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Chapter 22

***

\'As expected, it was here too.\'

Like many games, [Demon Fantasy] also has a level system.

The maximum level is 100, and for mages, when leveling up, the four basic stats - [Health], [Agility], [Perception], and [Mana] - each increase by 1.

Of course, an increase of 1 doesn\'t have a dramatic effect.

But what I was aiming for wasn\'t the stat increase effect in the first place.

I was targeting the special effect that activates when your level increases.

The effect was definite.

Tap tap tap tap!

The gnawing hunger, the mental and physical fatigue that could drive a person mad, the fractured right leg, and so on.

All the constraints that had been tormenting me were recovered by the level up\'s special effect, and my body felt as light as if it could fly.

And this was enough for me to turn the situation around.

I shouted with all my might at the guy who, among the surviving mages, was the only one who had defeated his assigned demon and was now holding off other demons.

"Roan! You support the [Demon Hydra]+ side! I\'ll take care of the other side!"

"...What did you say?"

I realized I had forgotten he was a nobleman and spoke informally, but there was no time to correct such things now.

"If you don\'t intend to die, run now!"

"...Huh."

Roan laughed incredulously.

Still, he seemed to grasp the situation and started moving towards the [Demon Hydra] as I said.

"You\'ll definitely pay for your behavior later!"

"..."

If only he hadn\'t added that last part, it would have been perfect.

Ignoring Roan\'s words, I looked around.

\'...14 of them, is it?\'

When the evaluation started, there were 32 people, so the total number of demons released here was 16.

The fact that 14 of them were still alive meant that no team except mine and Roan\'s had managed to defeat a demon.

It was to be expected, really.

Roan was a 4th circle mage, and I had a Mythic tier trait.

\'Thompson\'s skills were also better than I thought.\'

Anyway, it was natural that the other mages, who were neither exceptionally skilled nor had any practical experience, couldn\'t defeat the demons.

"Argh! Go away! Stop chasing me!"

Even now, weren\'t they just running away in panic?

They showed no sign of courage to fight at all.

Therefore, the available manpower was three, including myself.

\'...Me, Thompson, and Roan. The three of us have to handle this.\'

What I thought would be just defeating one demon had grown into this, but it wasn\'t all bad.

I would have had to face demons at some point anyway to achieve \'that condition\'.

I decided to think of it as that time being moved up a bit.

Kekekekek-!

"Yeah, I\'m glad to see you too."

I stood in front of the [Demon Goblin] holding a short sword, on the opposite side from Roan and Mr. Thompson.

In other games, goblins might be classified as tutorial mobs, but... maybe because of the \'demon\' modifier?

In [Demon Fantasy], they\'re quite powerful in their own right.

Well, that\'s only for the early game, and compared to the [Demon Basilisk], they\'re infinitely weak.

The strongest one here was the [Demon Basilisk].

The rest were all below that.

"Shall I go first?"

The awakening effect that had activated earlier when I fought was still on.

Because of this, I didn\'t need to get close and instead floated an elemental sphere from afar.

Whoosh!

Kieek!

The goblin finally charged at me.

But it was already too late.

"You little shit, where do you get off being casual against a mage? Trash mob."

Pububung!

Before the short sword the creature swiftly thrust could reach my body, my elemental sphere hit it first.

It wasn\'t enough to end its life in one go, but it was still a significant hit.

I could definitely feel that the power had increased compared to when I fought the Basilisk.

...Kieak!

Not expecting it to be fired at such a high speed, the creature hit by the sphere fell backwards onto its butt.

The short sword left its grasp from the impact and flew upwards.

Bwoong-.

I didn\'t miss that moment and fired another sphere.

Not at the goblin, but towards the short sword.

Paang! Clang clang...

Hit by the earth elemental sphere in mid-air, the short sword fell far away.

Seeing that, despair filled the creature\'s face.

It had realized its predicament.

I looked straight at it and said.

"Now you\'re unarmed, huh?"

...Kieek!

Tadadat!

The goblin is certainly clever for its kind.

Instead of charging at me here, it\'s going to pick up the fallen short sword.

But it was a meaningless act.

From the moment it lost its weapon, the match was as good as over.

By the time it reached the short sword.

Pababababang!

Dozens of elemental spheres I had been diligently creating rushed towards it.

Kiee...

The creature couldn\'t even properly scream before turning into ash and scattering.

And once again, that mysterious energy was absorbed into me.

Swooosh-.

This must be what they call experience points.

Of course, killing this one didn\'t make me reach level 3.

After all, in [Demon Fantasy], the experience point bar increases exponentially as your level gets higher.

But that\'s okay.

"Next."

There\'s still plenty of experience points lying around, right?

***

[PR/N- PoV Changed]

Meanwhile, Thompson was protecting the surviving mages as instructed by Yuhan.

Grr-.

It was a tense situation where even a moment\'s carelessness could put him in danger.

Yet, as if entranced, his gaze kept being drawn elsewhere.

What captured his attention was the black-haired man calmly disposing of demons.

Peng! Pubung! Peng peng!

\'...What am I witnessing right now?\'

As someone who had repeatedly ranked first in evaluations, surpassing numerous mages, Thompson naturally expected him to fight well.

But to this extent?

His combat was truly awe-inspiring.

Unbelievable, genius-level magic skills, the spirit to not shy away from close combat, and the quick movements to back it up.

"Roan! If you\'ve taken down the Hydra, go help Thompson over there!"

"Is this person really insane...?"

And outstanding leadership on top of that.

\'Until just a moment ago, the situation was clearly hopeless, and yet...\'

With just that man joining, the tide of battle was gradually turning.

