C173: The Flower of Remnant Fire (3)
Casey Selmore, who was suppressing the fire outside, was anxious.
'What if something happens?'
Casey's intuition sensed that something big was coming soon.
As if to prove that her prediction was not wrong, a dazzling light gushed strongly from the warehouse.
"What…!"
Half of the water curtain surrounding the warehouse was blown away instantly. Even though it was only an aftermath, it shook her magic greatly. Casey frowned and sensed the familiar attributes contained in it.
'Is this the smell of water?'
That means that the magic used inside was water attribute magic and it was at least sixth-rank magic.
What baffled Casey Selmore was that he couldn't figure out what magic it was at first. It was a magic of water that she, a Colour wizard who deals with water doesn't know.
'Rudger Chelici. Why the hell is he……?'
At the moment when the curtain of water was half blown away due to the aftermath, Joanna Lovett arrived at the logistics warehouse.
"Sister…"
Joanna jumped into the burning warehouse.
"Wait! Stop!"
Aidan's group tried to chase after her, but they were suddenly blocked by the curtain of restored water.
"What's this?"
"Water? Is this magic? How can she envelop this huge warehouse with water……?"
Casey, who found four surprised people, approached.
"What are you guys doing here?"
"You are…?"
Casey waved at the four pairs of eyes looking at her.
"You're students, right? It's dangerous here, so stay back. Go get your teachers."
"Are you the one who cast this curtain of water?"
Aidan asked boldly and Casey nodded.
"By the way, don't you know who I am?"
"What? Who are…?"
"Oh my!"
It was Tracy Friad who screamed as only after seeing Casey's face clearly could she recognize her.
"Eh, Aidan! That's her! It's her!"
"Who is she?"
"Are you really asking because you don't know? It's crazy!"
Cried Tracy in a very excited voice.
"A wizard with the [Colour] title! Single Attribute Element Magic User! A genius detective who solved all kinds of dangerous cases! You don't know that Casey Selmore?!"
"Really?"
Casey, who was listening quietly, nodded.
"There is a student who knows me? That's unexpected."
"There's no way I wouldn't know. You're my role model!"
"Thank you, sweet lady. Normally, I would have given you an autograph, but unfortunately, I can't because of the situation."
Casey stared at the warehouse that was still on fire.
"That fire is dangerous. So everyone stay back."
"Hold on a second! A little while ago, a person went in there! If I leave it like this, she might die."
"A person? Oh no, did they enter when the barrier weakened?"
Casey, murmuring softly, shook her head.
"But it can't be helped. You guys wait here. That's not what's important."
"But!"
"It is not bad to have the will, but if you don't have the ability you'll only suffer. And you don't have to worry."
"What?"
"Because there's a pretty trustworthy person in there right now."
"A trustworthy person?"
Aidan asked, but Casey did not answer.
* * *
The light subsided and silence came to the warehouse.
Esmeralda still couldn't believe the present reality. The hot flames were almost gone and the remaining flames were still shining on the inside of the warehouse, but compared to the beginning, they were closer to a remnant fire.
Like a flower that gradually faded away, even the remaining flames slowly subsided. The fluttering embers were like petals that were blown away by the wind.
In the center of the fire, there was a man looking up at the sky. The light of firecrackers pouring down from the cracks in the open ceiling was lighting his back.
Esmeralda couldn't take his eyes off him but at that moment Rudger's body was out of balance and tilted. However he managed to stabilize his body and grabbed his head.
"This is still a little hard."
The mana recovery medicine he made was almost exhausted but fortunately, he managed to keep the seal under control.
Rudger was relieved that his actions didn't lead to a worrying catastrophe.
"Rudger Chelici."
Rudger looked back at Esmeralda after hearing his name.
Her face was messy and stained with soot and tears. Nevertheless, her beauty did not disappear, and she opened her mouth.
"Why did you save me?"
"……."
"As you know, we're not that close to each other."
Rudger knew that too.
The First Orders of the Black Dawn Society are not in a collaborative relationship. They are not on good terms and compete. Sometimes they hold hands, but it's also just a business deal.
Given that, Rudger's fight with Quasimodo was clearly not supposed to happen.
"You didn't have to fight. No, you didn't even have to be here in the first place. But why…."
"Didn't I tell you? It's because I don't like him."
Although he spoke of his excuse, Esmeralda did not believe it.
"Don't lie. Are you going to fight like that just because you don't like him? Don't tell me you're…."
Esmeralda, noticing something strange, blurted out the end of her words and Rudger's eyes narrowed and turned sharp.
It was then.
[That, that, that thing. A human being]
A hand of fire soared from the ground and grabbed Esmeralda's body.
"Argh!"
It was Quasimodo whom he thought was completely extinct. He reappeared in the form of the original ugly giant.
'He didn't die even after being hit by that? What an incredible life force.'
Was it because his existence itself is not in line with ordinary life?
'Not good.'
His mana has been almost used up since a while ago.
He was pretending to be relaxed now, but if Quasimodo comes back to life he would have no choice but to run away.
Even Esmeralda was captured by Quasimodo.
[Give me strength!]
"Argh!"
Esmeralda, caught in the hands of Quasimodo, screamed.
Rudger saw that Quasimodo was absorbing her power through an invisible thread connected between the two. The power extracted from Esmeralda was passed on to Quasimodo.
[Yes. Give me your strength. Give me life.]
Quasimodo laughed as he did not care about Esmeralda and Esmeralda, already physically and mentally wrecked, could not resist it.
