The Magic Academy's Physicist
Chapter 263: [Boss Fight] Strikeout (5)

Chapter 263: [Boss Fight] Strikeout (5)

0% The ‘Eightfold Way’ was a magic that originally required a lot of mana. It usually could only be used once per stick of mana grass.

But just a moment ago, Aether had casted Eightfold Way twice with one smoke of mana grass.

It was impossible–inputting ten and using twenty? It was a phenomenon that violated the fundamental laws of magic.

Her body felt light, even.

Like she was a feather. This was a sensation she had never experienced before, as if magic elements were circulating rapidly throughout her body.

She swung her staff feeling good. There was no need to light another stick; one smoke was enough. She took on the monster with a mix of quick attacks.

This wasn’t the only strange thing.

[◆ A new subject has been registered in the Book of Magic]

[Cataclysm : Ectoplasm]

[Special note - Being controlled by another / unclassified entity]

The hardcover that had been quiet for a while started to respond.

It was a stiff and formal tone compared to before, but it didn’t matter. Information about the monster spread out in front of her. What its weakness was, what skills did it use, whose control it was under and all.

And she let her moves flow like water according to this information.

Thwack!

It was a clean hit. With that strike, the monster ‘Ectoplasm’ writhed and retreated to the wall.

No, it wasn’t attempting to back off.

[Grrk, grrk.]

Making bizarre noises, the thing crawled up the wall. The organs spewing thick, tar-like oil and blood all tangled together and danced wildly, moving the fastest yet.

That–was not a movement to flee.

Aether’s gaze immediately turned to the back. There stood the students shaking with fear.

“That bastard....”

It was obvious what it was trying to do. Since it was no match for her, it was going after the innocent students.

Aether followed Ectoplasm with her eyes. Giant lanterns floated up around it, looking like will-o’-the-wisps as they flickered like a mirage.

In the next moment, the lanterns started going out one by one.

“Guys! Move out of the way!”

Shiiiing!

The rays descended.

She had to stop it; her legs moved with that thought alone.

Beams of death plunged down everywhere, and it looked like the splitting of lightning.

Screams came from everywhere. Leninya, Yufiel, Freyr–even the students with a connection to Aether were busy running away in panic.

Aether ran straight towards Lotte, and she didn’t know why. All she knew was that she had to be a shield for that girl.

So Aether threw herself. Dozens of rays came down from above, shadows that were thicker and sharper than the previous ones.

This attack was different from the one before. If Lotte Saliere was hit by those, she probably wasn’t going to survive.

She couldn’t block all of them.

So, instead I’ll....

“......!”

Lotte’s eyes, which spotted her, became urgent. She came towards her instead of running away.

Was something up? She got a bad feeling.

Aether looked up.

The dozens of rays were rushing towards her, not Lotte.

**The four Elemental Kings were currently waiting in front of the portal.

If they set foot into this portal here, they could go to Ahrens continent. As soon as the attack had started, the Kings gathered the Elementals and watched the situation.

It took longer to prepare than they thought, not having expected an attack this early on.

“Damn it, we’re late.”

People were already dying.

“Let’s go now.”

“Wait a minute.”

Just as Ifrit was about to enter the present world, Secuel stepped forth and stopped him.

“What’s wrong?”

“Look, something’s strange.”

There were two Cataclysms reflected in the mirror. One was the Sea Dragon Leviathan, and the other was an unknown creature.

The Sea Dragon was tied up thanks to the actions of Cecil Renay and some unknown elf.

The monstrous creature was also unable to attack properly due to someone else’s offensive.

That someone, was Winter Heaven Aether.

The Elemental Kings knew that Winter Heaven was the younger sibling of Alice, and as such, they didn’t question why the Beasts were fighting against each other.

It was something else that was strange.

“The troops deployed by the Demon Army are too few.”

Not to say that two Cataclysms weren’t significant forces, but they were attacking Bruglium Island.

The entrance to the Elemental Realm. The place furthest from the Demon King, and closest to the Elementals.

Considering where they were attacking, their firepower was weak.

“That’s probably bait.”

What was commonly known as a decoy tactic. The intention was to draw out the enemy’s main forces with a few troops, then wipe them out with weapons that had been prepared beforehand. Back in the days, this was also how the Elec Elemental King had been usurped of his throne and killed.

“Remember what we talked about at our meeting a few days ago. They might have finished that weapon and are planning to unleash it.”

