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Chapter 23

Use The Expectations Of The Person Who Put Faith In You To Turn It Into Your Strength

 

I’m currently exploring the second floor of the dungeon together with Sybilla.

During this time, I want to absorb as much of Sybilla’s knowledge as possible. After making sure that no monsters have appeared, I ask her about the monster we saw earlier.

 

「Ahh, that was Living Armor.」

 

「Living Armor, huh? I’ve never heard of such a monster before.」

 

「Of course you are, it’s a monster you’ll only encounter on lower layers, after all. The Living Dead… or 『Rotting Corpse』 if I were to describe it another way, you know that there are such 『Undead』 type monsters, right?」

 

「I’ve heard their names at least. They’re monsters that are already dead but still moving, right? …aren’t they immortal then?」

 

「We defeated the Living Armor earlier, so isn’t it obvious that they aren’t? It’s the 『mass of malicious magic』 that makes those things move around, so if you cut that down, they will stop moving.」

 

Even though I know we can defeat them, it’s still creepy just how they’re still moving even though they’re already dead.

But since Sybilla herself said that we can defeat them, then it must be true.

 

「Undead monsters have a lot of strength and attack power, they’re just plain strong. Now, before I continue, let me first explain to you what offensive magic is.」

 

Offensive Magic…

For me, it’s the magic that Jannet uses and which I always dreamed of using.

But I don’t know much about it except that it’s powerful enough to defeat monsters.

 

「First, a way to attack your opponent is divided into two categories. Which are physical attacks using swords, axes, and fists. And then magical attacks using offensive magic.」

 

「I know that much already.」

 

「Fair enough. Alright then, second, this magic has several『attributes』, such as fire and lightning. 【Mages】 can normally use from one to three attributes, while Sorcerers can use four attributes.」

 

「I see. What about a 【Sage】 then?」

 

「If it’s the type that learns Healing Magic later than a Priest, they can use four attributes, but if they learn Healing Magic as fast as a Priest then… well, they can only use one or two attributes.」

 

I see, then Jannet is probably the type that can use four attributes because she learned Healing Magic a little later than me.

……No, wait a minute.

 

「I know a Sage who can use four attributes and learn Healing Magic. Jannet seems to be that type, after all. But was there ever a Sage who can only learn one attribute?」

 

「If they’re learning Healing Magic almost at the same level as a 【Saintess】, then it’s possible. It’s very rare, though.」

 

I see, so it’s really possible huh.

Looks like Sage is a more diverse Job than I imagined.

 

「Or like, aren’t the Hero Party quite troubled right now?」

 

「Troubled? Vince and the others?」

 

「Yeah, I mean, since you left and all.」

 

……What is she talking about?

Right now, that party has Vince, who specializes in the offense, Jannet, who also specializes in the offense, and Emmy, who specializes in defense, and all of them can use Healing Magic.

Is there even any room for me there?

 

「The others can use Healing Magic too, you know? Sybilla, you may not know this, but——」

 

「No, I do know.」

 

「——Ha?」

 

What’s with her? We haven’t been on the same page since a while ago.

You know that the others can use Healing Magic too, and you still think they’re troubled because I’m no longer with them?

Is this girl secretly trying to provoke me?

 

……No, I know she’s not the type of girl who would do such a thing.

Then, does she seriously mean it?

 

「I already know what kind of magic those Jobs can learn. In the first place, whether you learned Healing Magic or not, you shouldn’t be using Healing Magic in the middle layer.」

 

「…What?」

 

What Sybilla said was so surprising that I was left dumbfounded, thinking that she was just trying to get back at me for how much I surprised her yesterday.

 

「Upper layer, middle layer, lower layer, and the Demon World. Isn’t the theory that Healers should conserve their magic power at least until they reach the lower layer?」

 

Just when I’m starting to think that I’m needed, she’s saying things that make me feel more and more useless.

I’m scared to hear what Sybilla is going to say next… but I’ll just shut up for now and focus on her explanation.

 

「Because eventually, the Healing Magic won’t be enough. Both the Hero and Holy Knight can only use up to Great Heal at best, don’t they?」

 

「Great Heal?」

 

That’s another new magic to me.

……No, wait.

From the name, it sounds like it’s Healing Magic, but it’s not something that I know of, so that means… could it be…

 

Or rather, what did Sybilla say before that?

She said “The Healing Magic won’t be enough” didn’t she?

 

「Yep, there will be a point where casting Heal once won’t be enough to heal your injuries. That’s where Great Heal, which is between Heal and Extra Heal will come in handy. Only the Sage who can learn Extra Heal, and even then, the level required is ridiculously high.」

 

「…Then, those guys…」

 

「They’re probably having a hard time, I guess. Well, if they’re at the level where they have learned Great Heal, then they will probably be fine for a while.」

 

I was taken aback by Sybilla’s astonishing explanation.

…A single Heal is not enough to heal your injuries? And there’s something called Great Heal which is lower than Extra Heal?

Assuming they never know any of this… will those guys really be alright?

 

An indescribable anxiety suddenly welled up in me.

I’m worried if something were to happen… especially Emmy who’s prone to getting injured.

 

「——Russell.」

 

A stern voice suddenly shook my eardrums.

I gasped and looked at Sybilla.

She has a serious expression on her face.

 

「Listen, what Russell should be doing right now is not going back to the party who kicked you out, you hear me?」

 

Hearing Sybilla’s strong and firm words, I gradually calmed down my anxious heart.

