Chapter 35: Mage of Blazing Fire (3)

Everything was perfect.

As soon as I faced the enemy, I had lured their attention elsewhere in the most natural way possible, and used that opening to deliver the most fatal blow.

I was confident.

No matter how many monsters there were in the World of Justice, as long as one was human, it wouldn't be easy to survive a gunshot to the head.

But unfortunately, what happened next was far from what I had expected.

Fwoooosh──!

A barrier of blazing fire suddenly erupted.

It blocked the rear of the mage, as if to protect its master.

Pssss…….

As expected, the bullet I fired vanished in vain, unable to reach the mage.

“What an interesting little trick.”

With that, the master of the blazing fire, who had noticed my presence, looked at me and smiled.

Amidst a grotesque smile that seemed to stretch from ear to ear, Alicia, covered in faint burns all over her body, staggered to her feet.

“Mage, you……!”

Alicia, paying no mind to the scorched burns all over her body, once again rushed toward the Mage of Blazing Fire.

“Mageeee──!”

As if she didn't care about her own life.

“Like a blazing flame. That, too, must be the beauty of things that will vanish in vain.”

With a small gesture from the mage, the blazing fire soared.

A menacing blaze that could reduce someone like me or Alicia to ashes with a mere graze.

Kwakwakwa!!

“Dodge!”

Alicia and I simultaneously threw ourselves to the side, barely managing to dodge the blaze, but that wasn't the end of it.

Bang!

Kwakwakwang!!

As the blazing fire poured down relentlessly, Alicia and I were busy just trying to avoid it.

It was obvious that if we stayed like this, we would be swept up in the blaze together, so I shouted.

“Split up!”

“……Tch!”

Fortunately, Alicia hadn't completely lost her reason even in this situation and threw her body in the opposite direction from me.

Fwoosh!

As soon as I ran, a blazing fire shot up in that very spot, burning the area.

It was truly a hair's breadth.

“You’re good at dodging, aren't you? Then how about you try dodging this too?”

Should I call it a blessing in disguise?

Or was it, too, nothing but misfortune?

Even though the Mage of Blazing Fire could turn Alicia and me into a pile of ashes at any moment if they so chose, they cornered us as if they had found an interesting toy after a long time.

“More, more, more! How beautiful is the final flame a life burns as it falls helplessly!”

As if enjoying this whole process, the Mage of Blazing Fire’s appearance made Alicia cry out in a voice that was indistinguishable from a scream or a sob.

“Mageeee──!!!”

In any case, thanks to that, I was able to get a brief moment to analyze this phenomenon.

‘The ambush was perfect. But it failed. Why?’

I analyzed the phenomenon that had occurred.

This was one of the things I did best in the World of Justice, and I was soon able to figure out the reason.

‘They didn’t block it consciously. This magic was activated automatically.’

In other words, it was more correct to see it as a specific magic detecting danger and automatically deploying, rather than the mage reacting and casting a defensive spell.

As far as I knew, there was only one such magic.

‘It's an Autonomous Defense Magic.’

I raised the Colt Garrison.

‘I need to check for myself.’

There was no need to hesitate.

Alicia was still being toyed with by the Mage of Blazing Fire, and if we couldn't find a way to break through this situation, our end was as good as decided.

Bang!

Bang! Bang bang!

I pulled the trigger a few more times to gain certainty about my hypothesis, but unfortunately, the bullets from the Colt Garrison melted away helplessly before the barrier of blazing fire that rose again.

It was the moment my hypothesis became a certainty.

“Keuk!”

Alicia also quickly threw her body back from the suddenly erupting blaze.

For even flying bullets to melt without a trace…… if Alicia had been exposed to that, she would have been turned into ashes in an instant.

‘To have that level of power with an Autonomous Defense Magic…….’

Powerful magic demands a price to match.

However, the Mage of Blazing Fire that appeared before my eyes now used not only long-range sniping magic but also Autonomous Defense Magic, as if to mock such a rule.

The meaning of this was clear.

‘They must have burned a hell of a lot.’

The Demon of Blazing Fire was among the particularly malicious demons in the World of Justice.

And for good reason, because the price the Demon of Blazing Fire demanded for its magic wasn't just the mage themself.

The Demon of Blazing Fire seeks to burn everything that exists in this world.

That is why one of the most powerful characteristics of the Mages of Blazing Fire is that they burn everything in sight with their blaze.

In other words, the fact that the Mage of Blazing Fire before my eyes was casually spamming powerful magic was also strong evidence that they had burned that many lives.

‘To think they’ve survived until now.’

Usually, under normal circumstances, the survival rate of Mages of Blazing Fire is not very high.

The price demanded by the Demon of Blazing Fire may seem very attractive as the mage can use magic without paying the price themself, but the problem was the result that arose from it.

Offering something other than oneself as the price for magic meant that the mage, whether they liked it or not, would become a mass murderer.

In fact, back when I played World of Justice, Mages of Blazing Fire would cause a continent-wide stir every time they appeared and were quickly subjugated.

Due to their inherent nature, the very existence of a Mage of Blazing Fire was something that drew wide-area aggro.

‘For such a Mage of Blazing Fire to have survived until they grew to that extent…….’

The reason for that was not difficult to guess.

Just a while ago on the Lagna Continent, there was an incident so major that no one could have paid any attention to a Mage of Blazing Fire running rampant.

