Derius was not suited for battle… at least according to him.
He despised violence, and he was also a very cautious Elf. Even his Original Magic, Absolute Insight, wasn't attack-based in any way. He had always preferred things this way.
Thus, when the youngsters had told him to leave the battle to them, Derius had agreed without even putting up a fight. He was actually relieved that he wouldn't have to fight. Preferring to be a spectator, he watched Ivan and Jerry work their Magic.
Ivan was able to merge his Flame attribute with his Wax Emperor's ability, in order to form his Bond Magic: Boiling Wax. He used this technique to raise the temperature to thousands of degrees. However, that wasn't all.
He was also able to harden his Wax, instantly freezing the enemies in a completely static state as the wax covered their whole bodies. Thus, the Corrupteds suffered a very brutal death.
'Impressive.' Derius thought to himself.
As for the second one, Jerry, his battle prowess was off the charts. His speed, his precision, his destructive power… they were all a step above what he had expected. He was a blur in the sky, and the way he naturally displayed his abilities was amazing.
According to Jerry—back when they had been revealing their abilities to one other, before finally engaging the enemy—he had told them he was a fire-based Mage. However, with the speed and skill he currently displayed, Derius believed he had more than simply flames.
Once he studied his Familiar, using Absolute Insight, he realized why he felt that way.
'His Familiar is a Pard, regarded to be extremely fast. Enough to even combust itself. So, that's it. He's using Bond Magic to boost his speed and he's not even in Fusion Mode yet.' Derius found both young men to be amazing.
Even as Ivan kept talking to him and boasting about how awesome his skills were, Derius was enamoured by the two youngsters. They were certainly strong.
>WHOOOOOOOOSSSSHHHHH!!!<
As Derius was enjoying the company of his ally, the Corrupteds shifted gear from Jerry and lunged at him. With all their focus on the old Elf, it wasn't difficult for him to sense their bloodlust.
The problem, however, was what he was going to do about their joint assault.
'They're fast!' Derius thought to himself.
Their desperation must have given them the boost they needed, and they closed in on him too quickly. Derius noticed Ivan had finally spotted the enemies, but he knew the young boy would be too slow to deal with the enemies.
'Plus, he's exhausted from that last move. I can tell.' Derius sighed, realizing he would have to do something if he didn't want to die.
'Very well, then…'
He gave a cold stare at the approaching enemies, not moving from his current position, but instead… he snapped his fingers.
The mere snap of his fingers echoed across the field.
However, before the Corrupteds could make sense of this, or even care to understand it, the most shocking thing happened.
"H-huh…?!"
"Uwa… uwaaaaahhhhhh!!!"
"Guaaaarrrkkkkk!!!"
Suddenly, they found their heads swelling. They were swelling, growing larger and larger, and at the same time hurting the Corrupteds.
Every one of them collapsed to the ground, gripping their heads as they screamed in agony.
Unfortunately, there was no one willing to hear or help them. As such—
>BOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!<
Their heads all exploded at once, causing bursts of black blood to fly around. Fortunately, none of the gore touched Derius, as an invisible wall shielded both him and Ivan.
"Derius!" Jerry yelled, descending from the sky as he finished killing the last corrupted he was engaged with.
He descended, now utterly out of breath. He had used up too much of his white flames, and now all that was left was a flicker.
"Are you both okay?" Of course, seeing the corpse on the floor was enough to deter Jerry from asking any further questions.
Ivan was just as shocked.
Who would have expected an old and gentle fellow like Derius to slaughter so many Corrupteds… with the mere snap of his fingers.
"I'm afraid I have exhausted most of my Aether." He murmured.
"Yeah. Me too. What about you, Jerry?"
"It's the same here…"
It seemed like the three were nearly out of energy. Fortunately, they had managed to subdue all of the Corrupteds, so it was all good.
*
*
*
'T-THEY'RE MONSTERS!' Kayers thought to himself in horror.
He had just witnessed all of his comrades die, dropping like flies. Their power was nothing compared to the three. However, being the optimist that he was, Kayers decided to focus on the good part of all he had experienced.
'A-all my competitors are gone. Besides, they're already out of power, aren't they?'
The deaths of all his comrades had also caused their barrier to go down, so he could leave this place. Yes, he could leave and call for backup!
Looking at the current tide of the battle, it seemed that the Elves were already being pushed back, so there might be no need. However, just in case… at least he should watch from a safe distance.
'I'd better not approach those three.' He gulped, taking flight as he moved to escape.
Then… he heard the finger snap.
'O-oh… oh n—'
*
*
*
"Why did you snap your fingers again? Wanna blow us up too?" Ivan yelled, seeing Derius use the same attack he'd used on the Corrupteds.
It was too frightening to imagine what would happen if he was affected.
"Don't be rude, Ivan."
"It's fine. I understand your concern. However, I just used a little frequency and increased the pitch. Of course, this takes a ton of power, and I am almost out of power. Sound moves fast, so I had to resort to it."
"O-oh, and what about now?"
"Don't worry about that. Just testing something out. Besides, we don't have time to worry about that right now."
Derius and the youths decided to ignore the heavy thud that echoed behind them—the fall of a corpse, no doubt—and focused solely on the battle in front of them.
"This is bad…" Derius muttered.
The two humans couldn't help but agree with him.
Why?
"The Nether Beasts are already overpowering our forces. They're also getting stronger and bigger."
The problem stemmed from the fact that they had run out of Aether. Since that was the case, things were about to get unbearably more difficult.
"We'll need a miracle to win, at this rate.'
Derius was right. They had suddenly reached a huge wall… one that was now closing in on them.
*
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[A/N]
New book release announcement!!!
Please look up Chuunibyou Challenge!! on Webnovel, or simply use the link below. I promise, you'll love it.
https://www.webnovel.com/book/chuunibyou-challenge!!_25760893305800205
