Ospreet’s magic cannot be seen and dodged.
From beginning to end, his spells are completed entirely at the enemy’s location, and their manifestation speed is only slightly slower than Elodie’s. In other words, absurdly fast.
So to avoid it, you have to keep moving. You must read the presence of Ospreet’s mana and leave the spot you’re standing on. In fact, Frondier did exactly that when he fled the Empire.
However, that was only because Ospreet had had no intention of hitting Frondier in the first place.
PUUUUNG!
“KRAAAAGH!”
The group of gods moving to the left screamed.
“You think simply moving is enough.”
Ospreet’s magic landed. Naturally, he wasn’t a fool. He predicts where the enemy will move and manifests his magic there.
And that prediction rate is chillingly high.
“Even so, I do at least have the brains to teach students, gods.”
“Y-you insolent human bastard!”
The enraged gods. Watching them, I thought:
‘At the very least, the lower-ranking gods are manageable. At that level, even soldiers and knights can fight them.’
Gods are overwhelming as individuals. Someone like Ospreet exceeds that level entirely, but the fact that one must single out Ospreet among humans shows just how rare he is.
That’s how stark the gap between gods and humans is—but gods are far fewer in number.
This is close to a natural law. By their very nature as beings worshipped by humans, gods outnumbering humans would make no sense.
In other words, this war is the reverse of the Manggot War. The Empire’s side has greater numbers, but inferior power.
War is a contest of scale. When the difference in troop numbers is this large, individual strength differences can usually be ignored—
“Everyone, get out of the way.”
The owner of that voice was—
One of the Twelve Gods: Atena.
In her hand was a single spear.
“Ugh...!”
KRAAANG─!!
Ospreet hurriedly raised a barrier, and at the same time twisted it so as not to take it head-on.
A spear thrown by a god. He couldn’t simply block it.
Even so, he’d nearly deflected it—yet the barrier was left in tatters.
A barrier wielded by someone said to be close to a Grand Mage, reduced to rags in a single strike.
“You can block it.”
Atena spoke with pitiless eyes.
“Shall we see if the other humans can?”
“......!”
Next appeared another of the Twelve Gods: Artemis.
Rarely involving herself in human affairs, she gripped her bow with a hardened expression.
That bow was, of course, Criselachatos.
“This is bad...!”
An arrow that never misses its target—
will become rain.
The arrows of light that had once been the Empire’s hope.
Now turned into enemies, pouring down upon their heads.
Ospreet and the mages stationed at the barrier hurriedly deployed layers of defense.
PUH-BUHBUBUK!
“AAAAAAH!!”
Human screams erupted simultaneously. In an instant, hundreds died.
Some arrows were blocked, some broke through, some evaded the barriers entirely. Many were stopped—but the arrows were simply too numerous to begin with. Truly falling like rain.
‘When this power was on our side, it felt so reassuring!’
Ospreet swallowed his saliva.
This is what happens when you face the Twelve Gods of Olympus. Concepts like “scale of war” simply stop applying. No matter the numbers involved, Zeus alone shatters the very idea of armies.
“Ospreet, you are indeed impressive, but what will you accomplish alone?”
Zeus spoke.
One of the Twelve Gods, Hestia, had failed to block them even with her own forces. It was impossible for Ospreet alone.
Granted—
“You’re right.”
A Grand Mage does not attempt the impossible.
“But who said I would?”
As he spoke, Ospreet raised his other hand.
One hand maintained the coordinate-designation spell, thumb pressed to his chest. The other pointed in a direction.
That direction was toward the gods.
Seeing this, the gods thought:
Another attack is coming.
Having reached that conclusion, they quickly retreated from the area Ospreet indicated.
The power Ospreet had just demonstrated. Magic too fast to avoid after seeing it, exploding exactly where it manifested—sharpened their caution.
And so, a gap formed in the direction Ospreet pointed.
He knew it would.
