The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic

Amira Berglett, Assistant Commander of the 2nd Corps.

Her magic was as extraordinary as her words.

When confronted with a sword, the flames that drifted around her attacked, and when she attacked with magic, the flames turned to defense and consumed the magic, possessing an overwhelming combat ability that no one could match.

"Huh!"

And the most astonishing thing was that her movement itself was enhanced.

At first glance, it looked similar to the cold air generated by Lord Karon's axe when they fought in Mialak, but Amira's was fundamentally different.

When she leaps forward, the flames that surround her explode and accelerate her momentum, and when she swings her sword, the residue of the flames scorch the surroundings black. The flames themselves are both an aid to movement and an offensive and defensive weapon.

It is like an incarnation of fire.

The flames themselves are magically clothed in this ultimate form of magic, a feat that is different from the enhancement of a lineage.

However, there was a reason why I could not back down in the face of a far superior foe.

"Kuh-uh......!"

I manage to defend myself, blocking and deflecting the sword blows, which are boosted by the flames, with the flaming sword clasped in both hands.

Don't fight them head-on.

Do not stop breathing even if it is hot.

Do not lose your concentration.

Use the angle to minimize the impact.

I remind myself of this as I breathe in the hot air that almost burns my throat, and concentrate on the sword in front of me.

"You're surprisingly persistent ......!"

"I'm not sure... ......

The sword approaches in an arc-like trajectory, and he quickly blocks it with the scabbard he has drawn. As he looked ahead, he threw away the cracked sheath, letting the impact escape behind him, and without a moment's pause, a crushing slash swung down from the top.

With a clear premonition of his death, he quickly concentrates his magical power into the flaming sword and raises it, creating a flame that seems to erupt from below.

The downward slash of the flame is canceled by the flames that erupt from below, and the sword is extinguished.

Amira reacted somewhat surprised, but she did not stop her sword and slashed at me.

"...... You are a dexterous fellow," she said. He seemed to be all about power, but it seems he is not."

"Thanks for that. ......!"

He manages to catch the sword, but it's about to crush him. ......!

Unlike me, who was fighting to the death to survive each blow, Amira had a clear margin.

Of course.

I mean, what I was doing with only my sword, Amira was doing with her whole body and maintaining it with her natural body.

Our desperate attack and defense is nothing more than a sword fight for her.

"But even so, I am not far behind. ......!"

"......!"

Let go!

In the heat of the moment, my throat is burning, and Amira calmly tries to crush me with all her might.

But just before she does so, Hayate and the others provide magical support, and I manage to get rid of the sword and shoot a magic bullet to distance myself from her.

"That level of magic won't work!　A half-hearted attack will bring you death!"

Everyone get out of here!

He drowns out the magic with a flurry of horizontal fire and shoots a crescent-shaped flame in the direction Hayate and the others are heading. The flame strikes the place where Hayate and the others were, and a large spark is produced.

Hayate and the others seemed to be able to avoid it just in time, but not a few of them lost their will to fight just because of that.

"Do you have time to worry about others!"

"What?"

I turned my attention back to Amira, who was already raising her sword.

Once again, as I boosted my magical power to survive the onslaught, something blue entered my field of vision from the side.

"Guo!"

"I won't let you!"

What?

Amira was about to swing her sword at me, when Bulrin, with Nair in owl form, rushed toward her from the side.

I shot out a flame with my non-sword hand, but Nair's spell against Bulrin nullified it, and she finally backed away as soon as I evaded her.

"I see, I thought it was rare to find an owl that could understand human language, but ...... you are the vampire from earlier, and when you deal in magic, I can't be too careful..."

"Bulleen!　Pull back!　If I get hit by that thing, there won't be anything left but roasted chicken!　I mean, you'd better attack sparingly so as not to be spotted by that thing!

"Guru!"

Bulrin shakes his head at Nair's words and sniffs.

When Bulrin responds in such a way, Nair gasps and clamps his mouth with his wing, and then smacks Bulrin on the head with the other wing.

