The Mage Will Master Magic Efficiently In His Second Life - CH 152.2

With a rustle, the grass parted and out jumped an olive-brown four-legged Zell, whose fur was all ruffled up.

It had jelly-like fur and was known as a Beast Zell. Compared to the docile Zell species, this type of Zell was quite ferocious, and it was undoubtedly the strongest monster in the swamps of Govnu.

The Beast Zell’s jiggly body trembled as it kicked off the gravel and launched itself at me. I jumped to the side to dodge and cast Time Square as I turned back to it.

While time is stopped, I cast Blue Crash, Black Crash, and Green Crash.

What formed was the triple fusion spell, Icicle Crash.

With the sound of rapidly freezing ice, the Beast Zell’s lower body was frozen in place.

No longer able to support its body weight, the Beast Zell’s frozen legs broke off, and its body rolled back onto the ground.

The Zell species was vulnerable to changes in temperature and cannot survive in places with low temperatures. I had taken advantage of this weakness to freeze its legs, but it only caused the Beast Zell’s movements to be slowed for a moment.

The Beast Zell quickly grew new legs and charged at me again. I hit it with a Black Crash as it passed me, but that only staggered it for a moment.

「Tch… what a tough guy.」

I originally wanted to use Green Crash which has higher offensive power, but with its short firing range, even if the Beast Zell’s movements have dulled, I guess it would have still been tricky to take it down.

The Beast Zell never faltered from my counterattacks and continued to charge towards me again and again.

I shouldn’t make Milly worry about me either, so let’s finish this off with a combination magic spell.

「Pugiiii!」

When the Beast Zell charged towards me once more, I used all my strength to receive its attack.

Dust clouds rose at my feet as I skidded across the ground and I was pushed against a large tree that was behind me.

「Zeph!?」

「Don’t worry… about me.」

Milly cried out in a sorrowful voice, and I replied to her with composure.

Safe Protection. This spell can reduce the damage of the next attack received by ninety percent. It was standard practice to cast this spell before any battle.

「Got you…!」

I smirked as I looked down at the Beast Zell, then thrust both my arms into its gelatinous body.

Then, I cast Time Square. While time is stopped, I cast Green Crash four times.

The result is a quadra-fusion spell, Green Crash Square.

The Beast Zell’s jelly-like body swelled up and burst open.

「Hm, well there you have it.」

At my words, Milly sighed with a look of relief. Geez, what a worry-wart she is.

I approached Milly to pat her head, and she simply resigned herself to my will and lowered her head for me.

「I must have really weakened, huh? Enough to make Milly worry for me, at least.」

「…Sorry. I knew that I didn’t need to worry but… when I saw Zeph getting injured, I couldn’t help but recall what happened that time…」

By ‘that time’, could Milly have meant the time when I was tortured by Grain for defending Milly?

It seems like that incident has caused a lot of trauma for Milly.

Amid the somber atmosphere, a monster’s presence could be felt.

Milly probably noticed it too, as she stepped away from me and readied her fighting stance.

…Good grief, this monster sure can’t read the mood.

Before us, another Beast Zell showed itself.

「Ugh, don’t disturb us…」

Milly complained as she distanced herself from me and stepped back.

As I stood on guard, the Beast Zell glanced towards me. However, it then ignored us, jumped into the swamp with a splash, and left.

「Eh? It went away.」

While Milly gazed in the direction of the Beast Zell, her hairs stood on end.

At the same time, a chill ran down my spine.

When I focused my senses on the grasses where that Beast Zell appeared from, I felt a magic power that was stronger than anything I’ve experienced.

Even from a distance, I could feel the tingling of the powerful magic. However, there have never been any monsters this strong in the swamps of Govnu.

「Zeph…!」

「Yeah, be careful, Milly.」

With a rustle, the tall grass parted to reveal a bouncy and gelatinous object that was completely black.

At first sight, it looked like a pretty small Zell.

「What’s that… A Zell?」

It seems like it, but even I have never seen a Zell like that.

Is it a new species? I quickly cast Scout Scope.

????

Level 102

Magic power

3856905/3856905

「Wha… Its magic power is three million and eight hundred thousand!?」

Its magic power is no less than the usual boss’s. Even if magic power does determine its fighting prowess, but this is not normal.

