Chapter 54 – Demon (Part 2)
Clouds of dust and flames whirled as a shockwave rippled through the surroundings.
There was a thunderous boom as the ground shook. Waves of intense heat and air forced everyone to cover their faces.
Wynn laid his body flat on the ground to prevent himself from being blown away by the explosion.
How strong, Eliza marveled as she shielded her face with the sleeves of her robe.
The dust flying through the air prevented her eyes from fully opening, and she struggled to find Leti.
Trying to ignore the stinging in her eyes, she finally caught sight of Leti.
Leti had crouched to weather the oncoming shockwave.
Whenever a spell was invoked, the caster would be surrounded by residual mana, which functioned as a shield, protecting them.
The stronger the spell, the more mana resided, so Leti’s shield should have blocked most of the shockwave.
“Fireball” was one of the most basic offensive spells, but the one Eliza cast couldn’t even compare to the one Leti had just cast.
Despite using a spell far surpassing Eliza’s abilities, Leti didn’t seem tired at all.
If it’s this, even a demon would…
“Awoooooooo!”
Eliza’s thoughts were interrupted by a wolf-like howl.
At the same time, a maroon light pierced through the inferno.
The flames dispersed as smoke rose from where the wolf was last seen.
“No… no way…” stammered Eliza with widened eyes.
“Impossible!” Louis cried out in disbelief.
“Whoa, that was surprising. Didn’t think a strong magician ’d be here.”
Veldaroth had cut through the flames, but smoke still rose from his body.
His right arm had grown by several sizes, maroon light pulsing along its length.
“There was a lotta mana, but I dunno why she used normal flames. Guess she’s still green, eh?”
Eliza ground her teeth when she heard why the demon was unscathed.
The fireball that Leti had cast was the same spell as Eliza’s.
She imagined the spell in exactly the same way as Eliza did, so Leti didn’t channel her mana efficiently into the spell.
As Veldaroth said earlier, Eliza was far from being a first-rate magician.
She was skilled… for an adventurer. Compared to the empire’s knights and court magicians, she was a mere novice.
This was apparent in the Fireball spell she had cast.
For every ten units of mana she used to make the fireball, only two, at most, would enchant the flames.
Two of the remaining eight units were spent casting the spell, and five were used to create normal, unenchanted flames.
The remaining unit became the shield of residual mana.
A magician’s skill depended largely upon their own comprehension, which was expanded by gaining knowledge from arcane grimoires, and experience gained from trial and error.
Senior magicians tended to outperform their juniors because they could enchant more of the flames through their accumulated knowledge and experience.
Unlike most living things and monsters, which could be injured by the ordinary flames, demons were different. Veldaroth could only be affected by two-tenths of the total magic power used for the spell — the two-tenths enchanting the flames.
“More… If only I’d used more mana…” mourned Eliza, consumed by regret.
Since Leti merely mimicked Eliza’s “Fireball”, including its flawed magic composition, the spell was lacking and fell short of its full potential.
“Ya seem more interestin’ than these guys over here.”
Veldaroth turned his bloodthirsty gaze towards Leti.
The adventurers could feel the intense, suffocating pressure.
Leti’s face froze in terror as the bloodthirst focused on her.
She couldn’t make a sound. Her feet trembled, her teeth chattered.
Tears streamed from her eyes and down her pretty porcelain cheeks.
“Hey, show me that spell again. Come play with me.”
“Eek!” Leti could only let out a frightened squeak.
“Sigh… Just a brat. Too scared to even put up a fight. What’s wrong? I wanna see another one a’ those. Or was that the best ya can do? If so… I’m gonna kill ya, yanno?” threatened Veldaroth as he bared his teeth at Leti, who was frozen and pale.
Pointing his right hand at the little girl, he said, “If I can’t play with ya, then I might as well kill ya. If I let ya live, ye’ll grow up to be a real dangerous toy.”
Maroon light gathered at the tip of Veldaroth’s right hand and grew rapidly in size.
“Leti!”
A moment before Veldaroth’s magic blasted Leti’s head to pieces, Wynn darted next to Leti and grabbed her arm.
He ran while dragging her away.
The maroon light missed its mark and struck the ground, sending debris into the air.
Wynn hugged Leti to shield her from the shards that flew towards them.
“Ugh…” Leti heard Wynn groan in the midst of the violent storm of debris.
When the dust finally settled, she opened her eyes and saw the boy hugging her tightly.
“B-big…Brother…?
