The tide of battle had surely been in our favor just moments ago.
Until that guy showed up.
The creature that appeared now seemed like it might be the parent of the monster.
“Another monster has appeared!”
One of the thieves shouted, and everyone started to slowly step back.
“If we retreat now!”
Boom!
The late-arriving monster slammed its fist down on the frozen valley, creating a hole.
As the monster thrust its hand under the thick ice and exerted force, the ice began to lift like a plank.
“R-Retreat!”
Ultimately, the thieves began to flee.
Having made it to the forest on the opposite side of the valley, we found ourselves facing the monster across the way.
Not too far away.
“If it’s just one, we might manage somehow, but how do we deal with that thing?”
The monster was poised to charge at us at any moment.
In this situation, fleeing was no longer an option.
“Witch! What should we do!”
“Don’t call me a witch.”
“How are we supposed to capture a monster that doesn’t respond to magic?”
Among the thieves, distrust toward me was slowly rising.
“Ririan, look at that.”
Aila pointed to the baby monster’s right arm.
A moment ago, the creature had suffered a slight burn from the fireball I created.
“It probably went out quickly after falling into the water, but it seems to have had an effect.”
It was a fireball made without considering the purity of mana.
What if I attacked with a fire of higher purity?
“Everyone! Look at its arm!”
As I shouted, the thieves glanced at the monster’s arm.
“Magic has an effect. Trust me!”
Honestly, I couldn’t be sure myself.
Still, I needed the help of these thieves right now.
To use high-purity magic, I needed just a little time.
It didn’t seem like the monster was ready to attack us yet, so I focused and created a fireball.
I felt the refined mana flowing out of my body.
“Take this!”
Whoosh!
Bang! Bang!
To protect its young, the mother monster shielded itself with its body against my flames.
Two fireballs flew like arrows and stuck to the monster’s shoulder.
The creature struggled to swat away the flames clinging to its body with its hands.
“Pakiiy!”
Once the fire attached, it began to spread along the monster’s fur.
Eventually, in an attempt to extinguish the flames, it started rolling on the ground.
“Is that thing going to go out?”
One of the watching thieves asked with a worried tone.
It’s a fire made with high-purity mana. It shouldn’t go out easily.
“Pakiick… Pakiick…”
The monster was breathing heavily as it struggled to put out the fire.
“A small one is coming!”
“Stop it!”
The baby monster leapt across the valley and charged toward us.
It seemed to be uncomfortable waving its injured arm.
“Get out of the way!”
This time, I launched a fireball at the baby monster, igniting it.
“Pakiiy!”
Sizzle!
A foul smell began to emanate from the creature’s body.
Its fur, which had been wet until a moment ago, started drying rapidly, producing a strange burning odor.
Seizing the moment, the thieves began to stab at the baby monster with their spears.
While the thieves dealt with the baby monster, Aila went to chop at the legs of the mother monster.
The larger the creature, the more movement is restricted when its legs are injured.
The mother monster had been trying to break the ice to scoop up water from the valley.
The flames still fiercely burned across the monster’s back.
Perhaps due to the vigorous movement to extinguish the flames, it failed to display the strength it initially had when breaking the ice.
“Guuraa!”
With the persistent attacks from the thieves, the baby monster collapsed on the ground.
I didn’t know if it was unconscious or dead, but we had taken one down.
At that moment, I heard the thief leader’s voice.
“Cut its throat!”
It seemed he was determined to finish it.
Now, only the mother monster remained.
Unlike the baby, it was enduring my flames.
Aila was preventing it from breaking the ice.
Thanks to Aila buying time, I began to gather and refine my mana.
I would raise the purity to the maximum and pour nearly all the refined mana into this.
This spell was taught to me by Jema.
I couldn’t use it properly at the time, but now I could!
“For Jema, who taught me this magic. Flare!”
A giant magic circle appeared above the monster’s head.
Seeing the magic circle, Aila hurriedly increased the distance from the monster.
Whoosh!
Flame jets poured down from the magic circle like rain onto the monster’s head.
The flames engulfed the entire creature, roaring as they began to incinerate it.
Boom!
One of the monster’s arms, caught in the flames, burned away and fell to the ground.
“Ririan! What on earth did you cast?”
“I learned it from Jema.”
The energy of the fire magic I unleashed caused the frozen valley to begin melting.
“Did we take it down?”
The thief leader spoke a resurrect spell, but the monster’s body was nearly completely burned, leaving only bones behind.
“Waah!”
The joyous cheers resonated throughout the surroundings.
As the fierce battle ended, we returned to the village we had planned to leave.
