How much time had passed?
After one round of hellfire had swept by, Loki Familia opened their eyes on the seared earth and checked their surroundings.
And every one of them was stunned beyond words.
"The fo, forest..."
"No way. It changed the terrain of the floor too?"
The first earth spell had at least left the jungle-like forest intact.
But this attack seemed to be on a completely different level, because the entire forest that had covered the floor was gone, leaving only a barren wasteland in their sight.
It was a truly despair-inducing level of power.
Maybe if it hadn't been for the massive pillar of fire that blocked their path at the end, they might have met the same fate.
"An! Are you okay? You're okay, right? Please, say you're okay!"
In the midst of it all, Tiona's gaze was fixed elsewhere.
At her urgent call, I gave my dizzy head a light shake, opened my eyes, and checked her condition.
She was badly scorched all over at a glance, but...
judging from her expression, she seemed to be more or less fine.
Probably the others were in about the same state.
At least it had been worth choosing to take the pain.
"Magus, your arm...!"
Tsubaki, who had come over at some point, looked grim too.
Well, it was the first time either of them had seen me in a state like this, wasn't it?
Then it made sense they'd be shocked.
So I ignored the pain from my severed arm and put on a show of bravado for them.
If possible, this was the time for a smile, but I was too exhausted for that now.
Instead, if nothing else, I could at least manage a calm expression.
Suppressing the stabbing pain as much as I could, I soothed them as if it were nothing.
"I'm fine. It's only one arm. At this rate, I can recover however much I want once we get back later. No problem. It'll hurt like hell, sure... but I'm used to this by now."
"An..."
"I'm really fine. Don't worry, Tiona."
When I patted her head with my remaining hand, her face twisted even more pitifully.
As for Tsubaki, she was glaring at me like she wanted to kill me outright.
Hmm. Why was that?
I was only trying to reassure her.
And it wasn't like I'd been split in half or killed on the spot. I'd only lost an arm, "only" that much.
The pain was something I could handle myself.
And if, worst came to worst, regeneration became impossible because of some drug tolerance or whatever, I could just replace it with a prosthetic arm.
And yet they were reacting like this, which was honestly a little baffling.
No, maybe this was just the normal reaction of a "human" being.
As for me, a Magus, I was pretty weak in that department.
Yeah, female hearts really were too difficult for a lifelong solo squad member like me.
It felt easier to predict Flat's next prank plan in advance.
"It's been a while since I've seen that expression."
"You little bastard, Magus...!"
"Whoa there, that's enough. I'm refusing anything beyond that. You know exactly what I mean, don't you?"
So I pushed the bravado a little further.
That made Tsubaki start to say something more, then stop.
It had only been a little over a year, but in that time we'd crossed paths and clashed enough that she was pretty sharp when it came to me.
Well, she might chew me out even more later for putting it off now.
But that was a problem for later.
"Cut it out. Don't make some poor girl cry for nothing."
"Yes, yes. As if I'd do anything else."
"Shut up. I'm not joking."
Oh dear, I'd apparently made her angrier than I thought.
Tiona beside her had already puffed up her cheeks in a sulk too.
Thinking about making it up to them later was already making me tired.
Still, there was nothing for it.
Sorry in advance, future me.
"Still, it's a relief we managed to hold out somehow. All right, now it's about time we counterattack. No matter how much of a spirit it is, there's no way it can fire off magic like that again in succession..."
That was when it happened.
"[[Come, fire.]]"
Maybe I had...
"[[Rage, rage, rage. Whirlwind of flames.]]"
...been underestimating...
"[[The crimson wall, the roar of inferno.]]"
...the level of this world even now.
"What the hell! Again already?!"
"Wait? Why do the voices sound overlapped...?"
Someone in the party voiced their confusion.
It was a story I desperately didn't want to believe.
But reality was always colder and crueller than that.
And the fallen spirit was, right now, a disaster—no, a monster—closer to that than anything else.
"[[The howl of wrath and lament that turns all to ashes, the price of my beloved hero's life.]]"
"No way!"
"Dual incantation, you say?!"
Exactly beneath the fallen spirit's throat, in the center above its chest.
There, another mouth had opened at some point, quietly singing as it spat out its chant.
It was a sight that was simply impossible to believe.
Yes, with two vocal organs, dual incantation was something I could just about accept.