“Are you okay, Leti?” asked Wynn as blood flowed from his forehead and arms.
“Big Brother…blood…blood is…”
“It’s no big deal. More importantly, were you hurt, Leti?”
Tearfully, Leti shook her head.
She tried to hug him, but Wynn gently pushed her away.
He got up and readied his sword as he moved protectively in front of her.
“How brave of you,” sneered the demon.
“Big Brother!” cried Leti.
Leaving her behind, Wynn circled around Veldaroth.
He moved in a zigzag pattern and appeared to be trying to stab Veldaroth’s torso. Suddenly, he crouched and aimed his attack at the demon’s feet.
However, just before his blade struck, Veldaroth leapt into the air.
Wynn sprang after him and twisted his body in preparation to slash at the airborne demon.
“Huh?”
But Veldaroth had escaped his vision.
“Ya move well, but yer too slow!”
“!?”
As Wynn landed, he tried to quickly turn around.
He saw Veldaroth charging at him.
Wynn tried to brace himself in a defensive stance, but Veldaroth drove his right leg into Wynn’s solar plexus before he could do so.
He flew through the air in an arc. He bounced once, twice, thrice.
“Big brother!”
“Wynn!”
Despite Leti and Paul’s cries, Wynn didn’t stir.
The pale light faded from the fallen sword beside him.
“Ooh, he passed out. Welp, I had fun, so I’ll stop fer today.”
Veldaroth glared at the adventurers.
He held up three fingers and said, “Three days. I’ll give ya that much time. Ye should be able to recover yer mana by then. After that, I’ll kill all of ya, startin’ with that girl, then that avian brat. The great Demon Lord commanded me to slaughter avians whenever I find ‘em. And that girl’s mana is too dangerous to let ‘er live.”
Veldaroth smiled savagely. It almost seemed like his mouth was about to split from how widely he bared his fangs.
“And once I kill those two brats, the rest of ya are next. Ya don’t think ye can run away from a demon like me, do ya? If ya wanna live, get yerselves ready fer me. Won’t that be fun?”
Laughing raucously, Veldaroth effortlessly jumped off the ground.
He disappeared in moments, taking the intense pressure with him.
Not one of the adventurers left behind could move an inch.
“We’re doomed. We can’t beat that… that demon,” Oort sighed as he tied a splint to his broken left arm.
“Neither Eliza’s nor Leti’s magic was able to hurt that monster,” Paul whispered as he cried.
“I didn’t think demons were that strong,” murmured Louis as he stared blankly at the fire.
He had been put out of commission by Veldaroth’s first strike, and he felt more vexed by that fact than he was worried about their chances of beating the demon.
His frustration had grown as he watched Wynn engage the demon.
The boy was currently asleep on Eliza’s lap.
Since she had run out of mana, the places where he had been wounded by pebbles could only be treated with ointment, then bandaged.
Judging by the red stains on the bandage wrapped around his forehead, his wounds must have been very painful.
Leti had cried herself to sleep while clinging onto Wynn.
The adventurers couldn’t return to Simurgh, or even Laura’s house, because the two children were marked for death when Veldaroth returned in three days.
They had no choice but to wait patiently for Leti to wake up and fly them all back.
The adventurers were also exhausted.
“We can’t beat that demon. We have to ask the Knight Order for help.”
“Will the Knight Order act?” asked Eliza.
Demons didn’t recklessly appear on the front lines on a whim.
The true reasons were unknown, but scholars theorized that it was due to their low numbers. Demons avoided dispersing their forces out of fear of being crushed by deities, spirits, or dragons if they did so.
That was why, despite such an overwhelming difference in individual power, humanity had been able to build and maintain a line of defense.
The Demon Lord’s main forces were complete monsters. This was the knowledge humans had acquired over decades of war.
“But we don’t have a choice. They might not listen to us, but they’ll listen to the Adventurers’ Guild.”
“Either way, we’ll have to wait for Lil’ Leti to wake up,” said Louis, bringing the discussion to a close, and they fell silent.
The only sound was the crackling of the fire. They watched quietly as the sparks slowly drifted into the sky.
AN: This arc is takes place in the past, but it’s tied to the present, and it will have a happy ending.
TL note: Magic power is now Mana. I’m now pretty sure that there won’t be multiple magic power-like energies. Also, we have two more chapters in this arc. I’m so sorry for letting this arc get TLed so slowly. Thanks for sticking with me, and sorry for not being a mean green translating machine, and instead being a lazy elephant!