Author: aji (あじ)
Translator: sleepingjay
40
To defend against the fire raging through the forest, I erected a dome-shaped shield. Magic didn’t work for the demon’s body, but I had already confirmed that it was still effective against fires and attacks it released.
For who knew how many times, I kept cancelling out the fireballs with ice, and defended against flame spears with earth. The area around us turned into scorched earth, with intermittent spots of frozen white emitting cold air.
The more the demon attacked, the smaller the flames on its body became.
“How stubborn.”
I levitated the rocks littering the ground, sending it raining down on the demon’s head.
With accumulated momentum, countless rocks fell down to crush the demon. It resulted in a blast, leaving dust fluttering in the air.
A moment of tranquility descended. I had been waiting for this moment, when the demon paused its attacks.
Glowing blue, a large amount of magical power was mixed in with the earth. In the blink of an eye, the soil changed shape to form a round cage and engulfed the demon, shrinking to try and constrict it.
I planned to crush it by brute force like this. Even if I wanted to break the nucleus, water and ice created by magic couldn’t be used and the vegetation was incompatible with the fires. The only thing that could be used was earth, but small attacks with that would only get turned to ash.
I found that the demon weakened in proportion to the powers it used.
In that case, from hereon it was an endurance game until the opponent’s flames disappeared.
The cage that engulfed the demon shrunk down to one diameter in size. When I supported it with magic, using both hands to direct it, I felt a strong shock like it was struggling to escape from inside.
“–Tch, damn it.”
Against the opposition from inside, and the still unyielding attacks, the magic I had to keep pouring in to compensate was large.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Eventually, my skin broke and blood burst out.
Ktf njra oibk bo wjulm mbcalcefv. Gef ab atf wjulm fifwfca mlgmeijalcu klatlc ws ybvs, ws oifrt mbeivc’a rajcv la. Pa kjr bcis j wjaafg bo alwf ecali P rajgafv ab mbiijqrf ogbw atf lcrlvfr.
Veqqgfrrlcu j ylu obgmf ilxf atlr erlcu ws yjgf tjcvr, klatbea jcs qgbafmalbcr ktjarbfnfg, fnfc ws ybcfr mbeiv yf mgjmxfv.
Ironically, injuries caused by one’s own magic elements could not be recovered with healing magic.
Yet, even if my arms became tattered, I wouldn’t stop the flow of magic until the demon exhausted all its strength.
The instant I made that decision—the demon trapped inside the cage let out a scream.
“Gyaaaaaagh!”
That scream rent through the night forest.
The high-pitched tone shook my brains and blurred my consciousness. It was then that the worst happened.
“Are you kidding me….!”
On the other side of the boundary set by the seven-colored glowing shield were four-legged demonic beasts. So the cry just now was to call over its friends?
Around fifty low-grade demonic beasts had gathered, and they rammed their bodies against the shield to break it. No matter how much impact it received, the shield wouldn’t be broken by the strength of low-level beasts. But, they could detour and head to the village.
If that happened, I had no means to stop them since most of my magic was tied up to hold the cage. And these guys were very fast on their feet.
It probably would take at least ten more minutes for reinforcements to come.
In the meantime, it was difficult to maintain the balance on both sides.
……Then, there was only one thing I could do.
“Ggh.”
The instant I directed my right hand towards the demonic beasts, a pain struck my left arm, and it felt like the arm was getting torn off.
Using only one arm to continue releasing magic doubled the burden. Nevertheless, I couldn’t stop because of this.
“Freeze and bloom — Seppyouka.”
The hard voice, filled with magical power, spread quietly.
Buds unfurling brilliantly, the ice flowers swallowed the demonic beasts, freezing them one after another. Vines like glasswork entangled the demonic beasts that tried to escape.
Even a little touch of the icy vines turned them into gorgeous flowers — which shattered, without a chance to escape.
Ice shards danced in the night air, and the howls of demonic beasts echoed fruitlessly.
Only the shining moon, pure and dignified, looked quietly down on the pitiful world.
“—ck, ergh!”
