I Broke Off My Engagement and Got a Job at the Academy

96. Thorn

“Hmm, a glutton… At first glance, it looks like just a magic spell that creates a single bead, right, huh?”

“Well, we’ll have to wait and see.”

At the spirit’s words, I smiled and replied. Then the spirit made a “huh” sound and created an ice pick and hurled it at me.

And, unfortunately, the ice pick wasn’t completely blocked, but was blocked by the shield.

The spirit who saw it said with an expression of interest.

“Hmm, is it a magic that absorbs magic power? It’s quite interesting. It even sucks up the magic power that brought me to the Middle-earth. It’ll be difficult if I hold out for too long. But… This is only when I’m still within the magic’s range.”

“Well, I guess it’s not that bad if I just hold onto your ankles. Since the Devourer is a magic that automatically stays active once it’s activated, unlike before, you can even engage in a chase… Shall we give it a try?”

“Ha, that’s ridiculous. Do you think you can last that long against me?”

“I don’t know about that.”

I said so and started casting the spell.

“You are just a wizard, and you don’t even know who the owner of the magical power is….”

… Yes. If the master of magic is the dragon, then the master of magical power is the spirit.

Since the principle of magic activation was given by the dragon, people called the dragon the master of magic. And, when it comes to the control of magical power, the spirits cannot be followed by any other race. Even compared to the dragon in a similar level of story.

In short, it meant that since the spirit’s magical power control was strong, my Devourer was less effective. The basic principle of the Devourer was to seize the opponent’s magical power control by force and absorb it.

But… there is a way for me to make up for it now.

“Die.”

Once again, the blade of ice rushes towards me, but it is blocked.

It was thanks to the artifact I had prepared in advance. It looked like it was almost ready to break, but I was able to block one attack from the enemy with a shield.

And then, this time it’s my turn.

Finally, the composition of the ritual was completed.

A thorn was created, condensed with magical power. It wasn’t that big. It was so big that the spirit couldn’t tell if I had finished casting or if I had stopped in the middle.

And, as expected, the spirit looked confused as he saw me like that. It was very good. It meant that the opponent was letting his guard down to that extent, and that it was easy to make him pay the price.

Wham. The thorn of magic was embedded in the spirit’s skin at incredible speed.

“…What is this?”

The spirit spoke in a bewildered voice. Her body, which had been fine, was imbued with magic before she could even react.

However, that wasn’t the part that was truly disconcerting. The ‘Absorption Thorn’ had no physical power. Instead… it had other functions. Of course, that alone wouldn’t matter, but it really shined when the Devourer was already activated.

The spirit, realizing that the thorns of absorption would not cause any damage, crumpled its face and rushed forward.

“Where did you get the courage to mock me…!”

And then, at that moment.

The spirit’s eyes opened wide.

“Yeah, how is it? It feels like the magical power of your body is being sucked out in real time.”

The effect of the Absorbing Thorn is simple: it digs into the body and absorbs the power flowing within it.

Although the amount absorbed at first is very small, it has the property of increasing over time.

And the most important connection with the Devourer is that if the Devourer is activated, the power absorbed from the Absorbing Thorn is transferred to the Devourer.

Then the Devourer digests the magic power again and gives it to me. In other words, if someone is hit by the thorn of absorption while the Devourer is present, my magic power is virtually infinite.

In short, as time passes, the spirits become more disadvantaged in real time.

Now all I have to do is simple: just hold on, and hold on.

Of course… I don’t know how long I can last against that spirit that has reached a higher level.

The spirit grimaced and scrunched up its face, trying to pull out the thorn embedded in its body.

“That’s no use.”

The second interaction that occurs when the Absorbing Thorn and the Devourer meet. The Absorbing Thorn becomes indestructible. However, when the Devourer bursts, it disappears along with it.

That is, it is said that it is subordinate to the devourer. The spirit seemed to sense the flow of magical power and understand it instinctively.

“Where did you get the courage to do such a disgusting thing…!”

