For The Yet Unknown Tales (7)

"[Trust, Lightning, Quick Flash, Strike in the Blink of an Eye.]"

The power-laden words were a decree.

Everything that heard the sound of my heart hurried to carry out the command.

Mana boiled over, the sky darkened, and small thunder rumbled from all directions.

Melonia, flustered, hurriedly fired magic from her fingers, but my final declaration was a bit faster.

"[…Thunder Calling!]"

As if waiting, a giant lightning bolt struck down.

Crash!

The world turned white.

No trace of Melonia's pink beam could be seen.

"This can't be…"

Melonia gaped at the place where the thick lightning struck.

Yes, this was beyond her comprehension.

Awakening to a higher realm during battle?

It was rare, but it does happen occasionally.

More impressive than suddenly becoming a mid-tier magician was Yandel's unshakable spirit, even in the face of Melonia's temptations.

Thus, to Melonia, who had lived long and fought in many battles, Yandel's awakening was merely a spectacle.

What could a newly made mid-tier magician possibly do?

He was called a mid-tier magician, but knew nothing of intermediate magic. He didn't even fully understand how much stronger he had become.

A magician who couldn't use intermediate magic and hadn't tapped into his full potential was nothing to fear about.

After all, Melonia was the Archbishop of Grotesque Proliferation.

Even if her combat ability was less than that of the other archbishops, that was no reason for her to be looked down upon.

Even without using her charms, no mediocre mid-tier magician or aura user alone could possibly handle Melonia.

Especially now, when she was commanding countless monsters.

Yet, the scene unfolding before her sent a chill down her spine.

The thick lightning struck not off-target, but deliberately above Yandel's own head.

So powerful was it that Melonia's magic beam evaporated mid-flight due to the aftermath.

And the place where the lightning struck. It was even more miraculous.

Aside from where the magician stood, a crater was formed.

Within that pit, residual lightning crackled without pause, and hundreds of monsters turned to mere dust, floating in the air.

It was a single strike.

Hundreds of monsters turned to dust with just one blow.

She had deliberately gathered lower-grade creatures to control a large number, yet they were annihilated in an instant.

This was not magic a newly minted mid-tier magician could perform.

No, even a seasoned mid-tier magician would need extensive preparation to wield such power.

Only someone from a self-proclaimed great magical family like Lindelheit could possibly show such power on their own…

"Huh?"

Melonia belatedly recalled the information she had received from the Church of Boiling Silence about Yandel.

Did they say he had the surviving Lindelheit daughter as a slave?

"Could it be? No, but that would be impossible…"

Lindelheit's talent strictly followed through their bloodline.

Even if someone were to continue Lindelheit's vision, without the blood, it would be useless.

But then…

Inside this crater, releasing a steady blue flash, how should this man be explained?

Melonia couldn't understand.

The overflowing mana was uncontrollable.

I must have cast Thunder Calling without even having half the usual mana…

Yet, somehow, the mana from my surroundings was rapidly being absorbed into my body, following my heart's pumps.

Blue light sparked all over my body, likely even dripping magical light from my eyes.

Whether this was good or not, I couldn't tell, but the outcome was satisfying.

With just one strike of lightning, I had cleared all the troublesome fishermen.

Because of the remaining electricity, the black ash didn't settle but floated in the air.

Beyond that, Melonia's shocked face was visible.

She must be surprised. I was, too.

I glanced over at where Iona was. It didn't seem immediately dangerous, but she appeared to be quite pressured.

I had to finish this and go there.

Aware of the omnipotence still in my hand, I extended it.

The posture was similar to how Melonia had been shooting magic beams at me.

Pointing at the only enemy left, Melonia, with what might feel like a somewhat arrogant pose…

"You!"

Melonia grimaced as if she immediately recognized that I was mimicking her.

Then, perhaps wary of the magic I had just shown, she fired a series of magic beams.

It seemed she didn't quite understand what Thunder Calling was.

Watching the incoming beams, I focused my heated mana on the darkened sky.

