Chapter 23: Chapter 23: This Isn’t Magic, It’s Tactics!
In the blackened crater, the fire was still burning fiercely.
That strong smell of roasted meat drifted through the cold wind of Shadow Forest and went straight into everyone’s nose.
No one spoke.
Even the Low Rank Magical Beast deeper in the forest, which had been in an uproar, seemed terrified by the shocking explosion just now. After letting out a few low whimpers, they became completely quiet.
Gulp.
In the deathly silence, someone swallowed hard.
Andrew was sitting in the mud, shaking all over like a man with severe Parkinson’s.
His expensive custom magic robe, which had looked so noble before, was now covered in foul mud and the stink of urine.
He stared blankly ahead at the huge pit, where thick black smoke was still rising.
There had originally been more than twenty terrifying Magical Beast there, creatures that could have torn them all to pieces alive!!
But now, not even a single complete wolf hair could be found.
Andrew slowly turned his stiff neck and looked at the black-haired boy whose hands were still in his pockets.
"M-monster..."
His teeth chattered wildly as he forced those broken words out from deep in his throat.
At this point, where was his pride and arrogance as a great noble??
In front of that terrifying explosion, his A-Rank earth defense magic had looked like a laughable toy made of mud!!
"So this is your power?!"
Fear filled Andrew’s bloodshot eyes.
He suddenly scrambled up from the mud in panic, not even caring that his ruby magic staff had fallen to the ground.
"You madman!! You’re a madman!!"
Letting out a pig-like scream, Andrew ran for his life toward the safe zone at the edge of Shadow Forest, along with the three noble lackeys who were just as terrified as he was.
Right now, he only wanted to get as far away from this devil as possible.
This guy looked lazy, but in truth he was a hundred times more terrifying than any Magical Beast.
Arthur did not even glance at the fleeing Andrew.
In his eyes, a noble young master who only knew how to bully others with his level and had zero real combat skill was not worth any extra attention.
He simply brushed a bit of dust off the hem of his mage robe.
Then Arthur turned and met Elena’s shocked ice-blue eyes.
This S-Class genius girl, known as the Academy Ice Rose, was gripping her mithril magic staff tightly.
Her knuckles had turned pale from using too much force.
For the first time.
This was the first time Elena had looked so seriously, so closely, into Arthur’s eyes.
Those black eyes were bottomless, calm like still water.
There was no weakness from using powerful magic, no joy or pride from instantly killing high-level Magical Beast.
It was as if he had just casually crushed a few annoying bugs.
"What... exactly did you do?"
Elena’s voice was a little dry, and it even carried a slight tremble that she did not notice herself.
She had been the closest just now, so she had seen everything most clearly.
Arthur had not used any elemental communication at all.
No prayer, no long chant, and he had not even used that tiny bit of F-Class Magic Power he had.
"That puddle of water, and that little spark... was that some kind of high-level combination magic?"
Elena took a step forward and stared hard at Arthur’s face, as if she wanted to find the answer there.
The solid view of magic she had built since childhood was falling apart bit by bit because of Arthur’s casual attack.
As far as she knew, Ice Element and Wind Element could be combined into a powerful snowstorm.
But that required a huge amount of Magic Power and perfect teamwork between two mages.
And Arthur had done it alone, in a single moment.
Seeing Elena’s expression, full of curiosity and almost a little desperate, Arthur’s lips curved into a lazy smile.
"Let me correct you."
Arthur raised one finger and gently shook it.
"That wasn’t water. It was magical grease, something that greatly reduces friction and is also highly flammable."
"And this wasn’t some high-level combination magic."
"It was just 1st-Level ’Grease ’, plus a tiny spark to light it."
Those words hit Elena like another bolt of thunder.
1st-Level magic?!
A tiny spark?!
What kind of joke was this?!
Elena felt like her intelligence had been deeply insulted.
"Impossible!!"
She could not help shouting, her chest rising and falling hard.
"How could a low-level 1st-Level spell release enough power to instantly destroy 3rd Rank Magical Beast like that?!"
"That completely breaks the law of conservation of magical energy!!"
