Having finished breakfast, we arrived at the dim, cave-type labyrinth, [The Corpse’s Nest].
Almost immediately after entering the labyrinth, the air beside Linfa glowed brightly.
“Whoa, is this…”
The source of the sudden light was, of course, Linfa’s contract spirit, Yuno. Lately, Yuno had been coming out on a whim like this quite often.
Retina watched Yuno with a look of intense curiosity.
“Come to think of it, I haven’t introduced you yet. This is my contract spirit, Yuno.”
Upon being introduced by Linfa, Yuno spun around Retina, perhaps intended as a greeting.
“Yuno-sama, is it? My name is Retina. It is a pleasure to meet you.”
Not knowing the circumstances, Yuno looked like nothing more than an ordinary lower-tier spirit, yet Retina returned a polite greeting no different from the one she gave us.
Linfa’s expression softened upon seeing that.
“Yuno is precious family to me. I’d be happy if you two got along.”
“Of course! I look forward to working with you as well, okay?”
Saying that, Retina directed a carefree, gentle smile toward Yuno.
Perhaps happy about this, Yuno flickered with a warm-colored light.
Considering my first meeting with Linfa, whether she could get along with a new party member was one of my concerns, but with this vibe, it seems there won’t be any problems.
It’s partly that Linfa’s personality has mellowed out, but Retina’s character also seems befitting of a Saint. …Well, aside from her drinking habits, anyway.
“Whoops, that’s enough chit-chat. Enemies.”
As the vanguard, I was slightly ahead and, noticing the presence of enemies first, shouted a warning. A few Skeletons.
“Can Yuno and I handle this?”
Saying that, Linfa and Yuno stepped forward.
The original goal was to measure Retina’s competence, but, well, it’s not a bad idea to have her see Linfa and Yuno’s power again properly.
“Understood. I’ll leave it to you.”
Given the exchange just now, Linfa probably wanted to show off her good side to Retina. Yuno, in particular, was glowing intensely as if to say, I’m super motivated!
There was still a decent amount of distance between us and the Skeletons. Enough that they hadn’t even noticed us yet.
At a range that would be out of reach for your average mage, Linfa began her chant.
“[Chain Spell: Ice Strike]!”
She chose the double chanting technique she had mastered in the previous battle.
Chunks of ice, the size of small boulders, were fired at the Skeletons with terrifying momentum, pulverizing their bodies into dust. It was overkill to the extreme.
“A-Amazing…! Such grand magic from this distance…!?”
“Heheh.”
Linfa puffed out her chest proudly at Retina’s admiration. Even Yuno had somehow stretched into an oval shape and bent slightly. Was that supposed to be puffing out its chest, too…?
With that heartwarming scene behind us, we advanced in search of the next enemy.
Originally, the class known as “Saint” is a powerful existence.
They are said to possess a near-universal aptitude for magic, ranging from healing and protection to blessings, purification, and even offensive magic.
Indeed, magic-based rear guard classes like Mages and Clerics are essentially inferior versions compared to a Saint; the only ones who rival them are those with similarly divine mandates or qualifications, like Heroes or Sword Saints. It is not for show that this is a class only the chosen can attain.
Retina is one such Saint. There is no exception to her aptitude; she can wield various spells. However…
The danger level of this labyrinth is a low E-rank, and the monsters appearing are only commensurate with that danger level. Normally, I would be cutting them down in a single stroke, but this time, I was solely focused on parrying attacks to buy time.
“…………”
I casually blocked attacks that, to me, seemed slow enough for a fly to land on. After crossing blades ten-odd times, the moment finally arrived.
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“[Holy Shot]!”
A high-pitched chant echoed out. The magic bullet fired in response closed in on the Skeleton, trailing a tail of light—and—
Clonk!
A light, cheery sound echoed.
“…………?”
“…………”
As expected, the Skeleton, having taken a hit to the head from a Holy attribute attack—its weakness—was… practically unharmed.
The Skeleton, its neck tilted from the impact, seemed to have a puzzled look on its face, if it had a heart to feel confusion.
“Hah!”
“–!”
I didn’t let that opening slide (was it an opening?) and sliced the Skeleton in front of me in two.
“Umm… well… how, was it…?”
Retina asked with an awkward expression. Behind her, Linfa’s mouth was twisted into a grimace.
How was it… well, it felt like garbage… If I say that honestly, it’ll be bad, no matter how you look at it.
…No, I had anticipated this. In fact, I can pretty much guess what comes next. But just in case, I should check everything… there might be something…!
“Let’s move to the next one.”
“Eh, ah, yes.”
I dodged the question.
“[Holy Guard]!”
“?”
“It’s coming right through!?”
“[Holy Enchant]!”
“…………I can’t tell the difference!”
“Ho- [Holy Field]…!”
“Wow, it’s a little bright…”
“I-I’m sorry… I intend to do it properly, but my magic always ends up like this…”
“No need to apologize, but, hmm…”
I had her show me every spell she could use, but to state the conclusion: currently, not a single one was usable.
Protection magic was torn through like thin paper, blessings had effects so negligible you couldn’t tell if they were active or not, and the purification magic—specifically effective against Undead—turned into nothing more than a party trick that slightly brightened the surroundings.
This wasn’t an issue of aptitude or proficiency; it felt like some fundamental physical constitution issue. Much like my own magic power situation. Anyway, I should examine her once.
“Retina.”
“Y-Yes…”
When I called her name, Retina’s shoulders jumped with a start. A look of fear seemed to float upon her face. She might have thought she was being handed a termination notice again.
“Could you give me your hand for a moment?”
“Eh? Yes… a-Adem-sama?”
I took her outstretched hand and focused my consciousness.
“Just cast any spell you like.”
“U-Understood.”
Retina began chanting, though she looked confused.
I opened my eyes wide at the amount of magic power I felt from her then. The mana moving in response to the chant was simply massive. Retina’s total mana capacity is not low. In fact, it is quite high.
It might even rival the top one or two people I know.
If so, I thought perhaps there was an issue with her mana manipulation during the chant, but that wasn’t it either.
With this much mana, why does it become such wimpy magic? It made no sense.
“[Holy Shot]!”
While I was thinking, Retina finished her chant and fired magic at the wall. That spell, which should have been activated by kneading a massive amount of mana, was predictably feeble in power, vanishing fleetingly as soon as it hit the wall.
“Uugh…”
Faced with the same old result, Retina let out a dejected voice.
However, with that single strike, I realized something.
“…I think I might know the cause.”
“R-Really!?”
The moment Retina activated the magic, the majority of the mana swirling inside her body dissipated without being released.
The answer derived from this:
Retina’s mana release outlet is extremely small.
No matter how huge a canteen you store liquor in, if the drinking spout is only the size of a needle’s eye, you cannot drink properly. The same thing was happening to Retina’s body. She has the mana, but she can’t utilize it; in a way, it was a symptom opposite to mine.
This also explains why her output is extremely low relative to her mana capacity.
I conveyed these observations to Retina.
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