Engulfed in flames, Rest screamed.
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
A colossal explosion erupted from within the Elder Worm's body.
The swamp turned a vivid crimson, and red, searing flames engulfed his entire field of vision.
Rest shrouded his entire body in a barrier spell for defense, pouring everything he had into withstanding the blast.
(Oh no, oh no, oh no! The firepower is way too strong!)
The flames exceeded even his wildest estimates, and Rest genuinely panicked.
Mana was being drained at a brutal rate from the barrier coating his body.
If he hadn't constantly supplied massive quantities of mana, the barrier would have shattered, and his body would have turned to charcoal in an instant.
The explosion born from within the Elder Worm swallowed everything in sight, but eventually... it faded.
"......"
A few seconds, or perhaps dozens—his sense of time had been completely blown away—but he had somehow endured it.
When Rest came to his senses, he found himself still wrapped in his barrier, rolling across the swamp.
"Whoa..."
No—this could hardly be called a swamp anymore.
The muddy ground had been completely dried out by the inferno, the moisture utterly evaporated, leaving behind nothing but an expanse of parched earth.
"Where is... where's the worm?"
Rest grimaced at the devastation he had caused, then once again used magic to lift himself into the air.
He looked down from the sky, searching for the Elder Worm, but he spotted it almost immediately.
The Elder Worm was there. Now nothing but a lifeless husk.
Half of its mountainous body had been blown away, and the other half sat as an eerie mass of flesh half-buried in the dry ground.
No matter how tenacious the Worm species' life force might be, it would never move from this spot again.
"……"
He had won. He had achieved victory.
And yet… what welled up in Rest's chest was a strangely hollow feeling.
(In a way… I overdid it, didn't I… honestly…)
Now that he'd calmed down, he wondered why he had gotten so carried away in the first place.
Sure, those energy-boosting foods had left him a bit unhinged, but this was going too far, wasn't it?
The thought of what would have happened if his opponent had been a human rather than a monster sent a chill down his spine.
If that same blow had been unleashed on a small town… it would have been completely erased from the face of the earth without a trace.
"Could it be… no, it's not a question of 'could it be' — I think I've just created some kind of terrifying magic…?"
If this spell ever reached the outside world… if it were ever used in conflicts between humans, the very concept of warfare would be fundamentally altered.
Just as guns had transformed the battlefield, just as nuclear weapons had changed the nature of international society… this magic might cause countless rivers of blood to flow.
"This is bad… this is seriously bad. I don't know exactly what the implications are, but… either way, this is really, really bad…"
"What exactly is so bad?"
"What do you mean—"
He heard a voice address him naturally, and instinctively began to answer.
But then… he quickly realized something was off, and Rest spun around as though he'd been startled.
"I asked you what is so bad, boy."
A man stood there.
Just like Rest, he was using flight magic, hovering in midair.
"Who are you…!"
Rest braced himself, ready for a fight.
The ability to fly through the sky using magic was certainly advanced, but there were no small number of humans who could do it.
However… what was truly frightening was the fact that he hadn't sensed this person's presence until the man had spoken to him.
(This man is using magic… and yet, how did I not notice him…!)
Rest was constantly casting presence detection magic.
It was a spell that allowed him to sense the mana of living creatures.
Whether human, animal, or monster, all living beings possessed mana, so he should have been able to detect their presence.
The only exception would be if someone was concealing their mana through some means or another.
(But… that should be impossible. Concealing one's mana while simultaneously using magic… is that even possible?)
For example, masking his mana while hiding behind something — that would be feasible. Rest could do that himself if he wanted to.
But concealing his mana so as to go undetected while actively using magic — that was impossible.
Rest couldn't do it, and surely Albert Rosemary, the head court magician, couldn't either.
(For instance, using barrier magic to nullify mana output… but could you even fly in a state of zero mana? Or perhaps a spell that cancels only detection-type magic…?)
"As for who I am… well, that's what I'd like to know, actually."
The man spoke, meeting Rest's guarded gaze without flinching.
He wore a gray robe, his white hair grown long.
If someone said he was young, he could pass for it, but if they said he was of a certain age, that worked too. He was the kind of person whose age was impossible to read from his appearance.
"My name is Leonard Gascoigne. I am the head of the Council of Sages."
"The Council of Sages, you say...!?"
At the man's answer, Rest's eyes went wide.
Meeting Rest's startled gaze, the man spoke again in a flat tone.
"Now it is your turn to introduce yourself... Which side are you on, reincarnated boy?"
"...!"
At the words of the man—Leonard Gascoigne—Rest's eyes went round for an entirely different reason than before.