«Close one... I thought I was dead...!»
Looking down at the ground from high in the sky, Rest patted his chest, which was pounding violently.
Just before the steam explosion occurred, Rest used magic to leap up with all his might.
He strengthened his legs to kick off the ground and used wind magic to propel his body upward.
Even employing barrier techniques to protect his body, he fled higher and higher.
The blast wave he couldn't fully ward off assaulted his entire body with pain, but it wasn't a wound beyond healing.
When he applied healing magic, the pain gradually subsided.
«What a truly terrifying opponent... I never imagined he could do something like that...»
Looking down at the ground from a height akin to skydiving, Rest was struck by déjà vu.
He felt like something similar had happened before... but he quickly remembered.
When he fought the magic beast Sabnock, he had similarly fled into the sky.
«They say fools and smoke love high places... but no, that's not it. Yeah.»
He was acting strangely because he had nearly died.
Rest slapped both his cheeks and pulled himself together.
«Now then... I've got to pull myself together and defeat that guy.»
After fighting the magician in the red robe with an inverted pentagram—the «Takfir Kahen» magician—he felt anew that he absolutely could not afford to lose.
The imperial army was one thing, but he couldn't allow that magician into the country.
If a magician of that caliber ran rampant within the country, there was no telling how much damage would occur.
(He might blow away a town with a steam explosion. He could dam up a river, or manipulate rain to make it fall like arrows... Water is everywhere. The ability to control water is too terrifying.)
Those who would fall victim to that ability were people Rest knew... Viola, Primula, and the others.
Viola and Primula were daughters of the court magician. Celestine was the daughter of the prime minister. When push came to shove, they could be placed on the front line.
Yuri was no different; she would surely rush to confront the enemy if they entered. She was a brave girl.
The first to be harmed would likely be Urla, the daughter of House Lavender... She too would surely face them without fleeing. He felt that for no particular reason.
"I'll crush him here and now... utterly and completely!"
Rest tried to cast magic.
He tried to create Dark Star and unleash [Amaterasu]... but stopped midway.
(This attack won't defeat him. He'll just make lenses out of water and deflect it...)
Light magic won't work.
Wind magic, fire magic, earth magic, lightning magic — surely they won't be effective either.
Water magic... is out of the question.
There's no way it would work against her, the ruler of water.
"No... is that really the case?"
Suddenly, a thought occurred to him.
It was about a natural phenomenon he had heard about from his high school teacher in his past life.
It wasn't from the lesson content; it was something mentioned in casual conversation... but it had vaguely stuck in his memory.
"...Should I try it?"
Rest cast [Water Sphere] magic, creating countless spheres of water around him.
Ten, twenty, thirty... and even more.
Using his infinite mana, he created as many water spheres as possible.
(It is known that rain and hail formed in cumulonimbus clouds, when falling to the ground, can drag the surrounding air down with them, creating winds on par with tornadoes.)
"Since we're at it, let me send you a wonderfully freezing wind."
He froze the water spheres he had created.
Furthermore, he used wind magic to draw the surrounding air toward him as far as possible.
While he was doing this, the water spheres... no, the ice spheres kept increasing in number, already exceeding one hundred.
(The power is already sufficient... all that's left is to release it.)
"[Stormborn God ·Modified]"
He muttered, launching the ice spheres downward.
The ice spheres, accelerated synergistically by gravity, shattered mid-path and headed toward the earth as grains of ice.
They dragged the air Rest had gathered, increasing their destructive power more and more.
Generating new ice spheres as soon as he fired, he kept shooting again and again and again... without limit.
Just as Rest had intended, the ice dragged in a massive amount of air and struck the ground.
"[Downburst]"
The disaster of a downdraft, which can sometimes blow away an area spanning several kilometers, ravaged the Imperial army.
—————————— February 28 Volume 2 of "Mob Priest" and Volume 8 of "Poison King" are now on sale!
Both are packed with newly written content. Even web readers can enjoy them!
Thank you for your continued support!
I've posted the cover illustration in the update notes, so please take a look if you'd like.