"Junkie-niki-dono!!"
Right before Saito's shouting eyes, Takeo vanished into thin air.
No, not just Takeo. Hinata, Mayuri, and the rest were already gone as well. Teleportation Magic had flung them away to parts unknown.
The one responsible was the giant of a man glaring back with cold eyes—Jackson.
Needless to say, Spatial Magic was not something one could easily acquire. Even looking across the entire world, the number of people capable of using it was minuscule. It was unquestionably not a magic the Jackson that Saito knew could ever cast.
Saito's mind raced at high speed, assessing the situation and formulating a plan.
(Jackson-dono was camouflaging his status too, de-gozaru ka?! Since my Greater Appraisal couldn't see through it, it must be the work of a Skill Seed!! Of the two, Sakura-dono's Skill Seed is likely the camouflage! That black substance at our feet must be Jackson-dono's Skill Seed, de-gozarou! Neither of them shows the slightest hesitation in making an enemy of me. That means they're seasoned veterans... Can I win on my own, de-gozaru ka? Where on earth were Junkie-niki-dono and the others sent—no! That comes later, de-gozaru! Right now, first and foremost—!!)
From thought to execution took barely an instant.
Saito thrust out his short staff, unleashing a barrage of magic from its tip.
—Fire Arrow.
Each bolt transformed into a laser-like tracer of flame streaking through the air, their flight speed far surpassing that of a bullet. Hundreds of these fiery lines were unleashed in a single second, surging toward Sakura and Jackson.
Unlike an ordinary Fire Arrow, Saito's held enough power that even a single hit meant instant death. Someone of average skill could neither dodge nor defend against it. And yet—
"W-W-W-Waaah~!! Wait, what?! Bad bad bad! I can't even get closeee!!"
"Mmh...!!"
Even while letting out panicked shrieks, Sakura and Jackson were evading the endless onslaught of fire.
Sakura darted around with terrifying speed, evading the blazing streaks—though she failed to dodge a few times and took direct hits. However, every time she was struck, her body dissolved like mist, only to reappear somewhere else. Even when he thought he had caught her, he couldn't pin her down.
Jackson, on the other hand, relied on gliding footwork and a foresight bordering on precognition to weave through the rain of fire. Unlike Sakura, his technique relied on minimal movement to slip right out of the lines of fire.
(Is this Sakura-dono's true nature, de-gozaru ka? Her personality and tone are far too different from the real thing... As expected, an impostor? Jackson-dono is an astonishingly formidable opponent, de-gozaru na. But those body mechanics are completely different from the Kyokushin Karate Jackson-dono supposedly practiced... This one is an impostor as well...)
Even while analyzing his foes, he did not relent in his assault. He continued to lead his shots, aiming for where they were about to move and gradually driving the two into a corner.
"Hey, Senior Martial Brother! Hurry up and fling Sage-sama away too!!"
"I have been attempting to do so for some time. However, it is being resisted."
Just as Jackson told Sakura, Saito had been targeted by Teleportation Magic repeatedly for the past few moments. Yet, he had resisted every single attempt. For someone possessing the Spatial Magic skill, resisting another person's Teleportation Magic was relatively simple. Unless there was an overwhelming gulf in ability, forcibly teleporting someone through their natural resistance was virtually impossible.
(These two are exceptionally high-level, de-gozaru na... For them to dodge my Fire Arrows with such ease, they might be on par with my own level. If that is the case, capturing them alive is impossible... I had hoped to force them to confess their objective, their backing, and where they sent Junkie-niki-dono and the others, but...)
"Then what are we gonna do?!"
"This one is a lost cause. Leave him. If we take too long, the pervert and Kurage will catch up."
"Okey-doke! Then let's hurry and run! Senior Martial Brother, hurry!"
"Understood. I will teleport us now—"
"—Well, there is no way I am letting you escape, de-gozaru ga."
In an instant, Saito unveiled one of his trump cards.
When an explorer reached a super-high level, they were bound to have a hidden trick or two up their sleeve. Saito's was the skill Magic Sealing. It allowed him to seal and stockpile an activated spell right before casting it.
The advantage was that by "unsealing" it, the spell could be cast instantaneously without consuming any MP (meaning while MP was spent upon initially activating the spell to "seal" it, none was required upon "unsealing").
The disadvantage was that any spell kept under a "seal" could not be cast normally for the duration of the sealing.
Because of this, Saito kept a stockpile of spells that he rarely used in normal combat and that typically required extensive casting times.
"Magic Unseal"—"Spacetime Severance."
"Magic Unseal"—"Time Slow Field."
"Magic Unseal"—"Time Accel."
Magic that interfered with spacetime was extraordinarily advanced, requiring immense concentration and considerable time to invoke.
Even for Saito, reducing the preparation time to under ten seconds for three separate spacetime spells would normally be an impossible feat.
Yet it was precisely because it bypassed that drawback that this was his trump card.
"Wha—th-is—move—ment, is—?!"
"—?! Tele—port—sealing—!!?"
As if video playback had been drastically slowed down, Sakura and Jackson's movements ground to a crawl. Their faces twisted in shock and panic.
Spatiotemporal Magic—"Time Slow Field."
A spell that slowed the flow of time within a designated area. It was one of the advanced spatiotemporal spells unlocked through the evolved high-tier skill of Spatial Magic.
However, this spell slowed down everything within its radius equally, whether friend, foe, or caster. It could not distinguish between targets. As a result, the countless Fire Arrows flying toward Sakura and Jackson were also crawling forward at a sluggish pace. But—
"—Your mistake was failing to kill me when you took me by surprise, de-gozaru na."