Thompson couldn\'t help but acknowledge the man.

Grooar-!

Tung-!

Thompson, who deflected the ghoul\'s claws with his right arm encased in rock, calmly recalled what had happened earlier.

Apart from the man\'s magical prowess, there was something he couldn\'t understand at all.

\'He was definitely injured.\'

He didn\'t know the situation before that because he was focusing on gathering mana with his eyes closed.

But he clearly saw the moment when the Basilisk\'s scales struck one of the man\'s legs.

He even heard the cracking sound of bones breaking right after.

So there was no doubt that the man had been injured.

And yet.

Pazizik!

Kueeek!

The movements of the man, who was now freely deploying electric spheres in all directions, looked far too unrestrained.

As if he had never been injured in the first place.

All these changes started from the moment the man\'s body flashed with a green light.

\'...He called it leveling up, didn\'t he?\'

Honestly, Thompson didn\'t really understand what that term meant.

Could it be the name of some healing magic he wasn\'t aware of?

Just then.

Thompson\'s face, who had been observing the man, turned to shock.

Woowoong!

\'...Again!\'

The moment the man took down the fifth demon, his body flashed once more.

The man accepted this strange phenomenon as if it were nothing.

No, rather, he curled up the corners of his mouth as if he had been waiting for it.

\'...What on earth is that?\'

Thompson instinctively knew that this phenomenon was definitely not some kind of healing magic.

He observed the man more closely and soon discovered something strange.

\'His magic seems to have gotten stronger too...?\'

Upon closer inspection, he could sense it.

After the man flashed, his magic power had grown stronger.

\'It\'s definitely not healing magic.\'

The moment he reached that conclusion.

Suddenly, a story he had heard before flashed through Thompson\'s mind.

It was a story he\'d heard from his best friend, Eric.

"Hey, Thompson. Did you know? There are people in this world whose souls grow."

Eric added that these people would certainly become great figures later.

Some became swordsmen who cleaved heavens with just a single sword.

Some became archers who could part the sea with a single arrow.

Some became great mages who could traverse space and time.

Thompson had dismissed this story as a baseless rumor.

A soul that grows... How could that be possible?

But now.

\'Mr. First Place, could you possibly be...?\'

Gulp.

Thompson swallowed dryly.

His firm beliefs had changed.

That the man he was watching might be one of those people whose souls grow.

Grooooar!

Crack-!

Thompson extended his fist, which was as heavy as a boulder, and knocked the ghoul down.

"Phew..."

Currently, his heart was beating wildly.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump...!

It stemmed from the thought that this genius mage who was now taking down demons might become a great person in the future.

A great person, or a hero.

Meeting such people had been Thompson\'s lifelong dream since he was a boy.

And now, a man with that potential was right before his eyes.

Thompson thought.

This was his chance to fulfill his dream.

No, beyond that, it was a chance to be with such a person.

To be with a great figure.

"This is unbelievably exciting...!"

"You must be Thompson..."

Bang!

Not even noticing that Roan had arrived, Thompson, his muscles bulging, leapt high into the air.

His destination was where the next survivor was.

He couldn\'t just watch; Thompson had to show more of what he could do too.

That way, that small hero might want to take him on as a comrade.

***

[PR/N- PoV changed]

Whoosh!

The trap-type magic spell I had set up in advance activated on the last remaining demon Lizardman.

Gurgle...

The Lizardman was cooked to perfection.

Thud.

It collapsed with its tongue sticking out, then turned into ash.

At the same time, the experience points were sucked deep into my body.

Although I was still far from reaching level 4, I wasn\'t disappointed.

"Phew."

Including the Basilisk and the Lizardman I just defeated.

If my calculations were correct, with this...

\'Ten of them.\'

I had registered a total of ten demons in the bestiary.

I had achieved \'that condition\'.

I closed my eyes and imagined.

If this were a game, a message like this would have appeared:

[Artifact Liberation Condition Achieved.]

[Content: \'Register 10 entries in the bestiary while equipped with the Holy Staff\'.]

[With the liberation condition met, the Heroic-Grade artifact \'Holy Staff\' will return to its original form.]

I didn\'t expect to liberate it this quickly.

In a way, Aldeon had helped me.

It was because they released demons of various types that I was able to achieve the liberation condition.

Creak creak creak.

As I heard the eerie sound, I opened my eyes and inwardly rejoiced.

\'It worked!\'

As I looked down, I could see the weapon growing gradually from the size of my forearm.

At the same time.

Creak creak creak!

It was twisting abnormally and changing its design to the form I knew.

Antique patterns were being engraved on the handle, and the holes that had looked like they had been eaten by bugs were filling themselves in.

The completed form was no longer like a rotten twig.

It was now fully in the form of a staff.

The Heroic-Grade artifact, [Holy Staff].

This artifact has many additional effects, but setting those aside.

The most crucial effect is this:

\'All magic skills of the equipped player increase by 1 level.\'

From now on, I\'m essentially a 4th circle mage.

Of course, this wasn\'t the time to be impressed about liberating my weapon.

"Hic, Allen..."

"My leg... my leg...!"

"How could this happen... Aldeon is crazy. They must be insane..."

The 32 mages had been reduced by two-thirds.

Only 12 survivors remained. And that number included the injured.

Step, step...

No one could have expected such casualties.

They probably thought that if a truly dangerous situation arose, the surrounding elders in charge of judging would help.

Aldeon must have known this fact too.

So-.

Step.

"I\'ve killed them all."

"..."

The old man who had been standing still, observing this whole situation.

The head of Aldeon Magic Tower, Dercion Pygma.

I was dying to know what this bastard would say.

***