Chapter 12

Chapter 12 Strongest Sage, Hit Upon a Good Idea

Biffgel who's forced the poor populace to accompany him triumphantly walks toward the forest behind a villager with the best physique while the other villagers are surrounding him .

My brother Reich is on the farthest back .

I wonder if he's an insurance for Biffgel to push the responsibility on when it looks like he can't accomplish the feat .

I follow behind them from about 20 meter away .

It's quite close for tailing incognito, but I've got plenty of magic on my sleeves for this, as long as the other party doesn't use a counter magic .

My aim is of course, assassinating Biffgel–I mean, protecting the participants besides Biffgel .

If as a result, the unfortunate Biffgel dies by coincidence, that is of no concern to me . You reap what you sow .

"And, where's this monster again?"

Biffgel asked one of the people .

"It's in the forest depth . "

"Depth, that means . . . . Where?"

You went on an expedition without knowing that huh . . . .

"We have no idea where it is right now . The monster was sighted quite a while ago, so it might have moved somewhere . . . . "

"Tch, you're useless . –Well fine . We should find it if we just walk around . Let's go guys!"

What a sloppy plan!

Just how vast does Biffgel think this forest is .

If they're just walking around randomly, they might even spend a week without meeting the monster if they're unlucky .

How long will I have to continue to tag along . . . . was what I thought while following them .

–Two hours later .

"Biffgel-sama . How about we split into groups . "

One of the people suggested that, probably because they couldn't find any trace of the monster .

Good job populace!

. . . . However .

"Are you stupid! There's no way we'd do that!"

Biffgel objected .

"What would you do if anything happened to me!"

If anything happened to Biffgel . . . . er, celebrate?

With that reply, the people can't possibly oppose him, thus the plan comes to a standstill .

"No need for that, my instinct will find it! We're going there next! Move it!"

In the end, it's instinct huh .

It's bad since that instinct is actually right on the money .

I don't know if it's some kind of coincidence, but the place Biffgel and the others are heading to is the same place the monster is also heading to .

Since we've gotten closer, I've grasped the type of the monster a bit .

It's probably a bear or a tiger, a quadrupedal animal that has turned into a monster .

It has a small body for a monster, but that doesn't mean that this monster is weak .

Rather, it's the opposite . If the mana reaction of a monster is big, the smaller their body, the higher their mana density is, and the stronger they are in battle .

Judging from the scale of this mana reaction, we have the worst case scenario here . I'm not sure if even our father Castor could beat it in a one-on-one fight .

After dozens of minute, the subjugation corps arrive before the monster .

They'd enter the monster's field of vision in 10 seconds .

I took some distance away from the subjugation corps when I saw them getting closer to the monster and put myself beside the bear .

The problem is from here .

Since Biffgel gathered the people, the will inevitably fight the monsters first .

I could prevent victims from appearing if I help and defeat the monster myself, but then Biffgel would remain conceited, I could see him saying things like, "He snatched a game that even I could beat . " Dealing with things afterward would be more troublesome than defeating the monster itself .

However, I also can't let unrelated people falling victims just because of it .

What should I do, while I was taking the wait and see approach, the situation changed .

Toward one that is most convenient for me .

"That's my game! You guys don't get in my way!"

When Biffgel saw the monster, he stepped forward while ignoring his escort . What's even the point of gathering people then .

Of course the monster has noticed Biffgel after all the clamor .

The bear monster which was showing its back turned around and started to run toward Biffgel .

Facing the monster, Biffgel thrusts his sword forward and begins to shout out some incomprehensible line .

"Fire mana that dwells in my body, become a straight arrow and pierce my enemy!"

Biffgel's mana reacted along with the recited line, and then 'pohyu', with that small sound, a fire arrow flew toward the bear .

The bear runs straight to Biffgel, not even trying to evade the fire arrow .

And then the fire arrow made a direct hit on the bear's eye . . . . and vanished .

The bear is absolutely flawless, no damage .

Was that . . . . magic? But it was extremely crude, or rather, poor . No matter how resistant a monster to magic is, there is no way a proper magic that hit one of their weak points, the eye, would leave it undamaged .

The power is bad and all, the conversion efficiency is also weird . The mana that was collected on his hand was diminutive, but nevertheless, it should have been capable of demonstrating power several times higher than that .

To begin with, what was the weird line he recited at the start for?

"Wha . . . . "

"Biffgel-sama's . . . . Glory Crest magic doesn't work!?"

"That thing isn't a normal monster! It's a Zenith Monster!"

The subjugation corps were astonished to see what had happened .

Apparently, from their perspective, the fact that Biffgel's magic (?) didn't work was devastating . There were even some who fell into panic and ran toward meaningless directions .

Biffgel was seemingly the one surprised the most, he was hit by the bear's claw when he couldn't move, getting blown away several meter away .

Among the people who froze over, the only one who had a semblance of proper judgment, my brother Reich blocked the claw with his sword .

"We're withdrawing! I'll hold it off here! Everyone quickly escape!"

However, their strengths are too far apart .

Reich's sword got pushed back in a blink of an eye . He wouldn't last three seconds at this rate .

. . . . Well three seconds are quite enough though .

I activated one of provocation magic, 【Enforced Detection】 before Reich's sword got pushed away .

Although it may differs by individuals, most monsters use 【Passive Detection】 unconsciously .

【Enforced Detection】 is a magic that pour mana on those monsters to make your mana reaction look big to them .

If it's too weak, they'd ignore it, if it's too big, they'd run away, it's difficult to adjust this magic in a way–but it seems to be a success .

Right after I activated 【Enforced Detection】, the bear monster separated its hand from Reich and ran at full speed toward me .

"Mathi, why are you here! Run away quick!"

Ignoring the shouting Reich, I knead my mana .

Approximately four seconds before the monster arrives . Way more than enough time .

I put both my hands before my chest and concentrate the mana in my body .

I grant directionality to the collected mana while also changing its pressure .

And then I ward off the monster's arm with martial art and hit its heart as we pass each other .

As one would expect, it wasn't enough to defeat the monster, but–its movement dulled, which was enough .

I drew the sword I brought from home and cut its neck with a single stroke under Physical Reinforcement and 【Mana Strike】 .

"Mathi! Leave this to me . . . . Huh?"

Reich who chased the monster showed a dumbfounded expression on his face when he saw its fallen body .

Right at that time, I noticed the current situation .

Blocked by the vegetations, the other people in the subjugation corps can't see anything but Reich, they haven't noticed that the monster has been killed . Looking at their panicked state, there's probably no one who would notice a slightly awkward act here .

Perhaps this is . . . . a chance isn't it .

I'll push the feat on him!