Chapter 150
Chapter 150
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 150
Chapter Title: Forced Breakthrough (5)
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Shirone's Frenzy didn't stop there. Photons imbued with physical force continuously struck thousands of rock chunks, grinding them down into gravel the size of millet grains.
“Kughhh!”
Shirone was gradually sinking as the ground collapsed around him.
Compared to the test, the zone's diameter was four times smaller, causing the speed to skyrocket. It was enough to make even Shirone, with his Indestructible Body, feel a sense of crisis.
Twenty seconds later, the casting of Frenzy finally stopped. When Shirone scanned the area with his Spirit Zone, he could no longer feel the magic circle's mana.
“Hoo. Amy, you think this is enough?”
No one answered. The three people watching Shirone were all staring blankly, their expressions identical.
Amy let out a disbelieving laugh.
“Haha. Please, let's try to use some common-sense magic, Shirone.”
“What? I put a lot of thought into this one. Anyway, the magic circle is destroyed, right?”
“Huh? Oh. Yeah, probably.”
Amy entered her Spirit Zone to check the surroundings, but there was really no need.
Even without synesthesia, just by looking, she could see that the area where the magic circle had been was utterly devastated.
Amy approached the spot where Shirone stood. Only after examining the hemispherical crater in the ground did she understand the properties of Shirone's new spell.
‘It's an amplification of photons using Mental Pulse. He must have come up with it during his internship. Still, this destructive power is absolutely ridiculous, isn't it?’
Although it had the disadvantage of a short range, that barely counted as a flaw in the face of power that could pulverize the ground to dust.
It was a spell where three elements—Mental Pulse deployed at the level of his Indestructible Body, the God Particle using Immortal Function, and the flash magic, Shining—came together in perfect harmony.
“But what on earth were you thinking when you came up with this?”
“Huh? Oh, I didn't actually expect to use it in a situation like this. My specialty is omnidirectional defense, right? So I was thinking I should learn a defensive spell. Then I thought of Mental Pulse and tried combining it with the God Particle.”
“Oh, is that so? So you're saying this is a defensive spell?”
“Yeah, a defensive spell.”
Amy resisted the urge to smack Shirone. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it was the most destructive defensive spell she knew.
In short, it was a spell that created a repulsive force by projecting a curtain of light imbued with mass at incredible speed.
A single pulse might be weaker than Photon Cannon, but hammering away at twenty times per second would leave nothing standing in the vicinity.
In any case, if one were to classify it strictly, it was indeed a defensive spell.
Multi-hit offensive spells were classified as scatter shots, but since Frenzy's output far surpassed that to create a curtain-like effect, the Association would likely register it as a defensive spell as well.
“Shirone, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”
Tess ran up and asked worriedly. Of all the spells she had ever seen, Frenzy was the most domineering and brutish.
She thought it was a miracle that Shirone, who had been at its center, was still standing unharmed.
“I'm fine. It's not as dangerous as it looks.”
“Not dangerous? I thought you were going to be shattered along with everything else.”
“Haha! I'm really okay. You can't call a spell that hurts the caster a defensive spell.”
As Shirone said, Frenzy was created to protect the caster; its destructive power was merely a side effect.
While a typical defensive spell generated durability through the thickness of its barrier, Frenzy uniquely created repulsive force through the momentum of particles traveling back and forth between a minimum and maximum radius.
Therefore, as long as the minimum radius was set just outside the caster, they would never be caught in the spell's effect, much like standing in the eye of a storm.
“Anyway, let's get serious. Now that I've got the rhythm, I can cast it even faster. Thirty seconds should be more than enough to break a magic circle.”
Amy, finally snapping out of her daze, immediately revised their strategy.
“Right. With this spell, we can just keep destroying magic circles as we go. Let's avoid combat as much as possible and focus on destroying the circles. We'll provoke the enemy. Then, when they can't take it anymore, we counterattack all at once. How does that sound?”
There were no objections.
Shirone's party formed pairs, a man and a woman each, and cast Teleport. Two streaks of light flew across the forest, searching for their second prey, another magic circle.
* * *
“Frenzy.”
An explosion of light erupted with Shirone at its center. As the curtain of photons hammered the ground, the magic circle was obliterated without a trace.
This was already the seventh magic circle Shirone's party had destroyed.
They had fought along the way, reducing the enemy's numbers by seven, but their veteran foes didn't fall easily for the party's strategy.
Though they gritted their teeth each time a costly magic circle was destroyed, they maintained their position, observing the situation.
However, when the number of destroyed circles surpassed fifteen, the enemy's stance finally changed.
A sense of anxiety began to set in that if they let this continue, every magic circle on the mountain would be destroyed.
“Damn it! How long are they going to keep this up?”
“This is getting dangerous. We can only utilize about three magic circles from any given point. At this rate, our range of activity is going to shrink drastically.”
“Leader! What should we do? It looks like they're determined to ruin everything we've built.”
The leader of the ten-man squad was just as frustrated.
The money Freeman's organization had poured into fortifying the northern forest amounted to half of their earnings from the past five years.
If this continued, even if they won, it would be no different from a loss.
“Gather everyone. We'll box them in and take them down.”
A messenger used a magic circle to relay the order to the other squad leaders. The other leaders apparently felt the same, as they responded immediately.
