Book 12: Chapter 16: Your Cruel Queen

A feeling of excitement welled up within Hubert as his prey finally appeared on the hunting grounds. But he still had one concern.

"Hmm, hmm, hmm, hey, this mist was created by you, right? ...Don't you need to dispel it?"

The fog that surrounded this area was probably created to prevent Monica's image from being projected onto the stage in the audience seats. But generally, a mage's power was only enough to cast two spells at the same time. That meant that while maintaining the fog, Monica could only use one other spell. Furthermore, she had to continuously release a certain amount of magical power to maintain the fog. This way, Monica couldn't fight at full power. It was too boring.

When Hubert pointed that out, Monica responded with an expressionless face.

"...One hand is enough to deal with you."

Instead of being angry, he felt pleased by the unexpected provocation coming from the normally timid Monica.

"That really makes me happy. Three years ago you were so weak and timid, and now you dare to provoke me like this... but you're not the only one who has changed in three years."

Hubert swung his right hand, a fire arrow appeared without any incantation and shot towards Monica like rain. She immediately blocked it with a chantless barrier. As expected from the defensive barrier of one of the Seven Sages, it was extremely sturdy.

Hubert chanted a spell, adding another lightning spear that charged straight into the barrier. The simultaneous attack from the fire arrow and the lightning spear caused Monica's barrier to shake violently. It was only a matter of time before he broke through it. But Monica was undaunted, muttering softly in a low voice. "... You still have to chant for the lightning spear, right?"

"You still have time to say nonsense? If you keep this up, that barrier will break."

At that moment, the mist around them thickened. To the point where they couldn't see each other's figures clearly. Hubert sensed Monica's intention to release the barrier at the same time. She would attack within this mist.

Hubert immediately set up a defensive barrier and was on guard against Monica's attack.

At this moment, Glenn was unconscious right next to him. A little further away were Cyril and Roberto.

If Monica attacked and Hubert dodged or blocked with a barrier, the stray magic fragments might hit Glenn and the others. So Monica wouldn't be able to attack indiscriminately.

But Hubert didn't care at all if Glenn or someone else got involved, so he declared:

"Come on, do it. Are you going to keep hiding like that? ...If you don't do anything, I'll use a wide-area magic to drag them all in. Five... four... three..."

Before he finished counting, an ice spear flew out from the mist. It looked like a normal ice spear, but it con- tained a huge amount of magical power and was extremely powerful.

It will penetrate the barrier.

But the speed of the launch wasn't very fast. Hubert was still able to dodge it with just physical strength. Even if Monica had integrated a tracking formula into this ice spear, the effectiveness of that kind of formula would only last for about two to three seconds. It could only adjust its trajectory once. So, just use flight magic to avoid it. After three seconds, the tracking formula would expire.

...If it was a normal chase formula.

"What the ?!”

The ice spear continued to chase Hubert even after more than three seconds had passed. It was as if the ice spear itself had a will of its own.

Hubert had never heard of such a high-performance tracking spell.

Monica's voice echoed through the mist.

"That's the advanced pursuit formula I recently developed. The effective time is ten times that of the normal formula... about twenty to thirty seconds."

So that's it, with such a high pursuit ability, she didn't need to worry about Glenn or the others getting caught up in it anymore.

Hubert's body trembled with excitement.

Monica Everett who just invented a new magic-is challenging him!

What could make his heart beat faster than that?

"... Hahaha, you really are the most wonderful woman!"

Currently, Monica was maintaining two spells: the mist and the ice spear. This left her with no room to cast any other spells.

Meanwhile, Hubert was only maintaining his flight magic, but he had to focus all his strength on dodging, leaving absolutely no spare energy to pay attention to anything else.

The moment this spear's pursuit spell ends, I'll counterattack!

Hubert dodged and counted down. There were about ten to twenty seconds left. The ice spear chased him per- sistently, but it was not fast enough to catch up with Hubert's flight magic. He lowered his altitude a bit so that he could land quickly if needed.

At that moment, a crimson light flashed before his eyes. His vision was filled with red, followed by a burning pain in his right eye.

"Gaah!?"

He lost control of his flight magic and fell to the ground. Fortunately, he had already lowered his altitude so the impact was not too serious, but the pursuing ice spear immediately stabbed deep into his back as he fell. Not only that, several fire arrows pierced Hubert's back.

