Chapter 209: Spirit Magic and Normal Magic

“Monsters are attacking!!”

Today as well, while I was lecturing the Dwarves on blacksmithing techniques, a report of a monster attack arrived from the ground lookouts via spirit magic borrowing the power of a Wind Spirit.

“Alright, let’s go!”

“Yes, sir!!”

Then, under Sharaza-san’s command, the Elf warriors descended towards the ground.

However, although the Dwarves prepared themselves, why did they show no sign of heading to the ground at all?

“Huh? Are you Dwarves not going to fight?”

“Yeah, since we’re slow on our feet, you see. Our method is to first have the nimble Elves go ahead to intercept the monsters with magic, and once they’ve dealt damage to the enemies, they switch with us to annihilate them.”

Ah, I see. They consider the racial physical abilities and decide the vanguard and relief personnel by race.

“Lord Rex, we would like those among you who can use magic to come with us. Have those who cannot use magic come later with the Dwarves.”

“In that case, it’s better for Jairo and Norb to go later.”

“Eh, why? I can use attack magic too, you know?”

Jairo-kun expressed dissatisfaction at Mina-san’s assignment.

“You’re bad at shooting-type magic. So it’s better for you to go later with Norb, the healer.”

“I’m also better at close combat, though?”

Then Meguri-san asked if it was okay for her to go.

“Meguri, you’re better at shooting-type magic than Jairo, and I want you to guard me if push comes to shove.”

“Nn, got it.”

Which means our vanguard unit consists of four people: me, Liliera-san, Mina-san, and Meguri-san.

But if we’re going to split up, I feel like a 3:3 split would be better…

“Isn’t the balance a bit off?”

“Well, just in case. Either way, I think the vanguard squad alone will be enough to manage somehow.”

“Well, I suppose it comes to that.”

“Nn. No need to go later.”

For some reason, everyone asserted that the vanguard squad alone would be fine.

Do they have some kind of basis for that?

Upon descending to the ground, the battle had already begun.

The Elves were firing magic at the monsters from atop the defensive walls and the branches of the World Tree.

“Spirits of the Earth! Stop the movements of those monsters!”

“Spirits of the Wind! Sever the joints of those monsters!”

The Elves’ spirit magic stopped the monsters’ movements and severed their joints while avoiding their hard carapaces.

“Eh? Why does the magic activate with such a short incantation!?”

Amidst that, Mina-san raised a voice of surprise at the Elves’ magic.

“Ah, that’s because, unlike human magic, Elven spirit magic involves forming a contract with spirits.”

“What do you mean?”

“Humans use magic by etching a formula called an incantation into the world. But with spirit magic, the contracted spirit itself is the formula, so if you tell it to defeat that guy, it’ll just do it on its own as long as you give it magic power.”

“What’s that, so unfair!”

Mina-san let out a scream unique to a mage learning about spirit magic for the first time.

I understand. Spirit magic is always in a standby state and activates immediately when ordered.

“But in exchange, since the spirit judges and performs everything, it lacks precision. That’s why they give specific instructions like ‘stop their movements’ or ‘aim for the joints’ like just now. Even then, depending on the spirit’s intelligence and personality, it might not understand our instructions and just attack randomly.”

Yes, spirit magic is surprisingly rough.

“Furthermore, when borrowing the power of a spirit you’ve just contracted with, the magic power consumption increases. To aim for low magic power consumption and high power, you need to take time to become friendly with the spirit.”

That’s exactly why only long-lived races like Elves can master spirit magic.

“Spirit magic is tough in its own way, huh…”

“Anyway, let’s stop chatting and help out too!”

“Right.”

“My and Meguri‘s magic power is weak, so we’ll focus on restraining the enemies and backing up the Elves.”

“Nn, leave it to us.”

We decided on our roles—me and Mina-san attacking with magic, Liliera-san and Meguri-san providing backup—and commenced action.

“Then I’ll launch something right into the middle of the enemies to cause confusion!”

“Got it. I’ll aim for the monsters at the front line with minor injuries.”

We determined each other’s targets and activated our magic.

“THUNDER WEDGE!!”

First, the magical lightning fired by Mina-san pierced right into the center of a monster’s body.

However, the lightning didn’t disappear but remained in the monster’s body, further impeding its movement by digging into the ground.

“Alright!”

Feeling the response of her magic, Mina-san floated a satisfied smile.

This magic is a continuous-type magic that impedes movement by pinning the target down with a wedge of lightning while also dealing damage.

