"[Military Formation, Eight Directions. There is no retreat. Blue bar, white bar, black bar, red bar. Repent together and sink into the great ocean.]"
I chanted the incantation.
Originally, it was a postscript chant for reinforcing an original geas, but this was only a crude imitation of the form, so I hoped they wouldn't expect too much from it.
"[Dragon-Tail Castle Gate.]"
First, a white castle gate made of stacked square blocks rose into the eastern sky.
"[Tiger-Serpent Castle Gate.]"
Next, another castle gate of black wheels appeared in the southern sky.
"[Turtle-Armor Castle Gate.]"
Opposite it, to the north, fragments of a massive crystal mirror gathered together and took shape.
"[Phoenix-Wing Castle Gate.]"
Finally, at the center of the sky, a huge red umbrella spread out and covered the ceiling overhead.
"[Four Beasts Barrier Gate]!"
Together with those four structures, a cubic barrier enclosed by translucent walls was formed.
By wrapping that around the creature and trapping it inside, I fixed the area of effect.
And naturally, our wriggling little thing immediately tried to escape.
-Kyaaaah!
"Oh no you don't!"
Boom!
Gareth blocked it.
The heavy fist of the Black Heavenly Dog King he controlled slammed into the monster's head again.
The beast staggered and lurched.
But even that was reaching its limit now.
The king's body had already begun to fade, growing faint and transparent.
No more. It was too much.
"That's enough, Gareth. Fall back now. Any more than that, and even you'll be in danger."
"Tch. So this is as far as I go, huh? Shame. Guess I'm still nowhere near the finish line."
At my signal, Gareth obediently and skillfully withdrew without complaint.
Once the king vanished like mist as well, the creature's thrashing became even more violent and frantic.
-Grrrrrrr!
With the nuisance gone, it no longer had any reason to hold back. It hurled bundles of tentacles in all directions, desperately trying to smash the last obstacle left: the barrier.
Its desperate effort was almost admirable, so I raised my mana and decided to give it a little present.
"[Trace on.]"
All I needed was a brief projection.
Unlike the counterfeit that that righteous ally of justice used as his specialty, my projection magecraft could only be maintained for a very short time, just like any other magus's.
But here, the subject wasn't the bow projected by magecraft. It was the arrow I would load into it and fire.
"[I am the bone of my sword.]"
Next, I took out the final supply.
No, to be precise, this was the present I was giving that thing.
"An arrow made from a magic sword and packed with spirit power ought to hurt quite a bit."
Especially if it exploded inside an enclosed space.
"Now then, a fantasy version of a nuclear launch... no."
[Broken Phantasm]!"
Ping!
I roughly strung the Crozzo magic sword onto the bow and fired it off just as roughly.
Anyone could see it was the clumsy archery of a complete beginner.
At this rate, the arrow wouldn't just fail to hit the target properly; it might not even make it safely to the intended destination.
In a normal case, that would be true.
"But I'm a magus."
So I covered for my lack of archery skill with magecraft.
That included the homing function that adjusted the arrow's direction on its own and chased the target.
The propulsion needed to send it that far.
And even the part where the arrow, once it pierced through, transformed into a missile and exploded!
"Explosion is art!"
KWA-BOOOOOM!
The Crozzo magic sword, safely slipped into the barrier, had the spirit mana within the blade run wild indiscriminately under the spell I had prepared in advance.
That backlash then easily pushed past the sword's durability limit and shattered it to pieces like a fragile glass cup.
What remained was that dazzling work of art.
If that palm-licking, kiss-ninja guy had seen that scene, he might have been pretty satisfied.
"Ohhh, incredible. If it's that powerful, then the thing should definitely... hm? What are you doing there, lad?"
Maybe it was because he was admiring a work of art that would be remembered for the ages.
Gareth, who had been exclaiming in admiration, looked at me in confusion.
To be fair, there was no reason for anyone around here to ever strike this pose, nor any reason to do so.
