Magic Assistant Ellen (2)
“Let’s have Evan and Nathan switch positions and move. The passage is narrower than I thought.”
After twenty years as a Magic Assistant clearing countless dungeons, Ellen was an expert through and through. He had studied every tactic and formation that could keep casualties to a minimum, and the missions he joined often ended without a single death.
“Got it.”
The mercenaries followed his orders without question. Even among them, Ellen’s skill was famous. Dungeons paid well, but the danger matched the reward. With Ellen along, that danger shrank dramatically.
“We’re going back to the original formation.”
The voice dripped with open resentment. Leonard had hated it from the moment they entered the dungeon—hated how everyone deferred to Ellen.
They’re all listening to that Magic Assistant bastard…
At barely twenty he had entered a Magic Tower as a prodigy. Being ignored like this felt like a personal insult.
“Is there something I failed to consider?”
“Who gave you permission to change the formation? I’m the mage—I’m the leader of this party. Every decision is mine.”
Irritation boiled up in Ellen. Success in a dungeon meant minimizing damage. Building the right formation for the situation was the single most important factor. Yet this mage was picking a fight over it simply because it bruised his ego.
Arrogant mages who threw their weight around on joint missions weren’t rare. But this particular one—who had scraped into the Tower on mana sensitivity alone with zero real ability since their Academy days—rubbed Ellen the wrong way more than most.
“The passage is getting narrower. Nathan uses a greatsword. If he stays up front, he’ll restrict the other mercenaries’ movement.”
Ellen wanted to pour a whole bucket of curses over the man’s head, but the man was a mage. If he wanted to keep working, he had no choice.
“Looks fine to me if he stays where he is.”
“But—”
“Since when does a Magic Assistant talk back to a mage?”
He had to endure it. Twenty years of dungeon-crawling, twenty years of research—none of it mattered. Even if the fool in front of him was being completely unreasonable, he still had to swallow it.
“My apologies.”
“I’m only letting it slide because we were Academy classmates. Watch yourself from now on. Let’s move.”
“Yes.”
The mercenaries watching ground their teeth, but there was nothing they could do. The mage had ordered the formation left alone, so they left it alone. He said move, so they moved.
“I sense the flow of mana that exists everywhere. Become my five senses and respond. Detect.”
Ellen’s mana spread forward.
Trolls. Three of them.
“Three trolls up ahead.”
“Trolls? Child’s play. Let’s push through.”
Proper dungeon protocol meant advancing so carefully it almost felt boring. Traps were more dangerous than monsters. But saying that out loud would never get through to this idiot.
I’ll just have to stay sharp myself.
Ellen let out a quiet sigh Leonard wouldn’t notice and moved forward.
“Flame, pierce through. Fire Lance.”
Whoosh—!
“Kraaaagh!”
Thud!
A massive troll crashed to the floor.
Casting three Fire Lances at once with a chant that short… Talent really is terrifying.
Personality aside, Leonard’s gift was genuine. The mercenaries assigned to protect the mage during casting never once had to fight.
With power like that, I guess strategy really is optional.
A wave of self-loathing hit him—months spent cooped up studying tactics just to keep one more person alive, and it meant nothing next to raw talent. While he was still thinking, Leonard and his disciple ignored the formation entirely and strode ahead.
“Lord Leonard, there could be traps. Let me check first while you rest.”
“How many times are you going to say the same thing for three straight days? I haven’t run many dungeons, but I’ve never once fallen for a mere trap. You Magic Assistants are all cowards.”
“Master, people without real skill just don’t have the confidence, do they?”
One trap and we’re all dead! You know nothing about dungeons—just shut up!
Ellen screamed it inside his head. Outwardly he stayed silent and began chanting Detect again.
That was when it happened.
BOOM!
A sound that nearly split their eardrums. Instantly a wave of searing heat crashed over them.
“Protect us— Shield!”
The short chant left the barrier incomplete. Heat poured through the gaps.
Crack—!
The half-formed Shield shattered.
“Kh—!”
Ellen coughed up blood from the impact.
What just happened?
He forced his head up. Corpses so thoroughly burned their faces were unrecognizable littered the ground. Farther ahead, Leonard stood staring back at them with wide, shocked eyes.
