by Okina Baba
The new skills I got from defeating the fire dragon—Dimensional Maneuvering, Dragon Power, and Spatial Magic—are all super-useful.
As I guessed, Dimensional Maneuvering allows me to perform double jumps in midair.
When I activate it, near-invisible footholds appear in the air, and I can dash around by kicking off them.
Since it’s level 1 right now, the footholds are too fragile for me to run at full speed, but once it levels up some, I should be able to move just as freely through the air as I can on the ground.
It does use up my red stamina, but considering its effect, that’s not that surprising.
Dragon Power is an improved form of Wyrm Power. When I activate it, it consumes MP and SP to temporarily increase my stats.
In addition, when it’s active, I can use some of a dragon’s abilities.
Specifically, the magic obstruction effect and breath attacks.
With Dragon Power activated, I can cover myself in the same magic-dispersing power seen in dragons’ scale skills.
Testing out the breath part, I discover it produces some kind of Dark attribute attack.
Neither of them is as powerful as the real thing, of course, but they’re nonetheless quite strong.
Since Spatial Magic is still low-level, I can’t do any useful spells yet.
Once it levels up, I’m sure it’ll be useful, so I’m going to try and level it up over time.
Unfortunately, both Dimensional Maneuvering and Dragon Power consume SP.
Since monsters are still avoiding me like the plague, I’m having trouble getting any food.
That means I can’t recover SP, so I have to avoid using it whenever possible.
Ultimately, that means even though I got these nice new skills, I can’t level them up at all!
I’m loaded with MP, though, so I’m focusing on skills that use that for now.
Various magic types, Poison Synthesis, Magic Warfare, Evil Eye skills, and so on.
My Shadow Magic skill reached level 10.
The offshoot skill I got as a result was Dark Magic.
Even maxed out, Shadow Magic is still kinda sketchy, so I’m planning to work on Dark Magic instead.
I maxed out Poison Synthesis and Poison Magic, too.
For some reason, they both produced sort of unexpected skills: Medicine Synthesis and Healing Magic, respectively.
I guess maybe it’s true what they say about one man’s poison being another man’s cure or whatever?
At any rate, this means I finally have the means to heal myself.
Up until now, my recovery’s depended on leveling up and HP Auto-Recovery, so being able to heal wounds whenever I want is huge.
That being said, it’s still pretty low-level. And since my HP is full, I can’t test out its effects just yet.
If I get a chance sometime, maybe I’ll reduce my own HP so I can test it.
I also maxed out Heretic Magic.
But you’ll never guess what god-awful skill derived from that.
Taboo.
Luckily, it didn’t level up, but I thought my heart was gonna stop for a second.
Actually, even though it definitely didn’t level up at that moment, it’s hit level 9 at some point without my noticing.
One more level and it’ll be maxed out.
This could be really bad.
A few of my Evil Eyes maxed out, too.
Cursed Evil Eye evolved into Jinx Evil Eye.
This Evil Eye transfers the HP and stuff reduced by the curse over to me.
It also deals more damage than before, so definitely an improvement over the first form.
I can’t absorb stats or anything, but being able to absorb SP is very cool.
Combined with eating, now I can get even more SP out of enemies!
Paralyzing Evil Eye evolved, too, into Inert Evil Eye.
Instead of simple paralysis, this apparently inflicts an attribute similar to being frozen in time.
With paralysis, monsters could still twitch and squirm a little, but now they’ll be frozen solid.
I’m guessing this is a combination of paralysis and some attribute I’m not familiar with.
Although I can’t say for sure, since I don’t see any attribute like that in the skill list.
Well, either way, I’ve still won as soon as this takes effect, so that just means I’ve gotten that much stronger.
Heavy Evil Eye has leveled up, but I obtained it only a short while ago, so it isn’t maxed out yet.
Instead, since I’ve been using it on myself this whole time, I got a resistance skill to counteract the extra weight.
Unfortunately, this skill is kind of reducing the effectiveness of my muscle training. Dammit.
Lastly, Telescopic Sight.
This ended up evolving into Clairvoyance.
It improves on the effects of Telescopic Sight and adds an X-ray effect.
Now I can see through walls to the scenery on the other side.
However, it’s not quite as cool as the “seeing anywhere in the world” effect you think of when you hear “Clairvoyance.”
In the end, it’s just an extension of Telescopic Sight.
But thanks to Clairvoyance, I’ve started to notice something.
A long slope, climbing upward.
It’s been a long journey.
I’ve gone through a lot of troubles along the way.
But now I can finally settle down.
And leave this god-awful hellhole behind.
Good to see you again, Upper Stratum.
I fell into the Lower Stratum, encountered a dreadful beast, and ran for my life.
I traveled all over the awful hellscape so hot it constantly drained my HP.
I came close to death many times.
But I made it back.
I survived! I made it!
ESCAPE
Katia passes out in my arms.
Her wounds are healed completely, but the HP and emotional energy she lost won’t come back so easily.
