“Ugh, this is frickin’ annoying. Seems like it’s time to teach you exactly what you’ve damn done!” The blue-haired beastman was completely unarmed. He waltzed over with his hands in his pockets.
Was he friend or foe? I thought he might be with the demons, so I turned my attention toward him and away from Grist. While the latter had quite the mana reserves himself, this beastman far exceeded even him. Who was he?
A single utterance from Claira immediately wiped away my worries. “Therion!” she happily squealed.
So, they knew each other.
“Are you guys friends?” I asked.
“Yes! He’s Therion, the Hero of Crystal! My childhood friend!”
“He’s a Hero?”
“Well, his actions can be quite problematic at times, and he doesn’t have the best communication skills, to be blunt. The Holy Principality even refuses to recognize him due to his poor conduct, but he still undeniably has the makings of a Hero! He is one, technically.”
The phrase “problematic actions” caught my attention, but he was apparently on our side, and a Hero to boot. Given his mana reserves, he was probably a mage of some sort, right? But unlike Allen, this guy looked nothing like a Hero. In fact, even a low-ranking adventurer wouldn’t be walking through the woods dressed like that. The more I thought about this “Therion,” the less I understood him.
“Just asking, but is he strong?”
“He is. This is just my personal opinion, but I believe Therion is the strongest, most feared, and most hated of the Heroes. Though really, he’s quite cute!” Claira talked about Therion proudly, almost like a doting mother. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if this could really be considered praise, but it seemed like he was definitely strong, at least.
“Do you think Therion can beat this guy?”
“I believe so. However...”
“Not for certain?”
“Indeed.”
She had sounded quite proud earlier, but she still wasn’t sure he’d win this battle. I decided to ask her why.
“This is simply a guess, but if the demons are behind this fog, I doubt it’s the doing of the one before us now. He may be strong, but it would be impossible to shroud himself with mana like that while simultaneously producing this mist.”
“You’re right.” I had to admit that Grist was insanely strong, but even then, I couldn’t believe he’d be capable of producing this wide-ranging fog while expending so much MP to fight. In other words, “There must be another demon hiding somewhere.”
“Yes. It’s just my best guess, but I believe that’s likely.”
Still, I couldn’t detect any mana signals from within this fog. Though at the very least, they wouldn’t be hiding outside of the area the mist was covering. Whoever this was, they had to be nearby—which meant there was a possibility the demons had reinforcements. All our attention was on Grist, but it was perfectly possible there were more demons hiding in the vicinity. And depending on their strength and numbers, even a Hero like Therion could have some trouble.
But despite these circumstances, Therion looked like he was having a blast. He had an unsettling smile on his face. “Are you the bastard who kidnapped Claira?” he asked, glowering at Grist with eyes that brimmed with bloodlust.
“Yup, that’s me. So, you’re Therion, the Hero of Crystal, huh? You really don’t look like much of a Hero, though,” replied Grist, looking perfectly calm.
Therion cackled. “Relax, I’ve heard that a million times already. I don’t give a damn about being a ‘Hero’ anyway.”
“Oh? In that case...” Grist disappeared. Then immediately, he appeared behind Therion, who looked completely unperturbed. Grist reeled back his right fist before slamming it down with all his strength. “Then die!”
I could tell his mana was gathered around his fist. In fact, he had likely concentrated the entirety of his mana armor on that one spot. Even a Hero wouldn’t be able to withstand a straight hit.
With that thought in my mind, I cast an offensive spell—which I’m not really good at—in a desperate attempt to distract Grist. And immediately...
“No, you die, bastard!”
✦ ✦ ✦
Crackling resounded as everything surrounding Therion froze in a flash—even Grist, who was stuck mid-punch. The scene before me was fantastical, completely silent and serene as if space itself had frozen.
Wow. So this was the Hero of Crystal’s true power. Not that Allen was weak, but he definitely didn’t compare to Therion.
“Damn! Well, I wasn’t expecting this’d kill you anyway.”
