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Chapter 1 – 19
Disaster After Disaster
As instructed by gramps, I went to the north gate.
As far as I could see, there were zombies in a surprise attack. There must have been more than 5000 of them, with the number rising. They"ve probably made a detour around the village.
I wish I could"ve used Detection just then. Even still, I kept the thought “this isn"t over yet” in mind and started attacking.
“Fire Storm!”
I cast firestorm 3 times before the frontmost zombies even noticed me. The front row of zombies sank into an ocean of fire. The zombies in the back row seemed to not care about the firey ocean and didn"t stop their slow advance. In the end, the fire had vanished before the majority of the zombies in the back row had reached the front.
“Such senseless tactics…”someone muttered.
Senseless as they may be, they can still crush such a small number of defenders. I think they"re pretty effective against us right now…… The zombies haven"t decided to change them.
“I"m here to support you, Merlin sent me!”
“Oh, you"ll be a big help.”
We quickly exchanged words, and I started casting a series of spells.
“Earth Needle, Fireball, Air Cutter!”
Using magic of various elements, I reduced their numbers some. Yet, more and more zombies kept on appearing.
“This is never ending. And I"m still worried about the west gate…… well, with such high stakes, should I try "that one" out…?” I muttered to myself.
I launched 10 fire storms in rapid fire at the very center of the horde, where around 2,000 of the innermost zombies were burnt to a crisp. There were still zombies remaining.
Even 500 meters away, waves of heat reached the stronghold.
“Tenma! Stop burning through your mana so recklessly!”
A mage ran up to me and warned me, but without any worry,
“Everyone get down and take cover. Quickly!”
With a loud voice I gave everyone my orders. At first, everyone was confused. When they sensed that I was preparing to use a very powerful type of magic however, everyone quickly obeyed the order. With a sidelong glance, I recited the spell.
“『TORNADO!』”
It wasn"t a particularly rare type of magic. You could call it strong, and it was stronger than normal types of magic but even still, it might only defeat around 100 zombies in one hit…. under normal circ.u.mstances.
In the past, during the Great Kanto Earthquake1 it was said that approximately 40,000 of the 105,000 total casualties had instantly lost their lives to a strange phenomenon that had occurred. Said phenomenon is said to occur when a large scale fire heats up a ma.s.sive amount of air, and all at once it rushes upward toward the sky in a split second. It"s known as a『Kasai Senpuu』, or a fire whirlwind. 2 It takes in the air all around it while it grows and ma.s.sively heats up, with the whirlwind reaching over 1,000 degrees.
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Tenma tried to recreate this natural disaster using his magic. However, it was a bit of a gamble because somehow the way this『Kasai Senpuu』really worked hadn"t been totally understood, even in his previous world. Tenma"s bet paid off and his Fire Tornado slowly advanced toward the shambling zombies. The zombies tried to escape from the tornado but they all eventually got sucked in, where they were burnt and shredded to pieces. In the span of a few minutes, the zombie horde that was headed toward the north gate had been nearly annihilated. Seeing the results, Tenma weakened the fire tornado with magic.
“Amazing! The zombies vanished!”
“Everyone, you can come out now.”
“Get rid of any that are left.”
The north gate defenders let loose cries of joy, while taking out any remaining survivors. Tenma internally let out a big sigh of relief.
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(I"m so glad it turned out okay in the end~. The results are certainly great but it"s difficult to use. If I had lost control it could"ve made its way over here and I"d need to spend even more magic to get rid of it. I really have to be careful of where I use it.)
While thinking, he downed 3 mana potions.
“Tenma, I"m terribly sorry to ask this of you, but could you quickly eat, and then immediately head to the west gate?”
One of the defenders asked me, while handing me some water and a sandwich.
“Yeah, I understand.”
I scarfed down the sandwich, washed it down with water, and set off flying toward the west gate. All the water and potions were making slos.h.i.+ng noises from inside my stomach.
What I saw at the west gate wasn"t very different from how the north gate had been. More accurately, just looking at the zombies here, there seemed to be more total than at the north gate. The mages here had been giving it their all though, and they had managed to stop the zombies onslaught somewhat.
I spotted Mark, who seemed to be in charge, and called out to him.
“It"s Tenma. I"ve come to help you guys out.”
“Tenma? You"re a lifesaver… Oh, uh, that fire pillar from before, was that you who did that?”
“Yeah, that was my magic.”
I answered and Mark seemed to be surprised. He quickly replied,
“Then, could you do the same here?”
Hearing his request, I looked over at the zombies.
“I can do it again. I need the other mages" co-operation, though.”
I asked those who could use magic to launch 10 fireb.a.l.l.s at the center of the horde of zombies, and sent out 5 firestorms myself as well.
“Everyone, please take cover!”
I ordered them down. Just like before, I recited the spell for『Tornado』
This second『Fire Tornado』attack on the zombie horde swallowed almost all of them up. By the time it was finished, the horde had been practically annihilated.
The defenders let out a cheer and killed off the few remaining zombies.
Seeing this, Tenma thought to go to the east gate and report on their progress. He had a sudden dreadful premonition, coming from the forest and reaching toward the south gate area. The very next moment, a dark beam pierced the south gate itself. The beam reached all the way to the center of the stronghold and screams could be heard all around. The south gate and a part of the nearby wall had blown away, and several defenders that had been nearby were hit directly.
“Mom, Dad!”
I froze for a few seconds after calling out. Regaining myself, I prayed for their safety while rus.h.i.+ng toward the south gate.
[Author"s Note]
Although I described『Kasai Senpuu』in the story, it may not be totally accurate as it"s just based on what little I"ve looked up and my own opinion.
So please just think of it as a phenomenon similar to a “fire whirlwind” created by magic.
However, it is a true fact that almost 40,000 people died during the Great Kanto Earthquake.
[Translator"s Note]
j.a.panese can sometimes be really redundant sounding when translated to English. They often like to use english words to describe things because it sounds cooler, and then explain the meaning of the foreign words (to them) immediately afterwards. Sometimes two things can translate to the same thing in english because of this, it gets rather confusing. Please bear with me as I try to work around challenges like this.
Hi, Refulgent, your translator here, if you like my translations, you can show your support by leaving a comment or constructive feedback at Four slimes . com I"d love to hear from you directly~
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Translator"s NotesThe Great Kanto Earthquake was a real event in j.a.pan, took place in 1923The name for the phenomenon in English is actually Fire Storm, but to avoid confusion with his previously cast spells, I left it as the j.a.panese reading, Kasai Senpuu.