Chapter 178
Chapter 178
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 178
Chapter Title: The Forest of the Mundane (3)
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Arin cast the Authority of Darkness. With the giant wounded, now was the chance to see if her abilities would work.
The Authority of Darkness Arin wielded was a shadow that spread out like plant branches. The branches delved into the giant's shadow, rising like vines to seize its ankles.
Arin cast Mental Shock, a psychic impact spell.
If telepathy was a thief, Mental Shock was a mugger. It couldn't induce trauma, but it could certainly deliver a shock equivalent to a phobia.
The true strength of Mental Shock was its potential to lead into Mind Control.
Mind Control, which had been Arcane's specialty, was a spell that manipulated an opponent's body, but it was difficult to succeed with.
To approach a 100 percent success rate, one needed a level of concentration twenty times that of the target's mental fortitude.
In essence, you couldn't dominate an opponent stronger than yourself.
However, depending on strategy and tactics, such a thing could occasionally happen—specifically, when Mental Shock was successful.
If they could control the giant with Mind Control, they would have nothing to fear in the forest. Canis, aware of this, held back and watched the outcome.
The Mental Shock failed.
The giant, its face ablaze, began to charge the party with even more violent movements.
Arin bit her lip. Telepathy, Mental Shock, Mind Control—the so-called three sacred treasures of mental magic—were all ineffective against the giant.
For her, a seer, it was the first time she had ever felt so powerless. A flame of frustration ignited in her gentle heart.
‘Why? Why isn't it working? It's just a big human, isn't it?’
“Arin! Look out!”
Canis stepped in front of Arin and cast Shadow Wall.
Just as the shadow rose, the giant's fist slammed into it. The darkness of the Shadow Wall scattered like dust. The impact had exceeded the spell's absorption limit.
But the giant, seemingly drained of its strength, could not push through.
Harvest scaled the giant's arm and slashed at a spot where a blood vessel was likely to be, using his nails.
His calculation that its body would be similar to a human's if it had mastered Schema proved correct.
The blood vessel at the crook of its elbow was severed, and a fountain of blood erupted. But the wound healed almost instantly. If anything, the pain seemed to stimulate it, and it began to rampage.
‘It's so strong. To think a creature like this exists in the world.’
Shirone teleported to lure the giant, and Rian sliced at its heel as if filleting a fish.
Canis cast the Authority of Darkness. His saw-toothed shadow was specialized for attack, but even wrapped around the giant's ankle, it couldn't cut through the muscle.
Canis, who could only manage to immobilize the giant, shouted.
“Its strength is monstrous! Do something, quick!”
Amy's Flame Strike bombarded the giant's face. But adding more fire when it was already burning changed nothing. Although enhanced by the power of wind, its physical force was weaker than the Photon Cannon.
Shirone compressed photons. Contrary to what everyone expected—a Photon Cannon—the activation time was longer than usual.
Seeing the mass of light distort and squish, Canis burst out in frustration.
“Damn it! What are you doing! Focus!”
“No, that's not it.”
Arin said.
“He's changing the shape of the photons.”
If physical force wouldn't work, he would convert it to cutting power. If neither heat nor impact was effective, he would create sharpness.
In the current situation, it was the right call.
But Canis wondered if it was even possible. Changing the shape of light was beyond common sense.
Shirone felt it too. Artificially suppressing the light he was about to release was difficult. He thought it might be possible by varying the direction of the force compressing the photons, but the mental toll was absurdly high.
A groan escaped through his clenched teeth. He tightened his wavering mind with Immortal Function and increased his concentration, causing the photons to flatten.
The Photon Cannon, now shaped like a disk, shot toward the giant.
The giant, having broken free of the Authority of Darkness by sheer force, twisted its torso. As the blade of light sliced across its side, a wound a handspan wide opened up, and blood gushed out like a waterfall.
In any case, it was a critical hit.
Realizing this, the party, swordsmen and mages alike, charged with frenzied eyes.
They stabbed with sabers and battered with greatswords. They burned it with flames and sawed at it with shadow saws—they did everything they could until the giant's body toppled backward.
The assault continued, but it felt like trying to butcher a dragon with only a hand knife. A single muscle fiber had the strength of steel.
Amy panted, gasping for breath.
“Hah, hah. It's dead, right? It has to be, huh? Right?”
“I don't know. Probably. Should we go one more round just in case?”
Tess shuddered.
“No, I can't do any more. There's a limit to how brutal we can be.”
“I tried to cut off its neck with the Authority of Darkness, but it really wouldn't cut. How about we flay it first?”
Canis's words were the final blow; everyone backed away, their faces pale. In any case, the giant showed no signs of moving, and the wound Shirone had inflicted wasn't regenerating, so leaving it be was the best course of action.
Tess gave Shirone a thumbs-up.
“That was amazing, Shirone. A new spell again?”
“I was lucky. If the giant had dodged, I wouldn't have had a second chance. The thought alone is terrifying.”
Canis was displeased. Photon Cannon was an impact-based spell. But changing its form to convert it into cutting power? The idea itself was brilliant, but as a dark mage, he couldn't help but feel like his specialty had been encroached upon.