Furthermore, it has no name.

In the past, Milly told me that the Scout Scope displays the monster’s name according to what it was most commonly known as. Hence, in the event that there was someone with a false name, and if that false name was widely known, the Scout Scope would display his false name instead of his real one.

This display works in the same way for monsters. For monsters, it’s simple if the person who discovers the monster decides on its name. However, if the monster became known by a name apart from its original one, that name could also be etched into Scout Scope.

By having no name, this monster could likely be a new species.

「…In any case, I guess we’ll just name it as Dark Zell?」

「H-how carefree, as usual…」

「It’s unknown how strong this guy is, so let’s get him together.」

At my words, Milly grinned widely, showing her pearly-white, protruding canines

She overflowed with confidence and looked like she was itching to show off the fruits of the three years of training.

「…Why, aren’t you raring to go?」

「Yeah! Zeph, you stay back. It’s been a while since your last fight, so you aren’t performing at your usual best, right?」

「Well, it’ll be easier for me to follow up when I’m in the rear-guard anyway. Guess I’ll leave this to you.」

「Niheehee ♪ But Zeph might not have a chance to take the stage though!」

Probably having recognized us as its enemies, the Dark Zell seized the opportunity to pounce at Milly while we were still talking.

Milly easily evaded the attack, but the Dark Zell extended a tentacle-like part of its gelatinous body and caught Milly’s arm.

「Milly!」

「Black Crash!」

The instant she was caught, Milly unleashed Black Crash, which blew away the Dark Zell together with its tentacle.

Using Black Crash to blow away your opponent and shirk off its attacks was one of the fundamental tactics of a mage in close combat.

In a battle where one’s reaction speed plays a significant part in determining the outcome, that was one of the essential skills of a mage.

Hmm, considering that reaction speed, Milly must have been trained hard by Silverie.

With her back still facing me, Milly put up her index and middle fingers in a victory sign.

Geez, seems like I’m a worry-wart too. I have no right to judge others.

In any case, be it its appearance or the way it fights, the Dark Zell didn’t seem to differ greatly from the other Zell species.

However, the magic power it holds is extraordinary.

Generally, monsters with higher magic power tend to be bigger and more aggressive, in proportion to the amount of magic power they hold. Certainly, outliers to this trend exist, but there’s no way that such a small and weak-looking monster could hold so much magic power…

「I have a bad feeling about this. Don’t get negligent now, Milly.」

「I know, I know ♪」

Ah, the way she replied already shows that she’s getting lax. Even though she has grown, Milly is still Milly.

「Blue Gale!」

When Milly raised her arms, the sand on the ground floated. The Dark Zell seemed to sense danger, as it began vibrating.

Then, with a resounding boom, a waterspout appeared and stretched high up to the sky.

The Blue Gale was more refined and densely compressed than the one Milly used to cast. It sucked up the Dark Zell and minced it into pieces.

「Oh, that’s brilliant.」

「Hmhmm~」

Milly proudly puffed up her humble chest. It looks like her growth here still has a ways to go.

The Dark Zell which was sucked into the waterspout fell to the ground with a dull thud.

Let’s see, how effective was that attack? I cast Scout Scope on the Dark Zell.

Dark Zell

Level 102

Magic power

3855215/3856905

「What… It wasn’t effective at all!」

「I’m afraid that this monster is a Soul type. Perhaps a spell from the Soul magic system would work?」

Monsters from the Soul system are invulnerable to normal magic attacks. In contrast, they are weak to magic from the Soul system.

That being said, it seems like we’re stuck. To use Soul system magic, we require not only magic power but also Gemstones. However, we don’t have large amounts of them right now.

It would’ve been fine if Ain were around, but… she went off somewhere.

「…It’s troublesome. Should we escape?」

「That sounds like a good idea.」

The Dark Zell is relatively weak but has a lot of magic power. I thought that it was the ideal monster for me to earn experience points, but it turned out to be quite a troublesome opponent.

Let’s come back to hunt it after we have made the proper preparations.

Milly and I cast Teleport and withdrew from the area.