CH173: [Side Zion] Outside the Art of Jutsu
“Ggh…!”
My left shoulder is burning.
I managed to avoid the sharp spot, but the thorn of the Demon Water had pierced through my shoulder.
The magic will be gone from around me.
I want to scream and cry right now, but my vision is gradually blurred with tears.
But in exchange for the pain, I got the last piece of information I needed.
After all, her [magic-eating] is incomplete.
“Gotcha!”
I can hear Dewey’s bouncy voice behind me.
Turning around with only my head to bring Dewe into view, I saw several cracks in the ground where she stood.
He must have poured water from there and moved it to the wall and changed it into the shape of a thorn.
So you weren’t just expressing your frustration when you were getting in your clogs earlier.
[Titania wouldn’t have missed it if I hadn’t.
It’s a real pain in the ass.
Just like the first time I was caught Titania shot a blade of wind through me towards the ceiling but the highly viscous magical water stuck to the ceiling and the blade of wind was neutralized.
“Ahaha! You can’t play the same move! Then die! Gimp!
Dewe closes the distance with a mighty swing, turning his left arm into a sharp blade again.
“I’m not gonna die here… I’m not gonna die here!
The thorns penetrated me and then stood still, so I moved back and forced the thorns out.
The pain in his left shoulder is more intense than ever, but he ignores it and tries to swing the cane he is holding with his right hand.
But Dewe had already moved inward from the cane’s pause, and the edge of the blade of his left arm was closing in on him.
She had a look of triumph on her face.
You let your guard down. You’re not ready!”
I deflect the blade before it reaches me by striking the side of it with the dagger I’ve replaced with my staff.
“… Eh?”
The dagger blade runs from Dewey’s abdomen to his right shoulder in a flowing motion as they pass each other.
The art of the shortsword is the most advanced of Tershe’s specialties.
I can do this too, though not as well as those who specialize in melee combat.
The first thing you need to do is to make sure that you have the right tools to do the job.
Although the fact that my left shoulder was pierced through my body has disappeared, I still remember the sensation of pain.
I still feel pain in the form of phantom pain, but I can’t help it.
It’s much more bearable than it was a moment ago.
“Why are you… Why did you…? You were holding a staff just now! What’s with the dagger?
Dewe doesn’t even show any sign of pain when she’s hit by an attack that would have been fatal to a human, but she screams hysterically, as if she can’t believe that I’ve struck back.
Well, why is that?
I’m not gonna answer that.
But there’s no trick to it.
My storage locker was specially made by the wizard who made it.
It is made ・・・・・・・・ to be used in the boss areas of the hundred layers of the Great Labyrinth of the North and South.
So it’s simply a wand that retracts to reveal a dagger.
Don’t be stupid!
“No kidding… We have all the information we need. From here on out, it’s not about killing each other. It’s one-sided annihilation.
“Damn it! Don’t get carried away just because you happened to get through!”
As Dewe raged, her hair began to shimmer and a large amount of her hair bunched up turned into magical water and attacked her.
Titania, I need you to do something for me.
I switch from dagger to staff again and speak to Titania, formulating a formula in my brain.
“… If there’s anything we can do, we’ll help.”
“Thanks. Well then, I want you to gather as much ・・・・・・・・ magic as you can from the ice spirits outside of here that might lead to it.”
I’d ask you what you’re doing, but we don’t have time. Where do I find them?
“To the surface, just above this place. And be ready to transfer to the second level and the surface at any time.”
By the time I’d finished talking to Titania… the Devil’s Water was getting pretty close.
[casts a spell before you come under the influence of the power eater.
“[space leap space leap]”.
I’ve shifted again and am back behind Dewey, near the entrance to the third level.
The area where I was just before is covered in demon water.
(If it’s this spread out, I wonder if they’ll be able to eat it efficiently.)
“You’re still running away from me! How can you say you’re going to kill me with that!”
The next time Dewey moved his gaze to my transfer point, the fingertips of his hands transformed into magical water and extended towards me.
It’s more like a convenience.
I manipulate the ice spirits that exist around me to activate the magic.
“Spirit magic… [Froststorm Boreas]!”
In an instant, the ground inside the dome is covered in frost, and a silvery white storm blows from the magic circle that has appeared before my eyes.
[frost storm boreas].
