[Adventurer, Anastasia - 04]
[Adventurer, Anastasia - 04]
"It would be nice if we could at least find a dungeon."
"The Echo Forest is basically a training ground for people who have just become adventurers. There won't be anything there that Saintess-nim is expecting."
"Then what's the strongest thing in the Echo Forest?"
"The Black Wolf, I suppose?"
"The Black Wolf, I suppose."
"Black Wolf?"
Well, I hadn't taught her much about monsters, after all.
It was information she didn't really need to know, and it would have been troublesome if I'd taught her, only for her to get interested in monsters and leave.
But since she had become an adventurer and was now in a situation where she had to interact with monsters whether she liked it or not, it was better to teach her everything step by step.
"The Black Wolf is a monster that looks like a black wolf. It's commonly called a 'beginner hunter' because it's fast and has decent power. So, if beginners encounter one, they can die right on the spot. Above all, if you try to defend against it head-on without knowing any better, it's usually hard to block."
It was a common sight to see someone whose skills and body were still incomplete become a victim of those claws along with their weapon when trying to block such an attack head-on.
"In the first place, it's not easy to touch Saintess-nim right now."
I didn't know how she had created such magic, but she had created magic powerful enough that one would have no choice but to be unilaterally pushed back.
I'm not joking; it felt like she could now destroy a nation all by herself and walk away laughing, la-di-da.
The magic Saintess-nim developed, that ability which honed the Castless Light Magic to its limit, could be called broken if anything was.
Most people wouldn't even be able to touch her, and even if they did, it wouldn't mean much to the Saintess-nim inside.
"......."
Whoosh, my shadow moved quickly and deflected an arrow flying toward Saintess-nim's head.
"What, you don't have to protect me."
"It was instinctive. For now, I have to protect Saintess-nim."
"Hmm, Ed doesn't have an obligation to protect me, but... still, that's not a bad feeling, so I'll let it slide."
"It's a goblin."
Eris said, drawing her spear.
"Six of them, huh... Eris."
"Yes."
Eris's eyes sharpened.
She quickly corrected her stance, then leaped in, stabbing and slashing through the goblins.
It happened in an instant, feeling almost like a gust of wind had passed by, and as Eris lightly shook off the blood, blood gushed like a fountain from the goblins' bodies as they collapsed.
Her movements, which were becoming increasingly devoid of any excess, were nothing short of excellent.
"Well done."
"It's easy work."
"I was hoping a Black Wolf would appear, if possible."
"They only appear very occasionally, so you can't meet them easily. Besides, it's better not to meet them at all."
"But if there's such a dangerous monster, why do beginner adventurers come to a place like this?"
"Because it's the safest place available. Being an adventurer itself means you're willing to risk your life to work. No matter where you go, you'll suffer, and your life will be at risk. This place is safe, relatively speaking."
"Because aside from the Black Wolf, there are only monsters that beginners can handle somehow."
"It's a medicinal herb."
"It's too easy, so it's not fun."
It would be good if she got bored eventually, but someone who does what they say they'll do is the type who can become a true S-rank adventurer.
Above all, while it might have been dangerous before she developed her magic, I don't think anyone could do anything against Saintess-nim now that she has developed her own magic.
If I used to think, "It might be dangerous if she lets her guard down," now, even if someone were to come at a speed truly impossible to perceive and launch a surprise attack, Saintess-nim's magic would activate automatically.
This is the scariest part.
The magic activates even without her perceiving it.
It's hard to grasp just how amazing it is that her magic only activates in cases where harm is being inflicted upon her.
For example, even if I hadn't blocked the arrow the goblin shot earlier, Saintess-nim's magic would have blocked it on its own.
It was just that I had blocked it instinctively without realizing it, and it didn't feel right to just leave an attack flying toward someone I had to protect.
"Hey, Ed. How are dungeons created?"
"When mana gathers, it creates a space. It's a kind of natural disaster. Generally, it's impossible to prevent them entirely, so when one appears, we usually eliminate it immediately. Even so, it's impossible to stop every single one."
Pinpointing the location is difficult, and even if you do pinpoint it, no one knows what's inside that dungeon.
In some cases, dungeons were so large that you had to spend days inside them.
The most troublesome thing during a war is when monsters are coming at you right in front of your eyes, and a dungeon appears nearby; that's when your head feels like it's going to explode.
If you leave a dungeon alone, powerful monsters are created inside, and eventually, the monsters within it come out.
That would cause pandemonium, which was troublesome.
If it was a low-difficulty dungeon, it could be cleared quickly in a day trip, and it didn't require that much manpower, but if it was a dungeon with some difficulty, the time and manpower required to clear it would make you feel like you were going crazy.
"Hmm?"
"Grrr......."
"Saintess-nim, your wish has come true."
"What, it really came?"
It was a Black Wolf.
"Saintess-nim, let me handle this......."
As Eris tried to step forward, Saintess-nim raised her hand and stopped her.
"Honestly, I've only used it on Ed and Eris, so I wanted to test the power of my magic."
"That's cheating."
"Master is right, that magic is cheating. How on earth did you create something like that? Master's Shadow Magic also has quite high versatility, but Saintess-nim, yours is beyond Shadow Magic when it comes to combat."