“It’s late today, so let’s rest here and head down the mountain tomorrow.”
The thief leader suggested that we take a break in the village.
Since we didn’t have enough food to enjoy a party, we settled for a simple meal.
“Thank you very much for today.”
The thief leader bowed his head close enough to the table to touch it.
He had been a reliable ally during the battle, but now that was no longer the case.
No matter how you looked at it, they were a group of criminals.
“What will you do from now on?”
“We’ll head down the mountain and find work in the city.”
“What kind of work?”
When Aila asked, the thief leader hesitated.
These were people who had survived through crime. Could they really do good things in the city?
“We’ll do whatever it takes. And someday, we’ll repay you!”
The thief leader displayed unwarranted confidence.
Once they head down the mountain, it would be unlikely for us to meet again.
With the threat of monsters gone, the next day, the thieves headed down the mountain early.
Aila and I returned to the valley once the thieves had gone.
The traces of the fierce battle from the previous day were everywhere.
Especially at the spot where we had taken down the mother monster, the burned bones remained intact.
Aila gathered the monster’s claws and talons and set them aside.
“What are you going to use these for?”
“I figured out by hitting it myself; these monster claws and talons could be used as weapons.”
When Aila’s sword clashed with the monster’s claws, it indeed produced a consistent metallic sound.
“Wouldn’t it be good to make a sword or spear with them?”
“But where are we going to put these?”
We didn’t have enough hands just between Aila and me to carry the monster’s bones.
“That’s why I brought this.”
A cart that the thieves used in the village.
After they dealt with the monster, they hadn’t even paid attention to the cargo on the cart as they headed down the mountain.
While clearing the junk off the cart, I spotted a small box.
“Isn’t this the one from yesterday?”
The box that the thief leader had lied about containing weapons and armor.
It was too small to hold even standard armor, let alone weapons.
I pulled out a box that could hold at most a dagger and checked inside.
“Th-this is…”
“It’s a magic gun, isn’t it?”
After the gate connection, firearms spread to the Xaihum Continent.
However, conventional guns that fired regular bullets had not been very effective here.
In Roran, where they had basic knowledge of magic, bullets were merely chunks of metal.
At least, Latnia was utilizing it effectively.
But even that had little effect against armor imbued with magic.
To break magic-infused armor, it was necessary to reach a level where one could handle aura, according to knights.
However, magic-infused armor was quite expensive and hard to obtain.
This magic gun was something researched in Latnia and designed specifically for wizards.
Ordinary people could not use this gun.
Because the raw material for the ammo was mana.
In other words, it was a weapon that could not be used unless one knew how to handle mana at a minimum.
“It’s a weapon, alright.”
“Have you used it before?”
Aila asked as she showed me the weapon in the box.
It felt like ages since I had held a gun.
The gun I took out of the box resembled a pistol.
As I gathered mana into the hand holding the gun, the loading area emitted a bluish light.
I aimed at the frozen valley and pulled the trigger.
Swish!
Without any notable noise, the mana bullet lightly pierced the ice.
“It’s not as powerful as I thought.”
“Well, it’d be okay to carry it for self-defense.”
Aila insisted that I use this gun.
I placed the gun in my inner pocket and helped Aila load the monster’s claws and talons onto the cart.
Besides the monster’s talons, we also collected some of the bones.
Because of that, the cart became quite heavy.
“Can you pull this?”
“It’s okay. Just push from behind.”
“Wait, I’m in my transformed state right now.”
“Oh. Then you won’t be able to help. Just ride well.”
In my transformed state, I was an ordinary human who could not use the demonic strength.
Though my appearance changed, my magical ability did not, so I had desperately learned magic for a week.
Of course, the spells I learned in class proved ineffective in practice.
Even the lightning magic that suited me didn’t deal much damage to the monster.
The only thing that had truly helped was the magic I learned from Jema.
I could not shake the thought that I needed to understand the spell’s incantation to use it effectively in combat.
Sitting on the cart, I cast lightning magic lightly in the surroundings to prevent wild beasts from approaching.
From time to time, a monster approached without fear of my lightning.
Bang! Boom!
As I struck it down hard, the monster was charred black on the spot.
It seemed there was no issue with the power of lightning.
“Bored?”
“No.”
“Why are you casting lightning repeatedly like that?”
“Because there are many monsters around.”
Aila was too busy pulling the cart to pay attention to her surroundings.
In her stead, I had merely dealt with the pesky ones.
Once we arrived in the city, I thought that I should get any magic book from Latnia.
I remembered the name of the book Jema had read while self-studying magic.
If I could find just that book, it would likely prove quite helpful in combat.
