The Witches Clash in the Slime Cave

An SSS-grade skill on the same level as Sir Isra’s swordsmanship.

Damn.

Radiant. Absolutely radiant.

They called her the strongest witch. I believed every word of it!

【Thank you. Thanks to you, Master, I’ve obtained a new body.】

Polite, too—unlike a certain someone.

One undead had the gall to call this body a worthless hunk of trash.

【I am on the side of truth.】

“Sorry for foisting a piece-of-garbage body on you.”

【My. A man who claims to follow chivalry, demeaning the body Master himself bestowed?】

【Silence!】

Already at each other’s throats.

Thank the heavens Sir Isra was still sealed in the death space. If I’d let her out, those two would have gone for each other’s throats on the spot.

【By the way, my ability will pass to you as well, Master.】

With Sir Isra I had received the Heavenly Martial Body.

What kind of power would the strongest witch hand down?

This time it would pass without any trouble—

“Gyaaaaaaah!!”

—yeah, right.

One hand clamped over my skull. The other clutched my chest.

It felt like a thousand needles were driving straight into my brain and heart at once.

“Eck. Guh. Khek.”

Tears welled up. I couldn’t draw a breath.

Still.

This time I would not black out.

I was going to endure it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠through to the end!!!

“Hoo… huff.”

Urgh.

My stomach heaved. Only the presence of my minions kept me from vomiting on the spot.

【Master, are you all right?】

【Tsk, tsk. A familiar harming her own lord.】

【It’s all for Master’s sake.】

Sir Isra.

When it was the Heavenly Martial Body you wiped your mouth clean and played innocent. Now this?

I didn’t press the point further.

She was still my first familiar; I ought to let her keep a little face.

What mattered was the performance of the skill I had gained by enduring that monstrous pain.

Options that made my jaw drop.

Wasn’t this exactly the magic-side counterpart of the Heavenly Martial Body?

【Hoho. As expected of Master. My ability has been splendidly inherited.】

Ingrid clacked her jawbone in clear satisfaction.

A low groan of dismay escaped Sir Isra. She looked thoroughly rattled.

【Magic-user. So all that talk of being the strongest was not empty bluster after all.】

【Iron-head. You do have eyes to see, at least.】

【Gaaaaah!】

While the two undead sniped at each other, I read the description of my newly acquired skill over and over.

Origin of Magic.

With this skill I could learn and cast every one of the four major elemental magics without a single penalty.

In effect, Origin of Magic had turned me into a dual-class. Add the Heavenly Martial Body and I was looking at a triple, wasn’t I?

The catch was that I still had to learn each spell through skill books. Raising the proficiency of multiple elemental magics at the same time would hardly be simple.

Mages who could handle three or more elements were treated as precious rarities—yet they were also judged nearly impossible to “fully master.”

Three was already hard. Fourfold attributes?

Selection and concentration might be necessary.

【Master has Ingrid, you know.】

No.

I already possessed an outstanding magic instructor.

【I cannot transfer the spells themselves, but I do possess the knowledge and experience.】

In other words: learn the magic from skill books, and she would teach me how to apply it.

Even the same skill produced wildly different power and utility depending on proficiency.

With the Origin of Magic’s three-hundred-percent proficiency boost and a peerless teacher on top of it, my growth in the magical arts should be nothing short of explosive.

【Mind the order, magic-user.】

【What order?】

【I am my lord’s first teacher.】

【Wow. Are you even a knight? Are you seriously goading Master into drawing a sword and fighting monsters himself?】

【I—I never intended—】

【That’s simply too much. Master, forget this iron-head and place your trust in Ingrid alone.】

【Kuuuuugh!!】

Why couldn’t she just say she wanted me to train swordsmanship so the combat power of the minions would rise?

She was no match for Ingrid in a war of words.

Caught completely in Ingrid’s rhythm, Sir Isra could only seethe in silence.

I decided to change the subject with a question I had actually been curious about.

“What kind of skill is Solar Eclipse?”

【Hoho. A unique ability usable only by the Witch of the Solar Eclipse.】

Solar Eclipse was not a spell meant to be cast alone; its entire premise was the fusion of multiple magics.

【Its applications are endless.】

Mix flame with wind to widen the area of effect. Clash diametrically opposite attributes and detonate them on contact.

【However, magic-user.】

【What is it, iron-head?】

【You have only three spells at your disposal right now, do you not?】

【Yeah.】

【Then the skill is utterly useless.】

Sir Isra.

Where had all that proud talk of chivalry gone?

Triumphant satisfaction colored every word of her thoughts.

【Two is plenty.】

【What?】

【You’ll understand once you see it in real combat.】

A fierce war of words between the Continent’s Greatest Sword and the Strongest Witch.

Why did the secondhand embarrassment always fall on me?

【Sir. Seeing as matters stand thus, what say you to clearing a gate?】

Her motives looked distinctly impure.

“Sure. Let’s do that.”

I didn’t refuse.

I was curious myself.

This was the second otherworldly soul I had acquired. Nothing would reveal Ingrid’s true skill better than live combat.

【Iron-head. You would do well to watch carefully.】

Ingrid answered with absolute confidence.

We took public transit. Roughly forty minutes later the gate I had chosen stood before us.

A fixed-type gate, just like the Challenging Realm. Stable, with no risk of a breakout.