A wide-area annihilation spell completely freezes the surface of anything exposed to a silvery storm, even its interior.
There are some limitations, such as the fact that it can only be activated by pouring ice spirit into it, but its annihilation power is incomparable to the existing magic.
“Ahaha! That’s why it’s useless!”
However, of course, it doesn’t work for DUES that reflect [Magic Eater].
The silvery storm is fading into the void.
But it’s better this way.
The magic that Dewey’s [Energy Eater] has caused to disappear isn’t completely gone.
Then where did they go?
It’s in the magic stone that would be embedded in her body.
And there’s an upper limit to the amount of magic in a magic stone.
It makes sense to think that the tremendously powerful Breath just now is the result of the release of the magic power inside the magic stone that’s about to exceed the upper limit.
Then we can’t remove any more magic from the stone by saturating it with magic.
And magic will become commonplace.
“… Ugh… Uh… What? Already…?”
After you continue to activate [Boreas the Frost Storm] for a while, Dewey begins to suffer while holding his chest area as before.
I can feel my head getting heavier and heavier.
It’s a precursor to the headaches that come with too much witchcraft.
I haven’t had any of these headaches lately, but I guess that’s to be expected when you keep them up for this long.
“… I’m sorry. I wish I could have killed you without making you suffer, but I guess I can’t.
I construct a new formula in my brain while apologizing to the suffering Dewey.
“No way, he’s trying to…! I’m not gonna be able to get it out… Shit!”
Even if you exhale the magic contained in the Breath, it will only drift around in the dome and will not disappear.
The total amount of magic inside this dome is more than the [Magic Eater] can handle.
You were right to destroy the dungeon core.
I’m sure Dewey knows that.
We’re struggling to find a way out of this.
“I’m going to disappoint you, Dad. I’ve been given this opportunity to be useful. No… No! I can’t be treated like an incompetent ・・・・! What am I gonna do…?
Dewe…half-crazy while exposed to the white silver storm.
I have some sympathy for them, but I cannot turn my back on those who would do harm to the Principality.
“A magic stone… If only I had a Demon Stone…!
Finding some kind of breakthrough, Dewey smiles wryly.
“If you don’t have enough, just make more!”
Dewe’s body swelled up at the end of those words.
It’s like a balloon that finally bursts and the water rushes in all directions starting from the spot where she was.
Titania, go to the second level directly above you!
He sees this and immediately calls out to Titania.
Immediately the scenery changes before your eyes, and you realize that you have moved to the second level.
Theon, why did you move? We can provide the magic. Even if its capacity’s increased… it can be killed easily if we gather enough magic to saturate it. Let’s kill it now!
“Well, yes, but since I’ll never get such a great opportunity again, I hope you’ll let me continue to use it as a place for me to grow ・・・・.”
What are you up to?
I’m here to touch something outside of the realm of reason.
“… Are you serious?”
“I’m not joking about this. I told you before, didn’t I? I’m going to catch up with Orn. Orn’s just down the road, so I should probably get going.
“We and the incomplete [magic eater] are in the same place at the same time, so it’s the perfect opportunity.”
“Good answer.”
“… If you say you’ll do it, I won’t stop you. But if you fail, I will take your life. Is that clear?”
That’s good. I’ve eliminated every possible reason for failure.
Then do it. We’ll help you in any way we can.”
After the conversation with Titania was over, the ground began to shake and cracks appeared in the ground as if they had timed it perfectly.
I think Dewey’s down there trying to force his way through the ground.
Titania, are you sure it’s lava up there?
“Yeah. Losing the dungeon core, the first level is hell itself.”
“Then let’s put the finishing touches on this… [Super-explosive chain-explosive chain!
He shouts in a loud voice and then uses his unusual powers to set off a chain of explosions on the ceiling.
By destroying that place which is both the ceiling and the ground of the first level, the lava from the first level and the dying monsters that were swallowed by the lava are falling down according to gravity.
Titania, come to earth!
Just before I was transferred, the ground of the second level was completely destroyed, and it became a sort of atrium from the first level to the third level.
The actuality is that the lava and monsters will be avalanching into the mass of water.
I couldn’t see beyond that.
It’s normal for magic water to evaporate when it comes in contact with super hot lava that’s not magic.
It’s a relief to be back on the ground.
This time the labyrinth was a particularly bizarre space that they called a farm farm, so the feeling was even greater.