None of the Kings knew what that weapon was, except that it was dangerous enough that it could kill them as well.

“...I see. Still, as Kings we have a duty to protect the humans and elves. I will head down first.”

“Ah, wait!”

The impatient Ifrit threw himself into the portal. Secuel slapped her forehead and sighed.

[......!]

The Wind Elemental King, Aerial, waved her hands and also jumped in.

The reason why Aerial was like that was because of the Lodestone.

Unlike the other Lodestones, she watched over the Lodestone of Wind personally. If it happened to be taken, it would be all on her so she had to move urgently.

“Wahahaha! Can’t help those two. Then this one should get moving as well!”

“Ah, wait...!”

The Earth Elemental King, Gnome, stroked his beard and cheerfully went forth.

Now there was no King except for her in the Elemental Realm. Alice, who was being treated as a quasi-Elemental King, had gone down first.

“I don’t believe this...!”

Secuel, head in her hands, hurriedly let the portal take her. Some moments later, her vision shifted and the world changed.

Fshwaaaa!

As soon as she came down to earth, steamy air blew past her cheek.

Secuel brought the Water and Ice Elementals with her and descended gently upon the altar. She then immediately looked around and took in the situation.

Many were dead, and the remaining people were running away in fright. Light and shadow flickered in the open ceiling above. The sacred center of the World Tree had already been turned into hell.

“You foolish creature! How dare you come in here─!!”

Ifrit soared high with a shout. Flames hotter than the sun flickered around his fists.

He then plunged his fist straight into the monster’s body. With a terrible sound, the monster fell off the wall, and at the same time, the flickering lanterns all burst together.

The monster’s entire form began catching fire. It was ‘Purify’, the unique flame that was exclusive to the Fire Elemental King.

Ectoplasm, hit by Purify, twisted and turned and toppled to the ground. The organs that were forming its body began disintegrating one by one.

That should be it for that beast....

The monster seemed to have died from Ifrit’s strike–as expected of an Elemental King, indeed. Now Secuel’s attention turned to the other three Kings.

Aerial seemed to have headed towards the room with the Wind Lodestone. Gnome had awakened the Earth Elementals and was taking care of the casualties.

“The Kings are here!”

“Thank the Goddess. Thank you....”

Certainly, the whole situation was moving along quickly with the Elementals involved. Yet Secuel remained tense, unable to get rid of her unease.

This... probably wasn’t the end of it.

[Water Lord, there is an evil aura.]

“I know. Let’s deal with what’s in front of us first.”

Secuel filled herself with cold.

She couldn’t bring the dead back, but she could buy time by freezing those who were dying. Secuel decided to work together with Gnome to help the wounded.

“Ughh....”

There were two female students leaning on a wall and groaning. One was a Golden-Eyed elf, and the other was the child of a Vierbein family.

“You’ve both injured your legs.”

It was a blessing among misfortunes. They hadn’t been severed, had only gotten scratched. Secuel used her powers to disinfect the wound and stop the bleeding with ice.

Her freezing ability was different from normal ice; it was able to disinfect and enhance recovery. It also had the effect of significantly delaying a wound from necrotizing.

“Who, are you...?”

Looking between her leg and Secuel, Leninya, the Golden-Eyed girl, asked.

“I’ll tell you later. It’s dangerous here so get yourself to some place safe.”

“Where, do you mean...?”

“It should be fine by the altar over there.”

The altar was guarded by Ifrit. Leninya, holding up Yufiel who had passed out, bowed her head.

“Thank you. Um, this is....”

She then took out something from her pocket–a star-shaped candy.

“Why are you giving this to me?”

“Because you saved us. So as a thank you....”

“It’s alright. We didn’t do it to get anything in return.”

Secuel stroked Leninya’s head, then instructed her to get over there.

Every second counted. There were those who had minor injuries like Leninya and Yufiel, but there were clearly those on the verge of death as well.

Finding those people amongst the bodies was urgent.

“Hey, come over here!”

Gnome shouted. Secuel immediately flew over to where the sound came from.

An enormous amount of blood could be seen even from meters away.

There were two streaks of blood. One was black, and the other was red.

The line of red blood was larger and more prominent than the black.

She realized something bad had happened, and quickly came up behind Gnome bringing the cold.

When she got there, the streak of black began turning red, and eventually the two streaks of blood met together and formed a small puddle.

“.......”

Secuel’s eyes narrowed.