Inside the swirling storm of purple lightning were blades of lightning made of magical power.
6th rank lightning attribute grand magic [Slicing Cloud Ten Thousand Lightning Blades]
True to its name, nearly 10,000 lightning blades scattered in all directions, slashing the surrounding space.
The ground scorched black where lightning burned through, and some steel structures melted into puddles, unable to withstand the heat of the voltage.
The War Mages felt like they were losing their minds.
"Hold on! Just hold on!"
"Use everything you've got!"
The War Mages, having gathered their elites, had prepared artifacts to protect their lives in case of emergency.
They gathered in one place and pulled out all their backup lifelines.
They also deployed the resonance shield magic used by the New Magic Tower's mages.Nevertheless, cracks appeared in the shield, and blood suddenly welled up in the War Mages' mouths.
'This, this monster!'
The 5th rank mage bit his lips tightly at the tingling electricity penetrating the shield.
'This magic wasn't even aimed at us in the first place.'
The man shrouded in shadow had used 6th rank grand magic merely as a performance to show those around him.
If he had truly intended to target them, such crude defenses would never have withstood it.
-Boom-boom-boom-boom.
After the storm of lightning blades subsided, all that remained was the E-34 area, now turned into a clean open space.
The 5th rank War Mage looked around.
All the other War Mages except himself had fallen.
Their lives hung by a thread, and even that was only possible because their opponent had shown mercy.
"You, who, who are you?"
He asked in a trembling voice, straining his lungs, but no answer came.
He knew there would be no answer from someone hiding their identity, but this was still too much.
'Where did such a monster come from?'
A 6th rank mage on this island?
A mage of that caliber would have been reported to the higher-ups upon entering the island.
Yet he had received no such news.
Could it be another mage from the New Magic Tower?
'Maybe this is a scheme from an opposing faction to interfere with our work?'
The New Magic Tower was one organization, but in reality, it was divided into several internal factions.
The faction he belonged to pursued extreme efficiency, actively utilizing the current war to make money.
Considering there was another faction that criticized this and advocated working for the island's peace, his thought wasn't entirely wrong.
'I need to, to report this upward...'
As the War Mage tried to send a report with trembling hands, he realized he couldn't.
All the artifacts he possessed had been destroyed in the previous attack.
Grinding his teeth, he shouted at the dark mages watching from a distance.
"What are you doing! Are you just going to watch?!"
The dark mages frowned at his words.
What did he expect them to do?
One should choose one's battles carefully, and he wanted them to fight someone who was practically a natural disaster?
And he wasn't even asking nicely, but treating them like subordinates, which put the dark mages in a bad mood.
But their pride wouldn't allow them to retreat either.
Opinions were divided among the dark mages.
"Why don't we just attack now?"
"Are you crazy? Didn't you see that? He used 6th rank magic twice!"
"If he used it twice, he must be drained by now. Don't you know even 6th rank mages can't use such grand magic consecutively? He might be out of power."
"We've suffered heavy losses too. Why don't we just retreat? How will the mages from other areas look at us?"
"So you want us to rush in now when all the War Mages on their side have fallen?"
"Why not? Their leader or whatever is still standing."
The dark mages' deliberation didn't last long.
From afar, they saw a mage flying toward them with magical power enveloping his body.
Field director Pomfret landed in the center of the ruins.
His irritable-looking eyes turned toward Rudger, who had caused all this.
Though covered in black shadow making him unrecognizable, the surrounding destruction made it clear who was responsible.
"You. Which group do you belong to? Did someone else send you?"
Pomfret asked, then snickered.
"Well, it doesn't matter now. Since you've come this far, you must be prepared to fight to the end?"
Rudger stared steadily at Pomfret.
Behind the fluttering raven beak-shaped mask, his blue eyes showed curiosity.
Despite witnessing this scene, Pomfret showed confidence rather than fear.
Did he have something to rely on?
The reason became clear soon enough.
Rudger noticed some black form flying toward them from a distance.
