This Clueless Hero

Osric dropped the bones within the range of the crystal, then stepped out. The moment he did, the skeletons shifted their spells to Osric. However, since they were quite far away it would take quite a while for them to reach him.

In this time, Osric flicked his sleeve before stepping back into the range of the crystal. A thin lightning bolt snaked through the air. It was really hard to see from its small size, making it rather unassuming. However, it was still quite deadly.

All of the spells that were about to hit Osric disappeared once they entered. On the other hand, the lightning bolt Osric sent out pierced through one of the skeleton's staff. Immediately afterward, that skeleton dissipated into ash.

Osric did the same thing and was able to kill another skeleton. As this was happening, the two remaining skeletons stopped casting, as though they realized this wasn't going to work. However, there wasn't much they could do.

Osric stepped out to let another lightning bolt loose. As for the skeletons, they launched a giant boulder. It rapidly approached Osric, but he didn't flinch. After all, every other time it worked out.

...But then, a deafening crash rang out.

The boulder traveled straight through the range of my crystal and hit Osric squarely in the chest.

...Well, more to be more accurate, it was everywhere.

Together with the boulder, he crashed into the side of the wall. My eyes widened as I did not expect the spell to get through. As for Leon, he blinked a few times and pointed towards the boulder.

"Why did that happen?"

Suddenly, a bang filled the air.

The boulder shot out and Osric came out. A bit of blood was coming from his nose, but he was otherwise ok.

He glared at me.

"Why did you deactivate your spell?"

I scratched the back of my head.

"I didn't."

Osric narrowed his eyes.

"Then how do you explain what just happened?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"I mean, you could feel it, right? There was no mana where you stood."

Osric opened his mouth to rebuke, but then closed it.

"...You're right."

Leon furrowed his brows.

"It appears that the earth wasn't magical."

Osric raised an eyebrow.

"Then how did they conjure it with magic? Is it not magical?"

Leon rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.

"Normally, the earth spell both creates a boulder and flings it. The natural propulsion is only possible because the earth itself is magical. However, it appears this time they created a giant rock before sending it out with some sort of wind spell."

I tilted my head to the side.

"I guess my ability isn't that strong then."

Leon shook his head.

"No, it is still strong. After all, that process is more wasteful and takes much longer."

He then pointed in front of himself.

"In fact, it took so long, it was only now that these boulders reached-"

He was interrupted by a crash.

There had been two boulders flung towards both me and Leon. Thanks to Leon's warning, I teleported out of the way in time. As for him...

He just stood there and took it.

However, the boulder did not crush Leon. In fact, it directly broke upon hitting him. While the debris continued on behind Leon. he himself did not move.

Osric let out a long sigh.

"If they do take that long, they will be unable to cast before I kill them."

Osric flicked his sleeve, sending out a lightning bolt. Then, he stood there for a few moments with both hands behind his back. Then, he flicked his sleeve once more.

As Osric said, both skeletons dissipated into dust before they could do anything. In the back of my mind, I felt the pause between attacks was a little weird. From how Osric attacked, it looked like his cast was instant.

...But it seemed like he needed time to charge up.

I didn't say anything about this.

I cleared my throat.

"Nice. Now we just have to destroy all the other phylacteries and none of the skeletons will bother us."

Leon nodded.

"Alright."

He walked over and destroyed all of them, clearing out the bones we brought with us. Now that all the skeletons were dealt with, Leon walked over to the parchment in the middle. Osric also came over to read it.

As for me, I stood behind.

Honestly, it was hard for me to remember the contents, but I don't remember reading anything good here. It would be better to just forget.

Leon sighed.

"This man... is simply too rotten."

Osric chuckled.

"I suppose that was already made clear from the other reports."

Leon turned to me.

"This is all for this path, I assume?"

I nodded

"Yeah."

As I turned around, I suddenly froze.

"Wait no."

Leon raised an eyebrow.

"Is there something here still?"

I walked over to the pedestals and pointed towards a spot on the ground.

"There is something here sucking away all the mana. If we destroy it, normal spellcasting should be fairly easy."

Leon furrowed his brows.

"...You really know this place in and out."

I scratched the back of my head.

"I suppose you could call one of my abilities a way to know the future."

Leon smashed his staff down on the place I mentioned, but continued to talk to me.

"That sounds quite convenient."

A bitter smile formed on my face.

"It is a little more complicated than that, so it isn't the most convenient."

Leon laughed.

"I can imagine. Seeing the future isn't exactly the easiest act to do."

He smashed the floor once more, revealing the surface of a massive gemstone. Once Osric saw this, his eyes widened considerably.

"Wait! Isn't this something valuable?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Maybe? I don't think it's that useful though."

Osric hurried over and placed his hand on the surface of the gemstone.

"This must be holding all the mana, so if we extract it..."

Suddenly, a frown appeared on his face.

"Why can't I extract the mana?"

I tilted my head to the side.

"It's probably useless to us then."

Leon nodded.

"Seems logical."

He slammed his staff down on the gemstone. Seeing this, Osric panicked.

"Wait, wait, stop!"

Despite taking Leon's hit directly, the gemstone wasn't damaged. Osric pleaded.

"This could potentially be extremely valuable! Why are we destroying it?"

A soft sigh escaped me.

"It's basically a chest we don't have the key to. How about this, I will give you one of these black fruits, and we break it."

Osric's face twitched.

"But I don't see why this must be broken."

I rubbed my temple with the palm of my hand.

"...Because there will be someone down here that might be able to use it."

Leon furrowed his brows and looked towards me.

"Someone is down here?"

I recalled how the person who wrote all these papers was killed. This time, I wanted to see if I could convince him to stay alive.

"Yeah, someone will be down here."

Leon blinked a few times. With that, he raised his staff high into the air. Osric cried out once he realized Leon's intention.

Unfortunately for him, Leon remained resolute.

His staff whipped through the air before slamming down on the crystal with a deafening bang. Cracks formed across the surface and mana rushed out like a storm.

Leon took a deep breath, as though he was refreshed. As for Osric, he looked down at the crystal with pity. It was as though he lost his child or something.

I shook my head. By now, a black fruit had grown on my crystal. After taking it off, I tossed it to Osric.

"Cheer up."

Osric caught it and looked at it for a moment, before calming down.

"Thank you."

I sighed.

"There's some more stuff for us to get. Let's go."

We retraced our steps back to the place we initially entered. Then, I led us down to the grassy plain that was eternally raining.

As the other two inspected this strange phenomenon, I walked on ahead towards one of the plant monsters. It was a tree walking on its roots that had an eye in its trunk. The tree casually walked around, blinking as it walked.

"These things have some kind of vitality thing inside them. They should be worth taking."

With that, I walked up to the tree and shoved my hand straight through its eye. The tree immediately struggled, attempting to free itself. However, I grabbed the side of it, preventing it from moving. The tree tried to scamper away, digging into the ground with its roots.

But there was nothing it could do.

The feeling of killing the tree felt a little too real to me. I had killed people before, but this was different. The flesh of the eye was warm and soft.

I couldn't convince myself that I wasn't killing something.

But I didn't care.