Memoirs of the Returnee

Chapter 40: Dispel (3)

Dispel (3)

I dodged his attacks, weaving between the trees in the forest. The thickening fog was quite helpful.

Screeeech——!

He was shooting shadows based on his senses, but I was dodging with my eyes.

—Damn human!

The bastard was spewing nonsense about damn humans, even though he was technically human himself.

Anyway, such a pathetic creature was still a monster. The ‘core’ implanted in his Magic Core was, of course, a shadow.

Coincidentally, I knew a monster whose Spectrum was shadow, or rather, darkness itself.

One of the eight Masters of the underworld.

He was probably a servant who served him, or a lesser being who simply admired and imitated him. In terms of monster hierarchy, he was third-rate at best. He was a Chimera monster who had transplanted a monster’s arm onto his body like a prosthetic.

Of course, even a monster of that level, who had sold his soul for power, was on par with an active high-ranking knight. The monster mutation significantly enlarges the Magic Core, which means the amount of magic power available is enormous.

—Who are you calling a bastard!

Right now, he was pierced by the word ‘failure’.

Lower monsters are usually like this. When you point out the surgery that made them a monster, they lose their minds.

Kwazuzuzuzuk———!

The shadow curved into a crescent shape. I lightly jumped to dodge it.

—You piece of trash bastard!

Such creatures always project their weaknesses or traumas onto others when they curse. He’s the trash bastard.

“The bastard is you, isn’t it? I’m a pure-blooded human-”

Kwaaaaaak-!

The moment I spoke, the shadow precisely swept towards me like a whip. I hastily did a back tuck.

That was close.

He seemed to have located me by sound, isn’t that bastard surprisingly smart?

Anyway.

Right now, all I can do is buy time. No matter how pathetic a monster, there’s no chance of winning at my current level. The ‘average’ magic power of a monster is at least 30 times that of a human.

The difference in absolute magic power is too great.

“Two minutes.......”

However, it’s not like there’s no way to defeat him.

Precisely, there’s ‘time’.

I looked at my wristwatch.

20:58.

Officially, I just need to hold out for 2 more minutes. When the dispel occurs, the mana in the area will temporarily disappear, and then he won’t be able to swing his shadows either.

“......What?”

But, why is it so quiet?

The attacks had stopped at some point.

I climbed a tree to take a peek at him.

—Haaaaa.......

He had gathered all his shadows and made a cocoon around his body. The wind in the area was being sucked into it, and the shadows at his feet were ominously swirling.

Like in a comic, patterns resembling saw teeth were gathering and pushing out, rotating.

......It’s dangerous.

Quite a lot.

If I don’t respond, I’ll die.

The moment I felt that intuition, Perion erupted. Could it be the survival instinct of the 「Notepad」? I didn’t issue any particular opinion or command, but the heat rising in the Magic Core raced throughout my body.

Whoosh...

The speed of the leaves fluttering in the wind slows down. Watching the fallen flowers circling around my shoulder, I feel the acceleration of thought.

“.......”

On the other side, Soliette deployed Defense Magic, leaving Kielli behind. She too had sensed the danger.

At that moment, the bastard’s cocoon slowly opened.

——Creakkkkkk.

The compressed shadow visible through the gap. Those things that were rotating as if to explode against each other, eventually stopped all movements.

And then they exploded in an instant.

Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaa——!

The bastard’s shadow dispersed. I leaped as high as I could. Immediately after, fragments like crumpled scrap metal whirled around, grinding all the trees in the radius to dust.

......Kugugugugung!

The forest was torn apart in its entirety, and the formless trees collapsed miserably. They shattered into thousands of pieces and stuck to the ground like liquid.

The once lush forest had turned into a wasteland in an instant.

“.......”

I slowly landed in that ruin. I looked at the monster that had exploded the shadow.

—Khhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Over the shoulder of the bastard who was splitting like a madman, there was Soliette. She had many wounds on her body. In contrast, Kielli behind her was safe.

I asked her.

“......Are you okay?”

Soliette nodded silently.

That woman is always like that. She doesn’t want to lose people, whether it was then or now.

