“Schieber-san, what do you think?” [Ryouma]
“Better than I expected. Looks like you didn’t need our help, after all.” [Schieber]
“I was watching for awhile, and I must say, a stone wall that can stack itself sure is convenient. I see they’re easy to rebuild and fine tune too.” [Remilie]
Schieber-san and Remilie-san were both watching me, so I asked them how I did, and they told me that it was good enough. Apparently, they finished preparing the tents and the bonfire first, as Sebasu-san could be seen behind Remilie-san with steaming cups on a tray, while Reinbach-sama could be seen tending to the bonfire.
“You did a good job. Please have some tea.” [Sebasu]
“Thank you.” [Ryouma]
“Ryouma-kun, you can sit here.” [Reinbach]
I took Reinbach-sama’s offer and sat on one of the chairs in front of the fire. Schieber-san, Remilie-san, and Schieber-san also took their seats, and we all sat around the fire.
I didn’t notice it when I was moving, but the wind in the canyon is cold and strong. My body temperature would quickly drop staying still, so I warmed myself with the fire and the tea.
“Ah, rest at long last.” [Ryouma]
“Yes, you should rest as much as you can while posssible.” [Reinbach]
No one disagreed with that, so we quickly had our supper, chatted, and rested ourselves physically and mentally. Before long, the sun finally set, and…
“I wouldn’t have minded even if things didn’t go as predicted, but…” [Reinbach]
As the clock struck their hour, the undead revealed themselves from the darkness. Skeletons and zombies came of course, but there were wisps, undead that resembled human souls, and wraiths, flying half-translucent human-shaped undead, too.
Their numbers continued to increase, but they didn’t show any signs of trying to get past our defensive line perhaps due to the light attribute mana used in the Holy Space. But it would be risky to leave them alone, and it also wouldn’t be any good for our mental health, so we decided to get rid of them.
“They came, so we’ll have to deal with them. Let’s do this quickly.” [Remilie]
“But of course.” [Ryouma]
During our supper, it was decided that Remilie-san and I would wipe out the undead with our light magic. In exchange, lookout duty could be put off for later, and we would be able to get proper rest. If nothing else happens, this should be the last job for the day. I need to do my best.
“We might as well have a little competition while we’re at it.” [Remilie]
“A hunting competition?” [Ryouma]
“Yeah, we have to kill them anyway, we might as well enjoy ourselves. Whoever kills more wins, and the loser will have to do one favor for the winner.” [Remilie]
“As long as it’s nothing too unreasonable… Wait a second. Isn’t a magic competition too unfavorable to me? Knowledge-wise and experience-wise?” [Ryouma]
“In that case, how about we compete with just our Light Balls? That way there won’t be that much of a gap in skill. Let’s also set a time limit. If we competed until one side ran out of mana, I’d be at an disadvantage, while you’d be at a disadvantage if we limited the number of shots since you have less experience.” [Remilie]
“Right, that should even things out a bit.” [Ryouma]
“Are we both in agreement? In that case, let’s go with these rules. Sebasu-chan and the others will serve as our referee and tell us how many undead we’ve killed!” [Remilie]
“Very well.” [Sebasu]
“Fine, I’ll play along.” [Reinbach]
“In that case, I’ll be the one to count Ryouma’s kills.” [Schieber]
It was in this way that Remilie-san and I ended up competing. The undead were split into two groups via Holy Space, then we started our little competition.
“Ready?” [Sebasu]
“Yes.” [Ryouma]
“Anytime.” [Remilie]
“The time limit is 10 minutes. Begin!” [Sebasu]
At Sebasu-san’s signal, I aimed at the head of the skeletons before me.
“Light Ball.” [Ryouma]
Then I shot a Light Ball straight for the head, disintegrating it and piercing another one behind it. I could take down several undead at the same time by shooting at the places were the undead clumped up, but…
“Light Ball.” [Remilie]
“!? W-What is that!?” [Ryouma]
When I noticed the shadows stretching from behind me, I realized that there were an unusual number of light sources, so I turned around. And as it turns out, Remilie-san had summoned ten Light Balls with a single cast. Moreover, every one of them accurately shot through the heads of the undead.
“This is a technique known as Parallel Casting. It allows the caster to cast the same spell multiple times at the same time. ‘Light Ball’. It needs some training to use, but… ‘Light Ball’.” [Remilie]
Remilie-san was kind enough to explain, but she didn’t stop attacking even once and even showed me a triumphant smile as though she had this game in the bag. It was then that it dawned on me.
