I Possessed the Heroine’s Teacher

The taste of dirt filled my mouth. The magic of the Ship of Storms certainly proved useful in a situation like this, but the only flaw was that it didn’t take landing into account.

By the way, I really almost died. If I hadn’t used Enok and the Ship of Storms magic to lift myself, I would have been instantly killed. To think that someone could control a mountain range as if it were their own limbs—what kind of damn magic is that? And according to Lorcha, he supposedly does this without even chanting… Magic that can be used without a chant is usually weak and trivial.

“Everyone who survived, raise your hands!”

Luckily, Iris and Glacies were safe. If they had been injured, I would’ve been done for too. But, did less than half of us survive? We were almost completely wiped out.

“Fall back and regroup.”

If we fought any longer, total annihilation was guaranteed. Even if I were punished for losing so many troops, I still had the duty to save the remaining ones. I never imagined that Tristan’s magic would be this powerful.

I mounted my horse, intending to retreat back to the capital. But why the hell was the sky so dark… damn it.

“Lord Werner!!! A giant rock in the shape of a hand is floating in the sky!!!”

I’m not blind. I could see that much. It looked like it was going to smash us down. But that wasn’t the correct answer. What he was doing was…

“Dodge!!!”

It was a storm of rocks. I’ve never been hit by rock rain in my life.

“Master, that horse…”

Iris’s words were cut short as her horse was struck on the head by a falling rock and killed.

“There’s nothing we can do. Get on quickly.”

I hurriedly had Iris climb behind me and she held me tightly. I could feel the soft texture of her body against my back, but there was no time to care about that right now. I could only hope that my loyal steed, Rosinante, would run well.

“Glacies, are you alright?”

“Yes, Lord Werner, I’m fine, so don’t worry too much.”

Unlike me, she seemed fairly accustomed to riding.

At that moment…

We barely broke through the rock storm, but could we really escape? These bastards wouldn’t just let us go… No way.

“Lord Werner! Bandits are appearing ahead! Their numbers are estimated to be around 3,000!”

I can see that, damn it.

“Turn around and take an alternate route!”

I turned my horse around and fled in the opposite direction. Things were already chaotic…

Of course, Iris, Glacies, and I could survive. But I couldn’t just leave the other soldiers behind. If I were someone specialized in cavalry combat like Ricardo, maybe it wouldn’t be such a problem, but using magic from horseback is unstable, and it has many limitations. Casting magic from horseback is just as difficult as shooting arrows or threading a needle while riding.

Actually, there was a time I thought the same… damn.

“Lord Werner! Bandits have appeared behind us too! Their numbers seem to be about 2,000!”

Damn it, we’re surrounded front and back. Moreover, there are rocks in the way, making movement difficult. Looks like we’ve fallen into the trap Tristan set for us. That bastard had planned everything. He must have anticipated that I’d try to escape using wind magic.

“Glacies, can you handle the 2,000 men…?”

This isn’t some game where I can mow down thousands of soldiers. Even Glacies would have a hard time with that.

“Don’t worry. And there’s no need for additional troops. The forces I brought with me will be enough.”

“Thank you.”

I decided to face the 3,000 with the remaining soldiers. To be more precise, I had the soldiers Ricardo assigned to me stay and fight, while the others would escape through the flanks. We needed someone to carry the message, after all.

I dismounted and focused my magic.

“Serpent of the Thunder God, wrapped in lightning—”

Come a little closer. I’ll unleash a wide-area lightning strike and make it electrifying.

At that moment, a heavy shock pierced through my shoulder. Warm blood began to flow down my cold body.

“Master!”

Iris quickly dismounted and checked my shoulder.

“There’s a hole in your shoulder…”

“What the hell…?”

“I think it’s this…”

Iris picked up a small stone from the ground, stained with blood, and showed it to me. It was most likely from that bastard Tristan. But to think he managed to snipe me while I was in the middle of casting a wide-area magic spell? And to penetrate my shoulder so easily?

The speed and power of the shot… it was more dangerous than any ordinary sniper rifle. But there was no trace of a spell being chanted. Even from this distance, mages can usually feel the flow of magic when others are casting their spells.

“This doesn’t make sense…”

And he must be on a horse right now. To think he could make such a precise shot while riding? Casting magic from a moving horse is already incredibly difficult, let alone performing a sniper shot.