Shirone's party also instantly detected the sudden shift in the atmosphere of the battle. Not just the enemies' movements, but even the look in their eyes had changed.
The biggest change was that instead of harassing them with guerrilla tactics, they had switched to a strategy of surrounding them with dozens of men at once.
However, the goal of this massive encirclement wasn't to annihilate Shirone's party, but to lure them somewhere.
Even with superior numbers, they weren't foolish enough to engage in an all-out battle against a party that included two mages.
Tess was impressed by the enemy's tactical flexibility. This clearly wasn't the first time they had dealt with a situation like this.
“This is a problem in its own right. They're boxing us in and leading us somewhere. There must be a trap waiting to eliminate the mages.”
Shirone paid it no mind. If the enemy was coming at them with full force, it was now a race against time. He had to get to Yuna and rescue her as quickly as possible.
“It's fine. We'll break through them there. For now, we should conserve our strength.”
“But it's dangerous if it's a trap, isn't it?”
“I'll break through somehow. Leave it to me.”
Shirone picked up his pace and surged to the front. Even with Schema, Tess didn't dare try to overtake him in the face of his powerful charge.
“Whew. He's really something else, that Shirone.”
The Shirone before her now was certainly unfamiliar to Tess. That was only natural, as she had only ever seen his kind and gentle side.
He was the person she had been most worried about going into this battle. She had asked Rian if he could kill people, but in truth, her question had also been directed at Shirone.
But once the real fight began, Shirone had become like a different person.
There was no trace of fear, and his response to the enemy was flawless, without a single vulnerability to be found.
This was a unique quality that only Shirone possessed.
While savagery and cruelty could be virtues in a conflict, watching Shirone fight was like watching a machine that repeatedly calculated only for efficiency.
Rian, guessing Tess's thoughts, smiled to himself. It reminded him of how he had felt when he first met Shirone.
The memory of their real-sword duel in the training hall still sent a shiver down his spine.
Shirone's insight could even comprehend the fear of death. Rian recalled breaking into a cold sweat at the sight of him charging forward, thinking of nothing but swinging his sword.
“Remember this, Tess. That's Shirone. Once he gets started, no one can stop him.”
Unlike Rian, Amy watched Shirone with a hint of concern.
Of course, she knew how incredible his insight was. But it seemed like powerful variables named Yuna and Marsha were factoring into his actions now.
“Still, isn't it too reckless when there's a trap? He's just charging straight ahead without even taking the time to analyze their strategy.”
“We lost time destroying the magic circles. If Shirone says he'll do it, I won't stop him.”
Rian cast his vote of confidence for Shirone and increased his speed.
But Tess agreed with Amy. Analyzing her surroundings even as she ran, she spoke with a serious expression.
“Amy, the terrain is a bit strange. The guys seem to have their blood up, so let's us two provide the balance.”
“Yeah, that's a good idea. But what do you mean, the terrain is strange?”
“If this isn't an artificially altered landscape, we'll be entering a valley soon. It's the perfect place to set a trap. It could be dangerous.”
Nature has its own laws. Humans alter the shape of things to suit their preferences, but nature never goes against its own principles.
Looking at the mountain range they had crossed so far, the terrain was gradually sloping downwards.
Moreover, the increasing humidity and the prevalence of mosses and liverworts over shrubs clearly indicated they were heading toward a valley.
‘And yet, I don't hear the sound of water. Those bastards, they've blocked the valley.’
Block the front and attack from both sides. It was a textbook military tactic.
Tess was conflicted. It was true that time was short. But if they kept playing into the enemy's hands like this, their side could be annihilated first.
“Amy, I don't think this is going to work. We need to stop Shirone first.”
Amy nodded without a word. Just as Tess predicted, the path was gradually narrowing, and the cliffs were becoming too high to bypass.
The biggest problem was that the number of enemies forming the encirclement was gradually decreasing.
“I'll tell him. Shirone! Wait a second!”
Amy's voice didn't reach him. Before she could even speak, Shirone had cast Teleport, taking Rian with him. It seemed just running wasn't enough for him.
“What on earth is he doing?”
Forced to give chase, Amy wrapped an arm around Tess's waist and cast Teleport.
But it was impossible for her to catch up to Shirone.
When it came to the spell of Teleport alone, Amy's skill was on par with Shirone's, but not enough to surpass him.
Shirone, rushing forward at high speed, knew Amy was following behind him.
But he didn't stop casting. A chain of light flashes followed one after another as Shirone and Rian instantly plunged into the valley entrance.
Stopping his Teleport there, Shirone ran along a shallow stream.
Rian, who had been brought along, asked with a puzzled expression.
“Shirone, what's the rush? Even I can see this is a trap.”
“That's why I rushed here. I have to destroy the trap, whatever it takes. It'll depend on the type of trap, but if I use Frenzy, I should be able to focus the enemy's attacks on me.”
“What? But what if you fail?”
“Then we'll be completely pinned down. If I can't succeed here, the difficulty of this operation will increase several times over.”
“That's not the problem. You could die. I'll do it instead.”
“No, the reason I have to do it is because I can. If you keep this up, I'll have to leave you behind, too.”
Rian realized why Shirone had so hastily created distance between them. If he had announced he was going to block the enemy's attack alone, neither Tess nor Amy would have allowed it.
Shirone was willing to take the risk for a better chance of success. The thought that time was running out to rescue Yuna safely seemed to be driving him.