Chapter 34 - Do you concede?

“Here I go.”

“Good luck.”

Mary readied her bow and pulled the string back to its limit. I quickly constructed a series of small mana walls in front of us.

Swoosh!

An arrow of water flew downwards and struck the wall. Moments later, another arrow followed, and within a few seconds, Mary had fired twenty arrows. Because she was firing rapidly and without regard for accuracy, I had to focus on transferring thermal energy to Emilia.

Ever since Carlos-sama and the twins’ serpent familiars were summoned, gathering mana had become increasingly difficult. It already took considerable concentration to maintain a mana wall. As a result, the weapons we held were the only things we could use with relative ease.

Squinting, I noticed the twins flying in front of Carlos-sama, creating a wall of water around them, while the serpents flew towards us. Mary increased her barrage of arrows to suppress them. I also did my best to keep up with her speed.

Cold sweat trickled down my forehead as we watched the serpents evade the arrows. Though only two minutes had passed in reality, for Mary and me, those minutes felt like an eternity. I quickly adjusted our tactics, altering the mana walls so that they would split Mary’s arrows into smaller pieces, thereby weakening their attack. This adjustment was just enough to keep the serpents at bay.

“Lumina-sama, please get away!”

Emilia, who had been receiving thermal energy from me and the surroundings, shouted at us. Mary and I quickly separated, halting our barrage. An instant later, a fireball with a circumference of about 20 meters flew between us. I created five layers of mana walls in front of the fireball. As it passed through these walls, the fireball’s color changed to pale blue, and its speed dramatically increased, leaving streams of orange flares in its wake.

These walls were used to coat the fireball with high-density oxygen, significantly boosting its heat.

Seeing the fireball, a great sense of satisfaction washed over me as it headed toward the two tigers.

“What!?”

The three of us exclaimed as the two serpents flew in front of the fireball and unleashed a stream of water when it was about 50 meters away. As the fireball collided with the water, thick clouds of steam billowed upwards as the water evaporated from the heat. This clash continued for a few seconds until the water extinguished the fireball.

“…”

I was left speechless by what had occurred.

“… I forgot… if the tigers could use magic, the serpents should have been able to use it as well.”

I bit my lip as I stared at the familiars.

“Those things really are overpowered…”

“Lumina-sama…”

Emilia called out to me with a worried voice. When I looked behind, I noticed that the clouds had turned dark, and streaks of lightning were visible if you looked closely.

“Run away!”

Thanks to my warning, Emilia narrowly avoided a lightning strike. However, Mary wasn’t so fortunate. She was struck by a bolt of lightning and began falling from the sky. Thankfully, Vertical Rolls quickly flew toward her and caught her.

“Only two of you remain.”

Carlos-sama’s voice suddenly boomed from below.

“Do you concede?”

I scowled at him and replied, “And get framed? No, thank you.”

“Fine then.”

Carlos-sama raised one of his hands, and the dark clouds began converging. Emilia and I quickly separated and flew downward to escape the lightning bolts from the sky. As a result, we were now being chased by the twins and their serpents.

“We need to quickly turn the tables…”

We couldn’t concentrate mana to create new weapons. If we created a mana ball and shot it at them, it would only be absorbed by their magic and disappear before it reached them. They could cast numerous powerful spells, and their defenses against null element magic were nearly perfect.

“But how?”

“There must be a way… if only they weren’t relentlessly firing magic at us, we might have had time to devise some countermeasures.”

Despite the intense onslaught, we managed to communicate and plan through the mana screens.

As I narrowly dodged a lightning strike, an idea came to mind.

“Mana is used to control lightning, right?”

“… Lumina-sama… Don’t tell me.”

Emilia had a worried expression as she guessed what I was thinking.

“Well, we’re bound to get hit sooner or later. If this idea fails, we lose, but if it succeeds, we might have a chance.”

Emilia sighed and nodded. I quickly ascended into the sky, enveloping my body with as much mana as I could.

“You fool!”

The instant Carlos-sama shouted, I was struck by five bolts of lightning.

“Kuh—!”

The mana surrounding my body crackled as it resisted the lightning. I quickly layered more mana over the lightning and enveloped it. Though it was painful, I managed to gain control of the lightning and directed it towards the serpent chasing Emilia.

“GuraAaaA!”

Caught off guard, the serpent was struck by the lightning and roared in pain before crashing to the ground.

“Haa… Haa… It… worked… haa…”

“What!?”

The people below screamed in shock with wide eyes. Emilia created a mana screen beside me and asked, “Are you okay, Lumina-sama!?”

“I’m fine… haha… I managed to make it work… though it’s quite painful…”

This idea was inspired by the ethereal weapons that could disrupt a magician’s control of their magic if it was from the same element. I theorized that because the weapon was made of mana, if it came into contact with magic of the same element, the concentrated mana inside the weapon would overpower the magician’s mana and seize control. Though it was just a hypothesis, my experiment had confirmed it.

As long as I surrounded my body with mana, I could steal control of the lightning upon contact… though it was quite painful.

Carlos-sama, recovering from his shock, fired another lightning bolt at me. I quickly covered my arm with mana and caught the bolt.

While it was challenging to concentrate external mana, combining it with a bit of my internal mana allowed me to control the magic.

“What!?”

Carlos-sama’s eyes widened as he saw me holding a ball of lightning. I smiled and shot it at one of the tigers, but it was evaded.

“I guess this is the start of our counterattack.”

I landed on the ground, assumed a stance with my ice sword, and faced the two tigers. I charged at them. One of the tigers pounced, covering itself in lightning. I concentrated mana into my sword and parried one of its paws, then seized control of the tiger’s lightning and shocked it.

The twins launched a stream of water at me, but the moment it touched my ice sword, it turned into ice. I slapped the ice, shattering it, and used magic to send the shards flying towards them.

As I charged toward the other tiger, I explained the theory behind this to Emilia. She looked hesitant but nodded. She then stopped floating and extended one hand to the stream of water fired by the last serpent.

Fwoosh!

When the water touched her hand, it turned into steam and evaporated. She swung her sword at the serpent, but its scales were too tough to cut through.

“Fuuu… this takes care of the tigers.”

I stepped on the last unconscious tiger, wiping the sweat from my forehead. Since they were just animals, they were predictable. When the second tiger charged, it still covered itself in lightning, and it was electrocuted just like the first.

I looked up at the sky and saw Emilia struggling with the serpent, which wasn’t using magic, making it difficult for her.

“Your familiars are down; you’re next.”

“Don’t get too cocky!”

Carlos-sama raised his hand to the sky, and twelve bolts of lightning descended towards me. I raised my sword, covering it in mana. As the bolts struck, they were absorbed by the sword. With a flick of my wrist, I redirected the lightning towards him.

The twins quickly created a wall of water around them to block the lightning. Though I wasn’t sure why, the water they used was able to resist the redirected lightning.

I smiled as I leaped into the sky, leaving blue ripples behind me. While they were under a barrage of lightning, I drove my sword into their barrier and froze it. The twins were encapsulated in ice.

Brandishing my sword in front of Carlos-sama, I asked with a smile, “Do you concede?”

His face contorted in frustration as he raised his arms and said, “I… concede.”