No to Being the Suffering Heroine!

A squirrel Beastfolk named Rabika, who was particularly sensitive to the term “auntie,” was the only magic swordsman in Bagest.

Well, if we consider how she fought wielding clawed gauntlets like a martial artist, should we call her a magic martial artist instead?

Still, there was only one type of magic she could use.

“Fulgur!(Thunder!)”

A short incantation.

Every time Rabika shouted hysterically, her branch-like tattoos glowing red from her shoulder blades down to her arms would spark with electrical energy.

That was the way of the magic swordsman.

Unlike mages who utilized spells and mana from spellbooks, magic swordsmen inscribed magic formulas onto their bodies and based their magic on those tattoos.

The mages had the critical disadvantage of being tethered to their spellbooks with one hand, forcing them to fight with just the other arm.

While mages could easily fight while holding their books, the role of a magic swordsman was to engage in close combat with the enemy like a warrior.

Telling someone to wield a sword with one hand while holding a book in the other? That’s just crazy talk!

Hence, magic swordsmen had turned to the tattoo magic system, a technique that had fallen out of favor in the pure magic academia.

As long as they accepted the hassle of needing to re-tattoo every so often, they could reliably wield magic while keeping both arms free.

Of course, that didn’t solve all their problems.

If the only downside of tattoo magic was inconvenience, it wouldn’t have been completely abandoned by the academic community.

Tattoo magic had a critical flaw. A fundamental limitation that could never be overcome, no matter how hard they tried to mimic spellbooks.

Kwarrrr!

That was the seventh thunderclap.

The claws swinging wildly with a shower of lightning smashed through the wall like tofu, yet Ashel had already jumped off the wall and perfectly dodged it.

Her reflexes were as quick as a beast’s.

Swaaaak!

Two daggers were thrown simultaneously.

“You think this is going to—ugh…!”

Rabika scoffed and swung her arms to deflect the daggers aimed at her head and thighs, but suddenly her expression contorted as she faltered.

Her vision went dark, and a strong headache hit her.

“Damn it…!”

Chaing! Sklatch!

She quickly regained her stance to deflect the daggers, but her defense was just slightly late.

The dagger aimed for her head was perfectly deflected, but the other one veered off its path and grazed Rabika’s calf.

“Argh…!”

Rabika bit her lip. A sharp pain surged, and the wound felt like it was burning. The blade definitely had poison on it.

“Feeling a bit wobbly, aren’t we? Already fainting from blood loss? Maybe it’s your age catching up with you!”

Ashel giggled mockingly as she elegantly landed, taunting Rabika over her weakness.

“Ugh…! You little brat…!”

Rabika could only spit out curses, unable to muster a proper rebuttal. She was too busy concentrating on suppressing the poison, and it was hard to argue with the truth of it.

The deadly flaw of the tattoo magic system employed by magic swordsmen.

By using their own bodies as spellbooks instead of a source of magic power, magic swordsmen consumed their own vitality every time they cast spells.

Unlike mages who could unleash magic without limit within a specific range, magic swordsmen would grow exhausted the more they used their magic.

In other words, even wasting magic would worsen their condition as if they were losing blood, until they ultimately ran out of energy to even keep their hearts beating.

That was why tattoo magic had been abandoned by the academic community and why magic swordsmen were treated like they were inadequate if they collapsed in three minutes, as depicted in ‘the original work.’

Even Rabika, who had better stamina than humans due to her beastfolk nature, couldn’t fully overcome that limit.

After all, the majority of her impressive stamina was used to maintain her superior physical abilities and regeneration, meaning her endurance wasn’t significantly different from humans.

“Clink-clink, clink-clink! Running away won’t work!”

Thus, Rabika was struggling more than expected.

She had anticipated easily overpowering someone like Ashel, but Ashel’s movements surpassed everything she had imagined.

“Damn it… if only I hadn’t made that initial mistake!”

If only her body movements had just gotten faster, she wouldn’t have struggled so much. But her first attack had accidentally failed, making everything more difficult.

She aimed to strike down the annoying girl in one blow and torment her delightfully with lightning nets at her maximum output.

If hit directly, even Lakan would be momentarily paralyzed by that immense power, yet Ashel had thrown twenty daggers at once to scatter the lightning nets.

Usually, she wouldn’t have more than six daggers at hand, so why was she carrying nearly thirty today?

That was something Rabika couldn’t even begin to guess.

Of course, Ashel hadn’t managed to block all the electrical strikes perfectly; her left arm was scorched up to her shoulder.

Chiiiii…!

While only her skin and muscles burned, her bones remained uninjured, and she was gradually regenerating her left arm, albeit slowly.

Given the energy cost of that attack, it was a terrible result. The accumulated damage was piling up like a rolling snowball, pushing her toward physical exhaustion.

On the other hand, sensing that Rabika’s energy had diminished significantly, Ashel wore a triumphant smile, despite the pain coursing through her arm.

“Your poison removal speed is slow. Your response time to deflecting daggers is sluggish. Perfect, now I can…!”

Having exhausted most of her equipment and holding on through the fiery pain in her arm, she had been rolling on the ground to take advantage of the situation.

Thanks to that, she managed to gain a slight edge over Rabika, who was clearly stronger in purely physical terms.

“I told you. I’ll finish this in three minutes!”

