Memoirs of the Returnee

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.

I looked up at the sky.

Some currents were slowly gathering in the fog-covered night sky. Mana, spores, and wind were clumping together, and nature was preparing for its own transformation.

A particularly magical natural phenomenon that cannot be observed with the naked eye——the precursor to the magical phenomenon ‘Dispel’.

53 seconds.

Dispel is an opportunity to remove and attach rank badges. Naturally, if the mana in the air disappears, my 「Notepad」 won’t work either, but similarly, all life forms in the area will be unable to use magic.

—Kill him! Kill him! Tear his limbs and kill him!

54 seconds.

The bastard is vomiting blood, gathering shadows.

Looking at the monster, no, the beast-like bastard, I suddenly become curious.

55 seconds.

The ‘Perion’ that is currently flowing in my veins.

The most burdensome yet the most robust upgrade for me is the product of chemistry and magic.

56 seconds.

Then, even if the mana disappears, wouldn’t Perion’s unique ‘chemical upgrade of the body’ remain?

“57 seconds.”

I closed my eyes, counting the seconds. I summoned Perion again. I felt the heat racing throughout my body, originating from the Magic Core.

I opened my eyes.

—Die! Pitiful human, garbage-like failure!

The monster launched eight shadowy tendrils at me. They blocked all space, seemingly intent on tearing me apart.

“58 seconds.”

The shadowy blades pushed towards me. The natural magic blooming from the horizon beyond them.

The will of the spirit, composed of fungi, ignites, momentarily illuminating the night sky in blue.

And so, 59 seconds.

Chaeaeaeaeang——!

A clear, glass-shattering resonance echoed throughout the world. Simultaneously, his shadows crumbled into fragments. All the fog in the mountains dispersed, and the atmosphere cleared.

—What!

To the startled creature, I explained the phenomenon with a feigned surprised face.

“……Oh my. Isn’t this a 5th-grade magic phenomenon, Dispel?”

My acting still sounds like reading a language textbook, but whatever. I can learn later.

I smiled faintly and clenched my fist.

“Let’s fight fair and square.”

—……Dispel?

The creature seemed slightly flustered, but soon wore a confident smile.

—Foolish human. My body has been infinitely more powerfully modified than yours.

The statement itself was true. Whether it was stone-arm surgery or something else, those two arms of his were definitely monstrous. They would be powerful even in a no-mana zone.

I don’t care.

I’m still full of it. The heat of Perion coursing through my body.

—No matter what you do, you can’t beat a monster. We are infinitely superior to humans……

As he mumbled some nonsense, I charged at him. With one big step, I was at his jaw in an instant.

—……!

In shock, he hastily raised his guard, but it was already too late.

Thump——!

I landed an uppercut on his jaw. His mouth closed, cutting off his tongue. I grabbed his waist floating in the air and kneed it.

Crack-

His spine crumbled. Immediately after, I grabbed his face and smashed it into the ground.

Thud—!

I climbed on top of him, half-buried in the dirt. I punched his already shattered face.

——!

Once. I broke his teeth.

——!

Twice. I broke his nose.

——!

Thrice. I burst his eyes.

——!

Four times. I crushed his forehead.

Finally, to completely distort his face-

“Stop.”

Someone grabbed my shoulder. For a moment, my breath, which had momentarily stopped, resumed. It felt like my consciousness, which had been sucked away, was returning to the world.

“…….”

I looked in that direction.

It was Soliette. In her red eyes, I saw my blood-soaked reflection.

“He’s dead.”

I looked at the monster again.

His face was already gone. Brain fluid and blood were flowing like a stream from his shattered skull.

“……Right.”

I nodded and got up, wiping the thick blood off my fist.

That’s when my eyes met Kielli’s. He was sprawled on the ground.

“I-I-I’m sorry.”

“……”

I said nothing and prepared for what was next.

The monster was dead, but the situation was far from over.

Gwaaaaaaa——!

A monstrous roar echoed from a nearby cave. Thump-thump- a massive beast was waking from its slumber.

The ‘Grizzly Bear’ revealed its massive body, its eyes glowing a fierce red.

The mountain, freed from the fungi, was returning to its original ecosystem—a survival of the fittest.

“……It’s, it’s a bear? What do, what do we do?”

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.