Chapter 25. Preparation (3)
Once Shane finished preparing, he left the temporary camp with the others and continued deeper into the dungeon.
Since the dungeon had already been subjugated dozens of times, finding their way was not difficult.
“All three of you have been fighting under severe restrictions, so I will impose an additional restriction on myself as well.”
The condition Shane placed upon himself was that he would use only First-Circle magic.
Naturally, he had no intention of using the Runic Language either.
Nothing more than ordinary First-Circle magic.
That alone would be more than sufficient to clear out a Ratman nest.
—
The route Shane led them along eventually opened into an enormous dome-shaped underground chamber.
A massive Glowstone was embedded in the ceiling, providing just enough light to make out the interior.
Beneath it, Ratmen were moving about in a commotion.
The Ratmen that had been patrolling the underground tunnels had failed to return.
Perhaps that was why, the moment Shane’s group entered the chamber, more than a dozen Ratmen began squeaking and directed an ominous pressure toward them.
“Ah, so this is Killing Intent?”
Having already experienced Shane’s dense and overwhelming Killing Intent earlier, Delilah frowned.
She was somewhat confused.
Compared with Shane’s, the Killing Intent released by more than a dozen Ratmen was like the difference between being stabbed with a knife and being repeatedly prodded with a blunt chopstick.
“Brother, there are rather too many enemies to face all at once……”
First-Circle magic was certainly capable of killing.
But that was generally only true against an undefended opponent.
Shane merely smiled leisurely at Klein’s concern.
“Just watch. First, Delilah.”
“Hmm?”
“I will show you how dangerous a weapon a single handful of soil can become.”
Without even using an Activation Word, Shane cast the First-Circle spell Wind Blade.
It was possible precisely because First-Circle magic was comparatively simple compared with higher-level spells.
“Wind Blade? But…… is that really Wind Blade?”
Delilah immediately recognized the Mana pattern emanating from Shane, only to tilt her head in confusion.
As far as Delilah knew, Wind Blade possessed considerable cutting power, but its stability was poor, leaving it with only a faint and indistinct shape.
It often lost its form even when struck by an ordinary sword that contained no Mana.
“But why is it so…… thick?”
Just as Delilah said, the Wind Blade Shane had summoned looked nothing like the spell she knew.
An ordinary Wind Blade was at most around fifty centimeters long.
Shane’s, however, quite literally resembled a sword.
“A Mage must never allow themselves to become trapped by common sense. Delilah, why have you never thought to incorporate magic into the earth you control?”
“Huh?”
Delilah was a Subterranean.
She possessed an innate ability to manipulate earth, and because the power strongly resembled magic from a human perspective, she operated as a Mage within human society.
But to Delilah, controlling earth was closer to an inherent supernatural ability than magic.
As a result, although she possessed knowledge of magic, she had never seriously considered incorporating it into her own power.
Why bother with something so troublesome when her innate ability alone was powerful enough to shake the ground and raise enormous walls in an instant?
That was precisely what Shane was pointing out.
“People often say that Mages follow established paths until they reach a dead end, and only then become pioneers who open new ones. But that is wrong.”
Shane launched the Wind Blade toward the Ratmen charging at them.
“There is no predetermined path for a Mage. No matter which road you stand upon, you must forge one of your own. The magic taught at the Academy is merely a method of ‘walking.’ It is not the road itself.”
A charging Ratman swung its claws in an attempt to destroy the Wind Blade.
But the blade of wind curved smoothly around the attack and carved deeply across the creature’s side.
Its power was enough to make one question whether Wind Blade had ever possessed such cutting strength.
Even then, the Wind Blade did not lose its form in the slightest.
It immediately flew toward its next prey.
“In that sense, Wind Blade is also nothing more than one particular method of ‘walking’ taught by the Academy.”
Wind had a natural grain.
Ordinary Wind Blade spells controlled that grain, sacrificing destructive power in the process.
The reason was simple.
It was easier that way.
The more controlled the wind became, the less difficulty beginner Mages had handling the attribute.
Shane, however, did not follow that obvious path.
Instead of controlling the wind, he guided it, allowing the grain of the wind to form naturally.
And Shane went even further.
He infused his own will into the wind.
Imbuing magic with one’s will.
Much like a Swordsman could pour their will into a sword until the blade moved through the air on its own—
Shane infused his will into the Wind Blade.
Had a high-ranking Mage witnessed the sight, they would have been horrified.
A Mage was someone who controlled Mana, not will.
Unlike Swordsmen, who dealt with the universe within their own bodies, Mages dealt with the universe outside them.
And yet Shane effortlessly combined Mana and will.
It was the result of refusing to follow an established road and instead choosing for himself the direction in which his abilities would develop.
Only belatedly did Delilah manage to form a rough theoretical understanding of what Shane was doing.
She stared at him in shock.
“A Mage is both a pioneer and a prophet who forges new paths. If merely reciting established Mana patterns were enough to make someone a Mage, every librarian in every library would be an Archmage.”
“That’s insane…….”
