"Wind Shield!"
Rest immediately cast a spell on Dieble, shielding him from the enemy’s reach. He moved to treat the old man’s wounds further, but Dieble shook his head.
"Lord Rest! Never mind me. Focus on the enemy!"
"Understood... Wind Cutter! Fire Blade! Water Cutter! Earth Blade!"
Once he saw Dieble beginning to cast healing magic on himself, Rest unleashed a barrage at the man who had appeared from the wall—the 'Sorcerer.' He was a spindly figure, built like a wire sculpture and clad in a robe adorned with an inverted pentagram.
Activating the spells as a Quartet, Rest sent four blades of different colors hurtling toward him.
"Protect," the man muttered.
Sand erupted from the floor and walls, intercepting the incoming magic. Despite being made of mere sand, the material acted like steel whips, swatting the four elemental blades out of the air with sharp, sweeping strikes.
"He's fast...!"
"Pierce."
"Ngh!"
Sand stakes burst from the floor once more. Having been on high alert, Rest successfully blocked the assault by manifesting a wall of wind.
"Pierce, shoot, penetrate, sweep."
The Sorcerer’s onslaught showed no signs of stopping. Sand stakes lunged forward, followed by grains that flew like bullets. Before Rest could adjust, the sand reshaped itself into whips, lashing out at him with wide, horizontal swings.
The speed of his magic was staggering, and the attacks came from every conceivable angle. Sand magic rained down from all directions, forcing Rest into a purely defensive stance.
"This is bad... I’m in his territory!"
They were inside a sand castle—a home ground created by the Sorcerer himself. The walls, floors, ceilings, and pillars were all his weapons and armor. Every spell Rest threw was neutralized by a sand barrier, only for the man to retaliate with several times the volume of the initial attack.
"Kill," the Sorcerer commanded indifferently.
At his word, the sand writhed like a living creature and lunged at Rest.
"Wait... is this even really magic?"
Rest gritted his teeth as he fended off the relentless grains. While he possessed infinite mana, he also had an incredible knack for observation and an intuitive sense that allowed him to mimic any magic he saw. Yet, even with that gift, he couldn't grasp the logic behind the Sorcerer’s actions.
His intuition screamed at him. This wasn't ordinary magic. It was an unconventional mystery operating on a mechanism entirely outside the realm of common sense.
"Could it be...?"
A single possibility flashed through Rest’s mind. Once the thought took root, it felt like the only possible truth.
(But... no, it has to be. If this isn't magic, then there’s only one other explanation...)
"Shoot through."
A wall of sand surged forward like a barrage of gunfire. Rest manifested a wind shield, bracing himself against the continuous impact of the sand bullets. No matter how many he deflected, more kept coming. His wind shield teetered on the edge of collapse, but he poured his infinite mana into it, repairing the barrier as fast as it was damaged.
(I've never seen a real one before, but this is exactly like a Gatling gun... The mana consumption must be insane, yet his output isn't dropping at all.)
"...Let's test it."
Maintaining his wind shield, Rest watched for an opening, fixing his gaze on his opponent. Then, he took a deep breath and roared at the top of his lungs.
"Jugemu, Jugemu, Goko-no-Surikire, Kaijarisuigyo-no Suigyomatsu, Unraimatsu, Furaimatsu! Kuunerutokoro-ni-sumutokoro, Yaburakoji-no-burakoji, Paipopaipopaipo-no-shuringan, Shuringan-no-gurindai, Gurindai-no-ponpokopi-no-ponpokona-no Chokyumei-no-chosuke!"
"What!?"
The reaction to that long-winded stream of words was immediate and profound. The Sorcerer froze, his sand bullets clattering to a halt. Behind the curtain of his long bangs, his eyes went wide with shock.
"Japanese? The 'Jugemu' chant...!?"
"Thunder Cannon!"
"Ngh—!?"
The instant the enemy faltered, Rest unleashed his prepared strike. A massive bolt of lightning tore through the air and slammed into the Sorcerer, erupting in a violent cloud of dust.