The Swamp Witch's Dominion
While the other side hesitated in confusion, runes materialized around Olsidra. Two dark, blood-red runes appeared on either side of him, radiating an ominous and deeply unpleasant aura from beyond their forms. Jequirac could even detect a foul stench seeping through from the other side of those runes.
“Ma Phil Lere!”
But the activation came too late. Before the summoning could complete, the witch moved first. With an incomprehensible incantation, she thrust both hands forward, unleashing streams of green and red energy that streaked toward Olsidra from either side. The blue starfish-like creature carrying its master dove sharply to evade the lights, but that was only the beginning.
The two energies curved through the air in wide arcs before turning back to pursue Olsidra once more. The starfish dodged again, shifting direction, while the witch reached into her robes and drew something out. Through Jequirac’s eyes, it looked like the withered leg of some beast. She swung it like a staff and shouted again.
“Ol I Bapid!”
The beast’s leg exploded into powder that scattered on the wind. At that exact moment, Olsidra’s summoning finished. From the runes hovering around him emerged a swarm of black poisonous insects. Their sizes and shapes were irregular, and the entire mass felt less like living creatures and more like some kind of contamination.
The stench transmitted through the soul link had grown stronger, reinforcing that impression.
Regardless, the countless insects surged toward her as one. I instinctively knew that the black afterimages flickering around her body would be unable to stop them.
The red and green lights continued their relentless pursuit of Olsidra, though their movements seemed awkward enough that they might soon be evaded. Their trails lingered in the air, forming a loose encirclement, but since the battlefield was open sky where movement was possible in every direction, the effect was limited.
The insects were nearly upon her now, moments from engulfing her entirely.
“Hek Hu Keltri!”
With that cry, she released her broom and clapped her palms together. A tremendous vibration rippled outward, as though a colossal bell had been struck. The sheer magnitude of the magic was visible even to my eyes. The insects dissolved into black smoke upon contact with the wave of power. At the same time, the broom she had released fell onto the sea below.
“That’s an enormous amount of mana.”
For an instant, her power had rivaled that of a high-ranking demon. Even Jequirac, who was positioned at a considerable distance, flinched despite his earlier denials. This was far beyond mere skill.
“……!”
That wasn’t the only surprise. The blue starfish that had been skillfully dodging the pursuing lights suddenly halted and began writhing in agony. Olsidra, still riding atop it, quickly leaned forward to lower his center of gravity and avoid falling, but the creature had lost the strength to fly and began a slow descent.
Wondering what had happened, I focused on the space where Olsidra had been—and finally understood why the two lights’ movements had seemed so awkward earlier.
A massive rune had been drawn there.
The two lights chasing Olsidra hadn’t merely been attacking him. Their trajectories had been tracing a spell formation through the air. Because it existed in three dimensions, it was difficult to perceive from any single angle. It had been faint and minimal even after activation, making it nearly impossible to notice without close attention.
“So you’re the Swamp Witch Mering. You’re quite the formidable witch after all.”
Constructing one spell through another. The effect had been limited to the starfish rather than Olsidra himself, but even so, it was an impressive feat. Similar abilities had appeared during the last great war, yet this remained a considerable display of power.
Yes—she hadn’t been using her full strength until now. Otherwise, no matter how many attack spells Jequirac had unleashed, she wouldn’t have been reduced to fleeing and dodging.
‘She was wary of me to that extent—or rather, she was prepared for the possibility that Olsidra or other Dark Priests might be lying in ambush.’
If she truly believed I was a Dark Priest, that made perfect sense.
The blue starfish carrying Olsidra struggled to slow its fall before finally touching down. It didn’t appear seriously injured, but it could no longer fly. Once on the ground, Olsidra raised his hands again, summoning more runes into the air. He still paid no attention to our side.
“……”
In contrast, she kept glancing between Jequirac, me, and Olsidra, her tension never easing. Whether because of Olsidra’s earlier words or because he had been her target from the beginning, her focus remained primarily on him.
Then, without warning, she descended rapidly from the sky. It was a puzzling choice. With Olsidra now grounded and Jequirac still active, voluntarily surrendering her aerial advantage seemed foolish and disadvantageous—yet she showed no hesitation.
As if he had anticipated exactly this move, the summons that emerged from Olsidra’s runes a beat later were all creatures without flight capabilities.
Moreover, every single one of them appeared resistant to poison and possessed solid physical forms. It was as though he had known her methods in advance.
Shotornis, the “Poisoned Ones” that dwelled beneath the Yugo Mountains. These creatures were born with legs and tails, walking on two feet like ordinary beings, but as they aged, their tails, arms, legs, and eventually most of their bodies melted away until they died as lumps of red mud. That mud carried potent toxicity—hence their name.
And the giant centipede Binai Basha that consumed poison. The giant Udu Panul that licked poison. The massive octopus Skarmiglione that swam in springs of deadly venom. Its name meant “harmful,” and while the term originally referred to all manner of dangerous beasts and monsters in the regions where such octopuses lived, the creature itself had become the most famous, so the name stuck.
In any case, creatures so consistently resistant to poison could not possibly be a coincidence.
“You’ve gathered quite the collection.”
Having landed, she sneered at the sight of the summons. While they were indeed poison-resistant, they were hardly high-ranking. Even so, she showed no concern. If anything, she seemed more wary of Jequirac—clearly still mindful of attacks from above.
“But if you truly believe this is enough to deal with me, then you’ve sorely underestimated me.”
She waved her hand, and short, incomprehensible syllables spilled from her lips. A strange energy gathered around her body—not mere mana, but something grotesque and repulsive. It felt both alien and strangely familiar, though I couldn’t place exactly what it was.
At Olsidra’s signal, the summons charged toward her. Skarmiglione curled its legs into a sphere and rolled forward at an incredible speed. The movement was neither natural nor kind to its body, and would have been impossible without the summoner’s direct control, yet it was fascinating to witness.
“Te Kete, Kte, Pa.”
A scraping sound emerged from her throat as the eerie energy around her visibly thickened. Soon, she, the space around her, the earth, and the sky itself began to take on a green hue.
Like moss overtaking shade, like a lake rotting into a swamp. The unpleasant green spread outward. The ground transformed into a mire, and the energy filling the air took the shape of enormous wings.
Ssssss
Binai Basha, the giant centipede, left countless tracks across the ground as it charged first, raising its sharp pincers to strike down at her. Before this massive creature capable of crushing even a large bull in an instant, she looked like easy prey.
But the moment she raised her palm toward its head, Binai Basha’s movements froze. Its rear legs still thrashed desperately against the ground, yet its forward section remained suspended in the air, unable to advance any further. Its countless legs flailed weakly. Its pincers and venomous fangs would never reach her. Dark green stains appeared across its hard brown carapace, and it began to melt as though touched by acid.
The wing-shaped green energy surrounding her spread toward Udu Panul and Skarmiglione as well. Even Udu Panul, which fed on the venomous Agnan Scorpion and licked the poison from its tail, collapsed with a scream of agony. Skarmiglione ceased its bizarre rolling and writhed on the ground, its eight legs twisting in torment.
If even creatures specialized in poison were reduced to this state, it spoke to the sheer power of her spell. Perhaps even Jequirac would not have emerged unscathed had he been caught within that green energy.
—There’s no need to approach.
Jequirac conveyed this after reading my thoughts, yet his words themselves acknowledged that she was no easy opponent.
Even within the green energy, only Shotornis seemed relatively unaffected, burrowing inward without significant reaction—until a blast of mana from the witch tore half its body away, ending its life in an instant. It was utterly one-sided.