[150] Forceful Breakthrough (5)
Shirone's Rampage didn't stop there. Photons imbued with physical force hammered at thousands of rocks, pulverizing them until they were nothing but millet‑sized grit.
"Guuuuugh!"
Shirone was gradually being swallowed by the ground along the line where the earth was collapsing.
Compared to the test, the zone's diameter had shrunk to a quarter, and the speed skyrocketed. Even Shirone—nearly indestructible as he was—felt a real sense of danger.
Only after twenty seconds did the casting of Rampage end. When Shirone probed with the Spirit Zone, he could no longer sense any mana in the magic circle.
"Whew. Amy, is that… enough?"
No one answered. The three who had been watching Shirone were all staring blankly with the same expression.
Amy let out a helpless, incredulous laugh.
"Ha. Please, use some normal magic next time, Shirone."
"What? I thought about it pretty hard. Anyway, the magic circle's destroyed, right?"
"Um? Uh. Probably."
Amy had entered the Spirit Zone to check the area, but that was unnecessary—anyone could tell with their eyes that the ground around the circle had been reduced to a wasteland.
She walked over to where Shirone stood. Only after looking over the hemispherically sunken terrain did she understand what his new spell actually was.
"He amplified photons using a mental pulse. Must be something he dreamed up during practice. Still—this destructive power is ridiculous."
Though it suffered from short range, that weakness didn't matter against a power that could grind the earth to dust.
It was a clever fusion: Shirone's near‑indestructible‑level mental pulses, divine particles from the Immortal Function, and the flash magic Shining all working in concert.
"But what were you thinking coming up with something like this?"
"Huh? Well, I didn't actually plan to use it in a situation like this. My specialty is an all‑round defensive style. I figured I should learn a defensive spell, and then the mental pulse idea came to me, so I grafted divine particles onto it."
"Oh, really? So this is supposed to be a defensive spell?"
"Yeah. A defensive spell."
Amy almost smacked him, then stopped herself. Calling this the most destructive defensive magic she knew wouldn't be an exaggeration.
In short: it throws a mass‑bearing curtain of light at tremendous speed to generate rebound force.
A single discharge might be weaker than a photon cannon, but fired twenty times per second, there'd be nothing left standing nearby.
Strictly speaking, it did qualify as a defensive spell.
Many multi‑shot attack magics are classified as scattershot, but Rampage's sheer volume far surpasses that—its effect is curtain‑like—so the Association would very likely register it as defensive.
"Shirone, you okay? Any injuries?"
Tess ran up, worried. Rampage was the most barbaric, brutish spell she'd ever seen.
Given that Shirone had been at its center, it was a miracle he stood there unhurt.
"I'm fine. It's not as dangerous as it looks."
"Not dangerous? I thought you were going to be torn to pieces."
"Haha! Really, I'm fine. A defensive spell that wounds the caster isn't a defensive spell, is it?"
As Shirone said, Rampage was designed to protect the caster—its destructive power was incidental.
If ordinary defensive magic generates durability through barrier thickness, Rampage uniquely creates rebound by oscillating between a minimum and maximum radius.
So if you set the minimum radius just outside the mage, it's like standing in the eye of a storm—no matter what, you won't be swept up in the Rampage.
"Anyway, let's get serious. Now that I've got the rhythm, I can cast faster. Thirty seconds and I can break a magic circle without trouble."
Amy, finally collecting herself, immediately revised their plan.
"Right. With this spell we can smash as many circles as we need. Let's avoid fights and focus on destroying the circles first. Provoke them, and when they can't hold back, strike all at once. Sound good?"
No one objected.
Shirone's party split into male–female pairs and began casting teleportation. Two streaks of light cut across the forest, crisscrossing as they searched for the next magic circle to target.
* * *
"Rampage."
Light erupted around Shirone. As the photon curtain struck the ground, the magic circle was obliterated without a trace.
Shirone's party had already destroyed their seventh magic circle.
They'd also reduced the enemy count by seven in the skirmishes, but the veterans didn't fall for Shirone's tactics easily.
Each time an expensive magic circle was destroyed, they ground their teeth and held their ground.
But once the number of destroyed circles passed fifteen, the enemy finally shifted tactics.
They began to worry that if this continued, all the mountain's magic circles would be lost.
"Damn it! How long are those bastards going to keep this up?"
"This is getting dangerous. We can only use about three circles effectively at a strongpoint. At this rate our operating range will shrink fast."
"Leader! What do we do? It's like they're trying to ruin everything we built."
The ten‑man squad leader was just as agitated.
The money Freeman's organization had poured into fortifying the northern forest equaled half the wealth they'd earned over five years.
If this kept up, even a victory would feel like a defeat.
"Call everyone in. Trap them and finish them off."
A messenger rode a magic circle to relay the order to the regional leaders. The others likely thought the same—responses came immediately.
