Chapter 182
How is the power of magic determined?
Fundamentally, it is determined by the amount of magic power.
Even with the same 1st Circle Magic fireball, there is a distinct difference between using 50 magic power and using 100 magic power.
To explain it a bit more simply, it can be compared to a balloon. Depending on how much air you blow into the same balloon, its size varies wildly.
If you only explain up to this point, those learning magic for the first time will invariably ask this.
“Then what is a circle?”
Franz, too, threw that question at countless people during his childhood, researched it himself, and ultimately understood it in his own way.
A circle was a type of method that increased the efficiency of magic.
For instance, if someone used the 1st Circle Magic fireball with 100 magic power, they would only need to use 50 magic power to produce the same power using 2nd circle magic.
Of course, there are many other things to consider: the attribute of the magic, the structural transformation within the Magic formula, the amplification of magic power through chain reactions between circles, and so on.
In the end, magic was a continuous series of complex calculations.
That must be why mages are often called calculating and cold people.
Anyway, the beam behemoth just fired was magic from the Mythical Era, but interpreted in contemporary terms, it was at a level close to or slightly superior to the 9th circle.
In truth, even this much was a realm that an ordinary mage could never reach in their entire lifetime.
Only the most renowned mages might experience a fragment of it.
However, the truly terrifying part was the amount of magic power contained within the magic.
As if its massive body was a reservoir of magic power, the creature packed a staggering amount of magic power into the spell and fired it.
It was as if to prove that its alias as a calamity of the Mythical Era wasn’t given for nothing.
When compared purely by the amount of magic power, behemoth actually had the upper hand over Franz.
So what else could he do? In this situation, there was only one move he could make.
Tap-.
Franz lightly tapped the ground with the staff that was now in his hand.
Then, the Red Witch’s Ring on his finger and the red jewel at the tip of his staff began to glow softly.
Franz’s body emitted an immense aura, incomparable to anything before, and the fine magic power particles floating in the air reacted to his magic power, taking on a brilliant light.
Amidst the feast of radiant magic power spreading like water mist, a massive magic circle was drawn in the air.
Small dots connected to form lines, and lines met lines to form a round circle.
Letters and geometric shapes filled the inside of the circle, forming a Magic formula.
The ten magic circles created in this way triggered a chain reaction, further amplifying the magic power.
Bzzzt-, bzzt-.
The magic power particles around the magic circles absorbed that power and took on sharp, lightning-like shapes.
Franz poured all of his own magic power and nine-tenths of the magic power stored in the ring into the spell.
Thus, what was completed was the 10th Circle Magic, known to have been usable only by the Progenitor of Magic in the distant past.
A single spell containing the essence of magic of all existing spells manifested a miracle in the world.
[Is this truly a feat achieved by a human…]
Leviathan, a calamity of the Mythical Era just like behemoth, muttered in astonishment.
Soon, what shot out from the magic circles was a single streak of brilliant light.
It was a pure and noble white light, as if refusing to allow any darkness.
It was far too radiant to be called magic used by a mere mage; it was like a miracle of a god.
──── !
Behemoth let out a thunderous roar and increased the output of its magic.
He didn’t exactly have the ability to understand animal cries, but he could tell for sure that the creature was furious.
The black beam opposed the streak of light with even stronger momentum, but it was impossible to overcome Franz’s magic.
The light, which tolerated not a single inch of darkness, finally reached the creature.
KABOOOM-!
With a deafening roar, behemoth’s head was swallowed by the light.
Even then, the light did not stop, piercing through the clouds and leaving its mark on the world.
If anyone saw this sight, they would surely call him this: one who challenges a god with a human body.
Eventually, like a stream of water being cut off, the streak of light shooting from the magic circles disappeared.
At the same time, Franz’s body staggered.
Thanks to the Red Witch’s Ring, he was able to exert power beyond his limits, but absorbing the recoil was entirely the role of his body.
“Franz, are you okay?!”
Yuna, who had been enduring the aftershocks of the magic with her holy sword planted in the ground, hurriedly supported Franz.
“I can manage for now.”
Leaving one-tenth of his magic power was entirely to prepare for the recoil, so he wasn’t at the point of collapsing like before.
And with this, it was confirmed that he could endure perfectly fine even after using 10th Circle Magic.
Using the magic had been an experiment of sorts in the first place.
More importantly…
“What tremendous power…”
Hera muttered in astonishment as she looked at behemoth.
