It’s all dried up.
It was a space that had been completely blocked off but seemed forcibly expanded by something.
It appeared to be due to the influence of the shriveled mushroom stalk.
And now, in that space, something with the form of a skeleton just like what they had seen until now was leaking a purple liquid and casting its gaze upon them.
“Ugh, what is that thing?”
“The original Poison Master.”
“Wasn’t he human, though? That doesn’t look human at all.”
“He was human, at least when we saw him.”
“Tch. Just what kind of crazy crap did he pull to end up looking like that?”
It was clearly far from normal at a glance.
But they couldn’t afford to let their guard down.
The enemy was a formidable being. And a level 6 creature.
“Senior. What should we do?”
“He’s a tricky one. You could say his entire body is made of poison. Ordinary physical attacks won’t work. Even if you cut off a limb, he’ll just regenerate it right away.”
“I’ll aim for the heart in the center.”
“He’ll be expecting that, so move smart.”
“Yes.”
In this battle, Eleanor wouldn’t be able to contribute much.
She was already using the End of Sorrow to neutralize the poisonous spores filling the space, and just maintaining the [Shield] around her allies was more than enough of a burden.
That’s why Aiden and Maya’s roles were especially important now.
Still having some breathing room, Jun cast magic on the two.
[Enchantment Type: Elemental Armory]
[Elemental Attribute: Lightning]
[Enhancement Type: Elemental Body]
[Elemental Attribute: Fire]
[Enchantment Type: Iron Skin]
Only after displaying even the newly learned enchantment spells did Aiden and Maya make their move.
Aiden charged in first.
He burst mana from the soles of his feet and shot toward the Poison Master like a streak of light.
Instantly, purple liquid gathered above the Poison Master’s bony hands and took the shape of swords.
Using the main body’s proficiency in dagger techniques, the creature moved with incredible agility as well.
Clang! Clang-clang!
A sword forged from poison clashed against Aiden’s flame-wrapped blade.
In an instant, poisonous vapor shot up, threatening to obscure the party’s line of sight.
Jun immediately summoned wind to clear the view—
And in that brief moment, Maya slipped through the shadows and appeared behind the Poison Master.
Crackle—!
Her lightning-charged blade was aimed straight at the creature’s heart.
But then—
Booom!
The body that had been locked in combat with Aiden suddenly collapsed and exploded.
“What the—?!”
“……?!”
A cloud of poison spread outward.
The two of them winced and retreated under the stinging, acidic fog, and moments later, the creature emerged from the poisonous mist once again.
“Tch.”
Jun clicked his tongue at the troublesome pattern the enemy was showing.
He focused mana into his eyes and began analyzing the phenomenon he had just witnessed.
The mycelium spread throughout this area… could it be allowing him to freely relocate his body?
Like a lizard shedding its skin, the creature transformed its body into poisonous mist and detonated it—
Then immediately reformed a new one.
Even in that process, its heart remained protected by the purple liquid.
I can’t just leave everything to those two.
The mycelium spread throughout the entire space…
To eliminate them all at once would require wide-area magic.
“Haaah… focus. Just focus.”
In a confined space like this, controlling both mana and elemental properties precisely was critical to avoid harming allies.
It was a difficult feat for Jun, who was still only a fifth-circle mage.
But—
It’s not impossible.
If it wasn’t an impossible task, then it could be done.
It had to be done.
Not even a single second of this precious time his allies had bought could go to waste.
The most important thing in controlling mana is the image.
In magic, “image” refers to the realm of the unconscious.
– The will to burn the enemy with fire.
– The shape to block attacks with formless energy.
– The phenomenon of collapsing the earth with sheer force.
All of these are mental images drawn in the subconscious.
And magic manifests into the world by absorbing those images.
The magical pattern is like the foundation that shapes the framework of that magic.
And so, the magical pattern lays the foundation, and the image determines the shape of the structure built upon it.
However, when the image is directed not at myself but at others, I must be even more cautious.
Protecting oneself is easy.
Every person instinctively possesses the unconscious will to defend themselves.
But forming an unconscious will to protect others isn’t so simple.
And this wasn’t just about protecting one person. There were three.
That means I must solidify my mental image of each of them and implant it firmly within myself.
It might sound like grasping at clouds, but turning that abstract concept into reality…that’s what magic is.
The image I’m drawing is—
A fence.
A sturdy fence, built to protect his people.
Inside it, Aiden, Maya, and Eleanor stand.
And everything else is excluded.
All that is excluded is shredded to pieces by a raging wind, and the storm tears apart everything in its path.
[Volcanic Tornado]
Whooooooosh—!
A storm of flames was summoned and began to whirl violently.
But Jun’s actions didn’t stop there.
Shrrrrrak—!
His spellbook flipped open, and a new magic circle was drawn behind him.
[Enchantment Attribute: Wind]
The original Volcanic Tornado was sustained only by the updrafts created by the fire.
But Jun’s version didn’t stop at that.
With a constant hunger for growth, he introduced a new evolution to an existing spell.
Whoooosh—!!
Normally, a flame tornado would gradually tighten its range—
But this one expanded instead.
