One Hundred-First Chapter: A Witch Among Witches
Shortly before the Jurai appeared, Miltria was on the left side of the field, muttering to herself.
“Heh heh heh, how many years has it been since I was in a Tenbram. This tension sure is nostalgic. Listening to the requests of my foolish disciple every now and then isn’t all that bad.”
Her husky voice was somewhat amused and in the hand of her withered arm was a likewise withered-looking staff. Above her were countless wind arrows to attack Cicila. At first glance, it was hard to believe that such an old woman was controlling all of them.
“Here, have a special,” Miltria said, firing off an arrow with even more mana.
Feeling a little dizzy she sat down with a “Heave-ho” on the root of a huge tree nearby. Then she raised one of her eyebrows.
“Oh, so you can even dodge that. Youth can be so dazzling. But you still have much to learn.”
Miltria let out even more mana. With that, the large arrow that Cicila had dodged immediately started tracking and turned around.
Miltria was a self-taught researcher who had honed her magic. While she’d been in the military for the guidance of future students, it had only been for a relatively short while.
Thanks to that, she’d absorbed a lot of the latest research in magic, and when it came to the area of decentralized management of mana control, she was unrivaled. Even at her advanced age, she maintained the ability to manage magic with perfect precision, and for novice spells she could control over a hundred.
So in situations like these, her ability to use the wind spell Air Map and detection spells to learn about the area was a large advantage.
“The lass seems to be struggling quite a bit with these projectiles. Well, she’s not that far away either, heh heh heh.”
Meanwhile, Cicila was struggling just as Miltria had assumed.
Ugh, there’s no end to them... Just how is she controlling these mana arrows from that far?! she thought.
Just evading the attacks was the best Cicila could do, but Miltria wasn’t actually that far away. Miltria was simply maintaining a reasonable distance and using the trees to hide.
Although it was only natural that Cicila would believe she was far away. The Wind Arrows that Miltria was using were being freely controlled, with each having different speeds and distances and trajectories, making it very difficult to guess where they were coming from.
From Cicila’s point of view, any direction she tried going in was blocked by fierce attacks, so she couldn’t move like she wanted.
She felt like she had been trapped in a small room out in the open.
She wanted to get a grasp of Tesfia’s location, as well as take out a few of the enemies.
That was what Aile wanted from her too, which was why she was getting irritated.
That irritation further disturbed her movements, until it eventually reached a fatal level.
An arrow that she’d failed to dodge scratched her shoulder and a warning light flashed from the barrier field. Her artificial HP had been further reduced.
Ugh.
She was continuously dodging the rapid arrows, but their numbers were only increasing.
Sometimes she’d leap at the last second, and when her hand reached the ground she twisted her body like a gymnast, but Cicila’s dodging was becoming more acrobatic.
I can’t handle much more... I guess I have no choice!
Cicila covered her arm in mana and swatted away an incoming arrow. Since she wasn’t dodging the arrow, she was using up her own mana, turning it into a battle of attrition.
While she was well aware of that, she had practically been forced to make that decision. That sensation put further pressure on Cicila.
She didn’t even have the time to wipe the sweat of her brow as there was no end to the attacks. The rain of attacks had continued for over five minutes.
When they finally appeared to be slowing down, Cicila expelled her built-up stress and unleashed a spell.
A mist-like spell released from her body—Noble Lily.
Inside the mist, anything that moved was frozen.
Normally this was an expert-level spell, but Cicila had cast a simplified construct so that it would fall within the rules of the match. As a result, it was so weak it couldn’t even stop novice-level arrows, but it was still extremely effective in the situation.
After all, Noble Lily froze everything in its space, albeit in a weakened form. So magic arrows that pried it open made the space ring out with a dry crack, which served as an exquisite warning sound.
Listening carefully, Cicila’s impatience disappeared as if it never existed in the first place as she dodged magic arrows with ease. Cicila made use of the effective area of Noble Lily as an extension of her senses, erasing any chance of getting attacked from a blind spot.
Miltria was inwardly marveling at the measure. Oh, she is rather excellent. That is a good response and her decision-making is fast.
Even so, Miltria didn’t move for the simple reason that this was the role that had been given to her.
