13

“Laika-san, we’re fine over here now!”

Laika ran up to Sophia, whose entire body was smeared with sand.

“…Is… it really… all right… on your side?”

Using her sword as a support, Sophia pushed herself upright and asked Laika.

“I’m late, but you bought us time, Sophia-san. From here, our allies can handle it.”

“I see.”

Laika had gone around distributing Ains’s special potions to their side. Even injuries that would normally take days to fully heal vanished in an instant, letting them return to the bandit suppression immediately.

And that was only possible because Sophia had fought desperately to keep Corbelli’s magic from turning toward Laika and her knights.

Sophia had repeatedly cut down Corbelli’s common attack spells—centered on Fire Lances—with her anti-magic sword, but once Corbelli began fighting using that mysterious sorcery that restrained movement, she had been forced into pure defense.

Though she could stand by leaning on her sword, fatigue and accumulated damage left her visibly unsteady. Her white outfit was torn in places, and there was no trace left of its pristine whiteness from before the journey.

Meanwhile, Corbelli had shifted only slightly and had barely moved from where he stood. He remained composed, calmly releasing restraint sorcery and attack spells as needed.

“Oh? More prey? You’ve been slowing down for a while, and it was getting boring. I was just starting to get restless.”

Corbelli toyed with his staff and grinned behind his hood.

“Your friends are basically finished! Can’t you see the difference in numbers?”

Behind Laika, knights and spellcasters were gathering.

“Ooh! How scary! A bunch of muscle-head country apes and a pack of spellcasters? What, you’re putting on a little play for me here?”

Corbelli put on an exaggerated show of fear.

“That mouth of yours ends here. …Sophia-san, the potion.”

Laika pulled a potion from the leather pouch and handed it to Sophia.

“…There… were still… more. As expected… of Ains-sama.”

Sophia murmured a small “Thank you,” put the bottle to her lips, and drained it in one go.

The moment she swallowed, her injuries vanished instantly, just like the other knights. The pain disappeared as well.

“To think it would be this effective. With this, I can cut down that fool.”

Sophia raised the sword she had been using as a crutch and took a proper guard again.

“What is that potion? Don’t tell me you prepared this many High Potions?”

High Potions were extremely expensive, and Corbelli knew it. If all those battered knights had recovered through High Potions, the total value was staggering.

“I’m impressed by how many High Potions you had, but it doesn’t matter. You still can’t break through my sorcery, can you? I’ll make this a repeat of what happened earlier!”

Corbelli readied his staff.

“Spellcaster unit, provide rear support and attack spells! Knight unit, disperse and surround Corbelli!”

Laika barked orders across the field.

“Told you it’s pointless. ‘Coordination is a loss.’”

At Corbelli’s words, the entire force’s movement dulled.

The knights failed to disperse into a proper encirclement and instead moved as a single clump. The mages’ attack spells didn’t hit Corbelli at all—worse, some struck their own knights.

“Friendly fire? Looks like the noble’s pet spellcasters weren’t trained worth a damn.”

No matter how miraculous the recovery medicine was, even if damage could be reset to zero, it meant nothing unless they could break through Corbelli’s sorcery.

Laika’s face twisted as if she had bitten into something bitter.

Sophia, too, began feeling her way through Corbelli’s restraints—trying to answer with swordplay when her feet were stopped, and with footwork when her sword was stopped—searching for a breakthrough.

“Country swordsman! You think you can cut me with that kind of desperate flailing? Hilarious—once a muscle-head has their precious muscles sealed, they’re this fragile!”

Even when she managed to close in to a point, the final step was an unyielding wall. The shorter the distance became, the less time there was between Corbelli casting an attack spell and it reaching her. With restraint constantly making her react a beat late, her handling began to fall behind.

“Still… how can he keep firing spells nonstop against this many opponents…? Even Commander Gaus would be empty by now.”

While dealing with Corbelli’s spells, Sophia thought hard.

“Which means if we can target that, it becomes a weakness!”

Laika immediately understood what Sophia was getting at.

‘Then the most suspicious thing is that hooded robe. There has to be some trick inside it.’

Sophia retreated once and rejoined Laika and the rear spellcaster unit.

“Sophia-san, what are you doing?”

“Is there anyone in the mage unit who specializes in wind magic? I want you to fire it at my back.”

“What is going on with you? You healed with a High Potion, but you rolled around on the ground so much that you knocked your head loose?”

“Laika-sama, you’re surprisingly rude… No. This is to break through the restraint sorcery. Though it’ll only work once.”

Sophia, Laika, and the spellcasters leaned in and quickly coordinated.

There would be no second attempt. Failure was not an option.

“What’s this? Done gossiping? What were you talking about?”

Corbelli, still relaxed, swung his staff lazily.

“For a man to pry into a lady’s conversation—how utterly tasteless. Your sorcery is twisted, and it seems your personality is twisted too.”

“You got lively again after rolling in the dirt. Want to play in the dirt one more time?”

Sophia lowered her stance and held the sword sideways in her right hand alone.

“Here I go!”

“Calling out your own charge timing? Idiot! ‘Running is a loss!’”

With that, Sophia’s feet were stopped. She could no longer close the distance to Corbelli.

Corbelli smirked beneath his hood. No matter how many times she healed, unless she broke through his sorcery, he would never be in danger.

“No. That signal wasn’t meant for you.”

Sophia sprang upward on the spot. She bent her knees, pressed the flat of the anti-magic sword against the soles of her feet, tucking her lower body in. She held both ends of the sword with her hands.

Corbelli’s restraint limited the act of running. It did not limit other movements—walking, sitting, jumping.

At Sophia’s signal, a mage had already completed an abbreviated incantation for wind magic.

“Air Cutter!”

A sharp wind launched from the spellcaster struck the flat of Sophia’s anti-magic sword. If it had hit the blade edge, it would have been cut apart, but by receiving it on the flat, she didn’t kill the spell’s momentum.

The wind magic, striking from behind, created forward thrust.

At the same time, Sophia released her left hand from the sword tip, unfolded her tucked legs, and kicked off—using the wind’s force and her own motion to rocket forward at explosive speed.

The reason she couldn’t approach Corbelli easily was the combination of movement restraint and attack spells. But now that Sophia was already flying toward him, he couldn’t stop her.

“—! ‘Swinging a sw—’”

“Too slow!”

Corbelli reeled at Sophia’s unexpected movement. He immediately tried to restrain the motion of her sword swing, but it was too late.

The surprise cost him a beat. To impose a restriction, he needed time to form the words.

The weakness of Corbelli’s restraint sorcery was being caught off guard—and the time lag required to speak.

That was why this tactic would only work once. If it failed, it would be countered easily the next time.

On top of that, Corbelli’s magic so far had centered on fire. Fire-element magic had no defensive spells suited for blocking a strike like this.

‘He won’t be able to defend.’

Entering killing range, Sophia swung her sword.

Her target was Corbelli’s neck.

A loud sound rang out.

Sophia landed on the ground past Corbelli, bracing herself as she touched down.