The combination of “Fluid Harmony” and “Vileshaker.”
That was the only means Aiden himself had to land an effective hit on Hagel.
But the sure-kill strike using 〈Padio Blink〉 missed, and in that instant, Chesa instinctively realized her fiancé had no more cards left to threaten the cult leader.
Confidence in her talent, miraculous elixirs, a legendary magitech tome… she’d received so many gifts from that boy that a lifetime of devotion wouldn’t repay them.
She desperately wanted to capture the cult leader.
To help Aiden that way.
The moment such a thought flashed through Chesa’s mind.
「Master.」
A flat, toneless voice rang in her head.
Chesa instinctively glanced down at the pouch on her waist. The magitech tome she’d just contracted with — Nano Eater — was vibrating intensely inside.
“That voice just now…”
「It is the Nano Eater, Master.」
The answer came the instant she wondered.
She opened her mouth and asked.
“…You’re an ego artifact too?”
「If you’re asking about similarity to the demonic sword carried by the boy named Epio — no. I have no soul. I am merely the artificial intelligence managing the magitech tome.」
It communicated perfectly fine — I couldn’t grasp what made it different from Plebelziam. But that wasn’t important right now.
「Detected desire via Master’s brainwaves.」
「Emotion estimated similar to need for recognition.」
「Selecting pursuit of entity designated ‘Dragon Horse Cult Leader’ as rational means to resolve this.」
「Searching embedded spells for most suitable to achieve objective.」
Flutter!
There was no time to ask what it meant. The Nano Eater slipped out of the pouch on its own and unfolded in midair.
「Spell search complete.」
「Stored mana: 17%」
「Recording and activation conditions satisfied.」
「Recording spell 〈Star Seeker〉 on first page of Nano Eater.」
The autonomously fluttering Nano Eater stopped on a blank page. Suddenly, unidentified ancient characters etched themselves onto it.
Scribble scribble!
Well-versed in magical theory, Chesa instantly deduced what was happening based on her vast knowledge.
“The Nano Eater is absorbing unusable mana and chanting the spell itself. That means I don’t need to worry about control.”
She didn’t yet know the recorded spell’s effect. But it was clearly one that would help break the current situation.
「Preparation complete. Please grant permission to use the spell, Master.」
“…〈Star Seeker〉.”
Whoosh!
A single beam of light from the Nano Eater pierced Hagel. But it left no wound on his body.
“…What?”
Hagel, directly hit by Chesa’s 〈Star Seeker〉, looked down at himself with a puzzled expression. Nothing seemed wrong outwardly.
Just as he tried to brush it off.
A chill crawled up Hagel’s spine.
His vision flickered, and his body froze stiff.
That created a massive opening.
[Hey, Aiden! Your fiancée just pulled some weird trick on that white-haired bastard!]
How the hell?
That question crossed Aiden’s mind, but there was no time to ponder leisurely.
Whatever it was — this was a golden opportunity.
Swish!
Aiden swiftly deployed Strong Wire to bind the frozen Hagel. Immediately after, he activated 〈Pure Freeze〉 from the 『Ring of Glacier (A)』.
Crack!
Hagel’s body froze solid in an instant.
But Aiden had no means left to deal damage to the defenseless man. He’d already used “Vileshaker,” and “Fluid Harmony” had only seconds left. Once this spec-pumping technique ended, he wouldn’t even react to Hagel’s movements.
No — truthfully, even now it wasn’t much different.
Hagel’s [HP] stat was 16. And the HP value on status windows affects not just stamina or recovery but durability too. Even shattering mana barriers or Energy Armor with resonance shattering arts and pummeling his bare body a hundred times — Aiden couldn’t kill him.
Yet despite that.
Aiden had one extremely threatening card remaining.
“Hup…!!”
With a shout, he pulled with all his might — even the strength he’d nursed at his mother’s breast — on the Strong Wire binding Hagel. Then hurled him toward Edval.
Telepathy via Plebelziam.
[Sword Saint, now!]
Even before Aiden’s message, Edval — trapped in 〈Rainbow Curtain〉 — was already preparing an ultimate technique using Flowing Dimension Slash.
Dearside school’s final ultimate.
“Unison Track.”
Shiiing!
A space-transcending slash severed the arm of the airborne Hagel. It was clearly a critical hit, but Edval’s brows furrowed in displeasure.
“I definitely aimed for the neck.”
No mistake.
Trajectory calculation perfect.
Sword path ideal.
But at the last moment, Hagel — regaining his senses — forcibly cast an ultra-high-difficulty spell.
〈Zero-Void〉
Void energy forcibly condensed from countless elements. Though a downgraded version of void that hadn’t reached “First” hierarchy, its effect was extraordinary — subtly distorting surrounding space. That minute difference caused even the perfectly executed Unison Track to miss.
Tap!
Landing, Hagel used the mobility spell 〈Haste〉 to swiftly escape Unison Track’s range. Just as he paused briefly at the deepest section’s entrance, intending to flee the ruins.
Hagel’s expression hardened as he asked Chesa.
“Miss, what did you just do to me?”
“No intention to answer? Doesn’t matter. Killing you, the caster, will end that unknown spell anyway.”
〈Ice Lance〉
An ice spear formed instantly and shot toward Chesa’s brow. She perceived it in advance with Analytic Magic Sight but was too slow to react physically.
The moment Chesa sensed death.
Splutch!
“Damn it, that hurts!”
