The Hero’s Brother Is Bound To Be Depressed

479 – Fire ingots

After receiving a signal from the Demon King, whose face was half swollen, I created a dimensional passage behind a creature whose body was made of flowers, called Hwagoe (花怪). The fireball immediately noticed the dimensional passage that appeared behind it without any sound, as if it had eyes on its back, and appeared to be on guard.

[Continuous huge explosions―――!]

When the Demon King used magic, the area around the fireball began to explode continuously, as if a missile bombardment had been launched. However, as soon as the hazy smoke disappeared, the color of the flower’s body changed to purple, and it absorbed the devil’s magic and used it against us.

Kwaaang―――!

However, since we already had information that the opponent could reflect magic, we had already left the scene using space magic before the explosion reached us. We moved behind the fire and launched a joint attack as planned.

[Burning skin―――!]

A haze rose around the fire, and the body was engulfed in invisible flames. However, the flowers that made up the flower cluster did not wither or burn; rather, they simply turned red as if adapting to the temperature of the fire. Before the magic could be reflected, Ellie’s synthetic magic attacked the fireball, and I took advantage of the opportunity to stab the spear into the fireball’s body.

Phew―――!

“… ?”

The sensation I felt at the window was strange. There was no resistance to the blade of the spear, as if it had been stabbed into a hollow tree. As expected, upon closer inspection, the place where the spear pierced was a gap between flowers.

“Ah, he is good at avoiding physical attacks due to the nature of his body.”

Without even having time to question whether I should say that now, I bent down and narrowly avoided the fist that was coming at me at incredible speed. Judging by the speed and the perceived wind pressure, a proper hit would have shattered his skull.

The fireball swung its other arm to attack me, but the Demon King, who deliberately used me as bait to create an opening, continued to use magic.

Tung-! Tung-! Tung-!

It was not a magic that caused direct damage to the fireball. The fireball exploded before it reached the body, causing only a shock wave. However, as a stagnant water in a labyrinth, the effect was clear. The magic did not reach the flower, and the flower pot, which could not absorb the magic, received no damage, but her body was pushed back little by little in the aftermath of the shock wave.

And the place where the Demon King intentionally pushed the fireball was where the dimensional passage I had previously created was located. After we moved to Hwagoi, the coordinates had been adjusted to the highest position in advance as requested.

“Ellie, push it in!”

“huh!”

thud-! thud-! thud-!

As the two wizards created shock waves in succession, the fireball was pushed further and further into the dimensional passage. The fireworks that moved above our heads struggled for a moment, but then he regained his balance and began to fall straight down, holding out his arms towards us.

“Ross, fall out with Ellie!”

I immediately used space magic to get out of the place with Ellie. The Demon King, who was left alone, used magic towards the fireball that was falling at an alarming speed.

[Burning skin―――!]

What are you thinking, using magic that doesn’t work again? Due to the Demon King’s magic, the body of the fireball became red and looked like a meteor entering the atmosphere.

“Up, it’s dangerous!”

Seeing the Demon King not doing anything to avoid the fireball falling on his head, Ellie shouted urgently, but the Demon King just stared at the falling fireball. Like a hunter waiting for the perfect time.

And finally the devil moved.

“now.”

As soon as the Demon King snapped his fingers, the fireball’s fist fell at an incredible speed and landed on the top of the Demon King’s head. A loud noise erupted along with a cloud of smoke.

Kwaaa!

“Ross!!!”

Ellie hurriedly waved her cane and pushed away the smoke. However, when I looked closely, I saw that it was not the same cloudy dust created by the fall, but water vapor created when water evaporates.

Where the smoke had gone, there were only scattered flowers. There was no trace of blood or flesh. It was so full of flowers that if a person passing by happened to see it, they would mistake it for a flower garden.

“… “Is he really dead?”

“No, I’m fine.”

My voice came back from somewhere. Ellie and I quickly looked around, but there was nothing to see around. Then we noticed that the road surface beneath our feet was trembling. The devil suddenly appeared like a mole, cracking the road, and without even shaking off the dust from his body, he stretched out his arms towards us.

“Surprise-”

Taaak-!

Eli’s staff struck the devil’s head. Judging by the sound, it was clear that either the cane or the skull had broken.