Just as she said, the power of the 10th Circle Magic was immense.
He had used about nine-tenths more magic power than when he faced leviathan, so it was that much stronger.
As a result, absolutely nothing remained in the path where the magic had passed.
Tiny specks of dust, grains of sand, magic power particles…
Even the head of behemoth, which had taken a direct hit from the magic.
Drip, drop.
With its head gone, behemoth simply stood tall in its place, dripping sticky black blood from its neck.
“So targeting the tail was an effective method after all…”
If they hadn’t cut off its tail, they wouldn’t have been able to strip away its hard outer shell, and a result like this might not have appeared in the end.
Of course, it was all an assumption and not a certain fact, but at least Franz thought so.
“Franz, so we really defeated it now, right?”
Why would she say that right now…?
At the words Yuna suddenly blurted out, Franz felt his heart sink.
“Did we defeat it?” was a notorious harbinger of a foe’s resurgence.
But when I thought about it carefully, it probably didn’t matter anyway.
'Surely a guy with his head blown off won’t come back to life.'
Even so, that was too much of a leap.
If your head gets blown off, you should die.
“I think that’s probably the case… right?”
Franz was in the middle of answering Yuna’s question.
The black blood that had pooled heavily on the ground suddenly surged upward and flowed back into the creature’s body.
There was an old proverb from their ancestors that warned, “Presumption leads to peril,” and the current situation was exactly like that.
They were about to be killed by their own presumption.
Franz wasn’t the only one watching this situation unfold.
“Franz, rest here for a bit.”
Yuna kicked off the ground and charged at behemoth. She had judged that right now, while it was headless, was the perfect time to kill it.
At the same time, Hera drew her bowstring beside him. A cluster of light gathered to form an arrow.
“Franz, get some rest. We’ll handle the rest somehow.”
“Don’t push yourselves too hard. If push comes to shove, I can take you and run.”
There was certainly no room to doubt their skills. They had subjugated the Demon Lord together, and they had grown even stronger since then.
But that didn’t mean he wasn’t worried.
“In the past, I would have entrusted my back to them and focused solely on recovering…”
For some reason, he just couldn’t bring himself to do that now.
Meanwhile, Yuna, having reached behemoth’s immediate vicinity, swung her sword.
Slash-!
The sword carved a massive scar into behemoth’s body.
Swoosh-!
The fired arrow exploded on behemoth’s body, creating a giant crater.
Yuna and Hera repeated the same actions over and over. They were trying to capitalize somehow on the opportunity created by Franz’s efforts.
Every time an attack landed on the massive body, sticky black blood flowed down, and chunks of flesh splattered in all directions.
Franz had to watch the two of them struggle while sucking on a restorative lozenge.
He wanted to help them right away if he could, but he had to stockpile his magic power in case of an emergency.
The reason was that they needed a means to escape in a critical situation.
He hoped such a thing wouldn’t happen.
How much time had passed like that?
Perhaps the good fortune they had built up until now was shining through, but behemoth never counterattacked.
To be exact, it had reached a point where counterattacking would be meaningless.
Ppu-!
Behemoth, now shrunk to the size of a baby wild boar, headbutted Franz’s leg.
If its horns were sharp, it would have been a threat, but because its horns had become blunt as its size shrank, it only tickled.
“Hey! Why are you headbutting him?”
Yuna yelled angrily and gave behemoth a flick on the head.
Then, the creature ran around here and there before headbutting Yuna’s leg this time.
Ppu-!
Even though its size had shrunk, it seemed its durability hadn’t gone anywhere.
“Leviathan, why can’t this guy talk?”
[Isn’t it weirder for a cow to talk?]
“Then does it make common sense for you to talk…?”
Those words rose to the very tip of Franz’s throat, but he somehow swallowed them down.
What was the point of saying that to an eel?
Anyway, now that everything was over, it was about time they headed back.
He was tired, so he needed to go back quickly and rest.
It was then.
Rumble, rumble-.
Suddenly, the ground began to vibrate.
Feeling uneasy, Franz hurriedly turned his head and spotted a group of barbarians running toward them from afar.
But somehow, it seemed like there were even more of them than before…?
“Sorcerer! It’s the sorcerer who killed a god!”
“The sorcerer is a hero!”
Seeing as their voices could be heard clearly even from a distance, they must have been incredibly loud.