Chapter 133

“The schools of magic are more numerous than I thought!”

When it comes down to specifics, the schools of magic number in the dozens, but if I had to pick the most representative, they would be:

– Elementalist (Wizard).

– Necromancer.

– Alchemist.

– Enchantress.

It’s not that these schools are inherently superior or powerful—if they were, then Necromancer would never be able to show its face.

The reason these four schools are considered representative is simple: they are the domains of the 4th Grade Witches.

And to add, the title of Enchantress instead of Enchanter also ties into this, as the head of the school is female.

Moreover, there’s a peculiar relationship of strengths among these four schools.

The Wizard is strong against the Necromancer; before the sheer destructive power of the Wizard, the army of undead summoned by the Necromancer is mere kindling.

The Necromancer is strong against the Alchemist; when an Alchemist’s homunculus meets its end, its power flows straight to the Necromancer, becoming a threat to its former master.

The Alchemist is strong against the Enchantress; since the Enchantress has vastly limited means of physical destruction, the Alchemist, capable of creating powerful and high-quality barriers, poses quite the challenge.

And the Enchantress is strong against the Wizard; unusually for a wizard, the Enchantress excels in close combat due to her abundant self-strengthening methods, making her a difficult match for the long-range manipulating Wizard.

In theory, this meant that the fight between the West Witch and Dorothea should have favored Dorothea—

“Those guys have no intention of coming down from the sky!”

It’s a common occurrence for theory and reality to diverge.

Dorothea gritted her teeth while looking up at the Golden Monkeys, who watched from above, refusing to approach the ground.

No matter how many homunculi she managed to snatch, it all depended on having the chance to eliminate the opponent first. There was no way to seize control from an opponent still very much alive.

Some might argue that it was good for the opponent to avoid the battle, but that wasn’t the case this time.

-■!

A monkey, clutching what looked like an oversized quiver, stepped forward, and the surrounding monkeys drew throwing spears from within.

Then, they hurled them with all their might in the direction of Dorothea and her companions.

Whoosh!

The sound of slicing air echoed. Though the attack missed due to the wagon’s high speed, the sheer force evident in its trajectory was unmistakable.

The problem was, this was just the beginning.

One-fourth of the monkeys had clutching those throwing spear pouches.

The remaining three-fourths began to rain down their spears like a storm.

“Franka!”

“I know!!”

Franka answered nervously, and as she stomped her foot, the wagon veered sideways.

Moments later, spears rained down upon the trajectory the wagon had just been following.

Some of the spears hit near their group, but they only scratched the outer wall of the wagon’s central part, leaving the occupants unharmed.

Bam!

In retaliation, the ballista at the front of the wagon fired.

It looked like an arrow, but its size was even larger than a throwing spear, and it mercilessly shot down a monkey soaring in the air.

Normally, reloading a ballista takes time, but that wasn’t a concern for this ship.

A bat-winged monkey placed a new arrow on the ballista just as it was readied to fire again.

-Uki!

Thus, the bat-winged monkey only had to aim at the already loaded ballista and fire, while another bug-winged monkey pedaled hard to provide power for the wagon.

[‘Tin Knight’ admires the skill in juggling tasks!]

Dorothea agreed with the Tin Knight’s assessment.

At a glance, Franka seemed to merely be kicking her feet, but in reality, she was multitasking—steering the ship and reconstructing the ballista.

This hinted that Franka had established a system capable of fighting without external assistance; she wasn’t solely reliant on Dorothea’s party.

But.

‘There are just too many enemies.’

No matter how quickly one loaded the ballista, it wouldn’t stand a chance against dozens of opponents.

Adding to the challenge were the dual troubles of aiming at targets high in the sky while in rapid motion, making the chances of hitting less likely.

Dorothea shouted,

“Can’t we make another ballista?!”

“You can’t change things that fast, I told you! The throwing spears aren’t that plentiful either!”