Even amid her shock, Delilah began reevaluating the future she had imagined for herself.
Just as Shane said—
Perhaps at some point, she had become satisfied with the power she already possessed.
Perhaps the magic she learned at the Academy had become nothing more than a tool for earning grades.
And that was only natural.
Until human magic reached a sufficiently advanced level, it was vastly inferior to Delilah’s current ability to manipulate earth.
Even if she spent years becoming an Archmage, Delilah herself would have further developed her innate power during that same time.
Delilah was not the only one stunned.
Klein and Aneis were also staring at Shane’s Wind Blade with wide eyes.
And for good reason.
“H-How in the world…….”
“How is that possible?”
Another Wind Blade had appeared.
Now there were two.
The pair drifted freely through the air, tracing sword paths remarkably similar to the swordsmanship Klein and Aneis had displayed since entering the dungeon.
No—
If anything, the paths were even smoother and more beautiful.
And from within those graceful trajectories, the blades struck directly toward the Ratmen’s vital points.
Their astonishment was inevitable.
“When it comes to using my body, I was not born with the same aptitude as you, Klein.”
However—
“That does not mean I am inferior when it comes to wielding Mana.”
Using Mana on a theoretical foundation was Shane’s own ability.
At least within the realm of theory, he would never fall behind the domain of instinct that belonged to Klein.
It was the fruit of Shane’s own efforts, cultivated through the long years he had spent trapped within himself by Corruption in his previous life.
“Watch carefully. This is the kind of sword a warrior should possess on the battlefield.”
Understanding the swordsmanship displayed by Klein and Aneis through theory, analyzing it, and reproducing it—
Then taking it a step further and improving upon it—
Was not particularly difficult for Shane.
—
The enormous underground dome reeked of Ratman blood.
“Ugh…….”
Dizzy from the stench, Delilah pinched her nose.
Klein frowned with complicated emotions.
Aneis, meanwhile, was simply impressed.
“Amazing.”
Aneis desperately tried to memorize the sword paths Shane had just reproduced through magic.
To her, Shane’s Wind Blades had been practically an ideal model of swordsmanship.
But Shane stopped her.
“Aneis. Do you remember what I just said?”
“……Forge my own path?”
“Correct. What I showed you is merely the path I arrived at through my own analysis. You must refine your own sword. Use mine as a reference, but do not become consumed by it. The moment you do, when your own path becomes blocked, you will forget how to overcome that obstacle. Mages are not the only ones who must become pioneers.”
“……All right.”
“And Klein.”
“Yes.”
“Did you learn anything from watching me fight?”
“…….”
Klein nodded at Shane’s question and looked toward the countless Ratman corpses.
Shane had never made an effort to give the Ratmen painless deaths.
At times, he deliberately avoided their vital points and crippled their movements, provoking the other Ratmen into a frenzy.
At other times, he killed them instantly, imprinting the terror of death upon the survivors.
It was almost as though he were engraving lessons directly into the monsters’ instincts.
Shane manipulated each Ratman’s behavior so that every action produced a meaningful result.
His understanding of monster behavior was almost frighteningly thorough.
Moreover, whenever the Ratmen reached a certain level of fear, Shane deliberately allowed several to escape and summon more of their companions.
As a result—
What had begun with barely more than a dozen Ratmen had grown into the dozens of corpses scattered throughout the chamber now.
And that was not all.
Shane’s Wind Blades had certainly resembled Klein’s swordsmanship.
Yet their nature had been completely different.
It was a domineering sword style.
The posture behind it seemed to look down upon the world itself, standing in stark contrast to Klein’s swordsmanship, which seemed almost to embrace the world.
That difference could only arise from the will pursued by the person wielding the sword.
And Shane was demanding that Klein find such an answer for himself.
Unlike with Delilah or Aneis, Shane was not merely telling Klein to forge his own path.
He was showing him a direction.
Klein found that realization confusing.
His brother had always been rather prickly, certainly, but Klein had never thought Shane possessed such an overwhelming, domineering nature.
When had such a change happened?
‘What did Brother experience to develop a sword like this?’
At the same time, Klein’s body trembled.
It was a reaction close to faint fear and instinctive rejection.
Yet Klein also found himself confused by a subtle change taking place within his heart.
Somewhere deep down, he understood that Shane’s path was not wrong.
That realization came from Klein’s extraordinary understanding of swordsmanship.
Compassion held no value whatsoever in battle.
Combat was madness itself.
And Klein instinctively understood that there was no room in a sword for gentle emotions such as sympathy.
Perhaps things would have been different if he had never known.
But now, the completed form stood directly before him.
Klein’s talent could never allow such an extraordinary example to pass without absorbing something from it.
‘What has my sword been for until now?’
That question would undoubtedly follow Klein for a long time.
But at the very least, his sword would no longer contain sympathy for his enemies as it once had.
Even if his swordsmanship never became as domineering as Shane’s—
There would no longer be a sword that imposed hesitation upon its own wielder.
……And so, five days passed.
