Dispel
It was the moment I realized which direction I needed to train my mana.
“…Then Allen, pull your mana back for a second.”
Letisia made the request as if something had just occurred to her. I did as she asked and withdrew my mana; the moment I did, her own mana—now free—flowed back to her.
“I’m going to cast a spell right now.”
“A spell?”
“Nullify it with your ability, then counterattack.”
“What if you get hurt?”
When I asked, Letisia gave a light smile.
“I appreciate the concern, but I won’t get hurt that easily. My robe blocks basic magic.”
“Ah…”
Right—it was an expensive robe, after all.
Letisia put a little distance between us and said,
“I’m starting.”
“…Okay.”
“For the record, I’m not going to hold back on the speed.”
“Huh?”
Spirit Mage Letisia activates Fire Needle
Without even a chant, sharp thorns of flame materialized around Letisia in an instant.
High-speed casting…!
Even for a simple spell, watching her cast without any incantation made it clear she had more than enough talent as a mage.
Showing no mercy at all, Letisia launched every single fire thorn she had created straight at me. The moment I saw them coming I urgently drew out my mana.
I gathered it into one place, and the shapes of the incoming fire thorns began to distort; soon the magic’s form collapsed completely, and the mana that had composed it tangled itself into the spot where my own mana was concentrated.
The spell had been dismantled, and its mana was now bound to me.
It was astonishing. Not just raw mana—even mana that had already been shaped into a completed spell had been bound.
Just as I was thinking I might have acquired a trait beyond anything I’d imagined, a message floated up before my eyes.
You have learned Dispel!
…Dispel?
I stood there blankly for a second, startled by the skill-acquisition message, until Letisia gave me a short scolding.
“What are you staring off into space for?”
Spirit Mage Letisia activates Fireball
“If you space out on the battlefield, you die.”
A fireball formed in an instant and came flying at me. The sphere of flame filled my vision as it closed in right in front of my face.
I hurriedly peeled off a portion of the mana I had just bound—quick and light, like breaking off a piece of cheese.
Then I thrust the hand that held the gathered mana toward the fireball that had reached my face. Once again the spell was dismantled, and the mana that had formed it tangled with mine.
Dispel activated
“…!”
But this time it went beyond simply forcing the mana to tangle. The mana of Letisia’s that had become entangled with mine vanished completely on the spot—as if my mana had swallowed hers whole.
“…What did you just do?”
Letisia asked in a voice thick with bewilderment.
Even if she asked, I had nothing I could tell her. I hadn’t properly grasped it myself yet, since the skill had appeared so suddenly. Still, looking at the skill’s name, I could roughly understand why this phenomenon had occurred.
Dispel.
It was a famous name for a magic that canceled other magic. That was why Letisia’s spell had been undone.
“It’s Dispel.”
Caesius spoke the words I had been about to say. Being a dragon, she apparently already knew of Dispel’s existence.
“It dismantles the structure of a spell so the magic can no longer function properly.”
Caesius continued,
“Unlike earlier when you simply bound the mana, this time the mana itself disappeared—that’s the proof. Mana from a forcibly dismantled spell slips free of its owner’s control and scatters into the air until it vanishes.”
Listening to the explanation, it didn’t seem any different from the Dispel I knew. Caesius looked at me.
“Have you already learned how to use it, Allen?”
“It just… kind of happened…”
“…Nothing wrong with that, I suppose.”
Caesius looked a little puzzled, but apparently decided it wasn’t worth pressing further and said nothing more.
Compared to her, Letisia had gone past mere puzzlement into genuine shock. I carefully asked her,
“Letisia, are you okay?”
“…Ah, yes.”
Letisia gave a small smile as if to say she was fine.
“I was just a little surprised. If what you just did was Dispel, it’s a bit different from the Dispel I know.”
“Different?”
“Normally, Dispel is only possible when the user has a perfect understanding of the magic in question.”
Letisia explained,
“But you don’t know the spells I just used, do you, Allen?”
“Yeah.”
I’d never learned them.
“And yet you forcibly dismantled them… it’s so far outside common sense that I’m flustered.”
“It’s because his mana can snare an opponent’s mana.”
Having said that, Caesius spoke as if she found it mysterious.
“Ordinary Dispel works by using magical understanding to figure out how the opponent’s spell was constructed and then dismantling it in reverse order… this is closer to grabbing it by force and ripping it apart. Only the force in question is irresistible.”
Caesius went on,
“If used well against mages…”
I didn’t need to hear the rest; both Letisia and I understood perfectly.
Against mages, this ability was… quite literally the worst possible matchup, an extreme counter.