I do a quick Appraisal and breathe a sigh of relief when I see that her life isn’t in immediate danger.
At the same time, I confirm that Hugo’s brainwashing has been undone.
When she started to faint, I saw magic come flying out of her.
In a panic, I create a wall of ice, blocking the flying spell.
“Shun! Don’t lose focus!”
Hyrince’s words remind me we’re still surrounded.
He’s holding a large shield on his left arm while carrying Anna with his right.
Normally, he’d block attacks with the shield in one hand and cut down the enemy with a sword in the other, but since he’s holding the unconscious Anna, he’s solely focused on defense.
Still, he’s been doing an incredible job of using the size and weight of the enormous shield to bash the enemy back.
Seeing this, the other soldiers are too frightened to try to attack.
To be frank, no ordinary soldiers can stop us.
There’s a huge difference in our stats, and if we really wanted to, we could easily knock down all the people surrounding us.
But I’d rather avoid that if possible.
No matter how strong we are—no, because we’re so strong—if we fight without holding back, people will die.
I could try to restrain myself, but I’ve got Katia, and Hyrince is holding Anna.
And there are quite a few enemy soldiers, not just one.
I’m not so overconfident to think I can control my strength properly in this situation.
While Leston and Klevea are stronger than the average soldier, they’re not as strong as Hyrince and me.
Only Ms. Oka can thoroughly dominate the soldiers in this battle, but she seems to have bigger problems on her hands.
“Fancy meeting you here.”
Sophia stands in Ms. Oka’s way, facing her down.
“Negi…”
“Didn’t I tell you not to call me by that name?�
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Ms. Oka starts to say something, but Sophia cuts her off.
Even though I’m not directly involved in the standoff, I feel overwhelming pressure that sends a shiver down my spine.
Negi…?
What’s she talking about?
No, now’s not the time to worry about that.
“Oh, here. Present for you, Ms. Oka.”
Sophia tosses something toward her.
It leaves a trail of red liquid on the ground as it rolls to Ms. Oka’s feet.
As soon as I catch a glimpse of it, my throat threatens to close up.
“P…Potimas?!”
Potimas, the goodwill ambassador of the elves, who was with Ms. Oka the first time we met in this world.
“I-it can’t be!”
The object on the ground is, beyond any doubt, his freshly severed head.
Watching Ms. Oka fly into a panic, Sophia smiles pleasantly and licks the blood off her hands.
“How disgusting. Perhaps his rotten personality made his blood taste bad?”
“You did this…to Potimas?”
“What other explanation could there be?”
Sophia shows genuine curiosity toward Ms. Oka’s cry of disbelief.
“But you…!”
“You’re not going to say I could never kill anyone, are you? You’ve done plenty of killing yourself, after all. This isn’t Japan. The same rules don’t apply here, and you know it.”
Ms. Oka has killed people?
No. Knowing her, if that’s true, it’s only because the situation didn’t leave her any other option.
Right now, Sophia’s other lines are more important.
Her words seem to imply she’s almost certainly a reincarnation herself.
If that’s the case, it would explain why Ms. Oka knows her, and why she might be working with Hugo, another reincarnation.
And in that case, if she can still murder people without a second thought, then I have no more chance of reaching an understanding with her than with Hugo.
Ms. Oka must feel the same way. Though still in shock, she’s clearly prepared to do battle with Sophia.
“Ms. Oka, you want to fight me? Oh, stop. Master told me not to lay a hand on you.”
Master?
Does she mean Hugo?
But then…something seems wrong about that.
“But I suppose you give me no choice. It’s not my fault if it’s just self-defense, right?”
Sophia takes a step forward.
As she does so, Ms. Oka launches a Wind Magic spell at her.
But while it should’ve been more than enough to blow a human body away, it loses power as it approaches Sophia. By the time it reaches her, it’s barely strong enough to ruffle her hair a little.
It’s happening again.
Just like in the castle, magic doesn’t work on her.
It evaporates as if she’s broken it up somehow.
She must have a skill that nullifies magic.
I don’t know what it is, but it’s probably best to assume that no magic can touch her.
If so, Ms. Oka is in danger.
Since Ms. Oka is an elf, magic is probably the core of her fighting technique.
Elves’ physical growth is slower than humans’, so they tend to have low physical stats.
She looks a lot younger than us, even though she was probably born around the same time we were in this world.
I know that appearances don’t always accurately reflect stats, but as far as I can tell from what I’ve seen so far, Ms. Oka specializes in magic more than physical attacks.
She might be able to handle physical combat to a certain extent, but she doesn’t even have a weapon.
This Sophia girl is way too scary to challenge unarmed.
I don’t see how she can win.
“Ms. Oka!”
The second I move to help my teacher, I’m stopped by a blade whizzing past my eyes.
It’s a round throwing weapon that practically grazes my nose on its way by.
A chakram?
Changing its trajectory in midair as if it has a will of its own, the chakram whips back toward me.
I knock it away with a sword, searching for its owner.
My Presence Detection skill alerts me to a figure standing on the roof.
