NOVEL NEXT Chapter 27
“…So, how exactly do we defeat those?”
Rud pointed to about ten knight-type golems, still pale in the face.
Indeed, the magical energy emanating from each of them was quite substantial, making it natural to feel intimidated.
However…
“Don’t worry, Rud. We don’t need to fight them.”
“…What do you mean? Why don’t we have to fight them?”
Rud asked a question that was entirely reasonable.
But instead of answering, I simply ignored his question – or rather, I couldn’t answer it. Then, I entered one of the rooms alone.
“Wait here for a moment. I’ll be back soon.”
“Hey, wait—”
I moved a little away from Rud and muttered quietly, so that no one else could hear.
“Dark spirit, obey my contract and appear before me – [Spirit Summon]!”
As I chanted the incantation, a small fairy-like girl with wings on her back, about 30 centimeters tall, materialized in front of me.
“Uwaa… ~yawn~… Hm? Oh, good morning, Jin-sama! What are we going to play today?”
The little girl flew over to my shoulder, poking my cheek with sparkling eyes.
Her name was Shade, and she was the Spirit King of the Dark Element. Despite being younger than the spirits of the four elements, she had a slightly childish mentality, a boundless curiosity, and an interest in everything. Her powers, however, were top-notch. She excelled in debuffing opponents but was also versatile, capable of powerful attacks involving shadows, gravity manipulation, and more.
Spirits could only be seen by their contractor or other spirit users, which meant I could use her without worrying about Rud. Unfortunately, both the protagonist and Aria could see spirits, so I couldn’t employ her in the hierarchy battles.
“My apologies for summoning you so suddenly, Shade. Today, you can play as much as you like with our big friend over there. Anything you want.
“Eh?! Really!? Can I play to my heart’s content?”
“Of course. You can do whatever you like as long as you don’t break anything in this room.”
“Yay! I’m going to have so much fun!”
Shade happily responded, excited to play with the large golems in the room.
While I smiled, Shade seemed delighted as she bounced on my shoulder and then shot up to the ceiling at an incredible speed.
“Umm… Ahh! Everybody stop!”
With a bit of hesitation, Shade spoke those words, causing all the knight-type golems to freeze. This was the magic of the shadow element called Shadow Bind, which immobilized the target by binding its shadow. I could currently immobilize up to five without chanting, but Shade could easily stop dozens. Spirits, especially Spirit Kings, had impressive capabilities.
While this magic alone was remarkable, Shade’s idea of “playtime” was far from over.
“They’re all so big… I wonder if they’ll get smaller if I use [Crush]? But they’re such big toys; it’s better if they stay big, right?”
With Shade’s casual words, her gravity magic activated. Gravity many times stronger than normal pulled the golems down, and in the brief moments before it was released, the smaller golems, around five meters tall and with little magical power, couldn’t withstand the force and were crushed. They turned into thin, elongated sheets like iron plates.
“What the heck is this all of a sudden… Jin hasn’t even moved, but the golems are getting beaten up on their own…” Rud exclaimed in bewilderment.
Ignoring Rud’s bewildered voice from behind, I continued to focus on the task at hand. Could I convince them that everything happening here was just a gimmick of this room? If not, well, I would resort to this excuse no matter what.
While I contemplated this, Shade continued to have fun.
“Wow… This is amazing! My magic didn’t kill them! Jin-sama, can I use even stronger magic? Oh, and can I take a few of them home? They’d make great permanent toys!”
“Go ahead, Shade. Just don’t destroy the room, okay?”
“Of course! Okay, next up… [Sink]! And then… [Smash!]”
With Shade’s magic, a few golems were swallowed by the shadowy swamp, and the rest were crushed into minuscule sizes in an instant by her firm grip. The sight was extremely shocking, and Rud, who had already been startled, fainted.
“I should have blindfolded and earplugged him,” I muttered.
As Shade hopped back onto my shoulder with a satisfied look, she thanked me and said, “Let’s play again sometime!” before disappearing.
By the way, in the original story, Shade didn’t even make an appearance. She was briefly mentioned, and very few people knew much about her. Elemental spirits other than the four primary elements were rarely encountered by humans, and there were limited written records about them.
Just to clarify, the protagonist in the original story formed a contract with a light spirit, not a dark one. It seemed that forming contracts with both light and dark spirits was absolutely impossible.
The essence of the soul? It seemed to have something to do with that, but I had absolutely no idea what it meant.
Well… I guess it doesn’t matter right now. I’ll probably understand it eventually. Future me, you’ve got this!
I left it to my future self and used [Body Enhancement] to lift the unconscious Rud, heading towards our destination.