Chapter 37

At a casual glance, it looked like he was suddenly kneeling for no reason, making one wonder, 'What on earth is this?'

However, upon closer inspection, I could see that the ground around Balta was abnormally cracked and slightly sunken.

As far as I knew, there was only one type of magic that exhibited such phenomena.

"Gravity magic?"

Its direct lethality was low, but it could be applied over a wide area and had virtually no precursors, making it very difficult to deal with.

Of course, perhaps because it was powerful magic and difficult to learn, my experience encountering mages who wielded gravity magic was exceedingly rare.

Come to think of it, why hadn't I noticed?

When she pushed me off the airship, the fact that I was able to land safely must have been thanks to her gravity magic.

I thought the reason might be that I had no energy to spare for other things, focusing on the battle with the enemy right in front of me.

She, with a visibly unpleasant expression, landed gracefully using gravity magic and first surveyed her surroundings.

Naturally, the scene that met her blue-glowing eyes was of injured, unconscious members strewn about, a weeping Lirisa, and me, who was close to a living corpse.

"…I'm sorry. That damned guy blocked the entrance, so I was late trying to find a way. I'm ashamed as a commander."

"And the method you found was that?"

"I couldn't make a hole in the floor with the airship's main cannon, perhaps because there was some magical treatment on it. So, well… I crashed it."

Seeing Selina smile, seemingly without regret, my feelings became complicated.

Even if it was ultra-compact, it was still an airship.

Five soldiers and one airship.

If given a choice, nine out of ten people would choose the latter.

An airship, capable of flying through the sky at high speed and traversing battlefields, was that valuable.

Therefore, for her to not only unhesitatingly choose the former but also willingly throw herself into a battlefield where she could die…

I didn't know how to express it.

"But, what do we do now?"

In contrast to her flamboyant entrance, Selina's subsequent question lacked confidence.

Restraining Balta was good.

The problem was what came next.

How to deal with him?

We couldn't just leave him tied up indefinitely, so we had to figure something out, but no suitable method came to mind.

"A mage. And a skilled one who can use gravity magic…"

Balta muttered.

Grind.

Immediately after the sound of grinding teeth, Balta, who had been kneeling, slowly rose to his feet.

Surprisingly, he was resisting the gravity magic crushing his body with sheer strength alone.

"Wow… I guess it's as expected? I'd heard that Odin's soldiers had irrational aspects regardless of level, but seeing it directly is absurd."

Was she confident in her magic?

Selina seemed quite shocked.

Still, barely holding on was all he could do; as long as gravity magic was applied, Balta wouldn't be able to display his overwhelming might as before.

"Selina. Is offensive magic possible? Oh, without deactivating gravity magic, of course."

"Ryan. I'm just a normal mage with a bit of talent. I'm not an Archmage."

"…Ahem."

Perhaps feeling called out, Lupel cleared his throat and avoided eye contact.

I felt a pang of regret as my faint hope, a question I had thrown out just in case, that a mage talented enough to use gravity magic might also be capable of double casting, vanished.

In fact, the ideal method would be to bind his movements with gravity magic and then bombard him with powerful magic to take him down.

Unfortunately, there were no mages available to cast additional spells.

Maintaining gravity magic while fleeing was also an option, but I doubted Selina's magic would last while moving the unconscious wounded.

More importantly, the airship in its current state didn't seem likely to fly properly.

Even if it somehow managed to lift off, I didn't particularly want to ride it, considering it could crash at any moment.

This meant that ultimately, we had to resolve it physically.

"Can you use curse-type magic? The type doesn't matter. The attribute is light."

"Yes. About two types…"

"Then I have a plan."

"That's a relief. To be honest, after getting this far, I was a bit at a loss as to what to do next."

Selina focused on me without taking her eyes off Balta.

I conveyed the plan in a low voice so that Balta wouldn't hear.

From her expression, Selina seemed to dislike my plan, but she probably knew she had no other choice.

While she was indeed an excellent mage, a Level 3 hero from Odin was not an opponent to be dealt with just by adding one more mage.

"Ryan."

"What."

"I really dislike this plan. So, when it's over, it's disciplinary action."

"…How scary."

I walked forward.

Balta, having fully risen, also took a difficult step towards me.

Slow.

His movements were so sluggish that I wondered if he was the same Balta I had fought before.

'At this rate…'

I wielded my sword, which was virtually useless.

Balta retaliated.

His blow was still heavy, but I definitely felt it was different from before.

It was heavy, but somehow manageable.

For the first time, a back-and-forth exchange began.

It wasn't as flashy as the battles of masters in Wuxia films, but we steadily exchanged blows, one after another.