Spatial magic
Double incantation
Instant activation
What manifested where Ospreet pointed was not destruction magic.
If it were that level of spell, he wouldn’t need to point with his finger in the first place.
Ospreet – incantation
One verse
‘I am the one who designates the next step.’
Ospreet’s incantation.
Then, at the spot he pointed to, someone answered.
Jane – incantation
One verse
‘I am the one who steps ahead.’
Ritual complete
Blink
Jane, a Constel instructor, had arrived.
“......Hah...!”
A spell that crosses space itself.
In the past, when Ospreet temporarily left the world and became acting headmaster, Jane had been there.
At that time, due to the effects of grand magic, Jane became capable of using spatial magic.
She has since lost that magic, but the knowledge remains.
In other words, her understanding of spatial magic had already increased dramatically back then.
And with Ospreet’s help now—
“Our headmaster has been rather rude.”
Jane spread both hands.
The gods who had hastily retreated tried to block even now—but when every one of her fingers began to glow differently, they realized that choice was wrong.
“This time, I’ll be the rude one.”
Simultaneous magic casting
Tenfold incantation
Jane Original
Butterfly Dream
The magic blooming from ten fingers spread outward around her like wings—
FWAAAT!
—and each spell surged toward the gods.
“Damn it, defend!”
The gods countered with their respective weapons, but some failed to handle the close-range bombardment and were struck head-on.
Jane surveyed the surroundings.
‘My magic lacks firepower. It’s pointless against higher-ranking gods!’
Her spells were aimed exclusively at lower-ranking gods. Only that tier could fall for an ambush like this.
Even if caught off guard, higher-ranking gods have reaction speeds far beyond humans, making openings difficult to exploit.
Jane’s dazzling magic stirred up gusts of wind, forming clouds of dust, and the explosions upon reaching the gods darkened the surroundings even further.
In the meantime—
“Move!”
The Constel instructors who had arrived with Jane all left the barrier.
Each took command of troops. Thanks to their performance in the Manggot War, they’d been granted partial command authority in this war; most of the soldiers under them were elite troops trained thoroughly at the Imperial Palace.
Alongside them advanced the palace knights.
Unlike the Manggot War, not a single one among them now wore a pitiful expression.
However—
“Why isn’t that cheeky girl anywhere to be seen?”
“You miss her now that she’s gone?”
“Hah! Nonsense! I was planning to smack her on the head if I saw her!”
They searched needlessly for the absent Elodie. After being scolded by her, witnessing her skill and overwhelming power, they had begun to change.
Elodie wasn’t the entirety of that change—but she was clearly the starting line.
“All right, let’s go!”
At the very front was Commander Sanders, overseeing all the knights in this battle.
KWAKWAKWANG!!
Ospreet and Jane unleashed their magic, attacking the gods while stirring up even more dust, further darkening the battlefield.
Through that cloud, soldiers and knights charged forward.
‘What are they doing?’
Understanding the situation, Zeus furrowed his brow.
The humans had abandoned the defensive advantage of the barrier themselves. This was completely different from the Manggot War.
Ignoring a position ideal for solidifying a defensive formation and instead advancing forward—it was no different from marching to their deaths.
‘I’ll kill them all before they even reach us!’
At that moment, nearly all the gods—including Zeus—shared the same thought.
The Twelve Gods, in particular, each wielded their own weapon. Artemis, Atena, Apollo. They intended to wipe out the human army before it fully arrived—
—but when the smoke cleared.
“......!”
They were already fighting the lower-ranking gods.
“UAAAAAAA!!”
The soldiers charged madly, swinging their swords. Most strikes missed, but some flustered gods were pierced, knocked down, crushed under the weight of the advancing troops.
‘How did those soldiers get there?’
With skilled aura usage, it might be possible—but there’s no way all those soldiers can operate aura. Even if they can coat weapons with it, boosting bodily speed is far harder.
Yet, it had already happened.
