Demons and Fire Knights.
Side: Luke.
[…This is not looking good.]
Luna and I were surrounded by a group of demons called Mahonomes. The Mahonomes are rhinoceros-like demons that walk on four legs and have horns on their heads.
Their other characteristic is that it is difficult to use magic against them. They have such a high magic resistance that they can only be damaged by advanced magic, as such, swordsmen and knights are normally their opponents.
They are B-ranked demons, and originally they were supposed to hardly live in this forest. For some reason, I came across them moving in packs, and by the time I noticed, I was surrounded/.
By the way, the Mahonome are not that difficult to defeat if you were a swordsman, making them only B-ranked. But if there was only a wizard nearby, its danger level rises to A rank.
Even so, as the grandson of a Sage, it’s not an enemy to me.
If it’s one-on-one…
There are ten Mahonomes in front of us.
I’m in a bit of a pinch.
I can use Ultima Thunder to take them all out in one go, but it will cause a lot of damage to the forest in return. I want to avoid that as long as possible.
That said, I’m not handy enough to be able to fire a series of high level magic with a narrowed range to take them down one by one. I don’t have enough magic.
I wonder if we can get Luna to cast some auxiliary magic and defeat it with intermediate magic?
That’s what I was thinking about when-
[Uh, Luke, do you want to fight? Or do you want to run away?]
I think I’ve made Luna worry about me.
[Don’t worry, we can probably win. Then, in the name of the sage’s grandson, Luna-chan will definitely be protected. But just in case, prepare the flute you got from your teacher for me.] [Yes, yes, I understand!]
I have to show Luna my cool side.
And just as I thought that──
[──!?]
I sensed something with an enormous amount of magic power approaching, one so powerful it made my skin crawl.
[Hey, something really bad is coming!] [Yeah … that could be pretty bad.]
Something with more magical power than Tina-sensei was coming towards this place. It didn’t feel like Tina-sensei’s magic signature, so it wasn’t her that was heading here.
If that something was an enemy, there was no guarantee that I could win even if I fought with all my might. I thought about somehow defeating one of the Mahonome’s herd and escaping, but more than that, that something was here.
It suddenly appeared.
A knight whose entire body was formed of flames.
The Fire Knight looked around a bit at me, Luna, and the crowd of Mahonomes surrounding us. A spear at the ready…
[…!!]
Something hot passed by us at super speed.
When we turned around, one of the Mahonomes that surrounded us was roaring and burning. A spear of flame pierced its outer skin, which was supposed to have a very high magic resistance, with ease.
This is bad, this guy is way too strong!
I have to find an opening and run away.
But there was no gap at all in the Fire Knight.
I couldn’t even follow the spear as it passed by with my eyes. If that attack was aimed at us, a chill ran down my spine when I thought of it.
No, now that he’s thrown that spear, isn’t this the time to take a chance?
As I was thinking about that, the Mahonomes, angry that their friends were defeated, ignored us. They all attacked the Fire Knight at once.
A new spear was held in the hand of the Flaming Knight.
A Mahonome that was about to pierce the Fire Knight with his horn was pierced by a new spear and was set ablaze.
Another Mahonome rose up on its hind legs and tried to crush it with its front legs, but the Knight of Fire caught it with one hand.
The Mahonome’s body began to burn from where the Knight of Fire caught it. The Fire Knight threw the Mahonome at the other Mahonome.
The Mahonome, which weighed several tons, flew to its companions at high speed while burning.
The thrown Mahonome hit its companions and exploded.
Several of the Mahonomes that it hit died instantly, and those that did not die were blown apart. A part of the burning Mahonome’s body hit them, and from there the flames spread to each of them.
The Mahonomes wrapped in flames rolled on the ground, but the flames showed no signs of going out.
And those Mahonomes soon stopped moving as well.
The living Mahonomes were later reduced to one piece.
The one who realized that he couldn’t win against the Fire Knight turned its back on the Fire Knight and ran away – towards us.
[Not good!]
There wasn’t enough time to chant enough magic to defeat the Mahonome coming at us. Quickly holding Luna-chan in my arms, I stretched a defensive magic in front of us.
However, the hastily put up magical defensive wall was broken through by the Mahonome’s horns in an instant.
I hurriedly raised my defenses to the limit with body strengthening magic and prepared for the hit.
Can I withstand it!?
No matter how long I waited, the impact did not come.
Instead, there was a dull sound and something fell to the ground.
When I turned around fearfully, the Mahonome that was coming towards us was pierced from the side by the Flaming Knight and gasped.
The one who defeated that Mahonome was a different Fire Knight than the one I was fighting earlier.
Right now, there are two Fire Knights in front of me and Luna.
It’s over…there’s no way we can win.
[Luna-chan, I’ll manage to buy some time, can you run away?]
Even if I don’t win, I’ll try to at least let my classmates get away.
[But,]
Luna is trying to use the flute that Dr. Tina gave him.
It’s no use, this Flaming Knight alone has more magic than Tina-sensei.
──And now there are two of them.
There’s no longer any forces in the Glendale Kingdom that can oppose it. It’s possible that someone other than Haruto is the only one who can?
That guy’s potential is so vast that it’s hard to see the limit of it.
──Hmm?
Come to think of it, this Fire Knight, it’s kind of similar to Haruto’s magic signature…….
[Eh?]
The Fire Knight turned his back on me and Luna and ran off into the forest.
[Ta, did we get saved?] [Yeah, I guess we did.] [That’s good.]
Luna flopped down and sat down. I felt sorry for making her feel scared while I was with her.
But still, that Fire Knight’s magic power is Haruto’s──
[No way.]
That demon’s magical power, which was on the level of a disaster-class, can’t help but feel like that of a friend.