Well, this is Miss Tesfia’s and that kid’s plan. The elderly can’t afford to screw up their role that the younglings have drawn up.
That said, she still planned to act.
“It would seem that I underestimated her a little. I couldn’t stand for that senile Selva or Sisty laughing at me for wasting away, which is why I came all this way. Now, let me show you that I haven’t grown weak.”
Miltria slapped her hip twice before raising her arm and staff up high towards the sky.
Immediately, the fallen leaves danced and twirled on the ground. One after another, their numbers increased.
After the gentle breeze, wind gathered around her like something had burst. Miltria held her palm up high, moving her finger like an orchestra conductor.
As if in response to that, the wind grew even harsher.
Suddenly, her finger came to a stop and pointed up high.
In that moment, the wind looked like it came to a complete stop, but in reality it was turned into Wind Arrows that numbered over a thousand.
“This goes there, and that goes here. Now, which should I go with?”
With a delighted expression on her face, Miltria carried away the Wind Arrows on air currents while humming a strange rhythm not unlike a children’s song.
She was like a cat playing with a mouse. It was that side of her that brought out a frown on Sisty’s face, but she couldn’t stop herself.
After finishing shooting out spells at a fierce rate, Miltria flicked her finger at the last remaining arrow. It flew in a completely different trajectory from the other arrows, swallowed up by the sky.
Shortly thereafter, Cicila felt an ominous omen. When she looked up, she could see a terrifying amount of Wind Arrows in the air.
However, they weren’t headed for where she was.
Don’t tell me...!
An unease spread through Cicila’s mind. Her opponent was extremely skilled at attacking with long-range wind magic.
In which case, her plan might have backfired. By fortifying her defenses with Noble Lily, her opponent might have given up on taking her down and redirected their firepower towards someone else.
Wind magic excelled at getting a layout of an area. They might even have located Aile.
Even if that wasn’t the case, they might have received some instructions from their commander. But even if they hadn’t pinpointed his location, the number of spells was more than enough for carpet-bombing.
They could bombard the area they believed Aile was at.
Cicila was deeply loyal and as his closest aide, she couldn’t help but panic.
Oh no! Master Aile’s true strength lies elsewhere!
Gathering mana in her legs, she tried to rush to Aile’s side when it happened. Something cut through the wind and fell as if it were drawn to Cicila’s back.
“Ack...i-impossible?!”
The single arrow fell from high up in the sky and shot through Cicila’s back.
It was a single shot, yet it had a terrifyingly dense amount of mana. Her artificial HP was greatly decreased, and her next step stumbled.
Following the lead of the first arrow, countless more arrows changed direction.
I-It was all a feint...?!
Cicila gritted her teeth and looked up at the sky. Countless arrows were raining down. They exploded into magic light and covered everything in a burning brilliant light.
In the forest some distance away, Miltria was sitting on the root of a tree resting, a smile on her wrinkled face.
“Heh heh heh, Womruina’s little brat is supposedly a natural-born player, but that went as well as expected.”
The terrifying old woman had used information gained earlier, as well as the enemy’s formation, to see through Cicila’s state of mind. She’d crushed Cicila by using her loyalty against her.
Naturally, as an experienced veteran, she cautiously maintained a weakened version of Air Map to fit the regulations.
“A direct hit. Hmm, the artificial HP on the bracelet device is empty... She’s been taken out. Well, she might be knocked out, but I have no obligation to look after her,” Miltria muttered as if she’d lost interest.
She stopped her detection, but it wasn’t from a lack of caution. This was different from real life as even if Cicila was conscious, now that she’d lost all HP, she could no longer participate.
“Still, to think it would take this long to crush a single girl. Tenbrams these days are so soft with these bracelets and new rules. Back then, enemies would lose a limb or two, and there’d even be a few deaths,” Miltria complained, rubbing her shoulders.
“Still, for such a young woman, she has some skill. If she was a little older, she could have seen things with a clearer head.”
Besides, in an Orb Struggle, attacking the commander didn’t mean victory. A team would be at a disadvantage from having their chain of command disrupted, but the victory condition was purely to steal the other team’s Orb, and hold it for a period of time.
They would also need to insert their team’s mana code into it to seal its functions.
