Chapter 12
Chapter 12
Chapter 12 Strongest Sage, Hit Upon a Good Idea
Biffgel who's forced the poor populace to accompany him triumphantly walks toward the forest behind a villager with the best physique while the other villagers are surrounding him .
My brother Reich is on the farthest back .
I wonder if he's an insurance for Biffgel to push the responsibility on when it looks like he can't accomplish the feat .
I follow behind them from about 20 meter away .
It's quite close for tailing incognito, but I've got plenty of magic on my sleeves for this, as long as the other party doesn't use a counter magic .
My aim is of course, assassinating Biffgel--I mean, protecting the participants besides Biffgel .
If as a result, the unfortunate Biffgel dies by coincidence, that is of no concern to me . You reap what you sow .
"And, where's this monster again?"
Biffgel asked one of the people .
"It's in the forest depth . "
"Depth, that means . . . . Where?"
You went on an expedition without knowing that huh . . . .
"We have no idea where it is right now . The monster was sighted quite a while ago, so it might have moved somewhere . . . . "
"Tch, you're useless . --Well fine . We should find it if we just walk around . Let's go guys!"
What a sloppy plan!
Just how vast does Biffgel think this forest is .
If they're just walking around randomly, they might even spend a week without meeting the monster if they're unlucky .
How long will I have to continue to tag along . . . . was what I thought while following them .
--Two hours later .
"Biffgel-sama . How about we split into groups . "
One of the people suggested that, probably because they couldn't find any trace of the monster .
Good job populace!
. . . . However .
"Are you stupid! There's no way we'd do that!"
Biffgel objected .
"What would you do if anything happened to me!"
If anything happened to Biffgel . . . . er, celebrate?
With that reply, the people can't possibly oppose him, thus the plan comes to a standstill .
"No need for that, my instinct will find it! We're going there next! Move it!"
In the end, it's instinct huh .
It's bad since that instinct is actually right on the money .
I don't know if it's some kind of coincidence, but the place Biffgel and the others are heading to is the same place the monster is also heading to .
Since we've gotten closer, I've grasped the type of the monster a bit .
It's probably a bear or a tiger, a quadrupedal animal that has turned into a monster .
It has a small body for a monster, but that doesn't mean that this monster is weak .
Rather, it's the opposite . If the mana reaction of a monster is big, the smaller their body, the higher their mana density is, and the stronger they are in battle .
Judging from the scale of this mana reaction, we have the worst case scenario here . I'm not sure if even our father Castor could beat it in a one-on-one fight .
After dozens of minute, the subjugation corps arrive before the monster .
They'd enter the monster's field of vision in 10 seconds .
I took some distance away from the subjugation corps when I saw them getting closer to the monster and put myself beside the bear .
The problem is from here .
Since Biffgel gathered the people, the will inevitably fight the monsters first .
I could prevent victims from appearing if I help and defeat the monster myself, but then Biffgel would remain conceited, I could see him saying things like, "He snatched a game that even I could beat . " Dealing with things afterward would be more troublesome than defeating the monster itself .
However, I also can't let unrelated people falling victims just because of it .
What should I do, while I was taking the wait and see approach, the situation changed .
Toward one that is most convenient for me .
"That's my game! You guys don't get in my way!"
When Biffgel saw the monster, he stepped forward while ignoring his escort . What's even the point of gathering people then .
Of course the monster has noticed Biffgel after all the clamor .
The bear monster which was showing its back turned around and started to run toward Biffgel .
Facing the monster, Biffgel thrusts his sword forward and begins to shout out some incomprehensible line .
"Fire mana that dwells in my body, become a straight arrow and pierce my enemy!"
Biffgel's mana reacted along with the recited line, and then 'pohyu', with that small sound, a fire arrow flew toward the bear .
The bear runs straight to Biffgel, not even trying to evade the fire arrow .
And then the fire arrow made a direct hit on the bear's eye . . . . and vanished .
The bear is absolutely flawless, no damage .
Was that . . . . magic? But it was extremely crude, or rather, poor . No matter how resistant a monster to magic is, there is no way a proper magic that hit one of their weak points, the eye, would leave it undamaged .
The power is bad and all, the conversion efficiency is also weird . The mana that was collected on his hand was diminutive, but nevertheless, it should have been capable of demonstrating power several times higher than that .
To begin with, what was the weird line he recited at the start for?
"Wha . . . . "
"Biffgel-sama's . . . . Glory Crest magic doesn't work!?"
"That thing isn't a normal monster! It's a Zenith Monster!"
The subjugation corps were astonished to see what had happened .
Apparently, from their perspective, the fact that Biffgel's magic (?) didn't work was devastating . There were even some who fell into panic and ran toward meaningless directions .
Biffgel was seemingly the one surprised the most, he was hit by the bear's claw when he couldn't move, getting blown away several meter away .
Among the people who froze over, the only one who had a semblance of proper judgment, my brother Reich blocked the claw with his sword .
"We're withdrawing! I'll hold it off here! Everyone quickly escape!"
However, their strengths are too far apart .
Reich's sword got pushed back in a blink of an eye . He wouldn't last three seconds at this rate .
. . . . Well three seconds are quite enough though .
I activated one of provocation magic, 【Enforced Detection】 before Reich's sword got pushed away .
Although it may differs by individuals, most monsters use 【Passive Detection】 unconsciously .
【Enforced Detection】 is a magic that pour mana on those monsters to make your mana reaction look big to them .
If it's too weak, they'd ignore it, if it's too big, they'd run away, it's difficult to adjust this magic in a way--but it seems to be a success .
Right after I activated 【Enforced Detection】, the bear monster separated its hand from Reich and ran at full speed toward me .
"Mathi, why are you here! Run away quick!"
Ignoring the shouting Reich, I knead my mana .
Approximately four seconds before the monster arrives . Way more than enough time .
I put both my hands before my chest and concentrate the mana in my body .
I grant directionality to the collected mana while also changing its pressure .
And then I ward off the monster's arm with martial art and hit its heart as we pass each other .
As one would expect, it wasn't enough to defeat the monster, but--its movement dulled, which was enough .
I drew the sword I brought from home and cut its neck with a single stroke under Physical Reinforcement and 【Mana Strike】 .
"Mathi! Leave this to me . . . . Huh?"
Reich who chased the monster showed a dumbfounded expression on his face when he saw its fallen body .
Right at that time, I noticed the current situation .
Blocked by the vegetations, the other people in the subjugation corps can't see anything but Reich, they haven't noticed that the monster has been killed . Looking at their panicked state, there's probably no one who would notice a slightly awkward act here .
Perhaps this is . . . . a chance isn't it .
I'll push the feat on him!