"I'm sorry, but that's impossible!"
Stop the tortoise-shell dragon for five seconds.
The hot-blooded knight answered Katia's instruction honestly.
"Just protecting the two of you is all I can handle! It's frustrating, but with our current strength—!"
"Then,
you don't need to
protect me.
"
But Ermes lost no time in putting forth a new proposal.
"You don't need to block any attacks aimed at me. Just focus on stopping its movement."
"B-But Lord Ermes, if we do that—"
"Rest assured. I didn't traverse the Dungeon with just my master for nothing."
Fundamentally, the role of a mage in battle is that of an artillery platform.
They have their knights shield them while they unleash a high-powered strike on the enemy from the rear. For mages—who are inherently weak in close combat because using magic requires actions like chanting and activation—this is the orthodox way to fight.
But Rose and Ermes were different.
Having never been in a position where they could rely on knights to protect them, they had each learned to handle enemies in close quarters on their own. Enhanced universal magic that could be activated swiftly without a chant was part of that.
...Well, Rose had solved that particular weakness in yet another way, but there was no point dwelling on that now.
In any case, Ermes didn't need that much protection. It would be nice to have, but when things were this desperate, it was fine to do without.
"That monster has considerable intelligence. If anything, once it figures out its target, it'll concentrate its attacks on me. If you can pin it down from the flanks—"
"Th-then that should work somehow—fine, I'll trust you!"
This might also mean that Katia, the one who needed protection most, would be spared from the monster's attention. As the knights followed Ermes and moved away, he focused on amplifying his magic power.
As expected, the Tortoise-shell dragon noticed and charged at Ermes. Its hardened forearm bore down like a battering ram—
"Yo-t!"
With a light, agile leap, he dodged it.
Even after that, Ermes evaded, deflected, or blocked with Enhanced universal magic the arms and tail that swung wildly in anger like a storm.
"What the—...!"
"That agility, the precision of his magic power body enhancement—it’s on par with a professional knight!"
His control of magic power had always been top-tier; once Rose had trained him in martial arts, movements like this came naturally.
Don't forget—he was a genius who simply didn't possess Bloodline Magic.
"GUOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
The Tortoise-shell dragon, furious that its attacks weren't landing, let out a roar of rage and began flailing its limbs randomly.
If the attacks connected, they'd be dangerous, but this actually made its movements more predictable.
There was no opening to launch a counterattack. If he kept dodging like this, he'd eventually run out of stamina and get caught, but—
"I won't let you!"
That's when the knights attacked from the side. Katia's magic also came flying in, forcing the dragon to split its attention.
It barely managed to erect a barrier to block the magic, but its stance was broken, and a sword strike aimed at its hind legs pressed the advantage.
With a heavy thud, the Tortoise-shell dragon fell to its knees. The knights pressed on with follow-up strikes.
Those attacks weren't decisive blows, and it would surely force itself back into position eventually, but—
"Well done. That's enough."
If he kept at that pace, five seconds would pass in no time.
«
Primal Inscription
» — he deployed it. From the wisdom stored within that magic, he wove a single spell.
What was the purpose behind Ermes traveling through so many Dungeons with Rose?
The answer, of course, was none other than the refinement of magic.
«
Primal Inscription
» could, in theory, reproduce any and all magic.
This held true for General-purpose Magic, and for Bloodline Magic alike.
Even the magic wielded by Monsters was no exception.
«[
Gather and pierce—
Jaws of Flame!
]»
The magic wielded by high-ranking Monsters sometimes surpassed even Bloodline Magic.
That reproduction was a new possibility — discovered by Rose, who could only wield a Bloodline Magic other than her innate one, and elevated by Ermes. «
Primal Inscription
» — the third magic it reproduced: its
image.
...
She called it
Apocryphal Magic
—and so it was named.
"Formula Replay—
Apocryphal: Breath of the Flame Dragon
!"
In answer, a vortex of searing breath materialized.
It raged as though it would incinerate the entire cavern, yet it was a miniature inferno that fit in the palm of her hand.
The ace card of the Flame Dragon that had once sat enthroned in the deepest depths of one of the Dungeons she had visited alongside her master.
Ermes unleashed the most powerful Apocryphal magic she had successfully reproduced—the spell she had struck down through a grueling battle, using her own strength.
"Graaah—!!"
Perhaps it sensed the danger on pure instinct. The Tortoise-shell dragon assumed a full-power defense unlike anything it had shown before.
It retracted its head and limbs, curling into its shell like a true tortoise, its carapace pristine and unmarked. On top of that, it deployed countless barrier spells around its shell.
