CHAPTER 58: DOUBLE THE HAPPINESS FEELING

Needless to say, magic requires an extreme level of concentration and correct chanting to be executed.

Generally speaking, the greater the power output of the magic, the longer the incantation, and the caster must maintain precise control to prevent the transforming magic power from becoming uncontrollable, leading to the failure of the magic activation or a dangerous misfire, injuring oneself before harming the enemy.

Therefore, whether it is a Magic Guide or anyone else using magic, they all stand still without exception, focusing on chanting to prepare for casting.

However, there are experts who can chant magic while taking other actions.

They can multitask, handling both chanting and combat simultaneously, becoming high-powered mobile artillery platforms that calmly and steadily incinerate all enemies.

This thrilling feat of multitasking while fighting and casting magic is called parallel chanting.

Those who can flexibly use this technique are extremely rare masters, even among upper-tier adventurers.

This dangerous feat, which is akin to handling a bomb with both hands while still fighting, is obviously extremely difficult to master proficiently.

But once this chanting technique is mastered, even defensive magicians who normally require protection from many others to fight can transform into mobile artillery able to roam the entire battlefield, becoming a thorny presence that nightmares are made of for the enemy.

Now, in front of Loki Familia, there was such a troublesome presence, demonstrating this special technique.

"Arc-shaped Beam!"

As Reiger once again dashed past a stream of dissolving liquid with astonishing speed and fired off the completed magic, knocking down a worm, the higher-ups of Loki Familia had become numb to it.

Attacking, dodging, moving, chanting... Reiger was handling these four actions all at the same time without any confusion in his magic, calmly fired off, striking worm after worm.

This scene, not to mention the others, even Rephia, who had always teamed up with Reiger, was staggered.

Such skilled, calm, steady, and diversified parallel chanting had only ever been seen by Rephia coming from Revilia.

Thanks to this, Reiger alone overwhelmed the worm monsters that rushed forward like battle tanks, causing explosions to continuously erupt at the entrance of the tunnel, blasting both the ceiling and walls to pieces and piling them up together.

"Aaaaaah!"

The worm monsters raged and screeched, but were repeatedly pushed back by explosive blasts and hindered by the accumulating rubble.

"Rubble?"

Seeing this, Finn had a flash of insight.

"I’ve got it!" Finn shouted to Reiger, "Reiger! Hit the top!"

Hearing this, Reiger paused briefly, then quickly grasped Finn’s intention.

"Arc-shaped Beam!"

Immediately, Reiger ran as fast as the wind, skirting streams of dissolving liquid, raising his hand to cast a short-incantation, chanting magic that he had used countless times.

"Boom!"

The homing magic arrow did not hit the monster this time, but instead struck the ceiling at the entrance, blasting it into smithereens.

Consequently, myriad fragments fell crashing down to the ground.

They gradually piled up into a massive heap, blocking the entrance completely.

"Aaaaaah!"

The worm monsters screamed, attempting to push through, but failed.

The continuous fall of the rocks ultimately sealed the entire tunnel entrance, completely blocking the worm monsters on the other side.

The roaring sounds gradually diminished and soon disappeared altogether.

"Yay!"

Theona cheered.

"Captain!"

Theone ran towards Finn.

"Did it work?"

Grace let out a breath of relief.

"We finally got rid of those disgusting things."

Bert spat disdainfully.

Only Ais, ran towards Reiger.

"Are you alright?"

Ais stared at Reiger, asking.

"I’m fine."

Reiger shook his head, looking as usual as he put down Rephia, whom he was holding in his arms.

"Mr. Reiger, here."

Rephia quickly rummaged through her backpack, took out a spiritual power recovery medicine, and handed it to Reiger.

This was an instinctive action.

In Rephia’s view, Reiger had just released so many spells, his spiritual power must be nearly exhausted by now.

"Ah..."

It was only after handing out the spiritual medicine that Rephia remembered Reiger might not need it.

With his highest-level "Spirit Healing" ability, even such reckless magic bombardment was far from exhausting his spiritual power.

This made Rephia feel somewhat embarrassed, and she suddenly didn’t know whether it was better to continue offering the medicine or to take it back.

"Thank you."

Seeing this, Reiger smiled and didn’t refuse, accepting the spiritual power recovery medicine from Rephia’s hand.

"Mr. Reiger..."

Rephia looked at Reiger with touched and admiring eyes.

Indeed, just like Miss Ais, Mr. Reiger appeared very cold on the surface, but was actually very gentle and considerate...!

The elven girl glanced at Reiger, then at Ais next to her, feeling double the joy.

It was then that Finn and the others came over.

"Is everyone alright?"

Finn looked over the group.

Everyone shook their heads one after another, only Bert grimaced.

