After a brief rest at the accommodation, night had fallen.
Having finished preparing to go out, I left the lodging and headed for the eastern entrance.
It was late, but the city still had lights on here and there, making it feel like bright daylight.
When I arrived at the eastern entrance, Dino was waiting for me with a water bottle at his waist and a small bag slung over his shoulder.
“Ah, you’ve arrived?”
“Have you been waiting long?”
“I just got here a little while ago.”
Dino seemed a bit agitated.
It looked like he was very happy to have finally received permission for the magical experiment that he had been continuously rejected for.
“Um, are we walking to Lind?”
“How long will it take to walk there?”
“It would probably take several days. Unless we fly.”
He was clearly trying not to look at my wings.
It seemed he had intended to fly there right from the start.
First, we walked out through the eastern gate and found a spot a bit away from the city.
As I rose into the air, Dino lightly kicked off from the ground and floated in the air.
“You can fly?”
“Most ordinary wizards wouldn’t even dream of it.”
Dino was no ordinary wizard.
He displayed a technique close to magic by surrounding himself with vast mana supplied to him by his special constitution and floating in the air.
“Which direction do we go?”
“It’s that way.”
In the direction Dino pointed, there was a large mountain.
“If we go over that mountain and one more, we’ll see Lind.”
If we were to walk there, it would take at least three or four days.
I suddenly realized how fortunate it was to be able to fly through the sky.
Dino kept pace with my flying speed.
Since I could fly through magic, he could have easily flown twice as fast as me if he wanted, but he chose not to.
“By the way, are you a wizard, sir?”
“I could say I’m a wizard.”
Perhaps because he had tried to use mana to press me down and failed.
Dino cautiously asked me that question.
I couldn’t easily reveal my true identity, so I just said it was something akin to a special constitution.
Before we knew it, we had crossed a mountain, and another mountain appeared ahead.
“It’s tall.”
It felt more like a castle wall made of gigantic rocks than a mountain.
Even though we were flying quite high, the mountain in front of us began to loom larger as we got closer.
Only after finally gaining more altitude did we successfully pass over the mountain.
“What’s that mountain that’s so high?”
“That’s the mountain range called the Demon’s Spine. In the past, it served as a natural wall against enemy forces invading from the south.”
Its height and treacherous terrain gave rise to the name.
As we crossed over the Demon’s Spine, a wide plain appeared.
The plain stretched out for several hundred kilometers.
“I don’t see any cities.”
“It’s a ruined city. If we go down a little, we should see the remains.”
As Dino said, when I lowered our altitude, I could see traces of what were once cities and villages.
“We are almost there. It’s just over there.”
If we had walked, we would have had to go around that tall mountain range, which would have taken an enormous amount of time.
In the dark of night, the ground looked incredibly quiet and peaceful.
“So, there’s an Undead army down there?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Since I was just going to observe Dino’s magic, it didn’t matter to me if the target was not clearly visible below.
Before it was ruined, the city of Lind was presumed to have been quite large.
About half the size of Laden.
“Can I ask you for one favor?”
“What is it?”
“While you’re using magic, could you please hold on to me in the air?”
“Can’t you use magic while flying?”
“If that were possible, would I ask you?”
With the city of Lind beneath us, I firmly grasped Dino’s shoulders with both hands.
Feeling him floating in the air with my strength, Dino released the magic that was allowing him to fly, and I could fully sense his weight.
“Then, I will begin.”
“Sure.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Dino stretched his arms forward, and immense power began to gather.
At first, the size was only as big as two adult fists, but it quickly swelled.
The force that was swelling at a frightening speed began to shrink around a certain point, its purity visibly increasing.
As a spark was created, Dino began to press it down with all his might using his hands.
I felt a strange sense of déjà vu and quietly watched.
After about five minutes of this, a round orb glowing white was created in Dino’s hands.
“I’m sorry. Could you go a little higher?”
“How much higher?”
“Until I say it’s enough.”
I began to ascend with Dino in my arms.
We had risen to quite a height, but Dino didn’t ask me to stop.
Looking down, I could only see faint clouds below.
“I think this is high enough. When I throw this, please fly over there quickly.”
Dino was looking at the Demon’s Spine we had crossed over while he spoke.
No matter how high we were, the mountain range still appeared to be quite nearby.
“Then, I will throw it. New Cleaning!”
As Dino readied to throw the glowing orb, I positioned myself more comfortably to hold him.
I wrapped my tail around his body twice to secure him firmly.
With all his strength, Dino threw the glowing orb down towards the ground.