“Now then, with this I’ve saved Sisty’s face. I think I will leave it at that to avoid punishing my old bones any more. Good grief, here I was thinking she’d come to rely on me, but all she brought was trouble...” Miltria said, although she sounded like she was enjoying herself more than her words showed.
Planting her staff on the ground, she slowly walked towards her own team’s ground. Whether that was to leave the rest to the young or to protect her own team’s Orb, only Miltria knew.
She’d never really had any sense of urgency regarding the Tenbram to begin with. She might have thought of it as showing her face at the younglings’ village festival.
“Hmm...?”
That was when Miltria’s face twisted into a dubious expression and her eyes fluttered as she looked up at the sky.
The wind serving her seemed to have sensed something and came to tell her.
She looked down at the message that her bracelet was projecting in the air.
“Ohh... Could this be Lilisha? Very good. It looks like she is doing her job as a judge just fine. Now what does it say...?”
The message showed what Lilisha had announced to the audience.
“Oh, a giant Jurai is it? That must be the presence I felt. Womruina’s little brat is cheating just within the limits of what he can get away with. And then... Hmm, the last bit is a hint from her. I’m sure it’s some fine advice.”
The strong winds in Lilisha’s announcement were a hint about the wind attribute.
It also suggested a means of defeating the Jurai with the use of an outstanding wind Magicmaster.
In short, if they were going to create an opening in the Jurai, which controlled the lightning in the atmosphere, they would need wind magic to manipulate the air.
The elderly woman let out a sigh and muttered, “I’m sure she has to consider her position, but it does sound a little too refined. I imagine only that brat would notice. It looks like I won’t be able to get some rest.”
Miltria snapped her fingers and flew away on the wind.
◇◇◇
At the same time, on the right side of the field Alus and Orneus were squaring off.
The situation was the opposite of that of Cicila and Miltria. Their close combat was so intense nobody else could step in.
Alus leaped off a tree branch to evade Orneus’s fierce attacks. His dodge was just in the nick of time, as Orneus’s fist pulverized the branch.
However, that form of destruction was unnatural. It wasn’t destroyed from an impact, but rather it exploded from the inside.
That’s not a normal spell or mana control.
As he realized that, a bad feeling ran down Alus’s spine and righted his posture in midair.
Orneus’s leg strength was astounding, even to Alus. After destroying the branch, Orneus leaped in pursuit of him and closed the distance in no time.
Alus was upside down, and in the corner of his view, he saw Orneus smiling sadistically, ready for a swing.
Using centrifugal force, Alus swung Night Mist. A blade formed of mana stretched beyond its tip, increasing its range.
In response, Orneus only lightly tapped the side of the blade. A dull sound rang out.
Alus’s hand went numb from the impact, which felt like a hammer had hit the sword. But that wasn’t all. It also felt like the blade had become hundreds of times heavier, and Alus’s posture broke midair.
His arm was being pulled down. Alus didn’t hesitate to let go off Night Mist, and it pulled its chain with it as it crashed towards the ground.
The first thing Alus did after losing his weapon was unleash a kick. Of course, Orneus naturally blocked it with his arm and moved to counterattack.
Orneus twisted his body in midair to kick Alus. Since it was covered in mana, it was strong as a hammer and flexible as a whip.
Despite Alus crossing his arms to protect himself, the impact was immense. While he endured the blow, Alus was blown into the trees.
Orneus immediately tried to give chase...
However, he sensed something and twisted his upper body and swung his arm behind him. Though Alus had dropped it, Night Mist was flying at Orneus thanks to Alus’s skilled mana control.
Fist and blade clashed, yet the sound it made was like metal. Night Mist was repelled, but the chains pulled it into the trees where Alus had been sent flying.
Orneus clicked his tongue in irritation. He then ran after Alus like a hunting dog pursuing the bloodstains of its prey.
The two faced off once more at a slightly different location. This time it was Alus who was intercepting Orneus.
“Oh? What an honor to have you waiting for me,” Orneus spat out sarcastically.
But Alus replied with a fearless smile, “Well, I figured out your trick after all. Snapping mana with your arm is a strange technique though.”
“So you figured it out. But what about the principle behind it?”
“Repulsion.”
Orneus silently smiled, but that practically affirmed what Alus said.
