MCFPM 59

chapter 59

Rodie leapt with joy and charged at Professor Lion.

“Finally, enemies! It’s been so long since I last fought!”

“…Huff.”

Ren shook his head, breaking through the vines. Sherillotte’s face lit up at the arrival of the Northern Knights, and she commanded the mages.

“Distract them as much as possible! I’ll disable the spell formula.”

The sword-wielding mages assisting Rodie unleashed the magic they excelled at: lightning and magnetic fields, water and ice, fire and metal. Sherillotte swallowed hard at the dazzling display of magical prowess, yet a smile tugged at her lips.

Eonian drew his sword, standing protectively in front of Sherillotte.

It was a chaotic battle. Not only the Northern Knights, but even the Grand Duke had taken up arms, mixing their magic wildly as blood and dust flew in all directions.

The only thing that seemed out of place was the professor, leaving a trail of dark green moss and delicate purple flowers with each step.

He was greedy and selfish, having stolen a student’s research, but he had once been a formidable talent. That was part of why Odelle had chosen to punish him.

“Of all things, plants… so that explains the fuss over seeds.”

It was the complete opposite of her own field, machinery.

Sherillotte crawled cautiously toward the magic circle. The moment she tried to trace one of the symbols with her fountain pen…

“Your Highness!”

A sharp branch flew straight toward Sherillotte’s eyes.

Eonian bent low, deflecting the spell with his sword. Thoom! The magic, dense as divine power, shattered the rocks behind them.

He rolled, shielding her body from shards that might have scratched her. Unable to use holy power to form a barrier, he curled tightly to protect her.

In Blancora, Sherillotte and her subordinates had been attackers. Now, they were guardians—protecting their lord, a living time bomb.

The difficulty level had just skyrocketed.

Ren threw a dagger, striking the hand of a mage assisting the professor, finally halting the attack.

Sherillotte wriggled free from Eonian’s arms, barely peeking at the magic circle. The ground was unstable, demanding absolute focus to avoid mistakes.

The triumphant professor raised his hand.

“See? All we need is to make the Duke slip up!”

The mages unleashed strange roars. Lions, wildcats, and owls—cats and birds of prey—attacked in unison.

At the same time, Rodie’s longsword emitted a foreboding screech.

Ka-drrk. A dissonant sound, like teeth grinding or fingernails scratching a chalkboard, radiated from the knights’ weapons and armor.

“That bastard…”

Rodie stiffened, swallowing the beastly cries.

Beneath the professor’s feet, dandelions sprouted and scattered seeds that clung to his fingers. They grew rapidly, attaching themselves with astonishing speed.

The knights’ armor and weapons were affected in the same way.

“The joints of the armor are shaking… seeds!”
“Cut them off or burn them!”
“Hey, you can’t scorch my skin!”

Plants caught in the chaos, repeatedly growing and dying, released tiny seeds. They clung like mites and, feeding on magic, quickly grew to crack through defenses.

“Miss Sherillotte, were their armor and swords produced in Blancora’s factory?”
“…”
“Haha, mass production has its limits, huh? If they’d been handmade, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Sherillotte’s eyes narrowed sharply, but the professor ignored her and pointed toward the crater.

“You see, humans cannot overcome nature.”

Her gaze shifted from the smoking magic circle to the volcano’s summit.

“There are mages near the crater as well.”
“…”
“Then would it be faster for us to blow it up, or for you to fully disable the spell?”

Lava could be treated as a secondary problem.

The real danger was if the surrounding snow melted in the heat, mixing with debris to form a horrifyingly fast mudslide.

“…Then the villagers could die.”

It was a lie to say she wasn’t afraid.

Even as she analyzed and dismantled the magic circle, Sherillotte’s heart raced. One wrong move could kill not only those nearby but everyone she cared about, making her clench her lips tightly.

At that moment…

Flash! Someone broke through the mages’ defenses, charging at the professor.

The professor instinctively raised his staff, but Eonian’s kick hit him, hurling him backward. The moss-covered ground squelched underfoot, releasing muddy water.

Eonian didn’t stop there, slicing through the waists of two mages hovering near Sherillotte. Moving slightly away from the magic circle, he blessed the knights struggling with the roots.