“Why, it’s no different for you and me to forcibly take away magic power. No, aren’t you more malicious?”

“Shut up!”

This seems a bit… dangerous.

A giant spear of ice was created.

You can feel it instinctively. That ice spear is at least as powerful as a 6th circle. If it’s really strong, it’s the highest level among the 6 circles. Even considering that it’s somewhat weakened by the Devourer.

On the other hand, no matter how well my defensive magic is used, it’s only at the level of 4 circles. I’m lucky if I don’t get killed in one hit, let alone become an opponent.

That’s why I chose to evade instead of defending.

Phew! A spear of ice flew in.

I somehow managed to dodge it with a quick magic spell, then hurriedly cast a fireball to intercept the flying ice spear. Maybe it wasn’t the end after dodging it once, but it might come flying back again. No, it wasn’t just maybe, it was practically certain.

The spirit’s face hardened and he shot out cold air. I tried hard to block it with fire magic, but the exchange rate was ridiculous.

Damn it, even if I could absorb all that magic power, what am I supposed to do if the magic power exchange rate is already this bad?

The spirit didn’t stop. It continued to shoot arrows made of tiny pieces of ice, and I tried to block them with a wall of fire, but I couldn’t block them all, and ended up with cuts all over my body.

I took a potion out of my belt and drank it. The wound on my veins began to heal little by little, but the situation was still not very good.

Damn, the basic skills themselves are quite different in the first place.

But you have to hold on. If you hold on, and hold on, you can win.

“It’s a pretty useful skill for a human, but do you really think you can deal with spirits?”

The spirit who said so began to create a cold storm. Then, I sighed and cast my magic.

“Eyes of Twilight.”

With those words, I felt a magical power being applied to my eyes. Perhaps my pupils had changed to the color of dusk. It was a 4-circle magic that made it easier for me to stack up my own spells. It was a magic I had learned from Professor Cordelia.

I had saved my life with this in the past against Black Ocean, but I wondered if it would be effective against a high-level spirit. After making these calculations, I began preparing my flame magic.

A strong magic that could pierce through that cold storm in one go. That kind of magic was needed.

If you have the assistance of the Eye of Twilight, you can do it. It’s just a matter of using the 5th circle magic once or twice.

“The spear of hellfire.”

The flames rippled and formed a spear shape. A 5th circle advanced magic that strengthened the flame spear, Hellfire Spear. Of course, the opponent’s storm was around 6 circles, so it would be difficult to block it with Hellfire Spear.

However, if you pour enough magical power into it, it is not impossible to use a huge amount of magical power and still have power greater than 6 circles.

Gulp.

“…Ugh.”

I felt a blood coming out of my nose. It was an inevitable side effect of forcing myself to use the Eye of Twilight, a magic that was not originally possible on my own level.

Unlike the Black Ocean incident, it wasn’t a completely different level of magic, so it only stopped at the level of causing nosebleeds.

“Die, human.”

The storm began to close in on me. Without a moment’s hesitation, I threw my spear into the middle of the storm.

And the spear of hellfire continued to advance through the storm.

Please. Please reach out. Please!

With my earnest wish, the spear of hellfire continued to advance, and advance.

The spirit dodged it lightly and chuckled.

“Ha, that’s too bad. It seems like he was trying to hope for luck-”

No, from the beginning, it wasn’t the spirits I was aiming for.

I ran to the back of the spirit with my speed magic.

And then he hugged the girl.

“…!”

What I held in my arms was Giselle, who had been freed from the ice that had been imprisoning her due to the Hellfire Spear. She was still unconscious, but she had accomplished the most important task.

“Human, you…!”

“You speak well for a subject that cannot even operate in the Middle-earth without relying on humans.”

So, the spirit and I remained in a state of silent confrontation for a while. In particular, the spirit was clearly displeased because if something were to happen to her summoner, Giselle, she wouldn’t be okay either, but she remained silent.

And even at that moment, the thorn of absorption was steadily sending magical power to me.

How much time had passed like that… Giselle’s closed eyelids began to open.