***

As I was moving with the Demon King’s guidance in search of the moving door that was required to get to the 8th floor, the Demon King, who was rubbing the lump on his head, opened his mouth secretly, as if his cooldown had expired.

“Do you know how I caught the fireball just now?”

“By tricking?”

“Hey, you can’t kill the monster on the 7th floor with a simple trick. He absorbs magic and ignores physical attacks! “If I were to fall from the air and die, how ashamed would it be for all the transcendental people who have died from that guy so far?”

After hearing it clearly, that is also true. Like a puppy asking for a snack, his eager eyes asked me to quickly ask him why, so I spoke as if I was truly curious.

“No, then how did you do it?!”

“Hehe, you still don’t know. It’s actually hard to know unless you’re a wizard. The opponent is a creature that has the ability to absorb magic and adapt to it. First, I intentionally used the Burning Skin magic to adapt my body to be resistant to fire. “Then I created a fake self-immolation using water and hid in the ground.”

“Self-immolation?!”

“Wow, that’s Tarantra’s specialty.”

While I was just reacting, I was really surprised by the name that came out of the Demon King’s mouth. It was a name I had slowly forgotten… What kind of relationship did the Demon King have with Tarantra?

“Do you know Tarantra?”

“of course. “He was my teacher too.”

“what?!”

This time, Ellie seemed surprised and showed interest in our conversation. It wasn’t the topic they were talking about, but when Ellie showed interest, the Demon King became excited and began to tell the story.

“You’re a green magic tower lord in the first place, right? He’s also a wizard, but he’s a unique wizard who knows how to make a lot of money. His personality is quite poor, but his skills are clear. “He saw my talent and accepted me as his student after taking first place in the academy duel.”

“Ross killed him because he was a bad guy in this world. “That too in the first year.”

I thought that wasn’t a very good explanation, but I didn’t bother to tackle it.

“Oh, I also killed Tarantra before I entered second grade. Does this mean that Tarantra and we can’t mix together?”

“… “Didn’t you just say that he was your teacher?”

I had no choice but to tackle this. The Demon King calmly shrugged his shoulders, do you understand? He looked at Ellie with an expression like this and said.

“Because it’s not uncommon for an eccentric magic master to prey on a talented student.”

“Ah, then there’s nothing I can do.”

I scratched my head as I saw Ellie nodding her head in agreement. It seems to be a topic that only wizards can relate to. Roughly speaking, it seems that Tarantra died after failing to make her the Demon Lord’s own, just like she did with Rotten.

“Anyway, back to the original story! The alter ego was created based on water. That’s why steam was created when it came in contact with the fireball that used the Burning Skin magic.”

Now I can understand why water vapor suddenly appeared. The Demon King continued his words.

“Because my clone was made with water magic, my body instantly adapted to the fireball that came into contact with the clone. But burning skin is a dot deal. Because two magics were absorbed and adapted at once, a crack appeared in the balance of the body. Because the surface curtain of water overlaps the burning skin. In the end, the fireball failed to absorb the damage from the fall.”

Is this why it is so stagnant? The Demon King carefully planned to hunt the fireball from the beginning. Upon hearing his sincere admiration, the Demon King smiled sheepishly and rubbed under his nose.

“Then how did you catch it when there was no space magic?

In response to Ellie’s question, the Demon King nodded as if it was obvious.

“You just have to cram in various magic until you can’t absorb any more magic. “If you absorb nearly 5,000 pieces of magic, your body will eventually not be able to withstand it and explode, just like your stomach explodes.”

“… “You know so much magic?”

When Ellie narrowed her eyes and asked suspiciously, the Demon King snorted as if it were absurd.

“Are you forgetting that one magic can be derived into hundreds depending on how it is used? There are dozens of different variations of burning skin. “You, who specializes in synthetic magic, can barely forget that!”

For the sake of my friend who fought hard, I quickly stepped forward before Ellie hit me. But for some reason, the Demon King, whose mouth was blocked by me, actually frowned.

This b*stard… Do you actually like being beaten by Ellie?

When the hand that was covering his mouth was released, the demon king, who was spitting and wiping his lips roughly as if he had touched something dirty, was about to say something when he suddenly raised his finger and pointed at something.

“It’s behind!”

On the road we passed, a raccoon carrying a small bag was toddling along and when it saw the devil pointing at itself with a finger, it quickly turned and started running.

“Splash! Grab it!!!”