Chapter 177 - The Wrath of the Strongest Sage

“It seems… it’ll be a disaster.”

Mana spread throughout the entire Holy City, enough to make the air around them quiver. They could sense fury emanating from that mana.

“Youko, by any chance, is this—”

“Yeah. It’s Master’s mana.”

“A-are you saying that this mana, which can cause the air to tremble, belongs to Halt alone?”

“Probably. I’m not sure why Master is so angry to this extent, but there’s no need to evacuate the citizens.”

Youko and Luna accompanied Seira as her guards to help her evacuate the residents of the Holy City.

The Holy Barrier came back while they were in the middle of this task, so they had been wondering whether to continue.

They planned to evacuate the citizens to the eastern side of the city, opposite the western side attacked by the monster army, but—

Since the Holy Barrier was up again, it would be safer for them to stay within the city rather than escape outside.

In the first place, they were evacuating because the warlocks and monsters had started their invasion of the Holy City before Halt returned.

Halt was back, so there was no need to run away from the Holy City.

The safest place was right where he was.

“I still can’t believe that he managed to fix the Holy Barrier, but this amount of mana for a single person…”

“This much isn’t a big deal for Master.”

“Yes, it’s Halt, after all.”

“Ahm, pardon me, I know it’s strange to ask this from you two, but Lord Halt was the Guardian Hero who saved the world previously, right?”

“I’m not really sure about the details, but yeah, that’s true.”

“Halt was apparently teleported to this world by the Creator God before. The one you met long ago must be that Haruto.”

Halt’s entire family knew all about the story of him being teleported as the Hero and his activities at that time. They also knew that he had been transmigrated into the body of a five-year-old boy and was currently living here as Halt.

However, Youko soon lost interest in the transmigration and teleportation stuff. She fell asleep in the middle of the story, so she couldn’t answer Seira’s questions.

And so, Luna was the one who explained the details to Seira in place of Youko.

“At any rate, Master is already here, so this place is safe now.”

“I agree. Still—”

“I don’t understand why Master is so angry to this extent. Tina and Merdie already went there to stop the monsters from advancing, and I don’t think they’re going to lose to that level of demon and his warlock subordinates.”

Youko gently stroked Halt’s mana, which was drifting all around them. As a Nine-tailed Fox, she could not only suck mana from others but also read emotions by touching a person’s mana.

Halt’s mana was—

Filled with regret and rage.

“Really, what on earth happened….”

──＊＊＊──

Until the Holy Barrier was fixed, Mai and Mei continued attacking the monsters flying above the western wall.

Both of them were spirits, so soaring in the skies was just a piece of cake. Moreover, they had already reached the level of Spirit Kings, so these monsters were no match for them.

A few seconds after the Holy Barrier was fixed—

“—!?”

“M-Mei, did you feel it?”

“Yup. Halt-sama is angry.”

Both of them were flying just outside the Holy Barrier, but Halt’s mana still transmitted to them.

“How about Teacher Tina?”

“Safe.”

“‘Merdie?”

“Safe.”

Tina and Merdie were on the ground, waging war against the rest of the thousand monsters.

“Then, why?”

“I don’t know. But… I don’t like this one bit.”

“Yup. What angered Halt-sama so much?”

“Hmm…”

“The demon, probably?” (Both)

“Yes, probably.”

“Will Halt-sama’s mood improve if we annihilate that demon?”

“Destroy?”

“Yup, destroy.”

All the flying monsters had been exterminated.

The two of them were about to move toward the rear of the great army of monsters—well, the number of monsters had already been halved, thanks to Tina and Merdie—where they could sense the mana that seemed to belong to the demon.

“Bastards, how dare you do that to my monster underlings—”

A warlock appeared before Mai and Mei.

The warlock was furious that every single one of his flying monster subordinates had been killed.

“You’re in the way.”

“Ugh!?”

The warlock’s right hand was slashed off by an ice blade, while his left hand turned to ashes, consumed by fire.

“It’s been a while. Let’s use that?”

“Yup. Let’s do it.”

The two spirits joined their hands.

“Unison Ray!!”

It was the fusion of mana with contradicting attributes.

Normally, it wasn’t possible for this magic to exist, but because the spirits controlled them and forced them to blend, the magic was activated.

The burning ice took on the shape of a dragon and attacked the demon.

The instant the dragon touched the warlock—

A huge explosion occurred, almost enough to swallow the ground.

Using their magic, these two had already obliterated some Maho Gnomes—monsters said to be highly resistant to magic—back when they were just mid-level spirits.

Now, as Spirit Kings, they had completely mastered the fusion, causing destruction far beyond what they had imagined.

The warlock who had been hit directly vanished in an instant.

The Holy Barrier managed to endure, somehow.

As for the monsters—every single one of them had been completely obliterated.

──＊＊＊──

“T-this is!? Merdie, come here!!”

Tina hastily called out to Merdie as soon as she felt the sudden surge of an unbelievable amount of mana.

Merdie jumped into Tina’s embrace.

At the same time, Tina cast multiple layers of magic, piling them together to form a protective barrier.

Right after that—

A huge explosion blasted everything around them.

The monsters and terrain were blown away.

Those monsters crumbled until they could no longer be distinguished from the rocks and stones around them.

Tina and Merdie witnessed this from within the transparent magical barrier.

It was a close call.

—No, Tina’s magical barrier had not been enough to withstand the explosion on its own.

Flaming knights emerged from the bracelets that Tina and Merdie wore, piling themselves on top of the magical barrier that Tina had created to protect them.

Halt was the one who had given those bracelets to them, handing one to each of his family members.

“This is... Mai and Mei’s work.”

“A-are they planning to kill us, meow!?”

“I sensed Halt-sama’s mana just before. It was sharp and cold, and it seemed like he was furious about something based on that mana. It probably affected those girls because of their summoning contracts with Halt-sama.”

The explosions died down after a few seconds.

All one thousand monsters had vanished without a single trace.