"You don't have to be so enthusiastic!　Do you know how dangerous he is?　Don't fight it head on!"

"...... guffaw."

Following the instruction of Nea, who patted him on the back and urged him to run away, Bulrin kept a certain distance from Amira.

Amira is momentarily taken aback by Nair's unexpected speech, but quickly regains her composure.

"That's really funny. It's really interesting..." "You'd think the healing wizards would be the only ones who stand out, but they're not. It's worth it for me to come up with this technique.

I take a moment to catch my breath as Amira lowers her sword.

She points to the wall of flames and gives me a small smile.

"You can hear it, too. You can hear the sound of battle echoing from behind these walls.

"Sound ......?"

I listened carefully to her words and heard a sound coming from behind the wall of flames.

It sounded like something smashing and iron clashing.

The source of the sound was beyond my imagination. It was the sound of a battle between Usato and the commander of the 2nd Corps.

"They must be fighting too. "I'm sure they're fighting too. He said he wouldn't take it too seriously, but he's lying. How can he not be serious against Rose's disciple?

"...... you're still fighting. Usato-dono is ......."

I was relieved.

They are still fighting.

She is fighting undaunted against an enemy who is probably as strong as the one in front of her.

That was enough to keep my heart unbroken.

"You are a strong warrior. You are a strong fighter... I have never been easy on you in your attacks, so I ask you... why don't you really use your fire?"

"......?

I felt my heart being grabbed by his words.

Perhaps her astonishment has shown on her face, but Amira still maintains a calm expression on her face as she spins her words.

"Did you think I wouldn't notice?　I am a warrior who wields fire magic. I understand fire better than anyone else.

Even so, I did not expect them to notice me that much.

Not only is he strong, but he has the sense of a flame wielder.

"A warrior of your stature. There must be a reason. ...... but that is not my concern. Either you die without it or you die with it."

With these words, Amira took a stance.

The flames that had been flickering and burning around her gained momentum as she did so.

"......"

She's right, she's going to kill me.

No, on the contrary, Bulrin and Nair, Hayate and his companions will be killed without any way to save themselves.

.......

"Nair, I have a favor to ask you."

He speaks to Nea, who is on the back of Bulrin, who has moved diagonally behind him.

Nair, who had been concentrating on Amira, sounded puzzled.

"I don't mind if you do, but are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Can I have ...... a resistance spell put on me?"

"Resistance to fire. Yes. But I can't withstand that many opponents that many times. ......

No, sir.

Nair looks doubtful.

I do not care about her, but I say the words that I am prepared to say.

"Please build up my own resistance to magic.

"...... yes, I understand."

"Thank you."

I'm sure he understood.

She's a smart girl. She must have understood what I was trying to do, since I was afraid to use my own magic.

My magic is a flame magic with a power very close to that of a lineage enhancement.

Normally, I try to suppress it, but it is a double-edged sword that can burn even myself if I try to use it without any care.

So I have hurt many people, sometimes inflicting wounds that will never heal. No matter how much I regret or cry, there is no redoing it, it is a sin that I must atone for even if it takes my whole life.

"......"

I've been afraid.

A power that could turn against even those I swore to protect.

So when I turned that power against you, Usato-sama, my very core froze. I knew that I had attacked him with a dangerous technique that would have seriously injured him if it had hit him even once.

Even so, Usato was ...... Amako, Nair, and Bulrin, and they counted on me. They told me that I am their friend and that I can rely on them, even though I have only magic that can hurt people like this.

It's time to face them.

In the battle against the evil dragon, I turned my power against you, Usato.

In Mialark, he broke my sword and knocked me out.

I am a coward who is afraid to use even my own power. I am a fool who disguised my true intentions even to my companions and did not think of using it until Amira told me.

"...... It's always been me who has been saved."

This trip saved me.

It was a series of surprises I had never experienced in my life. The time I spent traveling with them became an irreplaceable asset for me.

That's why."

