“Gasp. Gasp…!”
“I really thought I was going to die.”
“Is it because of the snowy terrain…? It’s harder than usual.”
“Now I kind of understand why they request more magicians when we dispatch troops to such places.”
After the fight with the Yetis, the travelers each plopped down, catching their breaths.
Especially the robed knights, who had to move the most, were significantly exhausted.
Even though most of them possessed Aura Chains, and had physical abilities that far surpassed ordinary people.
Battles in snowy terrains that were even difficult to walk on due to altitude sickness were never easy.
In addition, they were outnumbered, and their understanding of the terrain wasn’t that great either.
It was fortunate that they were able to end it at this point.
Therefore, the knights were now regretting the absence of magicians.
If they had had the proper support, they could’ve dealt with the Yetis much more smoothly.
‘I found it strange when they suddenly stopped fighting and retreated.’
Of course, Knight Chen believed that even if they had fought to the end, he and his companions wouldn’t lose to mere Yetis.
‘But being this exhausted, what if they suddenly ambush us? Wouldn’t that be a disaster?’
That’s what worried him the most.
Then…
‘Hm…?’
Chen belatedly realized that the lady he was guarding was looking around for something.
“Is there something wrong, Miss?”
“One of our party members is missing.”
“Missing? Who…?”
“The one who was traveling alone.”
Without realizing it, Chen sighed.
It was quite something how she, in her condition, was more concerned about others.
Chen wanted to say, ‘Didn’t they try to run away and get caught by the Yetis?’ but held back, forcing a smile, and comforted her.
“They must’ve safely escaped.”
“They better have.”
Although the woman replied that way, she kept looking around, seemingly still worried.
The more she did, the more Chen’s worries grew.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
‘I must, kiieeek! Save, kieeeek! Our village, kiieeek!’
Yeti Ondu, amidst the continuously exploding village, struggled to make his way out, running non-stop.
Even though his body was filled with minor injuries and burns.
The only thought in his head was to somehow get out of there and call for reinforcements.
‘That human, kieeek! Is a monster, kieeek!’
Ondu recalled the human who visited their tribe just an hour ago.
A young human in ordinary clothing.
At first, since he returned with a hunting warrior, Ondu assumed he was prey.
‘Who in this village has the most knowledge about this mountain?’
When the human asked that question as if he were up to something, the tribe became very cautious.
Then they realized that he was a magician. One of the most challenging types of humans!
Even though they’d almost forgotten their old abilities, to the Yetis, who lived with pride as demons, magicians were the sworn enemies that they must be wary of.
Naturally, they had no reason to answer his question.
Above all, only the elders in the village possessed such knowledge in their tribe. It was unthinkable to let those revered people be taken.
That was why they had a battle, and the village quickly turned into a wasteland.
The young human was a much greater fighter than they had expected.
“Friends, kiieek! All my family told me to call our relatives, kiieek! All of them, kiieek! Bring the other tribes to defeat the human, kiieek!”
So Ondu ran on a mission.
Completely unaware of the shadow secretly trailing him.
[There should be some folks looking for him soon.]
『Kieek. Kieeek, kieeek?』
Mephisto wanted to scream for that damned whining to stop, but he could only resent himself for not being able to.
Regardless of that, Elric was stealthily following a Yeti who was hurriedly running away from the destroyed village.
He knew all too well that if this continued, one Yeti village after another would be revealed.
Four Yeti villages had already been destroyed in the same manner.
“Do these creatures really lack intelligence? Can’t it even consider the possibility of someone tailing them? It’s not even attempting to erase its tracks or divert the pursuer’s direction, right?”
The more Elric dealt with the Yetis, the more he seemed to understand why Mephisto disapproved of them.
“I can see why, despite their numbers, they hardly venture beyond their plateau. What kind of being was the King who supposedly led these blockheads to their prime?”
However, thanks to this, Elric had ample opportunities to gain practical experience.
Through various trials, he realized many things he hadn’t done before.
It was the limit of spirit magic.
The first was that the range affected by the spirit wasn’t as broad as he thought.
“My inner eye has a broad range, but the spirit energy doesn’t.”
When using spirit magic, Elric would select the necessary connection he had to make and infuse it with magic to construct a Mana Field.
The Mana Field denoted the range of the magic, which meant there was a limit to its expansion.
When he was engulfing the Yeti village in flames, spreading the effect widely was more challenging than he had expected.
At best, it covered around 20 meters.
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It was quite an expansive range, but anything more was impossible.
No matter how much magic he poured in, the intensity might increase, but the outcome remained unchanged.
