Chapter 214: All Sorts of Branches (6)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 214: All Sorts of Branches (6)
There were many reasons why things had turned out this way.
First and foremost, it was Uncle Aeryun’s fault.
I’m not just shifting the blame onto someone who isn't here. I genuinely trusted Uncle Aeryun, but he failed to join us until the very end.
Because of that, we had no choice but to keep a significant distance while observing the enemy. We had used a considerable amount of mana just to move, but even setting that aside, the near-constant Magic Nullification curse made it impossible to use magic anyway.
Furthermore, using mana would have made it easy for them to track our location.
If you’re wondering what that has to do with Uncle Aeryun, it’s because he is an incredibly competent man.
Despite the Academy being breached time and time again, the reason Uncle Aeryun hasn't been fired—and the reason he’s allowed to shamelessly keep his name on the Academy register claiming to be our age with that face of his—isn't just because of his thick skin.
It’s because he’s a talented individual who can be trusted to clean up the mess once a breach is treated as a foregone conclusion. He’s also survived this long because he excels at these kinds of pursuit missions.
That was why Uncle Aeryun, who should have been managing the other agents, was moving with Boradori and me. He was someone who could keep up with our pace while performing the roles of several people at once.
Consequently, we relied on him more than we realized. With Uncle Aeryun gone, we had to observe the enemies from much further away than usual.
I’d learned the basics, but compared to a professional like Uncle Aeryun, my infiltration and scouting skills were lacking.
The second reason was that we failed to accurately gauge the enemy's abilities.
Whether they were hiding their full strength to deceive us, or whether seeing the Fire Spammer had terrified them into drawing out superhuman power just to survive, I don't know. But the range of the Magic Nullification exceeded what we had anticipated. Unable to use magic, we had no choice but to run on our own two feet to find the group holding the Magic Spammer.
The only silver lining was that the enemies were mages who hadn't received physical enhancement. In other words, as long as they were within the Magic Nullification range, they were barely any different from Boradori after three days of curse-work.
So, I lightly sliced through one guy and was about to finish off the other when—
"Ugh..."
Suddenly, a sense of omnipotence flooded my entire body. I realized my mana had returned.
And if my mana was back...
"Die!"
It meant the enemy's mana was back, too.
That leads us to the third problem: the Fire Spammer had taken down the casters much faster than I expected.
I cursed under my breath about how these damn Magic Spammers are never any help and fought hard, but the opponent was tricky. They were stronger than expected, and the fact that the Magic Spammer was being held hostage didn't help.
As a rule of thumb, crazy bastards with "convictions" are the hardest to deal with.
"If my death can purify Dale...!"
"This isn't Dale, you crazy bastard!"
The guy actually tried to blow himself up. I barely made it out alive.
"Ugh, you son of a bitch."
"Gah!"
However, thanks to the efforts of Boradori—who had been doing absolutely nothing until then but managed to land a blow on the back of the enemy's head—we suppressed the foe and safely rescued the Magic Spammer.
However...
"Hey, how do you undo these restraints?"
"They're covered in magic suppressors... I feel so weak..."
"What is this, Luminous Stone? Hey! Get up! Ugh... It drains mana and it's tough as hell. They really only make things that are as nasty as they are..."
This won't do. I’ll have to just break them, even if it’s a bit risky.
"Mmph! Mmph!"
He must have been awake, because the moment I raised my sword, the Magic Spammer tried to say something. I ignored him. Right now, there was something more important.
"Mmph! Mmmph!!"
"Eeeek!"
"......"
But seeing the Magic Spammer's struggles intensify and Boradori scrambling up in a panic, I felt it. Even without their reactions, the heat radiating against my back made it impossible not to know.
Damn it.
Due to several variables combining, I had taken too long. Conversely, the Fire Spammer had finished off her enemies several times faster than anticipated.
As a result, we were now standing before a Fire Spammer whose eyes had completely rolled back.
But I wasn't worried. Both the Fire Spammer and we had the same goal: rescue the Magic Spammer kidnapped by the enemy.
Since we succeeded, surely the Fire Spammer would snap out of it now, right?
"...Hey, you crazy bastard! Why are you suddenly taking a hostage?!"
...I definitely thought that, but my body had naturally taken the Magic Spammer hostage and held a blade to his throat.
"No, I just... did it instinctively..."
"Was your instinct a mugger? Or a bandit? A pirate?!"
I had no excuse for Boradori’s desperate scream. The moment I locked eyes with the emotionless Fire Spammer, I had grabbed the Magic Spammer as a shield without even thinking.
"If I apologize now, do you think she'll snap out of it?"
"Do you really think that's possible after seeing the Curtain of Flames surrounding us?"
Yeah, it seemed unlikely.
"How did they solve this in the original work?"
"An awakened Arwen was supposed to suppress the Hellfire with Eternity and bring her back to her senses..."
I looked down at the Magic Spammer I was holding. Just touching him made me feel my mana being drained. He had restraints on both arms, both legs, and even one on his torso... and probably on his eyes, mouth, fingers, and places I couldn't see.
I didn't think the Fire Spammer would wait for me to undo all of those and for the Magic Spammer to get back to full condition.
"Well, is there any other way?"
"Ultimately, Hellfire deals fixed damage and burns eternally the moment it hits! You just have to not get hit!"
"Are you insane...?"
"Or, if you think you're going to get hit, find something to take the hit for you. Throw a dagger or something instead of using a shield."
Slide.
I pulled the Magic Spammer even closer. In short:
"So you're saying this is the only shield that can block that."
"...No, I was telling you not to even think about blocking it!"
