The Druid Who Devoured the Great Nature

Chwaak!

“……!”

The shattered fragments of mana rushed inwards, scratching Taser’s cheek. As blood welled up from the wound, his complexion changed drastically. It was quite a pleasant expression.

I added one more thing to the bullet with enhanced penetration. The seed of a Cistus. It was a trick that had worked quite well when I fought the mad dog Buggy Vile. If it worked on a human tank that could destroy buildings with its bare body, there was no way it wouldn’t work.

No matter how sturdy the magic barrier was, it wasn’t difficult to create a crack from this close range.

「Synchronization proceeds!」

The Guardian Hawk turned into light and settled on my chest as a tattoo. A powerful mana was pumped from my heart and swirled throughout my body. A strength that surpassed the limits of my muscles dwelled in my forearms.

A small hole was pierced in the magic barrier. I stuck my fingers into that gap.

The aura that rose in the shape of my fingernails was embedded in the crack. I spread my arms to both sides as if opening a firmly closed iron gate.

With a creaking sound, a spiderweb-like crack spread across the magic barrier. Taser’s presence, which had been blurry beyond the transparent barrier, was clearly felt on my skin.

“A fight should be fair.”

The way to deal with an enemy who tries to fight a battle of wits while leaning on a safe place. It’s simple. You just have to destroy the place the enemy considers safe and drag them out.

“Come out.”

“You ignorant…!”

He distorted his face and threw all the rings from one hand. The rings that passed through the barrier turned to ash in front of my eyes and turned into mana. The mana condensed and glowed.

Realizing what move Taser had chosen, I abandoned my lingering attachment and fell back from the barrier.

The mana exploded in the empty air. The atmosphere vibrated, and a huge impact, like being hit by a bomb head-on, struck my entire body.

“Kuk!”

I fell faster than the Guardian Hawk’s flight. My fallen body hit the ground and dug into it. My back tingled as if it had been hit by a hammer. My ears were deaf, and my scorched clothes were full of holes.

「The World Tree is dizzy, saying the world is spinning.」

Not only the World Tree, but my vision also blurred, and a ringing sound echoed in my ears.

An explosion of mana. It was a trick that could hardly be called magic, but it had consumed as many as seven rings. It was as powerful as it was simple.

The enemy did not give me time to calmly pull myself together. In front of me, an extremely compressed mana exerted a magnetic attraction. The remains of the building, which had been destroyed by the explosion, gathered at one point around the mana.

I flicked my waist up, kicked the ground, and rolled forward.

A shape smoothly crafted in the form of a fist struck down hard where I had been. The earth was gouged out, and a strong wind swirled. The dust and dirt swept up by the strong wind rose in a cloud, and the ground shook as if there had been an earthquake.

I, who had barely escaped the range of the magic, rolled and got up. A single person’s magic had turned this vast site into a mess.

Indeed, the underboss of the Brotherhood. He was not an easy opponent. Magic that didn’t discriminate between elements, using valuables as a catalyst, a quick manifestation that didn’t require chanting, and even a powerful force. He was a high-level mage who was not lacking in any aspect.

“Now your face is worth looking at.”

But it was the opponent, not me, who had lost his composure and couldn’t hide his anxiety.

“One of your hands must feel light. Don’t you feel you’ve wasted a lot?”

“Shut up!”

Taser rubbed his hands together repeatedly, as if his lightened fingers were not adapting. His right hand, which had been adorned with accessories, was clean. An explosion of mana that had consumed seven rings in an instant. A large-scale magic manifestation that followed. I hadn’t counted, but he must have used at least half of his rings.

“You’re wasting more accessories than the required amount of mana. As an executive of the Brotherhood, you don’t seem to be very used to this kind of brawl.”

It was different from the first engagement, where he had carefully consumed his rings one by one and linked his magic. When he got rushed, he consumed his rings indiscriminately without any precise calculation.

‘He’s cornered, so his habits are coming out.’

The big shot of the smuggling company. If he had prepared valuables for battle, he would have had more than enough to fill a container. If he could prepare that much ammunition, then in fact, calculations were not necessary. He could just crush them with sheer volume.

On the contrary, the precise magic he had shown in the first engagement was abnormal. He probably usually just turned his valuables into mana and fired off magic indiscriminately without thinking about efficiency.

But this surprise attack was more like an accident that he had encountered unexpectedly. He had no time to prepare. The hand he had was all the accessories he was currently wearing. If he consumed all of them, he would have to fight with his own capabilities without relying on tools.

‘A spell that uses precious metals as a catalyst. The limitations are clearer than I thought.’

A catalyst is basically an auxiliary tool that helps in the manifestation of magic. Magic that doesn’t discriminate between elements, a quick manifestation that ignores chanting, and so on, were abilities that were beyond the auxiliary range of a catalyst. He must have maximized the effect of the catalyst with his own unique magic.

And such unique magic inevitably comes with a trade-off. It’s natural that his skills would plummet when he doesn’t have a catalyst, and one more thing.

“When I broke through the magic barrier and approached, you deliberately threw the ring outside the barrier and used magic.”

Habits, they are instincts that come out before you think. When I created a crack in the magic barrier, he was in a life-or-death crisis. Nevertheless, he didn’t convert the ring into mana on the spot, but deliberately flicked the ring outside the barrier.

At first, I had judged that there was no great meaning in that action. But what if it wasn’t just a meaningless ceremonial act of self-display? Seeing him act like that even in the realm of instinct, I could form a hypothesis.

“Your unique magic, it’s not easy to control, is it?”

It was certain. A fatal flaw hidden behind the splendor and flexibility of the magic that used a catalyst.

“Was that the reason you didn’t leave that place, not even a single step, like a child hiding in a closet?”

