Chapter 22

The white light subsides.

In my field of vision, the ground is gouged out, with a trail of destruction extending about 5 meters.

The large tree behind the men who surrounded me is burned at the roots and collapses with a loud crash.

In the distance, there are two Rank 2s, including my senior whose right shoulder is burned off. A terrifying amount of blue light erupts from them. The loss of their protection causes the two Rank 2s to kneel.

Good. My control is still a bit loose right now. It’s lucky that I didn’t kill them.

Of course, I could have killed them. I cast this magic with the resolve to do so.

"Senior, didn’t I tell you? I held back in that situation. If I won so easily, it wouldn’t be fair to the audience, would it? It wouldn’t be fun to watch."

I grin, looking as if I have a bad character.

"Wh-what, are you still going to do it? Look, those seniors over there. Actually, this is a magic I’m still practicing, so I can’t control it well. Do you know? If more than half of your body is destroyed at once, the protection won’t work. What do you think would happen if my magic hit you directly?"

I gently point my hand at the three remaining unharmed Rank 1s, as if to say I can activate the magic at any time.

"Ah, ahhhh"

"That’s not a Rank 1 magic"

"Run, run"

The three unharmed ones left, abandoning the two injured Rank 2s.

"You, you—"

The senior who fought me in the entrance exam finally recovers enough to speak and looks up at me. The other Rank 2, who recovered faster, has already fled. It seems he is strong enough to understand how dangerous and inhuman my magic is.

"I’ve been thinking, Senior, you’re too soft."

I kick him in the chin. Since I kicked him while he was on his knees, his head hits the ground in a ridiculous posture.

In the case of healing with protection, the loss of a body part consumes the most. Losing just the right shoulder takes about 20% of the protection. The senior, who had his protection nearly depleted in the entrance exam, should have recovered no more than 30% at most. With only 10% of protection left, he can’t move properly.

I grab the senior by the collar and lean in close, glaring at him.

"If you want to take me on, now isn’t the time. You should have targeted me immediately after that battle, when my magic power and protection hadn’t recovered yet. Waiting for me to recover is a foolish thing to do."

I grab his hair and force him to face me, then point a knife, not mithril but one I bought in town, at his eyes. After all, I used all my magic power in just one [Spatial Destruction] and don’t have enough left for [Mithril Refinement].

"So, you end up with your eyes gouged out again."

I press the knife against the surface of his retina. For a senior whose abilities have dropped to the level of a regular person, this is a sufficient threat.

"Ah, ah, stop, stop"

The senior, perhaps reliving the trauma of being impaled by a spear, makes a pitiful sound and wets his pants.

"Just kidding. But I should warn you. There won’t be a next time. Next time, I’ll really gouge out your eyes. Do you know? If you receive an injury while you have protection, it will heal when the protection recovers. But if you lose a part of your body while you don’t have protection, it won’t heal even if the protection returns."

Because the brain will consider the state of the missing part as normal.

That’s why explorers never explore without protection.

"Ah, no, no,"

"Stay away from us. Got it!"

"Yes, yes! I understand, please forgive me!"

I nod without changing my expression, release the collar, and push the senior away.

"Go ahead, you can run, Senior."

"Ah, aaaaaaah"

When I say that, the senior, still on all fours, stumbles and runs away.

I walk with determination, trying not to stagger. I act as if nothing is wrong.

Somehow, I make it to the shadow of a building.

"Damn"

I can’t stand anymore, so I sit down and lean against the wall.

"Ha, with this body, this level of magic is my limit. It’s laughable."

[Spatial Destruction] is the last magic I created in my original world.

It crushes space itself, causing overwhelming destruction through its restorative power.

The attack power is outstanding compared to the magic power consumption.

However, the number of steps in the magic formula is high, and the control is difficult.

To reduce the processing load, I decreased the effect range and fixed the coordinates, which simplified the control but reduced the magic power concentration. Despite various efforts to lighten the load, it’s still tough.

"My head feels like it’s splitting."

A magic of this level is too much for a Rank 1 with mid-level computational ability.

In fact, it took a total of 78 seconds from running the magic formula to the calculation.

If there hadn’t been time to talk, I would have been cut down before the magic activated.

Of course, during the entrance exam, I wouldn’t have had the chance to use it. Today, the fact that they were overconfident with five people was fortunate for me.

"It’s cold."

My magic power is completely drained.

Even efficient magic is too much for me right now.

I needed to release 90% of my total magic power at once.

I removed the brain’s limiter to temporarily increase the maximum magic power output, but the backlash is also affecting me.

Blue particles are rising from my body, evidence of the protection’s healing.

To make the magic calculation lighter, I abandoned the step to reduce the backlash.

The damage from the senior’s attack during the entrance exam, when my protection hadn’t fully recovered, was enough to corner me.

"…Really, I want to get stronger quickly. I’m too weak like this. I can’t protect anything."

This body has the best talent.

And I have a wealth of advanced magic knowledge, at least 300 years ahead of this world.

Still, I’m just a Rank 1 right now.

I can’t use various magics properly because my magic power capacity and computational ability haven’t caught up.

At least, if I could reach Rank 2, I would have more usable magics.

That’s why I had to bluff against those opponents.

If I had fought them properly, I would have killed one of the Rank 2s with [Spatial Destruction] and then been beaten to death by the remaining four.

"Quickly, I need to dive into the underground labyrinth and get magic stones."

The number of enemies will only increase from now on. I need the power to repel them. Otherwise, there’s no point in me coming here. Especially if I want to save them for real, I need to get stronger as soon as possible.

In this world, weakness is a sin.

"The sky is so far away."

I look up at the distant sky.

My overworked brain is screaming for rest.

I close my eyes, letting the fatigue take over.

This level of damage should heal with a 15-minute nap.

As I close my eyes, the image of a girl looking down at me appears.

A girl with brown bob hair and bright emerald eyes.