“Shut up, you stinking rat!”

Rabika lunged like a beast, swinging her claws.

Ashel deftly evaded Rabika’s fierce attacks, springing off crumbled walls and roofs, and darting in to jab with sword and daggers whenever an opening appeared.

“Are you just going to keep spouting stinky rat nonsense? I’d swim through sewage before I’d be as bad as you!”

In between dodges, Ashel’s taunts were aimed to rile up Rabika—to make her unleash more magic, thus benefiting Ashel.

Of course, that was provided she could dodge the lightning in the first place.

“What? Stinking rat?!”

“Yeah. The smell of a rotten rag is overwhelming; maybe that’s magic too? This is even stronger than your lightning bolts!”

“You little bastard!”

Those jabs were surprisingly effective.

Anyone would get angry when hearing insults from someone they considered beneath them. Especially with Rabika’s beastfolk temperament, her rage was even fiercer.

“Screw capturing you alive! I’m going to fry that mouth of yours whole!”

Losing control, Rabika extended her arms wide and roared—no, it was more like a beastly scream of rage.

Pajiijijijij!

The tattoos on her back and arms glowed fiery red, and her whole body crackled with small lightning currents.

She was about to unleash her maximum firepower. This was the opportunity Ashel had been waiting for.

Now!

Ashel focused all her power into her legs and pushed off the ground, her eyes wide with determination.

Baaaang!

A thunderous charge, so powerful that the rooftop she landed on exploded.

“You little—!”

In the next instant, a thick bolt of lightning erupted like a storm.

A torrent of thunder was unleashed with all its force concentrated straight ahead. Even the smallest stray currents could smash through bricks of the roof.

Flashes and roars engulfed the entire alley.

Kyahhh!

Ashel, sensing something shine, threw away the sword she’d been holding.

Throwing away the sword? Is she planning to die with me?!

Rabika flinched as the blade flew towards her like a javelin.

No, as long as I dodge the vitals…!

As long as she avoided her heart and head, she wouldn’t die.

With her energy having hit rock bottom as a trade-off for using magic, a mundane piercing wound would still be risky, but as long as it didn’t kill her, she could take her time to regenerate.

Such a fool. You might die instead!

Feeling a loss of strength, Rabika focused all her concentration on the sword blade that was racing toward her.

Kak!

Yet, ironically, Ashel’s thrown sword didn’t even reach Rabika’s toes before lodging itself into the roof a step ahead of her.

Ha, I worried for nothing!

Rabika smirked with a sense of victory.

And then.

Kwarrrr!

Some of the lightning generated veered toward that sword, smashing against the roof. Chunks of stone shot up like fountains.

It was of no concern to Rabika.

While its power had dispersed somewhat, even the leftover lightning was enough to fry a young wolf beastfolk.

“Not yet…!”

Because of that, the six daggers that Ashel had thrown were merely viewed as desperate throws by Rabika.

Each dagger’s trajectory was awkward, as if they couldn’t keep up with Ashel’s speeding movements, and even just six daggers were clearly insufficient to distribute the thunder’s power effectively.

Kugh…!

The sight of Ashel desperately scraping the ground to stop her forward momentum felt like nothing more than a moment of mockery to Rabika. After all, it was too late to evade.

Kakakakak!

Right after, the daggers thrown by Ashel all lodged into the roof, precisely a step away from Rabika, forming a crescent around her.

…Huh?

This couldn’t just be a throwing mistake; the arrangement was far too systematic. Rabika felt a sudden, inexplicable rush of intuition.

But she soon dismissed it.

Whatever it is, it’s too late!

Whatever trick Ashel had in mind, Rabika was sure she couldn’t dodge the oncoming full blast of thunder that was already mere footsteps away.

Kwarrrrrr!

In the next moment, along with the six streaks of lightning, Rabika’s vision dropped dramatically. Unable to withstand the shock and weight, the debris from the roof collapsed with her.

“Ugh!?”

Rabika screamed, caught by the sudden sensation of weightlessness, only to see her last bolt of thunder brush helplessly against the roof surface.

Kyahhhhh!

Ashel leaped as high as she could to dodge the lightning.

Damn it, this crazy girl!

This catastrophe occurred because the magic was fired in a straight line from Rabika’s hands. As her body rose, her hands had lowered, and so did the path of the magic.

Just by leaping high enough, she could avoid being fried.

Although her right leg was burned up to her knee, compared to being fully charred, that damage hardly counted.

“This crazy rat—!”

Rabika screamed in a voice boiling with rage.

Above her head, through the hole in the ceiling, a shadow was cast by the gray wolf with blue eyes.

Stop it, I must stop it!

She needed to swing her claws to counterattack. No, she at least had to make a block.

However, her steel claws had long since melted into a gooey mass under the vast energy, and due to her depleted strength, her body could hardly respond.

No! Wait! Aah…!

Dying!

Thud.

Ashel’s dagger penetrated straight into the center of Rabika’s brows as she stared wide-eyed with despair.

Gahhh….

Rabika’s eyes rolled back in a lifeless gaze.

Boom!

The body crashed to the floor, sending a mixture of dust and blood flying.

“…Crazy. Please tell me she didn’t just die?”

This happened just a minute before Hilde, looking for Ashel at Ena’s request, arrived on the scene.

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