I still had quite a bit of magic left. It was my flesh that had hit its limits. The moment I killed the last demonic beast, the bones of my overloaded left arm shattered. Too affected by the pain, the flow of magical power stopped.
It was a matter of a few seconds.
The demon, who had been holding its breath for even the slightest chance, broke the cage from the inside.
The pain of my shattered bones slowed down my reaction, unable to collect my magic fast enough. My feet were numb, and I wouldn’t be able to retreat in time. Even if I tried to teleport, the demon would simply rob away the gathered magic. It had absorbed magic from me and was already recovering.
I gritted my teeth as the flames gained momentum, watching as it approached me— just then, a huge wave of magical power blew away the flames.
The beautiful silver world illuminated by moonlight fluttered in the wind. Looking at the glittering hair dancing in the night sky, my breath choked, and I wondered if I was dreaming.
“Sorry, I was late. You’ve done your best, Lilius.”
“Why……Why did you come….”
Powerful arms drew my body in and pressed me to a sturdy chest, as if to embrace me.
That unmistakably familiar sweet voice and tone called out my name, bringing a tremble to my heart.
“Don’t leave my side. I’ll make sure to protect you.”
“……What’re you doing. I’m the one that said those terrible things to you! What reason do you have to help me—”
Streaks of light drawn across the pupils, the golden eyes which had only reflected the enemy looked down at me.
These eyes with resolute brilliance were completely, thoroughly gentle and divine.
Seeing his appearance, my heart was filled with all sorts of thoughts and words.
I had an overwhelming urge to shout out, but it was dispersed by another hug, a strong one as if to confirm my safety.
“I’ve decided to protect you. That alone is reason enough.”
Smiling unhurriedly, Jill cast a light on the darkness of the night with his raised sword.
yesssss Jill is here to protect and help our Lilius!
thanks for the chapter <3
jill!! it feels like he is going to save him from physical danger, and then this is all they need to reconcile. this doesn’t change anything that he has done, and he hasn’t apologised or even felt bad about putting lilius in harm by putting that magic bangle on him, or keeping him hostage, or spying on him –> finding out lilius was raped –> and using that info to figure out how to seduce him.
he also hasn;t addressed the fact that he knew he had this racist wife who hated her half-breed beastperson children and did nothing about it, (children who are caught between wanting her love and being genuinely afraid of her!!), or that he is basically swapping our mc’s sister for lilius, making lilius an actual sister-wife, connecting him back to his abusive, murderous family.
i would have liked this scene so much more if lilius had successfully killed the demon + the low level demons, and then collapsed from his injuries. and THEN jill can show up and make something up about how he wanted to leave lilius alone, but when he’s alone, he pushes himself too far and endangers himself. and then he has a good reason to butt into lilius’ life – to protect him from overextending himself, and force him to ask for help.
or even better, LILIUS COULD REALISE HE WANTS HELP ON HIS OWN!! he could collapse in the forest alone, and then spend a night in the cold coming to the bitter realisation that while he is strong with magic, magic can’t solve all of his problems. and that he needs other people to help him. and then maybe jill can find him after being alerted that a demon attack happened, and then lilius can see that other people would have made the fight much easier.
+100000!!!
uhm correction, but from the previous chapters, Jill felt guilty for doing those things to Lillius such as confining him/bracelet thing before.
I still won’t forgive Jill if he does not shape up. It wasn’t only lilius at fault.
Thanks for the chapter!
period!
Ahhh… Jill you are the best!!! The timing is impeccable. Lilius did great, too. Now finish off this demon and please reconcile, since Lilius’s battered body will need a lot of TLC now. Thank you for the chapter!!!
If TLC means time, love and care than I am 100% with you😌
thanks for the chapter ♡♡♡♡♡
I hope Jill would also acknowledge his shortcomings and faults, at least after this then they can talk properly.
I’d have loved Lily could kill that Demon and then Jill showed up… But It’s nice to know he’s not alone.
Thanks for the chapter!
Well, I’m glad Jill actually showed up and decided to be not a jerk.
thanks for the chapter!