Episode 24 (Conrad’s POV): “A Way of Fighting He’d Never Known”
“Just move however feels natural to you. I’ll make sure the magic activates to match your movements.”
That was what the small magic doll shopkeeper had told him.
Words from a girl who could use magic terrifying enough to bring back the dead. There was nothing to do but trust her.
A short distance from the village entrance, he braced himself, waiting for the horde of monsters to descend.
He’d never once fought against this many monsters at once.
There was unease. There was tension too. And yet — was it because he’d already died once, that he felt no fear? Or was it simply because the reliable magic doll shopkeeper was right there beside him?
(Doesn’t matter either way. Right now, I just need to focus on what’s in front of me.)
Steeling himself, Conrad swung his sword through the air with all his strength.
Following the arc of the blade, a massive magic circle bloomed in the sky.
He had no idea what kind of magic such an intricate circle was even meant to produce.
(She said I could do whatever I wanted. So then…!)
“Burn it all away!!”
He shouted at the top of his lungs.
The only magic Conrad had ever been able to use was basic fire-attribute magic.
He’d always wondered, one way or another, if there was some way to use fire magic more powerful than that.
Wreathing his sword in flame let him deal real damage to monsters in close combat.
But there was always a limit to how far his reach could go.
He’d wanted a way to fight without needing a sword in hand at all. He’d wanted magic that could strike from farther away.
If he could have burned everything away at once, he could have saved the village.
The instant Conrad brought his sword down, a dragon formed entirely of flame emerged from the magic circle.
A magnificent creature with enormous wings, not unlike the dragon a hero had commanded in a picture book he’d once seen as a child.
The dragon took to the sky, burning through monster after monster.
The foul stench of burning monsters. Their death-throes screaming through the air.
So this is what it feels like, fighting as an overwhelming power.
The monsters fleeing in flames, scattering in every direction — these were opponents the old Conrad would have had to face one at a time, in sequence.
Taking them all down the old way would have cost an enormous amount of time and stamina.
The flame dragon burned through nearly every low-ranking monster, then finally collided with the cockatrice and vanished.
The cockatrice was a fire-attribute monster. Flame magic wouldn’t do much against it.
(There are still monsters left besides the cockatrice. Which one should I deal with first?)
While he hesitated, Fiine, stationed close by, whispered into his ear.
“Take that neck off.”
Her expression didn’t so much as flicker as she said it, kicking away a sheep-shaped monster that had gotten too close. The instant it went flying, it exploded midair.
“Hey, Fiine! You said you’d leave the support to me!!”
Yuria came rushing over from where she’d been dealing with other monsters.
Shouting complaints at Fiine the whole time, she swung the greatsword in her right hand, taking down monster after monster with clean strikes to the neck.
The sight of her was fiercer, more powerful, than her slight frame could possibly suggest.
(Her assistant’s strong too, huh…)
And it wasn’t just the two of them. Bianca, dispatched from the Magic Corps, had a barrier spell precise enough to flawlessly keep every monster out of the fields and the village.
This was nothing like any fight he’d ever known.
And in that era — the hero’s party ordered to take down the Demon Lord — surely they must have fought exactly the way these women were fighting now.
He’d never actually seen the true hero who’d slain the Demon Lord.
But he’d heard the man could wield magic of every attribute, on top of possessing sword skill said to be genius-level.
At the time, he’d doubted such a person could really exist.
Now, he wasn’t so sure that had ever been an exaggeration at all.