But for a single entity to casually unleash a grand spell of that magnitude, with that level of mana consumption, was already beyond common sense and into the realm of the absurd.
Much less to pull off that insane stunt in succession, and this time with the power doubled on top of it—I hadn't even dared to imagine that.
Honestly, this was impossible even for the Heroic Spirits I knew of.
To compare it, this was basically the same as repeatedly firing off anti-army Noble Phantasms over and over again like a lunatic.
At the very least, if it were a True Ancestor, I could understand it as borrowing backup from the "world."
But this... what in the world...!
Something that others could only imitate once or twice by paying all sorts of prices was being done as if it were nothing.
That's total cheat-level bullshit!
GM, get out here right noooow!
"[[My name is Salamander. The incarnation of flame. The queen of flames.]]"
"Gareth! Riveria!"
"No good! Too late!"
"Damn it, you son of a biiiiitch!"
Those who struggled to block it.
Those who struggled to protect everyone.
Those who struggled to dodge it.
"[[Fire Storm.]]"
But the two calamities they had each already experienced once before trampled and ravaged them all over again, this time together, with no mercy whatsoever.
"Damn it, what the hell is this...!"
"An! It's dangerous! Get down!"
The hell of flames surged toward them from the front.
A rain of meteors came crashing down from above.
There was no safe place anywhere, and there had never been any way to flee or hide in the first place.
Even then, Tiona wrapped her body around me, worried about my injuries.
But that effort of hers probably wouldn't mean anything.
At this level of power.
At this level of disaster.
Even an first-class adventurer wouldn't be able to endure it, and the whole party would be wiped out by this attack.
In other words, my journey toward romance would end here too.
"Hoo, I admit it."
Of course, I had no intention of accepting that future.
"Right now, you're stronger."
How much would this one cost me, I wonder?
"[Open Eyes]."
Kiiiiing
Once again, I activated the Mystic Eye, [Samsara Eye] (false).
The magecraft I was about to reproduce this time was one that couldn't be realized even with [Moon Spirit Slime] alone, let alone with a few additional Mystic Codes as support.
That was because, more than the power or scale of the magecraft, the concept itself was simply on a completely different level from my current average.
Normally, I could only barely imitate it for a short time inside my Magecraft workshop on the surface.
But now, for just a moment... I had to draw on the power of "omnipotence" within my Reality Marble if I wanted to make it barely possible.
As for the missing parts, especially the mana resources... well, I'd have to rely on my "mother's" mercy.
Still, if possible... I'd appreciate it if she could take it a little more gently.
Sluuup, smack!
"Huh, what's this?"
"Magus! You again?!"
Before that, I spread the tendrils of [Moon Spirit Slime] as far as possible and made contact with everyone in the party.
At this point, they too would be interpreted within the range of my magecraft.
"I don't know what you're doing, but...! Stop it, An!"
Tiona tried to stop me from right beside me.
But I wasn't going to stop for that.
From the start, this wasn't something she could stop anyway.
I simply ignored her and forced the magecraft through.
"[[I. Will. Cut.]]"
Thud
Immediately after, something left my body.
Next, my body became unnaturally light.
Next, intense pain crashed over me.
Last, something vanished from my mind.
"Do your best."
Ah, honestly.
As I always thought, my "mother" really was a terribly nasty and greedy woman.
But thanks to her, at least the conditions were met.
From here on, failure would not be tolerated.
What awaited was only a single, ultimate success!
"[[The clouds in the sky do not know their own bodies are being torn away! The extinguished flame itself does not perceive the moment it goes out!]]"
This was the power of King Crimson.
Erase time and leap beyond space!
KWA-AAANG!
Immediately after, the two calamities swept over us once more, just as before.
And my consciousness, having reached its limit, faded out with them.
But at the same time, seeing the barrage of flames and earth pass cleanly through my body, I could be certain of success.
Ah, I was relieved.
With this, I had done everything I could.
So the rest is in your hands, adventurers.
Still, hmm...
It's a little disappointing after all.
If possible, I wanted to "play" a little longer.
Maybe I should research a way to move even while unconscious next time.
Yes, something like Cat Emperor Time!
...Huh? Was that not it?
Well, if not, then never mind.
========================
The website for reading paid chapters is available on my Patreon. The number of chapters on Patreon: 85
Link: patreon.com/UltraMagnus_T