Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! Volume 6

by Funa

  “Demon-Slaying Blade: Vacuum Knee-Cutter!”

  “Whoa!”

  The leader leapt as far as he could to the side, desperately side-stepping the white, crescent-shaped objects that suddenly came flying at him. He got the impression that if he took them head-on, he would lose both his legs.

  “C-c’mon, now!”

  However, just as he found a moment’s reprieve, Mile finished the preparations for her next spell.

  “Snowball Fight of Doom!”

  In response to the name of the spell, ten fireballs, each about the size of a fist, appeared in the air above Mile’s head. Granted, though they were fist-sized, the fist in question was Mile’s, so they were not very big. And the flames were red, meaning the temperature was about as low as fire magic could go.

  “Fire!”

  The mass of fireballs went flying toward the leader all at once.

  There’s no way I can avoid that many. They’re all pretty small, though, and they ain’t movin’ all that fast. Fire magic’s not like ice magic, anyway. It’s just a bunch of balled-up magic putting off heat and flames, so you can deflect it with a magic wall, and even if they get through the wall you’ll only end up with one or two weakened flames hitting ya. It’s really no big deal!

  If he stayed like this and kept up his volleys, the leader judged, the worst that would happen would be that he would run out of ammunition. So he psyched himself up and entered the fray. If he could just push past the magical barrage, he could get up close and engage in near-range combat, exploiting his opponent’s weaknesses.

  “Magic Wall!” The leader brandished the staff gripped in his right hand as a magical wall arose in front of him, his left arm in front of his face for protection as he rushed toward Mile.

  “Raaaaaaaah!!”

  The flames, however, pierced clean through the barrier, not showing any signs of losing strength.

  Damn it! Her magic is stronger than I thought! Still, the wall should’ve weakened them, so I bet I can stand to take a couple! If I can just land one blow with my staff, then this match will be in the ba—

  Ka-thump!

  He felt the force of a fireball impacting against his stomach. Thanks to the opposing kinetic energies, he was stopped in place. He pressed his hands to his gut, doubling up in pain—letting his left arm fall and exposing his face.

  Bang!

  A second shot hit him straight in the forehead with a terrible sound.

  Thwump, knock, crack!

  Three more shots struck. The leader’s body slumped slowly backward and then toppled.

  Indeed, though the shots themselves were made of flames, just as the name of Mile’s spell had implied, this was a “snowball fight of doom.” As most people know, when you get unsavory elements such as young delinquents involved in a snowball fight, you’ll often find that the icy artillery ends up with rocks inside. Naturally, the nanomachines had read Mile’s intention to the letter when she let the spell rip, and just like those snowballs, her fireballs were generated with rocks inside them.

  Therefore, though the magic wall had protected the demon somewhat against the forces of the fireballs, lessening the flames to a small degree, it did almost nothing for the physical force that resulted from the mass and kinetic energy of the rocks contained within them.

  He had taken a rock the size of a little girl’s fist to the head. The impact was more than sufficient to render anyone unconscious.

  The former fireballs, now rocks shed of their outer fiery coating, rolled to the ground.

  The demons shouted as one from behind the spectators’ shield: “That’s messed uuuuuuuup!!!”

  After a brief bout of unconsciousness, their leader finally reawakened, returning to his senses. Demons’ sturdy bodies were not merely for show, after all.

  “D-damn it…”

  Somehow he managed to pull himself to his feet, still unsteady, and decided at once to give up on close-range combat to focus on his magic.

  Honestly, what had he been thinking trying to go in hand to hand? If you were gonna take on a fearsome enemy at full strength, the only thing to do was to stake it all on your magic. He was a demon, after all!

  “Graaaaaaaaaa! Certain Death! Flameburst Hell!”

  “Whoaaaaaa, our leader’s really done it noooow!!”

  Either he was risking everything for the sake of his warrior pride or he was still dazed from being knocked out and imagining himself to be on a field of war. The spell he was flung was released at full strength. In other words, it was an attack of absolute fatality.

