061-080 · 074-ch67
Chapter 67: Assessing Strength
Well, time passed as I learned about this world's Common Tongue and the Magic Empire Language from Selene, and around the time I started wanting to head out on another journey.
Before setting out, I told Selene there was something I wanted to confirm with her.
"Something you wish to confirm, you say?"
"Yeah. To put it simply, I want to know how well you can fight."
At my words, Selene showed an expression of understanding.
"Indeed, if we are to travel, there is a possibility of encountering dangerous monsters."
"Exactly. Also, if we're going to venture into dangerous places, I need to know how far I can take you safely."
For example, if we were to step into a monster's den, I want to know how deep I could take her while keeping her safe.
I want to have a grasp of that.
"In such cases, could you not simply leave me in a nearby safe place?"
"Well, I did say some pretty grandiose things about showing you all sorts of experiences. I suppose I can push the limits a bit."
When I answered like that, Selene smiled happily.
She seems to show this happy expression often when she realizes someone is being considerate of her like this.
Or perhaps this was simply one of the ways she connected with her people.
"Thank you very much. Then, how shall we proceed?"
"Hmm, well, if you just spar with me normally, that'll be enough. I'll figure out your limits on my end."
Taking her around everywhere to have her fight monsters would work too, but that would take too much time.
Instead, I can take the monsters' place myself and spar with her.
That way, I can naturally gauge her strength through my own senses.
"My, then I must be careful not to injure John-san."
Oho?
She's suddenly trash-talking me.
When I narrowed my eyes and looked toward Selene, she was smiling with a challenging look in her eyes.
"If you have some request, you can just say it, you know? Like you want to see my full power or something?"
"My, is that so? I thought John-san was quite secretive, so I thought I'd try provoking you a little."
After saying that with a slightly surprised expression, Selene cleared her throat with a cough and made a proper request to me.
"I wish to know John-san's true strength as well. So after you have measured my power, would you please show me your full strength?"
I see.
Well, it's only natural to be curious about the strength of someone you're entrusting your life to.
"In that case, I'll have to be careful not to injure you... If that's what you want, I'll show you my full strength within the range I can display."
And so, a serious duel between Selene and me, where both of us would go all-out, was decided.
"So today, we're gonna have a duel!"
>>Sudden!
>>Wait, what's going on. I get the context but still
>>Isn't this the first time we'll see John's full power?
>>Finally, we get to see John Doe's full power. Wonder if he'll lose the mask
>>No matter how long John's lived in the dungeon, there's no replacement for Japan's latent military power. He must be getting attention from other countries too
>>Watching with my comrades. Interested in seeing the strongest one's power
Since it's footage of a flashy battle, I decided to stream while fighting.
Of course, I got Selene's permission too.
Well, she probably doesn't fully understand what streaming is, though.
I estimated Selene's strength to be quite high based on the scale of the magic she'd maintained for so many years, so I chose a location over 10 kilometers away from the base.
Robo carried us there.
I figure 10 kilometers should be enough that we won't blow up the base...
But since my serious magic might be deflected and cause terrible damage to the surroundings, I'm being a bit cautious.
I've seen a desert that had been turned to glass over a super wide area before.
That was probably from some ultra-high heat shockwave or something.
Also, the fact that I really don't know Selene's true strength is another slightly concerning point.
In terms of magic power capacity, both Selene and I normally suppress the magic power we carry while living our daily lives.
Actually, most humans and monsters have that kind of mechanism.
Muscles aren't active when you're not using them, after all.
If I compare our magic power with my detection ability, I believe I have an overwhelming advantage in terms of magic power capacity.
I can say that with certainty.
But magic isn't simply determined by the amount of magic power.
Of course, the more magic power you have, the more you can increase power according to that amount.
But that's not the essence.
The essence of magic is determined by how much you can change the world, how much influence you can exert on the world, using the magic that employs that magic power.
In that sense, between my magic that uses magic circles I researched independently, and Selene's magic that likely uses academically organized techniques—which is superior?
That will, in a sense, be the deciding factor.
Well, I have no intention of losing.
"Are you ready?"
From a reasonably distant location, I called out to Selene, delivering my voice to her through magic.
By the way, for this battle, we decided to fight primarily using magic.
This was at Selene's request. I learned that her combat method was fundamentally magic-based when fighting monsters and such, and she could only do close combat at the level of self-defense against thugs and the like.
On my end, magic is more of an afterthought—if anything, I've been continuously training with the sword as my main focus.
We both agreed that it wouldn't be a fair fight if the two of us did close combat, and decided to have a magic-focused battle.
I can only use my sword to cut through magic or as part of my magic.
"I'm ready whenever."
Selene's voice, sent through magic in the same way, reached my ears.
This feeling of it reaching my ears like a whisper from the front rather than being spoken aloud—there must be a spell like Whisper for delivering sound to individuals.
Maybe it was used at court parties or diplomatic occasions.
Instead of a starting signal, I fired a fireball into the sky.
Then the fireball, gradually losing its momentum from launch, fell toward the ground somewhere between Selene and me.
When it falls will be the starting signal—now.
"『Activate』"
The instant the fireball hit the ground, I used the defensive magic circle I'd been keeping in a pre-constructed state and deployed a defensive barrier.
Multiple ice spears crashed powerfully against the barrier I'd deployed.
"Tch, you're fast after all."
Even as I spat out those words, I continued deploying multiple magic circles, first aiming to stabilize my defense.
From the beginning of this battle, I'd predicted that I would be outpaced by Selene in terms of magic activation speed.
That's because the magic I use is a somewhat reckless method where I construct magic circles with magic power to activate spells.
Because of that, I have to pull the magic circle from memory, imagine it, and move my magic power accordingly before the magic circle is actually constructed.
And the effect only manifests after the magic circle is completed.
That much lag exists in my magic casting.
Against normal monster combat, there's no problem.
I can assemble magic circles even while fighting, and when dealing with immediate threats, I use magic circles from my stock.
But in a surprise duel like this—a battle where we start on a signal—this lag creates a one or two move delay against my opponent.
So I'd decided to focus entirely on defense in the early game.
And once I'd completed the multi-layered defensive barrier incorporating honeycomb structures that seemed personally meaningful, it was time to counterattack.
By the way, magic had been flying from Selene's side this whole time.
Starting with the ice spears, wind blades, and then something I couldn't identify—small fire seeds that spread explosions upon impact—that kind of dangerous-looking stuff.
The outermost barrier I'd deployed as a stopgap measure was destroyed in seconds, and after that, the spells I'd set up to buy time until the multi-layer barrier was constructed were being smashed apart with incredibly satisfying force.
The multi-layer barrier was destroyed once while still incomplete too.
"Now then, shall we counterattack!"
But.
The strength of my magic circle magic starts from here.
I've run out of stock, so updates will be interrupted again.
I'm continuing novel-writing activities like writing various new works or reading books about story creation, so please don't worry.