…I was trying to go the mage route because the party didn’t have one, and now I’ve ended up going in the opposite direction.
“There will be side effects, though. When Allen draws out his mana, the rest of us won’t be able to use ours either…”
“…True.”
Freya, who didn’t rely on mana, would be unaffected. Erinn and Ser-Aria, whose swordsmanship and archery were outstanding even without mana, would be relatively better off. But Letisia the spirit mage, and Clara—who made up for her relatively lacking power with mana—would take a heavy hit.
Even Erinn and Ser-Aria would only be less affected; a drop in overall combat power was inevitable.
Then my power…
I found myself thinking it didn’t really suit this party. A power that weakened every party member except the priest…
“…It’s going to be hard to use.”
“That aspect isn’t nonexistent.”
Then Letisia spoke up.
“Even so, Allen’s power could end up being incredibly important.”
“…Huh?”
“There are monsters wrapped in so much mana that ordinary attacks don’t work at all… or ones that put up entire barriers, right? It would be perfect for neutralizing those kinds of monsters.”
Letisia smiled gently.
“So don’t give up—keep working at it.”
I stared at her blankly for a moment. Had my expression soured a little at the thought that it might be hard to use? The way she offered comfort like this made me feel truly grateful.
Answering that comfort, I gave a light nod.
“Of course.”
At the same time Erinn’s party was heading toward the Behend Kingdom, the kingdom itself was preparing to receive them.
It wasn’t an official visit, but considering their relationship with the Dern Empire, they could hardly fail to treat the empire’s only Hero’s party properly. From the kingdom’s perspective, leaving a good impression on a party that was already standing out even among the current Heroes could only be beneficial.
So the kingdom had finished its preparations to welcome the Hero’s party without issue.
But—
KRAAAAAANG!!
Before they could even welcome anyone, the kingdom was struck by disaster.
To the north of the royal capital, not far away, a massive black monolith erupted from the earth.
Every member of the Behend royal family who laid eyes on it fell silent. All they could do was quietly break out in cold sweat. There was no one in this world who did not know the identity of that black stele.
“Why… is that thing here……”
Godrit III, lord of the Behend Kingdom, muttered in a dazed voice. As if answering him, the man seated atop the black monolith spoke.
“By the will of the Great Being.”
The man opened his palm and raised it.
Thud!
“Annihilate.”
“Hmm~?”
While we were riding in the carriage, Erinn—who had claimed the carriage was stuffy and was sitting up beside the coachman—made a strange sound.
“That noise just now—that was you, right, Erinn?”
“Is there anyone else it could be?”
Wondering what was going on, I opened the window connecting to the driver’s seat and asked,
“What’s wrong?”
“Why are people coming this way~?”
“They can come this way, can’t they?”
“They can, but their faces all look terrified. Like a scrub who just saw a monster~♡”
…Terrified?
“We’re heading to the capital right now, aren’t we?”
“Did you already forget~?”
“Then why would they be running away in terror…”
“That’s why I said it was weird, dummy♡”
Erinn narrowed her eyes slightly and stared ahead. She told the coachman to slow the carriage for a moment, then surveyed the surroundings.
“…Hmm.”
“Is there a reason to flee the capital?”
“What do you mean?”
Freya, who had been listening from inside the carriage, asked.
“Is the capital under attack?”
“Who knows~? We’ll have to get closer to find out~.”
Erinn said,
“Hard to tell from here~. Can you take us a little closer~?”
“I-Is that all right?”
When the coachman asked in an uneasy voice, Erinn gave a short laugh and drew the sword at her waist. The coachman flinched and his shoulders trembled; Erinn spoke as if to reassure him.
“I’ll protect you with this~.”
Seeing Erinn and the pure-white Holy Sword gleaming in her hand, the coachman’s expression eased and he answered,
“…A-All right.”
What’s attacking the capital? I thought no dungeon had appeared in the Behend Kingdom yet…
That question lasted only a moment. The instant we drew near the capital, we understood the reason immediately.
“That’s…”
Not only I, but every party member wore looks of dismay. Even Caesius, who had only recently left her father’s nest, recognized what it was.
Of course she did. Towering so high that even the capital’s walls could not hide its form, that thing was the symbol of one of the legion commanders. I had seen it to the point of nausea in Dungeon in Evil as well.
“The Magic Legion Commander’s Obelisk…”
The black Obelisk—it was the invasion weapon of one of the seven legion commanders under the Demon King, the Magic Legion Commander. And it was the very source of the massive dungeon that would appear in the Behend Kingdom.
Erinn let out a little giggle and summed up the situation in a single line.
“Incident after incident wherever we go~♡”