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Norman let out a short breath, lowered his stance, and activated Air Ride once again. He surged toward Electra, skimming across the ground so quickly that he tore up the earth beneath him. Holding his halberd to his left, Norman used the momentum of his charge to swing its blue, holy-energy-wreathed spearhead toward Electra. With a sharp sound as the compressed air exploded outward, the crescent-shaped axe blade seemed certain to catch Electra. But once again, Electra’s body blurred and vanished from the spot. This time, however, Norman immediately picked up her presence again. Using the momentum of his completed swing, he spun his body around, fixed his trajectory, and drove the spearhead toward his new target.

The spearhead struck something and abruptly stopped. Electra was standing in the darkness. She had extended the blood-red claws of her fingers until they resembled knives, catching Norman’s thrusting halberd with them. Electra’s eyes widened once more in admiration, and her smile deepened.

Norman clenched his teeth and quickly pulled his weapon back.

“Polearm: Rapid Attack.”

A series of smoke-wreathed cartridges were ejected from the gauntlets on Norman’s arms.
At the same time, he unleashed a barrage of halberd strikes. The spearhead attacked Electra at such tremendous speed that it left afterimages in the air.

Yet Electra merely narrowed her eyes in amusement and tilted her head slightly, casually deflecting each attack with the five fingers of her right hand held together, her elongated red claws forming blades.

Suddenly, Norman’s attacks stopped. Blood spilled from his mouth. Electra was standing beside him. The fingers of her left hand had been thrust into Norman’s side. Just like the claws on her right hand, those on her left had extended to an unnatural length, piercing through his powered armor as easily as paper. All five claws were buried deep inside Norman’s body.

Electra slowly dragged them through his flesh before pulling them out. She watched Norman scream in agony with evident enjoyment as she leisurely withdrew her red claws from his body. Then she ran her red tongue along each of the long claws, one by one, licking away the blood coating them. The more she licked her claws, almost as though savoring them, the more moisture filled Electra’s eyes.

Norman staggered away from her, nearly collapsing, but managed to support himself with his halberd. The five claws that had pierced his body had inflicted serious damage to his internal organs as well. Enduring the excruciating pain, Norman activated the medical kit around his waist once again and began treating his wounds. The treatment finished quickly, and the depleted cartridge was ejected. But the strength he had lost did not return.

After all, the healing arts used by holy-rank practitioners were fundamentally different. They read the target’s ether information and recreated the person’s original, proper state; in other words, they were essentially a form of regeneration. The effectiveness of such healing varied greatly depending on the user’s skill, but regardless, it was a high-level holy art that could only be wielded by those capable of serving the gods.

On the other hand, among the other elemental forms of magic, there were also spells capable of treating injuries. Most of these healing spells worked by manipulating bodily fluids and stimulating cellular activity, greatly enhancing the body’s natural ability to heal itself. Because of this, they generally could not restore the physical strength or blood that had been lost.

The healing magic currently loaded into the Magic Storage Cartridge of the medical kit standard-equipped on the Heavy Mobile Magic Armor belonged to the latter category. Thus, while it could heal Norman’s wounds, it could not replenish his lost blood or restore his physical stamina.

At present, Norman had only managed to close his wounds. Even if he continued the healing process, his body no longer had the strength to sustain it. Both repairing injuries and producing new blood required physical energy. For now, he was barely standing thanks to the temporary stimulant effect that accompanied the healing magic. And regardless, the healing cartridge he had just used was his last. There were no more.

Even so, Norman could not retreat. He readjusted his grip on his halberd. A determined light flickered behind his glasses as he raised the weapon, pointing its spearhead directly at Electra. Electra noticed his resolve. She narrowed her eyes and gave a delighted little smile as she breathed out softly.

But then someone placed a hand on Norman’s shoulder and stepped forward.

“Hm. You’ve done well. I think you should rest for a little while.”
“Professor! This place is dangerous! Please get back immediately!”

Seiwashi held Norman back and stepped forward.