A perfect defensive formation that sacrificed everything except self-preservation. But against this magic, it was a fatal mistake.
First, her magic struck the barriers—and in a single instant burned them to nothing, then pierced straight through the shell without so much as slowing.
And inside the shell, the magic exploded.
"Grrraaaagh!!!"
A wordless scream thundered from within. Ironic, really—the hard shell that trapped the heat with nowhere to go only intensified the hell inside.
Even the Tortoise-shell dragon, for all the ironclad defense it prided itself on, was helpless against being continuously burned from the inside out.
Eventually, even the screams from within fell silent.
Rising plumes of smoke through the gaps in the shell served as the signal. Complete silence blanketed the surroundings.
"Did we... do it...?"
"What kind of magic was that..."
"It's not getting up—we did it!"
And then, led by the hot-blooded knight, the knights erupted in cries of joy.
Having fought on the front lines more than anyone else and faced the brink of death, their relief must have been all the greater.
Their valor had made victory possible, and with that gratitude, Ermes moved to cast healing magic upon them—
"Lady Katia?"
In the middle of doing so, he noticed Katia, still looking down.
"What's wrong? Are you hurt—"
"No. I'm not hurt. And I'm genuinely glad that everyone made it out alive. It's thanks to your magic, El. ...You really have become an amazing mage, haven't you?"
She raised her face and looked upon the unharmed knights, relief evident on her features—
But as she finished speaking, her expression darkened again, her body trembling—
"—compared to that, I! I couldn't do anything again!"
A wail, as though she could no longer hold it back, echoed through the air.
"...Saying you 'couldn't do anything' is going too far. You definitely contributed to bringing down that last enemy."
"But I was the one who made the call to charge in before that, and that was undeniably a mistake. Compared to that, a contribution that small doesn't even begin to atone for it."
"That's..."
He couldn't deny it. They had won this time without any casualties purely by luck. The knights on the front lines could have died at any moment.
Before the charge, I already knew from appearances alone that the enemy would be formidable. If I'd wanted to guarantee a perfect outcome, withdrawing would have been the right call.
"El, did you know that I've been called a Flawed Lady who can't use magic?"
"...Yes. I only heard about it for the first time just now, to be honest."
"That's the reason. You saw it, didn't you — my magic in that battle just now."
Her Bloodline Magic, which couldn't so much as scratch the Tortoise-shell dragon's barrier magic.
"The '
Netherworld of Salvation
is one of the most powerful Bloodline Magic spells passed down through the Trackia Duke House. It's supposed to be strong enough to fell even a Dragon species. ...And yet, despite not knowing why, I can only produce that level of power!"
Katia glared at her own palm with a look of bitter resentment.
"Because of that, I've been mocked my entire life. 'Everything about her is perfect except the magic.' I can't even count how many times I've suffered for it, and in the end, His Highness Aster gave up on me too!"
"..."
"You were cast aside, yet you worked desperately hard and came back having mastered incredible magic, just as you promised. Meanwhile, I was called a disgrace to the Duke House! I didn't want you to find out, so I hid it — and this humiliating mess is the result. ...I'm such an idiot. As if I could ever have kept it hidden."
So that was why she'd been reluctant to talk about herself since their reunion.
"...I wonder — are you disappointed in me?"
Katia gazed at Ermes with sorrowful eyes as she asked.
Surely, with His Highness Prince Aster leading the way, many people had already given up on her by now.
This time, Ermes would give up on her too — it couldn't be helped. Her expression was dominated by that bleak resignation.
But it didn't take long for his response.
"...Once, when I was diagnosed with Incompatibility and everyone's treatment of me changed overnight —"
"Huh?"
"Did you... give up on me?"
"!"
That was her answer.
"B-but, it's just that I couldn't believe someone as talented as you wasn't a great mage..."
"That's the same thing. Someone as straight-forward and earnest as you, Katia — the idea that you wouldn't be a great mage is simply inconceivable."
He was certain of this.
Ermes knew just a little more about magic than most people.
That was precisely why he understood that Katia's kind of mental disposition was extremely valuable when it came to wielding magic.
However, as a practical matter, the fact remained that some kind of disorder was afflicting Katia's magic.
—If that was the case, then Ermes knew exactly what he had to do.
"Katia."
To repay the debt of salvation for catching him when he was about to be broken by despair.
Just as he had once been saved by magic when magic had left him in the depths of despair.
Now it was his turn to save this child — who had been broken by magic — with magic.
So for the sake of his own purpose.
To help people through magic, and to advance his own magic further still, he made his proposal.
"Your magic — the—"
Netherworld of Salvation
"—would you allow me to reproduce it using my own magic?"