CHAPTER 64: THEY CALL IT THE REALM OF GODS (BEGINNING)

I continuously blasted the Hydra with my Magic Arrows—

And the Hydra withstood it while closing the distance between us.

How long has it been already?

Like an unchanging still image, our battle raged on endlessly.

Only two things changed.

One: I brought down the Hydra’s remaining heads to four.

Two: The Hydra reduced the distance between us to around a third of what I started with; around four kilometers were left.

“Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow—”

This is bad…

Around half of the Hydra’s heads remained because of my head start. And yet, the distance I’ve been keeping between us was cut to a third.

To make matters worse, there was another abnormality.

My body was hot to the core. I could feel some sort of heat in my body, and it felt like the flickering flame of a candle.

As time continued to pass, that heat slowly began spreading all throughout my body; the heat in my right arm was especially intense.

Did I catch a cold or something…? At a time like this?

I didn’t feel sick, though. What was this feeling?

I guess the Hydra had the edge over me.

…Now then, how should I turn this around?

I had the option of flying on my Magic Arrow and running away, but… Based on how fast the Hydra was going, it might just instantly close the distance the moment I stop shooting.

It didn’t really seem like the most brilliant of moves.

The only thing I could do was fire away until the very end.

The Hydra was riddled with wounds, and the remaining heads were standing on their last legs; it should be nearing its limit.

My defeat wasn’t set in stone yet—

“Haa… haa… haa… haa… haa…!”

Laura, who had been running nonstop from the village, came to a stop and breathed heavily. In her right hand was a small wand with Lighting cast onto it.

She finally got through the dense woods and arrived at a spot where the lake was visible.

While catching her breath, she set her gaze to the lake.

“—!”

Laura saw the Hydra’s form for the first time.

It was exactly as the mayor told her; it was an enormous dragon with nine heads. Its massive body, which was large enough to be mistaken for a mountain, towered over its surroundings.

And aiming for that dragon—

Was a vast amount of white arrows, endlessly pouring out from the mountainside in front of the dragon.

That was where Albert was.

As expected of Albert’s Magic Arrow. It was suppressing the Hydra’s movement through its sheer power.

He was suppressing its movement, but—it wasn’t perfect.

As proof of that, the Hydra had already made its way out of the lake and was considerably close to Albert’s position on the mountain.

“…Albert!”

Laura didn’t know how the battle was going.

However, Laura knew this wasn’t an opponent Albert could win easily against.

…I need to help him…!

I want you to stay in the village—

She ignored Albert’s wishes and came all the way here to help him.

I want to assist Albert.

After all—

The current Laura wasn’t the same powerless Laura from before summer break.

The hand holding her wand trembled slightly.

…If I use the Witch of Calamity’s magic—

Laura distinctly remembered the Witch of Calamity’s magic, which she saw in that library.

It felt as if she had mastered it already.

She most likely already met the conditions to activate it and could use it whenever she wanted.

Naturally, that’s if I have the mana to do it, but…

The Witch of Calamity’s original spell.

She had no idea if she could successfully use such a thing.

No, before that, there was another problem.

She was scared.

Don’t ever have anything to do with the Witch of Calamity.

She was taught that over and over at the village.

This was far from just the Witch’s knowledge.

This was the Witch’s very power itself.

She was scared of having such a power inside of her head.

She was scared of using such a power.

However, Laura obtained that power.

She had it in the palm of her hand.

And now, Albert was fighting for his life before her eyes.

She was given a choice:

Will you save the person in front of you? Or will you not?

Everything was smooth sailing until now.

She didn’t need to make such a decision. Laura, who was powerless to do anything, merely waited for Albert to snap his fingers and solve everything.

However, things were different now.

Laura had power—the power to decide the fate of the world, just like Albert.

Will you save the person in front of you? Or will you not?

The answer to that question was already set in stone.

If Laura didn’t use this power here, she’d probably end up regretting it for the rest of her life.

She was scared, terrified, and couldn’t help but tremble, but—

She had to throw away those feelings right here, right now.

That’s right! This is for Albert’s sake, after all!

Laura steeled herself.

She was going to activate the Witch of Calamity’s magic—one of the many secret techniques among the Witch’s repertoire.

“O power that corrupts all who reside in the heavens above, heed my voice. I command thee, the chain that binds all—!”

Laura commenced the activation chant.

The chant served two purposes.

The first one was to compensate for her own lack of power. 

When fully mastered, almost all spells could be used by just saying the trigger word, but using a chant raised the probability of success.

The second one was because this spell was too powerful.

It was too much for a human being to handle.

That was the spell that Laura was about to use.

Why was it so powerful, you ask?

Because it was a divine-class spell.

Why was the Witch of Calamity—a woman nothing more than a mere magician—able to wage war against the kingdom?

The answer to that question was divine-class magic.

Divine-class magic was different from regular magic. It was a wide-scale technique that affected an extremely large area and had an extremely long range.

So much so that it was considered as the realm of gods.

You could count the amount of existing divine-class spellbooks available to the public with your fingers.

Practically all magicians couldn’t even learn from them in the first place.

Using the countless Original Magic that only she knew at her disposal, the Witch of Calamity fought against the kingdom.

And right now, Laura was attempting to cast one of those very spells.

The spell she was about to use manipulated gravity.

It chained all living beings with weight to the ground, preventing any movement.

If I use this spell, I should be able to buy some time at the very least!

The long, long chant ended, and before long—

“The Commandment of the Unseen Deity: Gravity Chains!”

Pointing her wand at the Hydra, Laura let out the words that acted as the trigger.