Suddenly, silence fell.
Cracks spread across the surface of the mask, and from them, Demon Aura drifted outward.
"Summoning magic?!" Elen cried out in shock.
"Whoa, whoa, are you serious? What rank summoning is this?"
"...Well, based on the scale of the magic circle, I'd estimate a monster of B+ rank or higher!"
"You lot, stop standing around chatting and do something!!!"
As expected of seasoned adventurers—they cut off their exchange in an instant and spread out.
"Earth! Bind her!
Mud Hand!"
"Hraaaah—!!
Heavy Ram!"
Elen immobilized her with a binding technique, and Kabal followed up with a body-check tackle.
Hmm. They were only B-rank, but their teamwork was first-rate. Their movements were efficient, with no wasted motion.
However— "Haaaaah—! Boom!"
Shizu flicked her finger upward with a sharp snapping motion.
That single gesture triggered a small-scale explosion centered on Shizu.
My tent was obliterated to smithereens.
Never mind the tent. The real question was whether the three of them had gotten hurt from that blast.
A small shockwave had gone off, but it didn't affect me at all, so I surveyed their condition.
Elen had used Mud Hand to hold Shizu in place. Kabal, who had launched Heavy Ram, had taken the full force of the explosion and been blown away.
Gido, who had been on guard, sensed the danger and shoved Elen aside. The two of them had managed to escape unscathed.
"Hey, you okay?"
I called out, and— "We're fine over here!" Elen answered.
"My whole body's killing me, though! I'd better get hazard pay on top of this!" Kabal grumbled.
"Oww, that hurt... You guys... worry about your leader, would ya!"
Kabal grumbled as he staggered to his feet. A remarkably tough guy.
"I figured Shizu could use magic, but summoning too..."
"So what's she even summoning?"
"No, no, that's not the issue here! As far as I know, activating magic without chanting mid-summoning is... I've never heard of..."
Gido started saying, then froze. And then— "Wait... no way... The Ruler of Explosive Flames...?"
He seemed to have arrived at some realization.
Shizu continued her chant. Her entire body glowed red, and she had lifted slightly off the ground.
The mask stood out starkly against her skin, and the black hair spilling from her robes drifted gently in the air.
What was her goal? She'd suddenly started acting strange, and— "
"But..."
"That's an order! Once the evacuation is complete, summon
"Understood!"
Rigurd immediately set to work.
But in my estimation, the goblins would be useless here. I had no intention of getting them killed for nothing.
Summoning Ranga wasn't about having him fight Shizu, either.
The reason was simple.
I was considering the possibility that these adventurers had staged this whole thing as a ruse to catch me off guard.
After all, if they truly intended to kill everyone, their loose-lips act earlier would make sense. (There was also the possibility they were just plain idiots...)
If it was staged, then the moment Shizu started losing, they could ambush me from behind.
Summoning Ranga was a countermeasure against that.
"Hey, Gido! What's this Ruler of Explosive Flames thing?"
Before Gido could answer my question— "Isn't that the hero who was active about fifty years ago?" Elen asked.
She was famous? As I was wondering— Shizu's mask fell from her face.
Flames erupted.
They swallowed Shizu whole, and from within them, a Flame Giant emerged.
Summoning Art: "Flame Giant"! The Ruler of Flames that devours all things.
《Activating Unique Skill: Morpher》 The Voice of the World echoed.
Then Shizu's body and the Flame Giant fused as one.
"Urgh! An Ifrit? Isn't that a high-ranking spirit above A-rank?!"
"Whoa... I've never seen one before! Seriously though, there's no way we can beat that thing!"
"That's definitely it... That's the Ruler of Explosive Flames!"
FWOOOOSH—! BOOM!
A wave of impact and heat crashed over us.
The three of them tried to defend with Magic Barriers, but they were blown away in a single hit.
They didn't seem to be dead, but they certainly weren't fine.
They appeared to be conscious, but they wouldn't be able to move.
That attack was no act. They'd taken that full-on.
Which meant the theory that they'd come here to intentionally take this place out was off the table.
Still, that was some serious power.
A zero-charge release of magicules had generated a hot wind blast in a thirty-meter radius centered on the Flame Giant.
If I didn't fight this thing, everyone would be wiped out.
And yet, strangely, I felt no fear despite the situation. Was this a side effect of becoming a monster?
Well, getting scared of Veldora and the Black Serpent at first had probably been good experience.
"Hey. What's your objective?"
"FWOOOOSH!"
CRACK!
A shockwave!
Not from the earlier explosion—a heat beam was fired directly at me. But I'd already dodged out of its line of fire.
My perception speed could track things moving faster than the speed of sound!
Come to think of it, it was a good thing I hadn't built the town yet. In this situation, I genuinely meant that.