“Don’t tell me… The reason you didn’t want the number of shots restricted was for this?” [Ryouma]
“It’s too late even if you realize it now. ‘Light Ball’.” [Remilie]
“That’s so childish!” [Ryouma]
In that case, I have no choice but to try Parallel Casting too! Remilie-san taught me how to do it too since she was so sure she’d win, so…
“Light Ball… Tch.” [Ryouma]
I gave it a try, but it was difficult. I managed to cast multiple Light Balls at the same time, but five at a time was the most I could do. More than that and I couldn’t maintain them all the way to the shooting phase. Moreover, even if I did succeed in maintaining them, I would fail to move them individually, and in the end, the five Light Balls would shoot at one target. Not only was this pointless, it was a waste of mana.
I could somehow manage with two Light Balls and shoot at two different targets, but then the aim would be off. One would kill, while the other would miss. It was like trying to draw two different things with my left and right. This doesn’t seem like something I’d be able to do right away.
In that case, I have no choice but to go with my normal Light Ball and shoot faster and more accurately. But I can shoot at most 2 to 3 times in the time it takes her to shoot 10, so the gap in our score is just getting bigger and bigger.
…There’s no point in asking for the impossible, but it sure would be great if I could take out multiple enemies at the same time… Isn’t there some way?
But even as I pondered that to myself, I never stopped shooting the undead precisely one after another.
It’s safe since the undead aren’t trying to get inside the Holy Space. I am paying some attention to them, but when it’s like this, it feels like I’m back at the arcade shooting zombies. Moreover, since the zombies aren’t attacking, it feels like I’m playing on easy mode.
…Come to think of it, I haven’t played any games since coming to this world. I wonder how that series is doing by now. I was into it for awhile… If I recall correctly, choosing the ammo was really important. I’m not that privy to it since I sucked despite liking it, but there was the explosive ammo, the machine gun, the shotgun…
My thoughts strayed for a bit, but it was then that I realized it. Wouldn’t it be fine if I just changed my visualization of Light Ball to that of bullets?
I tried it out right away. I didn’t know much about the exploding bullets, while the machine gun seemed like it would quickly drain me of my mana, so I went with the shotgun. The shotgun uses buckshot, and it scatters the spheres inside it. As such, I should visualize the Light Balls becoming small spheres and scattering.
“Light Ball.” [Ryouma]
I tried it out, and the Light Ball scattered as expected, but the damage was too weak. I failed to kill even a single undead, though I did succeed in hurting them. Apparently, I scattered the light balls too much, so the power suffered.
In that case, I’ll use ten times as much mana as usual. This time I succeeded in killing not just the zombie in front, but also the rest of the undead in a fan-shaped area that went as far as 4 meters. I even killed the wraith flying in the air. Looks like I don’t need that much mana. The area is too big too, so there’s a lot of waste.
“Huh? W-What the heck is that!?” [Remilie]
“It’s Light Ball! I just changed the shooting method!” [Ryouma]
Remilie-san is using Parallel Casting herself, so it shouldn’t matter if I change the shooting method as long as the spell is still Light Ball. The referee, Sebasu-san, didn’t say anything, and Remilie-san too didn’t complain and just raised the pace. I have to focus.
There’s already plenty of mana, so this time I’ll focus on narrowing down the area and lowering the mana to just five times… If I recall correctly, there are several types of shotgun ammo, and they differed according to the size of the spheres inside. So just like I did with Holy Space, I equally distributed 50 parts of my mana into the scattering shots.
“Light Ball… Tch.” [Ryouma]
Not good. Controlling the mana isn’t easy, and this time, The scatter shot of mana dispersed before they could hit. As a result, I could only take down the two undead in front of me. I focused on my mana control and tried to practice while increasing my score.
“10 seconds left… 9, 8, 7, 6…” [Sebasu]
Before I knew it, Sebasu-san was already giving the countdown. In an attempt to at least make it for the last shot, I differentiated the image from Light Ball and further solidified it.
“Lightshot.” [Ryouma]
When I unleashed it, I succeeded at wiping away all the undead in a 3m area. The resulting power wasn’t quite ten times, but considering how I succeeded at halving the mana usage, it’s not a bad result at all.
I’ve done all I can, so I’m plenty satisfied.
“That’s enough!” [Sebasu]
Sebasu-san gave the signal for the match to end. I was curious what the result was, so I turned to him, only to see him making a glum face. What is this about?
“…Ryouma-sama, what did you say there in the end?” [Sebasu]
“Hmm? It was just the usual Light—” [Ryouma]
Huh? Uh, by any chance, did I accidentally say Lightshot instead? I messed up at the very end?
“Unfortunately, since the name of the spell changed, it will have to be classified as a different spell. As such, the winner is Remilie-sama.” [Sebasu]
“Ryouma-chan, you sure tripped at a weird spot. But victory is victory!” [Remilie]
When I saw the strange face Remilie-san was making, I couldn’t help but have a bad feeling. Just what sort of favor is she planning to get from me?
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