CHAPTER 67. It Was Kind of Fun
Overclock.
I don’t know the detailed principle behind it.
- I explained it as an ability that opens latent potential…… but honestly, even I have a hard time defining this properly.
If even Oberon, the caster of the ability, can’t define it properly, how would I know?
But the phenomenon itself was vividly clear in my body.
‘Seriously…….’
Everything is clear.
Carried by the rising exhilaration, I slowly swept my gaze across the surroundings.
Ferocious flames burning on all sides, steam rising as the wetland’s moisture evaporated—beyond it, the Swamp Ruler’s silhouette came into sharp focus.
‘At this level…… it feels like about half of my previous life.’
That doesn’t mean the total amount of power.
Not power, but in how I can use it—about half the autonomy.
In the end, it meant the output I could produce hadn’t changed, and at a glance you might think, what’s the point of that?
But there is a point.
First.
‘I entered the Achieved Fire stage.’
Building a solid Mental Image was something I never experienced in my previous life. Somehow, the Scarlet Flame’s realm always felt slow to advance.
But the moment the world flipped over through Overclock, that realization came.
And second.
This is the most important……
Gwo—
It was then that the Swamp Ruler’s faint monstrous cry came through.
It has a hide that even blocks Aether, but it seems it has no way to block even the heat the Achieved Fire flames pour out.
That cry held faint anger, mixed with a pained groan.
But that wasn’t all.
GWOOOOO—!
The Swamp Ruler, having stopped writhing, crouched its body.
Its crying sound grew and grew in resonance.
Right then, from far away, Raileigh’s voice came through.
“B-be careful! That’s the roar I told you about!”
A roar, huh……
‘The one that twists natural-state mana—that’s it.’
Within the range affected by the roar, no magic is permitted.
Indeed—!
GWOOOOOOOOO……!
A roar different from before shook the earth itself, and under that tremendous energy, my shoulders drew in despite myself.
And that wasn’t all.
BOOM—!
As if entering a vacuum, the raging blaze (猛火) vanished without a trace in an instant.
The steam had already scattered on the wind, and with a clear, open view, the Swamp Ruler revealed itself.
Grrrr—
A growl mixed with rage.
Our eyes met at that moment.
‘Three seconds, was it?’
In just three seconds, the magic power inside the body freezes.
……When I got that far in my thought—one second.
By the second second, I was already cleaving through empty air.
No—the word “cleaving” didn’t fit.
Like an arrow being loosed, my body shot straight toward the Swamp Ruler.
But was its reflex slower than its body?
Its reaction was sluggish.
Gwo—!
A belated arm cut through the air—no. It didn’t cut.
It only took a posture to swing its arm wide.
The shoulder pulled back and the chest opened; then the opened chest closed again and the shoulder rotated back and that arm swung wide—!
Hesitate.
Keuh?!
As if caught by an invisible string, its arm jerked to a halt in midair.
The tearing sound came right after.
Crunch!
A squishy sensation in my grip.
I yanked out what I’d grabbed with force, shook it off, then reached out again.
What I heard again……
Crack.
A chilling sound.
But this time, it didn’t end as a simple tearing sound.
KRUAAAAAA—!
The Swamp Ruler screamed, filled with pain.
That’s three seconds.
No.
‘Did it take longer than three seconds?’
I don’t know.
My magic power didn’t freeze, so I can only judge that it took less than three seconds.
Splash.
Avoiding the Swamp Ruler’s grasp as it writhed in pain, I sprang lightly and landed on the wetland.
I casually flung the eyeball I’d pulled from its face into the wetland, then looked at the creature clutching its own face and writhing.
“Yeah…… this is it.”
The Swamp Ruler without eyes—its crying is more sorrowful than ever.
But as I watch that scene, what should I call what I’m feeling?
Utter freedom.
If I want to do it, I can do it, and if I don’t want to do it, no one can force me.
Everything moves the way I think it should!
“Stop crying, and let’s keep going?”
Overclock’s duration is, at best, only five minutes.
‘……Was it dangerous if it goes past five minutes?’
About a minute has already passed, so there isn’t much time left to enjoy.
And with all magic restricted by the roar—
Blood magic can be used.
But.
‘It’s been a while. Let’s go once in the old style.’
That was more than enough.
The battle that followed.
Raileigh stared at the scene before him with stunned eyes.
‘What in the world is this…….’
A mage and a monster.
A single mage, and the Swamp Ruler that had reigned as the Hamelin Great Forest’s terror for long years.
It was a battle between human and monster.
But.
Right now, Raileigh couldn’t say a single word in the face of a situation he couldn’t understand at all.
Is that really a battle between a human and a monster?
No.
What human would tear out both of the Swamp Ruler’s eyes with bare hands?
And like that……
Crunch. Bang!
KRUAAAA—!
You’re telling me he’s fighting a monster in hand-to-hand combat with his bare body?!
No—if a skilled mage were watching, they wouldn’t think of it as “hand-to-hand combat.”
With its uniquely keen sense of smell, the Swamp Ruler pinpointed Aster’s position and swung that brutish body around—
Yet Aster endured all of it with his body, trading punches with the Swamp Ruler.
At a glance, it looked like a mindless brawl.