“Oh? You couldn’t resist and decided to come out after all?” Electra ran her tongue along one of her claws as she spoke to Seiwashi playfully.

“You needn’t worry. I’ll have you as well very soon.”
“Hm. The trees of Iroshio are saturated with an extremely high concentration of mana. Under normal circumstances, they should possess considerable resistance to flames produced by magic. But judging from the sheer scale and precision of the mana required to burn them away so effortlessly, without even an incantation, you must have been a remarkably powerful sorcerer originally.”
“…And what exactly does that have to do with anything?”

Electra’s expression went blank. Her voice became cold as she questioned Seiwashi, as though unable to see the relevance of his observation.

“Hm. Nothing in particular. I simply thought that if magic is involved, then it would be appropriate for me to be your opponent.”
“…I see. So you wish to claim that you have some particular expertise when it comes to magic? Then perhaps I should entertain you personally with my magic. Learning something about the edge of the abyss can be educational in its own way, you know.”
“Hm. Then by all means, begin your lecture.”

In response to Seiwashi’s words, Electra pulled out a small leather pouch. She scattered the fangs contained inside it across the surrounding area.

“First, why don’t you play with these little ones for a while? Hehehe…”

Electra spread her hand outward in a sweeping motion, lifting the corners of her lips as she laughed. At that moment, Morris stepped forward between them.

“Hm. Morris, are you up for this?”
“Course I am!”

Morris took the shovel-like Earth Knocker he was holding and clicked the blade into a different position, transforming it into a hoe-like shape. He swung it down and drove it into the earth. Cracks immediately spread from the point of impact toward the area where the fangs had been scattered. The ground began collapsing one section at a time.

Seeing this, Electra furrowed her brows suspiciously and stopped moving.

“Hm. You look puzzled. That spell uses dragon fangs as catalysts and draws magical power from the ley lines, which the caster then uses through a magical activation formula to summon creatures. Since the caster only needs to expend a small amount of their own magical power to activate it, it’s an exceptionally economical spell.”
“And that’s where this comes in!” Morris proudly raised the Earth Knocker. “This thing can manipulate the flow of magical power underground, too! Too bad for you! The mana surrounding those catalysts is completely drained now! GAHAHAHA!”
“Hm. Since the caster’s own mana burden is so low, the spell becomes unusable if there is no mana available from the ley lines.”

Electra narrowed her eyes and stared coldly at Seiwashi.

“So that’s how you intend to proceed… But surely you don’t think that means you’ve sealed away my options, do you?”

As she spoke, Electra casually raised her right hand. Flames began swirling within her palm.

“Hm. Of course not. However, I would advise against wasting your efforts.”
“How dare you!”

Electra shouted and violently swept her hand forward, throwing the flames from her palm. The fire transformed into a blazing projectile and shot toward Seiwashi at tremendous speed with a roaring sound.

But before the fireball could make contact with Seiwashi, it suddenly became intensely bright in midair. Then it simply vanished, as though it had burned itself out. Electra stared in astonishment.

“Hm. It seems the Mana Gathering System can be used like this as well.”

At Seiwashi’s feet, thin brass-colored rods stretched out in a long formation, surrounding the trench and creating a barrier between him and Electra.

“What…? When did you set all of this up…?”

Norman, leaning his weight against the halberd planted on his left side, pushed his glasses up with his right hand and stared in amazement at the gleaming brass-colored lines surrounding Seiwashi’s feet.

“Hm. That’s thanks to you keeping that thing occupied for me.”

As he spoke, Seiwashi tossed several empty poster tubes aside. The empty cases rolled across the ground.

“Hm. The Mana Gathering System is currently absorbing the enormous amount of mana contained within Iroshio while simultaneously forcing the concentrated mana upward here. As a result, this entire area is now essentially surrounded by a magical barrier powerful enough to nullify any half-hearted spell. If I may say so myself, I believe this is quite powerful.”

“I don’t think any ordinary spell will be able to break through it.”
Electra listened to him, her brow furrowing irritably as her eyes narrowed.
“…I see. In that case… Perhaps I should simply stroke you directly?”