Widia Invasion (5)
The short-haired woman looked at Arpina with clear displeasure. All she had ever done was flee from her. Even though they stood at the same Mystery High rank, the difference in their power was obvious. Arpina felt the same reluctance.
She had arrived with several other Mystery-class dark mages in tow after receiving the signal that Lia was in danger. The longer this dragged on, the worse it would be for her. To be blunt, it was the worst possible situation.
While confronting the Mystery-class dark mage, Arpina learned that Raidra had been killed. She also realized their entire route toward Meira had been anticipated. In a situation like this, she could have fled alone if survival was her only priority.
But how could she abandon Lia and run?
I need to end this quickly and escape.
The moment that thought formed, the short-haired woman’s expression shifted completely. A coquettish laugh spilled from her lips.
“Oh dear… Now it’s you who’s being hunted.”
Arpina immediately understood what she meant. A figure tore through the air with a piercing sonic boom.
“Puhahaha! Labella, you look absolutely terrified after running into your natural enemy!”
“Shut your mouth, Rodrick!”
A man with long black hair descended on a silver broom and landed beside the short-haired woman. He stroked the broom with deliberate care before letting it float behind him.
Arpina bit her lip. She might have been able to handle Labella somehow, but this man was a serious problem. She couldn’t guarantee victory even if she fought him alone.
That left only two choices: fight until she died, or send Leon and Lia away while she held the line and died anyway.
Arpina’s hesitation was brief. She glanced at Leon—a clear signal to take Lia and run.
Leon’s golden wings fluttered. Still holding Lia, he rose into the air.
“How touching. Sacrificing yourself for your disciple?”
“Disciples,” Arpina corrected.
“Huh?”
Rodrick tilted his head, then conjured a crow in his palm. Labella snapped her fan open with a sharp flick.
“Let’s see how desperately you cling to life for your fleeing disciples, shall we?”
Ignoring the cheap provocation, Arpina summoned every one of her beasts. Six vibrantly colored summons rose around her: a phoenix wreathed in flame, a cloud of swirling wind, a blue fish that shimmered like water, a sturdy brown golem, a wolf crackling with electricity, and a deer whose antlers bloomed with flowers. Each possessed a different elemental nature.
The tension in the air thickened until it felt like battle could erupt at any second.
“I said go!”
She had expected Leon to flee immediately, yet he remained hovering behind her. Frustrated, Arpina shouted and thrust her hand forward. Her summons surged ahead.
Labella swung her fan. Rodrick split his crow into a swarm.
And Leon spoke in a low voice.
“Kito.”
Something streaked past Arpina’s side in a blur. A long, sleek avian head shot forward, jaws gaping wide, and swallowed Labella whole.
From Labella’s perspective, she had been entirely focused on Arpina when the sudden ambush came.
“Kyaaaaak!”
Her scream echoed from inside the bird’s maw. Chaotic flows of mana churned violently within. Then her voice cut off abruptly. Smoke began leaking between the creature’s razor-sharp teeth.
The smoke kept pouring out in thick, rolling clouds.
Both Rodrick and Arpina stared in stunned silence.
“A… monster bird?”
Rodrick recovered first and hurriedly retreated. The dense flock of crows swirling around him followed at once.
“Burp.”
Kito opened her beak and expelled the smoke in one powerful gust, then soared high into the sky. Light enveloped her, and she shrank into a small humanoid form. The gray-winged girl promptly flopped down on top of Leon’s head with lazy grace.
Considering she had just dissolved a person inside her mouth, her demeanor was remarkably casual.
“Keep… your promise……”
Kito’s voice was thick with drowsiness.
Leon nodded. “I’ll come get you within a month.”
Left alone, Rodrick stared at the sleeping Kito on Leon’s head and let out a hollow laugh.
“After losing your entire clan, you’ve decided to leech off a human? And……”
His gaze shifted to Leon.
“So you’re the one who interfered with our plan? A mere Secret Magic Beginner brat…?”
His words trailed off. Even he seemed confused by what he was saying.
“How old are you?”
“Master Arpina.”