He screamed as if his throat was being torn out in pain, but he kept thinking, trying to grasp the situation. What pierced my eye? A fire arrow? But Monica no longer had enough magic to fire the missile. Then who was it...? Glenn Dudley? Cyril Ashley? Roberto Vinkel? ...No, no, no... that arrow... was mine!

The sound of footsteps echoed on the ground. Raising his hand to cover his aching right eye, Hubert met the cold, indifferent gaze of a witch standing above.

Monica held a ring with a large gem in it. A magic square was floating within it. It was no ordinary ring... but his magic tool.

"Right thumb, middle finger, ring finger. Left index finger, middle finger, little finger... Before the match, Senior Dee had six rings on his fingers. But now, he only has one left on his right middle finger. He hid the rest around here, right?"

Hubert laughed, the sound rumbling like a deep growl from his chest.

"There's no rule against it. This is a magic match after all."

Why is it called a magic duel, and not a magic contest?

First of all, "magic" means "to cause a certain phenomenon by using magical power". One way to do that is to chant an incantation and weave a magic square.

Generally speaking, "magic" is a broad category that includes incantations, curses, astrology, summoning, etc. And the technique of making and using magical tools is also classified under the broad category of "magic". Within the scope of a magical battle, any method that uses magical power is considered valid. That is to say, the use of magical tools to fight is also naturally allowed.

However, not many people like to do so. Magical tools are very expensive, and most offensive magical tools are single-use only.

The rings were a set of six magical tools created by Hubert himself. The ring he held on his hand acted as the control center, while the other five were missile launchers.

The usage was very simple. He just had to transfer magic power into the control ring. Just like that, the re- maining five rings would simultaneously fire missiles.

He carefully reduced the power and split the launcher into five rings, each of which could be used ten times,

far exceeding the normal disposable nature of magical tools.

Hubert secretly used them to make others believe he could cast silent spells.

And Monica, who realized that, while stalling for time with the ice spear, analyzed and collected one of the

rings...

"You rewrote its magic square, right?"

The six rings are always linked together, so by possessing just one of them, Monica can rewrite the magic square, transferring ownership from Hubert Dee to Monica Everett.

Of course, not everyone can do that. It would take an ordinary person hours to completely analyze a magical

tool, and even more time to rewrite it.

But this monster... did it in seconds!

A shiver of excitement ran down Hubert's spine.

Aah, the witch looking at him with cold eyes was truly an abnormal monster.

She dismantled the traps he set and took possession of his magical tools, all with a terrifying calm.

"I rewrote Louis's defensive barrier once... It took me almost a minute to remove the anti-rewrite camouflage

magic square. e"

She said so and rolled Hubert's ring in her palm, muttering as if playing with a boring toy.

"As for that magic tool you used... it only took me five seconds to remove the disguise. It really was like

child's play."

In the dark forest covered in thick fog, the Silent Witch whispered coldly, her sharp emerald eyes flashing. "Is this your desperate attempt to imitate chantless magic? A cheap magic trick?"

Even something as revered as mindless magic was child's play in the eyes of this witch. Her arrogance made Hubert's chest burn. Aah, had there ever been a girl who made him so moved?

"I like your cruelty and arrogance... You really are the best. So, my queen, command me to 'kneel before this

overwhelming power.""

At Hubert's words, Monica - who had kept a cold face until now - frowned slightly, a look of confusion flashing across her face. The image of a witch inadvertently disappeared, replaced by the familiar timid girl. "Um, no need to kneel... just promise... to cooperate with the mission... and keep my identity a secret..." "If you want to make me obey, then use force, my queen. You must force me to submit."

Silent.

Monica infused her magic into the ring and took the initiative. The rings hidden nearby, along with the ring on Hubert's right hand, glowed red. Fire arrows shot out, surrounding Hubert.

With one short sentence, Monica granted him what he wished for.

"Shoot."

Hubert's gleeful laughter echoed as the fiery arrows rained down on him.

Author's note:

In previous chapters, especially Chapter 2 of Volume 1, I hinted at the subtle distinction between "magic" and "spells." This distinction also applies to terms like "magic sword" or "magic army" that appear later in the

story.

Basically, any activity that goes beyond the scope of "spells" and originates from magical power is considered "magic". At the extreme, "magic swords" can be considered part of the "magic army". This includes methods such as curses, magical tools, dragon fire breath, or Nero's black flames.