"Aaaaaaaaah~"
"Hm?"
In other words, this.
What I was doing now was the shock-absorption posture one was supposed to take when a nuclear bomb fell.
That thing every adult man in that peninsula country supposedly knew because he'd done it at least once.
Why was I doing it here, right now?
Because...
"Hey, magecraft guy. What are you even doing... whoa!?"
Crack, KWA-BOOOOOOOOM!
I knew it would turn out like that.
"Woooooah, magecraft guyyyyyy!"
"Sorry, Gareth."
Leaving behind the skinny dwarf being blown away like a fallen leaf by the aftershock of the explosion, I protected myself with defensive magecraft for a little while.
I would have liked to protect him too, but from here on out I needed to conserve as much mana, mental strength, and stamina as possible and spend them all at once later.
So let's not hold any grudges, okay?
"Anyway."
From the moment I decided to fire it, I had expected it to have decent power.
But this was far stronger than I'd imagined.
Well, even when used as a simple magic sword, it had that much power. If I forcibly drove the mana inside it into a frenzy and made it explode, then I supposed this was possible.
And regardless of scale, unlike the original, I had detonated it inside an enclosed space with that weak glass-wall barrier, so the blast would have been concentrated and even more powerful.
The result was a fantasy version of a mushroom cloud.
Though because of the barrier, no cloud formed and only the aftershock came roaring out.
"Still, if it's this powerful, it should be enough to end things here."
Wriggle, wriggle!
Squirm, squirm...
"As expected, it's as expected."
I let out a regretful sigh as I watched the thing's struggle in the scattered wreckage of the explosion, its body stitching itself back together and multiplying again as it swelled in size.
Wouldn't it be nice if things could just go a little easier?
Still, there was nothing to be done, so I put aside my fleeting disappointment.
After all, even in the original, this had only dealt serious damage. It hadn't landed the real finishing blow.
In a way, maybe this was the classic flag for "Did we get it!?"
More than anything, the original purpose had been to buy time.
"I guess I'll just have to wait until that thing regenerates completely."
If everyone still hadn't arrived by then... well, I'd have no choice but to bring out the last hidden trump card.
What happened after that? No idea.
"An~ do~n~!"
"Oh, they're here."
Perfect timing.
I welcomed the Loki Familia mages that Lili had gathered.
They'd arrived neither too early nor too late.
All that was left was to prepare the finishing blow.
As if she understood my thoughts, Riveria, who hadn't even broken a sweat despite running all this way, spoke up on behalf of the group and asked what their role would be.
"So. What do you need us to do? Should we provide fire support from here?"
"Nope! That won't work. That thing can't be killed by burning it, freezing it, roasting it, slicing it, crushing it, or basically any ordinary attack spell you can throw at it. Even with your magic, Riveria, it'll definitely survive. If even a scrap of flesh is left behind, we might lose it and have to start all over from scratch."
"I see. Understood. A rather troublesome type, then."
In that case, what was the proper response?
To her question, I answered confidently.
"So we have to deal with it using an attack that isn't ordinary."
"And where do we come in?"
"Mana support, plus support for the spell calculations."
"I see. So it's a large-scale magical ritual. Very well. Then..."
"...I'd like you to act as totems."
"Yes, leave it to... hm? Totems? What do you mean by that, magecraft guy?"
"What do I mean?"
Since I'd handle all the preparations needed for the magecraft, I just wanted them to stand quietly in the positions I assigned.
I smiled brightly at Riveria, who frowned slightly as if she didn't understand my request, and explained their role as simply as possible, even a beginner could understand it.
"How about it? A very simple, easy-to-understand role, right?"
"You... haa."
That only made Riveria frown even more.
The other Loki Familia mages reacted the same way.
Even Lili, who was listening, looked similar.
What gives?!
"At least give us a proper explanation. Nothing can move forward like this."
"No, there's nothing more to explain. That really is all you have to do."
