Chapter 29
Sensing a new opponent, the demon turns towards Alexei. He stares back, his neon-blue eyes shining. In those eyes, there is not a single shred of fear, only overwhelming magic power gathering up.
Alexei waves his right hand.
Boom!
An ice spear appears, piercing through the demon's body. Alexei didn't throw the spear at the demon; he created it inside the demon's body. He has flawlessly executed a difficult spell and tore the demon apart from within.
Amazing! Brother is strong! So coool~!
The demon staggers in a violent shudder. But it howls again and shakes its body, breaking the ice spear. Bluish black blood gushes out, but the bleeding stops almost immediately.
I recall Mardu-sensei's advice:
'Unlike other creatures, demons won't die unless their cores are destroyed. A demon's core usually can be found in their heart, but it isn't uncommon for a demon's core to be elsewhere. Some have their cores in their legs or tails. If attacking the heart doesn't destroy a demon's core, you should stop and focus on restricting its movements instead.
It is difficult to destroy a demon's core with earth-attributed magic to begin with, therefore I recommend imprisoning it within earth to restrict its movement.'
Alexei's attack should have destroyed the demon's heart, but it seemed that the magic core wasn't there.
Then, there are no alternatives but to bury the creature underground in order to seal its movement. But would that work against something this agile? There is only one way to find out!
Or so I thought, when water from the fountain on the training grounds burst and shot up high.
A deluge of water rained down on the demon from up above.
With the addition of Alexei's magic, the demon was frozen solid.
Water...That's right. The person responsible for using the water magic should be...
When I looked at the entrance of the training grounds, the person I expected was standing there by Alexei's side. The prince with hair the color of the summer sky; Prince Mikhail. It was the first time I've ever seen him make such a frighteningly serious expression, and the amount of magic that radiated from him was no less than Alexei's.
A pair of noble and royal, super handsome men fighting together side by side! That's super moe! If only it wasn't for this three meter-long demon, struggling and flailing in front of the two, trying to smash the ice on its head!
No matter how lovely the two of them are, I'm too scared to look away from the demon! The earth is shaking like crazy!
However, Mikhail wasn't just supplying mere water magic. Every time the demon crushed some ice, he would shoot a spear of water at the beast to stagger its body movement, stopping its attacks before enclosing it in ice once again. He displayed a splendid control of magic.
I wonder if Alexei and Mikhail knew how to deal with demons. They seem to have experience fighting them, at least.
Even though both of them are members of the highest class in the Empire, they seem to have so much experience. Truly amazing!
When I came back to my senses, the ground around the demon was all muddied up. If that's the case...
It's hard to control earth that contains elements other than itself, but I mustered up all of my magical power. The mud slowly crept up the body of the demon, and the frosty air froze it. It's said that frozen earth is as hard as concrete, so this should be far more effective than plain ice at sealing its movement.
Furthermore, the demon's own struggles continued to plunge it deeper into the mud, as it sank deeper and deeper due to its own movements. The mud it dug up also froze it even more, and this only served to restrict its movements even further.
Before I realized it, I was already hyperventilating heavily. Gosh, I'm tired!