World Alliance (29)

Even the Mediator's armor, no matter how much Mithril went into it, had a weakness.

Mithril was rare and expensive.

It had a high affinity for magic, and using magic during processing could increase its hardness and resistance to magic.

The Mediator's armor had been crafted to get the best of both worlds: it blocked magic and was far harder than ordinary steel.

(But—metal is still metal.)

As the Mediator emerged through the inferno, I was already casting my next spell. It was "Flame Tornado," a combination of 【Fire Magic】 and 【Wind Magic】.

'Tch...'

No matter how well it blocked magic, the wind pressure sweeping over it from all sides was a physical phenomenon. The Mediator was buffeted by the fiery tornado and sent flying—but it spun once in midair and landed.

It charged straight at me.

I repeated the same thing.

I was keeping Flame Tornado's output low, so the drain on my magic wasn't a problem, but I'd already used more than half of it.

'The same thing again!'

The Mediator took Flame Tornado head-on, flattening itself against the ground to withstand the wind.

I was less than twenty meters away.

'Die this time.'

Magic really didn't work on it, after all. No—to be precise, no attack would have any effect unless it affected the core inside its body.

The Mediator charged, certain of its victory.

"—I was waiting for this."

It was almost upon me.

I could probably cast only one more spell—the choice of which one was already decided.

'Hmph.'

It was 【Water Magic】.

With this magic, which could produce not only water but ice as well, I caused a thick wall of ice to appear in front of me.

'You think something like this will work?'

The Mediator casually swung its arm and shattered the ice wall.

'!?'

The ice wall exploded into white snowflakes, blasting outward and enveloping the Mediator's body.

The armor, which had just moments earlier repeatedly weathered the flames, had grown so hot it was as though it had gone into a blast furnace instead of a hot spring.

Immediately afterward, its temperature dropped to a point where you could hammer nails with a banana.

The ice produced by 【Water Magic】 wasn't ordinary ice.

It could lower the temperature around the ice to below freezing—because although it was magic that controlled water, it was also magic that lowered temperature.

The Mediator, covered in frost that seemed to have caked onto it, stopped in apparent bewilderment, but

"Burn."

I conjured flames there at the highest temperature I could manage.

'That's why magic doesn't wor—'

The swings between high and low temperatures—and the fact that magic served as the medium—allowed me to create an environment that would normally be unthinkable.

Mithril was still metal.

So naturally, metal fatigue occurred.

A crack ran through the armor.

'—What?'

It began chipping away at the edges, and a large crack appeared in the center of its chest.

I had already prepared a finishing blow with 【Earth Magic】. The boulder I fired struck the Mediator's chest as it stood there dumbfounded, and that section split and shattered.

There it was—a core emitting golden light.

"Found it."

I grinned.

'!?'

I saw alarm in the Mediator for the first time as it recoiled.

It was my turn to charge. All I had to do was grab that core, and I would win.

I reached out with my right hand, and the flustered Mediator swatted at it.

I stomped on its left foot, which it had extended toward me, pinning it in place, and threw a low kick.

With a sound like breaking glass, the armor around its thigh cracked, and black flames gushed out.

'You...!'

"I can break you now even without a weapon. You're like a boiled egg."

'Tch!'

The Mediator leaped backward with all its strength.

It thrust both hands toward the sky—bad, 【All Creation】 warned me.

What would the Mediator do next, having sensed its disadvantage?

Run.

"Uoooooh!"

I caused an explosion of 【Fire Magic】 behind me and closed the distance in one go with a rocket jump. My imitation of the magic-based movement used by Krista, a Mithril-ranked adventurer, was practical, but still had plenty of room for improvement—specifically, it singed my shoes and clothes.

'What—gah!'

I had built up too much momentum and ended up kneeing the Mediator in the face.

I felt metal crack.

The Mediator fell to the ground, flipping over backward.

Everything above its neck had cracked, and black flames poured out like blood.

"Gaaah!"

I swung my foot down to stomp on the core visible through its open chest, but the Mediator rolled away and escaped.

I brought my foot down a second time, then a third, but it rolled away from every blow and escaped—then sprang off its arms and bounded away.

I couldn't pursue it.

At the spot where the Mediator landed—Sumeria-san was lying there.

'...Child of Calamity, if you come any closer, I will kill this subterranean.'

Apparently, the Mediator had finally sunk as low as it could go.

Rather than being surprised or frightened by the sight, I felt anger rising from the depths of my heart.

"Don't hurt Sumeria-san."

'...All you need to do is stay right there.'

After I removed the Talent Jewel, she had simply been left lying here.

Without anyone coming to help her.

A quick glance around showed only a few subterranean people secretly watching us from behind the rubble; everyone else had already evacuated.

Maybe I had misjudged the subterranean people.

I had returned the Talent Jewel so Sumeria-san wouldn't die, yet they were about to let her die without a second thought...

As before, the Mediator raised both hands overhead.

'I will eliminate you without fail. You are... the enemy of the world.'

A dark sphere began to envelop the Mediator.

Was the Mediator going to teleport with this?

The Mediator seemed remarkably composed—which meant this was probably a defensive barrier that repelled attacks from outside.

"I see."

I held out my right hand.

"Then you're my enemy."

Just before the dark sphere completely covered the Mediator's body, something resembling pale-blue powder clung to it.

I used 【Flower Magic】 to make it proliferate all at once.

'What...!?'

Myca mushrooms were grown on the rooftops of almost every building.

This entire city was teeming with their spores.

If I couldn't attack it from outside, then I only had to attack from within.

The Myca mushrooms sprouted and grew with a series of soft pops, swelling inside the sphere and tearing it apart from within.

The shattered darkness dissolved like dust—

"You were a fucking bastard right to the very end."

With the sphere gone and the Mediator defenseless, I fired the 【Earth Magic】 bullet I had already prepared into its chest—

The rock sank into the core that had been emitting golden light, and the core shattered effortlessly.