It was no wonder Orneus was called a hunter. His ability was perfect for killing Magicmasters as it was a power to harness the repulsive nature of mana clashing to the utmost limit.
Orneus was so skilled with the technique that even the slightest amount of mana created enough power to blow away the opponent.
It was a talent that he had been born with, but it naturally came at a cost. He could only repel mana, and had no ability to convert it into spells. He couldn’t even effectively use an AWR.
It was a massive handicap in the age of magic, but that was what led him to polish his technique.
Incidentally, the mana repulsion could even be used with the tip of his toes, but its strength lay in his two arms, which he had used to master the technique.
“I call this power Guilty Gift.”
“What a troublesome special ability.”
When thinking of special abilities, the first thing that would come to mind was magic eyes, but there were all kinds of innate abilities that deviated from the standard structure of magic.
Those powers that didn’t belong to the basic attributes of fire, earth, wind, water, ice, and lightning or the two elements of light and dark were all lumped into special abilities.
Dante, who Alus had killed in the past, had used gravity, which was also a special ability, but users of that ability were very rare.
“Besides, this was a blind spot. Who would have thought that there would be hand-to-hand combat at the Tenbram?”
The edges of Orneus’s lips rose ever so slightly at Alus’s words. “I will take that as a compliment. But even if you know the trick, there’s no point if you can’t counter it. All the flashy spells are banned because of the Orb Struggle. Which is why I will be able to take you down in close combat,” Orneus said somewhat provokingly.
But Alus only shrugged. “...Maybe so.”
“You are being very elusive. It’s quite different from the picture I had of you. Are you sure you’re not growing weary? At this rate your situation will only get worse.”
Alus didn’t respond, and Orneus narrowed his eyes. That was when their bracelet devices lit up.
“See, while we are preoccupied, my lord has brought out his trump card. The more time passes now, the more the tide turns in our favor.”
“A special Jurai adjusted for this occasion, huh? It’s certainly outlandish. It’s being summoned by a bunch of Magicmasters with an affinity for lightning, isn’t it? How exaggerated.”
Alus glanced at the message from the bracelet. “Hmm, a warning about strong winds. I see.”
Orneus, who saw the same message, laughed with contempt. “Ha ha, Ms. Lilisha, was it? She seems to be leaning to your side, but there’s no point in revealing the trick behind the Jurai now. It’s not cheating according to the rules, and even she has had to admit that.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure.”
Alus had finally gotten the signal that he had been waiting for. He heard Tesfia’s voice from the Consensor...and when he did, the atmosphere around him changed.
Seeing that, Orneus’s expression turned serious. The pressure of the mana around Alus had dramatically changed.
“Now’s the time, so let’s end this,” Alus casually said, rubbing his shoulder. “You guys are shrewd. So I can’t ever let my guard down until you show all of your cards. Since you didn’t tamper with the bracelet devices, I figured you would use a different method. Besides, if I was right in front of him, Aile would struggle to bring out his trump card, no?”
There was the Guardian as well as Orneus’s special ability. Now that both cards had been played, there was no need for Alus to pin down Orneus and invite Aile to make his move.
Alus sighed and said, “You want to talk about being considerate? That goes both ways. What a waste of time... All because of these rules!”
Alus jumped, dodging Orneus’s fist and seemingly danced in the sky. He then locked his knee around his opponent’s shoulder and neck to strangle him.
“Ugh...” said Orneus.
“If you’re going to break a human, you can use techniques like these that don’t rely on mana,” said Alus. “You showed as much yourself. When it comes to rough fighting, I’ve got some experience in it too. Your neck might accidentally break, but the pain will only last for an instant, so bear with it.”
“Hmph!” With a grunt, Orneus put more strength into his body.
But sensing his intentions, Alus eased up on the choke hold and softly landed on the ground.
Orneus stared at him and spoke in a quiet tone. “Impressive. There was a lot of bloodlust in that move. But in the end, neither of us can go all out in this game. Why don’t we remove the bracelets and restart the fight?”
“Don’t be stupid. If you want to remove it, you go ahead.”
“I see, it would be a shame to one-sidedly kill you.”
“That would get you immediately disqualified,” said Alus.
