Holding the magic stone, the Demon King approached Isabel and began to remove her clothes.
“What, what are you doing!”
“Stay still, I’m healing you.”
Seeing Isabel’s bare skin, number 5’s eyes widened in shock.
“What’s wrong with her body?”
Tenji, witnessing the scene, also looked visibly startled and confused.
Having already checked Isabel’s condition, Aila and I remained calm and unperturbed.
“It’s an honor wound. But who is that?”
As I answered casually, Isabel then asked about number 5.
“Hello, I’m number 5.”
As number 5 introduced himself, Tenji’s gaze immediately shifted to him.
He had a perplexed expression, as he expected to meet him in the southern Philon region, not at the hotel.
I wanted to explain, but the Demon King asked for my help.
“I’m putting mana into the magic stone.”
“Can’t you do it alone?”
“I can, but it will take longer.”
The Demon King placed his hand on Isabel’s abdomen.
Suddenly, the dark bruises etched deep on Isabel’s belly began to converge towards the Demon King’s hand.
“Just endure the pain, as you’re not going to die.”
“Just the pain… ugh!”
As soon as I spoke, Isabel’s moans began to erupt.
“Wait, this hurts too much!”
“Endure it.”
The Demon King’s stern command.
As the dark bruises continued to gather, Isabel’s cries of pain grew louder.
“It hurts! It hurts too much! Stop it!”
“No.”
Before long, Isabel’s face was drenched in tears and snot.
As Aila moved to wipe her tears and snot, the Demon King suddenly shouted.
“Don’t touch her! Stay away!”
“Uh?! Y-yes.”
Aila flinched in surprise at the Demon King’s shout and quickly withdrew her hand.
“It’s going to break! It’s going to hurt a lot.”
“Wait a minute! Ah, no!”
What was happening looked more like torture than healing.
As the Demon King exerted pressure with his hand, cracks began to form in the gathered dark bruises.
“You filled the magic stone with mana?”
“Yes.”
I handed the mana-rich magic stone to the Demon King.
As the Demon King grasped the stone, a transparent barrier appeared around us.
From the bruises that were on the verge of breaking, a black energy burst forth in all directions.
The black energy was blocked by the translucent wall created by the Demon King, swirling around inside it.
“Toss one magic stone this way!”
At the Demon King’s shout, number 5 threw a magic stone from his bag.
The stone pierced through the transparent wall and landed directly on the bed.
The black energy swirling inside the transparent barrier began to slowly get sucked into the magic stone that lay on the bed.
“Almost there. Did she faint?”
Isabel, who had been screaming, finally quieted down.
As the black energy was completely absorbed by the magic stone, the Demon King pulled out a sword from another dimension.
It was a unique sword with a red body.
With a mighty swing of the sword, the Demon King shattered the magic stone that had absorbed the black energy.
Collecting the broken fragments of the magic stone in his hand, the Demon King watched as black smoke poured out, and the fragments vanished without a trace.
“All done.”
The Demon King covered Isabel with a blanket and lightly cast a healing spell.
“So, it requires all this effort to extract the power of the cursed sword.”
“If it’s sturdy enough, you can extract it without this hassle. But that one is too frail.”
I thought Isabel was pretty sturdy, but apparently, she did not meet the Demon King’s standards.
Suddenly, I questioned why only Isabel had been affected by the cursed sword’s energy.
Even though I had fought Juan and taken attacks, I had suffered no damage.
“You said that was the cursed sword’s energy, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Then why am I fine?”
“Were you affected?”
I recalled the situations as vividly as I could and explained to the Demon King.
I definitely remembered being attacked several times.
“That’s strange. Even if you took no damage, you should have had some wounds.”
“Is the cursed sword’s energy really that strong?”
“As I mentioned earlier, it’s like a potent poison. Even a dragon wouldn’t go unscathed.”
It seemed even the Demon King didn’t know the answer to this question.
“Didn’t Aila encounter it either?”
“I dodged everything.”
Aila mentioned she had avoided all of Juan’s attacks thanks to her keen instincts.
“Did the one who knows that attempt to cast magic? If you got hit in your current state, you’d be lying there too.”
“As long as I didn’t get hurt, that’s what matters…”
My questions were oddly concluded as Aila ended up getting scolded by the Demon King.
That late night, Isabel awoke, sitting dazed on the bed.
“Are you awake?”
“Am I all better now?”
“Yeah.”
Pulling back the blanket to check her condition, Isabel picked up her clothes that had fallen on the floor.
“I really don’t want to experience that pain again.”
“From now on, wear two layers of armor.”
“How can I wear two armors?”
Isabel’s face crinkled as she struggled to understand my words.
Though it was quite an uncomfortable method, it was possible to wear multiple armors.