Arthur could not help letting out a small laugh.
"Senior, your knowledge of magic theory really is strong."
"But you ignored the most basic physical and chemical reactions in nature."
Spreading his hands, Arthur began to explain patiently, in a tone like he was teaching simple science to an elementary school student.
"When a large amount of flammable grease is shaken and instantly turned into vapor inside a closed or half-closed space—"
"Then, if you add a high-temperature fire source strong enough to set it off at that moment—"
"It creates an extremely violent chain explosion, what we usually call a [fuel-air bomb] effect."
At that point, the easygoing look in Arthur’s eyes suddenly turned sharp.
"So this is not the power of magic itself."
"This is tactics."
Tactics!!
Those two words hit Elena’s heart like a heavy invisible hammer.
She stood there in a daze, replaying what had just happened again and again in her mind.
First, he used Grease to break the wolves’ charging formation, forcing them all to bunch up in a small area they could not control.
Then he used a precise little flame to instantly ignite the flammable material.
No wasted movement. Not a single bit of Magic Power wasted.
Every step was part of a perfect plan, so exact that it made her scalp tingle.
This was what a real genius looked like.
Compared to those mages who only knew how to stand still and throw giant fireballs at each other, this young man in front of her was the true master of battle—a grim reaper who understood combat to its core.
The way Elena looked at Arthur completely changed.
Her earlier doubt and contempt vanished without a trace.
In their place came deep respect, and a fierce curiosity she had never felt before.
"Arthur is the best!!!"
While Elena was still trying to rebuild her whole understanding of the world.
A small red figure had already shot forward like a fired cannonball and slammed straight into Arthur’s arms.
Lilian tightly wrapped herself around Arthur’s right arm, almost hanging off him completely.
"I knew it!! I just knew Arthur was the strongest!!"
The little princess’s golden eyes were now sparkling like they were full of stars.
She had been scared to death just a moment ago, but after seeing Arthur show such overwhelming power, her admiration was almost overflowing.
"What 3rd Rank Magical Beast? In front of Arthur, they’re all trash!!"
Lilian proudly lifted her chin, looking like a little hen celebrating a great victory.
"Hey, hey, Your Highness, watch your image."
Arthur tried helplessly to pull his arm free, but the little girl was holding on way too tightly.
Feeling the shocking softness pressing against his arm, Arthur could only give a bitter smile and stop struggling.
Just as the tension had finally started to ease—
"Clap. Clap. Clap."
A clear, slow round of applause suddenly came from behind the dark bushes not far away.
In the dead silence of the forest, the sound was especially jarring.
The lazy look in Arthur’s eyes instantly turned as cold and sharp as a blade.
Someone had been watching from the shadows the whole time?
And he had not noticed at all just now?
"Who’s there?!"
Elena reacted at once.
She sharply raised her mithril magic staff, and a deadly ice-blue magical light gathered again at the tip.
Even Lilian, who had been clinging to Arthur and acting spoiled just a moment ago, immediately lost her smile and quickly hid behind him like a startled kitten.
Along with the soft rustling sound of footsteps crushing fallen leaves.
A tall figure, full of deadly charm, slowly stepped out from the shadow of that huge black ancient tree.
It was a woman.
A woman so beautiful it took your breath away, yet as dangerous as a venomous snake.
Her neat dark-purple short hair gave off a cold, dim shine in the weak light of the forest.
A pair of pointed elf ears showed through her short hair, revealing her special identity as a half-elf.
Her face had the finest beauty of a human, but her amber eyes carried the cunning and coldness of an elf.
She wore a tight black leather outfit.
Its cut perfectly outlined her hot, curvy figure.
A large amount of pale skin was exposed to the air, yet it did not stir any improper thoughts at all.
Because hanging at her waist were two enchanted daggers, glowing with a dark green poisonous light.
"What an eye-opening performance."
The woman kept clapping as she walked forward.
Her steps were slow and relaxed, like a black panther inspecting its own territory.
But Arthur sharply noticed that with every step she took, her heels never fully touched the ground.
That was the fighting stance of a top-class assassin, ready to strike at any moment.
