Chapter 79

"Voooooo!"

The ghoul roared.

It seemed to be angry about its dwelling being disturbed. Although it disliked the light of 'Sunlight,' it didn't seem to be taking much damage, and its anger was greater.

Rin and Silfa stood in front of the approaching ghoul.

"Step back, Lloyd!"

"Leave this to us."

Hmm, I'll let these two fight.

There's something I want to test, too.

"Then, both of you, use this."

I handed them swords of light created by 'Light Weapon.'

Silfa's was a longsword, and Rin's were short swords, both dual-wielding.

"This... is a magical sword? You can do such things?"

"Wow, this sword is really light. And it's hard, too."

"It's one of the holy magic spells. I want to see how useful it is in actual combat."

"Understood. Let's go, Rin."

"Okay!"

Silfa and Rin both readied their swords and approached the ghoul.

"Shaaaaa!"

"Whoa!"

The ghoul swung its sharp claws, but Rin easily dodged.

"You shouldn't dodge, Rin."

"Huh!?"

Surprised by the sudden criticism, Rin's eyes widened.

"If you dodge, the experiment with the sword won't work. Test its strength by blocking. ...Like this."

Silfa demonstrated by blocking the ghoul's attack with the sword of light.

With a 'snap,' the claw that touched the sword was cut off.

"Voooooaa!?"

"Great sharpness. The strength is sufficient. What a wonderful sword, Master Lloyd."

"That's good to hear."

With Silfa's approval, it seems there should be no problem using it.

Looking at the cross-section of the ghoul's claw, there was a slightly burned mark.

I burned the slime earlier, so it seems holy magic generates intense heat.

"I see, you want to know what this sword of light can do, huh?"

Rin nodded, watching Silfa's fighting style.

"Right! Then, what if I add my poison to the sword? I want to see what happens."

"Can you do that?"

"Probably. I'll try."

Rin focused, and a black mist appeared in her palm.

It was absorbed by the sword of light, which then turned blue.

"Wow, Rin. You can control your abilities to this extent now!"

"Hehe, thanks to Lloyd!"

Rin proudly puffed out her chest.

The sword of light is a clump of magic created by 'Light Weapon.'

Therefore, by mixing other types of magic, it can take on different forms.

Indeed, this could be considered a form of composite magic.

It makes sense that similar phenomena can occur by directly mixing magic powers without being bound by incantations or spell formulas.

This is a flexible idea that only someone who isn't a mage could come up with.

But it shouldn't be as easy as it sounds.

Without a deep understanding of one's own abilities, it would be impossible to mix already materialized magic.

It seems the daily lessons on spell formulas and ability control have paid off. Impressive, indeed.

"Then, I'll attack... Hyaah!"

Rin's slash hit the ghoul.

The ghoul was knocked back, but it didn't seem to be very effective.

"Huh? It cut just now...?"

"Rin's poison mixed in, clouding the holy magic."

While other magic may be different, holy magic has significant restrictions.

Such magic is very delicate, and its effectiveness can drastically decrease with even minor alterations to the spell formula.

The purification effect of holy magic was not fully utilized due to the mixture of Rin's poison, and it failed to deal sufficient damage to the ghoul.

"Ugh, it's not working..."

"No, thanks to you, I had an interesting idea."

Saying that, I manifested a sword of light with 'Light Weapon.'

As I infused it with my magic, the sword turned purple.

"The same as before...? But Master Lloyd, won't this be the same as what happened to Rin?"

"Just watch."

I thrust the purple sword into the ghoul.

Cracks spread from the point of impact.

"Ga... ah...!?"

While emitting a pained cry, the ghoul crumbled like dried earth.

"Huh? Why...?"

"I only synthesized the characteristic of poison magic."

Magic has various characteristics.

Fire spreads, ice cools and solidifies, wind moves rapidly over a wide area, and poison gradually spreads from the affected area to the entire body.

I extracted this characteristic and applied it to the sword of light.

This way, it wouldn't interfere with the properties of holy magic.

"Hmm... So, it's like a holy attribute poison, perhaps. I must admit, the versatility of human magic is truly remarkable... No, it's probably just Master Lloyd's incredible talent... Holy magic was created by the gods to gain an advantage against the demon world. While it is very powerful against us, it hasn't evolved much because no one has used it creatively. But if Lloyd is allowed to experiment freely, it could make tremendous progress... If the information about the evolved holy magic is brought back to the heavens, the demons will be in a panic. Well, it won't matter to me once I take over this body."

Jiriel and Grimo were muttering something.

In any case, it seems there are different ways to use holy magic.

"Oon! Oon!"

In the distance, Shiro's cry could be heard.

Oh, it seems she's driving more monsters this way.

"Hmm? That's strange..."

Feeling a sense of unease, I waited for whatever came out of the tunnel.

But what emerged was not a rat, but Shiro.

What's going on?

My question was answered in the next moment.

"Voooooaa!"

What emerged was a group of ghouls.

"There were reports of ghouls in the city. This means there are a considerable number in the sewers."

"There might be even more!?"

Surrounded by a large number of ghouls, the two of them slowly backed away.

While I'm happy to have more test subjects, it might be a bit dangerous.

I can't use large-scale attack magic with Silfa around, and if we fight normally, the 'Gentle Breeze Barrier' might be broken.

If that happens—my clothes will get dirty. I want to avoid that.

I need to think about how to fight.

"Oh, why are Lloyd and the others here?"

As I was thinking about this, a voice came from one of the tunnels.

Peeking out was Tao.