He erected a barrier, taking all the magic upon himself, and then moved away from the Duke to avoid involving him, engaging in a counter-attack.
With only a fifth of his magic power remaining, it was difficult for Jared to use Petrify Magic, his most powerful attack.
If that’s the case—he decided to absorb the magic into his body, enhance his physical prowess, and defeat his opponent with combat skills rather than magic.
Many magicians tend to believe magic is everything, and few, like Jared, train in hand-to-hand combat or swordsmanship to a practical level.
This is even more true for Magician Supremacists.
He would simply overpower them with his strengths—a simple, yet effective strategy.
He kicked off the ground and sprinted. Pouring all his strength into his attack, he closed in on the wind elemental magician and threw a punch. The barrier blocked him, but he didn’t care and pushed through, overpowering it. As the magician, who had been sent flying backward,’s barrier disappeared, Jared drew his pistol and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
A dry gunshot echoed, and the magician collapsed, blood spurting from his chest.
“One down… next.”
The attackers froze at the almost instantaneous death of their comrade. Not one to miss such an opportunity, he continued to pull the trigger.
After firing all six bullets, he drew another gun from his belt and began firing rapidly.
All the bullets found their mark, one after another, in the bodies of the three stunned magicians.
Two fell, and one knelt. Drawing a knife, he closed in on the one who remained standing.
“P-Please—”
He mercilessly severed the neck of the magician who tried to beg for his life.
Fresh blood gushed out, staining Jared’s Combat Uniform red.
He kicked the man’s body, confirming he had died in the pool of blood, and then looked at the leader, seeing the two others who had met their end by bullets.
“That makes it just you.”
“Wh-What the hell are you—AAAAAAAH!”
The man trembled and roared in anger.
“You! To use a pistol and a knife, you who could rise to the rank of Court Mage? Have you no pride as a magician? Have you no shame!”
“Shame? What shame is there? Don’t you dare lecture me on my fighting style, you attackers.”
“…It is one thing if it is magic, but how pathetic must my comrades have felt to be killed by such barbaric weapons created for inferior humans who possess no magic power.”
Watching the man spew nonsense, Jared recalled fighting Barnabas Kaif.
He, too, had used a sword to kill and injure magicians to humiliate them. While his words and actions weren’t those of a Magician Supremacist, he wondered if all magicians were so fixated on magic.
“Stop looking down on those who aren’t magicians. It’s unpleasant to listen to.”
“Why? Why aren’t you acting as a proper magician! Are you content with being engaged to a non-magician, and being treated as a pawn by a Ducal Family that holds no actual power?”
“At least I have no complaints.”
“You should understand. We magicians are the evolved form of humans. Non-magicians are the losers who failed to evolve!”
Jared was dumbfounded by the man who spat and boasted of being an evolved being.
He hadn’t expected such extreme Elitism.
Magicians and non-magicians alike had walked together since ancient times. Who would believe that only magicians had evolved?
“That’s absurd. Not all members of the Royal Family possess magic power. Are you saying even the Royals are losers?”
“Of course! This country doesn’t need kings without power, it needs magician kings!”
“Such an idiotic, radical ideology.”
As Tres had said, he was a dangerous being to leave unchecked.
Whether they called themselves the Orthodox Magician Army or were Magician Supremacists, anyone who didn’t regard the King of a nation as their King and desired a new one was simply a dangerous individual.
“I’m going to capture you. I’ll make you spill all the information about your organization, your comrades, and the humans behind you. And then, you will atone for the sin of sacrificing so many innocent people!”
“You truly are dangerous, Murphy! If someone like you becomes a Court Mage—this country will undoubtedly become a weak nation! The standing of magicians will weaken, and it will be a nation of the weak, dominated by nobles!”
“Say whatever you want. Whether someone is weak or strong is not for you to decide.”
“—Therefore, I will kill you. By killing you, and making an example of Hugo Rüdiger, we shall make our existence widely known!”
High-density magic power emanated from the man.
He had more magic power than Jared, who had been consuming it.
“Here I come, Murphy!”
“State your name, you shy fellow!”
He had no intention of fighting with magic. In a fight to the death, there was no such thing as unfair tactics, unlike in a duel between magicians.
Jared retreated, assuming a knife stance, and sprinted like a beast, while the attacker chanted a short incantation and unleashed his magic.
To avoid the danger of charging headlessly at the enemy, he imbued his legs with greater power and weaved left and right at high speed.
In an instant—an ice spear was born from the ground he had just kicked off.
“—Hah, hey, weren’t you a water elemental magician?”
He broke out in a cold sweat, realizing he could have been impaled if his reaction had been even slightly slower, but he didn’t stop. As he closed to within spitting distance, he swung his knife horizontally.
—But it was blocked by a sturdy shield of ice.
“You’re not the only one who possesses multiple magic attributes!”
The knife that met the shield froze and shattered with a loud crack.
“Damn it—dealing with such troublesome attributes!”
“Likewise!”
He dropped the knife handle and clicked his tongue.
He had deduced the man was a water elemental magician from his earlier attack, weaving through the obsidian spears that protected Hugo. However, while his deduction wasn’t entirely wrong, he hadn’t anticipated a magician with multiple attributes.
Worse, it was the ice attribute, a variant of the water attribute. It wasn’t as rare as lightning element, and while water elementals could manipulate ice if they mastered it, many simply possessed the attribute itself.
Jared gave up on close combat and stomped his foot forcefully on the ground.
“—Pierce, Stone Serpent.”
The magic power dedicated to the spirits became his strength, the earth rose, and transformed into a stone serpent.
“—Shatter, Ice Lion.”
A single ice lion, released from a magic circle, attacked with an ear-splitting roar.
The stone serpent and the ice lion collided between them and shattered.