I twisted my body to avoid the sword falling from above.

A long sword cut appeared from my left shoulder, but I swung my sword, believing that my recovery ability would somehow handle it.

It was an attack that Balta, as he was before, would have scoffed at and lightly parried, but Balta, bound by gravity magic, couldn't react.

Slash.

"......"

For the first time, my attack reached Balta.

Of course, the gravity magic didn't lower the opponent's defense, so the wound he sustained was very shallow.

However, seeing Balta's expression, shocked that he had allowed an attack, filled me with exhilaration.

"…Tch."

Balta's attacks, punctuated by a soft click of his tongue, became fiercer, but I could tell he was also squeezing every last drop of his stamina to defy gravity.

The exchange of blows prolonged.

As if cursed by eternally unending time, we simply kept swinging our weapons at each other.

"Hah… Haaah…."

Balta's breathing became distinctly rougher.

Though numerous small wounds had appeared on his body, they were all superficial, bleeding only slightly before stopping.

At this point, I wondered if it might be faster to simply deplete all his stamina first.

Conversely, deep wounds continued to increase on my body, spilling large amounts of blood.

My recovery ability was active, but the rate at which wounds were added far outpaced it.

At this rate, I would be the one to collapse first.

Even Balta's attacks were gradually growing heavier.

My stamina consumption was one reason, but Selina's magic was continuously depleting, weakening the intensity of the gravity magic pressing down on Balta.

"Ryan. I really should join in too."

Finally, Selina, unable to watch any longer, jumped into the battle.

"Selina!"

I squeezed out what little stamina I had left to shout and stop her, but Selina didn't halt.

She inserted herself between Balta and me and swung her sword at high speed.

Balta, wounded by Selina's attacks, who was adept not only at magic but also at swordsmanship, had to retreat.

Watching Selina lightly shake off the blood from her sword made my heart plummet.

The crucial reason I could put up a decent fight against Balta right now was thanks to Selina's gravity magic.

Therefore, Selina shouldn't wield a sword.

If she allowed even one of Balta's attacks, her concentration for sustaining the magic would break, and Balta, freed from the bonds of gravity, would cleave us in half with a single blow.

"Are you out of your mind?"

"Ryan. My magic isn't infinite. As you've noticed, the power of gravity magic is weakening in real-time. We have to resolve this before that happens. Is this a time to seek stability?"

"…Haa."

She was right; I couldn't argue.

We were the weak ones, not him.

As she said, now was the time to continuously take gambles, not seek stability.

In that case, at least…

"I'll take the left. You take the right. I'm talking about based on where we're standing right now."

"That's… no, well. Alright."

I don't know if she noticed, but Selina readily agreed to my suggestion.

Selina and I split into two, pressuring Balta.

"......"

Balta had not spoken a word since before.

He simply swung the axe in his right hand mercilessly, his eyes glinting with madness.

He repeatedly blocked the axe and counterattacked.

Unavoidable attacks were taken with my body.

Even time spent dodging was a waste.

To inflict even more wounds on Balta's body, I continuously poured out attacks in a flesh-for-bone manner.

Selina was no different.

She merely avoided Balta's fists, which were practically weapons in themselves, and continued to make small slashes with her blade.

And finally.

An opportunity arose.

Thud!

"......!"

Balta lost his balance.

To be precise, the moment he took a large step, the ground cracked, and he sank up to his ankles, causing him to stagger greatly.

Perhaps because the road in the ruins hadn't been maintained for a long time.

Or perhaps it was due to Balta's weight, made heavier by gravity magic.

The reason didn't matter.

What was important was that this was a golden opportunity that wouldn't come again.

If we missed this chance, we couldn't be sure when another would arise.

In this fleeting moment, Selina and my gazes intersected.

Without a word, we nodded simultaneously.

And then.

The blue light in Selina's eyes extinguished.

"......?"

A question arose in Balta's expression.

It was natural for him to be flustered since the gravity that had so fiercely pressed down on him had suddenly vanished.

However, Balta, as expected of Odin's hero whom I had so painstakingly nurtured, quickly adapted to the situation.

He swiftly stabilized his unbalanced body, gripped his axe firmly, and spun his body widely with the momentum to cleave both me and Selina in half simultaneously.

But he couldn't be as fast as Selina and me, who were fully prepared.

Selina's eyes once again glowed blue.

A flash of light shot from her fingertips, grazed Balta, and struck my heart.

Then, powerful magic waves spread around my body, and the Eye that Seeks Truth automatically appeared.

Unintelligible Curse: An abnormality has occurred in language recognition.

"No, of all things, this one…!"