Chapter 58

It was late, and I apologize for that.

... I might get a scolding, but...

The sand-packed cannonballs, the large spheres of seawater, and the massive blocks of compressed air exploded against the earthen wall, turning it into rubble in an instant. This was not a simultaneous attack, but merely a concentrated barrage of various elemental magic. However, even with the earthen wall compressed and frozen by Zou and Yuki, it could not withstand the concentrated attack of mid-level elemental magic, which had been sufficiently imagined and charged with mana.

The classification of elemental magic is not that strict. The first, second, and third-grade magic classifications are legal categories and differ from the academic classifications of elemental magic. In the textbooks of elemental magic, there are basic "forms" like "Wind Block" and "Earth Spike" for educational convenience, but there are no "forms" in true elemental magic. As long as a clear image is conveyed to the spirit and mana is provided, the magic can be cast. However, this makes classification difficult.

Life magic for lighting and drinking water is the most basic and is not classified. Small-scale magic targeting a single person is classified as low-level elemental magic. Medium-scale magic targeting multiple people is classified as mid-level elemental magic. Large-scale magic targeting over a dozen people is classified as high-level elemental magic. And the highest-level magic, which can be cast under special conditions, is aimed at indiscriminate large-scale annihilation targeting hundreds of people.

This classification is quite rough, but since the power and effects of magic cannot be quantified, and it is unknown how spirits calculate the required mana based on the image and transmission efficiency, this level of classification is the limit. The first, second, and third-grade magic classifications are legal categories and are only distinguished by lethal and non-lethal effects. In some cases, even low-level magic is not allowed in the city.

In front of Zou, the residue of earth elemental magic, fine sand, was floating like smoke but soon mixed with the rain. Immediately after the earthen wall was shattered, Yuki had already flown out of the scene. Zou had asked her in advance to capture someone who seemed to be in charge. Yobi also, at the same time as Yuki, flew up above Zou's head, perched on a branch, and held his breath in the darkness. Everything went according to plan.

After withstanding the concentrated barrage, Zou was finally spotted, and low-level magic like rain needles, small air blocks, and sand spikes swarmed towards him. The surroundings were dark, with rain pouring down and no moon, making it a pitch-black night. The darkness hid the attackers, and various sizes of sand and rain fell from unseen sources, but they did not reach Zou.

Zou held a magic gun in his right hand and a magic book in his left, walking out onto the sandy beach. If you looked closely, a transparent ice sphere surrounded Zou, blocking the elemental magic. Even if the ice sphere were breached, there was an autonomous magic barrier inside. Despite the sudden situation, the defense was fully deployed.

It was a sudden but well-executed defense. While the magic flew around him, Zou felt a sense of accomplishment and received sensory information from the shadow spirits. Ten light points appeared on a pitch-black map in his mind. Regardless of the shadow spirits, the perception of spirits was always like this. Spirits do not know the metric or imperial systems, and humans can only feel what the spirits convey. Furthermore, spirits do not recognize humans or species in detail, just as humans cannot distinguish between flies of the same species, and can only recognize all humanoid life forms.

In such a state, it is rare for elemental magic to hit its target. If the perceiving spirit and the attacking spirit are of different types, the spirit may confuse the target, reducing the hit rate and possibly causing friendly fire, while also consuming more mana and reducing the magic's power. If the information perceived by a certain spirit is used to attack with a spirit of the same type, the hit rate does not decrease, but the farther the target, the more mana is consumed, and the power of the magic decreases.

Originally, the shadow spirits Zou used did not have attack capabilities. Then, he could use wind or earth spirits to perceive, but Zou's perception range was limited, and his image transmission and mana efficiency were reduced. Earth spirits were not a problem, but they could not connect to Zou's decisive shadow magic. This was also true for wind spirits.

Therefore, Zou had to confirm the attack target with one of his five senses. In the current situation, Zou could only defend. However, this was no problem for Zou. He opened the magic book he held, maintaining the ice sphere while secretly deploying shadow and autonomous magic in the pitch-black darkness.

The attackers were anxious. They thought it would be an easy job to deal with the "Bat-type Beastman" and the "Eight-Star" hunter. They even thought it was a bargain if it cleared their debts.

But they had withstood the concentrated barrage of mid-level magic they had prepared. Moreover, the northerner walked out onto the sandy beach alone, using ice spirits, which should not exist here, to create a wall. No matter how many sand arrows, rain arrows, or air blocks they shot, the wall did not budge.