"We’re safe for now, but this guy who’s dragging his feet might not make it much longer."

Bert was, of course, referring to Raul, whom he was carrying on his back.

"Uh... Ah..."

Raul let out an unconscious groan, his body still emitting smoke and odor, looking miserable.

"Why haven’t you treated him yet?"

Theona was getting anxious.

"Rephia, the panacea."

Theone even urged Rephia.

"Here!"

Rephia immediately took out the panacea from her backpack.

"Give it to me."

Grace took it, pulled the stopper, and sprinkled the spiritual medicine on Raul.

"We’ve lost all our gear." Finn shook his head and said, "Raul is our group’s supporter, and he got drenched in that dissolving solution; that’s why he looks like this. Anything he was carrying would have had no chance of surviving; everything was dissolved in an instant."

"Everything?" Theone was astonished.

"Yes." Bert said through clenched teeth, "It wasn’t just our equipment that got dissolved, even our weapons are gone. That disgusting monster is truly the bane of melee fighters."

Upon closer inspection, whether it was Finn, Grace or Bert, their weapons were all gone.

Especially Bert, whose feet were still smoking, clearly because the iron boots he was wearing had been thoroughly dissolved.

"I’m glad I didn’t rush up to slash at them."

Theona’s forehead was covered with cold sweat.

Even Reiger’s eyes twitched at this.

It couldn’t be helped.

After all, the weapons used by Finn and the others were not ordinary; each was nearly a top-grade armament that usually couldn’t be bought for less than a hundred million in the market.

To have them all dissolved, that cost was substantial.

If they hadn’t lost their weapons and ended up getting drenched with the bursting dissolving solution when they injured the monsters, dying on the spot, Finn and the others wouldn’t have had to retreat in such a sorry state.

"I was careless this time," Finn reflected, "If we had a Magic Guide in our team, the situation would’ve been much better."

Against those wormlike monsters, one had to attack from a distance with bombardments like Reiger did.

If one approached too closely, their weapons would dissolve and injuring the monsters would also mean hurting oneself; there was no way to fight.

Finn’s miscalculation was here; there was not a single Magic Guide in the team, leaving them clueless about how to deal with those creatures.

"Reiger, we owe you a lot this time," said Finn, switching his mood and looking at Reiger, "It’s amazing how you managed to use parallel chanting so adeptly."

At these words, Reiger barely smiled, remaining calm in the face of Finn’s praise.

Indeed, parallel chanting is a fairly advanced technique, but the core trick to it is only one.

And that is to maintain a calm heart.

As long as one’s mind is calm enough to stay composed in the face of danger, achieving parallel chanting isn’t that difficult; it merely requires more practice.

Reiger had a natural advantage in this regard.

He never panicked or got nervous when danger approached, only becoming more impassioned and excited.

Thus, while parallel chanting seemed like an advanced technique to others, for Reiger, it was almost as if he had naturally figured it out on his own.

This made Reiger feel that completing parallel chanting wasn’t that remarkable, and even as Finn praised him and the rest looked on admiringly, he didn’t take it to heart.

Compared to this—

"We should hurry back to camp."

Reiger was more concerned about the situation over there.

Finn understood what Reiger meant.

"...Is there danger over there?"

Finn’s expression grew grave.

"Is the camp in danger?"

The others were greatly alarmed.

In this situation, Reiger merely said,

"I have a bad feeling, I think something might happen there."

Of course, that was an excuse to appease them.

In reality, Reiger was certain that something had happened at the camp.

Loki’s kin had encountered a new breed of monster on this expedition, an abnormal situation where these enhanced species could even devour Strong Dragons, which had occurred in the original story.

Once Reiger confirmed that this expedition was indeed the one mentioned in the original story, he was almost certain that the camp, like here, had been attacked by a new breed of monster.

"Hey, hey, really? Are you kidding me?"

Bert was somewhat skeptical.

"Are these creatures going to venture into a safe floor, climbing from the 51st to the 50th?"

The prospect was something Theona barely dared to imagine.

"...The enhanced species have an unhealthy craving for magic stones, which often leads them to cross floors to devour monsters, to grow stronger, or even to attack adventurers carrying magic stones. We’ve taken down quite a few creatures on our way here, gathering many magic stones, and all those stones are now piled up at the camp," explained Theone, biting her nails, her words causing everyone’s hearts to sink.

"Let’s not talk about it," Finn said sternly, "My thumb is throbbing; let’s head back immediately."

Everyone nodded in unison.

Without needing a signal, they all began to run at the same time.

"Ssss...!"

At the same time, the pile of rocks blocking the passage was emitting black smoke, gradually being dissolved, slowly revealing the yellow-green bodies of the worms.

A life-and-death race against time was just about to begin.