Chapter 12
Chapter 12 Strongest Sage, Hit Upon a Good Idea
Biffgel who"s forced the poor populace to accompany him triumphantly walks toward the forest behind a villager with the best physique while the other villagers are surrounding him .
My brother Reich is on the farthest back .
I wonder if he"s an insurance for Biffgel to push the responsibility on when it looks like he can"t accomplish the feat .
I follow behind them from about 20 meter away .
It"s quite close for tailing incognito, but I"ve got plenty of magic on my sleeves for this, as long as the other party doesn"t use a counter magic .
My aim is of course, a.s.sa.s.sinating Biffgel--I mean, protecting the partic.i.p.ants besides Biffgel .
If as a result, the unfortunate Biffgel dies by coincidence, that is of no concern to me . You reap what you sow .
"And, where"s this monster again?"
Biffgel asked one of the people .
"It"s in the forest depth . "
"Depth, that means . . . . Where?"
You went on an expedition without knowing that huh . . . .
"We have no idea where it is right now . The monster was sighted quite a while ago, so it might have moved somewhere . . . . "
"Tch, you"re useless . --Well fine . We should find it if we just walk around . Let"s go guys!"
What a sloppy plan!
Just how vast does Biffgel think this forest is .
If they"re just walking around randomly, they might even spend a week without meeting the monster if they"re unlucky .
How long will I have to continue to tag along . . . . was what I thought while following them .
--Two hours later .
"Biffgel-sama . How about we split into groups . "
One of the people suggested that, probably because they couldn"t find any trace of the monster .
Good job populace!
. . . . However .
"Are you stupid! There"s no way we"d do that!"
Biffgel objected .
"What would you do if anything happened to me!"
If anything happened to Biffgel . . . . er, celebrate?
With that reply, the people can"t possibly oppose him, thus the plan comes to a standstill .
"No need for that, my instinct will find it! We"re going there next! Move it!"
In the end, it"s instinct huh .
It"s bad since that instinct is actually right on the money .
I don"t know if it"s some kind of coincidence, but the place Biffgel and the others are heading to is the same place the monster is also heading to .
Since we"ve gotten closer, I"ve grasped the type of the monster a bit .
It"s probably a bear or a tiger, a quadrupedal animal that has turned into a monster .
It has a small body for a monster, but that doesn"t mean that this monster is weak .
Rather, it"s the opposite . If the mana reaction of a monster is big, the smaller their body, the higher their mana density is, and the stronger they are in battle .
Judging from the scale of this mana reaction, we have the worst case scenario here . I"m not sure if even our father Castor could beat it in a one-on-one fight .
After dozens of minute, the subjugation corps arrive before the monster .
They"d enter the monster"s field of vision in 10 seconds .
I took some distance away from the subjugation corps when I saw them getting closer to the monster and put myself beside the bear .
The problem is from here .
Since Biffgel gathered the people, the will inevitably fight the monsters first .
I could prevent victims from appearing if I help and defeat the monster myself, but then Biffgel would remain conceited, I could see him saying things like, "He s.n.a.t.c.hed a game that even I could beat . " Dealing with things afterward would be more troublesome than defeating the monster itself .
However, I also can"t let unrelated people falling victims just because of it .
What should I do, while I was taking the wait and see approach, the situation changed .
Toward one that is most convenient for me .
"That"s my game! You guys don"t get in my way!"
When Biffgel saw the monster, he stepped forward while ignoring his escort . What"s even the point of gathering people then .
Of course the monster has noticed Biffgel after all the clamor .
The bear monster which was showing its back turned around and started to run toward Biffgel .
Facing the monster, Biffgel thrusts his sword forward and begins to shout out some incomprehensible line .
"Fire mana that dwells in my body, become a straight arrow and pierce my enemy!"
Biffgel"s mana reacted along with the recited line, and then "pohyu", with that small sound, a fire arrow flew toward the bear .
The bear runs straight to Biffgel, not even trying to evade the fire arrow .
And then the fire arrow made a direct hit on the bear"s eye . . . . and vanished .
The bear is absolutely flawless, no damage .
Was that . . . . magic? But it was extremely crude, or rather, poor . No matter how resistant a monster to magic is, there is no way a proper magic that hit one of their weak points, the eye, would leave it undamaged .
The power is bad and all, the conversion efficiency is also weird . The mana that was collected on his hand was diminutive, but nevertheless, it should have been capable of demonstrating power several times higher than that .
To begin with, what was the weird line he recited at the start for?
"Wha . . . . "
"Biffgel-sama"s . . . . Glory Crest magic doesn"t work!?"
"That thing isn"t a normal monster! It"s a Zenith Monster!"
The subjugation corps were astonished to see what had happened .
Apparently, from their perspective, the fact that Biffgel"s magic (?) didn"t work was devastating . There were even some who fell into panic and ran toward meaningless directions .
Biffgel was seemingly the one surprised the most, he was. .h.i.t by the bear"s claw when he couldn"t move, getting blown away several meter away .
Among the people who froze over, the only one who had a semblance of proper judgment, my brother Reich blocked the claw with his sword .
"We"re withdrawing! I"ll hold it off here! Everyone quickly escape!"
However, their strengths are too far apart .
Reich"s sword got pushed back in a blink of an eye . He wouldn"t last three seconds at this rate .
. . . . Well three seconds are quite enough though .
I activated one of provocation magic, 【Enforced Detection】 before Reich"s sword got pushed away .
Although it may differs by individuals, most monsters use 【Pa.s.sive Detection】 unconsciously .
【Enforced Detection】 is a magic that pour mana on those monsters to make your mana reaction look big to them .
If it"s too weak, they"d ignore it, if it"s too big, they"d run away, it"s difficult to adjust this magic in a way--but it seems to be a success .
Right after I activated 【Enforced Detection】, the bear monster separated its hand from Reich and ran at full speed toward me .
"Mathi, why are you here! Run away quick!"
Ignoring the shouting Reich, I knead my mana .
Approximately four seconds before the monster arrives . Way more than enough time .
I put both my hands before my chest and concentrate the mana in my body .
I grant directionality to the collected mana while also changing its pressure .
And then I ward off the monster"s arm with martial art and hit its heart as we pa.s.s each other .
As one would expect, it wasn"t enough to defeat the monster, but--its movement dulled, which was enough .
I drew the sword I brought from home and cut its neck with a single stroke under Physical Reinforcement and 【Mana Strike】 .
"Mathi! Leave this to me . . . . Huh?"
Reich who chased the monster showed a dumbfounded expression on his face when he saw its fallen body .
Right at that time, I noticed the current situation .
Blocked by the vegetations, the other people in the subjugation corps can"t see anything but Reich, they haven"t noticed that the monster has been killed . Looking at their panicked state, there"s probably no one who would notice a slightly awkward act here .
Perhaps this is . . . . a chance isn"t it .
I"ll push the feat on him!