By casting Spatiotemporal Magic—"Time Accel" on himself, Saito neutralized the effect of Time Slow Field, remaining the sole entity moving on a normal axis of time.
And even with Teleportation Magic at their disposal, they could no longer escape from him.
Caught off guard, Saito had been unable to prevent Takeo and the others from being teleported because he hadn't known Jackson possessed Spatial Magic. Now that he knew, however, he had dozens of ways to disrupt its activation.
One of those methods was Spatiotemporal Magic—"Spacetime Severance."
It was a spell that transitioned the affected area into a pocket of spacetime completely severed from normal reality. Moving outside of this bounded field was both physically and magically impossible—unless one happened to be a master of Spatiotemporal Magic surpassing the caster himself.
Toward the two enemies trapped in his temporal cage, Saito casually unleashed his final spell.
It was magic he could never dare to use while allies were nearby.
"Magic Unseal"—"Explosion Nova."
At the tip of Saito's outstretched staff, a fireball burning with an ominous, brilliant radiance materialized in empty air.
The moment it appeared, the sheer radiant heat alone was enough to inflict searing agony on bare skin—.
"—Sui—?!"
"Cide—?!"
In an instant, the fireball expanded in a blinding flash, like an imploding star erupting outward.
A cataclysmic sphere of flame that incinerated all creation rampaged through the sealed cage of spacetime—swallowing everything whole.
●◯●
"............"
Spacetime Severance deactivated, and the Audience Chamber returned to normal space.
There, literally everything had been reduced to ash. The floor, the walls, the ceiling, and even the Black Obelisk resting in the back had vanished without a trace. All that remained were molten surfaces glowing red-hot like bubbling magma.
Molten stone from the walls and ceiling dripped down in thick, viscous strands. Inside the Audience Chamber, droplets of magma fell like blazing rain.
Yet that was the full extent of the destruction.
Because the Audience Chamber itself had been isolated by Spacetime Severance, not a single trace of damage had leaked beyond its walls.
Had it not been sealed off, Explosion Nova would have vaporized the entire Kobold fortress down to the bedrock. Zenichi, Kurage, and the others still waiting outside would have been caught in the blast as well.
Such was the sheer scale of its power. And yet...
"...I felt the impact, but they managed to slip away at the very last second, de-gozaru ka..."
Levitating in midair via Gravity Magic inside the scorching Audience Chamber, Saito surveyed his surroundings and murmured.
The reason Saito had emerged unscathed from a room filled with such apocalyptic heat was simply that the moment he unsealed Explosion Nova, he had invoked another prepared spell.
Spatiotemporal Magic—"Dimensional Transition."
While it did not permit movement, it allowed the caster to shift their body into another dimension for a few seconds, completely bypassing all physical interaction.
Although his Teleportation Magic had been hindered by the "darkness" pinning his feet, he had been able to force the activation of Spatiotemporal Magic, which stood at a higher tier than ordinary Spatial Magic.
Of course, the blinding brilliance of Explosion Nova had obliterated the darkness binding him anyway, meaning nothing remained to obstruct him in the first place.
As for how Sakura and Jackson had managed to escape his grasp—
"That Skill Seed... could it be described as a darkness linked to a sub-space, de-gozarou ka?"
It was likely an effect of the darkness-generating Skill Seed Jackson had used.
At that critical moment, Jackson had pulled both himself and Sakura into the darkness.
Under the influence of Time Slow Field, such an action should have been impossible to pull off in time. Yet by stacking buff skills like Union of Mana and Might on himself, Jackson had artificially boosted his Agility and Dexterity stats to force the maneuver through.
Slowing down time was still a far cry from stopping it entirely. At most, the spell stretched one second into four. An explorer with naturally monstrous Agility could still move faster than an ordinary human even while slowed.
"Even so, considering they initially tried to flee using teleportation, dragging themselves into that darkness must carry its own risks... or so I would assume, de-gozarou ka."
They had gotten away.
Even so, they couldn't have escaped without suffering severe burns—or so he reasoned, before catching himself.
"Well, for combatants of their caliber, as long as they survived, they have countless ways to heal, de-gozaru ka... The risk of an ambush is... no, that can wait."
"Whoa?!"
"Just when the feed came back, what the hell is this?!"
"Where even are we?!"
"What just happened?!"
A chorus of voices reached his ears from his left hand, opposite the one holding his staff. Saito cast his eyes downward.
Cradled in his left palm was the drone he had retrieved before unleashing Explosion Nova. The connection severed by Spacetime Severance had reestablished itself, and the viewers were already flooding the chat with comments.
"Perfect timing, de-gozaru!"
Bringing the drone close to his mouth like a microphone, Saito called out to his audience.
"Everyone! Can any of you check the status of Hinata-dono and Mayuri-dono's channels right now, de-gozaru ka?!"
"What's going on all of a sudden?!"
"What do you mean?!"
"Explain what happened first!"
"Time is of the essence, de-gozaru! Please, check their streams immediately!!"
Saito had seen it clearly.
When Jackson teleported Takeo, Hinata, Mayuri, and the rest, he had swept their streaming drones into the spell along with them.
Which meant that, just perhaps, the Hinata Channel and Mayuri's stream might still be live.
If they could confirm that, they might be able to pinpoint exactly where Takeo and the others had been sent.
"A-Alright!"
"Checking right now!"
"You have my deepest gratitude!"
Saito waited anxiously for the viewers' report—.