“A barrier, is it? ...Hardly a match for me. Hmph!”
As Gitan poured his strength into his frame, cracks began to spiderweb across the barrier.
With a deafening crash, the barrier shattered. Shards of magic scattered into the air before vanishing like a dissipating mist.
“...Phew. That was quite a sturdy barrier, but for a Divine-Monster Lifeform such as myself, breaking it is child's play.”
Gitan cracked his shoulders and turned his gaze toward me.
I see. If he’s capable of that level of magic, he must be well-versed in the theory of barriers as well.
Barriers are fundamentally meant to be used against opponents who can't use magic, like monsters. Against a mage who understands how a spell formula works, they aren't very effective for anything other than basic defense.
To put it simply, anyone can break a barrier if they’re given enough time to unravel it.
“In that case, I’ll just have to incapacitate you the old-fashioned way.”
“Heh, you don't even try to run, but instead come right at me... Very well. Since I have the opportunity, I’ll use you as a test subject for this new body.”
Gitan snapped his fingers.
Instantly, the space within the room expanded.
Hmm, Spatial System Magic. To pull off a high-difficulty Domain Expansion like that, he really must have a deep understanding of the craft.
“Now we can go all out. Well then, please try not to die too quickly... Yah!”
In a single stride, Gitan closed the distance.
He was fast. He brought his raised fist down in a high-speed strike.
However, an automatically deployed Magic Barrier blocked the hit.
The wall of air groaned under the pressure, bowing deeply.
“Ho, a Magic Barrier? But it is useless, useless, useless!”
Gitan rained down a barrage of punches without a moment's pause.
Attacking with all four arms at once, he shattered my automatic Magic Barrier in an instant.
Another Magic Barrier was immediately deployed, but it, too, was instantly smashed.
The next, and the one after that. Every time one appeared, it was pulverized.
“Whoa, what’s with this guy? I can’t believe he’s breaking a Magic Barrier that strong in under a second! Even I'd need a few seconds to pull that off, y'know!”
“He is simultaneously exercising four Barrier Cancellation Spell Formulas to weaken the Magic Barrier. How strange... Gitan was certainly a talented mage, but he shouldn't have been a practitioner of this caliber...”
While Grimo and Jiriel were muttering to themselves, I kept deploying Magic Barriers at high speed, but he was still faster at breaking them.
“Heh, these are quite high-density Magic Barriers, but my body is equipped with five brains and hearts! Executing spell formulas through Parallel Thought is child's play for me! And of course—so is attacking!”
I felt a magical reaction at my feet.
A moment later, the ground surged upward as jagged stone pillars erupted.
It was the Earth System Magic, Rock Fang.
I hopped lightly into the air to dodge it.
“You fell for it! You can’t change direction in mid-air!”
Gitan unleashed a kick toward me while I was floating defenselessly.
However, I activated Magic Barrier: Strong.
A dull metallic clang rang out, and the kick stopped dead right before my eyes.
By adding the restriction of only activating at point-blank range, Magic Barrier: Strong boasts ten times the hardness of the standard version.
To think he’d force me to use this so easily. He’s better than I expected.
I let the impact blow me back, refining a spell formula to counterattack while in retreat.
“Not bad. My turn now.”
I unleashed the Fire System Supreme Magic, Scorching Flame Fang.
Using Magic Focus, I concentrated the energy into a single point, condensing it into a high-density mass of white-hot fire before firing.
The fangs of pale blue flame flew straight at Gitan—a direct hit. His entire upper body was vaporized.
“Serves you right! That’s a one-hit kill, Boss!”
Grimo shouted in triumph. Oops, did I overdo it?
I didn't think he’d die in a single shot.
But something felt off. For a mage of his caliber, he should have been able to guard against that last hit with a Magic Barrier, yet he hadn't even tried to defend himself.
“There are not many mages who can withstand Master Lloyd’s attacks. Pitiful Gitan, may you rest in peace.”
As Jiriel muttered his condolences, I watched the thick smoke rising. Suddenly, Gitan’s lower body gave a violent twitch.
“Wh-What? Is the corpse having a seizure?”
“No, wait... something’s wrong.”
As Grimo and Jiriel watched, the body convulsed several more times, and then—an entirely new upper body slithered out from Gitan’s waist.
He looked exactly the same as he had before I’d blown him apart.
Gitan flexed his limbs as if checking his joints, then turned toward us with a smirk.
“—Heh. A Divine-Monster Lifeform is an existence that transcends all known biology. Naturally, I have incorporated the legendary regenerative power of the Slime Species.”
With that kind of overwhelming, slime-like regeneration, I had no choice but to believe him.
He must have converted the biological structures of various monsters into spell formulas and shoved them all into a single body.
Even from a distance, I could see that the spell formulas composing Gitan were a tangled mess, like a plate of spaghetti.
He probably won’t ever be able to return to his original form.
I narrowed my eyes and murmured softly.
“...You’ve made a mistake, Gitan.”
“Is that pity? ...There is no need to measure me by your measly human standards. I have no regrets. A power that overwhelms all! Vitality that transcends death itself! I have become a being equal to a god! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
As Gitan laughed triumphantly, I let out a sigh.
“No, that’s not what I meant. With such a messy, tangled mess of spell formulas, you won't be able to add new ones when you need them, and you won't be able to remove the ones you don't need anymore. Progress in the world of magic is incredibly fast. I think it’s going to be miserable having to keep using outdated formulas forever...”
Even with the same spells, magic evolves over the years as practitioners delete and restructure parts of the formulas.
In the world of magic, it's common for the formulas you use today to be completely obsolete ten years from now.
Sure, sometimes old formulas are brought back when a new use is found for them, but that’s the exception.
Being forced to use the same rigid formulas forever is the same as abandoning evolution itself.
Realizing what I meant by saying he’d made a mistake, Gitan gnashed his teeth.
“Ugh... Sh-Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up! I am the strongest existence in the world!”
As Gitan charged, I fired a beam of magical light from my fingertips.
Poison System Magic, Poison Fang.
As if he’d been bitten by a lunging viper, a sharp hole opened in Gitan’s body.
Clutching the wound, Gitan’s eyes widened in shock.
“I-Impossible?! Why isn't it regenerating?!”
His voice cracked as he stared at the hole that refused to close.
“I embedded a poison. Specifically, a poison that works faster than your regeneration.”
I’d layered the spell formula multiple times, giving this Poison Fang dozens of times the normal concentration.
Normally, even that shouldn't have been enough to overcome a slime's regeneration, but these toxins were all specialized against slimes—corrosion, weathering, and decomposition.
Furthermore, with his internal structure solidified by rigid spell formulas, healing magic is far less effective.
That's why Gitan can’t heal the poison within his own body.
He probably thought he’d be fine as long as he had raw regenerative power, but that was short-sighted. If he had known better, he might have been able to construct a new healing formula on the fly.
...But as I said, fixing one's spell formulas in place means abandoning flexibility.
“The strongest existence, huh? You're not quite as much as I expected.”
“Grrr... Ggh...!”
At my words, Gitan clenched his fists so hard that blood began to drip from his knuckles.