“Freedom!”
“Damn it…!”

The scales of victory balanced again, buying Sherillotte the precious time she needed to focus on the magic circle.

Eonian stomped across the destabilized ground like he was calming it.

“…Why do you talk so much unnecessarily?”
“Hah, you started babbling first, Your Highness—”
“Shut your mouth.”

The professor’s fur bristled at the cold tone.

“You dare still live after trying to harm Sherillotte…?”
“Oh my, the chairman is usually so violent, guh!”

As Eonian began his relentless suppression, Sherillotte had interpreted half the magic circle.

Yet disabling the spell alone wouldn’t be enough. She pulled out a terrain-analyzing magical tool, scanning the surroundings.

“These fools… they used the lava’s magic like drawing groundwater.”

Just as drawing groundwater creates underground cavities, the ground beneath Sherillotte and Eonian was unstable. Plants meant to stabilize the soil were overgrown, making the ground tremble slightly.

At that moment, Ren wiped his bloodied hands and approached her.

“Your Highness, there are still knights near the crater restraining the perpetrators.”
“…No.”
“Excuse me?”

Sherillotte stared at the miniature mountain model displayed by her tool. It showed how the area around the crater had changed during Odelle’s previous magic experiments.

The more recent the model, the more the surrounding ground swelled slowly from the lava’s magic.

“And the professor just said there are mages near the crater as well.”

…So merely disabling the spell wasn’t the solution.

“Ren, are there any birds among the knights near the crater?”
“There’s a large raven.”
“Tell that knight to stay as far from the volcano as possible. It doesn’t matter if the mages escape.”

Ren looked doubtful but obeyed without question. Sherillotte carefully examined the partially disabled magic circle, noting the empty spaces forming.

“No need to disable more than this.”

If she went further, they wouldn’t be able to repel attacks from the east. She’d end up only defending, never retaliating.

But Sherillotte intended to wipe out all the mages endangering her knights and villagers.

She discarded the depleted fountain pen and pulled out a new one. Ink made from the magical pearl-scaled shell shimmered brilliantly as she wrote.

Ren, still fending off interruptions, asked:

“What exactly… are you doing?”
“I’m going to disperse the lava’s magic.”
“Disperse?”
“Like extracting oil from the ground, I’ll create artificial vents connected to the lava, letting the magic escape.”

Ren swallowed hard.

“You… you mean it?”
“To strike the east while handling these mages, this is the safest way.”

Normally, calming runaway magic after disabling a spell is the correct approach.

“But if someone is deliberately causing a magical surge, dispersing the lava’s power now is the right choice.”

So Sherillotte began modifying the spell circle, creating artificial vents—cracks in the earth.

She already knew the geometry needed, thanks to Odelle leaving the solution written in the circle.

This time, she could fully take advantage of what Odelle had done.

“Of course, Odelle designed the spell to interfere with the lava’s magic.”

Because Odelle and the eastern mages made the circle unnecessarily perfect, Sherillotte unexpectedly gained an advantage.

She smiled and quickly jotted down the coordinates.

“I choose offense over defense. The best defense is a good offense.”

Glancing at the professor and Eonian struggling nearby, she continued moving her quill.

Finally completing the magic circle, Sherillotte handed her inventory to Ren and placed both her hand and quill on the circle. Cold sweat ran down her palm.

This was magic she had never cast before.

Could she do it?

She looked at Eonian again. Thin trails of blood mixed with sweat dripped from his hair.

…She felt she could.

Closing her eyes, she moved the quill. Dark red magic slowly began to flow.

The lava’s energy was stubborn. Her throat and esophagus burned as if swallowing hot water, but she didn’t hesitate to continue inscribing the spell.

Finally, the conductor channeling the lava glowed red.

At that moment, Sherillotte opened her eyes and shouted to Eonian:

“Help me!”

Startled, Eonian abandoned his duel with the professor and leapt over rocks and vines, covering the distance in a single bound. Just as he shouted, “What’s happening!”

Bang!

At the center of the mages’ activity, thick smoke and ash shot straight upward. Sherillotte clasped her glowing hands together, beaming with a triumphant smile.