The only thing I had that was better than Saintess-nim's magic was convenience.
Due to the nature of shadows, it could change into various forms, could be made sticky, and could be attached to opponents for tracking, so I couldn't say it was inferior to Saintess-nim's magic in terms of convenience.
"Haha."
Saintess-nim walked forward, laughing as if it were amusing.
The magic Saintess-nim created.
Magic she developed herself and modified to suit herself.
It was composed solely of light magic, and it was a technique that honed the 'permeation' property, the greatest characteristic of light magic, to the limit.
"Kerrrrk!!"
The Black Wolf leaped straight at Saintess-nim, but she stood still.
Reaching right in front of Saintess-nim, the Black Wolf swung its claws at her.
Normally, if it had reached that distance, it wouldn't be strange for anyone, even someone who wasn't a beginner, to be hit if they weren't skilled in close-quarters combat.
However.
"Kruk!?"
The Black Wolf passed through Saintess-nim and came out on the other side, its eyes widening.
"I see, it really works. I thought Ed and Eris were just going easy on me."
"We wouldn't do anything that dangerous. I don't want to see Saintess-nim die in a real battle because she believed it was possible."
"Me neither."
"Right?"
Saintess-nim's magic.
Path of Light.
Honestly, it was magic that made me think, "Is this magic, or is it divine power?" so I listened to Saintess-nim's explanation of the magic with my mouth agape.
Usually, when you hear such an explanation, you think about how to counter it, but the method to counter Saintess-nim's magic was truly difficult.
The pinnacle of light, having honed the property of permeation to the limit.
Everything that approaches Saintess-nim passes through due to her Path of Light.
To be precise, it's not passing through Saintess-nim, but being forcibly passed through due to the light mana surrounding her body.
Since she could catch the opponent while they were passing through, that said it all.
"Kerrrrk!!"
The Black Wolf quickly lunged at Saintess-nim again, trying to bite her head off.
At the moment it bit Saintess-nim's head, its teeth appeared in the air in different directions.
It wasn't exactly cut off; it had just been passed through the path Saintess-nim designated.
Because they flew off to other places, not a single one of the Black Wolf's teeth could touch Saintess-nim.
Slowly, Saintess-nim raised her hand and placed it on the Black Wolf.
The Black Wolf kept shaking its head while biting, trying to do something, and with its claws, it seemed ready to grab her shoulder and tear it apart.
But that was just roughly in that position; everything was passed through and ended up elsewhere.
The claws and nails visible sporadically in the air were almost pathetic.
To someone who didn't know anything, it looked like the Black Wolf was biting off Saintess-nim's head, so it was quite horrific.
"It still needs a little adjustment, but this should be enough."
"Master."
"Yes?"
"How are we supposed to counter that?"
"Since it's done with light mana, earth mana might be able to resist it to some extent, but the problem is that even if it's earth magic, it only blocks the permeation performance to some degree; it doesn't nullify it."
Above all, the resistance to permeation that earth magic possesses is often only for 'defensive purposes'.
In other words, it's really rare for someone to use magic that draws out the characteristics of earth to the maximum for offensive purposes, and even if they did, it wouldn't be impossible for Saintess-nim to just let it pass through if she put in more mana.
"Or, among the weapons called legendary-grade, there are sometimes weapons that have the power to ignore the characteristics of mana, so if you use something like that, you might be able to do something."
The Seven-Colored Sword is especially famous.
It possesses the ability to ignore the characteristics of mana entirely, so it ignores the permeation performance of light.
With this, you could somehow deal with Saintess-nim's magic, but the problem was that there were very few people who possessed such weapons.
Thwang!!
Saintess-nim smiled as she sliced the Black Wolf's body in half as if it were nothing.
"Ed, what should I use for attack magic?"
"What are you going to create now?"
"Because I made the Path of Light to use for defense or other things."
Usually, you could make a living for the rest of your life with just that one thing.
Being able to pass through not just weapons or magic, but also physical bodies, meant she could change people's positions at will, which makes it very convenient for protecting people.
If she set her mind to it, it wouldn't be impossible to forcibly move a hostage.
It would require incredibly delicate control, though.
For some reason, it felt like Saintess-nim could do it.
"Your attack power is sufficient."
"I want my own magic. My own magic that no one can copy. That's also the reason why I made the Path of Light intentionally complex. So that they wouldn't dare to copy my magic."
Who would copy it?
Who could possibly pull off such insane magic that requires calculating mana one by one to let things pass through, while making it automatic?
Even if most people somehow succeeded, they would collapse from mana exhaustion within a few seconds. I probably wouldn't be able to maintain it for even 10 seconds.
Usually, mana is something you grow through battle or training, so it was a mystery why her mana capacity increased just by breathing.
It was no exaggeration to say she was truly the reincarnation of a Goddess.
"Let's head back for now."
"Eris, take the Black Wolf's head."
"You only need to take the ears."
"That's right, just take the ears."
"Yes."
Saintess-nim smiled.
"I want to try developing various other types of magic. Ed, do you have any creative ideas? The more impossible it seems, the better; the more so, the more real the pleasure will be when I create it."
I didn't have anything that came to mind right away, but even if I did, I wouldn't want to tell her.
Because I was a bit scared that no matter what I said, she would actually develop it and succeed.