For a human, it’s like riding a unicycle while shooting a bow on a galloping horse. If this bastard keeps sniping, I’m definitely going to die.

“Everyone, hide behind the rocks!”

Fortunately, thanks to Tristan’s rock rain, there were plenty of places to hide.

As I hid behind a large rock with Iris, our bodies ended up pressed against each other by force.

“It might smell and be uncomfortable, but just bear with it, Iris. If you start worrying about that now, we’ll die.”

“No, I’m not particularly uncomfortable. In fact…”

“Shh…”

I didn’t care about my own safety, but I couldn’t let Iris get hurt. I might get hit by a blow from Zig, but Werner’s unconscious mind strongly opposed the idea of Iris getting injured.

But I really wanted to understand the principles behind that magic. Besides, if we just kept hiding, we would be trampled by the hooves of the enemy horses. So, I had to cast another wide-area magic spell. Even if something happened, the rocks would block the attack, so it shouldn’t be too dangerous.

“Serpent of the Thunder God, wrapped in lightning—descend upon the earth—”

Once again, a heavy shock pierced through my left shoulder. Damn it, we were hidden behind rocks. At first, I didn’t understand what had happened, but I noticed some scratches and dents on the rocks around me.

“Damn, is this a ricochet…?”

It seemed he shot the rocks around me, like billiard balls, and had them ricochet towards me, targeting my shoulder. Not only was his magic good, but his marksmanship was top-notch as well. I guess that’s why he was known as a master archer, even in the world I came from.

Still, this gave me some insight into the technique. As I said before, I couldn’t feel the flow of his magic. As Lorcha had mentioned, he didn’t chant his spells.

But he must be able to sense the flow of my magic. Using that, he could pinpoint my location and shoot that rock projectile. That explanation seemed to make sense. Of course, this was only a theoretical idea, and it was within the realm of extraordinary skill.

So, if I got closer, he would swing his stone-arm as Lorcha mentioned; if I tried to cast magic from a distance, he would shoot rocks with the speed of a sniper rifle; if I hid behind cover, he would still find me with ricocheted shots; and if I tried to fight him with an army, he would rain rocks down on us…

“This is fucking hopeless.”

“Master…”

Among all the Black Round Table members I’ve fought, this one was overwhelmingly strong. The ones I fought before were strong too, but none were as hopeless as this one.

There were still some possible ways, though, but they were close to a gamble.

I pulled out the magic book, Enok, from my robe.

“Master, if you use magic again…”

“Page 133, open the chapter of Darkness.”

The book flipped by itself, and at that moment, I began to chant a different spell.

“Serpent of the Thunder God, wrapped in lightning—descend upon the earth—”

Then I heard a shrill sound cutting through the air. And through that wind, something invisible kept hitting and bouncing off the rocks around me.

Screech!

A stone, traveling at a speed far beyond the speed of sound, slammed into my magic book, Enok. My gamble had worked.

“With a celestial dance, cleave the wicked.”

A lightning dragon in the shape of a dragon descended from the dry sky, devouring the bandits.

It was a life-risking gamble. I figured that since he was detecting the magical flow when I cast a spell, I had to open Enok and use a kind of sleight-of-hand trick, making him guess which was the real spell.

Of course, Enok contained such grand spells, and since dangerous entities were sealed within it, it likely emitted a stronger magical presence than I did. So, it was a risky gamble, but it seemed to have worked.

There was no way common soldiers, let alone bandits, could survive that wide-area spell, so even if I went to help Glacies…

“That’s a little stingy.”

The figure that appeared before us was a man in cowboy attire, standing on his saddle with sunglasses on.

“Hiding behind a rock the enemy set up? That’s not very ‘manly’.”

“Who the hell are you, bastard…”

Just from his magic, bloodlust, and the instinctive sense of threat, I knew immediately that this was Tristan from the Black Round Table. I’m not sure why I asked such a stupid question.

He then replied:

“Tristan of the Black Round Table, master of the Earth Mage Tower, king of the wolves, leader of the bandits, the one who denies the world and seeks to prove the truth, and…”

He grinned and continued:

“…’A man.’”

What the hell, is he playing random chat? Why the hell would he announce his gender…

“Today, I will kill you and finish proving my point. I’ll even allow you to retaliate. If you’re a ‘man,’ you won’t refuse this duel.”

I guess all these Black Round Table members are insane.