After setting Lia and Kito down behind her, Leon ignored Rodrick’s question and called out to Arpina instead.
Arpina was equally startled, but she quickly refocused and began raising her mana. Rodrick swept his long hair back, his lips stretching into a wide, unpleasant grin.
“Oho… What a cocky little brat. I like that look on your face. Thinking you can actually do something despite being nothing but a Secret Magic Beginner. Quite charming.”
He knew the monster bird could exert no further power. Anyone could see it.
“Besides, Labella was useless whether she was here or not……”
Before he could finish, a massive phoenix hurtled toward him. Rodrick placed a hand on his broom and shot into the air instantly. Only the small crows left behind collided with the phoenix and exploded.
“Too slow.”
Rodrick laughed, not even bothering to glance at the crows. Dark energy gathered above his head, swelling like a balloon until it formed a three-meter-tall giant crow. That giant crow immediately split into dozens of medium-sized ones. The flock charged straight at Arpina’s summons.
Flames roared from the phoenix’s beak. Crows that touched the fire detonated on impact. From within the explosions, the small crows split again into dozens more and swarmed the phoenix once more.
Boom— Boom—
Small explosions erupted across the phoenix’s body with every hit. Every one of Arpina’s summons faced the same relentless assault.
A bolt of lightning struck down at the floating Rodrick, but he evaded it with ridiculous ease.
A troubled look crossed Leon’s face. After fighting five Secret Magic-class mages, his mana was heavily depleted. He had reserved enough for flight, but not nearly enough to spam complex nine-syllable incantations.
“I told you to run,” Arpina snapped.
“Let’s survive and leave together,” Leon replied. Then he asked, “If I draw the crows’ attention… can you finish him?”
“…It’s possible. But don’t even think about sacrificing yourself. I won’t be able to face Lia when she wakes up.”
“I’m not sacrificing myself. I said we’re surviving together.”
With those final words, Leon flew straight at Rodrick.
“Eh?”
Rodrick’s eyes widened. He clearly hadn’t expected a mere Secret Magic Beginner to charge him head-on. He wasn’t flustered—just genuinely puzzled.
“You’ve decided to die by your own two feet? What a shame.”
Leon had already gauged the crows’ power. The small ones carried Secret Magic Beginner strength. The medium ones held Mystery Beginner power. The giant one would naturally contain Mystery High power.
The Guardian Robe he wore could withstand Mystery Beginner magic. Ten defensive circles remained. That meant it could endure ten strikes from the medium crows.
As for the small ones…
Leon pulled dozens of D-grade scrolls from his subspace. Rodrick’s expression grew even more baffled at the sight.
“I’m saying this because it’d be a real waste to kill you. Shouldn’t a kid stay out of adult business? I’ll play with you personally later.”
The way Rodrick licked his lips was utterly repulsive. Leon’s face twisted in disgust. A curse slipped out before he could stop it.
“Let’s fight, you piece of shit.”
“Hmm……”
Rodrick’s expression didn’t change. Leon tried again.
“I don’t want to play with an ugly old man pretending to be handsome.”
“……Die.”
Rodrick’s face hardened. A medium-sized crow burst from his palm and shot toward Leon.
Leon activated his golden wings’ acceleration and charged the crow instead. The collision produced a deafening boom. Wrapped in the Guardian Robe’s barrier, Leon burst through the smoke and closed in on Rodrick. A swarm of newly split small crows trailed behind him.
Leon scattered the D-grade scrolls behind him. The small crows triggered a chain of explosions on contact. He swung the wooden sword in his hand at Rodrick, who was now directly in front of him. Rodrick dodged with a casual flick.
Leon hadn’t expected the strike to land anyway.
“There’s nothing more disgusting than an ugly old man acting like he’s handsome.”
Whispering the words, Leon used acceleration again and shot behind Rodrick in a blur.
“This crazy bastard……”
Ten medium crows now streaked toward Leon. Even so, Rodrick continued restraining Arpina’s summons.
Leon deliberately charged one of the ten incoming crows. Another explosion. Another defensive circle vanished from his robe.