It’s the same thing. How am I supposed to parry all of that? It’s not like I don't have equipment like daggers, but throwing isn't my specialty. Carrying one or two for emergencies wasn't going to stop the Fire Spammer, so I had no choice but to use the Magic Spammer as a shield.
Look. Even the Fire Spammer is standing still, isn't she?
"......"
Wait, is she? Behind that expressionless face, I could somehow feel the aura of a beast stalking its prey. Is this how a herbivore feels in front of a predator?
...It was a sensation I hadn't felt in a long time. It was the same feeling I got when I first understood the sword and looked at the Commander—and now I was feeling it from the Fire Spammer.
That’s how dangerous she is right now. And because she’s dangerous, I had to keep my safety device even closer.
"You two are going to get attached at this rate."
"You use him too. You won't get attacked."
"That's because you're a guy. If I get close, she won't even bother to cook me evenly."
"...Is that so?"
It was a pity that I had practically become one with the Magic Spammer, but what wouldn't a man do to survive?
The problem was that even like this, the Fire Spammer wasn't coming back to her senses. If we held out, Uncle Aeryun would arrive, and Imperial reinforcements would come... but would that actually solve the problem?
Probably not.
What should I do? How can I make the Fire Spammer snap out of it?
"......"
Suddenly, an idea flashed through my mind. To bring back someone who’s lost their mind, you have to give them a shock big enough to knock their senses back into place.
But to deliver a truly effective shock, rather than staying in this state...
"Ugh."
Following Boradori’s advice, I prepared myself for the worst and used a dagger to cut away the restraints covering the Magic Spammer’s eyes and mouth. Since these weren't meant for mana suppression but simply to blind and gag him, they fell off easily.
However, I had to hurriedly throw the dagger away as it suddenly burst into flames.
"There wasn't even a sign..."
She really had become able to spam fire anytime, anywhere.
But it was fine. Fortunately, I had achieved my goal. The Magic Spammer now had his eyes and mouth back. He could see the catastrophe unfolding before him and speak.
And the Magic Spammer's first line was...
"...I get the reason, but could you back off a bit?"
He spoke with a look of utter disgust, telling me to get away from him.
"You think I like this?"
"I'm serious, get off."
"I feel like I'll die the moment I do."
"If you die by magic, it's a natural death. Just accept the laws of nature."
I’d heard that one so often it didn't even sting. Instead, I said:
"If you stop her, I'll get off even if you tell me not to. So do something."
"My mana isn't circulating."
"This is why Magic Spammers are..."
"Then do something about it, you sword-swinger."
He truly was the Prince of Dale, a kingdom with strong royal authority. He was the one who chose to get himself "voluntarily kidnapped" and ended up in this mess, yet he was incredibly shameless.
Still, I’ll endure it. Nobles are naturally shameless, and royalty is the final evolution of that trait. He even has the RoFan Male Lead buff, so it would be weirder if he wasn't shameless.
But even if a King is shameless, a nation cannot be. Or more accurately, they can be shameless toward weak nations, but they have to watch their step with equals. The Magic Spammer’s shamelessness would eventually be repaid with Leon’s No. 1 Airship (there were previous ones, but they all crashed).
And...
"You told me to handle it, right?"
"What?"
The Magic Spammer had given me exactly the words I wanted.
"Hey, Fire Spammer!"
I yelled as loud as I could. I even infused it with mana so it would reach the heavens. Of course, doing just this wouldn't reach a Fire Spammer consumed by magic. To truly reach her, it would take the RoFan heroine Daisy or the Magic Spammer himself.
However, I had a way to make my voice reach her. Or rather, a way to make the Fire Spammer snap out of it on her own.
"I have the Magic Spammer you like right here!"
"......"
Whoosh.
The surrounding heat intensified.
"The very Prince who's causing all this chaos to save you, even though he's never even confessed!"
"......What?"
A small voice echoed. It was just one word, but it was filled with genuine confusion. It was the perfect expression of the dense RoFan male lead candidate. Normally, it would have made my blood boil, but this time, I smirked.
That was exactly what I was aiming for. If he had acted like he knew all along, the damage would have been halved.
As proof:
"Hey, are you crazy?!"
The surrounding heat spiked even further. The Curtain of Flames encircling us rose so high it seemed to touch the sky.
However, no matter how much one is consumed by magic, the absolute total amount of mana does not change. Any law that ignores that... must be sacrificing something as a price.
And most prices are not infinite.
As evidence, as the power of the magic grew, the flames on the Fire Spammer’s own body began to gradually diminish. The problem was that the temperature was rising so high it was becoming hard to breathe, and even the Magic Spammer was choking... but that only proved my actions were correct.
The Fire Spammer was now even damaging the Magic Spammer. That’s how far gone she was.
But... I still had one shot left. I hadn't prepared it for this exact moment, but I’d kept it thinking it might be useful someday.
My trump card.
I pulled a secret artifact out of my subspace pouch. A dangerous artifact that violated someone's human rights and could potentially lead to murder.
— P-Prince. No, I mean... Arwen... sir!
— Hmm. I think just calling me by my name would have been better.
— S-Senior!
The voices of the Fire Spammer and Senior Loreliya played out. Back during the Anti-Daisy Alliance days, it was a secret recording of the Fire Spammer’s efforts to practice her confession before defeating Daisy (though she had lost miserably).
— My apologies. Let's start over from the beginning.
— Arwen-nim! Ever since... ever since we first met!
At the absolute highlight, I, the Magic Spammer, and even Boradori stood there with our mouths agape and eyes wide.
"Shut up!"
With a scream that shattered the silence, the sky turned a deep, bruised red.