“Hmph, it's a good thing we won, but it was nothing more than a gamble. As long as we're moving as a team, an individual's mental energy is part of the party's collective pool. If you had failed, you would have been combat-incapable. In a situation where even a mage's body might have to serve as a shield, breaking formation is dangerous.”
“I know. The efficiency was worse than I expected, which surprised me too.”
Canis snorted and turned away. He had snapped at him, but the insight to change course in that situation was undoubtedly a sign of talent.
Arin seemed to share the sentiment. She watched Shirone rest with her seer's sight before speaking.
“I've felt this before, but that boy... his ideas are so unconstrained.”
It was a gamble, but a high-probability one.
The insight to choose what to give up and what not to in order to achieve victory. If even one or two out of ten choices had been wrong, they would not have reached this outcome.
“Tch, he was always quick on his feet.”
Canis added. No matter what, they were a team now, and denying what deserved recognition was a sign of inferiority.
“Grrr...”
The giant's groan made the hearts of Shirone's party plummet. It showed no sign of getting up yet, but they could see its fingers twitching slightly.
Without needing to exchange a word, they bolted into the forest.
They still didn't know what kind of world this "Heaven" was, but they had no intention of fighting a giant ever again.
@
With Amy's Red Eyes, Tess's senses, and Arin's ability to distinguish the natural from the unnatural, they were able to navigate without any major crises.
They arrived at a rocky cliff area.
The abundance of shadows pleased Canis and Arin. While Shirone's magic was unaffected by the environment, dark magic was maximized in darkness.
“This place should be safe. If things get dicey, I can move with Darkport.”
“But Darkport can't transport multiple people, can it?”
Dark magic lacked a theory for transferring its effects like Photonization magic. Therefore, only dark mages could travel through shadows.
Canis shrugged as if it were no big deal.
“At the very least, it'll be a tactical advantage. From here, I can lure enemies on my own.”
Tess took the waterskin as it came her way and spoke.
“A giant that uses Schema... Isn't this place too dangerous? And the fact that Arin's mental magic is useless is unsettling.”
“I'm sorry. I wasn't much help.”
As Arin bowed her head, Tess waved her hands dismissively.
“No, no. Even I couldn't handle that giant. Anyway, we won, didn't we? What's important is that we won by working together. Come to think of it, Heaven isn't so tough after all, hohoho!”
Tess tried to lighten the mood, but the mages' expressions only darkened.
Unlike swordsmen, who were accustomed to improvising, mages despised unexpected situations. They were the type who could only feel at ease when they controlled all variables and ultimately dominated the situation.
A spell that altered the shape of photons was not part of their established party strategy.
Knowing that piling one variable on top of another could lead to annihilation, they were not pleased with a victory that relied on an individual's impromptu idea.
“In that last battle, we failed to completely control the situation. It's a bit much to say this right after arriving, but I think we need to consider whether we should turn back at this point. What does everyone else think?”
Shirone broached the subject, and Amy responded.
“I think it went pretty well for our first time. We shouldn't overlook the fact that we won, right? What I mean is, Shirone found a solution, and that solution can be applied to various situations in the future. So, even if we encounter the same enemy, we can avoid a situation like the one we just had.”
Amy's point had merit.
Of course, Canis was against turning back. But he wasn't foolish enough to voice a false opinion driven by greed.
“It's not that simple. Shirone probably won't use that strategy again. Right?”
“That's right. It's too risky. The time it takes to compress the photons and its poor efficiency... I don't think I'll try it unless I'm truly desperate.”
“The idea was plausible. If you can imbue photons with mass, light becomes closer to matter, making it possible to alter its shape. Is that what you were thinking?”
The reason Canis could read Shirone's thoughts was that the method he had attempted was the exclusive domain of dark magic.
“But it was a miscalculation. Meticulously shaping things with your mind is your polar opposite. That's a characteristic of dark magic. Dark magic lacks impact force, but it exerts engineered power through shape-shifting. In my case, saw teeth; in Arin's case, vines.”
Arin gave a demonstration with the Authority of Darkness. A shadow rose from the ground and transformed into the intricate shape of an apple tree. She even adjusted its size, giving it a three-dimensional quality.
As Shirone marveled, Arin smiled and explained.
“Mages use the four fundamental methods, but dark magic is specialized in mental crafting, so it doesn't need them. We call it 'modeling.' Elements with good stability like ice or darkness are easy to shape, while highly active ones like fire or light are difficult to model.”
Amy agreed.
“Come to think of it, that's true for me too. I can't control the shape of my flames. That's why I incorporate air-type properties into my spells.”
“Right. But light is even more difficult than fire. No, in theory, modeling it is impossible. It's like how you can add the properties of light to other elements, but you can't add other properties to light. Of course, Shirone made it possible with the God Particle, but that's a special case. Thanks to that, you succeeded in some modeling, but even that is too impractical for real combat.”
Shirone sighed and said.
“Then how are we supposed to fight giants from now on? A laser might work, but considering the giant's movements, it won't be easy.”
Lasers could destroy matter regardless of durability, but they took time to accumulate energy, making them less effective against fast-moving targets.
It was a good thing the spell didn't exist in this world; if Harvest had known the properties of a laser beforehand, he wouldn't have been defeated so easily last time.
“The problem is, we've only encountered a single giant. How strong are giants in this world? If we could figure that out, it would help with our exploration, wouldn't it?”