## Chapter 263 – Counterattack (14)
A house awash in blood, the girls standing precariously among the corpses, careful not to step on them.
They were startled by the sudden male voice beside them, each reacting in their own way.
Hye-ryung, who silently placed her hand on her waist, and Eloise, who pulled out her wand, were the better off.
“Kyaaaaah!!”
“Ouch…!! Carla…!!”
Carla, startled, instinctively grabbed Yui, who was standing next to her, causing Yui to fall on her butt in a pool of blood. Yui looked like she was about to cry from the chilling sensation on her rear.
“I’m glad I caught you here.
If you had disappeared like that, it would have been difficult.
Two Chaoxing girls and a brown-haired kid.
And… oh… to see you here…?”
Seeing the man smirking at them, Eloise stepped forward, separating the students from the man.
She was a promising applied magic user and a reserve member of the royal combat mage corps.
Her lack of practical experience was a flaw, but she quickly stepped forward, seemingly to protect the students.
Hye-ryung, who seemed to think Eloise was getting in the way, stepped beside her, fiddling with her needle case and glaring at the man.
“It’s 4 to 1 for now?
If you surrender quietly, I might spare your life?”
“Yes. If you surrender and confess, you won’t get hurt…!!”
“Eloise de Fantini.
The new star born from the Department of Magic, is it?”
Despite their declarations, the man stared intently at Eloise and seemed to recognize her name, even though it was their first meeting.
No matter how famous she was, it was only within academic circles.
Eloise bit her lip, thinking about who could recognize her so easily, before letting out a small sigh and slowly opening her mouth.
“You… you’re a mage…”
“That’s right. And…
I’m quite good, too.”
As he raised his hand to his chest and began to unfold a magic spell, Eloise reached out and desperately forced out her magic power to disrupt the spell.
“Stop…!! I’ll say it again, surrender quietly…!!”
“That’s what I want to say.
If you surrender quietly, I might spare your life?”
This time, he disrupted Eloise’s spell with his magic manipulation, and the tense standoff continued.
“You must be working under the Laratina Cartel…
Using magic for evil…
Don’t you have any pride as a mage?”
“Pride… Pride doesn’t put food on the table.
If you have the ability, the best life is to use it to enjoy wealth and fame.
I guess you wouldn’t know, being a noble lady?”
At his words, which seemed to imply that he was a commoner, Eloise’s eyes darted around as if she were thinking about something.
Hye-ryung, who had been watching the situation from the side, waiting for a chance to intervene, swung her arm sharply, like a whip.
– Kiging
But the transparent barrier that was protecting the man glowed and deflected all the poisoned needles she threw. The man waggled his finger at Hye-ryung with a relaxed smile.
“No way.
I have a physical barrier deployed.
Right now, even a ballista can’t break through it.”
“What is that…?”
“It’s a defensive magic spell.
It usually takes time to deploy…
But he probably pre-casted the spell on a magic stone and activated it as soon as he felt a threat…
But it’ll be over when the magic power runs out, right?”
“Well, this is a simple problem.
Then the useless ladies are as good as gone.
Looks like it’s 1 on 1 now.
I wonder if you’re confident?”
“U… Useless…!?
You wanna die? You wanna die, right?
I’ll kill you even if you don’t want to…!!
How dare you call the masterpiece of the Tang Family usele…
Eeeeeeeeeeeek……!!”
“The Tang Family… I wonder why they’re getting involved…
Ah? So you’re a daughter attending the academy.
But I don’t think you should be here?”
“Die!!”
Hye-ryung threw poisoned needles several times, and later even threw heavier hidden weapons, but they were all blocked by the flickering barrier and simply fell to the floor.
“It’s no use, stop it.
That’s not something you can break with that level of physical force.
I’ll step in… eugh…”
“I appreciate the evaluation. But your limits are clear, aren’t they?
People call you a genius who’s good at both application and design.
But what can you actually do?
At best, you’re just a design authority with a little more talent for application.”
“Then try to block this…
Deflea…!!”
“You’re starting off strong!!
Acuatium!!”
The limit of a physical barrier is that it cannot block magic attacks caused by the flow of magic power.
