Chapter 76
Chapter 76
Episode 76
An Elder wizard, who was a professor of Intermediate Magic and also an interim professor of Advanced Magic, Aira Merlin stood blankly in the middle of her research lab.
Around her, countless documents were scattered to the point where there was no room to set foot, and in the mid-air, magical construction formulae floated densely.
“I finished it….”
Aira gazed rapturously at that magical construction formula.
It was a magical construction formula corresponding, at best, to the beginner or intermediate level, but the meaning that magic held was different.
It seemed that no magic in the world, whatever it might be, could have possessed as much impact as the one Aira had created.
“Finally, Master's dream….”
Tears welled up at the corners of Aira's eyes, but they did not flow down.
As if she had no time to shed tears of emotion, she tidied up her surroundings with a resolute expression.
“Magic for everyone.”
Soon after, Aira, having tidied her surroundings, gathered her equipment and headed towards the testing ground.
The comprehensive evaluation was soon to end.
Then, the friendly match between professors and students would begin, and that moment was precisely the time she had to prove it.
“I can do it, can't I? No, surely. I can do it. I have to do it….”
Aira had a somewhat paranoid side, but she surprisingly possessed an objective perspective.
If people were asked to name the greatest wizard in history, they unanimously chose [Mage King] Salem Sudra.
Then, who was the wizard who had shaken history the most?
That, too, was the same.
It was Salem Sudra.
“……”
But now, it would be different.
Aira thought so. What she and her master had spent their entire lives creating possessed such value.
Aira, pulling down her witch's hat, left the research lab.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Well, yes….
I knew that Professor Aira's demeanor recently was considerably calmer than before.
It was such a clear difference that anyone who saw her, not just me, could tell.
But could one simply describe it as her appearing calm?
“Student Oz. You may begin whenever you wish.”
“Is that so?”
A sense of gravity.
A peculiar sense of gravity, like that of the veteran professors, emanated from Professor Aira.
Was it because she had become an Elder wizard? The person herself seemed to have changed.
It felt as though I had said something unnecessary... Well, I would find out by observing.
“Then…”
The opening move signaling the start was a simple beginner magic, a light-attribute spell that obscured the opponent's vision.
Basic Magic
[Scattering]
It was simply magic that scattered light, but if the number of scattered points increased, it emitted a light so intense it was difficult to open one's eyes.
What kind of response would the opponent show?
I was indeed curious, but…….
Intermediate Magic
[Chain Lightning]
There was no particular reason to watch it.
The [Chain Lightning], unleashed from my fingertips, traveled along the mana of the [Scattering] that I had deployed.
The magic, which had been merely something that spread in all directions and twinkled, generated variables nearing infinity.
They would not be able to read entirely which way it would move, or how it would split.
The opponent was, after all, an elder-level mage. Even if they were a rookie who had just ascended to that rank, the caliber they had built up was inherently different.
Just because the subject was Intermediate Magic Studies, and the usable magic was thus fixed to intermediate or below, did not make them an opponent I could afford to underestimate or go easy on.
“You truly are amazing.”
“……Indeed.”
Professor Aira countered the two spells I had cast using a simple method.
A water-attribute intermediate magic that created perception-distorting fog.
[Mirage Fog]
The perception-distorting fog had been spread out widely, excluding only the center where she was located.
This meant that [Chain Lightning], which traveled by riding mana and moisture, would be unable to penetrate the center and would inevitably just scatter widely.
“How audacious of you.”
“Because I thought that would be the case.”
She, having abandoned trying to find a path through the swarm of light, prepared for the magic that was to follow.
She must have thought that [Chain Lightning] would certainly come.
In a battle between mages, reading the opponent's moves was crucial. However, she had deciphered my moves to a degree that suggested certainty.
It seemed it would be difficult to easily surpass her when it came to reading moves.
If that was the case, thinking along those lines would only be to my detriment.
Intermediate Magic
[Mirage Fog]
Therefore, I decided I would go with sheer numbers and firepower.
Just as she had used it, I also used [Mirage Fog].
However, my method of utilizing it was different.
Concealing myself within the fog, I continuously sketched out the magical construction formulas. I maintained a one-sided offensive.
I unleashed them at a speed so fast she would not even have time to clear my fog.
I did not think of such things as combinations.
I merely sketched out any magic I knew, the instant it came to mind.
Professor Aira was fending them off with minimal strength.
She had probably thought that she would win if she merely endured.
However, after [Mana Dominator] had become Lv. 3, the efficiency for all the mana I used had risen to a conspicuous degree.
So, even if things continued in this manner, the outcome of the battle remained unknown.
“I sense a sort of impatience from the magic being deployed. Did something happen?”
“…….”
The words abruptly uttered by Professor Aira, who was not just simply defending but had taken to the air and was flexibly evading the spells, pierced to the very core.
Actually, the conversation with Salem had been weighing on my mind.
He had interfered with my fighting style, and I had pushed back. However, when it came to magic, his words were unconditionally right.
