Chapter 40: The Exiled Marquise and the Demon Realm 3
“Huh? Huh? Huh?”
Shara’s gaze darted back and forth between my face and Erica’s.
“I’ll be the vanguard?”
“That’s right. I shall provide covering fire and act as a skirmisher from mid-range, while Shara handles attack magic from the rear. Let’s try that formation for now.”
“Well, if it’s just a light probe, we can use that to observe it. What if it looks like we can take it down right away?”
“I am not very familiar with fighting Monsters, Shin, so what would you do?”
“Injuring it halfway, then retreating to try again later is a foolish plan. It’s either take it down or retreat. Those are the only two options.”
“Then I shall leave that judgment to you, the vanguard.”
“Got it. Next is checking firepower.”
I looked towards Shara, who was completely dumbfounded.
“Shara, snap out of it. I want to check your firepower.”
“Huh? Huh? My firepower?”
“That’s right. What’s your maximum firepower?”
“With normal magic, my firepower isn’t that high, but… if I can use Syllable Magic, I think it’ll be quite significant.”
I see, so she was a Syllable Magic user.
Syllable Magic, which requires incantations to use magic, has few users.
Simply because it’s difficult to use.
Mastering the special vocalization method, memorizing the syllabified Magic Circles known as incantations.
Even after overcoming those not insignificant hurdles, the magic takes time to activate, so it’s not popular with adventurers.
However, its power is nothing short of tremendous.
In the Faltar Kingdom, it’s used as a siege weapon. It’s less magic used by adventurers and more magic used by the Knights Order or the Kingdom’s army.
“In that case, it’s more than usable even against a Forest Dragon. Let’s aim for that with the first strike.”
Erica and I did a final equipment check.
Though it was just minor things like checking if the sword belt was loose.
“How long does Shara’s magic take?”
“For my maximum firepower magic, the kind that seems like it would work even on a Forest Dragon, it takes three minutes at the fastest. See? Three minutes against a dragon is impossible, right? Let’s go home, okay? Okay?”
Even the weakest known Syllable Magic can pierce a dragon’s Scale.
I don’t know how skilled Shara is with Syllable Magic, but even if the Syllable Magic she can use is the weakest type, three minutes at the fastest is quite impressive speed.
It’s what you’d call a pleasant miscalculation.
I had braced myself for five or ten minutes.
“Three minutes is no problem. Erica?”
“I just need to stand between Shin and Shara for three minutes and stop the dragon’s attacks, correct?”
Erica smiled.
“It will be easy.”
Shara, completely teary-eyed, glared at me imploringly.
She really is skilled at expressing her emotions.
“Where does that confidence come from…?”
At those words, I looked at Erica’s face.
Her sparkling, Golden-colored Magicka is beautiful.
“Because Erika is behind me.”
“Because Shin is standing in front.”
I felt a little embarrassed by our voices overlapping unexpectedly.
“Even if you two flirt in this situation, it just scares me!”
Shara shouted.
＊
“Do we really have to do this?”
“With your level of Physical Enhancement, Shara, you’d fall behind.”
Shara grumbled with a dissatisfied look and an anxious voice.
This was while being carried under Erica’s arm.
Yes, Shara was being carried by Erica like luggage.
Honestly, I felt a bit envious that she got to be so close to her, but she herself seemed extremely dissatisfied and looked like she was about to start complaining endlessly.
The fact that what came out of her mouth was an anxious voice probably told her true state of mind.
Why had it come to this? Simply put, the strength of Shara’s Physical Enhancement wasn’t enough to keep up with our speed, so the start of the attack would be delayed.
We also considered having Shara go ahead alone, but due to her fierce protests, it was decided that Erica would carry her to her deployment position.
“Alright then, shall we go?”
As a signal, I said that and kicked off the ground.
“Whoa!? Too fast!”
“You’ll bite your tongue, you know?”
I heard their voices behind me, but the distance between us was already about ten steps.
Although I was suppressing my speed to match their timing, Erica’s Physical Enhancement strength, allowing her to keep up while carrying a person, was considerable.
When we were about a hundred steps from the Forest Dragon, I drew my Sword and increased the intensity of my Physical Enhancement.
As expected of a Designated Subjugation Target, a Monster known as a ‘Master’.
Even though it clearly noticed us approaching, it remained leisurely lying down.
Quite composed, aren’t you?
I charged forward with all my might.