108 – Ethiopia – 2
The sun is shining brightly.
All around are endless mountains of sand.
But I didn’t feel the suffocating murderous heat.
It would be more accurate to say that it is more comfortable than expected.
“Isn’t it really hot at all?”
Atal muttered in amazement.
It wouldn’t be strange if we collapsed right away, speaking only of the clearly visible scenery.
Even though autumn is approaching, it’s definitely time to say it’s summer.
In such a situation, it was such a sunny desert.
Won’t they look like guys who literally want to die?
But it was different if the place was Ethiopia.
“Ethiopia is called a region where the seasons do not change.”
“I knew about it, but when I felt it with my body, the feeling was completely different.”
It neither snows nor rains.
Only the sun and moon float in the sky of Ethiopia.
However, the temperature and humidity are constant.
Isn’t the reason why the atmospheric magic is low to maintain this kind of environment? It’s a strange and mysterious area that raises the same question.
That was Ethiopia.
After we sent Charlotte’s servant back with the wagon, we finally checked the strategy for this fight.
“As I said, the opponent is basically stronger than you. If you fight one-on-one or many-to-many, you have no choice but to lose. Therefore.”
“It means defeating the enemies one by one.”
“Yes. If you ever leave alone, wait there. If it is not me, you must move unconditionally in the majority. Got it?”
“Okay.”
“And finally, this.”
While saying that, what Charlotte took out was a white marble.
“Is this a barrier stone that can seal the monster’s ability?”
“Yes.”
The reason I finally agreed to go to Ethiopia was because Charlotte had created a means to seal the Witchbeast’s ability.
“The magic that demon beasts use is basically absorbing the magic of the air and using it. In other words, if you can’t absorb the magic of the atmosphere, you won’t be able to use the magical beast’s magic either.”
The reason why Avatar’s executives are so threatening is that they handle the skill of a high-ranking knight and even the magic of a beast, so that one individual has a power that easily surpasses the majority.
To put this in reverse, if they are not on the same level as Rex and Dite, they will only become individuals with the skills of a high-ranking knight.
“If you infuse magic into this magic tool, a barrier will be set up in a radius of about 100m. And the magic power of the atmosphere inside the barrier cannot be absorbed as the flow is abnormally twisted.”
In other words, our tactic is to seal their abilities and then defeat them one by one.
If Charlotte was there, it was a method that felt fully possible.
Of course, I was still a bit uneasy about not having Sophia and Leon.
“Just in case you don’t know, take one of each.”
We took her barrier stones one by one from her Charlotte and looked at her.
“Okay, then let’s start soon.”
“Where are you leaving?”
“… !”
It literally happened in a split second.
In an instant, a pure white flash of light fell from the sky.
And almost at the same time, a blue curtain unfolded around us.
“That’s great. They are bad personalities.”
“What would the person who said that several people would run to one person and take him down?”
“What is this…”
I wanted to shout that it was nonsense, that there was no chance of victory, and that I had to run away.
It was a reasonable and grounded odds.
But if it was wrong from the beginning, wouldn’t it mean that there was no hope?
“By the way, 5 people really aren’t the end, right?”
The sand blew along with the cool wind.
They smile beyond the blue curtain.
5 People with the same number as us.
Two of them are S. Cruel and Ed Cruel.
And the other three were faces I had never seen before.
In the original story, the officers of Avatar that Sofia and the others meet are Rex, S, Ed, and Cron.
Rex, S, and Ed have already seen their faces once, so you can recognize them at a glance.
And Cron was clearly portrayed as a white-haired man in the original work.
But now and there, there was no white-haired man among the three except for S and Ed.
In other words, the three people standing there are unknown opponents who have no information about the original work.
What should I do?
The moment your brain hardens in such despair.
“Why are you stiff, Ike?”
Raina’s voice woke me up.
When I looked at her, she had the same calm expression as usual, as if nothing was wrong.
And it was the same with Charlotte.
“Ah, life doesn’t always go as planned.”
There was no sense of danger at all in Charlotte’s face, who sighed and smiled as if there was really no problem.
“Ike. Avatar’s strength is 8 people. And now there are 5 of us here. Does that mean there are three left in the main camp?”
“That’s right, but wasn’t it supposed to go to a majority-to-many fight in the first place?”
“Right. That way you can never win…. So, it goes the opposite way.”
“Yes?”
“The reason we had to seal their abilities is that an individual has the power to trample the majority. And to put this in reverse, one with absolute power overwhelms the majority.”
Charlotte speaks as if it were natural, as if there was no problem.
There is only one emotion visible in that smile.