As I was not the real Oz, I couldn't help but be inexperienced. That dissatisfaction, in a way, was natural.
Because Salem was a king, and I, even if I had been half-abandoned, was the successor.
I still couldn't understand Salem's thoughts, nor Oz's thoughts as he looked at Salem. I really didn't know.
Even though nearly half of my mind was Oz, I just couldn't figure it out.
“In that case, would you be willing to listen to my worries?”
“Yes? Counselling, from me? Why me? Ah, no, that’s not it, o-of course! Because I am your supervising professor.”
Even if a bit of solemnity had been added, Professor Aira was still the same.
Could it be that she had forgotten the fact that she was a professor until now?
Truly, her unreliable-looking demeanor, on the contrary, made me laugh.
“Then, before that, let’s begin in earnest.”
“Wha-What……?!”
I cleared away the fog that had been continuously obscuring the space between Professor Aira and me.
Wasn't it unlikely that I would have been merely deploying magic indiscriminately in the first place?
A mage was one who always thought of the next move. Of course, Professor Aira too would have anticipated that I was hiding behind the fog and preparing something.
However…….
Advanced Magic
[Mage's Gearwheel]
This, she would not have expected.
I had been in the middle of deploying dozens of spells. That I would have been preparing such a large-scale magic amidst all that, even an elder mage, no matter how skilled, would not have imagined.
That was, of course, natural.
This magic, even if its efficiency had been raised by [Mana Dominator]──
“It’s about the worry I mentioned earlier. Lately, I’ve been using magic a bit recklessly.”
──because it was extremely inefficient.
Professor Aira’s expression, upon seeing the assembly of countless construction formulas, turned pale. She had already seen this magic in the battle against Prudence Loa and knew what kind of power it held.
“That’s a foul……!”
“It’s merely a connection of beginner and intermediate magic, so it’s not a foul.”
In the first place, if this was a foul, then [Pinaka] was also a foul.
If that were the case, Professor Aira would not be able to demonstrate the results of the experiment she said she had prepared here either.
Professor Aira, perhaps belatedly realizing that, flew all over the sky with an expression of injustice.
Yes, that was it. Indeed, such a pitiful-looking expression suited Professor Aira.
That kind of resentful appearance was more like her than unnecessarily trying to act dignified.
“Ugh!”
Professor Aira gritted her teeth and began to sketch out the construction formulas.
It was [Pinaka], a magic that was not just familiar but had also established itself as my main offensive skill.
In the first place, to break through the current situation, that was indeed the only option.
However, it was unlikely that the result she said she had prepared was merely that.
Advanced Magic
[Pinaka]
“No way!”
So, I decided to push her a little harder.
When I intercepted the [Pinaka] that Professor Aira had deployed with the [Pinaka] that I had deployed, her expression became filled with astonishment.
An ordinary mage would probably have found it difficult just to deploy one [Pinaka].
It was not a matter of output, but a matter of difficulty.
It might have been easier than advanced magic, but it required deploying numerous spells as if in a single stroke.
That level of difficulty could not possibly have been easy.
And I had simultaneously drawn out those pictures of absurd difficulty.
It was perhaps presumptuous of me to say so, but this was precisely the realm of talent.
“Then, would you show me?”
“Ugh……. I had wanted to unveil it at a more decisive moment…….”
It seemed I had just heard a line that should not have been heard?
Could she possibly have been thinking the same thing as Eleanor?
Eleanor's influence was terrifying, beyond imagination.
It was a color so potent that even the once-timid Professor Aira had been stained by it without realizing.
“It can’t be helped, then.”
Professor Aira, who was still freely flying across the sky evading my spells, pressed down on her hat.
The atmosphere changed slightly.
It was the same solemnity she had shown just before the match began.
Though hidden by her large witch's hat and not visible, Professor Aira's eyes surely held resolve.
“Hmph!”
Professor Aira began to sketch out numerous construction formulas.
It resembled [Pinaka], but it was different.
Combinations that were incomprehensible at a glance were mixed in.
To put it bluntly, there were too many unnecessary parts.
And the connections between the magic's construction formulas were quite loose.
That was already ambiguous even to be called a combination magic.
It was merely an array of numerous formulas.
However, that very point sent a chill down my spine. Professor Aira could not possibly have been unaware of that.
If so, then even those seemingly meaningless formulas surely held some meaning.
“The name of this magic is.”
My eyes met with Professor Aira's as she avoided the magic being fired from the gearwheel by greatly rotating her body.
For a moment, it felt as though my body would shrink from that overwhelming pressure.
“‘Sudarshana.’ That is its name for now.”
“For now……?”
Simultaneously with those words, a magic that normally should not have been able to be deployed, was deployed.
A magic in the form of a giant chakram passed through, tearing apart my [Mage's Gearwheel] as if ripping it to shreds.
“Dispel?”
“Something like that.”
My [Mage's Gearwheel] collapsed.
A technique that interfered with another's magic and erased its phenomenon.
