Chapter 25: Demons and the Flame Knights

Luke’s Side…

“This is bad.”

A horde of Maho Gnomes currently surrounds Luna and me. These demons walk on fours and have horns on their heads. Picture a rhinoceros, and you got it.

Another peculiar characteristic of Maho Gnomes is that magic doesn’t affect them that much. Only advanced-level magic will inflict damage on these fiends. Normally, their opponents should be those swordsmen and knights.

Supposed to be there are only very few of them living here at Steel Forest since they are B-rank demons. For some reason that is only known to these guys, they’re moving in a crowd, and before I noticed it, they already surrounded us.

By the way, Maho Gnomes don’t pose a threat to swordsmen since they can subdue these monsters without difficulty, that’s why they are ranked B. When they meet magicians, it’s a different story—their danger level jumps to rank A.

Well, it doesn’t apply to me, though, since my Grandpa’s a Sage.

If it’s just one on one then…

There were 10 Maho Gnomes before my eyes.

Tough spot.

With [Ultimate Thunder], I can blast all of them off in one hit, no sweat, but the damage to Steel Forest would be too great. If I can, I want to avoid that.

That’s what I wanna say, but the truth is I’m not dexterous enough to fire high-level attacks and defeat each of them within a narrow range. Also, my mana is insufficient.

Is it possible for Luna to cast Auxiliary Magic on me so I can defeat them with intermediate-level magic?

“L, Luke, will we fight? Or should we run instead?”

Oops, I made Luna worry.

“Nah, it’s okay, I think we’ll probably win. Don’t worry, I vow on my name as the Sage’s grandson. I’ll definitely protect Luna. But just in case, ready the whistle Teacher gave us, will ya.”

“Y, Yes! I got it!”

Have to be cool in front of Luna. As I was thinking this—

"!?"

I could feel an enormous magical power approaching. It was enough to give me goosebumps.

“Something’s coming!”

“Yeah…this is awful.”

Something stronger than Teacher Tina is headed this way. It has a different wavelength with Teacher Tina’s magic, so most probably, it’s not her trying to rescue us.

If _tha_t is an enemy, there’s no guarantee we will win even if I gave my all. I thought I'd try to somehow defeat a portion of the Maho Gnomes horde, but it seems that thing will be here in no time.

Suddenly it appeared.

A knight shrouded in blazing fire.

The flaming knight glanced at Luna and me, as well as the Maho Gnomes. Then he suddenly threw the spear he was holding!

"!"

Something scorching hot passed us with ultra-speed.

I whipped around, and I saw all those Maho Gnomes burning up. The Maho Gnomes’ epidermis, known as being highly resistant to magic, was pierced by the knight’s fire lance as if it was butter.

THIS IS REALLY BAD!!!! That guy’s too strong!!

Wait, calm down, I need to find its weak spot and escape. But the flaming knight doesn’t have any gaps at all.

I couldn’t even blink when that spear passed us. If that attack was directed to us—just thinking about it caused a chill to run down my spine!

Wait, isn’t now the perfect time, since he just threw that spear?

Enraged because of their slain comrades, the Maho Gnomes ignored us and attacked the flaming knight all at once. He gripped a new spear in his hand.

A Maho Gnome almost succeeded in piercing the knight, but he was faster, and the demon flared up instead when the spear stabbed it.

Another Maho Gnome stood on its hind legs and tried to overturn the knight, but it was stopped by the knight’s other hand.

The demon started burning from the place where it was held. The knight threw the blazing demon toward the other Maho Gnomes.

The demon, which weighed a few tons, flew at breakneck speed. It collided with the other Gnomes, and all of them combusted. Several Maho Gnomes, which took a direct hit, were killed immediately, and those that did not die also started to burn up because the flames began to spread throughout their bodies. They tried to roll around the ground, but the fire didn’t ease up. In just a few moments, those Maho Gnomes stopped moving.

Only one demon remained.

When it realized it would never win against the knight, it turned back and fled—right toward us!

“Oh, no!!!”

I don’t have enough time to summon magic to kill the beast. I grabbed Luna, shielded her with my body, and I placed a magical barrier before us.

However, the hastily made barrier didn’t stand a chance. In a blink of an eye, the demon crushed it with its horn.

I hurriedly reinforced my defense power to its limit by using Body Strengthening Magic and prepared to take on the damage.

Can I withstand it!?

No matter how long I waited, no impact came.

I heard a muffled thud, and something fell to the ground.

Terrified, I turned around. The Maho Gnome that was rushing toward us was stabbed by the flaming knight, and it was already dead.

The one who defeated this Maho Gnome was a separate guy.

Right now, there were two flaming knights before us.

It’s over… There’s no way we can win against these monsters.

“Luna, I’ll buy you some time, so hurry and run away, okay?”

Even if I don’t stand a chance, I can at least try to let my classmate escape.

“B, but…”

Luna tried to use the whistle handed to us by Tina.

It’s useless.

This flaming knight holds magical power that is definitely way above Teacher Tina’s level—and there are two of them!

I don’t think the Grendale Kingdom has the military strength to oppose these guys. There’s a possibility that they’re on par with Halt?

His potential is limitless, after all.

Hm?

Speaking of which, these flaming knights’ magic is somewhat similar to the wavelength of Halt's magical power...

“Eh?”

The blazing knights turned their back on us and galloped toward the inner woods.

“W, we were saved?”

“Yeah... Looks like it.”

“I’m truly relieved…”

Luna flopped to the ground. I’m really sorry she had to experience such trauma while with me.

Even so, I can’t shake off the feeling that those knights’ magic was Halt’s—

“No way.”

I can’t help but connect those magical beings’ disastrous power to that of my friend.