45 44. Flame magic.txt (1/2)

There are 19 levels.

Rastiara runs nimbly through the corridor filled with hot air.

The minotaur chasing Rastiara swings his axe down. The powerful blow tore and scratched out her body.

Scraped away - in other words, the body of Rastiara, which was torn and distorted, disappeared into the air as it was.

Naturally, that Rustyala was an imposter.

As the main body, she's running far away unharmed.

And I can hear Maria's voice deploying magic from next to her.

''--Firefly Mirage (Mirage), Firefly Phantom (Phantom).''

Maria, dripping with sweat, develops further magic.

The Lastiara that was scraped off earlier is a magical illusion constructed by Maria.

《Firefly Mirage (Mirage)》 is a magic that refracts light depending on the temperature difference and alters the perspective.

Firefly Phantom” is a magic that creates an illusion of human-shaped flames.

The combination of those two magics caused the minotaur to miss the attack.

Rastiara continued to run around the minotaur without danger with the assistance of Maria's magic.

As planned, Rastiara is only trying to distract them. It doesn't try to turn into an attack.

The purpose of this time is a test operation.

Confirmation of Maria's magic. And until the construction of her maximum firepower magic--Midgals Blaze or something like that--Rastiara will never attack.

By the way, I'm Maria's guard.

However, Rastiara is moving forward and attracting enemies, and the phenomenon of light refraction is occurring here and there due to magic. The minotaur's attack will never reach Maria.

' 'Ochore, cut off the flames,' 'Dreaming staggers and sensui,' 'Manima,'

Maria recites a poem I've never heard before.

It's probably a magical 'chant'.

I didn't do it before. Perhaps it was Arti's idea. The more she chants, the more the temperature around Maria feels like it's rising.

Then the poem ends and the magic is released.

”'Swallow the Stars' ......!　--Midgalsblaze!

With those words, Maria's magic power, which had been compressed upon compression, was converted into flames.

A pillar of fire rose up from behind Maria, and the flames mimicked the shape of a giant snake. The flaming serpent opened its jaws wide and swam in the air like a living snake.

Feeling the aftermath of its magic, Rustyala takes a distance from the minotaur. The minotaur that was confronting him also noticed the magic flames. But it was already too late.

The minotaur braced himself to withstand the magic flames with his strong body.

The flaming serpent bites it mercilessly. Its fangs of flame gouged out the minotaur's flesh, wrapping and tightening around the enemy's body with its long body. As it tightened, it scorched the flesh, and in the end, it burned the entire body of the enemy with its karma flames.

The minotaur crumbled into charcoal, screaming in grief.

The remaining charcoal turned into light and disappeared, leaving behind a magical stone.

''Haha, haha ....... What do you think, master ......?''

Maria breathes on her shoulder and asks me for my thoughts.

The magic earlier has made her feel remarkably ill.

When I look closely, I see that Maria's HP is decreasing due to the use of magic--

[Status]

HP82/102 MP102/122

My opinion is one word.

It's just crazy.

I know I'm putting myself on the shelf, but it's clearly not the kind of magic you can learn in a short period of time.

The magic is too strong. And the price is unusual.

The application of the existing Firefly alone is unusual enough, but the last magic, Midgall's Blaze, is especially unusual.

An extraordinary attack power that is not commensurate with its level. Furthermore, the change in Maria's physical condition after using it. Normally, no matter how high-ranking the magic is, it wouldn't lose this much energy just by using it.

Before, I've cast magic by reducing my maximum HP, but or not.

At that time, I didn't have any MP left, so I was only paid maximum HP as an alternative.

But this magic 《Midgals Blaze》 is reducing HP even though I have MP left, it's a magic that is supposed to reduce HP. Even though it doesn't lose its maximum HP, I've never heard of it cutting down on HP just by using it normally.

I'm speechless at the special magic and ask Rustyala for help.

Rastiara feels my gaze and returns the words.

'...... It's a magic I've never seen before either. Also, it's an operation I've never heard of. I can see it too. This magic, it's not just MP that's consumed.

Rustyra replied with the same impression as I did.

When Maria heard that, she began to explain her magic.

''That's right. The two magics that Arti-san gave me, 《Midgals Blaze》 and 《Flame Flamberge》, are magics that drain both HP and MP. But anyway, if the enemy's attack hits me directly, I'll die in a single hit, so you don't need to worry about HP.

Maria explains as if it's nothing.

There is not the slightest hesitation or upset in it.

She speaks of the obvious as if it were obvious.

Indeed, the theory is correct. If this were a game, one could take the action of consuming HP for maximum efficiency.

But Maria is flesh and blood.

Maria is alive out there now.

In fact, she was sick and suffering after she unleashed her magic.

I saw her HP dwindle and she was relentlessly close to death.

So I argue.

'No, maybe so, but it's not ...... realistic. As far as I can see, you're not feeling well. If you get sick, your concentration and judgment will be impaired and you will be unable to fight. It's too late for that to happen after something irreversible has happened. It's not magic that can be repeated over and over again.

'My job is to build magic in the rear. Like the two of you, we're not fighting in the front line every second, so even a slight change in physical condition won't affect me. To begin with, the idea of not losing HP in the labyrinth is too naive.

Maria takes my opinion to task.

She's right. Her story makes more sense. If you're trying to explore the labyrinth efficiently, then you're right.

My opinion is just a spoiled story that I don't want you to do because I have a bad feeling about it.

......!

But I didn't want to retreat.

As me and Maria stared at each other, Rustyala stepped in between us.

'Christ, Mary has a better point.

You may indeed be right: ......, but ......

It's okay. We've only just met the minimum standards. Don't worry about it, you're still not good enough to follow our fight.

Rastiara coldly evaluates Maria.

Looking at the powerful magic she just used, Rastiara evaluates her as ”not enough”. In other words, Maria decides that she can't follow the fight after 20 layers.

Maria bites into it.

'Then try me. Let me go to the 21st layer again. With me there, I'll make your search more efficient for the two of you.

Maria's intentions were firm and she wanted to fight on the front lines.

To that, Rustyala replied willingly.

'Yes, of course we'll try. We'll find out soon enough what we're still missing.

Saying that, Rustyala proceeded to the 20th layer. As it is, he intends to take Maria to the 21st layer.

Maria follows Rustiala's powerful footsteps, and I don't stop her.

I'm not going to stop her.

I'm not going to stop her, because I understand what Rustiala is thinking.

If I take her with me, Maria will soon learn.

And because we see the same thing, Rustyala and I come to the same conclusion.

--more, a few more shots.

I repeat the simulation of the retreat battle firmly in my brain, thinking about Maria's limitations.

I slowly followed the two of them while assembling tactics to get through the battle that was about to occur unscathed.

◆◆◆◆◆ ...

We reached the 21st level and formed the formation we had conceived in advance.