Using my full power for magic.
My body lost its strength temporarily due to the relentless assault.
I then fell freely, crashing onto the ground.
It seemed like nothing at the time, but this was actually a considerable catastrophe.
Yes, it wasn’t a landing, but a fall.
More accurately, it could be called a crash.
It’s something a human body should never do.
I managed to roll to cushion the impact, but after a life-or-death battle with the instructor, combined with expending all my magical energy and firing the ore tree that was supporting me, my magic and stamina were significantly depleted. I could barely stand.
“Ow…”
Still, to only be able to utter a single word of pain after falling from a height of tens of meters, it implies I’m no longer entirely human. Ordinary people would have broken bones somewhere and died on the spot from a freefall at this height, unable to even utter the word “pain.”
“…Where’s the instructor?”
Without a second thought, a genuine wholehearted effort. The result of pouring all my magic into Ame-no-nuboko. I urged my weak body to move, got up, and took a potion from my Magic Bag to recover even a little.
It wasn’t a drop in the bucket, but it eased my fatigue slightly. I dragged myself to look down at the area that had become the epicenter of the explosion.
I fell on the outer edge, having been flung outwards by the recoil of the magic. It was fortunate, but if I had fallen into the center, the height of this hole would have been added to the height from which I was thrown.
“It’s deep. How much did it dig?”
Even though I caused it, it felt somewhat detached to mutter that. I deployed gravity magic to utilize gravitational acceleration.
Then, I rained down mass projectiles, pinning them down, followed by a huge strike using the ore tree as a medium.
The result was a hole so deep that the term “big hole” wasn’t enough.
The bottom was barely visible, but it was obscured by the lack of light.
“…I don’t feel the instructor’s magic, but this is definitely because I messed around with magic, isn’t it?”
The instructor should be at the bottom of this hole. If I had missed, I wouldn’t be able to fight anymore, but my magic couldn’t find them as I searched.
Why? I tried to probe further, but the barrier created a closed space, and the uncontrolled magic I unleashed there had made the ambient magic density too high, making magic detection not quite functional.
“You seem to be unharmed, Contractor-san.”
“Valse-san.”
As I stood there, troubled, Valse-san floated towards me.
“Is that snake unharmed?”
“Is that what you’re worried about first?”
My consciousness was a bit hazy, and the first thing I asked upon meeting Valse-san was about the well-being of the white snake that had returned to the Spirit World.
After all, the instructor had beaten me up badly, and it had protected me. I worried about it.
Valse-san chuckled, as if amused by my question. I thought I had asked something strange, but then I shrugged it off, thinking it didn’t matter, and waited for her answer.
“It’s unharmed for now. It seems that the Oni’s attack took a toll, so it will need to rest for a while, but don’t worry, it will recover soon.”
“Is that so? That’s good.”
For now, I decided that one of my concerns had been resolved and moved on to the main topic.
“The instructor….”
And as I was about to confirm, I hesitated on how to ask. After unleashing such a full-power attack that clearly wasn’t holding back, asking if I had defeated them felt strange.
Conversely, asking if they were alive also felt odd after fighting.
Perhaps it would be most normal to confirm their life or death.
“They’re alive.”
Sensing my hesitation, Valse-san gave me the answer I was looking for.
Alive. It might be wrong to feel relieved at those words.
Indeed, after thinking that, I snapped to attention and became wary of the depths of the hole.
“The word ‘barely’ precedes it.”
I didn’t pay attention to Valse-san’s further chuckles at my reaction. Her words carried that much weight.
“Does that mean….”
For a moment, I thought she was lying, so I questioned Valse-san again.
“Yes, it’s exactly as you think.”
And in response to my words, Valse-san straightened her posture, faced me, and declared.
“Congratulations, Contractor-san. You win.”
She declared my victory.
“I won?”
“Yes.”
“Me?”
“There’s no one else standing here besides you.”
I was expecting some kind of twist, but I was left feeling anticlimactic. I won against that instructor? The instructor who was the embodiment of toughness?
