmel, who was thrown out of the arena and crashed into a wall, unconscious, and Shion, standing in the same spot as before the explosion.
“… … .”
ensuing silence.
It was a completely unexpected sight and a completely unexpected result.
No one could open his mouth to him, and he was staring blankly at Zion.
at that time.
From the mouth of Zion, who looked at such people with drowsy eyes, just like the first time,
“ The sky was whiter than yesterday.”
Suddenly, words that didn’t make sense came out.
Even in the midst of the confusion, there were still questions in the eyes of people, but Sion did not answer the question and just smiled inwardly.
‘ This should be enough.’
I’m done with baiting with this.
Now it was time to wait for the fish to bite the bait.
* * *
All of the following proxy battles were carried out in an instant.
The level of such proxy wars were high enough to open their mouths, but the wizards couldn’t focus on it properly.
Because the battle that Shion showed during the opening game continued to remain in my mind.
That battle was intense and shocking.
After so many twists and turns, it was already late at night when Zion returned to his assigned dormitory after completing all the proxy battles and other schedules that followed.
‘ I was just going to summon the Frost Spirit.’
As soon as the proxy battle was over, Shion, who had a slightly tired expression recalling the countless wizards who were clinging to him with the momentum to grab the crotch, immediately lay down on the bed and closed his eyes.
In fact, it was a state where sleep was not necessary, but getting a good night’s sleep for an hour or two was helpful for the next day’s activities.
However, Zion’s eyes opened again within a minute.
“ Are you here?”
With those words, Sion smiled and looked somewhere.
Apparently the fish bit the bait earlier than expected.