WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Natty
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Chapter 76: Fire Spirit
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“Alright, shall we take down the first big one?”
...In contrast to Aiden’s spirited declaration, both Noel and Katia looked deeply depressed.
The main reason was that thing.
The Fire Spirit located within the Scorching Zone.
Commonly called the Fire Dog among players, this challenge boss was one of the most headache-inducing enemies in the entire game in terms of combat difficulty.
The game gave you a trophy just for defeating it. That said it all.
Well.
To list just a few of its traits.
Complete immunity to physical attacks.
Strong resistance to attacks using mana.
The ability to generate flames powerful enough to erupt a volcano on its own.
Its raw attack power was manageable enough, but those traits alone made one wonder whether it had really been designed to be defeated.
“...I did encounter something similar during the Coalition War.”
Noel spoke with an expression that said she already had a headache.
“It was a monster that created a land of fire like this all by itself, in a country blanketed in snow. An entire order of knights charged it together and barely managed to subjugate it.”
The prospect of hunting such a thing now seemed to be making her dizzy. Her face plainly showed her distress.
“...To subjugate that with just us, honestly, unless we call in support from the Magic Kingdom...”
The word reckless was surely knocking loudly at Noel’s throat.
Still.
It was clear Aiden held an entirely different view.
“It is reckless.”
“...”
“But there are times when you can’t retreat even when you know that.”
He truly meant to take that thing down here.
Act Three was right around the corner. No matter how much he accelerated his growth, it would not be enough.
“Then, let’s do it...”
The resigned reply came from nearby as soon as he gave his firm answer.
It was Katia, who had already learned that trying to stop him in situations like this was useless.
“No, it’s just that even if I said no, you’d probably force it through anyway...”
“...”
“Your usual way of thinking is a little dangerous.”
...Even Noel nodded as she added that comment.
She looked tired of objecting by now.
“So, what kind of madness are you planning this time?”
“...”
Noel’s casually delivered words struck Aiden straight in the chest.
He was reaching the point of giving up on managing his image anyway, but she was being far too blunt about it.
He had no intention of denying that his methods were bizarre, though.
“...First, we’ll need some supplies.”
“Supplies?”
And for that, he needed...
“...”
“...”
“...”
As Aiden’s gaze lingered on her for a long time, Katia blinked blankly.
“...?”
Then she pointed at herself with a dazed expression.
“...Me?”
“...Yes.”
“...I’m the supply?”
“...Yes.”
Katia continued to blink, looking as though she could not understand why she herself would be used as supplies for whatever he planned. Aiden sighed and began explaining.
“Do you know what part of the body is hardest to train?”
“...What?”
“The internal organs. The internal organs.”
Of course, it was difficult to expect a dog capable of spewing flames from its entire body to possess the anatomy of an ordinary creature.
Still, it definitely had organs serving similar functions. Organs essential to sustaining life.
There was a very small “nucleus” in its chest that supplied it with mana. All magical beasts possessed one, and for a dog with such a massive body, it was only natural that it would be correspondingly large.
‘...Not really.’
That was the usual assumption, but the Fire Spirit’s weak point was set absurdly small. That was the problem.
It felt as though the game had maliciously planted that trap in advance to make it impossible to defeat...
Normally, it was an almost impossible weak point to target.
But with Katia here, it was worth trying.
“Katia.”
“Yeah?”
“I haven’t been able to accommodate you much lately, have I?”
“Right? I did think that was a little cruel.”
By not accommodating her, he meant shattering her to pieces and killing her so she could feel Sensation.
...It was destructive even by his own standards, but Katia herself wanted it and kept asking, so there was not much he could do.
“Think of this as compensation for that.”
“...”
Katia’s face brightened, while Noel’s expression instantly became strange.
▣
“I thought you were an odd person, but...”
Katia’s words came out slurred.
That was inevitable, since tape had been wrapped around her mouth.
“This is genuinely creative.”
“Ah, I nearly forgot the most important part.”
As she opened her mouth, Aiden realized there was still some “empty space” left in her body.
He tore off the tape and carefully filled Katia’s mouth with the remaining compound.
He had already plastered the compound all over her body and secured it with tape, but it was best to use every last bit...
It worked on a principle similar to when he had infused Divine Power into the stakes. These liquids had been made to release Spiritual Power with a delay.
It was like placing a time fuse inside a bomb.
The compound infused with Spiritual Power was normally just an ability solvent without much effect on its own. But when it was given another effect, it could amplify that effect’s power twofold or more.