And that was, the appearance of the Destruction Dragon.

I wondered if it was the Destruction Dragon again, coming full circle, but in the first place, the aftermath left by an existence of the Destruction Dragon's caliber was bound to be anything but light.

‘This isn't the time to be thinking about that.’

What was important was that if we couldn't overcome this crisis, Alicia and I would not be able to escape death.

‘The most standard method would be a war of attrition until their magic’s price runs out, but judging by the enemy's relaxed demeanor, the chances of victory are low.’

Meanwhile, the flames clinging to Alicia's body gnawed away at her bit by bit, like insects.

This appearance was the result of intentionally adjusting the firepower.

“Keuuuk……!”

Despite that, Alicia did not fall.

I couldn't tell what had happened between that Mage of Blazing Fire and Alicia for her to be struggling so fiercely, but that too was reaching its limit.

There might be hope if Edric joined, but I put that thought aside.

Because from what I had observed so far, I felt a few incongruities in the hand seals the Mage of Blazing Fire was forming.

‘If they were simply dealing with just me and Alicia, such complex hand seals wouldn't be necessary. In that case…….’

In other words, it meant that the Mage of Blazing Fire was not stopping their bombardment of Edric, who must be drawing attention somewhere else.

At a glance, they just looked like a common berserk mage from the World of Justice, but looking at the reality, they were controlling this situation with thorough rationality.

The very act of intentionally excluding the most threatening being, Edric, from the fight, even while investing considerable effort, proved it.

‘At this rate, we won't last long.’

Bang!

Rat-a-tat-tat!!

I pulled the Colt Garrison's trigger repeatedly as if in a desperate struggle, but as expected, the barrier of blazing fire that rose from the mage blocked the bullets.

Since the Colt Garrison was completely ineffective, even if I took out my secret weapon, the Double Barrel Shotgun, nothing would change.

“The struggles of the poignant ones…… how ecstatic it is.”

Along with the mage's grotesque laughter, flames filled the surroundings before I knew it.

As if the whole world was dyed in fire, the blazing fire shot up in succession, and my own space to escape gradually dwindled.

Even though I had never been directly scorched by the blaze, sweat poured down my whole body like rain from the surrounding heat, and the skin all over my body was burned red.

If it weren't for the Orb of Water or the Fire Resistance trait, I would have collapsed from exhaustion long ago.

I assessed the situation.

‘Both Alicia and I are at our limits. We won't last much longer at this rate.’

‘The opponent’s magical limit is impossible to gauge.’

‘It's realistically difficult to hope for support from Edric, our strongest asset.’

Each one was a fact that plunged the situation into despair, but it wasn't as if there was no way to overcome it.

I caressed the Salamander's Fang hanging from my waist.

‘Is this the only way, after all?’

If possible, I didn't want to use this method, but if the situation was like this, I had no choice.

“Mage…… youuu…….”

Alicia's entire body, which had been rushing at the mage while screaming, was now scorched black.

Even the driving force of hatred and anger that had supported her until now could not withstand the flames that continued to gnaw away at her body.

“I'm tired of this now.”

The expression of the mage, who had been constantly smiling grotesquely, hardened coldly.

“Now go, you poignant and pitiful ash.”

“I’ll kill you…….”

Alicia tried to protest something, but then the flames surged.

“Aaaah……!”

The flames of the blaze engulfed Alicia.

There was no more time to hesitate.

I immediately started running towards the Mage of Blazing Fire.

“The pitiful ash is burning its last flame! Good! Come at me!”

Every mage is connected to the demon they have contracted with.

No, in the first place, that was how mages could use magic, so in a way, it was a matter of course.

And to put it another way, it meant that the Demon of Blazing Fire existed in this very place.

Shwwwiick!

Blood began to spurt from the palm of my hand, which had been cut by the Salamander's Fang.

I had intentionally increased my blood flow speed using Haima's Curse.

It was a method of use with immense side effects, but now was not the time to worry about such things.

Fwoosh-……!

Following the blood I scattered, a hexagram was drawn in the air.

There was no need to perform a grand ritual like summoning a demon.

The Demon of Blazing Fire, from the very beginning, was as good as present in this place.

R-r-rumble……!

From the hexagram drawn with the scattered blood, a blazing fire began to rise.

“You’re doing something interesting!”

The Mage of Blazing Fire, who finally realized what I was trying to do, completely wiped the smile off their face and raised a blaze towards me.

The blazing fire comes for me.

R-R-R-R-R-RUMBLE!!!──

I know, too.

That if I were to be hit squarely by that magic right now, I wouldn't even leave behind ashes and would literally be annihilated.

But still…….

[The ‘Orb of Water’ protects its wearer.]

[The ‘Orb of Water’ deploys the ‘Rotating Shield of Water’.]

The shield of flowing water created by the Orb of Water, which had just regained its authority, stood in my way.

Not ice, but swirling water.

The current environment created by the magic of the blazing fire had drawn out the true power of the Orb of Water, which had been sealed by the severe cold until now.

Pssssshhh……!

The power of the Orb of Water, having regained even a part of its authority, blocked even the magic of the Mage of Blazing Fire.

That opening was enough to buy me time.

Time to call forth the demon.

“Declaration of Contract.”

Along with the softly murmured incantation.

“Blazing Fire in Full Bloom.”

The world stopped.