How a Wizard Survives (41)
How a Wizard Survives (41)
In most cases, the potency of a target's Magic Resistance is proportional to their mana capacity.
This meant that directly casting magic on a Demon Thrall or demon with innately high mana was extraordinarily difficult.
That is why Ulysses's Ultimate Mimicry is considered such a high-level technique.
The Destruction Mages Katrina crushed years ago were the dregs among dregs.
Even so, she had to expend almost all her mana and nearly exhausted herself just to break through.
But this time was different.
With every drop of mana in my body unleashed, I seized the Demon Thrall's body with astonishing ease.
The bastard, caught in the hand of gravity, twisted its form again and again, howling in convulsive fury.
"H-how?!"
I hadn't pierced its Magic Resistance.
What held the Demon Thrall was spatial distortion.
If the space it needed to escape through was bent out of reach, no amount of raw power could force a way out.
I had compressed gravity repeatedly to induce curvature within a tiny region.
Of all the things to actually work, this does too.
Is this what it feels like to wield magic without restraint?
Come to think of it, I'd never once been able to use magic freely. Not once since I arrived in Reshutal.
During my one-year probation, I'd heard the dangers of magic hammered into me until my ears were calloused.
After I became a Heretic Inquisitor, I held back even more.
Even when I fought the Fire Mage Loren, I was never at full strength.
Back then, a lot of it was sheer lack of skill, but the biggest factor was the psychological weight.
Let's stick with Gravity Magic as my primary. My gravity's strong enough that even the teacher acknowledged it.
I wanted to crush the Demon Thrall outright, but...
The bastard finally grasped the nature of my magic and resorted to Spatial Shift Magic.
It gasped for breath after a single shift; its proficiency was far below my teacher's.
Honestly, adapting Transformation Magic in that way can't be called an efficient use of magic at all.
Transformation Magic is versatile, not omnipotent.
"Kgh. You bastards, next time... Aaaargh!"
Trying to slip away, the creature screeched to a halt as if it had run face-first into an invisible wall...
Then it was flung backward with a shriek.
Whatever it was, my teacher must have lent a hand.
I gave chase without hesitation.
If I land Ultimate Mimicry right here, this is over!
A Gravity Chain wrapped around the arm of the hastily retreating bastard.
The chain's other end was anchored to my own arm; escape was impossible now.
Gravity is, at its core, a pulling force.
This is when it's strongest.
"You—you nameless little upstart!"
The Demon Thrall was raging as if it actually knew all of Einhold's strong mages. Maybe it did.
It transformed its body into something like a porcupine and launched a volley of spines straight at me.
A counter to my attempt to close the distance.
I canceled my prepared Ultimate Mimicry and invoked Gravity Reversal instead.
That was even better. Using Ultimate Mimicry on a Transformation Demon Thrall had made me uneasy.
Using gravity and Gravity Reversal simultaneously diminishes their power, so I released the Gravity Chain first.
Even so, the acceleration already imparted didn't vanish.
Fwoosh...
I loaded a Gravity Reversal spell into my right arm.
Unlike ordinary Gravity Magic, it was imbued with the power to repel all things.
This time, compressed to the absolute limit, it became an arrow capable of piercing even a demon's hardened flesh.
But the Demon Thrall simply sneered, as if anticipating my move.
The next instant, it turned into a gigantic mass of fire and barreled straight for me.
A form that could absorb a direct hit, avoid a fatal wound, and still slam a counterattack home.
I released the magic in my right arm without hesitation.
Whoosh!
The projectile I fired punched clean through the bastard's body, pathetically easily.
But the compression had been too extreme; it couldn't push the whole mass back.
The flames surged over me, burning even more fiercely.
Yet... it didn't take long for the Demon Thrall to sense something was wrong.
Only my outer coat was singed. My body and even my mask were unharmed.
Hiding my identity as an Awakened One until the very last moment had been worth it.
"Th-this is..."
"Fascinating, right?"
Fire Resistance Magic.
The technique I'd so brazenly copied from the Fire Mage Loren had done its job.
With the bastard turned into a fire spirit, I used my finishing move.