“It’s probably due to the limits of my imagination. Creating an infinite field might be the real challenge.”
It would be best for him to find out the exact range.
He could explore potential developments based on that.
The second was that spirits were not perfect.
“Spirits indeed have a good magic effect. Their destructive power and efficiency are superior. But if they exceed their limit, their efficiency drastically decreases.”
This reason was similar to the limit of the Mana Field’s expansion.
There was plenty of magic that he could draw from, but there was a limit to its efficiency.
The principle was known in the academic world as the ‘Law of Diminishing Returns’.
“Of course, if I had infinite magic, I could ignore that efficiency and pour all the magic in to increase the power…”
The next problem arose immediately.
The third was the output limit.
“My physical body can’t fully handle the output of the Mana Stone.”
Even with the transformation of his body after acquiring spirit energy, the issue was that it still couldn’t handle the Mana Stone.
“If I could fully use the combined power left by the Dragon King and the Demon King, it would be overloaded with power. In my current state, it’s like a pearl necklace on a pig… That’s the extent.”
3%.
That was the maximum amount of magic Elric could currently draw from the Mana Stone.
If he exceeded that?
Mana overload would occur, and at around 4%, his physical body would start to collapse.
“In the end, the limits of such a spell lie in elevating my level of enlightenment and finding a way to fully harness the power of the Mana Stone.”
How could he enhance the fusion of the Mana Stone’s magic? Just as he pondered deeply…
“Have we arrived?”
Elric saw a new village.
“I hope this time there’s someone who knows something.”
Tsshhh. Tsshh.
Numerous magical arrows, crystallized by frost, formed in front of him.
“So you think you know something, huh?”
『…For now, that seems to be the case. So please, leave us alone.』
“If this is simply a ruse to avoid danger, it won’t end easily.”
『…We are well aware of that.』
After several more efforts, Elric finally encountered a cooperative village.
The chieftain of the tribe, who revealed their name as ‘Blue Snowflake’, tried hard to win Elric’s favor.
Not only did they introduce their elders and actively answer his questions, but they even offered to provide him with a guide.
“This guy seems pretty greedy, doesn’t he?”
『They might be seeing this crisis as an opportunity. Many tribes have fallen, and they might be trying to consolidate all of them.』
For Elric, this seemed like a good thing.
After meeting only stupid Yetis, he finally had a conversation with someone reasonable.
Thanks to that, he was able to identify several suspicious locations.
“There are legends passed down in our tribe. I don’t know about other tribes…”
“What kind of legends?”
“Our founder’s ancestor was a great King who once conquered a mountain range…”
“Skip the unnecessary details.”
“…That King had someone he acknowledged as a ‘friend’.”
“A friend?”
“Yes, a friend! The only human our proud tribe has ever acknowledged as a friend!”
Elric intuitively realized that this ‘friend of the King’ might be one of his own ancestors.
“The King gave land, food, and shelter for this friend who visited every full moon.”
“So we have maintained that house according to the King’s wishes!”
“Where is this house?”
They demanded protection for their tribe in exchange for revealing the location of the ‘house’.
And Elric immediately agreed with them. He had already shown them what he was capable of doing if they were lying to him.
The moment the deal concluded, the chieftain of the ‘Blue Snowflake’ tribe led him the way.
Elric closely followed, wary of any potential traps.
『By the way…』
“…?”
『Why do you keep referring to the King when you can use interpretation magic?』
“It’s easier this way.”
『Damn.』
Whether he should speak or not, Mephisto had to suppress his anger again. Maybe it was fortunate that he was finally free from being the interpreter.
‘How did this Mephistopheles end up like this?’
Mephisto was internally disheartened, but there wasn’t much he could do at the moment.
Meanwhile…
Kieeek! Kieeek!
『…It’s down there.』
Elric arrived at a particular location.
A crevasse between snow-covered valleys.
It was so deep that the bottom couldn’t be seen.
The cold winds rushing up the cliff were so fierce and icy that he might get swept away.
Even with levitation, it seemed difficult to maintain balance.
But with his magic-boosted vision, Elric saw it.
A structure resembling a temple on the opposite side of the abyss.
Kiieek, kieek! Kiiieek!
『…They say they go down there once a year to clean it and then return right after. There are occasional updrafts between the valleys, making it hard to approach with common magic. What’s your plan?』
The creature explained that in order to descend there, it had to be at dawn on the eve of autumn.
That was the only time they could descend.
So Mephisto asked if they would wait until then.
“Don’t you see? This is a test from my ancestors, who built that temple, to see if their descendants are worthy.”
And without hesitation, Elric leaped off the cliff.