“I guess the air is better outside.
Stretching out, I mutter what I feel.
“You’ve got a lot of time on your hands.”
“Well, we’ve come this far, we’re gonna have to make do… So let’s get started.”
You give Titania one last flirtatious nod, then close your eyes and concentrate.
Closing my eyes makes me feel closer to the ice spirits Titania has gathered around me.
There’s some non-spirit magic mixed in there too.
Perhaps these magical powers are the ones that could lead to the ice spirit.
My ability to go back in time allows me to rewind time.
To break it down a bit more, we can say that it is possible to overwrite the object from the “present” state to the “past” state.
Xenomorphism is a much more flexible force than we thought.
The same mutation can become something else depending on the interpretation.
So, if I interpret “going back in time” as “the ability to move through time,” then wouldn’t it be possible to go from the present to the future? From the “present” state to the “future” state. I thought so.
Because there’s also abilities that interfere with the future, like future vision.
However, as it turned out, this interpretation was half wrong and half right.
My abilities only allowed me to travel back in time to objects.
whereas magic could transform them into the future.
In other words, the magical power that has a high chance of reaching the Ice Spirit at this time can be sublimed into an Ice Spirit with my different abilities.
The reason why only magic power is beyond the boundaries of [time travel] is still unknown.
But that’s not why it matters now.
The fact that you can sublimate magic into a spirit is important.
The eyelids are slowly lifted and then the magic power is all sublimated into a spirit of ice by using the different powers.
With it, the temperature around me begins to drop even lower, and frost forms on the ground and on the vegetation.
The magic power around you becomes the color of the ice spirit, you can control the ice spirits through the spirit’s eyes and make them converge in a single place.
The ice spirit, which becomes denser as it converges, gradually changes from colorless and transparent to my color, silvery-white, and I am able to visualize it without having to go through the spirit’s eyes.
The silvery-white ice spirit converges further.
I started having pain behind my right eye.
Further convergence.
The ice spirits begin to distort the space around you.
Further convergence.
The right edge of my vision began to slowly erode into red.
Further convergence.
“… Ggh… Ggh!”
Ignore all the pain that’s coming to you and converge further.
A Hole in the World. ・・・・・・・.
And the ice spirit made contact with the outside.
“…”
I stop thinking as if a huge amount of information that I can’t possibly comprehend has been pounded into my head all at once.
“Stay sharp. You’re gonna get swallowed up.”
“… What? Watch out, watch out, watch out…”
I was jolted out of my blank mind by the sound of Titania’s voice.
Immediately the ice spirit’s convergence is released, and the spatial distortion gradually disappears.
The ice spirits have also returned to their invisible, colorless state, and are drifting around me, just as they were when they first appeared on the ground.
However, this was a departure from what we had seen earlier.
The amount of information contained in the “outside” has become much larger than it was before.
“This is the magic that is out of bounds ・・・・・・・・・…”
As usual, I can’t decipher that information.
But I instinctively knew that it was capable of doing what I intended.
“Well, that’s a success for the time being. Just so you know… it will slowly return to its original form. But until then it has the potential to destroy this world. Handle it with care.”
“Yeah, I know… Well, let’s see.
I’m going to be able to get a good look at the newest version of the newest version of the newest version of the newest version of the newest version of the old one.
Immediately after I switched my thoughts, a large amount of magical water gushed out from the ground a short distance away, as if boiling water was spurting out from a geyser.
You leap backwards with the spirits around you to escape the range of the [Magic Eaters].
A monster douche of over 5 meters in size emerges from a large hole in the ground.
The mass of Chimera-like Demon Water which is a combination of various kinds of Demon Beasts can only be described as a deformed monster and there was no trace of the cute little girl from a few minutes ago.
They probably swallowed a lot of demonic beasts from the first level to take in the magic stone.
“Koros. Koros. Koros!
Her ego’s already gone, and the only thing keeping her going is that man’s orders.
The jaws of several monsters opened up and the dense magic power gathered in them and came at me as countless bracelets.
(So this is a magic ward. Now I can proudly say that I’ve reached the peak of magic manipulation. I still feel like I’m cheating because I’m using spirits.)
Breaths that touch the wards explode with a roar, instantly erasing all but the area covered by the wards and transforming it into a giant crater.