Humans had mixed among the gods, plunging into a chaotic melee.
Across their bodies, here and there, shone strange, patterned lights.
***
“So, they managed to turn it into a melee for now.”
Behind the barrier.
There was someone hiding, unseen by the gods.
No—two people.
“Hey, Dierre. Is this really the right way to do things?”
Dierre Aiger, receiving the question, replied as always while jotting something down in his notebook.
“To deal with inferior numbers, a melee. Classic stuff.”
“But to the point of abandoning the barrier’s advantage?”
The one speaking was Edwin von Behertio.
Edwin researches methods of enhancing physical abilities by inscribing magic circles on the body. His results are astonishing—so much so that Edwin, who originally had little talent for combat, can beat down demons that attack him alone.
Nearly all the soldiers now bore Edwin’s magic circles.
Kwak.
Dierre clamped the pen between his teeth and glanced over the barrier. The pen crackled and flashed—then Dierre placed ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) it back onto the notebook, and sentences engraved themselves upon the page.
“Most gods can fly. The moment that’s the case, the barrier’s advantage is already mostly gone. And the bigger problem is that the barrier itself completely separates allies and enemies.”
“Why does that matter? Isn’t separating them necessary for focused fire—ah.”
Edwin realized it himself.
Dierre nodded.
“In my opinion, the moment the gods entered firing range, they planned to blow away both the barrier and the human forces at the same time.”
And humans would absolutely be unable to respond to that.
No matter how solid a barrier Ospreet and the other mages built, how long could it last before a god’s weapon? Above all, Ospreet couldn’t be expended like that.
Just then, someone approached the two.
Zodiac Daisy.
“Alright! It’s time now, right? Our turn?”
“Yes! Please keep Artemis in check in particular! Her bow is dangerous!”
“Okay!”
A short, cheerful reply.
With that, Daisy kicked off from atop the barrier—
“Oh.”
All Zodiac members charged toward the Twelve Gods of Olympus.
Watching, Edwin spoke.
“I see. Lower-ranking gods get tied up in melee by soldiers and knights with numerical advantage, while higher-ranking gods are handled by the Zodiac and Ospreet.”
“Yes. Things are going well so far. It’s fortunate that only Olympus’s gods arrived.”
Dierre doesn’t know what’s happening in the other worlds.
But one thing he knows for certain.
Frondier is in another world right now.
‘Whatever’s happening, Asgard and the demons not being here must be because of Senior.’
Even if he didn’t accomplish everything alone, his actions at least prevented two worlds from making it here.
So then, at least one must be stopped.
“Good. At this rate, there shouldn’t be a problem.”
“If the Zodiac’s strength is comparable to that of higher gods, that is.”
“Of course it is! The Zodiac’s power will reach the level of gods!”
Edwin clenched his fist, filled with hope.
Dierre watched him briefly—then bit the pen again and looked beyond the barrier.
......For now, the battlefield looked fine.
But Dierre’s intuition.
Dierre is the type who always prepares for the worst and constantly turns scenarios over in his head.
That type tends to share a common trait.
Unfortunately, bad premonitions are usually right.
‘......The Zodiac probably can’t defeat higher gods.’
The current Zodiac lacks divine power. They’re fighting their own former owners—so it’s only natural.
Of course, even without divine power, the Zodiac is strong. But to fight gods, mere strength isn’t enough.
‘What worries me most is the Zodiac panicking.’
Dierre had learned Edwin’s magic circles at his side and trained to use them.
That’s why he knows.
The shock that accompanies sudden loss of power.
‘Please don’t let their mental state waver. If only they can bring out the full 100% of what they still have.’
Dierre prayed, carrying worry, anxiety, and expectation.
However, that wish would not be granted.
Which was only natural.
Hope was the product of Dierre’s heart.
Anxiety was the product of Dierre’s mind.
And for Dierre, which one held the upper hand—the answer was already clear.
