Chapter 61

Chapter 61 Strongest Sage, Uses Up Mana

" . . . Keeping silent won't help you . Even if you're invisible with naked eyes, you're plain as day with that much mana emitting . "

" . . . Mathias, could it be that there's a demon inside this castle?"

The king sounded surprised when he heard me .

"No, it's not the main body . It's a spell art unleashed by the demon . "

"Spell art . . . Is that some kind of wiretapping?"

"Something like that . You cannot see it, however--"

I took out a wood chip as I said that and threw it at the corner of the room .

The chip drew a parabola and got repelled as if it hit something one meter before the wall .

"Looks like it has a substance . Though, the demon won't suffer any damage even if that's physically destroyed . "

Judging from the spell art, it's most likely a variant of magic called 【Fixed-type Simple Mana Interference】 .

It's a relatively simple spell art which can be used to monitor far-away places .

Furthermore, it doesn't have enough power to kill but conversely, the user also won't receive any damage even if the spell art is attacked .

In a way, it's a magic with an extremely good cost/performance .

"I can't believe it . . . . "

The other three beside me seem to be shocked .

And the demon ('s magic) doesn't look like it'll make a move either .

Well, that's probably the correct answer for the demon . You can't really tell it apart from simple barrier magic as long as it doesn't let out a sound .

--That's why I'll make it speak .

This spell art has two weaknesses in exchange for its low mana consumption .

First, it needs time to set up, and the range is quite narrow .

It's not very effective unless it's set in a room where extremely important conversations are carried off .

As for the other weakness, I use up all my remaining mana and construct a very small-scale magic .

"Guh, what the heck is this . . . . "

Right after that, a perplexed voice resounded from the corner of the room .

You cannot damage the user of 【Fixed-type Simple Mana Interference】 through the spell art .

However, that only applies to physical damage and simple destruction through magic .

The information gotten from 【Fixed-type Simple Mana Interference】 is processed in the spell art user's brain .

In other words, if you forcefully send harmful info for a demon mixed in the actual info, it's possible to directly destroy the brain .

"GU, GUAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The spell art broke along with anguished voice, and the space in the corner of the room warped . Apparently the spell art didn't have emergency cut-off function incorporated, however the magic itself is disintegrating as the demon loses control over its own mana .

I supported the spell art for half a second using my remaining mana before I ran out of it .

The spell art that lost its support disappeared with a clank sound .

" . . . Did you kill it?"

"No . It'll leave an aftereffect somewhat, but the demon probably hasn't died . "

Even if I have my usual amount of mana, it probably won't still be enough to kill the demon .

The user would have been killed if it was a human, but a demon's brain is sturdier than that of a human .

" . . . I see . My gratitude for your help . To think they even slipped into this room . . . . "

"About that matter, Your Majesty . Did the voice earlier sound familiar to you?"

"Now that you mention it, that voice was . . . . of the previous Magic Division Commander, Elhart!"

Thought so .

"Did Elhart ever come into this room?"

"Many times . He got us during those times huh . . . . "

Then we can safely assume that the culprit is Elhart .

He probably could set up as many similar spell art as he wanted since he was against humans who couldn't even use 【Passive Detection】 .

"For the time being, I will set up barrier that can intercept wiretapping magic on important rooms like this one . "

"You could do such a thing?"

"Some magic can't be intercepted, but it's better than nothing . "

That said, such magic are all complex magic, the present demons highly likely can't use them .

If I just put a warning system for when the barrier is destroyed on it, I'm confident I can deal with it .

Ruli will be the one who does the augmenting though .

"By the way, 348 kilo to the west from here, and then 4425 kilo to the north . Do Your Majesty know what's located there?"

" . . . Hold on . "

The king took out a map from a drawer .

"It's still inside our kingdom, but there is only a remnant of an abandoned village destroyed by demons in the past around that area . . . . Don't tell me, Mathias . . . "

"Yes . Looks like we've found the demon's location . "

Using such a poor monitoring magic in front of me would only result in getting traced back instead .

Now then . It's a bit far, wonder how should we go around to attack them .