  This was not a simple one-shot spell. This was a continuous wave of magic, fed even after it was fired, its power maintained or even growing as the spell went on. It would not stop until its target had perished. Just as its name suggested, it was a spell that would lead to “certain death.”

  As the roaring flames enveloped Mile, they only grew hotter and more powerful. Mile, of course, had reflexively raised a barrier and didn’t appear to feel them one bit. On the contrary, she seemed to be enjoying herself.

  True, she had been forced to erect a barrier, something which she had elected not to do at the outset. However, all this meant was that her enemy was finally giving the battle his all.

  The force of the flames grew stronger and stronger, and the temperature ever hotter. Mile’s special barrier could, of course, take this without difficulty, though if this were normal protective magic, she would have already fainted due to the heat and lack of oxygen.

  Regardless, this was a powerful spell—too powerful, in fact. Wonder if I should send him a little poke back? Mile thought to herself.

  “Fireball!”

  Mile shot off a stock fireball in five weak rounds. Since they were products of her magic, they were able to pierce through her barrier with no ill effects.

  Now then, how would the demon react?

  Would he stop his attack and switch to a defensive spell? Would he carefully dodge the blasts? Or would he change the direction of his attack to intercept the—

  Blam, blam, blam!

  “Wha…?”

  A murmur of confusion issued from both Mile and the spectators.

  He didn’t even react.

  The leader had taken three of Mile’s fireballs head-on without so much as batting at eye. Utterly unfazed, he continued pouring himself into his attack.

  However, her fireballs had not been without effect.

  A trickle of blood dripped from his mouth onto his singed clothing. His eyes were hollow…

  “Everyone, shield with all you’ve got! Use all your magic! Mile! He’s on a magic high—and he’s about to blow! Ruuuuun!!!” Reina shouted at the top of her lungs.

  A magic high.

  Indeed, when using overly forceful magic without care, it was possible that one’s consciousness could end up locked in a place of complete concentration, causing an altered state of mind. The result of this was typically that the magic itself would grow too strong, leading to an explosion. The mage, their energy finally exhausted, would fall unconscious, their magical circuits (i.e. the parts of their brains and bodies devoted to casting magic) so badly fried that they could no longer use magic. It was a clusterfudge of a calamity.

  It would be one thing if the extent of the damage was a temporary loss of consciousness. However, depending on the circumstances, the magic-wielder themselves or those around them could be severely injured. If things truly went poorly, they could even end up disabled by the injuries to their brain. Even Mile had been taught about such occurrences back at Eckland.

  He stood back up, but he still wasn’t all there mentally, huh? And then he tried to use a ridiculous, recklessly massive spell…

  She had to stop him.

  At this point, even critically injuring him would do nothing; he was apparently so far gone that he could not even register the pain of an attack. In that case, there was no choice but to drain his power!

  “All nanomachines assigned to me, distract the nanomachin
es helping my enemy with his magic!”

  WHAAAAAAAAAT?!

  The nanomachines were thrown for a loop by this most unprecedented order.

  “Quickly!”

  At Mile’s urging, the nanomachines rushed toward the demon leader. Mile rushed after them.

  No matter how powerful her magical output may have been, the further away she was, the weaker her spells would be. Therefore, the closer she could get to her opponent, the more the numbers of her own magic-inducing nanomachines would increase and the more the demon’s would decrease. This way, she would be able to hold back any explosion. Now all she had to do was get the man to lose consciousness before he could self-destruct…

  YO, WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING?!

  GET OUTTA HERE, YOU’RE INTERFERING WITH OUR DUTIES!

  WE NEED YOU TO SETTLE DOWN. WE’RE ALL NANOS HERE…

  WHAT NONSENSE ARE YOU TALKING?! WHAT’S YOUR PRODUCTION LOT NUMBER?!

  THAT DOESN’T MATTER WHEN IT COMES TO THE JOB!