“You—you bastard of a mage! I told you to be careful!”
Rage snapped Ellen’s last thread of restraint.
“I-I…”
Leonard looked down at the magic circle under his feet and stammered. The moment his foot had landed, the circle had triggered a massive explosion. He had managed to raise a Shield in time; Martin, still clumsy with magic, had not.
“W-what do we do?”
Ellen almost laughed from sheer disbelief. That was what he was asking right now?
“You’ve got to be kidding me!”
He spat another mouthful of blood and forced himself upright. These had been comrades he had known for a long time. The shock was deep. But he couldn’t afford to mourn here. Monsters that heard the blast would be coming any second.
“This mission is a failure.”
“A failure?”
“Yes. A failure. We need to get out of here—now.”
Leonard blinked in a way that was completely unlike him, then asked, “W-wait. We can’t just go back like this! Y-you—you’ve got experience. Figure something out.”
Ellen’s brow furrowed hard.
“Don’t talk nonsense, Leonard. Look at the mess you made and still say that?”
“B-but…”
Leonard swallowed dryly. Going back like this was impossible. A professorship appointment was coming soon. If word of his mistakes here got out, the appointment would vanish. No—it would definitely vanish.
Dead mercenaries barely mattered. The problem was Martin.
A disciple can always be replaced…
But a Tower mage dying because of his master’s negligence? That would be fatal to the appointment.
I just need this one gone.
If Ellen disappeared, he could pin the accident on a Magic Assistant’s mistake and smooth everything over.
“Slice them apart. Wind Cutter.”
The thought barely finished before Leonard cast. Ellen threw himself aside and barely avoided the blade of air.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
“If you’re gone, no one will ever know. Burn. Burning Hand.”
A roaring fist of flame slammed down. Ellen scrambled up and dodged again. The flaming hand, robbed of its target, smashed into the floor and exploded. Smoke billowed between them.
This bastard’s actually insane.
Using the cover, Ellen ran for his life. Even at full strength he was no match for a real mage; wounded like this, he was already dead if he stayed.
Flames chased him down the corridor.
He no longer remembered how long he had been running. He simply kept sprinting forward, dodging every spell that came for him. His already injured body grew heavier with every step.
Fwoosh—!
A chill raced down his spine as a streak of light punched straight through his chest.
Ah…
The world seemed to tilt sideways. His body hit the ground hard. Immediately a burning agony flared from the hole in his chest.
“Hah… hah…!”
He couldn’t draw a proper breath. His lung had been pierced.
“Slice them apart. Wind Cutter.”
Through fading consciousness came that same cold voice. A sound like air itself being torn, and then something severed his arm. He didn’t even have the strength left to scream. Looking at his own right arm lying on the ground, tears welled up without warning.
Everything was so unfair.
Where had it all gone wrong? Being born a commoner’s son and entering the Academy determined to become a mage? Believing that effort could overcome a complete lack of talent?
He remembered every book he had ever read. He had crammed formulas into his skull just to cast even a single spell. Most of the money he earned as a Magic Assistant went toward more books. That was how he had managed, with long chants, to reach 3rd Circle magic. Even so, his pitiful mana reserves made him fail the Tower exam again and again.
Meanwhile his Academy classmates became full mages. Around then he began to understand reality: some things effort alone could never fix. But admitting it felt like giving up on living at all.
His vision blurred further. The very existence he had always longed to become was walking toward him to finish the job.
You son of a bitch.
Leonard. If only the bastard had listened from the start… The regret came far too late.
A low hum filled the air. Right in front of Ellen’s eyes a magic circle activated.
The ground shook, and a vast hole yawned open. Its depths were pure black; he couldn’t even guess how far it dropped.
What is that?
Clearly magical, but why had it appeared now?
If I fall in… will I die?
Of course he would. Hitting whatever lay at the bottom would shatter his body into pieces. Leonard’s footsteps had stopped—apparently the sudden pit had startled him as well. Ellen tried to turn his head for one last look, but his vision was too dark.
This was the limit. He stood on the threshold of death itself.
I refuse to die to a mage.
No matter how he thought about it, dying at a mage’s hands was too bitter an end.
Better to fall into a pit so deep no one will ever find the pieces.
With the last of his strength, Ellen hurled himself into the hole.