“I will take care of those 5 by myself, so you guys will take care of the other 3. How is it, is it easy?”
It was confidence.
★
“So incomprehensible confidence, isn’t it?”
At S’s ridicule, Charlotte shrugged his shoulders.
Ike, Reina, Helen, and Atal were already so far away that they could barely see.
“Are you really okay with letting go so easily?”
As if they had no intention of catching them in the first place, they just looked at Ike and his party as they walked away.
“Of course it’s fine. What are you going to do with those 4 people? Our purpose from the beginning was you.”
“That is an honor.”
“To begin with, those four people without you wouldn’t be a threat to us.”
In a way, that was the theory.
Even if the situation goes according to the existing strategy, it will be Charlotte who has the power to decide the situation in the end.
“… You must be mistaken.”
“What?”
“You know what? Real geniuses grow quickly.”
“… What is that?”
The wall of limitations that you eventually encounter once in your life.
Those who casually break it are called geniuses.
“If you’re not careful, you’ll be eaten in an instant. If there really wasn’t a chance in the first place, there’s no way I’d send the students to death.”
Of course, even that would require the final pieces to come together.
Charlotte slowly raised his right hand.
“Well, but in case you don’t know, let’s finish quickly and follow suit.”
As she said that, blue flames flickered in her right hand.
“Truly. Your mentor, Ender Arcana, was also killed by me, but you defeated us all? Do you really think that makes sense?”
“Well? If you do that, you will know.”
Charlotte infused her magical energy into her barrier stone and slowly stepped forward.
A movement without any hesitation.
Her blue flame started burning fiercely as if responding to her.
“Then you are a guy named Es, right? Are your arms okay? It must have been terribly painful.”
Conversely, when a provocation came from Charlotte, S’s expression distorted.
As if to represent the reason, S’s arm, which is still in a difficult state to be fully recovered, was revealed.
“… Whoa. Okay. Well, this wouldn’t be bad either.”
But then S smiled ferociously and put his foot towards Charlotte, who was running towards him.
“Older brother. Vita. Roxy. Arc. This is what happened anyway, seriously, let’s go.”
At S’s words, the other four nodded.
That’s how the fight began.
The final battle between the Empire and Avatar.
★
No matter how you think about it, something is strange.
Even on the way to Avatar’s headquarters following Reina’s guidance, she couldn’t stop thinking about it.
It was understandable that Charlotte had the skills to deal with 5 of Avatar’s executives at the same time.
She is the disciple of Dean Ender, who holds the title of Sage, and they won’t be able to use their magical powers because of the barrier stone.
But apart from that, didn’t those five come to stop us in the first place?
But why didn’t they even budge when we started moving?
As if he came to stop Charlotte.
Because you thought we couldn’t do anything?
But I didn’t think Dyt would have thought that way.
I couldn’t imagine that he wouldn’t know that in order to destroy the empire, the answer is to eliminate even the slightest source of trouble.
“… Are you really okay?”
“Ike. Master is strong.”
“If Charlotte said so, then we should believe it too.”
Raina and Helen misunderstood the part I was worried about, and comforted me by telling me not to worry.
It was Atal who brought up the story in an instant to shake his hand saying that was not his intention.
“… Something is strange.”
Atal’s expression was serious.
And rather than worrying about Charlotte, it was an expression that clearly felt strange about the current situation, just like me.
“It seemed like they already knew we were coming.”
“… Certainly, it is.”
“Then those five people from earlier must have appeared to stop us. But when we left, no one there disturbed us. As if it were just passing by.”
“Is there really something else going on? Then we fell into the enemy’s trap in a good way….”
None of us could answer Helen’s words.
If this is a trap, it means that the current situation between Charlotte and I is wrong.
But there was no option to go back now.
Because before we knew it, there was the entrance to the cave leading to Avatar’s stronghold.
“Is this place, Reina-sama?”
“Yes. As Master and I investigated for three months, this is the home of Avatar.”
The pitch-black road, invisible inside, was the same as the one described in the original work.
And with that road ahead, Reina was the first to speak.
“Then what should I do now? I think it’s best to wait for Master first.”
I also thought Reina’s judgment was correct.
If this situation is exactly what Avatar is aiming for, then they want to rule out Charlotte no matter what.
And above all, I wasn’t sure that I could beat Rex with the 4 of us here.
At that point, the moment I agreed to Reina’s idea.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think that will work.”
The voice I heard for the first time rang out.
When I turn my gaze, there.
“If that person is there, it will be a little more difficult on this side too.”
A white-haired man with a calm atmosphere stood there.