I want to protect it.

I want to make sure that all of us can return to the Kingdom of Lingle with smiles on our faces, without a single person missing.

He pulls another small sword from his waist and grips it with the opposite hand.

"I had found a reason to wield power," he says.

For that, I can fight without hesitation.

As soon as the spell of Nair's resistance is cast, I pour all my magical power into the swords in my hands.

Are you ready?

"Yes."

The flaming sword radiates more brilliance and heat than ever before.

But the heat is too strong, and Nair's resistance magic is getting cracked.

We can't afford to be so formal.

I grab my sword and slash at her with both of my swords.

"A flaming sword that could be mistaken for a lineage enhancer. Is that your true magic? I knew there were rare people who possessed such a gift, but to see it in person is awe-inspiring.

"I'm honored to be so described by you!"

He maneuvers his sword so that he does not swing it too hard and engages in a swordfight with Amira.

But even so, the difference in strength - the difference in technique and the amount of magic power - becomes apparent, and to compensate for this, I now abandon my defense.

A person with a magical power close to that of a lineage enhancement.

In the Kingdom of Lingle, Lady Olga, who belongs to the Lifeguard Corps, has the same qualities as I do. I was not a very dexterous person at first. So when I first learned magic, I often let it run out of control, causing trouble to those around me.

I always hated this power."

As I grew older, my power grew stronger, and the power of my flames increased to the point where I was in danger of having to suppress them. I trained myself to suppress my magic as hard as I could, since even I was affected by the flames due to the negative effects of my near strain-enhancing magic.

"I hated this power that could hurt me, hurt my friends, and burn up everything I cared about around me. ......!"

It has stayed in my mind.

The image of the first person I hurt. The way people looked at me like I was a monster.

He throws away even his defenses and strikes Amira with the sword in his right hand.

Even so, she tries to deal with the situation calmly, and he cuts her with the small sword in his opposite hand. She avoids it at the last moment, but the sword, glowing red-hot, cuts through her flaming armor.

"......!"

"But I have friends who need this power!　There are people who depend on me like this, people who are irrepressibly kind to me!"

Every time you swing your sword, you hear something shatter.

It's the sound of the spell of resistance breaking down.

My hands are almost on fire, and the magic itself runs from my arms to my back, releasing like a fiery flame.

I cross my arms and charge at Amira, still in pain so intense that I can't even stay conscious.

"I'm going to use this power to clear the way!"

Come on!"

Flame clashes with flame.

Even after all this, he still pushes her... but...

Haaaaaaaaah!

......

Still, I pushed forward and swung both of my swords in a passing motion.

At that moment, the fire that had spread from my sword arm to my back and the flaming armor surrounding Amira disappeared.

"......guh!"

I drop the charred and battered hilt of my sword in my hand and fall to my knees.

Breathing hard, I looked behind me to see Amira, still unharmed, lowering the sword in one hand.

"......The persistence of mankind is amazing," he said. It was a suicide attack, but to cut through my magic..."

Amira puts her hand over the cut on her cheek.

The magic she wore cut through it, but the blade barely reached her flesh.

The flames that protected her were so hard that it was all she could do to peel them off. But I did not despair.

After all, I had achieved what I had set out to do.

"But it arrived."

"Yeah, I know."

Behind Amira, a wall made of flames is sliced open in a crisscross pattern and dissipates.

The scene inside becomes clearer, with sparks of fire. Aamira is about to fall down, but Bulrin supports her just in time.

At the back of Bulrin's back, Nair is looking anxiously in the direction where Usato-dono might be.

"If they've gone this far, we'll just have to let them through. ....... Well done, my knight.

Amira puts her sword back in her hand. Her figure shows no signs of wariness.

This time I look beyond the vanished wall.

And then the sight that leaps before my eyes is..,

"Oh no. ......!"

I saw a beastly monster trying to swing its sharp claws down on Usato-dono, who was bleeding from every part of his body.

At the sight, we involuntarily shouted his name.