Then, toward that same dog—
“Excellent work, Randy!”
Boom! A magnificent flame from the tip of Serephina’s rapier hit the beast directly. It was burned away in an instant.
“Hyaaah!”
With a twirl on the spot, Serephina swung her rapier.
A red-hot flame spiraled around her and became a firestorm that surrounded her, blowing fiercely.
“Grrrrrrr?!”
“Eeeeee?!”
The multiple beasts that had been flying at Serephina from all sides were easily burned down by the overwhelming firepower.
“A-amazing… That’s a princess for you…,” Randy stammered.
“What, you’re not too bad yourself, you know?” said Serephina. “Quite an accomplishment for your first real battle.”
“Man… Really didn’t expect all those idiotic fights I got into back in my hometown to come in handy like this…”
Randy wiped at the nervous sweat pouring down his body like a waterfall, while Serephina nonchalantly swept away the remnants of the flames with her rapier.
“I-I’m sorry…everyone… I know…I have to do something…to help, too, but…”
Annie, on the other hand, was squeezing her staff with both hands as if clinging to it for dear life.
Her face was pale as death, and her entire body was trembling. “I-I’m just so scared…!”
“Worry not; it is to be expected! And being a member of the nobility, it is my duty to protect the weak,” said Serephina. “All you have to do is stand still and let me protect you.”
“Instead, why don’t you focus on healing? You’re the best among us at healing magic, Annie,” Randy suggested.
“O-okay…!”
She wiped the tears from her eyes and tried her hardest to keep up with the others.
“I know Rix’s skill has always been inhuman, but…”
Randy looked ahead and watched as Rix swung his sword, which had been enchanted by Shino. He slashed over and over to cut down the Chaos Beasts as they came at him.
Rix was strong, especially against an opponent that wasn’t a mage.
“Indeed, that is true, but…now it looks like he isn’t the only one.”
“Yeah.”
Serephina and Randy nodded to each other and turned toward the group’s rear.
There, they saw Shino, who had taken the role of rear guard—
“Hmph.”
Shino swung her wand.
As she did, multiple small balls of lightning appeared around her—and the next moment, each ball emitted a bolt like a laser, in all directions.
The bolts shifted and moved freely around Shino as if by their own free will—completely cutting down all of the beasts around her through and through.
She swung her wand again.
From its tip came a fireball of tremendous heat.
As she flung it forward, the fireball produced a huge explosion. In one section of the explosion rose a huge pillar of fire, which blasted countless beasts into the sky and burned them to a crisp.
Passing the burning beasts in the air, countless birds swooped down from the sky toward Shino.
Calmly, Shino twirled her wand, kicking up a hollow tornado.
The birds were slashed into shreds.
“Graaaaaawwwwwwwhhhh!!”
Then a beast like a huge boar rushed toward her, stamping and shaking the ground as it approached.
Looking vaguely irritated, Shino whipped down her wand.
Craaaaash!
An immense force of gravity came down upon the boar’s head and flattened it in an instant.
“Amazing…”
“I had no idea…Shino had that kind of power…”
The number of different spells Shino easily had at her disposal was beyond what her peers were capable of. She was clearly as strong as one of the academy’s instructors, if not stronger.
She might have even been on par with Professor Arca.
Each spell Shino cast had fearsome accuracy and power.
On top of that, she was casually using high-level magic that no new student would possibly know, and all via chantless spellcasting.
Furthermore, she gave the impression that she was used to magical combat. She looked like a regular battle-hardened mage.
“Did she really only just open her Sphere…? What’s going on…?” Randy wondered.
“I haven’t the slightest…,” said Serephina.
“Everyone! I’ve got this section under control!”
Then Shino caught back up with the rest of the group, having completely taken care of beasts encroaching from behind.
“…Guh… Ah…”
“Shino?! Are you all right?!”
Serephina caught Shino as she suddenly went limp and lost her balance.
“Huff…huff…huff…huff…”
Shino was panting. She looked weak and was horrifyingly cold to the touch. She had completely exhausted all of her energy, even in such a short battle.
“Shino…have you already used up all your mana…?!”
“Yes, it seems so… How unsightly of me…”
Indeed, Shino had been wielding her magic recklessly. However, it was still too soon for her to be this exhausted.
Using up her mana at this rate… Could it be that her Sphere and amount of mana haven’t caught up with her knowledge of spells…? Serephina wondered.
It seemed her Sphere was still only at a beginner level, having opened just a short while ago.
Judging from her Sphere and mana alone, Serephina was at an overwhelmingly higher level than Shino.
As far as Serephina could tell, Shino’s Sphere was only about five meters wide. That was normal for a beginner; ten meters would be exceptional, and twenty meters or more would be considered prodigious.
In short, Shino’s Sphere was merely average. Her powers were typical of a beginner mage.
However, there was no doubt that her skill level was excellent; she was able to send her spells outside the boundaries of her Sphere, where such extreme force and attenuation began to occur.
But now was not the time to be questioning the unnatural disparity between Shino’s skills and her actual power.
“Over here!”
Ahead of them, Rix had cut a bloody path through their enemies and was waving at Serephina and the others.
“Let’s go, Shino,” said Serephina. “Lean on my shoulder.”
“…I’m sorry for the trouble.”
“Just hang in there, Shino…!” said Annie.
Supported on either side by both girls, Shino staggered onward.
With Randy keeping lookout and Rix in the lead, all they could do was keep on running from the beasts that continued to appear one after another.