98. Labyrinth
98. Labyrinth
Eli's order... calling it an order bruised her pride, but either way, following Eli's words, Stella prepared her magic.
Midway through, a bloodcurdling sound broke her concentration and she nearly pissed her—nearly did, but the spell formula didn't collapse.
And so, the lightning magic she was most confident in among all the spells she'd gained since reaching the 4th Circle was ready.
Now, she only had to chant the spell's name for it to manifest. Though, she was going to say the spell's name very quietly.
Shouting it out loud was... cringey and embarrassing.
Normally, she could manifest magic through mental calculation alone—her specialty, called Silent Casting—but the spell she was preparing now didn't allow for that.
Because this spell, even among 4th Circle magic, was one whose destructive power alone rivaled upper-tier 5th Circle magic.
From the spell formula, she had stripped out every stroke that made casting more convenient—stability, direction, range, precision, energy consumption, casting time.
Into those empty spaces, she had forcibly added strokes that increased intensity, speed, and destructive power.
And then, as a 4th Circle.
She layered four spell formulas to form an array.
Because of that, her Mana was raging like mad, the spell formula was tangling, and the magic circle was on the verge of collapsing, but Stella held it all together through mental calculation alone.
At the same time, she chanted the incantation and finished preparing so she could manifest it in time with Eli's timing.
A manifestation of magic that ordinary Wizards couldn't pull off even if they died and came back to life—couldn't even dream of in the first place.
Stella accomplished it as if it were nothing.
Actually, it was hard.
Her underwear was soaked with sweat, and more than half of her Mana—far greater than other Wizards'—had drained away.
But she decided to act like it was nothing.
So she could strut in front of Eli.
Just moments ago she'd been so scared she nearly pissed her—nearly did, but Stella, who had trusted Eli and completed the magic, opened her tightly shut eyes with confidence.
"...Whoa."
She marveled at the same time.
The cherry blossoms scattering through the cold Labyrinth were beautiful.
The Lizardman walking out of the darkness was terrifying to a horrifying degree, but somehow, in front of Eliarnes, it looked endlessly frail.
Were those petals real?
Stella reached out without realizing it. She touched a petal. It had texture. But she couldn't grasp it.
The remnants of Aura, softly brushing past, glowed faintly. Gulp— Stella swallowed dryly and stared at the small girl standing at the center of that Aura.
Her white nape and slender shoulders looked so thin they might snap in the wind. But the power radiating from that body seemed to make Stella's magic look shabby.
"Done?"
At that moment, a clear voice reached her.
Stella snapped back to her senses and nodded.
Ah, right. If she nodded, Eli wouldn't know.
"...Ready."
She answered belatedly too.
"Good job."
Eli nodded lightly. Her pink twin-tails swayed gently with the movement.
Her briefly visible eyes were full of confidence, and her brilliantly shining cherry-blossom-colored eyes were already piercing precisely through their target.
"I'll count to three. Don't chicken out—use it on the count."
"...I'm not chickening out."
Pfft— Eli's snort.
Behind that sound, the Lizardman's cry rang out once more. A massive body and sharp claws. Bright yellow reptilian eyes flashed toward them.
Stella hunched her shoulders without realizing it.
But Eli.
She wasn't afraid. Rather, as if enjoying herself, she giggled— and lowered her body.
"One."
Cherry-blossom-colored Mana, Aura, began to form around her fist and shine dazzlingly. The Mana flowing out along her body streamed nobly, vibrating the surrounding air.
"Two."
[KKRRRAaaaaaaaaa—]
The Lizardman lunged. Eli moved swiftly, as if she'd been waiting, matching the Lizardman's steps. That speed was impossible for Stella's eyes to follow; she could only hear the sound.
And so, the moment the small body sliced through the air.
"Three."
Crunch— her fist slammed into the Lizardman's maw.
And Stella's magic unfolded.
Pure white light flared. In an instant, the light transformed into a bow, and an arrow was nocked. A bursting sound as if even the surrounding air was being torn apart by lightning. A flash growing ever more intense.
That flash—Stella drew the bowstring back, creaking—. The Labyrinth walls trembled, and the Lizardmen's gazes locked onto Stella's magic.
Pushing her fear aside, Stella activated the spell formula she had prepared in her head. She calculated it, deduced the answer, and drew the final stroke.
And then, the moment she released the fully drawn bowstring.
She opened her eyes wide and shouted the spell's name.
"Arco de Relampago!"
And then—oh no! she thought.
She'd decided to say it quietly...!
But it was already spilled milk.
Arco de Relampago.
The cringey-named magic swept away the darkness of the underground waterway.
In the middle of that light.
Eli secretly marveled, without Stella knowing.
"That spell name is cool as hell..."
Eli was someone who, since her Past Life, dropped dead for a cool name.
*****
The battle was easy.
Part of it was that I'm strong, but Stella's magic helped more than I expected too.