'What is that?'
Whatever was flying through the air landed beside Pomfret with a violent sound.
It was a very large piece of metal.
The brass cube had magical power flowing through circuits carved on its surface, clearly not an ordinary object.
Though he'd never seen it before, its purpose seemed vaguely familiar.
No sooner had he thought this than a whirring sound began inside the brass cube.
At first, it was a simple sound of winding a spring.
Then it progressed to the sound of pulling a trigger, magical power vibrating, and steel interlocking, until the cube opened wide like a blooming flower and transformed into something large.
"A steam golem?"
Its appearance somewhat resembled the brass golem that Bruno had made during the magic festival.
Only Bruno's was a spherical shape, while this was a cube.
And this one was much larger than Bruno's steam golem.
'How many high-grade magic stones is it using?'
Bruno's golem used only one magic stone, but this one seemed to have at least 5.
It was different from an ordinary steam golem.
The part where the head should be was empty, with something like a control seat inside.
Pomfret naturally climbed onto it.
"Huh."
Rudger let out a hollow laugh as he realized what it was for.
"The mages on this island really have made all sorts of things."
What Pomfret was wearing was a reinforced exoskeleton armor based on a steam golem.
There had always been reinforced armor made for knights, but this was on a different level.
If he had to describe it...It would be a powered suit for mages.
"Consider yourself lucky. You're the first to witness the Magia Giant."
Pomfret lightly raised the large frame of the reinforcement suit, the culmination of the latest magical engineering.
The lower body seemed relatively inadequate compared to the massive upper body, but it didn't appear to hinder movement.
This meant the pure mechanical output, even without magic stones, was extraordinary.
-Clank. Clank.
Pomfret, wearing the Magia Giant, clenched and unclenched his fists.
The steel hands of the powered suit moved in exact mimicry of a person's actions.
Each hand was larger than an adult's upper body.
It was easy to imagine being squeezed like dried fish jerky if caught in those hands.
"It's still in the experimental stage, but since a 6th rank opponent has appeared, I should be grateful for this opportunity."
Pomfret's eyes glistened with joy at the thought of testing the prototype's performance as he stared at Rudger.
Rudger silently observed Pomfret, then pointed a finger at him.
He started with a light feint as a swift beam of light shot toward Pomfret's exposed head.
It was an attack targeting what appeared to be a weak point, but a magical force field appeared in front of Pomfret's head and deflected Rudger's magic.
"You think I'd create such an obvious weakness!"
Pomfret spread his arms wide, preparing to charge at Rudger.
'He's coming.'
Just as Rudger was preparing, intense magical energy burst from the back of the Magia Giant, propelling the massive body toward Rudger like a cannonball.
'Fast.'
Thinking this, Rudger disappeared into the shadows as if diving in.
The Magia Giant, sweeping through where Rudger had been with its massive arm, hovered slightly in the air as it changed direction.
Then it landed lightly on the ground without issue.
"What kind of magic was that just now?"
Just as Rudger was curious about the Magia Giant, Pomfret frowned, wondering about Rudger's magic.
It had been an attack that should have been difficult to avoid, yet he had disappeared as if sinking into his spot.
Earth magic? No, not that. An illusion then? Not that either.
"You're using a magic I've never seen before. Where are you from? It's a very tempting magic."
Pomfret licked his lips.
The damage from Rudger's interference was already severe, but he saw an opportunity to make up for it with that magic.
Rudger, however, ignored Pomfret's reaction and examined the state of the Magia Giant.
'Low-altitude flight to charge... Are the legs just for show?'
Those two legs seemed to be more for supporting the body than for movement.
The actual method of movement was flying by expelling magical power from the embedded magic stones.
It was impressive that a ton-class armored bulk could fly through the air.
The output was impossible to gauge just by looking.
There were 5 visible magic stones, but there could be more hidden inside.
'This is no mere boast when they say it was created to counter 6th rank mages.'
To think they had created a weapon to face the highest level of mages using machinery.
