Chapter 230 - Episode Twenty-Six - The Witch Altamir (2)
“…… What outrageous monster have come here. I was wondering how they managed to break the wards here by force, but I didn’t think it was just sorcery. But I can’t …… die in this place either.”
Altamir glanced sideways at the wreckage of the colossus, then turned to me.
“You’re right, it is very powerful. You’re forcing a huge amount of magic power into a dense package and shooting it out. It’s easy to put into words, but …… the problem of dispersing and leaking magic power, resistance to propulsion, recoil, and disruption of balance are forcibly broken through by the precise control of the magic circle. I’ve only been able to figure out less than 20% of the magic circle’s encryption due to the fact that it had more than four layers of encryption. I can’t believe how far the magic outside has evolved in the hundred years I’ve been cooped up here.”
“Re-, really?”
I replied in a slightly slurred voice and played with the ends of my hair with my fingers to cover up the redness in my face.
If I’m praised sneakily, I can’t help but feel embarrassed.
Mea is not familiar with magic either, so she would only say, “Wow~……” or “That looks amazing!”, so If I can pinpoint the exact point where you struggled, I can’t help but be elated.
“Even if you understand the theory …… you need to have a deep understanding of both warding magic and black magic to be able to control this magic. I can’t believe someone of your age can do that kind of magic, I’m not sure you learned this through a manual or not? I’m sensing a change in the times.”
“No, hehe …… Um, actually, I made this ……”
“It’s just that even if you can handle a big guy, that’s it! I’m sorry, but I stopped being human a long time ago. I don’t know if something that big will hit me!”
The form of Altamir collapses into a sphere of light that travels at high speed, diffuses again in another place, and returns to the form of Altamir.
“I’m sure you have more magical power than I do, and it’s only natural that the royal family would send you out as an assassin. It seems that I am inferior to you in terms of knowledge due to the difference in time. But the accuracy of the magic, the proficiency, the age separates …… But I can control a simple shootout with just my senses, without a magic circle or spirit language!”
Twelve small multicolored balls of light float around Altamir.
As a spirit body, Altamir doesn’t need to give instructions to the spirits to exercise simple magic, but can directly cause magical phenomena with her own magical power.
It’s true that there’s a difference between sorcery, where you have to go to the trouble of communicating your intentions to a spirit, and magical phenomena that are caused directly, no matter how you think about it, the latter is much more accurate than the former, and there is a big difference in the time required for the process of activation.
The twelve spheres of light were divided into four colors. They were red, blue, brown, and green, and there were three of each.
They are fire magic, water magic, earth magic, and wind magic.
“In one of my published papers, I said that “the human body can theoretically handle up to eight magicians in parallel”, is what it says …… Do you know about it? But that’s not a figure that takes into account the fact that it’s a real battle.”
“…… Ah!”
Yes, I know.
In the church library in the city of Lomarn, I once found such a description in a book that was apparently written by a disciple of Altamir.
I got excited as I realized that I was really facing a historical figure.
“When I was a human, I could handle up to seven magic circle at the same time. I wonder how many you have!”
“Se-, seven ……!?”
I’m sure there is a …… standard that measures the ability of a magician by the number of magic circles they can handle.
Icarus also claimed that the best magicians can handle up to three, and that he can handle up to four, as long as he does it to the magic circle that he is good with.
“It seems that you are indeed surprised! But if it’s just a magic bullet, it’s meaningless to me now that I don’t need magic circles anymore! That’s the biggest benefit of becoming this spirit body. The magic that humans can’t control, but now I can control it!”
When Altamir opened her hand, twelve clumps of magic power, each a ball of fire, water, wind, and earth, came at me in erratic movements.
She must have made their trajectories difficult to read, making them difficult to prevent.
“It doesn’t take a great deal of magic or sorcery to defeat a single human being. A minimum amount of power and fine control is the difference between victory and defeat ……!”
The part of Altamir’s book that stuck out to me the most was the description of the number of magic circle a human body can handle in parallel.
I waved my wand at the twelve spheres flying at me.
Twelve magic circles unfolded around me.
“Flame, water, earth, wind, form, sphere.”
“Wha-!”
The magic bullets of water for fire, of earth for water, of wind for earth, and of fire for wind all hit the magic bullets of Altamir flying in a distorted movement with almost the same power.
Among the attributes of magic, these four are called the four elements, and like rock-paper-scissors, they have their advantages and disadvantages.
Fire is extinguished by water, and water is absorbed by earth. The earth is scattered by the wind, and the wind increases the momentum of the flame.
Although they had the same power, my magic bullets accurately shattered Artamia’s magic bullets and flew straight to her.
Twelve consecutive magic bullets hit Altamir’s body.
As her body went up in flames, the water continued to splash and soak her, the earth ball gouged her abdomen, and the wind knocked Altamir to the ground.
“Kyaaaah!!”.
Altamir has turned over onto her back and is now looking at me with an upside-down view.
“…… H-How……? Why?”
Indeed, there was no need for a great deal of magic power.
It seems that the ability to control magic was the difference between victory and defeat.
“I-Impossible …… This is strange, you’re not human ……”
Since I’m actually here, it’s not that it’s strange, it’s just that the theory was wrong.
How about the person who boldly stated that she quit being human, swearing that she is not human?
“If you don’t mind using an Ortem, I can deploy several times as much as I can now with the same accuracy ……”
“Mo-, monster ……”
Altamir’s eyes closed, her head slumped to the side, and her cheek hit the floor.
It was as if she had lost consciousness.
An alchemist feared as the Witch of Calamity …… Altamir, huh.
“…… Well, that’s about it.”
Of all the wizards I’ve ever met. she was definitely one of the best by far.
The biggest colossus in the history of the world was just too big for its own good, the twelve parallel activations of magic by spiritualization were actually inferior to my own magic, and the theory was old and full of holes, but …… Well, I guess she was strong quite enough.