Furthermore, monsters that touch an ally suffering from this magic also get electrocuted, and their advance stalls as they hurriedly distance themselves from their comrades.

“Then I guess I’ll do it too! BURN BURST BREAK!!”

The magic I fired from above scored a direct hit right in the middle of the monsters.

The moment it hit, the monster caused a massive explosion, and the monsters hit by that explosion caused massive explosions, and the monsters hit by those explosions caused massive explosions.

This is the chain-explosion magic, Burn Burst Break!!

It is an anti-army explosive magic that continues to explode infinitely as long as there are enemies nearby!

The monsters hit by the chain-explosion magic spread the chain of explosions one after another, looking just like a large flower blooming from the center.

“Wh-What is that…!?”

“I-Is that human magic!?”

“H-How terrifying…!?”

Seeing the chain-explosion magic, the Elf warriors stopped fighting and floated expressions of surprise.

Yeah, they are young warriors who have never left this village, so they probably aren’t familiar with human magic.

But the spirit magic of veteran Elves isn’t just on this level.

Because with a single word, “Please!”, a Great Spirit can blow away an entire army.

From the perspective of us humans, Elven magic is far more terrifying.

“It’s not that big of a deal. It’s a pest control magic that is used quite normally in human countries.”

” ” “Pest control magic!?” ” ” “

“Yes, it’s a magic developed to exterminate troublesome monsters that appear in massive swarms, like Ant-types.”

Strictly speaking, it’s not just for insects, but a magic targeting all monsters that appear in massive swarms.

“Exterminating them with magic like that…?”

“Are there normally monsters in the outside world that require such magic!?”

Well, the world is vast, after all. I was surprised too when I first saw an army-type swarm of monsters.

When I arrived at the site for a job and saw the situation, I hastily developed this extermination magic.

” ” “The outside world is scary…” ” ” “

Learning that there were many pests in the outside world, the Elves turned pale and trembled.

Could it be that they are bad with insect-type monsters?

I see. So that’s why Elves don’t come out to human settlements.

It must be tough having something your entire race is bad with.

“Human mages are being misunderstood…”

“Don’t be fooled. In the human world, only a tiny fraction of people can do something like that.”

“Not just Dwarves, but Elves are also misunderstanding…”

No, no, it’s not a misunderstanding, it’s normal, you know?

For military mages affiliated with a country, this level is commonplace.

At any rate, thanks to the chain-explosion magic working well and the coordination with the Elves, we were able to annihilate the monsters before long.

“You really saved us. Thanks to Lord Rex and your party, we were able to repel the enemies surprisingly fast. Moreover, annihilating them instead of making them retreat.”

Because we were able to annihilate the enemies, Sharaza-san offered words of gratitude.

“But we were able to defeat them quite easily. Was the number of enemies small this time, perhaps?”

According to Sharaza-san’s story, the number of monsters attacking the village should be considerable.

Yet we were able to defeat them so easily.

“N-No, the number was the same as usual.”

“Is that so?”

What does that mean? The strength of the monsters wasn’t much, but the number was the same as usual?

…Ah, could it be the result of the main force of Elf warriors fighting hard outside the village!?

Perhaps because they reduced the number of powerful monsters, only weak individuals are coming to the village.

Thinking about it that way, we came at quite a good timing.

I feel a bit sorry for the Elf warriors fighting outside the village.

“U-Umm…”

While I was thinking about that, one of the Elf warriors spoke to me.

“Yes, what is it?”

“Ah, yes. Umm. That creature is… your pet, right?”

“Eh?”

Drawn by the Elf warrior’s gaze, I looked outside the village and witnessed a white sphere moving toward the outside of the forest.

“Wait, Mofu-mofu!?”

I hurriedly descended to the ground and scooped up Mofu-mofu.

“Gyuuuu!?”

Mofu-mofu growled as if to say, ‘What are you doing!?’, but quickly realized it was me and quieted down.

“Kyu, kyuuun.”

“Hey Mofu-mofu, there are a lot of dangerous monsters outside, so you can’t just go out on your own!”

“Kyuun.”

Mofu-mofu tilted its head to the side as if to say, ‘Can’t I really?’. But no matter how cute you act, no means no.

Because it’s dangerous outside.

“Now, let’s go back to the village.”

“Kyuuun.”

Carrying Mofu-mofu, who was still struggling and wanting to go outside, I returned to the village.

Later, I would come to realize that this action of Mofu-mofu’s held a significant meaning.