【A fair number of hunters seem to come and go.】

“It’s popular with mages.”

Magic resistance was practically nonexistent, and the slimes moved so slowly that solo hunting was easy. According to HunterNet there were no clear rewards, but the stable income made the place a favorite.

【Easy prey, then.】

“Warrior-types call it a nightmare, though.”

Bodies of pure mucus. Physical resistance came standard, and the acid chewed through weapon durability at a terrifying rate.

The perfect stage on which to test Ingrid’s skill.

【Hoho. You will not be disappointed.】

We stepped through the gate. Mage hunters were already at work thinning the slimes.

“Wind Cutter!”

Whoosh—

A blade of wind sliced the mucus a little less than halfway through. The wound did not immediately reseal; the slime’s body gaped open. A second Wind Cutter split the core with a clean crack.

The other mages worked the same way. Some used Flame Beat. Others seared the mucus with lightning. The strongest firepower on display was—

“Fireball!”

The same skill the orc mage had used. The slime vanished inside a burst of flame and exploded into scattered fragments.

Come to think of it, I still hadn’t decided what to do with that Fireball skill book. I had Origin of Magic now. Maybe I should just learn it myself?

【Would it not be wiser to train in swordsmanship first?】

“I can still learn it, can’t I?”

【Is securing funds not also important?】

Her thinking was painfully transparent.

“Tsk.”

While we traded banter, one of the slimes finally noticed us. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠A wobbling mass of liquid that looked almost cute from a distance—until you remembered that five minutes submerged in it would leave nothing but bones.

【Iron-head, stay out of this.】

Ingrid extended an arm that was nothing but bone. Ominous light flashed from the black orb in her hand.

A single small ember arced through the air in a perfect parabola.

Huh?

A parabola?

The fireball flew at a forty-five-degree angle, punched straight through the mucus, and detonated the core nestled inside.

“One hit? With Flame Beat?”

“It curved…”

“Is that even really Flame Beat?”

Every mage in the cave turned to stare at Ingrid.

Hmm.

I was just as clueless. Flame Beat was supposed to travel in a straight line. Watching it describe a perfect curve and still nail a moving target was uncanny.

【It’s nothing special.】

So.

Care to explain?

【I merely adjusted the form conversion ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and the trajectory a little.】

She had rewritten the skill on the fly?

Not impossible, in theory. Once proficiency hit one hundred percent, a caster could keep the basic framework and reshape the rest to will. Still—turning a linear projectile into a curve and retaining enough precision to hit a moving target was another matter entirely.

I could understand why those mages looked stunned.

“Why the curve, though?”

【The mucus is thinnest near the crown of the head.】

She had spotted the weak point after a single glance.

Incredible.

If Sir Isra’s combat was a work of art, Ingrid’s magic was a perfectly arranged mathematical formula.

【I could do that much myself whenever I wished.】

“Rest a bit. You’ll dull the blades.”

Repairs were my job, after all. Who exactly was she planning to make work by picking fights with slimes?

Sir Isra was the one who had insisted we check Ingrid’s skill. She could watch quietly from the death space.

Shards of ice wrapped in cold also curved through the air and—thunk—burst another slime in a single clean hit.

“A Skeleton Mage’s magic proficiency shouldn’t be that high…”

At the moment of creation it had sat around ten percent. She wasn’t ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠unleashing named techniques the way Sir Isra did. So why did every single spell hit with the force of a fully mastered skill?

【I already told you. I was the Witch of the Solar Eclipse.】

A being who inherited the knowledge and mana of every witch who came before her. When Ingrid met her death, that vast reservoir of power had ceased to be hers.

【But the knowledge and experience remain.】

Proficiency locked at maximum.

Did that mean any spell among the four major elements would receive the highest possible correction?

【Only the spells I still remember.】

Finding unknown skills would be the hard part, she added, and casually loosed another Flame Beat.

The same spell that mage hunters needed two or three shots to maybe finish a slime. Ingrid popped them like balloons.

I already had ten magic stones.

While I savored the bewildered stares of the surrounding mages—

“Whoops. Gotta grab the stones.”

I hurriedly bent down.

【Iron-head. Master is stooping to collect them and you just stand there watching?】

【It was my lord who ordered me not to interfere.】

【That complete lack of flexibility is exactly why they call you iron-head.】

I let their bickering wash over one ear and out the other. I had just finished scooping up the last of the stones when—

“I-It’s a wave!!!”

Somewhere in the distance a hunter screamed and bolted toward the gate entrance. A massive rolling tide of bodies followed him.

Slimes. Dozens of them at the very least, tangled together as if they were a single living wave, surging forward.

“Talk about rotten luck. A slime wave.”

“If you wait it out it’ll clear.”

“Still, today’s hunt is shot.”

They were slow. Dodging them was no real problem. The hunters simply filed out of the gate with the resigned faces of people whose session had just been canceled.

A shame, but there was nothing to be done. I would have to content myself with having confirmed Ingrid’s skill.

“Shall we head out too?”

【Please wait a moment, Master.】

Apparently Ingrid was not yet satisfied.

She still had something left to show?

Wooooong—

A magic circle bloomed before the black orb. Upon that formation steeped in ominous darkness, crimson orbs and azure shards began to form one after another.

When their number passed ten—

【I’ll show you something fun.】

Ingrid released the mana she had been holding in check.

KWAAaaaang!