All in black, the figure looks just like a ninja.
“Ngh!”
Turning around to seek the source of the short grunt, I see Hyrince being attacked by another black-clad assailant.
The ninja’s movements seem about on par with Hyrince’s, but since Hyrince is holding the unconscious Anna, he’s hard-pressed to keep up.
“Ahh!”
A cry of pain from my other side draws my attention to Ms. Oka, who’s being lifted into the air by the throat by Sophia.
Shit!
Hyrince is barely keeping up with the ninja, and Leston and Klevea have their hands completely full with the other soldiers.
Every time I try to move, the flying chakram cuts me off, so I can’t even take a step toward anyone.
Worst of all, if I make one wrong move now, Sophia might snap Ms. Oka’s neck.
Shit. This could be the end.
“Swooping in to the rescue in your time of need!”
A strangely out-of-place line echoes telepathically in my mind.
At the same time, a loud whoosh cuts through the air above.
Something dives toward us out of the sky, shining as if reflecting the light of the sun.
It bombs the soldiers and ninjas with balls of light, probably a Light Magic attack, then attacks Sophia.
Sophia dodges, releasing Ms. Oka in the process.
The flying creature turns and lands directly in front of me: a beautiful, glittering white wyrm.
“A true hero always shows up late!”
“Fei?”
Her telepathic voice and, more than anything, her familiar presence make me believe without a doubt that this is Fei in a newly evolved form.
But how did this happen?
Fei used to be a black, wingless earth wyrm.
But now, the creature before me is a white wyrm with wings.
Does it have something to do with her entering that mysterious shell after I became the hero?
Well, I guess that doesn’t matter right now.
“I just woke up, so I don’t really know what’s going on, but you are in trouble, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, you’re just in time.”
Even so, the situation remains grim.
The soldiers definitely took some damage from Fei’s attack, but Sophia, our biggest problem, is still unharmed.
Not only that, but the two black-clad ninjas seem strong.
They might be too much for me and Hyrince to handle while we’re carrying Katia and Anna, respectively.
“Shun! Get on that wyrm and get out of here!”
My older brother Leston shouts.
But if I followed his orders, then I would be leaving him behind.
Fei has gotten pretty big now, so she should be able to carry several people, but I don’t think she could fit all our allies.
“Don’t worry about us! Shun, and Hyrince, too! Take Ms. Oka and run!”
Leston clearly intends to stay behind as our rear guard.
However, I can’t imagine he and his soldiers could take Sophia and the ninjas on their own.
As I hesitate, Hyrince distracts a black-clad assailant long enough to grab the unconscious Ms. Oka and run up to me.
“Shun! Let’s go!”
Holding Anna in one arm and Ms. Oka in the other, Hyrince urges me on.
“Do you think we’ll let you escape?”
“No, but we’re going to anyway!”
Sophia and the two ninjas come after us, so Fei lets loose a breath attack at them.
At the same time, she grabs Hyrince and me in her claws, taking off with us by force.
“Fei?!”
“I’m sorry, but we have no oth
er choice against that thing! We have to get away!”
In a matter of moments, we ascend into the sky.
Below us, I can see Sophia, standing unharmed despite Fei’s breath attack.
“There’s no way we could’ve beaten her, even if we stayed.”
I’d like to object to Fei’s bitter words, but I can’t deny them.
And so, we run away.
Leaving Klevea and my brother Leston behind.
THE RULER AND THE NINJA
“Oh dear. They got away.”
“That’s rich, considering we let them get away on purpose.”
“I suppose. In fact, if that dragon hadn’t come along, I was starting to wonder how we would let them escape.”
“Yes, since Master told us not to lay a hand on the hero. Yet, why did you disobey that order by fighting him?”
“I just wanted to see how strong he was.”
“Is that really all?”
“Of course.”
“…I shall have to report this incident to Master.”
“You helped me, didn’t you? Will you take part of the responsibility, then? Or keep quiet and become an accomplice?”
“…I shall report it.”
“Come on. We’ll get in trouble.”
“Perhaps you should’ve thought of that before you made that decision, then.”
“You’re such a stickler.”
“Be that as it may. Even if I don’t report it, Master is sure to find out what happened soon enough. If we report truthfully, perhaps our punishment will be lighter.”
“Knowing our master, there’s no telling if that’ll be the case, though…”
“At any rate, the master’s plan has begun. We must not disrupt it by acting on our foolish impulses.”
“All right, all right. I’m sorry, okay?”
“If you are truly sorry, please restrain yourself in the future.”
“Hmph. Hey, where’d the other one go anyway?”
“Burned by the dragon’s breath attack, and now baking in the sunlight.”
“How embarrassing.”
“Not everyone can be as strong as you.”
“Oh really? Does that include you?”
“Save your jests. If you decided to get serious, I could not even dream of posing a threat to you.”
“Well, aren’t you rebellious, then?”
“I am not. You are simply being dishonest with Master. And I am simply faithful to Master’s decrees.”
“Boy, now you’ve said it.”