Who would have thought magical engineering had advanced this far.
Developing a powered suit to counter mages was a strange irony in the fact that only mages could use it.
Rudger realized anew that the New Magic Tower wasn't just a clean organization.
Even though, looking at Lord Rotheron, he had thought it was freer and better than the Old Magic Tower.
'Is this just how things go wherever people gather?'
But he couldn't continue such comfortable thoughts.
Pomfret, eyes fixed on Rudger's magic, was directing the Magia Giant to attack again.
-Clank.
Hatches on the Magia Giant's broad shoulders opened, revealing high-explosive bombs inside.
Gun barrels protruded from the opened armor hatches and the backs of both hands.
"I'll sweep you away with heavy firepower in one go."
The barrels spewed fire, and special shells from inside the hatches traced arcs as they flew toward Rudger.
A massive wall of fire filled the field of vision.
It was an unbelievable amount of firepower for a single unit.
This was almost equivalent to an artillery battalion in action.
Rudger watched quietly, then extended his hand.
"Fool! Even a 6th rank mage can't block this level of firepower!"
But Pomfret's confident expression didn't last long.
The special missiles and shells flying straight toward Rudger all curved in mid-air and fell in random directions.
Some missiles even flew toward the dark mages watching from a distance.
-Boom!
Amid the red flames rising everywhere, Pomfret glared at Rudger.
Even in the center of the battlefield with flames scattering, the shadow covering his body still maintained its pitch-black color.
"Metal magic?"
Pomfret realized what kind of magic Rudger had used.
But it wasn't simple metal shaping magic, but controlling the metal they had fired?
"Could it be that you hold a color title?"
No, that couldn't be. If that were the case, there wouldn't be this level of destruction.
If he was a single-attribute mage, what was that shadow?
The man before him was not a single-attribute mage.
"Wait, is this...?"
Pomfret discovered fine iron powder floating in the air.
"So that's it."
He had scattered fine iron powder around, then attached it to the incoming special shells to twist their directions.
To an uninformed observer, it would look like he was interfering with the metal.
Even if it was a trick, Pomfret couldn't help but be amazed.
When had he scattered such fine iron powder around?
'No, is it even possible to create such fine iron powder with metal shaping magic in the first place?'
That would mean the opponent's magical control was at its absolute peak.
Pomfret felt a chill.
A 6th rank mage who didn't rely on simple firepower, and his attitude... he worried that the opponent might also be a War Mage.
'Fine. Anyway, now that I'm in the Magia Giant, I can defeat even a 6th rank mage. If special shells don't work, I'll finish you with overwhelming magic!'
The Magia Giant's magic stones hummed intensely, emitting energy.
The magical power, gushing like a spring, moved through the complex structure and circuits of the Magia Giant, delivering intense energy to its core.
The resonating magic stones created a fierce synergy with each other.
When the number of magic stones increases threefold, the output doesn't simply triple.
The output of resonating magic stones increases not by multiplication but by squaring.
The Magia Giant had five external magic stones and three internal ones.
The output of the Magia Giant using a total of 8 magic stones was truly beyond common sense but Pomfret had overlooked one thing: battles aren't decided by sheer power alone.
He realized this when he noticed the faint mist rising around him.
"What is this?"
Pomfret tried to push away the mist using the Magia Giant's magical power.
The faintly rising translucent veil pushed away the iron powder Rudger had scattered.
But the white mist, as if unaffected, naturally clung to Pomfret's face.
"What, what's happening!"
Pomfret felt his strength draining as the mist touched his face.
Proving it wasn't just an illusion, his skin withered and wrinkled instantly, as if rapidly aging.
"Aaargh!"
Rudger silently watched Pomfret collapse screaming.
This wasn't magic he had used.
Rudger's gaze turned to the direction from which the white mist had appeared.
There stood someone wearing a black robe and a mask made of goat bones, holding a staff.
"Are you the Ancient Curse School dark mage?"
The raven mask and the goat mask faced each other in a standoff.