The glowing orb silently fell to the earth.
I stared at it blankly, then hurriedly began to fly toward the mountain range.
In an instant, the mountain range in front of me appeared bright and clear as if it were daytime, prompting me to look back.
There, a gigantic mushroom-shaped flame soared high into the sky.
Surprised by its enormous size, I was even more astonished by the subsequent sound.
Boom!
Even in the sky, I could feel the shockwave, making me imagine how it must have been down on the ground.
The flame that chased away the darkness of the night burned for a long time.
Through my tail, I felt Dino’s entire body trembling.
“Huuhaha! I can clean up the world!”
Whether it was the success of the magic or the excitement from conducting an experiment he had longed to do, Dino was incredibly exhilarated.
It took quite a long time for the flames created by Dino’s magic to subside.
I was curious how many of the Undead army below had survived that explosion.
“Can I go down to check?”
“That’s fine.”
While both Dino and I wanted to confirm the power of that magic with our own eyes, I slowly descended.
Just moments ago, there were still traces of the city, but now it was a wasteland with nothing visible.
Not even a single blade of grass was left.
A medium-sized city had literally been wiped off the map.
“That’s some terrifying magic.”
“Yes. With this, any nation could be conquered.”
“Conquered?”
“Oh, I mean cleaned up.”
Dino replied with a wry smile.
“Cough! Ugh!”
Dino spat out a handful of dark blood from his mouth.
“Are you alright? Was it too much?”
“Ah….”
When Dino lifted his head, black blood was flowing from both nostrils.
“Your condition doesn’t look too good.”
“Indeed.”
I’ve never seen a reaction like this after using magic.
Dino sat on the ground, trembling.
“Let’s go back and get you treated.”
“I’m sorry.”
“What for?”
I lifted Dino, who was collapsed on the ground, and flew through the sky.
Having a patient with me, I flew a little faster back toward Harfen.
“Is there someone who can treat you when we get back to the development department?”
“Not at all. There’s no one with that kind of knowledge…”
Suddenly, one place came to mind.
I quietly landed in the yard of a family house in Harfen.
Knocking on the door and waiting, Alex came out and opened it for me.
“What’s going on at this late hour?”
“There’s a critically injured person. Is Perrya here?”
Seeing Dino, who I was supporting, Alex told me to come in with a puzzled expression.
After laying Dino on the couch in Alex’s living room and waiting, Perrya came out of the room.
“Is it an emergency patient?”
“Well, for now.”
Perrya walked over to Dino lying on the sofa and started to examine him slowly.
“This person has mana all tangled up in his body.”
“What does that mean?”
“Just take a look for yourself.”
As Perrya moved aside slightly, I looked at Dino through mana insight.
I could see that the mana inside Dino’s body was twisted and knotted up like threads.
“Why is it like that?”
“Um, I’m sorry to say, but I don’t really know either.”
Perrya could perform healing magic but seemed to lack knowledge in this area.
It didn’t look like there was an immediate threat to his life, but it was clear he wasn’t in good condition.
“Wouldn’t it be better to take him to the person who helped him?”
“Who?”
“Um, the person who helped me.”
I remembered that Jema had assisted when removing the mana piled up in Perrya’s body.
I said I understood and then took Dino out of Alex’s lodging.
Once we returned to the lodging, I immediately went to Jema’s room and knocked on the door.
Knock. Knock.
Perhaps she had been sleeping, as she opened the door while rubbing her sleepy eyes.
“What’s up with that person?”
“He’s from the development department. I’ll explain once we go inside.”
I laid Dino down in Jema’s room and briefly explained the situation.
“His condition doesn’t look too good.”
“Can you treat him?”
“I’ll take a look first.”
Jema leaned in closer to examine Dino lying on the floor and fell into a moment of thought.
According to what I heard from Adelia in the past, he had a body suitable for using magic.
Dino’s display of magical ability was indeed impressive and surprising.
Yet, it was hard to understand how someone could be in such a bad state after just using magic once.
“Hmm. It looks like his mana is in reverse flow.”
“Mana can reverse flow?”
The very first thing you learn when studying magic is how to control mana.
The reason students are repetitively made to practice magic at the Academy is to develop their mana control ability.
Dino has a peculiar physique known as a special constitution, so I was puzzled as to why his mana could reverse.
“I don’t know what that special constitution is, but it seems like this person is learning the mana technique?”
“How do you know that?”
“There are small mana holes all over his body.”
I activated my mana insight to examine Dino’s body, but currently, due to the mana reverse flow, no holes were visible at all.