Magic is basically just a phenomenon. Its effects did not discriminate between friend and foe. It was the same as how you could get hurt if you swung a sword incorrectly. So, just as a swordsman gets used to a sword through constant training and prevents self-harm, a mage could avoid the effects of magic through their own control.

On the other hand, Taser Gale’s unique magic is different. He can use precious metals to turn them into mana and use much more powerful magic, but… his control is far from it. To him, magic was like a double-edged sword.

“……I have one more reason why I can’t let you live.”

Taser gritted his teeth. The personal details of the veiled underboss, the inherent weakness of his ability. I had dug up two secrets that would fetch a fortune. The repercussions if they were spread to the outside were a secondary matter. It was a secret that would endanger his position within the Brotherhood.

“So, are you going to make a bet on whether all the accessories you’re wearing will be consumed first, or whether you’ll take me down first?”

“No, it’s humiliating, but I admit it. That’s a bet that’s disadvantageous for me.”

I was in front of him, and Hatig was still climbing the building without stopping. In such a situation, the best thing to do is to set priorities and solve them one by one. However, he could not choose to strike Hatig first under any circumstances. Because I had the means to pierce his magic barrier. He couldn’t afford even a moment’s opening.

I was also confident that I could drag him out of the rooftop on the next opportunity.

“So I will just endure.”

He took off all the rings from his other hand.

“It’s a battle of sword and shield. Even if you’ve cut off communication, you’ve made such a commotion, so they must know that something has happened. This is all the forces you have, but I still have my subordinates scattered all over the place. I don’t remember raising idiots, so they’ll figure out the situation and gather one by one. As long as my safety is guaranteed, you’re the ones who are running out of time.”

Piercings, earrings, bracelets, and so on. Taser gathered all the accessories on his body without leaving a single one. The amount he had gathered was enough to fill his hand and overflow.

“If you run away, I’ll let you go. You can go. But there will be no place for you to set foot in this city. I’ll make it so, so you can look forward to it.”

The influence of the Brotherhood spans the continent, not just the city. The warning of an underboss, a direct executive of the Brotherhood, was not something to be dismissed as a bluff.

“Are you scared? You can be. No matter how much of a reputation a contractor like you gets, that’s all there is to it.”

He raised the corners of his mouth to the fullest and made a sneering expression.

“You idiot, drunk on your meager skills without even knowing about the power of this city, about the secrets of the world. If you were blinded by money, it would have been wiser to side with the city councilor. Then the councilor, impressed by your pathetic loyalty, would have filled your pockets handsomely. You were too greedy.”

The accessories that left Taser’s hand floated into the empty air.

“Let me watch closely from inside here how pathetically you struggle.”

The accessories turned to dust, and mana sprouted. The mana was swept away by the wind and stuck to the magic barrier on the rooftop. The magic barrier, imbued with a huge amount of mana, momentarily shot out a dazzling ray of light.

Thickness was added to the barrier, and its transparent outline became blurry and opaque, as if a filter had been attached. Inside, Taser’s image was strangely distorted and formed, as if reflected through several layers of mirrors.

“……”

The tightly compressed mana couldn’t withstand the pressure and repeatedly shot out sparks. The materialized mana added weight to the atmosphere and pressed down on my shoulders.

A barrier created by a high-level mage who had consumed all the mana he could squeeze out, regardless of the means. It was an iron fortress that was not lacking even when compared to a bomb shelter. At this rate, even if Hatig reached the rooftop, he would not be a threat.

The same goes for me. The barrier I was seeing in front of me seemed difficult to break through even with the seed of a Cistus. Seeing Taser’s arrogant appearance, looking down as if he were watching the scenery, having regained his composure, it seemed he had concluded that the match was already over.

“To think that someone who is an underboss is hiding like a coward, aren’t you ashamed?”

“Talk as much as you want. It’s even quite sweet. The curse of a loser is always pleasant to hear.”

“The curse of a loser, I’m sorry if it sounded like that.”

I slowly closed my eyes and listened.

[A group of people is approaching the scene. I’m doing my best to interfere, but I can’t hold them off for long.]

Beta’s report, heard through the radio. The underboss’s subordinates were approaching. If I dragged this on for a long time, this side would be at a disadvantage. Taser’s statement was not wrong.

“I didn’t care how you came out.” Content orıginally comes from novelꞁire.net

“……?”

“I’m saying it didn’t matter whether you came out defensively like now, or whether you couldn’t overcome your anger and launched a wave of attacks.”

The fact that I shouldn’t drag this on for a long time was something I had known first.

“The reconnaissance is over.”

The essence of his ability, its characteristics, its pros and cons. I had dug up everything. He had even consumed all the catalysts he had in the name of focusing on defense. He had no more variables left.

From now on, it was a standard battle of offense and defense. To break through or to block. Unfortunately for him, I had a trump card.

“Domain Declaration.”

“What…!”

At the word that came out of my mouth, he opened his eyes wide.

「Declaring Domain.」

「The World Tree’s Garden is deployed as a simple domain in the surrounding area.」

A halo of light shot up like a fountain. With me as a single point, the mana of the World Tree spread out in a circle. As the materialized spirits spread out, scattering light like the Milky Way, fresh vegetation sprouted along their trajectory.

The artificial afterglow of mana that Taser had scattered was erased, and a dense, circular mana took its place. The refreshing smell of grass, the moist touch of the earth, a gentle breeze. Mother Nature manifested, covering the traces of the battlefield, which was no different from a ruin.

“Let’s end this.”

The magic barrier that Taser was holed up in was no longer daunting. It just felt like a cheap toy that could be broken at any time if I wanted to.

(End of Chapter)