Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16817330657219422179/episodes/16817330661661684841
“Anri ……!”
“I know!”
At Andras’s disturbing line, we moved quickly.
We both ran across the ground as if flying with our strengthened bodies. Andras looked at me with a dark joyful look in his eyes, as if he had given up on his own life.
“It is too late,”
My sword and Anri’s axe plunged deep into the empty ground. Andras said at the spot where we had just been standing, with the sound of falling clods of earth in the background.
“–My authority is the embodiment of an ancient form of struggle–‘war’. I can manipulate people to sow disharmony, create a ritualistic battlefield, and so on. And this instantaneous movement is proof that I became the ruler of the [arena] with the power of Solomon-sama, and can freely manipulate space. Being able to control space means–“
As Andras continued to blabber on, Anri unleashed the third “White Silver Tsunami”. However, Andras did not move from that spot, nor did he appear at another spot by instantaneous movement. As I was preparing to release the magic to the next location, my eyes widened when I saw Andras standing still at the spot where the rock tsunami had stopped.
“- twisted space in front of my eyes and deflected the attack. It’s not much different in wear and tear than instantaneous movement, but did it surprise you a little?”
Andras laughed, a glob of blood gushing from the corner of his mouth. –He said he was ready to go.
And the next moment.
–Then the next moment, to my surprise, the translucent wards surrounding the arena began to move inward.
The walls covering the vast area narrowed as the earth rumbled. The momentum was so fast that it approached us in the blink of an eye.
–I turned my back to Andras and looked at the demon.
With my back to Andras, I kneaded up my magical power. While maintaining my physical strength at maximum strength, I desperately spun up the raging magic of the two attributes.
And then, just as quickly or faster than I had created it at the end of the battle against the earth dragon, I launched the most powerful magic I had on hand.
“Blue Lightning!”
At the same time as the magic was activated, a burst of blue lightning scorched the surroundings and moved, concentrating on the tip of the sword I am holding. Compressing the enormous energy into the tip of my sword, I sat back and prepared for the impact of the wall and looked sharply ahead while holding my sword.
Then, alongside Anri, who faced the warding with her axe as I did, I stared at the wall that loomed before us…
–We pass through the wall without any impact.
“….ha?”
Both of us let out a distracted cry. We quickly turn around and see the hemisphere that has been spreading around us shrinking.
Behind the translucent wall, I thought I saw Andras smirk.
The hemisphere eventually reached the place where Andras was inside, and continued to shrink further. Smaller and smaller and smaller – much smaller than Andras, who was no longer inside – until finally the ball, like a dark purple crystal ball, remained in mid-air.
The abrupt end left a moment of silence.
“…… hey, isn’t that guy inside dead, too?”
Anri said with a very disappointed expression. Certainly, the [arena], which has become so small that it is physically impossible to live inside, seems to indicate the death of Andras as it is.
…… But is that really the case?
At least I can understand if he is going to do this with us locked up as well. The three of us might have died together, just as he said he was going to take us with him. But what is the reason why Andras did not dare to do so?
Could it be, for example, that he could manipulate space better without us, or that we were just in the way?
–In other words, there must be some clear purpose to this action.
“….. with that line he just said, I don’t think this is the end of the story. I don’t know what that was, but Anri also still has to be on her guard–!”
With a thud. The air shook as if it were a tremor, and for a moment a powerful surge of magical power ran through it.
We sharpened our gaze and looked at the source of the wave, the end of the [arena].
Then we felt the wave of magic power hit us again with a thud, and we felt a strange sense of unease. We looked at each other to see what we should do, and stepped forward to get closer.
“–Tale-kun! Anri chan!”
“Are you two all right?”
The voices behind me were those of two people I’ve known since I was little. They were Ur and Rietta, who had probably been fighting demons outside the wards for a long time. They came running toward us, their bodies stained with blood and dust, showing the intensity of the battle.
Even so, a quick look at them revealed no major injuries, and one of my concerns was resolved. However, we were not in a situation where we could rest easy now.
“We are safe and sound, but that fiend is making a last desperate effort to get us out of the fight.”
“He compressed the space he had created down to the smallest possible size, saying only, ‘Take everything withme’. I have a very bad feeling about this.”
We rushed to the sphere standing in the air and all of us looked at it.
Rietta opened her mouth suddenly.
“There was that demon inside, right?…The monsters we were fighting just now started acting weird, trying to run away from here, and even though they continued fighting, their movements gave the impression that they were living creatures. The demon is probably already dead, or close to it…? What happens when a tremendous amount of magical power is compressed to its limit—–an explosion of activated magical power…?”
“…!”
These are the words of Rietta, who has the most knowledge of magic and magic among them. There’s a certain amount of persuasive power to that, and it also makes sense with Andras’ throwaway line.
He said, “Take everything with me”. He meant to take not only Anri and I, but also the people on the battlefield – literally all of them.
I looked at Rietta with a stern expression.
“Do you know how to prevent that explosion of compressed magic power?”
“…… might be difficult to stop the explosion. If you can, you can carry it to a place where no one is around and detonate it there,……. But we’d have to be very careful because if we overstimulate it, it might explode.”
“How long will it take for this thing to explode?”
“yeah…..If you look closely at ……, it seems to be slowly getting smaller and smaller even now. But we don’t know exactly where the limit is. ……”
“It’s a matter of time before it explodes.”
Ur murmured in response to Anri’s question. We looked at each other with difficult expressions and nodded yes.
“Then I’ll use my magic to transport it to the mountain so it doesn’t shake–“
“I’ll hold it, and with the full protection of the goddess――”
“I’m confident in my speed and quietness.”
“I know how to handle magic and witchcraft.”
We all started talking at the same time and stopped at the same moment. The four of us looked at each other and made a blank expression. Then I realized that everyone else was thinking what I was thinking.
–I never thought that everyone would consider taking on the most dangerous role of all.
It’s not so much self-sacrifice. Dangerous is dangerous, but I thought I could do something about it, and that’s why I said what I did. I just thought that because I cared about everyone, I would take the lead.
I went a little crazy and burst out laughing. The other three people who saw this also let out a giggle.
While the battle was still going on around us, the four of us exchanged glances with each other in an out-of-place, friendly manner.
–Thinking back, this might be the true reunion of the “Sword of Wheat” at this moment. I came back from the bottom of the cliff, Anri’s memory was restored, and we were able to laugh together again.
Perhaps the four of us could do better. When I was in the village and after I became an adventurer, I always had the help of three reliable people to help me overcome difficulties. This time, too, if the four of us work together, we can do it.
“—Everyone. The four of us will work together. If we each do what we can do, we’ll make it work. ……!”
“Yes!”
We looked at each other again and nodded vigorously. And so the final battle begins.
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