Ultimate Mimicry!
Zzzzt!
Even transformed, mana does not disappear.
As befitting a Transformation Demon, the Demon Thrall sensed my technique and twisted its body, but it was too late.
I stripped away nearly all of its mana, then crumpled its entire body into a bead-like shape.
Ulysses, who had been comfortably spectating from the rear, approached with a smile.
"Don't kill it yet... How do you feel?"
"Refreshing, honestly. I wish every fight could go like this. But how did you block all that damage?"
With the battle over, I belatedly surveyed the surroundings.
The gravity compression hadn't been perfect; a building or two should've collapsed long ago...
But Ulysses had suppressed the collateral almost flawlessly.
Hearing the approaching footsteps of Heretic Inquisitors, we quickly fled the scene.
The Demon Thrall in my hand squirmed uselessly.
Back at the smithy, Ulysses took it from me and sealed it with magic inside a glass jar.
If I'd killed it, the demon would've reclaimed its soul and received all of its reports up to now.
Still... this was only a stopgap measure.
If a Demon Thrall failed to return or missed its scheduled report... eventually, the information that Ulysses was in Reshutal would be treated as confirmed fact.
Ash was already trembling with anxiety.
"Soon enough, Demon Thralls from across the whole continent are going to come flocking to Reshutal."
"Ah, I'm not that big a deal. This is just Sitri getting impatient to collect my soul."
Ulysses, who referred to a Transformation Demon like some common street thug, casually revealed his trick.
To be fair, I'd been staring so blatantly curious he had to.
"What I used earlier was this."
"Huh? Whoa..."
Ulysses pulled a small scrap of iron from his pocket.
With a light wave of his hand, it shifted into an eerily familiar color.
My eyes widened as I gaped at it.
"Th-that's impossible."
"The second ultimate technique of Transformation Magic. Adamantite Alchemy. I used it to generate small bits of adamantite and scattered them all around the combat zone. That's why the Demon Thrall bastard bounced right off when it tried to flee."
"It's possible to manufacture adamantite using magic?"
I couldn't believe what I was seeing with my own two eyes.
And for good reason: didn't adamantite nullify all magical effects?
Ulysses had practically just carved ice with a flame.
"As with most Transformation Magic, maintaining it long-term is difficult. But with this method, you can temporarily obtain adamantite close to 100% purity."
My sword was only 70% pure, and he was talking about 100%.
The nullification effect from that would be monstrous.
"Even so... can it block things like a gravity field or flying sparks?"
"100% pure adamantite can. The Wizardvein lot seems to misunderstand, but this isn't some sort of mana-nullifying metal. It'd be more accurate to call it a 'Worldstone.'"
First Ultimate Mimicry, and now Adamantite Alchemy.
The technique was absolutely insane.
This could solve the chronic weakness of Transformation Mages: their lack of offensive power.
I clicked my tongue softly, belatedly grasping my teacher's true nature.
Ultimate Mimicry and Adamantite Alchemy.
Both techniques were nearly meaningless against ordinary humans.
But against demons, they were practically a lethal toxin.
"You made them to fight demons from the very beginning. Incredible."
"So, think you can mimic this one too?"
"That might be a little tough, even for me... I'd need to study adamantite in more detail first."
Ulysses laughed, satisfied with my answer, and shrugged off his coat.
"Then get some rest. I have a feeling you'll be clocking in early tomorrow."
"Yes, sir. Good work today."
My heart pounded all night, and I barely slept.
The certainty that my teacher was the strongest of them all made my chest flutter with excitement.
The next morning.
I'd just gotten back from a business trip to the front lines, and the fact there was no leave left me appalled as I headed to work.
If I voiced that complaint to Reinhardt, I would probably end up back in the detention cells.
Fortunately, the Inquisition Branch was relatively calm that morning... or not.
Even though our battle last night had caused almost no damage, one of the mages who had fled the underground in a panic had finally been caught.
"Jaeger, where in the world have you been to show up only now?!"
"To be fair, yesterday was strangely quiet, so it's no surprise Jaeger didn't notice."