It may seem cold at first glance, but I realize how important it is to have a calm partner when one of us is getting impatient.

 

「For all we know, they might have hired a 【Priest】 over there or the Sage might have been doing her best to learn Extra Heal. Anyway, you should prioritize the orphanage first before worrying about the strong Hero’s Party.」

 

Sybilla takes a step closer to me.

The gaze from her powerful red eyes is piercing through me.

 

「Otherwise, you will definitely regret it. That’s why, even if you choose to 『help』 them, I can’t allow you to help the Hero’s Party. After all, there are no 『what-ifs』 in history.」

 

After thinking about Sybilla’s words, I nodded my head in understanding.

 

She’s right… what was I thinking?

Wouldn’t it be rude of me to worry about those guys, who are overwhelmingly stronger than me and will keep getting stronger with each level up?

If I put off conquering this dungeon here, I will regret it for sure.

 

「I get it. I’ll do whatever I can do until we defeat the Demon Lord here. Including the share of what they can’t do here.」

 

「N, good answer!」

 

Sybilla took a step back and chuckled softly as if all of the tension from earlier was gone.

 

「Alright, let’s go back to the topic of your magic.」

 

「Yeah.」

 

「Aside from the basic attributes, there’s also the Hero’s light attribute and your dark attribute, which you obtained after making the Twilight Pact. Both have their own characteristics, but to put it simply, they both 『ignore magical defenses』.」

 

「It ignores magical defense?」

 

「Yep. For example…」

 

Sybilla struck her sword to the collapsed living armor at her feet.

 

「Do you think it receives damage from this?」

 

「No it doesn’t obviously.」

 

「That’s right. This is the defense against physical attacks, or in other words, 『Physical Defense』. The same kind of defense but against magic is called 『Magical Defense』. Beings that are close to the Demon Lord, Demons, and so on, have high magical defenses.」

 

「I see, I get it now. Hm? Waite…」

 

I slowly began to understand what Sybilla was saying as she explained it to me.

Earlier, she said that my dark attribute also has the property to ignore magical defenses, didn’t she?

 

「It seems that you understood. That’s right, Russell’s 『Dark Magic』 will demonstrate its true power against beings that have a high magical defense like the Demon Lord. On the other hand, if it’s a monster like the goblin on the first floor that can be defeated with my fire magic, the effect won’t be as visible. Point is, no monster can walk unharmed before your magic. That’s why it even worked well against the Fire Dragon.」

 

The amazing ability to ignore magical defenses and how it can show its true power against certain enemies.

It’s as if——.

 

「——it’s specifically designed to defeat the Demon Lord…!」

 

「Now you get it. Russell’s magic is the kind of magic that can put such 『enemies that are difficult to defeat by normal attacks』 in mortal danger, without exception. However…」

 

Sybilla put her foot on the armor at her feet.

Living Armor, a moving black armor monster of the lower layers. An enemy that shouldn’t be easy to defeat.

 

「Just as it’s tremendously powerful, it also consumes a tremendous amount of magic power to use it. Even the magic power of a Priest who sacrificed everything he had learned will only amount to a level 1, and even such a veteran Priest would have become unstable just from using such low-level magic ten times a day. That is the existence of the 【Twilight Sorcerer】……and then—!」

 

With the foot she put on the Living Armor, Sybilla kicked the Living Armor’s lifeless torso as hard as she could.

The torso of the living armor made loud noises as it rolled around on the dungeon’s red floor.

 

Then, she stomps on Living Armor’s head with all her might.

And just when did she take that? Before I knew it, the shiny magic stone inside the Living Armor, which must be the reward for defeating it, was already in her right hand.

 

「You can forget my explanation from before! You don’t have to conserve your magic at all! Let the fangs of your Dark Magic pierce the life of all monsters! There are no demerits other than the absurd magic power consumption after all! So, I’m going to give you an instruction that I’ve never given to the other Twilight Sorcerers I’ve worked with!」

 

Sybilla smiled widely as she held up the magic stone in her right hand while raising the thumb of her left hand.

 

「From now on, don’t think and just keep shooting your magic forward!」

 

「Alright! Then I won’t hold back and do just that!」

 

「This Goddess will declare it here! You, Russell, will be the strongest in this world!」

 

After saying that proudly, Sybilla moved back to stand next to me as she looked into the depths of the dungeon.

On the other side of her gaze is a black Living Armor, this time holding a maze in its hand.

 

But still, 『the strongest』 huh.

And it’s coming from the Goddess, at that.

 

…Now that I think about it, I haven’t had anyone who trusted and placed a great expectation on me like this in a long time.

Sybilla, whom I trust especially for her intelligence and wisdom, has declared with confidence that someone like me will be the strongest.

She trusts me to become the strongest.

 

Then——I shall become the strongest as she expected me to be!

 

「《Dark Javelin》!」

(《Dark Javelin》!)

 

I keep using double casting on top of one another to shoot my Dark Magic in rapid succession.

In this lower layer, my magic is a good counter against these slow armors that have nothing but durability to boast of. And it doesn’t look like I’m going to run out of magic power any time soon.

I won’t be so careless as to miss even a single one of them.

 

My 【Twilight Sorcerer】 level probably can still get much higher than my current level. That’s why here, I decided to accumulate as much strength as I could to fight against the Demon Lord.

 

Just you wait, Demon Lord.

My magic can rip out the life of any being with its fangs.

 

I’m going to make you regret declaring to attack the orphanage in front of me.