「Monster……!?」

I groan lightly at the sight of the transformed man.

What the h.e.l.l, his appearance──

The reddish armor and helmet covering his body remind me of Crustacea.

Huge Katana and Wakizas.h.i.+ are sticking out from behind the back of his head and shoulders.

That silhouette somewhat reminds me of a phantom appearing with special effects on television.

「That was quite a spell. If I didn’t release my full power it would have been dangerous……」

The man in red laughs.

「W, why……? I didn’t sense any sign of defensive spell……!?」

Ashe-san stands up slowly.

I recall the scene from earlier.

I did not see it very well, but that man certainly didn’t use any defensive magic.

Regardless if it was a spell with a chant or without, I would definitely sense a magic that could defend against the power of Ashe-san’s magic.

But, there were no such signs.

This guy didn’t use any magic, yet he defended against the Magic attack.

「Magic won’t work against me」

The man laughs with a twisted face.

「No matter what spell you use, I can Resist against all of them」

「Resist….. You said?」

「Magic Resistance – Resist. Enhances the Magic inside your body in order to negate Magic attacks, or possibly even reflect them」

Ashe-san answers to my mutter.

I see.

When the Fourth Corps attacked him, he immediately reflected it back at them, just like he did to Ashe-san.

「But, my attack was Advanced Magic. A vast amount of Magic power would be necessary to resist it…… Which is impossible even for me」

「That is so. But, I am able to resist up to 100,000 Magic power」

Oioi…… As expected, that’s too much for a bluff.

a.s.suming that I’m an exception, a.s.sault Magic Corps captain’s should have at least around 30,000-50,000 Magic power.

That is already numerical value far beyond impossible.

「Nonsense. You are just a petty robber」

Ashe-san seems to also judge that he is bluffing.

I fix my gaze at the man with a fierce expression.

「I’m not a robber. I’m Magic Gem Solder Exceed, Prototype No.1──Giira」

Fuu, the man gives his name while gasping for air.

「Ex…… ceed?」

Not to mention me, Ashe-san also probably hears something like that for the first time.

「Magic is the product of talent. But, the great Evil Emperor figured out a technique to convert talentless humans into first-cla.s.s Magicians」

Giira proclaims with songs of praise.

「It’s a conversion of mental energy into Magic power. The higher the conversion efficiency is, or the larger the mental energy is the more Magic will one obtain」

Giira explains fluently.

What’s with this fellow, he can speak well all of sudden.

No, perhaps that’s his real character?

「Conversion efficiency is particularly important. If the efficiency is high, the Magic power will become that huge」

「Hee, is that so?」

「…… You, you are from Magic Corps yet you don’t know?」

Giira glares at me.

「It’s rudimentary knowledge, you know?」

「I, I knew that! I knew that very well!」

I retort in panic.

…… I may have said too much.

「Oh, well. Let me continue」

Giira says.

「His Majesty the Emperor has produced 37 Magic Gems. This device converts mind energy into a Magic power nearly at the rate of 100%」

「Nearly 100%…… you said?」

Ashe-san groans.

「Even for a talented Magician, conversion at 30% rate is the limit. But, thanks to the gem buried inside my body, I far exceeded that limit and was reborn as a genius Magician. I, who was originally a worthless farmer!」

Fuu, fuu, Giira laughs while breathing heavily.

Ah, I see.

I can understand this fellow’s feelings little bit.

A poor farmer obtains tremendous Magic power──

It’s similar to my situation.

Of course, many people don’t understand how much it hurts to have power, that you can’t use.

I don’t intend to understand it either.

「When I saw you yesterday, you were just an ordinary commoner without any Magic power. How, all of sudden……?」

「I have suppressed my Magic power. I have lowered the rate of conversion efficiency close to zero percent. I had to be cautious of the high Magic power owner in the Capital. Therefore, I used camouflage on purpose」

Giira snorts at Ashe-san’s question.

「I had a hard time. It’s hard suppressing such strong Magic power」

That reminds me, this fellow resisted Ashe-san’s magic yesterday.

Was it a glimpse of the power he couldn’t hold back? If you are reading this somewhere else than on s.h.i.+nsori.com then you are reading stolen content!

If that’s the case, if this fellow’s Magic returned back to 100%──

The muscles around my spine twitch.

「It takes about half a day to restore the conversion efficiency back to 100%. Well, because I finally regained my power, I broke out of the jail and went on a rampage. Just as I was ordered to by His Imperial Majesty」

「…… I see, I finally udnerstand」

Ashe-san forms a seal in front of her chest again.

「With your ident.i.ty. I absolutely can’t hold back!」

She says and starts a new incantation.

「Icicle──」

「Slow!」

But, before that, Giira casually swings his right hand.

Vun……!

He creates a magic resembling a wind blade.

He creates Advanced level wind Magic without a chant.

His target is Ashe-san──he feigns and attacks me.

「Tsk」

I invoke a chantless defensive spell──,

「I won’t let you!」

Ashe-san interrupts the attack.

I activate my magic too early.

「s.h.i.+……」

Fresh blood falls.

「Ashe-san」

I hurriedly hold up collapsing Ashe-san.

「Why──」

Intense regret wells up.

I delayed my spell because of her unexpected action.

If I invoked my spell one step faster, I could protect Ashe-san.

「It’s captain’s duty…… to protect subordinates……」

Ashe-san groans painfully.

I frown unintentionally.

The side of her knight clothes is cruelly ripped and stained with blood.

At least she was able to avoid fatal a wound thanks to my late defensive spell.

Nevertheless, she still received a considerable damage.

Ashe-san completely lost color from her face.

「Light of Healing – Cure Grade」

I touch Ashe-san’s b.l.o.o.d.y side with my right hand.

The green light escaping from my hand fixes Ashe-san’s skin piece by piece.

──However, she won’t recover immediately.

Although it’s magic, it’s not omnipotent.

My healing magic only speeds up target’s natural healing power.

The important thing is to heal the small wounds as quickly as possible.

The healing speed is limited by the physical strength.

My huge Magic power is completely unrelated.

It will take a while until Ashe-san completely recovers.

Most likely several dozens of minutes possibly, even longer──

「…… After I finish」

I remove my hand from Ashe-san.

Because I let the magic continue, the green light stays and keeps on healing the Ashe-san’s wounds.

Though the slow speed is irritating.

「Ashe-san, please take a rest」

「No……! Leave me and run away. Magic attacks won’t work against that fellow. Inform other units and prepare the countermeasures……」

Ashe-san glares at me while painfully gasping for breath.

「There’s no way I could leave you behind, right?」

「Don’t behave like a child. Rather than me, think about how to beat this guy with other members」

Ashe-san instructions are clear-headed.

「That’s your mission. If you are defeated here, there would be no one to tell the others about this guy’s abilities」

I can’t argue about that.

Certainly, Ashe-san is correct.

However, I──

「You will fail as knight if you abandon your mission, Abel-kun」

Still, I’m fine with that.

「There won’t be any problems if I defeat this guy right here, right?」

I stand up slowly.

「Don’t be conceited. Magic won’t work on him. Even if you are able to defeat a Steel Dragon, you can’t find someone who’s immune to Magic」

I hear Ashe-san call me out when I start walking towards Giira

「Stop right here, Abel-kun」

「Please, wait for me over there」

I speak without turning back.

I will protect Ashe-san and defeat that guy──

It’s the only thing I can think about right now.