Chapter 216
Tactics
Translator : PolterGlast
Stepping one pace forward, Ginia slowly began to
imbue her magic power. Because she cannot handle magic, she is easily
misunderstood, but Ginia possesses a talent for magic power
manipulation. If her total magic power volume were larger, she would have
become a highly skilled mage, but there is no point in wishing for what one
doesn't have. While I was pondering such things and watching to see what Ginia
would do... she began to clad her body in the imbued magic power.
「【Magic Armament】」
Similar to Aoi's skill, this was a skill of Ginia's
that I hadn't seen in a while. Up until now, given the opponents we faced,
there had been no situations requiring her to use her skills, but against a
formidable enemy like the Kaonashi, she probably had no choice but to
use it. However, it was clearly a completely different thing from the 【Magic Armament】 I had seen previously. Just from this transformation alone,
I could easily tell that she had been raising the proficiency of her 【Magic Armament】 during her secret training sessions.
「Wow, so cooool! You can even create
armor now!」
Seeing Ginia's 【Magic Armament】, Aoi raised a loud voice. As was evident from her
statement just now, unlike before, she was creating full-body equipment using
the skill. Not only was the design cool, but its form was specialized for
combat, showing that it must have taken a considerable amount of time to be
able to create this equipment.
The Kaonashi didn't seem to pay any mind even to Ginia,
who was fully equipped with her 【Magic Armament】, and unleashed magic straight at her from the front. What
it used was an explosion-type magic of the fire attribute. Countless small
fireballs flew right in front of Ginia and began exploding one after
another. The power of each individual fireball was low, but because of their
sheer number, the overall power was elevated. Not only that, but because it also
served as a wide-area attack, it was a difficult magic to evade.
Because of the thick smoke, I couldn't see how Ginia
was doing, but if she was on the verge of death, I would have to step in and
help. However, partly because I had seen the full-body equipment of her 【Magic Armament】, I also had a feeling she would be fine. As I debated
whether or not I should move to help, the thick smoke began to clear.
What I saw beyond the smoke was—the figure of Ginia
overwhelming the Kaonashi. There were no signs of her having taken
damage from the explosion magic just now; she had completely blocked it all. It
seemed she had also successfully closed the distance all at once when the
visibility worsened, and she appeared to be fighting at a distance advantageous
to her.
As long as its magic was being blocked by the armor of the 【Magic Armament】, for the already heavily damaged Kaonashi to win, it
had no choice but to maneuver in a way that kept Ginia from getting
close. The odds were against the Kaonashi, which fought using magic, and
it was continuously being pressed by Ginia's assault.
The factor allowing Ginia to overwhelm it was not
just her 【Magic
Armament】, but also
her excellent eyesight. She launched attacks at the exact timing it tried to
chant magic, crushing the spells before it could even cast them.
The Kaonashi had been furious, but as it was
subjected to this continuous, one-sided assault, it gradually began to show
signs of panic, and from the midpoint onward, it even looked like it was trying
to plot an escape. However, Ginia did not even permit it to escape;
first, she crushed its legs, and next, she sliced off its arms. And
then—finally, she sent its head flying, completely and unilaterally subduing
the Kaonashi.
「Ginia, you're strong! That was a total victory!」
「I also thought it was unbeatable,
but that was quite a one-sided attack.」
「No, no, it wasn't a total victory at
all. It was truly a close call, and I only barely managed to win.」
Releasing her 【Magic Armament】, Ginia let out a massive sigh. Objectively, it
looked like an easy win, but looking at her expression, it was clear that it
really was a close call.
「Is that so? It didn't look like you
were struggling at all!」
「That is thanks to the heavy damage
you dealt to it, Aoi-chan. I was fully armed with my 【Magic Armament】, but I was going to run out of magic power in about one
more minute.」
「In that case, it really was a close
call, huh. Were you just pretending to be calm?」
「Yes. It was difficult maintaining a
composed attitude so the opponent wouldn't realize it.」
Hearing the story like this, it is easy to understand that
it was a narrow victory. The same went for Aoi; this was precisely the
result of fighting with everything they had right from the start.
「It's a victory you two grasped together.
I think your judgment to fire off that big attack right from your first move
was correct, Aoi.」
「Right? The moment I saw it, I knew I
had to go all out from the start! I'm completely battered because of it,
though!」
「Thank you very much, Aoi-chan!」
Ginia hugged Aoi,
whose legs were trembling, pouring her feelings of gratitude into the embrace.
Looking at the two of them, I felt a little like an outcast, while I headed
toward the Kaonashi that Ginia had defeated.
Normally, monsters in the dungeon immediately turn to ash,
but the corpse of the Kaonashi remained on the spot. Even from my
perspective, it was a strong monster, and there was no doubt that it was
definitely an irregular entity. I had considered the possibility that it might
turn into particles of light and revive outside the dungeon just like we would,
but that didn't seem to be the case, which was a relief.
The only thing left to wonder was what the Kaonashi
had been doing in this dungeon. It was certainly doing something, but we
didn't have the leeway to interrogate it. I searched the Kaonashi's
corpse to see if there were any clues, but it didn't possess anything in
particular.
「Graham-san, did you find anything?」
「No, nothing in particular. I thought
it might be carrying something, but the only things that look usable are its
wand and robe.」
「I see! Still, it's rare for a corpse
to remain!」
「It's just a guess, but I think the Kaonashi
is a monster that came from outside the dungeon. With its abilities, it
probably could have breached that strict security as well.」
「For now, let's leave the rest of the
investigation to Lynette-san. I'm out of magic power, and Aoi-chan
is at her physical limit and can't move, so I think it would be best if we
headed back early.」
「That's certainly true. I hear
there's a warp gate for returning every ten floors, so let's use that warp gate
to go back.」
And so, we decided to proceed to the nearest fortieth floor.
In complete contrast to up until now where I left everything to them, from here
on out, I subjugated all the monsters along the way. I
easily defeated the floor boss as well, and we were able to safely emerge above
ground.
I wanted to let the two of them rest immediately, but since we first had to report to Lynette, we headed straight to the Adventurer's Guild the moment we returned.
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