Even if it’s a team formed because of the college board, once it’s a ‘team’, she won’t let her team members die. At least not in front of her eyes.

She’s a woman who has lost too many precious people, and protecting people has become a habit for her.

I looked at my wristwatch while biting my lip.

5:59:50.

There’s still 10 seconds left.

—......You scum.

51 seconds.

The bastard’s eyes looking at me move grotesquely. The right eye and the left eye roll around on their own.

It must mean that he also found the recent killer move burdensome.

—I won’t forgive you. How dare you insult me. You’re just a human.

52 seconds.

Kielli was panicking.

“What do you think we should do.”

The bear was drooling as it looked at us. Anyone could tell it saw us as prey.

Moreover, in a dispel state, the bear is very powerful. Its thick skin and muscles are as good as a fortress.

“We need to run.”

I looked behind me. I thought it was a dead-end cliff because of the fog, but now that the fog was gone, the other side was clearly visible. There was land at a distance that seemed jumpable.

“We just need to jump about 20m.”

I reached out my hand to Soliette.

“I can do it myself. Please take care of him.”

‘He’ was Kielli.

Regrettably, Soliette was never one to accept help.

I hoisted Kielli onto my shoulder in a flash.

“Wha, what!”

He was surprisingly light. He must have lost weight.

“Hey Shion, hey, wait. You, you can make it, right? You can jump, right? Soliette! Can’t the team leader carry him?!”

“Shut up before I throw you.”

“Yes.”

I didn’t know when the effects of Perion would wear off.

I immediately started running. I kicked off the edge of the cliff and leaped.

Whooooosh......

Feeling the wind fluttering all over my body-

“———Aaaaaaaah.”

Feeling it, I-

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaah————”

“Shut up.”

Thud.

“Aaaaaah——”

We landed on the other side. As soon as we landed, Kielli slipped out of my arms.

I looked back at the other side. Soliette was standing at the edge of the cliff, where the wind was howling.

It probably meant nothing to her, but my heart sank.

The future her, the one who had given up on the pain of living, seemed to overlap with the current her.

“What are you doing! Jump!”

Gwaaaaaaa——!

From behind, the Grizzly Bear roared. Soliette, who had glanced back slightly, jumped calmly.

Whooooosh......

In the wind swirling at the cliff, a leap like a bird of prey.

But the distance was a bit short.

I reached out from the edge of the cliff. Soliette barely grabbed my hand.

Swooooosh——!

Her body scraped against the cliff. The sound of impact echoed quite loudly.

Fortunately, she didn’t fall.

“......”

I looked down at Soliette from the cliff. Soliette looked up at me from the cliff.

Her face was full of bruises. There was severe bleeding from her shoulder and side. Her body was covered in dirt.

I sighed lightly and asked her.

“......You weren’t trying to kill yourself, were you?”

Soliette moved her eyes without answering. Strangely, she was looking at my sleeve. After a while, she asked in a dull voice.

“Did you lose a button?”

It was a nonsensical question.

“What are you talking about. Just climb up.”

I pulled Soliette up. As soon as she reached the ground, she looked around.

“Where’s Kielli?”

“There...... What?”

I was about to point to the bushes, but I stopped. He was there just a moment ago, but now he was gone.

“......He seems to have run away in the meantime?”

Did he vomit and run away because he was afraid of being hit?

He’s quick on the uptake.

“Hmm. He’s an asshole.”

Soliette also mumbled as if she found it ridiculous, and got up.

“Well, let’s go.”

She spoke as if nothing had happened. I also chuckled and dusted off my pants.

“Yeah, I have something to look for too.”

“Yes.”

Soliette had an indifferent face, and I listened quietly.

Aaaaaaaah———

The scream of a mandrake coming from not far away.

“Let’s go.”

As I turned to find it, Soliette said to me.

“Yes. Thanks to you.”

I pretended not to hear and walked away.

Honestly, I was quite surprised, but I didn’t want to seem uncool.

“Thanks to you......”

Instead, I muttered as I walked down the mountain path. I even smiled secretly.

───Kaaaaaaaah.

Was it thanks to the approaching mandrake?

I was feeling pretty good.