Shirone's group sensed the sudden change in the battle at once. Not just the enemies' movements—their expressions had changed.
The biggest change: instead of harassment through guerrilla tactics, they were switching to a coordinated encirclement with dozens of men.
But that vast net wasn't meant to annihilate Shirone's party on the spot—it was meant to draw them somewhere.
Though they had the numbers, they weren't fools who'd throw themselves into an all‑out fight against a party that included two mages.
Tess admired the tactical shift. This wasn't the work of amateurs.
"This is a problem. They're trying to trap us and drag us off. There'll be a setup to eliminate the mages for sure."
Shirone didn't seem fazed. If the enemy threw themselves at them full force, it would now be a race against time. He had to reach and rescue Yuna as quickly as possible.
"It's fine. We'll break it there. For now we should conserve our strength."
"But if it's a trap, it's dangerous."
"I'll push through. Leave it to me."
Shirone increased his pace and surged to the front. With Skima he might have turned the tables, but Tess didn't dare try to overtake him in the face of his momentum.
"Whew. He's really a man, Shirone."
To Tess, this Shirone was unfamiliar. She'd always seen him as kind and gentle, so of course she was surprised.
Before the fight she'd been the one most worried about him—she'd even asked Rian if Shirone could kill someone. In truth, Shirone had been part of what she feared.
Once the battle began, he'd become an entirely different person.
There was no sign of fear; his responses to the enemy were flawless, as if he ran on sheer efficiency alone.
That was Shirone's uniqueness. In combat, ferocity and ruthlessness can be virtues, but watching him felt like watching a machine repeatedly compute the single most efficient move.
Rian let himself smile quietly, sensing Tess's feelings. It reminded him of how he'd felt when he first met Shirone.
The real‑sword duel they'd had in the training yard still sent a chill down his spine.
Shirone's insight even grasps the terror of death. The memory of him charging with nothing but a sword made Rian break into a sweat back then.
"Tess, remember this. That's Shirone. Once he flips the switch, no one can stop him."
Unlike Rian, Amy watched Shirone with worry.
She knew how great Shirone's insight was, but now powerful variables—Yuna and Marsha—seemed to be driving him.
"Still, isn't it reckless to charge straight in when there might be a trap? He's running without time to analyze the enemy's plan."
"He spent time destroying the circles. If he's doing this, I won't stop him."
Rian cast his vote for Shirone and matched his pace.
Tess, however, agreed with Amy. She kept analyzing the terrain even while running and spoke with a serious expression.
"Amy, something's off about the terrain. The men are all in the open—so we should balance that out."
"Yeah, that's better. But what do you mean the terrain's off?"
"If it's not an artificially altered area, we're about to drop into a valley. It's the perfect place for a trap. This could get dangerous."
Nature follows its own rules. Humans reshape things for convenience, but nature never breaks its order.
Judging from the ridgelines they'd been following, the ground had been steadily descending.
Moisture was higher, and mosses and lichens were replacing shrubs—clear signs they were heading into a valley.
'Even so, there's no sound of running water. Those bastards blocked the valley.'
Block the entrance and strike from both sides—a textbook tactic.
Tess hesitated. Time was tight, that was true. But if they played into the enemy's hands, they could be wiped out first.
"Amy, we can't let him keep going. We have to stop Shirone for a moment."
Amy nodded without argument. Tess was right: the path was narrowing and the cliffs were becoming impossible to bypass.
The biggest problem was that the number of enemies forming the encirclement was falling.
"I'll call to him. Shirone! Wait up!"
Amy's voice didn't reach him. Before she could finish, Shirone had teleported away with Rian. Running wasn't enough for him.
"Why does he have to be like that?"
Forced to pursue, Amy grabbed Tess's waist and teleported.
But catching Shirone was impossible.
When it came to teleportation, Amy's skill matched Shirone's but didn't exceed it. She couldn't overtake him.
Shirone, rushing ahead, knew Amy was following, yet he didn't stop. Beams of light caused by chained teleports carried him and Rian into the valley mouth in an instant.
When Shirone stopped, he sprinted along a shallow stream.
Rian, who'd followed, asked with a puzzled look, "Shirone, why the rush? Even I can tell this is a trap."
"Exactly why I hurried. I have to destroy the trap somehow. Depending on the trap's nature, if I use Rampage I can force the enemies to concentrate their attacks."
"What? But if you fail—"
"Then we'll be stuck. If I don't succeed here, the mission's difficulty will multiply."
"That's not the point. You could die. Let me do it."
"No. The reason I have to do it is because I can. If you keep pushing, I'll have no choice but to leave you behind."
Rian realized why Shirone had put such distance between them. If Shirone intended to take the brunt of the enemy's attacks alone, neither Tess nor Amy would have permitted it.
Shirone was willing to take the risk if it meant choosing the option with the best odds. It seemed he thought there wasn't much time left to rescue Yuna safely.