They regretted not being able to use fire spirits. Even if fire spirits could penetrate ice, it was difficult to generate enough firepower to break the ice wall in such heavy rain. The ice spirits, which were as good at defense as earth spirits, had an unusually strong defense.

The northerner stopped. The attackers, being beastmen, could clearly see him even in the dark, rainy night. If elemental magic did not work, they would break through it. They gave a small, whispered signal. This was enough for the beastmen.

They charged, their bodies strengthened, and kicked the sandy ground. But just a few steps before the spherical ice, they were caught by the sand, which had turned into mud and was slowly flowing. The other companions were also caught. But this was just a matter of force. If they knew the ground was like this, they would not be caught again.

Kicking the mud, they struck the ice with their axes. The axes penetrated the ice. But only five of them, including himself, managed to do so. Looking around, four were unconscious, and one had his head crushed and was dead.

What happened? But the five strikes should have hit. Suddenly, he saw the axes being absorbed by the ice, which was repairing itself. He pulled the axes out with force and struck again. Suddenly, his vision turned pitch-black. But the ice was right in front of him. There was no need to scatter the darkness with light magic. He just needed to strike with force. But no matter how many times he broke the ice, it kept repairing itself. The axes that penetrated the ice were stopped by an invisible barrier on the other side and did not reach the northerner.

Listening carefully, he heard nothing but the rain. He was the only one attacking the ice. He had no idea what was happening. Suddenly, he heard three sounds like air bursting, and the life barrier was breached. Almost simultaneously, a dull blow hit his stomach. The blow, though crude, penetrated his leather armor and his muscle, which had been strengthened multiple times, and had the force to blow him away.

But he braced himself, preventing his body from being carried away. At the only wound, something was thrust in with perfect accuracy. The interval between the blow and the thrust was so short that there was no time to avoid it.

The moment it was thrust in, a numbness spread throughout his body, and he realized it was magic poison. But his mana was almost depleted from the initial mid-level elemental magic, the subsequent elemental magic, and the strengthening. This was wrong. Which "Eight-Star" species could use ice spirits in a place where there were no ice spirits, with such abnormal defense and mysterious attacks, and even use magic poison?

But he had no time to curse the world. His consciousness sank into the darkness.

Zou repelled all the attackers but was prepared for any contingency. Yuki had not returned, and there might still be assassins from Hayato's party that his perception could not detect. However, Zou felt that the current attackers were not particularly skilled.

He had been desperately casting magic, expecting to be overwhelmed at any moment, but he managed to suppress them without breaking all the defenses. Zou might have underestimated the attackers because he had been thinking of a hero. He had prepared as much as possible, assuming a hero-level threat.

Yuki chose a "fun" campsite, considering Zou's unfamiliarity with the jungle, to avoid a chaotic battle in the jungle. The back and sides were dense jungle, making it difficult to attack, while the sandy beach in front was the easiest to attack.

The large attack that destroyed the frozen earth hut also came from the sandy beach. There was a frozen earth hut on the jungle side, and the ground was filled with small earth spikes with "Thousand Changes Poison" attached, created by earth elemental magic.

Above, the web of the giant thorn spider was spread, and any attackers from above would be caught. The actual attackers came from the sandy beach, as Yuki had anticipated. Zou used the flowing mud and sand to slow down the attackers' mobility and then used more mud and sand to trap their feet when they tried to break through by force.

This significantly reduced their mobility. The area of flowing mud and sand was also within the range of autonomous magic. Zou, though he could not see, could deploy a shadow magic array above the attackers' heads at this distance using shadow elemental magic.

While deploying the shadow magic array, Zou cast "Shadow Blind" on the attackers. The night darkness swayed like smoke, covering the attackers' vision. "Shadow Blind" is a shadow elemental magic that covers the enemy's eyes with darkness, making even the night vision of beastmen ineffective. During the day, it would naturally be dispelled by sunlight, and at night, it could be easily dispelled by low-aptitude beastmen using light elemental magic.

But they had to use light elemental magic. As expected, Zou used "Mana Release" to knock out four attackers who tried to dispel the darkness. "Mana Release" can only be cast on one person at a time, so Zou created time by casting mud and sand, and "Shadow Blind" repeatedly.

Meanwhile, Yobi used echolocation to confirm the attackers' positions and dropped star spheres from above. With star spheres and transparent claw