He stuffed every last bit into Katia’s mouth until her cheeks puffed out.
Then he inserted the most important part, the remote signal device.
Afterward, he taped her mouth shut again.
“...”
As Katia tilted her head with cheeks puffed out like a hamster’s, Noel spoke in a voice full of every regret in the world.
“...Mr. Aiden.”
“Yes?”
“I truly am always on Mr. Aiden’s side.”
“Yes.”
“But are you actually sane...?”
“...”
Well.
He deserved to hear that.
But.
“...Lady Noel.”
“Yes?”
“I’ve done things worse than this plenty of times because Her Highness asked me to.”
“...”
“...It’s not as though I want to do this either.”
“...”
Noel’s expression turned strange upon hearing the sincerity in Aiden’s voice.
She let out a deep sigh, as though she had realized that this man suffered quite a bit in his everyday life too.
It was fortunate that she had clearly understood he was not simply tormenting Katia...
...Though Aiden himself found it difficult to decide whether receiving that sort of look was a good thing or a bad thing.
Well, anyway.
“Shall we begin?”
As he recited a mantra beneath his breath, intense light burst out around Aiden.
It was Spiritual Power that needed to be condensed into Cores, and he skillfully manipulated it into three spheres.
When he infused them into the compound on Katia’s body, its color became even stranger.
It did not look very pleasant, but it was a sign that it now held an ability.
According to the original setting, the relationships between attributes formed a system as clear as rock-paper-scissors.
Therefore, those with a main ability usually learned Spiritual Power to further strengthen it. They could use it to enhance that ability’s power even more.
And in Aiden’s case, he was someone who could make use of such a “main ability” more efficiently than anyone else.
As he additionally imbued it with Guardian’s Flame, the solvents on her body began radiating their contained light more violently than before.
And this was a “cold flame” created by reversing Guardian’s Flame.
Reversing an attribute like this through Spiritual Power was clearly an extremely difficult feat, but it was not that difficult for Aiden.
More precisely.
‘...The solvent itself is top-grade to begin with.’
The liquid was ectoplasm left over after setting aside the amount to give Ganesha for crafting equipment. An ability solvent comparable to star iron made tricks like this easy with only a little manipulation.
“...Then, I’ll do it.”
Noel raised her spear accordingly.
“Hup!”
The spear Noel hurled with a battle cry flew fast enough to fully meet his expectations.
The violently flying spear scattered the Fire Spirit’s body of flame.
The blow was immensely powerful, but the Fire Spirit was completely immune to physical attacks.
Clearly unharmed, the Fire Spirit turned toward them with its ominously glowing yellow eyes.
Normally, this was where the horribly difficult battle would begin.
But they had prepared a finishing move made specifically for this thing.
“...Shall I?”
“Let’s.”
With that, Noel threw Katia with all her might.
Katia flew through the air at a speed not inferior to the spear Noel had just thrown.
“...”
“...”
Both Noel and Aiden were seized by doubts over the fact that they were watching such a sight, but once they had started, they had to see it through.
Ignoring the reactions of those around him, Aiden raised his hand and began making the flow of the ability more fluid.
As Katia reached the Fire Spirit’s position, where its flaming body had been “scattered” by the physical attack, he detonated the Spiritual Power.
There was a reason he had covered Katia’s entire body with solvent and inserted a remote fuse.
With only a little adjustment, she could be used as a remote bomb like this.
The remote signal device placed in Katia’s mouth served as the detonator.
As Katia’s body exploded apart from head to toe, mana solvent spread across the Fire Spirit’s entire body.
The mana solvent, imbued with intense cold as its attribute, scattered through the surroundings with enough force to seem capable of freezing even the air.
“Oh.”
It was a sight that naturally drew an exclamation.
In human terms, it was like throwing a small bomb that spread poison throughout the inside of a body.
No matter how insanely powerful the Fire Spirit was, as long as it had a nucleus that functioned as an internal organ, it could not resist cold driven directly into it like this.
The flaming dog that had been spewing fierce fire around itself collapsed in an instant. A sphere wrapped in flames protruded from the center of its chest.
The “nucleus” Aiden had been aiming for, in other words, a fragment of a spirit.
“...Wow.”
He heard Noel exclaim beside him.
Objectively speaking, what they had done was extremely bizarre. Still, seeing such a powerful spirit burst apart in one strike was a magnificent sight in itself.
“Ha ha ha ha ha! This is fun!”
“...”
“...”
Seeing Katia laughing as though she truly found it entertaining while her shattered body flew through the air made it difficult to keep reacting that way.
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