Book 19 Chapter 8
Intensive training while doing other things, raising the first disciple (1)
“Ah, if I had known this would happen, I would have brought more books. What is this, a demon's hunting ground? Not a single one is in sight.”
The main road (大路) that crosses the continent of Adrion was created by the Red Dragon Legion, who widely spread megaliths and then melted them with flames, shaping them into a road.
Day and night, even in sandstorms, the road that lit the way for travelers with its faint flames was a mystery in itself.
The area around the road was a rocky wasteland, deteriorating due to desertification, and just as Lynn was getting bored and yawning excessively, demons appeared.
“Kee-ee-eek.”
“Kee-ee-eet.”
Among demons, those who are not primates, that is, those not belonging to the Six Great Demon Families, often have traits similar to beasts.
For example, these goblins.
These creatures, named Sand Goblins, have skin that takes on the color of sand. In other words, they have camouflage.
‘Goblins, huh… This brings back fresh memories.’
Lynn recalled fond memories and smiled faintly.
“Hmph…”
Back when he took his first steps, dreaming of becoming the [Strongest Mage], he owed a great deal to the goblins of the north.
Goblins sacrificed in his magic experiments appeared in the boy's mind as a hallucination, smiling broadly and waving from the other side of the river.
This is truly insane!
“Tureina, there are about fifty of them. You handle it.”
“!”
“Those are just goblins. I'll set up a barrier for you, so don't be scared. Just think of it as building practical combat sense. In the future, there will be stronger guys swarming around, and if you can't even handle these, you'll just be in the way.”
Tureina nodded wildly.
Normally, she should have been terrified, but perhaps all her girlish emotions had vanished when the tragedy struck her village.
Thus, the girl came to possess a mental state similar to Lynn's childhood! She was simply happy that an opportunity to be recognized by the boy had arrived!
“Sval, stick with her in case something unexpected happens.”
“Kkyu-uing!”
The goblins rushed at Tureina. Lynn whistled.
Was it because they were on the battlefield? Their equipment was distinctly different from the goblins Lynn had encountered in the north so far… and their movements were perfectly coordinated!
Perhaps they judged Tureina to be a spellcaster, as they weren't charging straight, but moving in a zigzag pattern, varying their approach.
‘What's important for a Battle Mage is not to be intimidated. If you don't have that aptitude, you'll never become a Battle Mage, not even in a hundred days.’
The gorillas of the Mage Tower, especially the Wind series, lacked this talent, and he had experience giving up on teaching them.
No.
Winterwind Riki was too young to be taught combat magic. When I get back, I should try it with him too.
‘Anyway, I'll put up the barrier at the very last moment. When it feels like, "Am I going to die like this?"'
Just then, Tureina suddenly placed her left hand on her face. Had she fainted in fear as the goblins swarmed in? Impossible!
“Hmph, I am, [The Strongest]…”
That expression, that tone of voice, that posture, insane, it was literally Lynn himself, gender-swapped!
“Kkyu-ung…”
Sval, who was sitting on Tureina's head, looked at the girl with extremely sad eyes.
“Kee-ee-eet!”
An attack from one Sand Goblin!
A dagger gleaming with scorpion venom! Even a mere graze there would be fatal!
In response, Tureina clasped her hands together and began to manifest a form of power.
“Osarius-style hand seal, 2nd star. Flame Orb (炎球).”
Flame Orb is a subordinate spell to the 2-3 star magic, Fireball, and it was a spell that could exert considerable power among 1st star fire magic.
Of course, this much is more than enough!
For low-level monsters like goblins, a Flame Orb boasts enough firepower to incinerate them all and still have power left over.
‘The key, however, lies in whether she can maintain composure while forming that hand seal.’
No matter how versatile hand seal magic appears, conventional coordinate calculations are still necessary.
Furthermore, unlike Lynn, who can assemble a single rune with one hand seal based on his prodigious mental arithmetic ability and ‘core hand seals’, Tureina must meticulously draw out runes with ‘basic hand seals’.
To put it simply, Lynn can cast the rune of Flame (炎) with a single hand seal, but Tureina has to create each stroke with hand seals.
‘To use Flame Orb with basic hand seals, did it require about 10 to 15 seals?’
Two things surprised Lynn.
One was the similarity.
The way Tureina meticulously formed hand seals was so similar to himself…
‘The other was her concentration? Her spirit?’
That kid, the Sand Goblins are surrounding her and slashing with their knives, yet she's forming hand seals without even blinking.
“Ha, hahaha, hah…!”
Lynn laughed.
He had no way of knowing that it was the result of the emotion of fear having completely evaporated within her horrific experiences…
‘That kid, she's a perfect hundred-point talent for a Battle Mage!’
The goblins who were approaching, aiming for Lynn's back, couldn't even get within 10 paces and were incinerated into ashes by the lightning sweeping the ground.
“I’m watching a show here, so don’t ruin the atmosphere, you brutes.”
Tureina’s hand seal magic was completed around that time!
When the magic is complete, the magic circle that momentarily spreads light at her feet is the symbol of the Bargante type!
The moment Tureina clasped her hands, a fireball appeared, lighting up the darkness of the night… and enveloped the goblins in front.
“Kie-ee-eekk!”
The goblins shrieked in agony as their flesh and bones charred!
The strength of fire magic lies in its most powerful force among the eight attributes, but Tureina's magic is still weak!
It's impossible to turn them into ashes immediately!
“Next!”
As soon as Lynn's shout was heard, Tureina immediately turned around, and began to form the hand seals for Flame Orb towards the goblins behind her.
‘Oh, the speed of her hand seals is getting faster and faster.’
Lynn felt extreme interest.
He had never encountered such a being other than himself whose learning time was progressing not from years to months… not even days, but in minutes.
Excluding his family at the Mage Tower and the Lysta Party, who were as strong as or stronger than himself, it would be accurate to say Tureina was the first outsider to pique his interest to this degree.
‘Is this what they mean by "the joy of raising someone"? I wondered why people bothered having children, but there was this kind of fun.’
He had no intention of continuing to be fully responsible for raising her… but watching how far she would grow would be quite an interesting experience.
‘To <Elsvarh>, it's half a month at the shortest, a month at the longest… I should teach her everything I can.’
* * *
“More, more is needed…”
The Uruk can originally be described as a collection of individual clans.
Traditions, cultures, and such vary among clans, and even their languages are different.
Among the cruel Six Great Demon Families, the only ones who casually repeat kin-killing are these Uruk.
“To fulfill the mission entrusted to us by Her Majesty the Queen… more souls are needed…”
But look! These Uruk, united as one entity, kneeling before a single altar!
It's not some insignificant tribal federation either.
Are not the tribes belonging to the Uruk's top 21 tribes, the ‘High Tark’, forming the main force?!
There is only one reason why that is possible!
The being currently drawing out the threads of souls with the edge of a scythe on the altar is… an ancient being that far surpasses normal standards!
Its body had not yet fully manifested, and only its eye light (眼光) glowed brilliantly within the raging sandstorm, but it was one of the beings who ruled the old world under the name of the ancient ‘Old Nobility’! Its name is!
“I shall obey your command, Helrkain of Slaughter.”