  The nanomachines seemed to be quarreling. However, as it was Mile who had given the order, they had no choice but to obey.

  Just as Mile approached the demon leader, pushing back the eddy of flames with her barrier…

  Ka-fwump.

  The leader fell flat on his face. Blood was running from his ears.

  “Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”

  Panicked, Mile began a healing spell, the most powerful she had.

  How’s he doing, Nanos?!

  ONE PORTION OF HIS BRAIN HAS EXPERIENCED SEVERE DAMAGE WITH INTERNAL BLEEDING. THERE IS DAMAGE TO HIS THOUGHT-PULSE-RESONATING SECTORS WITH SECONDARY DAMAGE TO HIS IMAGING SECTORS…

  Gyaaaaaaaaah!! C-can we fix him? We can fix him, right?

  AS LONG AS YOU SPECIFICALLY ORDER IT, LADY MILE, HE SHOULD BE FINE. FORTUNATELY, THERE ARE NO PROBLEMS WITH HIS MEMORY OR REASONING…

  Fix him then! Fix him all the way!!!

  Several minutes later, under the worried, watchful eyes of the spectators, who had let down their barriers and protective magic to rush over, the demon leader, who was laid out on the ground, finally began to stir.

  “Where… Wh-where am I…?”

  Anyone who self-destructed on a magical high that had reached the point of blood running from their ears would be lucky to make it out unable to use magic. If the fates saw fit, one could end up disabled or even in a vegetative state. Seeing that at least the worst-case scenario had been avoided, the demons breathed a deep sigh of relief.

  “Leader, wh-what about your magic?”

  “Hm? What about my magic?” the leader replied, perplexed. Apparently, he was not yet aware of the circumstances.

  “C-can you s-still use your m-magic?” one of the demons finally managed to get out, distress clear on his face.

  Mile and Reina looked on with worry as well.

  “The heck are y’all on about? Yeah… Light! See, look, there you go, good as ever.”

  The demons’ eyes opened wide in disbelief.

  “W…” one quiet voice started.

  “Wa…” another chimed in.

  “Waaaaaaaaah!!!”

  The leader looked utterly lost as his subordinates suddenly burst into tears.

  “Wh-what’s yer deal?! What’s gotten into y’all…”

  And then, Mile proudly decreed, “Looks like it’s a wipeout victory for the Crimson Vow!”

  “Yeeeeah!!!

  Chapter 47:

  The Ruins

  “Here we are…”

  Around half an hour later, the group, led by the demons, arrived at a peak in the rocky mountains. There, they saw a small, unassuming cave—or rather, something like a nook in the cliff face, half-hidden by its own strangely shaped opening. It seemed to be blocked by a large rock in which something or the other had opened a tiny gap.

  Had they not come here expressly searching for this place, they might never have found it. It was in a mountain range that people rarely visited, in a place completely separate from the usual, far-easier routes that people usually took to traverse the range. Plus, the gap itself was mostly hidden by the protruding rock.

  “Our guys on the investigation team are just through here.”

  As it happened, the full team consisted of the five demons the Vow had encountered, who were there as bodyguards, along with

  three others serving as investigators. When they had initially begun their search for the ruins, each of the investigators had traveled with a single guard, while the remaining two moved separately to serve as a vanguard against any humans or monsters who might approach. However, now that they had found what they were after, all of the investigators stayed together. Normally, three of the guards would remain with them while the other two scouted the perimeter, but since they had spotted the Crimson Vow approaching, all five had gone out together.

  With the demons taking the lead, the Crimson Vow squeezed through the narrow entrance into a passageway that was only barely tall enough to stand in and no more than two humans wide. The walls and floor were bare rock. However, as they walked, this began to change.

  “Have humans been through here?” Reina asked.

  Indeed, just as she suggested, the walls, floor, and ceiling now appeared as though they had been purposefully carved.