[Esmeralda. Don't resist. You're a good girl, aren't you? You have to take revenge for us.]
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"!
Esmeralda screamed in pain while Rudger fired a spell at Quasimodo, but failed to hit him properly.
[You're weak. You're exhausted, too.]
Quasimodo grinned as he stared at Rudger. His eyes contained the joy of winning.
[Wait a little bit. I will quickly regain my strength and kill you in the most painful way.]
"……."
Rudger, who had a hard face, seriously considered whether to use the power of God.
'No. If I release the seal with the remaining mana, it will be irreversible then.'
Rudger looked back at Esmeralda. She also managed to move her head and stare at Rudger and grinned at him in pain.
"Run away…"
She wasn't asking him to help her but to run. Does it mean that she cares about others even in this situation?
"Hua."
Rudger sighed and swept his flowing bangs over his forehead. He grabbed the cane and aimed it at Quasimodo.
Quasimodo, whose upper body has already been fully regenerated, laughed with his mouth torn.
[Are you trying to fight until the end? I'll compliment you for not running away.]
Quasimodo laughed at Rudger as he made a sword of fire in his left hand and swung it.
Rudger's cane and the sword of fire collided, sparking flames in the air. He stepped back five steps and his hands were numb even though he lost most of his strength.
The protective magic that was protecting the body was almost out of effect. He felt like his clothes were getting tanned and his skin was getting ripe.
Despite the pain, Rudger didn't change his expression. With a cane sword in his hand he stared at Quasimodo.
Quasimodo felt a strange displeasure from that action.
[What are those eyes?]
Each time he swung his sword of fire, Rudger blocked or deflected it. He staggered but didn't collapse.
Why was he standing so firm? Why was he looking down at him even in this situation?
[You're dying…!]
Quasimodo's face was distorted with anger. No matter how weak he was now, he was annoyed by the reality that he could not subdue Rudger, who was equally exhausted.
[I'm sick of playing with you. Just die.]
Quasimodo opened his mouth wide at Rudger and a compressed high-temperature flame was fired at him.
Rudger, who held only one cane, had no room to escape.
"If you've come all the way here, isn't it time to move?"
And the moment Rudger muttered those words a large stone wall rose from the ground to block the flames of Quasimodo. At the same time, a sharp wind flew in and split Quasimodo's body, and water poured down over his head.
Three intermediate spirits of wind, water, and earth appeared around Rudger. Esmeralda noticed whose spirit they were.
"Selina?"
Unlike herself, who suppressed Quasimodo, Selina signed contracts with three intermediate spirits. Now the spirits appeared and saved Rudger.
[What is this all of a sudden?]
Quasimodo was surprised by the spirits' sudden appearance. The three spirits stood as if protecting Rudger and stared at Quasimodo.
"I wish you had helped me from the beginning."
The spirits reacted disapprovingly to Rudger's words.
Rudger is not loved by the spirits. Beyond simply not being able to win the favor of the spirits, it was his constitution that the spirits feared or avoided. But the Spirits who signed contracts with Selina turned up to help Rudger.
Their owner is Selina, but they have now decided to form an alliance with Rudger as a stopgap measure.
[What are you going to do with three intermediate spirits?]
"This is enough for you, who is weak enough."
"Ngh!"
The Spirit of the Wind in the shape of a horse carried Rudger on his back. The moment the horse hit the ground, a gust of wind blew past Quasimodo. At the same time, Quasimodo's left arm holding the sword was cut off.
Rudger again pointed the edge of his sword at Quasimodo.
[You bloody fools!]
Quasimodo aimed for Rudger, but he was already far away with the Spirit of Wind. At the same time, a water cannon was fired at the back of his head and hit Quasimodo.
The Butterfly-shaped Spirit of Water wandered through the sky and continued to attack Quasimodo.
Quasimodo tried to remove the most annoying spirit of water first but before he could act the ground rose in a stampede and blocked the front of Quasimodo.
[How dare you ant!?]
Quasimodo regenerated his severed left arm.
He curled up and fired balls of fire everywhere, although they were only fist-sized flames, they were fatal.
Rudger analyzed Quasimodo condition and gave the Spirit of the Wind an order.
'It's not good. The spirits won't last long.'
The situation seemed to be favorable to them at first glance, but in reality it was the opposite.
The three spirits that have now been summoned beyond the will of the contractor are like candles that could be extinguished at any moment.
'Quasimodo continues to be strong.'
He was gradually trying to return to his heyday by forcibly extracting strength from Esmeralda.
'On the other hand, there are only a few magic spells that I can use.'
He could only use real magic twice before the seal would go out of control so he had to end Quasimodo with two spells.
'What?'
Something was caught in Rudger's sight, who was riding on the Spirit of the Wind to escape the attack of Quasimodo.
"What, what happened?"
The blonde man, covered in soot, was staggering up. Crollo, who fainted in the corner of the warehouse, opened his eyes.
Rudger was dumbfounded, and even in this urgent situation, he laughed.
'I can't believe he didn't die during the fight. He's a lucky guy. Is it because of the expensive armor on the body?'
He didn't have to care about Crollo Fabius anymore because he ruined his plan with his unexpected behavior and that made Rudger rather annoyed.
'Wait.
Rudger's eyes shone and he just came up with a good idea that could kill Quasimodo.
"Giddy up!"
Rudger spurred its movement by tapping the wind spirit on the back.