"Don't try to change your story later. Again, properly, in detail."
"Hmm..."
At Riveria's uncompromising warning, I held my tongue again.
Damn it, what else was I supposed to explain here?
That really was all those ladies had to do.
Just stand there quietly in the positions I assigned.
"You just grit your teeth and endure it. That's all."
"I see. So it's about sharing the strain on the body after a large-scale spell."
"You should've said so from the beginning, An."
"Waaah, I didn't lie. That's so unfair."
"It's your fault for not telling us everything in a way that made sense."
So mean!
People forget little things or leave them out sometimes.
And they were giving me grief over that.
"So, what's the real reason?"
"Tch, no fun."
"Haa. Please try acting like an adult, An."
Hey, a mage is a baby!
Babies need to be treated with care!
Waaah, waaah!
"But where is our 'fairy of a thousand years'? Is she still on her way?"
While everyone except Lili, who was handling support work outside, moved to their assigned positions on the ritual circle I had drawn in advance, I asked about the young elf who wasn't here.
Whether or not that talented young lady was present made a pretty big difference.
If possible, I wanted her here.
"You mean Lefiya? Lefiya is currently..."
"That girl's matter can wait. I've already taken emergency measures. For now, focus on this. I'll need your help later, so I'm asking in advance."
"I don't really get it, but I'll say I understand for now."
All right, then.
Looks like the traffic control is done.
Time to get started.
"Ah, by the way."
"Hm?"
As everyone steeled themselves at their positions in the ritual circle, I turned back to Riveria, who looked puzzled, and smiled a little like a troublemaker.
Riveria flinched, sensing something bad in that smile.
But.
Too late~
"Really, grit your teeth and use every last ounce of strength you have."
You're going to have to stand there and endure it.
With that said.
Thud!
"Ugh!"
"Ahh!"
"Th-this is...?"
"Kgh! M-magecraft guy! You...!"
The mage totems all let out pained groans as the ritual began.
It seemed the strain on their bodies was indeed quite severe, because every one of them staggered hard at once.
The one who recovered her posture the fastest was none other than Riveria.
As expected, a name like that wasn't something just anyone could carry.
"Good, good. Just like that. Stay still. Stay ve~ry still."
If even one knee bent and the flow of mana went wrong, we'd all end up blowing up and dying, so they'd better behave.
At those words, which sounded like neither a warning nor a threat, laughter laced with curses shot toward me from all directions.
No, I absolutely was not doing it on purpose.
From the start, I had definitely explained everything properly, in detail, and honestly, in a way anyone could understand, and I had warned them too.
Therefore, I am not bad.
I definitely, absolutely, in no way held a grudge over what happened during the day and was intentionally being petty.
This is all just an unfortunate reality that I had no choice but to deal with this way.
"The moment you said that out loud, it became entirely your fault, An."
"(reading like a textbook) O. H. I. made. a. mis. take. Deh-heh?"
"After this is over, you're handling the aftermath yourself, An. Lili doesn't know anything anymore."
Hahaha, of course!
Anyway, the ritual circle was ready, the necessary support totems had all been prepared on it, and Lili had finished everything on the outside perfectly as well.
Now all that was left was for me to do my best.
No.
Doing my best wouldn't be enough.
"Please pray that I can finish this safely, Lili."
"An?"
Because...
"This is the first time I've ever used it in practice after only finishing the theory."
"Huh?"
And even after gathering every substitute I could, the ritual was still full of missing pieces.
In other words, it was already insufficient and incomplete from the preparation stage.
There was no way the success rate wouldn't drop dramatically.
"In addition, based on the calculations so far, the success rate is roughly..."
"Roughly...?"
"Less than 10%?"
From a black company's point of view,
wasn't that more than generous enough?
Something like that.
"Wha...!"
You little punk, what the hell are you doingggggggggg!
Ignoring the screams of anger and shock from behind me, I began the incantation.
Now then, the romance of all romances: magecraft.
Let's begin~!
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