But in truth, it wasn’t.
Thud! Crack!
Clear magic power rippled around the fists smashing into the Swamp Ruler’s body.
BZZZANG—!
And whenever the Ruler’s brutish hands were about to touch Aster’s body, a translucent force field appeared without fail—then vanished.
A feast of Collision Style and a force field firm beyond measure.
But Raileigh had no way of knowing that, so to him this scene was nothing but shock.
‘Monster. A monster.’
Once, near the Deep Reaches, he’d witnessed something like this.
Two ancient species that had happened to escape the Deep Reaches—two monsters and their terrifying battle.
The feeling he’d had when he saw that was exactly this.
A battle between beings no one could ever approach. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it was a scene from myth.
And that wasn’t all.
‘He’s grabbing…… and tearing.’
That hide they say even Aether can’t cut—he’s grabbing it with bare hands and ripping it apart.
No—“ripping apart” doesn’t fit.
He’s simply tearing it off with brutish hands.
A scene beyond comprehension!
But Raileigh wasn’t the only one shocked by this sight.
“……How.”
At some point—when had he opened his eyes?
Oberon stared forward with hollow eyes.
“M-mage? Is it okay for you to open your eyes?”
Startled, Raileigh asked.
As shocking as the battle before him was, it didn’t outweigh the fact that their lives were on the line.
If Oberon’s concentration broke, the battle would tip—and there was no way the enraged Swamp Ruler would leave them alone.
Perhaps sensing that concern—
Oberon quietly nodded.
“My concentration has stabilized on track…… so to some extent, it’s fine.”
“Ah, o-okay then.”
Stabilized on track? He didn’t understand what it meant, but since Oberon said it was fine, Raileigh accepted it as fine.
“B-but…… wasn’t he clearly a mage?”
Once he regained some of his senses, Raileigh looked at Oberon and threw out the question.
The point of the question was simple.
As they’d traveled through the Hamelin Great Forest, the masked man’s display had clearly been that of a mage.
He’d been sprinkling some mysterious crimson jewel from time to time, dealing with monsters.
It absolutely wasn’t something you could mistake for a knight.
But now—what is this?
The Dolanpega, famous as a martial prestigious house.
Would their retainers fight like this? No.
During his long forest life, Raileigh had at least seen Dolanpega knights fight from afar.
But none of them fought as brutish and rough as that.
Violent sounds of collision reverberated again and again.
BZZZANG—!
If he takes one hit……
Thud—!
He returns one.
BOOM! Crunch, krrrk—!
Even when that small body got struck by that brutish fist and went flying, it was the same.
Just when it looked like he’d been flung away, cleaving through the wetland’s water—
In the next instant……
Swoooosh!
Thk!
He rushed back faster than the speed he’d been thrown, drove a fist into the massive body—
And with that momentum, climbed up the body and tore off flesh like pulling weeds.
How could anyone call that a mage?
But.
“……Mage?”
Oberon didn’t answer.
And of course he wouldn’t—because, just like Raileigh, no—more than Raileigh, Oberon was the one who was truly shocked.
‘This…… what is this?’
Overclock.
A Gift that amplifies latent ability for an instant.
This ability comes with a single talent.
The Eye of Insight (洞察眼)
Because to amplify latent ability, you must first pierce through and directly behold the target’s essence.
And what Oberon saw of Aster through the Eye of Insight was something he couldn’t understand.
As Oberon got that far in his thoughts—
“Kind of……”
A languid voice came through.
“……fun.”
Aster’s voice, speaking while drenched in blood, sounded strangely refreshed.
Like a tyrant who’d just finished rampaging to his heart’s content.
At that murderous voice, Oberon unconsciously wrapped both hands around his own shoulders, clutching them.
“Now, let’s finish it. Since it was fun thanks to you, I’ll show you something fun.”
What kind of mind is that?
The Swamp Ruler, drenched in blood, swelled its battered body larger.
Even as its clasped hands aimed for his head and smashed down, he stood there calmly—what a sight!
“Hhk!”
While Raileigh sucked in a breath at the overwhelming presence—
“……!”
Oberon’s shock was of a slightly different kind.
As that monstrous fist fell from above.
A hand slowly opening as if time itself were moving in slow motion. From around him, a tremendous amount of magic power surged up.
No—should I call it tremendous?
It was ambiguous.
The amount was significant, but it was ambiguous—too ambiguous to use a large-scale spell.
But then.
‘All the mana should be twisted—so how?’
As he held that question.
Krrrddddddddddddddddddddk—!
A sound like compressing a snowball to its absolute limit rang out.
At the same time, a sphere of magic power shrank so small it was almost invisible!
‘……Compression?’
How many times did he compress it?
But the change didn’t stop there.
Grk—! Crackle, bzzzt—!
From that tiny sphere, the flow of magic power could be felt.
It wasn’t a single flow.
Easily dozens.
In other words, it looked like dozens of vortices overlapped—each with different rotation directions and axes—
Bzzzt……
Countless sparks flashed from his palm, forming a single plasma.
Swoooosh—!
Just before that monstrous fist could smash down on the crown of his head.
Flash.
There was light.
But there was no sound.
Only……
Wiiiiiiiiing—
As if it had erased every sound in the world.