Didn't she say she was 4th Circle?
Looking at the power alone, it could almost rival 6th Circle magic.
And before we started, she was making all kinds of fuss, but once it actually began, she did pretty well.
She'd be great if she'd just shut her mouth.
Still, a genius is a genius.
I think bringing her along was the right call.
After going through life-and-death situations together and getting out of this filthy Labyrinth, wouldn't we get closer than before?
Before coming here, Stella had also shown signs of wanting to tell me a secret.
So... if this whole thing goes well, it'll be a pretty good experience for both of us.
With those thoughts, I stepped forward to deal with the last one.
The remaining one had already lost its will to fight.
That was both the strength and weakness of elites. Elites, possessing clearer intelligence than ordinary Monsters, thought and felt emotions. Therefore, they felt fear.
Like then—if you thoroughly smashed and tore their comrades apart, the one left alone would simply collapse on the spot and sob.
That was why I hated elites.
When I saw them risking their lives to protect their comrades unconditionally, when I saw them genuinely grieving their comrades’ deaths.
Because it made me think they were better than some shitty humans.
I absolutely loathed them.
"If you're a Monster, act like a Monster."
There was no need to use a butcher's cleaver to kill a chicken.
I released the Aura wrapped around my whole body and roughly clenched a fist wrapped only in Mana. Then, boom—! I stomped hard and drove my fist forward.
With a squelch, viscous brain matter splattered against the waterway wall.
The Lizardman that collapsed to the floor had its eyes closed. It had closed its eyes right before death.
As if accepting death.
"Tch."
Clicking my tongue, I wiped the blood off my face and turned away.
I feel like shit.
I should mess with Stella.
"Pissed yourself?"
"...Wha, what?! No? I didn't piss myself?"
I'd tossed it out lightly, meaning to swagger like usual, but Stella's reaction was strange.
Her face went bright red—no, pale—and she shook her head violently, inching backward.
"Why are you running? Afraid you'll smell?"
"I, I-I-I-I... smell?! I don't smell! Cl, cl... I blew it all away with Cleanse!"
"Then why are you running. Come here."
"...No. Why should I listen to you?"
Oh-ho?
I unwrapped the bandages on my hand as I approached Stella.
While doing so, I glanced at my white fist.
There were... no wounds on my hand. Normally, the skin would've been scraped raw, but this time, though it wasn't smooth, it hadn't been torn.
The Lizardman blood on the bandages also seemed to be gradually fading, and the torn spots were repairing themselves bit by bit.
At a glance, it looked like magic... but.
Seeing Stella's eyes go wide, it definitely wasn't magic.
"Cool, right?"
"An Artifact...? No, it's not an Artifact... and what's on it isn't magic in the first place. What in the world is that...?"
Stella's eyes began to sparkle.
Color returned to her pale face, and she crept closer by the same distance she'd backed away.
"Don't tell me... you brought that out of the treasury?"
"Yeah. Curious? Wanna touch it?"
I held the bandages out to Stella.
"...C, can I?"
"Ah, hold on."
And then I snatched it back toward myself.
"What the heck. Why are you taking it back?"
"I feel like the bandages might pick up a smell, so."
"Wh, wh... what... what smell!! Aaaaaaah!! I said I don't smell!! Stop, stop making fun of me like that! I don't smell and I never pissed myself!!"
"...What? Piss?"
I tilted my head and looked at Stella.
Why piss all of a sudden? What's she talking about?
The moment I thought that, the things Stella had said earlier came back to me.
...No way.
Nah, no way.
Did she really...?
At seventeen fucking years old...?
Just because she was scared of a Lizardman?
"Hey. You, don't tell me you pissed yourself?"
Stella didn't answer.
But tears welled up in her wide-open eyes.
"Ah... uh..."
"Good lord."
Up until now, it had just been a joke.
Even if Stella hadn't bathed, far from stinking, she'd actually given off a soft, cozy scent.
But... this was a bit.
A bit... a lot much.
"...That can happen. I mean, you know, women, compared to men, um... because of their body structure, it's harder to hold it in. So, uh... it's okay."
Stella stared at me without a word.
Only her words were absent. Her eyes darted about busily, her face was burning bright red, and tears streamed down as if she could no longer hold them back.
"...Just make fun of me."
"How am I supposed to make fun of someone who actually pissed herself? I'm not that much of a bastard."
"Hic... h-hic... h-hic... bastard..."
I... wrapped the bandages I'd been about to hand Stella back around my hand. And put a little distance between us.
Until we got out of the Labyrinth... it seemed best not to touch.
And so, while Stella's crying subsided, I too... finished various maintenance and started walking again.
Three hours later.
"So... that thing you asked me to tell you earlier, I'll tell you."
Just as Stella, having finally composed herself, opened her mouth to tell me about the past.
"...Hold on."
"Why again! Earlier you kept asking me to tell— huh? Huhhh???"
We ran into an unexpected figure.