I'd cut down the trees and the area was currently an open plaza. If this were deep in the forest, everything would be on fire by now.
But don't get cocky!
SHIIING!
I fired a Water Blade, aimed at its torso.
The attack evaporated just before reaching the Flame Giant. A vortex of flames circled the Flame Giant, shielding it.
Hmm. Looks like Water Blade isn't going to work.
Should I just blast it with a massive volume of water? I considered it, but if that caused a steam explosion, it would be disaster.
I'd save that as a last resort.
Just then, Ranga and the others arrived.
"You called, my master?"
For the time being, I ordered Ranga to retrieve the three fallen adventurers.
Then— "Listen! Get them to safety! I'll take this thing down!"
He was about to protest the order, but— "As you command. May you have victory!"
With those parting words, Ranga gathered the three in his jaws and disappeared.
Now I could fight without worry.
Flames raged all around me.
My sensory ability could accurately map the distribution of heat. Even if the Flame Giant created multiple flame clones and launched simultaneous attacks, predicting the danger level based on flame temperature was easy.
It wasn't landing any effective hits on me.
But at the same time, I had nothing effective against it either.
That fire was the real problem.
The ground had turned into something like magma... The temperature must have been astronomical.
For starters, abilities like Paralytic Breath and Poison Mist Breath required me to get within ten meters to test them.
I couldn't exactly walk into that inferno going "Hellooo, coming through!"
I had no desire to become a Congali Slime.
What should I do...
I had no attack method that could deal decisive damage.
If I'd known it would come to this, I should have done more Predating...
Perhaps because I was lost in those thoughts, a massive Magic Circle appeared beneath my feet!
Not good!
The instant I realized, I was already trapped.
A wide-range capture barrier.
Was this a special ability of the Flame Giant?
There was no spell incantation—it had been drawn in an instant.
Within a hundred-meter diameter, it filled the space with its own body, converted into superheated flames.
The ultimate flame-based area attack!
"Flame Prison Formation!"
A voice echoed out—a voice so androgynous it was impossible to tell if it belonged to a man or woman, an elder or a youth.
There was nowhere to run.
I steeled myself for death.
Ah... I hadn't let my guard down, but I felt there must have been another way to handle this.
I should have dropped the act and gone in together with everyone...
I could have used Mimicry to take the form of a Black Wolf, used speed to outmaneuver it, and bitten in while accepting burns...
Instead of just standing around watching, I could have just hit it with Black Lightning...
And so on.
But even with my perception speed boosted a thousandfold, damage just wasn't coming through...
Well, I supposed it was nice to die without pain...
Wait. Was this taking too long?
Was it toying with me?
Something was off...
From my perception, I'd already been engulfed in flames.
Hmm...
《...Invalid. Due to the effect of Heat Fluctuation Resistance EX, the flame attack has been automatically nullified.》 The tone of that message was unmistakably "You forgot you had Heat Fluctuation Resistance EX, didn't you?"
I'm not going to respond to every little thing like that, you deadpan know-it-all!
Yes, that was definitely the "..." I sensed from the reply.
Surely it was just my imagination.
The Great Sage, who was loyal to me and had no ego of its own—surely not...
Ha ha ha. Definitely just my imagination. No problem!
Anyway.
Wait, so the flames were nullified?
What? Could this actually be easy mode?
Was everything going according to plan?
Got taken out, only to turn the tables? Now that's the classic playbook!
In that case, let's wrap this fight up quickly.
"Did you... just do something?"
I quietly entangled the Flame Giant with Sticky Steel Thread.
It was already over.
The Sticky Steel Thread I produced combined the properties of both Sticky Thread and Steel Thread—one of the fruits of my daily research.
On top of that, my own resistances were reflected in it. Which meant it couldn't be burned through by fire.
Checkmate.
"Im... impossible!"
For the first time, a tremor crept into its voice.
I underestimated you, but you underestimated me too.
We're even, so I forgive you.
That said, you're free to resent me!
"My turn, isn't it?"
The Flame Giant panicked and tried to flee.
I knew you'd do that.
Naturally, escape was impossible thanks to the Sticky Steel Thread I'd laid.
I closed in slowly.
To deliver the finishing blow.
To the Flame Giant—this entity that had probably possessed and was controlling Shizu.
There was no need to rush.
I approached this pitiful prey, which could neither thrash free nor retaliate against me with its flames.
And then— 《Would you like to use Unique Skill: Predator? YES/NO》 The answer, naturally, was YES!
A blinding light engulfed the area... then vanished abruptly.
All that remained was me... and a single old woman.
For those of you thinking "Couldn't he have just Predated the fire attacks earlier?"—correct!
Though with a sustained fire assault, it likely would have been a battle of attrition either way.
It would have come down to: can he eat it all, or will he get burned up first!
The protagonist still hasn't realized this. Well, he's starting to, though!