“You don’t feel it?”
“No.”
Unable to catch up with reality, I could only nod and agree with Valse-san. Was victory and defeat always this anticlimactic?
Still not grasping that I had won against the instructor, I was lost on what to do.
“Well then, shall we go see the reality?”
Seeing this, Valse-san levitated me with magic and began to descend into the depths of the hole. With my stamina and magic completely depleted, I couldn’t resist.
“Reality!?”
“If you meet the person you defeated, you might feel a little more real about it, wouldn’t you?”
As I started to ask what she intended to do, she began descending into the hole as if to say there was no need for questions.
What was going to happen next? Given her actions so far, I could guess.
“Besides, that Oni is waiting for you too.”
And when she said the instructor was waiting at the bottom of this hole, I had no choice but to entrust myself to Valse-san, who was lowering me.
We descended further and further, the surroundings gradually growing darker.
I felt no fear, but a peculiar sensation.
And within about ten seconds, we reached the bottom of the hole.
We descended at quite a speed. And the first thing I felt upon reaching the bottom of this hole was the concentration of magic.
The magic density seemed more than twice that of the surface. This was probably the result of all the magic I unleashed spreading out.
“Did I overdo it?”
“No, I think it was just barely enough to defeat that Oni. Your actions were certainly the best at the time.”
I realized anew how much magic I had poured into the instructor and followed Valse-san’s back.
As expected, the bottom of the hole was not leveled. The ground was shattered and desolate. The bottom of the hole, which felt like it had been forcibly dug out, was rough and difficult to walk on, which was taxing on my tired body.
Still, we managed to advance, and upon reaching our destination, I finally detected familiar magic.
“Yo, took you long enough.”
“Instructor?”
There, leaning his back against a particularly large rock within the hole, was the Ōni, swigging from a gourd.
No, he wasn’t leaning his back against it. He was impaled by it. The ore tree, piercing the instructor’s massive frame from the center, was firmly embedded in his abdomen. It had driven its blade into the ground, standing straight as if to prevent the Oni from moving from this spot.
“That was quite an attack. I could have endured it if it were just magic, but to have such an attack thrown at me while I was prevented from moving like that… this is the result.”
As I slowly approached, my eyes, accustomed to the darkness, caught sight of the instructor. His previously bulging physique had shrunk to a size I was familiar with. His body, which boasted such regenerative power, was now bleeding from everywhere.
“Instructor, your right arm…”
Most striking was a wound that looked like it had gouged out half his body, or at least his right arm. Upon closer inspection, one of his eyes was missing.
The instructor, pointed out by me, replied with a nonchalant sound.
“What, as long as my magic recovers, this kind of wound will heal. Don’t worry about it.”
He spoke as if he were casually saying mushrooms would grow, declaring he was fine. The instructor’s strength, as he swayed the gourd, was weaker than I had ever seen.
“Well, uh…”
The instructor, looking away and bashfully, seemed to be trying to say something, then stopped, and began to groan about what to do.
“Well done. It’s impressive that you defeated me without killing me.”
It was rare for the instructor, but he praised me in a small voice. What was this feeling? It wasn’t the thunderous applause of a crowd, nor the praise of a superior. The mere fact of being praised by someone close to me felt incredibly heartwarming. A warmth spread from the depths of my heart, and not even caring that my body was battered, I quickly looked up to avoid him seeing my face.
“What’s this? Someone crying even though they won?”
“It’s alright. These are tears of joy.”
However, seeing my reaction, the instructor teased me as usual. I retorted, but worried my voice was a little nasal.
“Damn, but I’m still frustrated. If I could have endured that attack, I could have played with you a bit longer.”
“That was my all-out effort. If that were blocked, I would have had no choice but to fight a prolonged battle until time ran out.”
Winner and loser. And two people who had just fought a battle to the death. It was rare for them to sit there and talk like this. Although they praised each other, there was no animosity.