“……!”
“…It’s warm.”
And at the center of the storm, Aiden and Maya looked around their bodies in awe.
Even in the middle of this fierce firestorm, not a thread on their bodies was burned. They stood completely unharmed.
“What are you two doing?!”
It was Eleanor who snapped out of it first. She barked at them.
At her sharp rebuke, the two came to their senses and resumed moving, searching for the Poison Master.
―――――!!!
It was burning.
No, “evaporating” would be a more fitting description.
The purple-stained liquid monster spewed steam like mad, thrashing in resistance against the flames.
The only reason it was still able to endure was due to the poison, which barely managed to hold up thanks to its resistance to fire.
It was up to Aiden and Maya to finish the job.
Tatak!
They kicked off the ground and slipped into the shadow dimension.
The Poison Master swung his sword in a final frenzy, but not a single spore remained to regenerate his body.
Grrrrrrrrr—!!
Before long—
Crack!
Aiden and Maya’s blades struck his chest at the same time.
[Wind Storm]
With Jun’s magic backing him up, Aiden’s Wind Storm struck with even greater force, shattering the monster’s chest.
[Spirit Rampage]
His insides exposed and the monster’s heart lay bare.
Maya’s twin blades danced.
As if to ensure it never had a chance to regenerate, she annihilated it….down to its very soul.
And so, the creature’s body finally lost all shape and disappeared within the storm of flames.
“……”
After confirming that, Eleanor quickly checked on the others.
“Ugh… I’m dizzy.”
Aside from Maya who was completely drained after using Spirit Rampage at the end, fortunately, no one had sustained any major injuries.
Yet again, the battle ended without a single casualty.
But Eleanor’s expression wasn’t bright.
“What’s wrong?”
“……Leader. I’ve been feeling this for a while now.”
“Yeah?”
“That thing… its soul wasn’t intact.”
“Not intact? What do you mean?”
The Poison Master, who died without leaving a trace—
As she looked toward the direction where it had fallen, Eleanor continued.
“It was like… it had been torn into several pieces. That’s what it looked like.”
“Torn into several pieces?”
“Yeah.”
It was hard to say something like this to comrades who had just risked their lives in battle, but Eleanor spoke up just in case.
“That might be why it couldn’t fight at full strength and fell.”
“Are you saying… it split itself?”
Then came a heavy silence.
“…What does that even mean?”
Only Maya, who hadn’t fully grasped the situation, muttered with a weary look.
***
A massive greatsword ripped through the air.
In that instant, the Poison Master’s clone…no, another split form of him moved its feet and narrowly dodged the strike.
Unlike the one underground, this version had inherited most of the real combat experience, and it was swift.
What’s more, his power, originally no more than level 6, had been pushed beyond its limits by the Evil Spirit Orb and the Fragment of Destruction that enhanced it.
That was why Tobias, who should have been able to cleave the Poison Master apart in a single blow, had yet to finish the deadly fight.
And that wasn’t all.
“Shield your bodies with mana!”
“They’re charging in!”
Clones were bursting up from the ground and rushing toward where the two imperial members were. Tobias couldn’t devote himself solely to the Poison Master.
In the end, the remaining knights had no choice but to dash beyond the protective barrier and breathe in the poisonous haze. For now, the only one still guarding the two imperial members was Ginovan.
“You wretch!”
Tobias’s sword came crashing down on the Poison Master’s head as the creature darted about.
Normally, no matter how fast the Poison Master moved, escaping Tobias’s blade would have been impossible.
His strength was enough to shatter even mountains; the very force of it weighed down space itself, pinning the Poison Master’s feet.
But the creature kept swapping places with its summoned clones, mocking Tobias.
Annoying!
An opponent who could slip through space like this was a poor match for Tobias.
He wielded overwhelming destructive power, but if his blows didn’t land, it was all meaningless.
Is it moving through those fungal bodies?
The clones continued to appear, and even in death, they burst spores into the area.
Because of that, the battlefield had long since been smothered in deadly poison.
If this dragged on, the remaining knights would collapse one by one.
Already, the expressions of the Blackguard knights looked grim.
I must get Their Highnesses out of here before their lives are endangered!
Yet ironically, it was their very status that kept him bound.
In truth, they could have fled at any time. But the two had come here to give hope to those surviving in the Blackout.
If they abandoned the fight and ran first, the name of the imperial family would be dragged through the mud.
Baaaang――!!
An utterly disadvantageous situation.
Even so, Tobias drove the Poison Master back without the slightest hesitation.
Still no word from the White Whale mercenaries who went underground!
Perhaps they had already perished in the poisonous mist. Yet those were the ones who had faced death time and again and even managed to hold back a Dimensional Reverse.
For an eighth-level knight like him to pin his hopes on mere fifth-level fighters was laughable, but—
“……!”
A warrior of Tobias’s caliber sometimes gained a sense that defied logical explanation.
And his instincts did not betray him.
Brrrrrr!
The Poison Master spewed bubbles in panic.
For some reason, its movements froze and Tobias did not let the opening slip by.
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