c21-c40 · 023-ch23

Chapter 23: Still in Time

"Monsters confirmed appearing 20m behind. Count is 2, type is Nightmare Vampire. They've already spotted us and are approaching."

"Mayoi! Intercept the enemies from behind! Just aim for their wings so they can't catch up!"

"Got it, leave it to me!"

As we weave between pillars heading toward the distress signal source, the spawning monsters attack us without mercy. I quickly give Mayoi instructions, and she responds by readying her spear.

"Kyuu, buffs please!"

"Okay, I put on the warm one and the sour one."

The warm one and the sour one...? Ah, she used magic.

Magic is a technique that uses mana as its energy source. The "results produced by magic"—such as the temperature of fire generated or the amount of water created—with the same amount of mana show little difference from person to person, but the process varies wildly.

Some people, like Negomin, activate magic by speaking the name of the spell they want to use. Others cast magic through mediums like staves or rings. There are all kinds of different processes.

Some people even need to recite long incantations or draw complex magic circles to use magic, so it really varies from person to person.

Kyuu must be reproducing phenomena she's roughly imagined through magic. Seeing as Mayoi's speed increased, the sour one was probably speed enhancement and the warm one was attack power boost.

"Haaaaah... Mayoi-chan Serious Thrust!"

Nightmare Vampires are bat-type monsters. Their quick aerial attacks are troublesome, but since they rely on their wings for movement, destroying those makes them easy to deal with.

Splendidly, Mayoi's spear pierces through the Nightmare Vampires' wings, successfully shooting them down. It doesn't finish them off completely, but for us right now, that's enough.

We're managing the monsters for now. But the troublesome part comes after this.

"Everyone be careful, the pillars here in Desert Ruins collapse over time. We need to watch out for monsters, but what we really need to watch is above us."

The pillars in Desert Ruins repeatedly collapse and regenerate at fixed intervals. The rubble that falls during that time hurts if it hits you, and if it blocks your path, that alone wastes time.

"Blast Shot."

I use explosion magic to eliminate the falling rubble.

I can handle rubble falling within my visible range with explosion magic, but since it doesn't carry mana like monsters do, it's harder to pinpoint their positions.

Therefore, if it falls from a blind spot, my reaction can be delayed.

"Negomin, danger!"

"Wah! ...Thank you, Mayoi."

"Did you fall in love with me? Hey, hey."

"So annoying, get off me! Just run!"

Mayoi deflects the trajectory of rubble falling over Negomin's head with her spear. Since they cover my blind spots, I'm fine.

"Everyone, we're almost there!"

"Umm... I see it! It's over there!"

Negomin stares into the distance, spots something, and takes off running. Following after her, we find an explorer leaning against a pillar.

"The signal source is there. That's definitely the person who sent the distress signal."

Approaching closer, the situation becomes painfully clear. There's a large wound on that person's abdomen that looks like it was gouged out by claws, and the blood leaking out has dyed the surrounding ground red.

The chest is moving up and down slightly. They're breathing, but in a condition where they could die at any moment.

But they're not dead yet. We're still in time.

"Anyone among the three of you who can use healing magic!"

"Ah, yes! Kyuu can use it!"

"Alright, Kyuu stays here with me for emergency treatment. Mayoi handles falling debris, Negomin watches our surroundings!"

I lay the person down and use magic to create water to wash the wound. Then I press my removed jacket against the wound to try to stop the bleeding.

"Kyuu! What kind of healing magic can you use!"

"Umm, it raises natural healing!"

"Got it. If you cast it as-is, they'll probably run out of stamina and die, so wait a bit."

"Y-yes sir!"

I pull a nutritional supplement potion from my back pants pocket, shove it into the sleeping person's mouth, and force the liquid down.

"Good, they're drinking. Kyuu, cast the healing magic. Start gentle and gradually get stronger, like that."

"From the fluffy one to the tight squeezey one, right."

"Ah, yeah, that works."

"Seiya!"

Kyuu takes the hand of the laid-down explorer, and her palm is enveloped in a gentle green light.

Now, what happens...

"Ugh... GAAAAAH!!"

"Shibasaki-san! They're in pain!"

"It's fine, that's a good sign that consciousness is returning. I'll add more potion, so keep getting stronger."

"You got it!"

Yeah, the healing magic is working well too. Not a full recovery, but more than enough as a stopgap until a professional healer can see them.

"Nego-min, the falling rocks are getting worse, so I want to borrow a hand."

"Doing it now! Mayoi, split your time evenly between debris handling and watching the surroundings!"

"Man, talk about multitasking!"

Those two are properly handling their jobs too. I'd like to move once this person has recovered a bit more, but...

"Everyone listen! Monster reactions all around! They're Nightmare Vampires, but the number is...!"

...Of course it wouldn't be that simple.

"Kyuu, keep focusing on healing. I'll leave potions here, so give them more while you work."

"I-I'll do my best!"

I set down the potions and stand up. In the distance, I can see a black mass covering the collapsed pillars.

I see, so all of those are Nightmare Vampires.

"S-Shibasaki-san...!"

"You two keep concentrating on the falling debris. I'll handle the monsters."

"So cool, strong uncle Shibasaki-san!"

The black shadows approach us while making unpleasant sounds. Maybe a few dozen seconds until they reach us. Wiping them all out with explosions would be simple, but using that here would just accelerate the pillar collapse.

Water... no, fire then.

Just as I thought that and readied my deck brush—

"Wait, Shibasaki-san! Another mana reaction nearby! This is probably explorers!"

"Seriously."

If I use area attacks, I might catch them in it...!

"How many and what position?"

"Count is 5, position is... approaching the Nightmare Vampire swarm from behind!"

"I see, got them."

Beyond the black mass, I can definitely sense explorer-like mana. One of them, a particularly small one, steps forward.

"Guh, Gravity Ball."

With a voice suited to this crumbling space, a sphere charged with abnormal mana appears in the center of the black mass, pulling the surrounding Nightmare Vampires toward a single point.

"Nice, Main! Assault Flame!"

Next, a hostile man leaps out and unleashes flame magic at that point. The black masses are exposed to intense heat, writhing as they try to escape the sphere.

"Anarchy-chan said not to go out alone, you know. Andante should have more coordination."

"Shut up! You do your job too, Silurica!"

"I know, I know. Grind Shot!"

A dignified girl shoots an arrow toward the writhing black mass. The Nightmare Vampires being pulled toward the sphere are certainly killed by that single strike.

However, several stragglers that managed to escape the sphere are flying around the area.

"Sigh, you guys need to do this more carefully."

A young man with impressively refined mana sighs as he cuts down the remaining stragglers.

In an instant, a single strike, with just one slash, he cut down every single one of the stragglers.

...Amazing. Magnificent coordination. I wasn't needed.

Then, the last one—a girl wearing a sister's habit—runs toward us together with the young man who just swung his sword.

"We received your distress signal and came here. I'm Rose of the Steel Rescue Group. Where is the injured person?"

"Anarchy, leader of Stained Hawk. We've arrived at the signal source."

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Thank you for reading this far.

When explaining magic, I thought about changing "results produced by magic" to "results per unit of mana produced by magic," but I decided against it.

By the way, to break it down more for people who don't get it, it's basically saying that if you use 1 unit of mana for water magic, anyone can generate roughly 1L.

Also, the potions are in containers that look like they charge in 10 seconds.

If you thought this work was good or you're curious about what happens next, I'd be happy if you gave it a star rating or followed! It helps increase the author's motivation!