[V5C6] Seniors Who Don’t Want to Be Hated by Their Juniors
Translated by Jodas 5: The Magic BattleFrederik Lange of the Extermination office grasped his spear and accelerated.
Looking up at him, Wren both rejoiced and panicked.
(He took the bait! … But what the hell are you doing, Oliver!!!!)
The key to this magic battle was to figure out how to separate Frederik from Rikard and Helena.
Thus, to lure Frederik out, they first had Roswitha send out a fish of water for reconnaissance.
By the way, that reconnaissance fish was torn apart in an instant.
To make it harder to detect, Roswitha had tried to limit the mana to the absolute minimum, and yet…
The precision of their detection, their ability to share information, and the speed they could move to strike all vastly eclipsed what the Apprentices were capable of.
However, in order to destroy the fish of water, Frederik activated his flight magic, and fortunately, he ended up opening a distance between himself and Rikard and Helena.
(But after that, I didn’t expect Frederik to catch sight of Finn when he flew up like that…)
That was why he rushed Oliver to go up and draw Frederik’s attention.
Ultimately, Oliver nodded furiously, saying “Yes, leave it to me.” before jumping to the sky with flight magic — forgetting to let Tia ride on his back.
“Kuku… This man sure likes making work for us.”
Julius pointed his finger towards the sky, and chanted. When he did, ten arrows of fire went flying towards Frederik.
This was fundamentally just suppressing fire. He didn’t want to overdo it to the point that Frederik would be forced to retreat and link up with Rikard.
With the opening created by Julius’ suppressing fire of flame arrows, Oliver deactivated his flight magic and dropped to the ground.
Rukiye, on standby, pulled a belt of of the bag on her back and ran up to Oliver.
“Stay still for a second. I’m attaching the carrying strap. Tia, are you ready?”
“Piyopp! I’m all good!”
Tia climbed onto Oliver’s back. Then, Rukiye swiftly secured the belts. All in the span of only ten seconds.
Ella, Sophie, and Wren each dangled drawing boards from their necks and began writing magical formulas on specialized paper.
Then, Gerald and Finn took those sheets of paper, curled them up, and packed them into the tubes hanging from their belts.
These tubes, small enough to hold in your palm, were made of thin-sliced wood wrapped around and secured, then coated in waterproof varnish.
These tubes were the lame ‘secret weapon’ that Wren thought up.
The magical formulas written with inscription magic would only activate directly above the paper they were written on. On top of that, if there were any creases in the paper, the formula would fail to activate.
Then, by sticking them in these tubes, they could avoid any creasing while also making it easier to throw at their enemy.
This wasn’t even enough to be classified as a magical device. It was a boring, simple tool — but as a result, the low material cost allowed them to mass produce them.
This was the answer chosen by Apprentice Mages who had limited options.
“Piyo! Ready to go!”
“Yes, I can take off at any time.”
With Tia on his back, Oliver stood up and took the tubes from Gerald and Finn. Three in his right hand, tree in his left.
Once he finished the incantation for his flight magic, Oliver’s body was enveloped in wind. Oliver shouted.
“Here we go!”
“Piyopp!”
First, Oliver used flight magic to jump straight into the sky. Once he’d flown to a sufficient height, Tia pulled the lever of her Magical Flying Device.
“Piroro, Magical Flying Device, activate!”
The metal wings spread wide and caught the wind.
A forward force was born, and the two of their bodies began to glide along with the wind currents.
Frederik, held back by the barrage of flame arrows, noticed Tia’s approach. Tia flew, aiming for just above Frederik.
Then, just as they passed directly over his head, Oliver poured mana into the tubes he’d received and threw them at Frederik.
As he dodged the flame arrows, Frederik calmly took stock of the Apprentices on the ground.
Some of the Apprentices were writing something on their drawing boards, then sticking that paper into tubes.
Then, Oliver took those tubes and flew along with Tia.
If it was Oliver alone, he would have simply flown straight up, but Tia’s Magical Flying Device produced a propulsive force.
Oliver, with Tia on his back, flew at a slightly higher altitude to Frederik, then threw the tubes towards him.
The tubes let off a flickering light which took the form of balls of lightning.
(… Inscription magic, huh?)
If he touched them with his spear, he might still get shocked. Frederik twisted his body and tried to dodge the balls of lightning.
Then, without giving him a moment’s rest, a flame arrow came up from the ground. He’d deflect this one by wreathing his spear in wind mana.
Once he’d weathered his opponents’ attacks, Frederik cancelled the mana on his spear and chanted.