The ice spear embedded in Epio’s stomach. He’d sensed Hagel’s hostility and quickly blocked in front of Chesa.
Originally powerful enough to pierce through the boy and reach Chesa, the spell’s penetration was completely nullified by Epio’s 『Infinite Regeneration (S)』 trait-derived recovery.
“…Tch.”
Hagel frowned.
He wanted to chant again and finish Chesa for sure, but conflict arose.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Edval was pounding the 〈Rainbow Curtain〉 with ferocious force. The sturdy magical prison teetered as if about to shatter any moment.
Risk pursuit to eliminate the danger from the unknown spell, or safely escape the Sword Saint.
Hagel chose the latter.
“We let him get away.”
Feeling whole-body aches from “Fluid Harmony”’s aftereffects, I voiced regret.
I never imagined the cult leader himself waiting in the upper layer. The improvised plan somehow worked — bisecting Lucian — but Hagel escaped with only his left arm severed.
Considering consecutive unforeseen events, this was still pretty lucky.
Boom!
A tremendous noise.
Finally, Edval shattered 〈Rainbow Curtain〉 and emerged. Leisurely walking over, he said.
“We’ll have much to discuss, you and I.”
“…Let’s postpone until after leaving Snowflower Swamp. Things are quite chaotic, aren’t they?”
“Indeed.”
Edval nodded at my words.
Sighing in relief, I approached the gathered group. If Epio hadn’t blocked Hagel’s spell earlier, Chesa’s life would’ve truly been in danger.
“Epio, you okay?”
“Freezing to death! Pleb, melt this!”
[…The only idiot using 〈Prometheus〉 flames to melt trivial ice like this is you, moron.]
Despite the words, Plebelziam obediently ignited flames to melt the ice spear in Epio’s stomach.
“Epio, are you all right?”
Clara — Insulation released — approached and asked. Though asking if he was okay, his visible guts through the pierced stomach didn’t look fine at all.
Clara freaked out.
“Oh heavens! We need to heal this fast!”
“Ah, this is nothing. Ever since eating the meat Aiden gave me, any wound heals quick— ouch!”
I pressed the stomach of Epio, who was moving around to show he was fine. A pained groan escaped him.
“What are you doing, Aiden!”
“Don’t show off — quietly get treated by Clara.”
“Tch…”
Clara watched the scene with a beaming smile. Soon, warm light enveloped her hands as healing began.
The halo circled Epio’s wound.
The faith spells used by Dragon Priestesses are terrifyingly effective — at minimum papal-level by other churches’ standards. Severed limbs reattach easily; half-corpses become healthy in moments.
Clara can only use faith spells with energy absorbed via 『World Resonance · Sun (S)』, but considering the spell utility, that’s hardly a penalty.
Proving it, Epio’s wound closed in seconds.
“A-Amazing…”
[Hmph. As expected — unpleasant spell.]
Epio began showering Clara with thanks and praise. Watching warmly, I left them and approached Chesa.
Soon, I sensed something odd.
“…Chesa?”
For some reason, she was blankly staring at the 『Nano Eater (S)』.
“Chesa? You okay?”
I grabbed and shook the shoulders of Chesa, who seemed soulless gazing at the book. She snapped back.
“…Huh? Aiden?”
“Why suddenly spacing out like that? Did the cult leader do something to you?”
“No. Nothing like that. More importantly — look at this, Aiden.”
Chesa showed me the Nano Eater’s page. On the scribbled ancient text page, something holographic-like floated.
I instantly recognized its purpose.
“This is… a map of the Prima Continent?”
“Right. And look here.”
Where she pointed, a yellow dot blinked — moving in real time.
Chesa gestured, zooming the map. The dot’s location clarified — near the free neutral city Elanore.
In short, around Snowflower Swamp where we were.
Chesa said.
“This yellow dot seems to be that Hagel guy’s current position. According to the managing personality in the Nano Eater, this tracking function is the effect of a spell called 〈Star Seeker〉… Ah, so the managing personality is…”
“Chesa.”
“Huh?”
“I love you.”
Not understanding, Chesa blinked momentarily. Soon her face flushed as if about to explode.
“W-What, suddenly?”
Greatly flustered Chesa.
But for me, holding back from showering her with kisses was the real restraint.
I knew 〈Star Seeker〉 well. And if that finicky spell had landed on Hagel — in some ways, it was more profitable than killing him.
She was today’s MVP — comparable even to the Sword Saint.
The incident in Snowflower Swamp ruins caused massive uproar.
Investigators dispatched from Elanore thoroughly searched the interior, discovering piles of corpses in white hooded robes.
Soon, Elanore identified these masked figures as fanatics from the “Dragon Horse Cult” — the religious group that incited rebellion in Schpiol last year.
During investigation, Teakan Clan mage Brenda Morillo — presumed killed fighting fanatics — and several other expedition members’ bodies were found. A wave of mourning swept clans based in Elanore.
Among discovered corpses was a silver-haired girl disguised as Keltica Clan via payment — needless to say, this later caused further commotion.
In any case, the Church of Utility overseeing the exploration expressed great outrage at the Dragon Horse Cult’s atrocities — unauthorized entry plus murdering expedition members. They officially issued an extermination order against cultists and requested cooperation from other churches.
Amid the chaos.
Using the 『Formless Robe (S-)』 and other means to sidestep the uproar, I was currently in the clan house for a meeting with one person.
“Then let’s begin the discussion.”
“Very well.”
It was the Sword Saint, Edval Heimfjord.