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Volume 1 Chapter 2 Part 10

Staring at the slope of the hill, Siluca imagined a different scene precisely in her mind.

 

「Rise forth! 」

 

When she shouted so, she moved her magic wand to the side.

 

The ground beneath her feet made a series of creaking and cracking sounds and changed its shape  according to the movement of her magic wand.

 

The ground in front of the enemy soldiers who marched without breaking their formation swelled up in a straight line, and in that place a wall as tall as a fully-grown man was formed. Enemy soldier’s advance has been blocked by it, rendering them unable to proceed even an inch further. Agitated voices were being raised, but there was no sign of confusion that Siluca was hoping to see.

 

When they noticed the edge of the wall, they moved to the right as seen from Siluca’s point of view without even trying to climb over it. The tops of their shoulders were visible above the wall, causing Siluca to understand exactly what was going on here right now.

 

In all likelihood, Moreno must have been training his soldiers not to be daunted by magic in preparation for this battle.

 

(Even if his personality might not be all that remarkable, he does not seem to be someone who would go and miss such an obvious opportunity. )

 

Siluca eventually also taught their recruits how to deal with magic on the battlefield: Don’t clump together and use projectiles whenever possible. A Mage is not an omnipotent being. Of course there is  going to be a limit to a number of soldiers that a single Mage is going to be able to take care of just by himself. That is why Siluca also changed her own position in accordance with the movement of Lassik’s  soldiers.

 

The front of the enemy appears from the edge of the makeshift wall that she made. Right now, they were approximately 50 paces away from Siluca. That was not all that big of a distance to traverse, but Siluca was already about to cast another spell in order to remedy that. That must have been a possibility that the enemy soldiers did not account for, because their leader held up his spear and began charging straight at her.

 

(If you can’t share information with the other troops, they won’t be able to move systematically.  And because they have been given the knowledge about magic, they know exactly how scary it can be. )

 

And that is why they acted immediately.

 

All in all, it was not a wrong approach, and it was a pretty effective way of stopping Mages from casting their magic, even more so since the enemy Lord’s orders were probably for his soldiers to charge forward while flanking them from left and right at the same time so that it would be harder for Siluca to deal with all of them at once.

 

(Make them clump together into a one big group, and don’t let them use projectiles…)

 

Siluca was able to create this situation just by simply blocking their view with the magic wall that she created and forcing the soldiers to change the original path they intended to go down.

 

「Lightning is the bridge that connects heaven and earth… rain down! 」

 

Now that Siluca had the enemy soldiers right where she wanted, she activated her magic yet again.

Along with a roaring sound that cuts through the air, a bluish-white lightning flashes from the tip of the magic wand that Siluca pointed forward. While drawing a chaotic trajectory, it shot forward at incredible speed and pierced the soldiers wo were charging towards her in a single straight line.

 

Soldiers fell flat to the ground without even having a moment to scream in pain. The unpleasant smell of burning meat wafted to the air from their bodies, and after taking such an attack head on, it looked like none of them had the strength needed to stand back up.

 

Seeing what has become of the soldiers after her attack, Siluca herself groaned unpleasantly.

 

At the very least, now that they have been hit by it like that they should not be able to move around for a good while, effectively taking them out of the battle without killing a single one of them.

 

(Please, don’t let anyone die…)

 

She did what she had to do, but she still prayed for these soldier’s safety nonetheless.

 

It was her own decision to compete with Moreno and that is why she increased the concentration of Chaos in the area even further than he did, causing all of the spells she would use to be that much more powerful, so if these soldiers are going to be unlucky, that lightning strike is going to kill them, but still, Siluca did everything in her power to make sure that this spell would not be strong enough to kill them in one blow. It is going to be fine if they all lose their will to fight and flee the battlefield as a result, and it should also be fine for her to consider these guys as helpless and unable to fight for a while.

 

Siluca tried to go back to Theo’s side now that she was done with these guys…

 

But then she sensed a murderous intent that was approaching her at incredible speed, so in order to dodge it, she threw herself onto the ground. She did that just in the nick of time, but even so, she felt  a searing pain exploding up behind her right shoulder.

 

「Huh? So you actually managed to dodge it? And I wanted for it to penetrate just a little bit deeper than that. 」

 

I heard a silent voice. It was faint, but it was definitely a one that she was familiar with.

 

「It’s been a while, Moreno-senpai. 」

 

Siluca rolled around the ground and got herself back onto her feet as soon as possible. When she did that, she saw the figure of the Mage Moreno standing there. And before she knew it, he had already moved behind Siluca.

 

There is pain in her right shoulder, but she can’t afford to be bothered by it right now. The wound that he inflicted upon her certainly hurt, but it was nothing that is not going to be healed given the time and a little magic, and right now she has more pressing concerns to worry about: she needs to do something about the Mage who appeared in front of her as soon as possible.

 

「I’ve never seen an Electric Shock magic used and executed so brilliantly. That being said, I was really hoping that you will not notice my presence at all, being too occupied with those guys and all. 」

 

She didn’t mean to let her guard down so much, but it’s true that she was late in noticing Moreno approaching her while he still had his invincibility spell working on him.

 

Her slashed shoulder was is in pain, but other than that, she was able to move her arm normally. She also felt like blood flowing down her arm, but other than that she did not think that any important blood vessels have been damaged by Moreno’s attack.

 

(Was he targeting me from the very beginning?)

 

When they learned that Moreno has separated himself from Lassic David, Siluca did not even consider the possibility that he might have taken that action in order to target her, the enemy’s Mage, instead of going after the enemy’s Lord, which was what she was expecting him to do.

 

 

「In the current situation, I clearly have the upper hand. It would be wise of you to surrender, Silly. 」

 

Silly. That is how Moreno called out to Siluca when he approached her back at the Magic University a long time ago.

 

She remembered that she got incredibly angry at him for calling her like that, and in response she glared at him as if she wanted to kill him with her sight alone.

 

「Are you really sure that this is the end? Your Lord might just get overthrown while we’re doing this, you know? 」

 

Siluca tried to use a bluff to cause Moreno to waver

 

「I am well aware of the situation on the battlefield. I know that you have someone terrifyingly strong on your side whom you had to send into battle here. 」

Moreno shrugged his shoulders while saying that.

 

「All thanks to you. 」

 

Irvin might have pledged allegiance to her and became her servant without permission, but in hindsight, she was feeling nothing but gratitude towards him for doing that, and when it comes to Aishela, she was more like an older sister to Siluca rather than anything else.

 

 

「But if we take Siluca hostage, we will win this battle. It seems that the two Artists are  loyal only to you, and your Lord will not be able to do anything by himself. 」