The [Mage's Gearwheel], whose binding force was already weak from having spells linked together, could not help but be even more vulnerable to such a phenomenon.
Of course, I too had known that.
That was why I had not neglected preparations against [Dispel].
However, that preposterous magic had physically torn my magic apart.
How could I have possibly predicted this?
I had lost the advantage. But the situation had merely returned to the beginning.
Yes, that much wasn't…….
“Of course, this much alone would be insufficient to call it an achievement, wouldn’t it?”
With Professor Aira’s enigmatic smile, the construction formulas that had been deployed began to move in perfect unison.
I understood. I had understood completely.
There had been no unnecessary parts.
Those had been spare parts for transformation.
“This one is called ‘Brahmastra.’”
The transformed construction formulas took on a bow shape, much like [Pinaka].
From that alone, I could tell. That was a penetration-type magic.
Intermediate Magic
[Pharma Shield]
Before the magic was deployed, I deployed [Pharma Shield] to protect my front.
Presently, the arrow that left her hand flew in an arc, avoiding the shields.
“This is insane.”
Was that an arrow or a guided missile?
Advanced Magic
[Pinaka]
I intercepted the incoming arrow using [Pinaka].
In terms of power, there wasn't much difference from [Pinaka].
But that was not the problem right now.
“Don’t tell me…….”
I shuddered at the chilling hypothesis that flashed through my mind.
A combination magic that could be arranged differently according to the situation, with a single process.
Normally, such a thing should not have been possible.
In the first place, to create a single effect through numerous spells, not by forcibly connecting them like the [Mage's Gearwheel], required a considerable process.
Even [Pinaka] had been like that.
The existing construction formulas themselves had to be fundamentally overhauled.
However, Professor Aira’s magic just now had lacked that.
Merely by linking the existing formulas as they were, she had produced power equivalent to advanced magic.
“I should have stopped her when I felt uneasy…….”
If that was the case, then I could only inevitably reach one conclusion.
She had found a way to connect them without altering the magic's construction formulas themselves.
The processes of fine-tuning and calibrating the magic had vanished. The moment I recalled that fact, goosebumps ran all over my body.
“And this is Vajra!”
As I was steeped in astonishment, Professor Aira, with a confident expression, showcased her next combination magic.
She had learned Noah’s bad habits.
“And this is……. Huh?”
Professor Aira had tried to unveil a new combination magic, but she could not. I had already fled out of bounds.
If I got tangled up with that any further, it would truly become a serious problem. I wanted no part of it.
“Uh……. Did I win this?”
“Yes, you won. But may I ask a few things?”
“Ah, yes.”
“For what purpose did you create that magic?”
That was already problematic to be simply called a combination magic.
Whether she hadn't noticed, or if she knew and was acting like that, I didn't know, but that had too much potential for misuse.
“This……. is the result of research that began because my master wanted to create magic for everyone.”
Professor Aira wore a wistful expression, but I could not.
No matter how favorably I tried to view it, her master was either a con artist or a madman.
Magic for everyone?
She was sugarcoating it, but the moment it produced that much power, it was out.
Combining beginner and intermediate magic to produce the power of advanced magic?
Yes, that could happen. That far was still within an acceptable range.
[Pinaka] had been like that, but that was, at most, within the realm of an advanced mage.
It was something that could not be used unless one was a mage wandering in the realm between intermediate and advanced.
“If it’s not impolite, could you tell me your master’s name?”
Adjustment and tuning.
There had been no intermediate work of finely adjusting the formulas, and there was no process of tuning to link those formulas.
One could use it just by knowing how to arrange the formulas.
Advanced magic was like sculpture. It was created only after calculating the structure, chiseling the rock, and then grinding and polishing it.
On the other hand, what about Professor Aira’s magic? Her magic could create numerous forms merely by connecting pieces like a block toy.
It would certainly be convenient. But there was a limit to things.
“Arjuna. In his lifetime, he was called the Legion's Mage.”
“Indeed, hearing the name, I can understand to some extent.”
If only that hadn't been military magic, I too would have thought so.
If beginner magic was stone-throwing, and intermediate magic was a gun, then advanced magic was a tank.
And with that magic, mages who had learned how to throw stones and shoot guns, would become able to destroy tanks.
About six students gathering to exert the power of a tank?
It was too much. Excessive power.
The very existence of this magic could change the course of war. The premise on which it was created was itself military magic.
A heaven-defying magic that devalued advanced and elder mages.
“It truly is an amazing magic.”
I decided to clap for her.
The fact that she hadn't known that, even though her master was called the [Legion's Mage], meant her mind was blank beyond imagination.
This was not an insult, but a compliment.
Because Professor Aira had just demolished the history that mages had built up.
“……You truly, truly are amazing.”
“Yes? Ah, ehehe. Praising me like that, I don’t know where to put myself.”
“Truly……. You are indeed remarkable.”
“Ehehehe.”
With this, she had become a dangerous individual who should be targeted as the top priority by every nation.