  “I wonder if they’re the same as those other ruins…”

  However, there was no one who could answer that. The Crimson Vow had no way of knowing—and the demons would have no clue what was meant by the “other ruins” at all.

  It was clear that this makeshift thoroughfare was not used often. Though there was a clear spot toward the center of the floor where the demons had passed through countless times, this was the only spot where some of the rock showed through, and the sides of the pathway were piled with dust and rubble. It wouldn’t be strange for monsters or beasts to make a home of such a cave, but there was no indication that this had happened. Was it merely a coincidence? Or was there some particular reason…?

  “We’re back!” the leader shouted just before they turned a bend so as not to put the others on alert.

  “Oh, hey guys!” a voice answered from within. “How’d it go with those pretty hunters?”

  Hearing themselves referred to as such, the members of the Crimson Vow all suddenly looked rather shy. The five demon guards looked at them in disbelief, as if to ask, “Since when are you all the bashful type?!”

  “Wh-what are they doing here?!” the three investigators shouted, reflexively putting themselves on guard as the escort team rounded the bend with the Crimson Vow. “You captured them? But then why did you bring them here?! We thought you were gonna scare them off. Seriously, what the hell were you thinking?! It’s like you gave up our location on purpose…”

  The investigators appeared quite vexed. With a regretful look upon his face, the guard leader explained.

  “Actually, we did. We were the ones who were captured. They beat us and made us bring them here. I’m sorry, guys. I’m really sorry…”

  The four others bowed their heads deeply alongside him.

  “Wh…?”

  The report was ridiculous and rather hard to swallow. The investigators could only stand there, silent and shocked.

  The guard team explained the situation.

  “Zawin, you—” one of the investigation team began.

  “Don’t say it! I’m begging you, please don’t say anything!” The leader of the guard team bowed his head. Apparently, his name was Zawin.

  As the girls understood it, based on what they had been told on the road back to the mountain, the leadership of the group was split between the head of the investigation team and the head of the guard team. When it came to matters involving the investigation itself, it was the investigation leader who made the decisions, while in matters of battle and anything related, the guard leader called the shots. In either case, the full team was expected to defer to their judgment.

  In other words, since Zawin had decided to surrender, the full t
eam, including the investigators, was expected to abide by that decision.

  “Well, what’s gonna happen to us now?! Are we gonna be taken prisoner and interrogated by the humans?! We couldn’t possibly allow that to happen… I’ve got it! Even if you guys were defeated, there’s still a chance for us to show our strength! All we have to do is win, right? That’ll invalidate the previous result, and we’ll be fine!”

  The other two investigators nodded enthusiastically at the proposal of their leader, Helst, but the five guards shook their heads sullenly.

  “Don’t bother.”

  “I mean, I’m guessing that you all went easy on them because they’re little girls, and then they just happened to get an opening, right?” Helst argued. “If we take them on seriously, then…”

  Zawin looked at him wearily and replied, “Were you not listening to what I said earlier? I told you, we fought them all one by one. Are you sayin’ that we still would’ve gone easy after seein’ our guys lose one after the other? Yer sayin’ that they just ‘happened’ to get an opening four times in a row? No wait—five, if ya count Kohyal, who got knocked out first! Do y’all seriously think we’re that stupid?”

  “………” Helst was silent.

  “This is my decision as leader of the guards, which means it’s an order. We cannot beat those girls. If they took us on seriously, we’d be wiped out or dragged half-dead to some human village. And then what do you think would happen to us?”

  “………”

  Seeing that the investigation trio had no response, Zawin turned haplessly to Mile.

  “Sorry. Could I get you to show ’em a bit of whatcha got?”

  Mile caught his drift perfectly and quietly pointed to the rock face.

  Chnkchnkchnkchnkchnkchnkchnkchnk!

  Silence spread across the area.

  Even for a spell that she had recited in her head, it had manifested absurdly fast. The shots were rapid-fire, with immense speed, from an entirely silent incantation…

  Eight holes of unknown depth had now opened up in the wall.