And then I poured out the overflowing mana in chunks, shouting,

"Strike, Thunder Calling!"

Crash!

The incoming beam was intercepted by the lightning from the sky and erased.

"What…?"

Seeing Melonia's disheartened expression, I felt relieved, remembering how she had been snickering from above.

Thunder Calling.

A magic that creates storm clouds in the sky and strikes lightning from them.

It was a hybrid type of setup and activation. It consumes massive mana and time initially.

But once used, it could strike lightning consecutively for a relatively lower mana cost.

A magic optimized for so-called "Stake Damage." Of course, there were a few issues with Thunder Calling.

Firstly, you couldn't move while maintaining the spell, and secondly, the recoil was quite intense.

Crackle.

Blue current surged over my trembling, power-concentrated fingers.

"Ha! Of course! You can't use such powerful magic without any consequences!"

"That's true."

The staff I had used to initially cast Thunder Calling couldn't withstand the overload and turned to ash along with the fishermen.

In the game, it was a spell where the weapon's durability would deplete rapidly, and the spell would cancel once durability was exhausted…

If I kept using it, would it break my body?

But it didn't matter.

"I still have nine more fingers."

If I could defeat her within nine shots.

Melonia glared menacingly as I smirked and raised my middle finger.

"The Church… we underestimated you, Yandel. We were so focused on which organization was thwarting our grand plans that we neglected to consider the individual Yandel himself. You're quite dangerous too."

"Ah-ha! So that's why you were so desperate to capture me alive."

A mysterious young man suddenly disrupted their secret plans, one after another.

Naturally, they wouldn't think it was just good luck. They must have assumed, as I had predicted, that some organization was behind me.

Melonia was the one who came to face me, targeting only my limbs despite having me completely on the defensive.

It must have been to extract information from me indirectly.

Of course, there was no such organization! Well, there was, but it was just a fledgling that I had created a few months ago.

I smirked and aimed my raised middle finger at Melonia.

"Unfortunately, I don't have time to play around. Let's finish this quickly."

"Just a moment! I surrender! Don't you have any questions for me? Or… something you want to try…"

Suddenly, she emitted a sweet scent and ran her hand between her legs, so I struck her with lightning.

"Strike, Thunder Calling!"

"…Why? Why isn't it working?!"

Frustrated, she quickly dodged. Sadly, while the shield broke, Melonia was not hit.

It's okay. I still had plenty of fingers left.

"Thunder Calling! Thunder Calling! Thunder Calling!"

Bang! Boom! Crash!

Successive lightning strikes hammered Melonia's shield.

Was she focused only on defense? Melonia's shield, a deep pink so thick it obscured the inside, couldn't withstand the continuous lightning strikes.

One strike cracked it, the next broke the shield, and the third hit her directly.

Melonia, seemingly unconscious, fell powerlessly.

Looking at her purple hair spread on the ground, I used my last thumb just to be sure.

"Strike, Thunder Calling!"

"…Aaaahhh!"

Was she pretending to be dead? It made sense. Vitality was akin to life force, and succubuses were as resilient as any.

I had just the weapon for such times.

I disconnected the link with the cloud above. Instead, I concentrated all that magic into the dagger in my left hand.

"Force Hand."

An enhanced version of the previously used Force Grab. Unlike before, which moved linearly, this could be maneuvered as freely as a real hand.

And it could exert much stronger force.

Swoosh!

The glowing lion dagger flew through the air and plunged into Melonia's heart.

Flash!

A burst of light. That was the end. How could she survive with a fist-sized hole in her heart?

Just to be sure, I stabbed her again, but there was no reaction; she was definitely dead.

I looked at Melonia's corpse for a moment, then retrieved the dagger.

With all disturbances now removed, what remained was to head towards an even greater chaos.

I alternated between clenching and stretching my completely useless right hand and my intact left hand, gauging my strength.

This should be enough.

Although things turned out differently than planned, it should be enough to reach Iona.