Ignoring the Holy Knights trying to calm her down, Katrina scolded me with a heavy dose of personal concern.
"If you're going to be like this, don't bother commuting. You sleep in the dormitory barracks too."
"K-Katrina... someone might hear us."
"Ah! I-is that so? Sorry..."
"It's all right. Reinhardt seemed to already know, anyway."
I'd meant to put Katrina at ease, but she fell into a panic instead.
"...What?"
"I-I said there's nothing to worry about at this point! Anyway, has anything come to light?"
"Well, it seems Ulysses, the Wizard of Change, and a Demon Thrall are involved. The interrogation's still ongoing, so we'll likely learn more."
I silently mourned the captured mage and excused myself.
But then, Katrina, undeterred as always, grabbed hold of me.
"Wait, Jaeger. If you know anything at all about this incident, please tell me."
"Ah, what I know..."
Half out of habit, I was about to lie, but then I reconsidered.
I could tell Katrina this much.
Denying everything too vehemently would only draw suspicion.
"Truthfully, it was me fighting out there last night."
"What? How did that happen?"
"Someone was summoning mages under Ulysses's name, so I went to gather information... and it turned out to be a Demon Thrall impersonating him. So I sealed it."
Hearing my confession, Katrina trembled all over.
Was she angry?
I braced myself for a scolding, only for her to attack from an entirely unexpected direction.
"Thank you for telling me honestly. But please, don't do such dangerous things. At least call for my support or something..."
"...If I took you out in the middle of the night, wouldn't Reinhardt follow right along?"
I deflected with a joke to hide my reddening face.
That had been a little dangerous just now.
Her smile was so beautiful I'd almost started babbling about Ulysses and Ash.
Soon enough, Angelica arrived, punctual to the minute. We exchanged greetings and moved to the drill yard.
Today, Reinhardt looked to be in an excellent mood.
Probably thanks to the stalled investigation finally making some progress.
"Good morning, everyone. There was another incident last night, so stay vigilant. Now, let's begin the day with training."
Swordsmanship, trained day and night, morning and evening, never betrays its master.
Assuming you had an adamantite sword like mine.
Today, as I grew a little full of myself and hurried to prepare for training...
Reinhardt called me out.
"Jaeger, you'll take the instructor's role today."
"Me? The instructor role?"
I was startled by the unexpected order.
An instructor, as the name implies, is a position reserved for fully-fledged Holy Knights.
Every Holy Knight in the Inquisition Branch was a noble, and even the common-rank soldiers were veterans...
If you didn't have both the skill and the status, they wouldn't listen to a word you said.
So until now, Reinhardt's adjutants had always handled the instructor duties.
But the Holy Knights, surprisingly, accepted Reinhardt's command with enthusiastic agreement.
"Well, if it's Jaeger of all people..."
"Besides the commander, is there anyone else here who's actually cut down a demon?"
"Jaeger, teach us well. I need to slice a demon and get promoted fast. The wife's been nagging at home."
Even if it had been a Lowest-Rank Demon, the fact that I'd cut one down had clearly changed how I was treated.
Before, no matter how well I fought, the underlying perception was that I was a commoner.
Not anymore.
Still dazed, I began leading the swordsmanship instruction.
"All right. I'll observe each of you one at a time, so please focus on sparring matches."
"Okay. I'm first!"
I wondered if I'd really have much to teach them, but...
Once we started, I actually found plenty to point out.
"Ah, hold on. When you're up against a Gravity Mage or an Earth Mage, you need to take the weight off your front foot. Your stance could break at any moment..."
"What? How am I supposed to swing a sword without bracing my front foot?"
"Centrifugal force. Which means you can't stop moving. And when you fight a tough opponent, jam your blade into their joints."
The Holy Knights I had instructed suddenly looked deeply sullen, a complete reversal from before.
Eventually, Reinhardt, who'd been quietly observing morning training, squeezed his eyes shut and called me over.
"Jaeger, just go do your own training."
"Huh? But I've still got so much left to teach them?"
"Forget it. You're demoted."
"Ack..."
My reign did not even last a day.
Katrina, who'd been watching me closely, wore a strangely relieved expression.