Slam them with wind from above — An attack to neutralize them as painlessly as possible.
The winds gathered, and formed a sphere about large enough for an adult to wrap both of their arms around it. An invisible cannonball of wind.
Frederik sent that cannonball flying towards the Apprentices.
It was a reasonably powerful attack. Considering how low some of the Apprentices’ mana reserves are, this should knock out at least a few of them.
Then, a large, fuzzy, red-haired man stepped out from the Apprentices and raised both hands to the sky with a great shout.
“Here goes nothing!”
A dome-type defensive barrier deployed, protecting the Apprentices.
The cannonball Frederik dropped on them furiously rustled the surrounding foliage, but the plants under the defensive barrier didn’t waver one bit.
It was a crude, but reasonably sturdy defensive barrier.
(I’m impressed. They’re making full use of their advantage in numbers.)
The Apprentices wouldn’t be able to accomplish much individually. Some of them couldn’t even use magecraft at all.
However, so that those people wouldn’t end up as mere baggage, they’ve plotted a strategy that centered inscription magic, and deftly divvied up the responsibilities.
Inscription magic was an inconvenient type of magecraft to use. It couldn’t be saved for later, and a simple crease in the page would render it worthless. Not to mention that it was difficult to hit an enemy with it in the first place.
That was why the Apprentices had divided themselves into the roles of formula writers, tube stuffers, and throwers. This was a strategy that could only work because they had a large number of people at their disposal.
(… And it’s not just inscription magic. Everyone has their own job to fulfill.)
When Frederik weathered their attacks, the Apprentices were already on the move according to Sevil’s orders.
This was likely out of concern not for Frederik, but the presence of Rikard and Helena.
If they were to become too fixated on Frederik as he flew in the sky and stayed in the same place for too long, Rikard and Helena would catch up to them on the ground.
(The kid with the pointy hat just sent another water fish out… She’s probably on the lookout for Rikard and Helena.)
That fish of water was for reconnaissance. The Apprentices were on the move to create distance between them and Rikard and Helena.
When Frederik cast powerful magic above their heads, the red-haired Rose guarded them with a defensive barrier.
Julius tried to suppress Frederik with attack magic.
Sevil lead the team on the ground and directed their movements.
While they were lacking and amateurish in many areas, he sensed that they employed a strategy that allowed them to cover for each one of their weak points.\
(They make a good team.)
That was precisely why the idea of showing of the difference in strength between them and pummeling them to the ground rubbed him the wrong way.
Frederik wanted to show off the difference between Oliver and himself and to break his spirit. However, he didn’t want to do the same for his other juniors.
On top of that, Oliver was flying in combination with Tia. This was incredibly inconvenient for Frederik.
After all, if he were to pummel Oliver, then Tia would be hurt as well.
If someone were to fall from a high height during a magic battle, it would be ruled as an accident, and the effects of the barrier that nullify physical attacks wouldn’t activate. It wasn’t unheard of for people to suffer grave injuries falling from high up in such a way.
He didn’t mind if every bone in Oliver’s body broke, but he didn’t want to get Tia involved in that.
(What a pain…)
While dodging the flame arrows that were sent up to keep him occupied, Frederik thought.
Each of the apprentices were weak on their own, so they would generally move as one big group. Therefore, if he could do something about Rose, who was responsible for the defensive barriers, he would be able to take the rest down in one fell swoop.
However, wide area attacks were not Frederik’s area of expertise.
While he had learned many forms of wind-attribute attack magic, his typical fighting style hinged on targeted attacks with his spear.
(Director Hegelich must have been aiming for this when he suggested the group battle… It would be a lot easier if Helena or Rikard were able to just sweep them all away…)
Frederik flew a little higher and looked in the direction where Rikard was.
Neither Rikard nor Helena seemed to be in any rush as they gradually walked towards his location. There was not even a hint of urgency in either of them.
Watching them, Frederik understood immediately.
(Those two are going easy because they don’t want to be the bad guy…!)
To put it more bluntly, they had no motivation.
“Ah, it’s so sad. Why do I have to do such a thing…? You sowed the seeds for this magic battle… Go and reap what you sowed…”
“It was you, Frederik, who started a fight with your little brother, so please do something about it.”
…He could easily imagine what was going through both of their heads.
He could understand why they were so angry. Frederik felt the same way. He didn’t want to show off his power to his juniors and have them end up hating him (aside from his foolish little brother, of course.)
“Take them down one-by-one, twelve times, in less than an hour…”
Adjusting his hold on his spear. Frederik sighed.
(If I was up against Monsters, I’d have them eradicated in half that time.)