(EP-286.2) King #5

286 – Bandit King #5

A sense of bewilderment began to settle in Tefer’s chest.

This bewilderment wasn’t truly hers but rather an emotion reflected by the voice controlling her – the Demon King’s residual thoughts.

━The imps’ mana isn’t coming to me…!?

Tefer’s gaze shifted to the man sitting cross-legged in the corner of the cave.

He was at that ambiguous age, somewhere between a boy and a young man—quite the volatile range, straddling the line between adolescence and adulthood, as well as a young mage.

The imps were sending their mana not to her, but to the boy. Why!? Tefer couldn’t comprehend it.

━Useless creatures! I am your king! Give me your magic!

Tefer commanded.

But the imps’ tails remained pointed toward the boy. At the same time, the amount of mana being gathered by the boy was considerable.

━What, what is this? What the hell is going on…!?

Tefer’s fingertips aimed at the cross-legged young man.

Rank 6 great spell.

Catastrophe.

Although it lacked sufficient mana for completion, it was originally powerful enough to tear the world apart. Even incomplete, it could easily take off a human head.

Swaaaaash-!

“Where!”

Swaaaaash.

At that moment, something flew toward Tefer’s hand. It was a sharp arrow, shooting through the air and threatening to pierce her palm.

Of course, with her mana shield in place, it wasn’t enough to actually harm her.

But a brief opening had been created.

When Tefer came to her senses, she found herself staring into the piercing blue eyes of the man who had just finished his meditation. In that instant, she knew who the victor of this battle would be.

* * *

Power surged through my body.

It had been a long time since I felt this invigorated, and as a result, I was able to complete the spell combination much faster than the 5 minutes I anticipated.

The maximum power that I, who has reached the 6th Rank, could unleash.

This time, I wouldn’t hold back and would unleash it on Tefer.

With that determination, I pointed my tail wand at the puppet mage. Simultaneously, I began chanting.

─Great Spell, Chain Destruction!

The purpose of the spell was simple.

A spell solely for destruction. A ferocious magic, trained with the sole image and emotion of ‘smashing and breaking,’ was now going to rush toward Tefer.

Crackle-!

Finally, from the tip of the tail wand, violet lightning shot toward Tefer.

It pierced through her prided magic shield and struck her frail and fragile-looking body.

━……!

Tefer trembled.

In that moment of complete silence.

━There’s nothing wrong.

She looked down at her body with a puzzled expression, before suddenly bursting into laughter.

━You failed! Fool! There’s no way a desperate move concocted in a rush could affect this body! I am unharmed!

“Of course you’re unharmed. That’s the nature of the spell. My target wasn’t your body, but your head.”

Tap, tap.

I tapped my forehead with my finger.

━What…!?

Tefer gasped in shock, the sound of something cracking resounding immediately after. Realizing my intent, she clutched her head.

━Aaah, no!!! This can’t be happening!!!

However, it was already too late.

The Rank 6 spell I devised, ‘Chain Destruction,’ was designed to destroy magic tools. If it were the real Solomon’s crown, perhaps it might have withstood it, but a forcibly patched-together replica couldn’t possibly endure.

━Noooo!!! Nooo!!! How, how could this happen when I finally obtained a bodyyyy!!! My revenge, right before my eyes!!!

Crack, crack, crack, flash-!

At last, the crown perched on Tefer’s head cracked in numerous places and disintegrated into dust.

The radiance was as beautiful as stars exploding, and despite the situation, I couldn’t help but be moved by the sight.

Thud.

At the same time, Tefer collapsed to the ground. Stella approached her, waving her fingers in front of Tefer’s face.

“Tefer-yang, it’s me, Professor Stella. Do you remember taking my Introduction to Fairy Science course? Are you conscious?”

“…Ah….”

Was she conscious? It made sense, given that her body and mind had been pushed to their limits. Just then, a strange noise caught my attention.

Crackle-.

It sounded like fibers tearing. As I pondered what it could be, the white robe and clothes Tefer had been wearing started to disintegrate, crumbling away like dust.

This left her white, bare body exposed in the cave. Even in her unconscious state, Tefer seemed embarrassed by her exposure, instinctively covering herself as her face flushed red.

“… A-All of my clothes were magic tools….”

‘I see…’ A pure maiden’s reaction. She just met the first qualification to join my harem.

Anyway, does this mean the incident was finally over?

Stella, the strongest among us, carried Tefer on her back. I said as I draped a robe over Tefer’s exposed back.

“Tefer-yang, there’s a lot I want to ask you about the Crown of Dominion and everything that’s happened so far. But now isn’t the right time, so let’s get out of here first.”

━Ah…! Please take us with you…!

━We’re all escaping this wretched bandit den…!

At the same time, the imps eagerly followed us. Now that I thought about it, there was quite a bit of help from the imps in this battle.

Were the imps external batteries for storing magic for the Demon King? That seemed to explain why they sent me their power in the end, like some sort of wireless charger.

As I was recalling the fight, someone said with a cough.

It was Tefer.

“… Cough, the imps’ tails act as transmitters. Also, instead…, they handle complex calculations… or transmit messages to distant targets….”

“Did you just read my mind?”

“I’m confident in my mind-reading….”

Tefer fell silent after that, probably because her throat was sore.

「By applying mind-reading magic, you can do something like this too.」

Suddenly, her voice pierced directly into my mind. Was this what they call telepathy? I was amazed that this could be possible.

「Ah, ah-. Is this how it works?」

In response to my question, Tefer, who was being carried on Stella’s back, seemed quite surprised.

「… I didn’t expect you to do it on your first try. It took me a few days to master it. Impressive. You’re Sir Theo, right? The one who fought with Efside and in the trial by combat….」

「That’s right. Ah—.」

Now I understood.

Once you knew the trick, it was not too difficult. It was an application of Rank 3 magic involving mana transfer and mental imagery. Wait a minute, if I applied this correctly….

With a thought in mind, I decided to try sending a thought to Marmar’s tail, which was wrapped around my left arm.

「Ah, ah, Marmar, can you hear me?」

「Ahh…! What…!? My tail is talking…!? What…!? Guys, my tail is talking…!」

I could vividly picture Marmar’s shocked face as she stared at her tail.

If this works well, I might be able to create something similar to a mobile phone.

This had turned out to be a pretty useful experience in many ways.

Edited by: faker