“You never know what can happen in a Tenbram,” said Orneus, then audibly gulped as he swallowed something.
His sharp glare lit up with a sadistic light and his arms started shaking. His joints cracked and bent unnaturally, and his veins stuck up on the back of his hands.
“Chemical Boost, huh... You really aren’t picky with your methods,” Alus said, furrowing his brow.
Chemical Boost was an illegal drug said to use a couple of components that Ambrosia used that forcibly stimulated the generation of mana. Since it could easily boost one’s mana, there were a lot of cases of Magicmasters using it, and it had become a problem in recent years.
“Don’t worry, I can separate out the particularly bad elements in my own body using my special ability later. With short-term use, the traces of it will be emitted together with my mana, and it won’t be caught in any inspections.”
“Through repulsion, huh... I see. That certainly has its uses,” said Alus.
“Besides, nowadays it’s hard to get your hands on stuff of this high quality. Since it’s my chance to exchange blows against someone strong, I will have you accompany me a little longer,” said Orneus.
Alus slashed in a semicircle, bringing Night Mist to a stop behind him. The trunk of a nearby giant tree slowly began to fall over.
“Will you be able to repel this?”
Orneus took those words as a challenge and simply stood still with his fists ready. The tree fell on top of him, but it didn’t crush him.
A sound like repeated explosions rang out. With each sound, a hole was carved into the tree, until finally wood chips scattered as the tree burst.
I thought so...
Seeing how Orneus had broken Alus’s choke hold, Alus had more or less expected that result. Orneus’s special ability was formed by mana repulsion itself. Therefore, it shouldn’t work against something that didn’t have mana.
But seeing the results of their battle and how the other man handled the tree, there was only one conclusion.
His repulsion didn’t just work against others’ mana but also with his own.
If I’d continued trying to choke him I might have lost.
If the mana in Alus had been sent in reverse, the force of the repulsion would have been huge, and he would have been sent flying.
This ability was special and wouldn’t be easy to overcome, not to mention that he was now under the effect of Chemical Boost. Since Alus had lost quite a bit of artificial HP in their fight already, he struggled to make a bold move.
As things were going, it would become a drawn-out battle.
Tsk... I might have to delay grouping up with Fia.
Alus clicked his tongue, a sour look on his face as Orneus’s fierce onslaught continued. He closed in on Alus like a storm
Their clash of fierce attacks continued for over ten minutes, but the end was anticlimactic. Orneus just suddenly came to a stop.
It was as if the storm had suddenly vanished. Orneus wore a bitter expression but kept up his guard.
“Now, of all times...?” He sighed. “I was finally getting heated up. Talk about bad timing.”
As Orneus muttered, his will to fight rapidly disappeared.
“What’s the matter, already out of fuel?” Alus taunted.
But Orneus calmly replied, “Unfortunately I’ve hit the time limit. Now I have some other business to attend to. I got a message from my comrades, and supposedly, I can’t show too much of our hand.”
“Comrades? You mean your commander’s calling?”
“Who knows? But if it’s one thing I can tell you, it’s not you that is the problem, Alus Reigin. If anything...”
Orneus deliberately turned, deliberately looked in a completely different direction.
That was where the spectator seats were.
“That suspicious Archbishop? Isn’t he on your side?”
“Hmm, I won’t say anything further. In the underworld, those who have a lot to say don’t get a long time to say it,” Orneus said with a profound smile.
“Like you, I have my own circumstances to consider. Then if you’ll excuse me, I will take my leave. I hope we can get a chance to fight a true battle to the death some day.”
“Huh? Do you think I’ll let you go?”
“You can follow if you want. If you want to be disqualified alongside me, that is. I no longer need to wear this nuisance of a toy,” Orneus said, raising his hand high up in the air. He then brought it back down against his other wrist, and destroyed his bracelet.
Naturally, that meant an immediate disqualification according to the rules. However, he showed no sign of caring about that as he turned his back to Alus and took off running. He leaped and disappeared behind the wall that served as a boundary.
Alus was left behind, dumbfounded, which was only natural with such unexpected events.
Orneus, one of the enemy’s two strongest members, disqualified himself. Alus couldn’t imagine any way that would be an advantage for Aile’s team.
It took Alus a moment to collect himself and remember his own job.
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