Immediately afterwards, the crater rewinds in time and returns to the state it was in before Breath exploded.
“… I’m sorry. I can’t let you die, no matter how much you want me to.
You can find a lot of different types of ice spears and ice spears.
As before, the ice spear vanished into the void before it could reach the monster.
“The effective range itself hasn’t changed, thank goodness.”
So what are you going to do now? [The energy eater eats magic too. Of course, warding is useless if he touches you directly.
“Don’t worry. My magic shouldn’t be affected by the [Magic Eater]!”
The monster was about to swing its long-necked arm off of me.
I don’t take evasive action, but I interfere with time with my powers of alienation, manipulating “off-the-beaten path magic”.
“… [凍獄之箱庭フィンブルヴェトル].”
In this world, magic is just there, and magic by itself has no meaning.
The magic power causes the phenomenon of witchcraft only when it is mediated by a formula.
However, the magic that touches the outside is temporarily out of the world’s art.
Therefore, “it” causes phenomena in accordance with the laws of magic, not with the world’s principles.
I’m going to give that phenomenon a collective name… Magic.
The spell I cast froze time for the world.
“This is… You interfered with this entire world to avoid causing a contradiction!”
“… This is tough… If I’m not careful, I could fall in an instant.”
I magically reduced time in the world to near zero.
A full stop is impossible even for me now, but I’m the only one who can move freely through this.
I may not be able to stop it, but there will be no one who can stand against me under the circumstances.
And yet Titania still exists as before in a world where time has stopped.
I knew it. ・・・・ fairies… No, I don’t have time to think about anything else right now.
I look up again, and the arm that was swinging down at me seems to have stopped, but is only slightly closer to me.
We can’t keep this up for much longer, so let’s just get it over with.
When I raise my right arm, numerous ice cubes, each about a centimeter in diameter and looking a little like a large hailstone, appear in the air around me.
You swing your right arm down, aiming your wand at the monster and casting a spell.
“… [incessant prolonged continuation strafe].”
Jade pellets appear in the air and are shot out in unison at subsonic speeds towards the monster.
Not only the initially existing graupel in the air, but also the next generated graupel are shot out one after another, and the attack is not slowed down.
However, it seems that the [magic power eater] is still alive and well even with the slow pace of time, and it swallows up the hail one after another.
Still, I know there’s a limit to how far we can go.
A battle we could’ve won without magic.
I’m completely out of the element of defeat.
Through the spirit’s eyes, I was able to locate all of the large amount of magic stones inside the monster’s body and shot all of them.
Make sure the monster’s stone is gone… and then release the time disruption.
Gradually, the time of the world begins to return to its original state.
“… Huh… Huh… Huh… ,… I won…!”
I held my heart beating faster than ever before with my hands to calm it down, and as I watched the monster’s body lose its shape as it melted into mush, I knew that I had won this battle.
You’re being reckless. You didn’t have to be so reckless to win this fight.
“Ha-ha-ha… I don’t know what to say. But… But… it was a productive battle, so that’s a plus in my book… If we get through this without incident.”
What do you mean?
“I mean it just the way it is. I’ve been reckless. I can’t do this anymore…”
“… I see. If you die like this, you can rest assured we’ll be laughing all the way to the bank.
That’s, uh…
“If you don’t like it, don’t ever die. We’ll take care of the rest.”
Okay, okay…
With these words, my consciousness faded into the darkness.
***
Theon collapses in front of you, and you catch him with your magic power and slowly lay him on the ground.
She’s only human, but she’s been exposed to the outside world.
It’s impossible, is my honest opinion.
The three people who have reached the outer reason are Orn Dura, Fuka Shinonome, and Beriah Sans.
I thought the only other people who had a chance were Oliver Cardiff and, much less likely, Philly Carpenter.
In my mind, Zion Nasturtium had a lot of potential, but it still had to be contained within the jutsu-rationale.
That’s the nature of the mutation.
But he risked death by assimilating the spirit’s eyes into his own, and obtained an ability akin to [spirit domination], forcing his way to the outer truth.
I’ve been reminded that humans are beings outside of our understanding.
Still, there is no doubt that Zion has been a reassuring presence.
“… But that doesn’t change how this ends ・・・・. Theon… you’re the key. So wake up. If you do not… Your beloved mortal will destroy the ・・・・・ world in her lamentations. ・・・・・・・”