Similarly, a magic barrier that blocks magic attacks has a limit in that it cannot block physical attacks due to the design to restrict the flow of magic power.
Knowing this well, they neutralized each other’s first attacks by pouring magic spells of opposing attributes that were cast at each other in an instant.
However, mage battles usually continue in the form of interfering with the opponent’s magic power, rather than exchanging flashy magic attacks.
Forcibly colliding magic power with the spell the opponent is weaving to prevent the completion of the magic circle, and conversely, completing one’s own magic circle and pouring attacks on the opponent.
The released magic power was scattering like particles of light between the man and Eloise.
In the end, the remaining three girls, who could do nothing but watch the two people’s duel, were exclaiming in admiration as they watched the scene.
Something was clearly happening, but they couldn’t understand what it was.
But at least they could clearly see the light of magic power that was either attacking the opponent or being deflected in a flashy manner, and that alone was enough to admire.
However, one thing that wasn’t good was…
“You have a good sense? You’re resourceful.”
“I’m not happy to hear praise from you.”
“But your magic power is lower than I thought?
This is different from what I heard?
To duel with that amount of magic power is usually suicide.”
It seemed that magic power depletion had been occurring frequently recently, and today was no different, as Eloise did not have enough magic power left in her body.
The direct release of magic power without going through a spell is said to be a very inefficient waste of magic power.
However, in a battle between mages, the release of magic power to interfere with the opponent’s magic circle is essential to hinder the opponent.
This is why the picture of warriors being more active than mages in battles is often drawn in Groden.
When it comes to battles between mages, they only interfere with each other’s magic, and in fact, both sides often become as if the mages are not there.
Of course, that also means that it is more effective for a mage to fight another mage, but at least for now, that statement seemed meaningless to Eloise.
“Still, your magic power control seems quite delicate.
Do you have a naturally low amount of magic power?
It seems like you’re already running out?”
“That’s… not true…”
This was the umpteenth time, and Eloise, who had once again emitted magic power and interfered with the man’s magic circle, was feeling the tingling and dizziness in her chest, which were signs of magic power depletion, and was slightly staggering.
Of course, Eloise had no idea that it was Enic’s doing, who had been exploiting her magic power for the growth of the newborn Enic recently.
She couldn’t understand why her magic power was already running out at this timing, after only exchanging a few blows.
‘Since then… I haven’t…
Used any magic power… heuk……’
The opponent still had plenty of energy to spare, but she herself had an unusually excessive lack of magic power.
Still, Eloise was clearly an excellent mage.
She was not an amateur who could not gauge how much magic power she usually had.
There was no one here other than herself who could match that mage.
This was clearly enemy territory, and just thinking about the fact that the man was here meant that they were practically in a desperate situation.
“Hey… this is a bit disappointing……”
Moreover, now that they had touched the Cartel’s territory, they would be looking for an opportunity to take bloody revenge no matter what.
If she lost here, the students behind her would not be able to defeat this man either, and the fate of the four ‘women’ who had stirred up the Cartel’s territory and tried to cause damage was obvious.
Compared to men, whose labor ability is most of their usefulness, women can be used in even more ways.
In addition, there were also many ways to destroy a woman’s dignity as a human being.
‘I have a responsibility to bring them here without stopping them…
So… at least the students……’
Thinking that if she collapsed, everyone behind her would be finished, Eloise tried to calm her flustered mind and gritted her teeth to fight the man.
It was good that she chose to save even the magic power to create her own spell and focus on interfering with the opponent’s spell to buy time.
“Heut… Hye-ryung…
Run away…
I can’t… anymore……”
But no matter how hard she tried to endure, she couldn’t create magic power out of nothing.
And even if she bought time here, reinforcements wouldn’t come, and it would only delay the moment of defeat by a little.
In the end, Eloise, who was staggering and kneeling, was panting and giving instructions to Hye-ryung, who was watching the situation, about what to do next.
“Did you do everything you could?
How boring.”
In the end, with Eloise’s interference gone, the man was dangling his fingers while holding his spell on his hand as if he was going to activate it right away.
In fact, with three ordinary female students who had not trained their magic power and a mage woman who had run out of magic power, it was only natural that everything in this house would be cleaned up at once with just one spell in that man’s hand.