First, donning a light leather armor on the inside, then wearing chain mail over it, and finally putting on plate armor.
I had thought about this after wearing leather and chain armor together before.
“Why would I wear multiple armors when I could just cast a defensive spell?”
The Demon King seamlessly intruded into the conversation between Isabel and me.
“I can’t use defensive magic very well.”
“Practice.”
“How am I supposed to do that in the moment of being attacked?”
“Set it up in advance.”
Once accustomed to shield magic, it seemed one could adjust its density.
The first time I used shield magic, it was bright blue, while Solche, who was with me at the time, was nearly transparent.
Moreover, the shield that the Demon King had used to block the black energy extracted from Isabel’s body was completely transparent.
It seemed beneficial to walk around with an invisible shield or to have it set up beforehand during combat.
“Let’s practice shield magic together tomorrow.”
“Why? It’s enough to take care of the enemy before they attack.”
“Can you?”
Upon my words, Isabel gently stroked her belly and responded.
“Practicing wouldn’t hurt.”
“But can shield magic block the cursed sword’s energy?”
“Why are you asking me?”
The only one among us with knowledge about the cursed sword was the Demon King.
We needed a cursed sword for experimentation.
None of us had a cursed sword.
“You’ll have to figure out whether it can block it or not once you’re able to use the shield freely.”
“I can use it to some extent.”
I displayed the shield magic lightly around me.
“It seems like the range is too wide. Narrow it down.”
As the size of the shield was somewhat reduced, it could no longer be tightened further.
Tap!
With a light tapping sound, the shield shattered instantly.
“Huh?”
“You still have a long way to go before you can make good use of it.”
It was strange.
When I deployed a shield around a car and drove through the Undead, it had held up just fine.
I never imagined it would shatter with just a slight size reduction and a gentle tap.
“If shield magic isn’t reinforced separately, it can break with just a few hits.”
The method for reinforcement turned out to be continuously breaking the shield.
Shield magic was a unique type of magic that grew with the user.
However, this rule only applied if one operated mana sensibly.
As a dragon, without a mana heart, I fell deep in thought about how to reinforce my shield.
“Shield magic is a result of research. It didn’t exist in the past.”
It seemed that not all of the earliest magic was necessarily good.
While it is frequently used now, if it were a magic that didn’t exist in the past, I would need to learn and adapt anew.
“You have to find your own way to reinforce your shield.”
The Demon King, who gave me this advice, mentioned that he would oversee Isabel’s shield magic and immediately took us to the training grounds.
Aila was also dragged along for magic training.
To find a method to reinforce the shield, I first lightly unfolded it.
The translucent shield was spacious enough for about three adults to fit comfortably under it.
If I walked around with this open, it was bound to bump into others.
The size I reduced it to was just big enough for two adults to fit.
If I reduced it any further, it lost its purpose as a shield.
It easily broke with even the lightest of collisions.
“This is basically glass.”
As I muttered to myself, number 5 approached quietly.
“What are you doing?”
“I was thinking about how to reinforce the shield.”
“Is there really a need to reinforce it?”
“Uh?”
Number 5 began to share his way of using shields with me.
“It’s like a one-time use shield.”
He explained that since mana can create it continuously, it’s natural for the shield to break or shatter.
“With a strong shield, you could block most attacks, wouldn’t that be convenient?”
“Sure, it would be convenient, but I don’t think anyone is obsessed with shield magic to that extent.”
At its core, it was a defensive spell meant purely for blocking attacks.
While sturdiness is certainly a plus, general consensus held that there was no need to go out of one’s way to reinforce it.
“Okay, I’ve decided.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m going to unfold a fast and sturdy shield.”
“That’s a pointless endeavor. You’ll just end up trying to make something sturdy that will ultimately break.”
Upon hearing number 5’s words, a bright light flickered in my mind.
I couldn’t describe it as anything other than instinct.
It felt as if something inside me was persistently whispering to explore shield magic.
I hurriedly left the room and went down to the hotel’s underground training area.
“Why are you here?”
“I wanted to try something.”
A magic that didn’t take much space, I settled myself in a corner.
Standing in my spot, I unfolded the shield magic and began to reduce its size.
Even when it reached its limit, I didn’t stop reducing it.
As it refused to shrink any further, I began to push it down using mana.
Crack!
As I pressed the shield with mana, sounds of it cracking like glass resonated.
Determined to not mind if it shattered, I began to apply even more pressure to the shield.
Boom!
With the sound of an explosion, the shield shattered into countless pieces.
I had already prepared myself for it breaking.
I remade the shield and continued pressing down again and again.
The Demon King was nearby observing me, and before I realized it, number 5 was also beside me.
As I pressed the crafted shield with mana, it felt slightly smoother than before.