Realizing he needed to draw even more attention, Leon immediately used a Blink scroll. But against a mage above Mystery rank, the mana flow was too easy to read. The moment he reappeared, a medium crow was already diving at him.
Boom—
The Guardian Robe’s barrier flared again. Seven circles remained.
Rodrick had noticed the barriers weren’t single-use. Dark energy began gathering above his head once more. He was preparing another giant crow.
Leon hurled the rest of his scrolls to block the small crows, then threw his wooden sword.
“Pierce.”
Rodrick blocked the sword with a casually multi-cast defensive spell. Then he frowned. The sword had disrupted his calculations.
But a Mystery mage’s mind was formidable. A brief interruption couldn’t cancel the spell. As the wooden sword bounced away, Rodrick hurled the completed giant crow at Leon.
The massive bird charged with terrifying speed. A direct hit would mean instant death, barrier or not.
Leon gripped the orb tightly.
He vanished. The giant crow streaked through empty air.
Rodrick assumed it was another Blink and tried to track the mana flow—only to find nothing. Only then did he realize the boy hadn’t charged in recklessly.
Leon reappeared and looked at him.
“Slow.”
All traces of amusement vanished from Rodrick’s face. He mounted the silver broom.
Leon’s eyes flashed. “Now!”
He burned the last of his golden wing acceleration. Even so, he couldn’t outrun the silver broom. Rodrick appeared behind him and reached out—only for Leon to grip the orb again and vanish once more.
“……What is this?”
It was magic Rodrick simply could not comprehend.
Then he felt a massive surge of mana from below. While Leon had drawn his attention, Arpina had eliminated the remaining crows and completed her preparations. A colossal magic circle formed in front of her outstretched palm. Before it, a radiant sphere of multicolored light grew larger by the second.
If that light detonated, his survival was impossible. It already looked nearly complete.
It was only a fleeting moment, but not yet a situation that demanded he abandon his life. After all, he possessed an A-grade silver broom.
Rodrick tried to flee at full speed—only to freeze as Leon reappeared and grabbed the broom with him.
His consciousness flickered.
When he opened his eyes, he stood in an empty plain. The air was thick with mana. Dense forest stretched into the distance. It looked as though this clearing had been artificially stripped of trees.
The grand spell Arpina had been preparing was nowhere to be seen. The reason to run had vanished in an instant.
“???”
Question marks flooded Rodrick’s mind as he stared at Leon, who was still gripping the broom beside him.
His consciousness flickered again.
When he opened his eyes, he was back at the battlefield. Arpina’s sphere of light had reached completion. Leon vanished from the spot.
Flash—
Light erupted. A devastating explosion swallowed the space where Rodrick had stood.
Boom—
Even though the spell had been aimed skyward, the entire forest trembled.
When the aftershocks finally subsided, Arpina let out a ragged breath.
“Haa… Haa……”
A massive section of forest had been erased. Where dense trees once stood, only a colossal crater remained, faint heat still rising from the scorched earth.
“……He must have made it, right?”
Having witnessed Leon’s instantaneous disappearance and reappearance, Arpina had unleashed the grand spell without reservation. Still, she couldn’t completely hide her anxiety. The timing had been razor-thin.
She gathered the sleeping Lia and the small gray-winged girl, then began walking.
Before she had taken more than a few steps, Leon popped out of thin air.
“Whew……”
Arpina sighed in relief. She had many things she wanted to say, yet the words tangled in her throat.
“You… repaid the favor.”
In the end, that was all she managed.
Leon’s eyes widened in surprise. Then he smiled bitterly.
“You did everything, Master Arpina.”
“We would have died if not for you.”
Arpina recalled the bold boy from two years ago who had declared he would become her powerful ally. Just as he had promised, this was more than enough.
“We need to flee again. Quickly.”
Feeling strangely embarrassed, Arpina forced a serious expression. The situation was far from over.
“Are you heading to Meira?” Leon asked.
Arpina shook her head. “Unfortunately, Widia is beyond saving. I’m taking Lia to the Decantia Empire. There’s someone I can rely on there.”
She looked at him.
“Come with us.”