Whether they died by burning or drowned in water, their fate was practically sealed at this moment.
Hye-ryung was still desperately throwing hidden weapons, knowing that the attack wouldn’t work, but she didn’t leave, perhaps because she was conscious of the people who would be left behind.
Also, Yui was similarly hiding Carla behind her without meaning and looking at the man with trembling eyes.
And Carla, who was watching those scenes at a glance from the back of the women, even being protected by Yui.
The urgent situations in front of her were imprinted on her retina like slow motion, and countless thoughts were flowing through Carla’s head like a revolving lantern.
‘Because I said I wanted to come……
Because I insisted……
Yui too… Hye-ryung too…
Professor Eloise too……’
Carla’s face was turning as white as a blank sheet of paper as she finally realized that her stubbornness was no different from creating this situation.
Even when Yui, who believed in her in the special evaluation, couldn’t believe in herself, she couldn’t do anything until Yui was seriously injured.
Even when she recklessly fought against the autodrone wearing a hydraulic iron armor without any countermeasures, and the Spider Corps was sacrificed.
“P… Please stop……”
“Huh…? What?
Let’s finish this up.
It was fun to play around a bit because it was interesting…
But I’m a busy man too, you know?”
In the end, Carla’s tearful eyes, who realized that people were being sacrificed because of her again this time, were starting to well up with clear and transparent dew.
“I… sob… I was wrong…
I was the one who said I wanted to come…!!
So… I’ll take responsibility…!!
Please… let the others go……
Please… sob…”
“Ah…… I’m weak to little kids’ tears.
To exploit such a weakness in a cowardly way.
But. Don’t you have any thoughts?”
“Sniff… eh……?”
“To ask me to send you home nicely after seeing my face.
Honestly, even if the security police officers came running, I wouldn’t be caught…
Anyway, it’s the same thing to be annoying.
Don’t you think that’s a bit absurd even if you think about it?”
“Th… That’s……”
“And… from what I can see, the other guys…
Don’t seem to be willing to back down and leave you behind in the first place?”
Even in this situation, Hye-ryung and Yui were not blaming Carla, but rather trying to protect her.
“Miss… I’ll buy you some time… so run…”
“Hye-ryung… Yui……!!”
“Let’s do as Hye-ryung says for now.
I’ll be able to do anything too…”
Carla’s reddened eyes, watching the scene, were slightly covered by her eyelids.
‘What… what should I do……
Spider Corps… tell me……
Ah…… Spider Corps… Spider Corps……’
“Spider Corps…!!”
“Huh…?”
At Carla’s shout that burst out momentarily as if she had realized something, something was coming up her legs with a burst of rupture sound and starting to wrap around her slender body.
In the blink of an eye, the glossy substance was climbing up Carla’s body and wrapping around her entire body without missing a spot. Eloise’s eyes widened as she watched it.
“Ah…!! That’s……!!”
When even Eloise showed a surprised expression, the man seemed to have become interested in the existence he was seeing for the first time, and was starting to approach Carla step by step.
“What… where did that come from?”
“Carla…!! Run away…!! Euheut…!!”
“Ah… Miss…!! No… Aheuheuk…!!”
The man, who lightly pushed away Yui, who was running towards him, and roughly threw Hye-ryung, who was also trying to block him, to the floor next to him, was starting to look at Carla, who had become silver, with interest.
“Where… did it come from…?”
The very moment Carla answered his question.
“That’s… a woman’s secret……!!”
“Keuheok!!”
With a terrifying sound as if cutting through the wind, the man’s jaw was struck and he was lifted into the air. The particles of magic light of the physical barrier that was protecting him were shattering like shattered glass.
With his head stuck in the ceiling while smashing the ceiling of the house, he was dangling his legs for a while as if he was watching in a cartoon. In the end, he drooped his body to gravity.
The eyes of everyone watching it were widening in surprise, and Carla’s figure, raising her clear silver right fist to the sky with all her might as if throwing an uppercut, was reflected in their retinas.
“To ask something like that…… you pervert……!!”
“What… what did I just see……?”
Their dumbfounded eyes were so impressive that Carla had to put in a lot of effort to explain this situation later.