“Next time, I’ll win.”
“I’ll let you win next time too.”
They even ended up making promises for their next battle.
*snort*
Watching this, the instructor and I couldn’t help but let out a laugh.
“Hahahahahahaha!!!!”
“Gahahahahahahahaha!!!!”
Laughter echoed in the hole I had created. The laughter was so loud it echoed far away. Valse-san, witnessing the scene, shook her head as if she couldn’t stand it, floated up, and said,
“It seems I’m intruding, and the Contractor has things to do, right? I’ll maintain the barrier until your time limit is up, so enjoy yourselves until your pickup arrives.”
With that, she left the hole.
“Huh? Things to do? Are you by any chance planning to fight the Dragon King after this?”
Confused by Valse-san’s words, the instructor, looking somewhat displeased, said to me.
“No, I’m all beat up like this. If you attack, I’ll defend, but I won’t fight on my own.”
Literally, I had no energy or stamina left. The only reason I could carry on this conversation was by squeezing out the last vestiges of my fighting spirit.
A deathmatch with full power. Magic usage with full power. Victory as a result of expending all my remaining strength.
“I just wanted to fulfill a promise.”
Despite the pain running through my body from the instructor’s numerous attacks, I still had to fulfill my promise. I reached into my Magic Bag.
“Huh? A promise?”
With the ore tree still stuck in his abdomen, the instructor tried to recall the meaning of the word “promise,” but couldn’t.
“First, to fulfill that promise, can I have you pull out my partner?”
With a wry smile at the instructor struggling to remember, I offered him a potion I had taken out and pointed to the hilt of the ore tree.
“Oh! I actually thought about breaking it, but it’s your sword. I held back.”
“Hmph, don’t think it’ll break so easily, Oni.”
“Gahahaha! To talk big to me, I’ll definitely break it next time.”
Indeed, the strength of my partner, who had been clashing fists with the instructor head-on, was impressive. Given a nod to pull it out, I didn’t hesitate to grab the hilt of the ore tree and pull.
Without a groan or even a change in expression, I applied the potion to the instructor’s abdomen.
“I don’t need that.”
“You do. It’s for the promise later.”
The instructor complained about my actions, but then his expression changed from displeasure to wide-eyed surprise upon seeing what I took out of my Magic Bag next.
“Jiro, you… that.”
“Didn’t we promise?”
Pulled from the Magic Bag was a bottle of sake, an unlikely item for this battlefield. It wasn’t a potion or some kind of magic medicine. It was genuinely just a bottle of Japanese sake.
“Since I won against you, I invite you to a feast.”
I had originally planned to make this invitation after the battle, but on a whim, I had squeezed this bottle of sake and two glasses into my Magic Bag, sacrificing space that could have been used for recovery potions or other consumables. Just before this battle, during a final check, I suddenly remembered the Oni’s words. Thinking it wouldn’t hurt to have good luck, I slightly altered my planned items and included this one bottle and two glasses.
I might get yelled at for inviting him to such a crude place, but I knew this Oni wouldn’t refuse the invitation.
“Gahahahahaha!! The boss got the same treatment!! That’s right!! We promised!! I can’t drink with a hole in my stomach, can I?!”
“Unfortunately, I could only prepare one bottle.”
“Don’t worry about it. I have no complaints as long as I can drink sake in a place like this.”
Then, raising our glasses filled with sake.
“To your victory.”
“To this battle.”
And with that, we clinked glasses and drank. The sake tasted more delicious than anything I had ever tasted before.
Today’s word: Sake enjoyed with a sense of accomplishment is delicious.
The conclusion has finally been reached. This chapter is scheduled to end in 2 to 3 more episodes.
Thank you for your continued reviews and corrections of typographical errors. If you find it interesting, please leave a review, rating, bookmark, etc.
I am currently serializing another work: Pandora Pandemic Panic. The Pandora’s Box Has Been Opened Again, but we are fighting back with various things in secret bases and the like!! Please check that out as well!!