Something snapped within the silence—it was Grist. He’d once again summoned his mana armor, which broke through the ice encasing him.
“I let my guard down, I see.”
Therion sighed. “And if ya just stayed frozen, we’d have made some progress. You sure are one stubborn bastard.”
“And so are you. I can’t believe you cast that ice magic without an enchantment. Instead of a staff, you even used your body as the spell’s medium! Are you really a beastman?”
There was definitely magic in this world that could be cast without using a staff or reciting an enchantment, like storage magic. That spell only required manipulating mana, so you didn’t need a medium to cast it, and it didn’t really cost that much MP either.
But offensive magic—spells that had heavy MP costs—were a completely different beast. With those, you had to convert mana into magic, then release that magic into the world. Using your body as that medium was incredibly dangerous, and even if you tried, low-level magic was the theoretical limit.
However, Therion had just cast a high-level ice spell without a medium—one that was incredibly powerful at that.
“Just what the hell are you?” asked Grist.
“Sure, most people can’t do this. But I’m special! I’ve got an ice-magic resistance. Do you know why some monsters can cast magic without a medium?”
Grist answered Therion’s question with silence.
“Ya see, monsters all have resistances. Some monsters can cast magic, but usually just one type, sometimes two. But even then, that just means they’ve got two resistances,” said Therion, laughing triumphantly.
“Then you mean you’re built like a monster?” asked Grist.
“To put it simply, yeah.”
His bodily composition was similar to that of monsters? I had once seen something similar in Master Merlin’s research materials. She had been trying to figure out if large-scale spells could be cast without a staff, and she had written out the results of her research and general thoughts, which included the bodily makeup of monsters.
There, she had written the following: First, casting such spells was impossible for humans, whose bodies were most unlike monsters. Demons were quite dissimilar as well, so they were likely also incapable of doing so. However, beastmen alone were most likely to be able to perform this feat.
Though “most likely” still meant “practically impossible,” in this case. Well, it was supposed to. But now that I was thinking about it, Claira had cast a large-scale spell without a medium too, hadn’t she?
What did that mean?
“I’ve got a unique constitution, plus the skills of a Hero. To put it straight, these two miracles let me cast ice magic without a medium and with no regard for my MP.”
“Thanks for the explanation. You looking down on me?”
“Uh, obviously. Knowing that’s not gonna change anything for you, you damn bastard!” Therion lifted his right hand toward Grist, and immediately, a sharp pillar of ice erupted from the ground.
Grist dodged it by leaping into the air.
“You...!” cursed Grist.
“I’ve still got more in me, damn it!” Ice crystals popped up one after another, which Grist dodged with jumps. “What’s wrong?! You’re not gonna take me the hell down unless you actually fight, moron!” Therion cursed so much it was hard to tell which one of them was the real villain.
“H-He doesn’t usually have such a dirty mouth. He must be pretty mad,” said Claira, grimacing.
“I-I see...” Now I knew why the Holy Principality refused to recognize his title of Hero. Allen used to act more...Hero-like, I suppose you’d say. I had met with the Holy Knights, the knight brigade serving the Holy Principality, multiple times, and from what I remember, they much preferred the heroic types.
Well, no matter his personality, I was still relieved he was here.
“Now, even Grist shouldn’t...” muttered Claira, her expression one of relief. That’s what she wanted to believe, and for a second, I had hopes that Therion would be able to take down Grist too.
But one of the Four Fiends wouldn’t fall so easily.
Suddenly, Grist froze. Then, he reeled back his fist.
A shiver went down my spine. Something was coming!
Immediately, I grabbed Claira’s hand and dashed toward Daggers. “Protect her with your shield!” I said, entrusting Claira to him before immediately casting some spells. In a single move, I undid their current buffs and replaced them with defensive ones.
“Yui, Silica, Cross! Take cover as best you can!”
I felt bad for Therion, but I’d just have to hope he’d pull through.
A few seconds later...multiple meters of earth had been dug out of the ground as a tree-toppling force shot through the forest.