Franka’s alchemy was limited to altering the forms or structures of existing materials, not creating something from nothing.

If they were on solid ground, she could have transmuted soil or stones, but with no materials available on the ocean, they were slowly running out.

Dorothea’s worry deepened.

As more and more monkeys appeared, it seemed they were aware of the fight, and the number of spears hitting the wagon was increasing as well.

Moreover, the spears being thrown were filled with magical energy, possessing significant power.

Made of the special metal favored by Franka, the wagon was only slightly bending under pressure, but had it been made of regular iron or wood, it wouldn’t have lasted this long.

Just then, as Dorothea was deep in thought, the Tin Knight suddenly jumped onto the roof of the wagon.

***

“Hey, you! What do you think you’re doing up there?!”

[‘Tin Knight’ shouts that it’s illegal to try and die so casually!]

Dorothea, half-worried and half-annoyed, barely listened to him as you examined the condition of the wagon roof.

It was a bit dented from being hit by magically imbued spears, but the raw materials were sturdy enough that it didn’t feel like it would break anytime soon.

Regardless of who you are, losing balance and falling into the ocean in this situation would be quite the pickle, so the stability of the platform was of utmost importance.

Whoosh!

A spear glowing with golden magic fell towards you.

Since the timing was just right, you grabbed it.

[‘Tin Knight’ shouts that littering is illegal!]

Then, you hurled it at a monkey in the sky.

Thud!

As the monkey’s head was skewered and exploded, another spear zoomed in, aiming at your midsection.

You snagged that one too and returned it.

Catching, throwing, catching, throwing.

There was no spear you couldn’t catch, and nothing you threw missed its mark.

Even with the platform moving rapidly and wobbling left and right, and attacks continuously raining down from above, they were insufficient to interfere with your counterattacks.

In the blink of an eye, you had knocked down ten monkeys, and their movement changed.

They spread out to the sides of the wagon and began to descend.

As they threw their spears from slightly higher than the wagon, the spears hit the side of the wagon instead of you.

You pondered briefly.

It wouldn’t be hard to jump down and catch the spears, but doing so would change the angle of their attacks.

You could use the ballista’s throwing spears, but with the increasingly large swarm of monkeys, that would only have so much effect.

Something needed to be done to secure an offensive mechanism on this side as well.

One, two, three.

Then, ding! An idea popped into your head.

[‘Tin Knight’ asks Dorothea to make him a spear!]

Dorothea replied incredulously,

“What? A spear? How am I supposed to do that!”

[‘Tin Knight’ suggests something that looks like a long bone would suffice!]

[‘Tin Knight’ requests that she replicate what she did with just a small part of her body and enlarged it with magical energy!]

Yes, you had seen Dorothea create undead many times before, using tiny bone fragments or dried blood as catalysts, enlarging them to dozens of times their size with her magic.

While those created undead would have shorter lifespans and consume more magic than those formed from entire corpses, that was irrelevant when it came to crafting consumables.

Dorothea seemed to have realized your intention as her expression changed.

“Just so you know, it won’t last more than 10 seconds.”

[‘Tin Knight’ claims that’s more than enough time!]

Dorothea pulled a pouch of bone powder from her waist.

Just a tiny bit of catalyst that could be pinched between thumb and index finger, along with a heap of special magic.

Once you received the oddly shaped femur made from the witch’s instant recipe, which didn’t quite look human, you swung it against the edge of the roof.

Instantly, the femur transformed into a spear.

“Huh?”

“What the heck did you just do?”

Uki? Uki-gik?

Your companions expressed their confusion in various ways.

In truth, there wasn’t anything so fantastical about the method.

Objects reinforced with magic are solid, while those not are comparatively weak; if you reinforce the bone into the shape of a spear and apply the appropriate impact, the unreinforced parts break away while the reinforced portions remain—that’s the principle.

Although it was a bit more challenging due to already being filled with Dorothea’s magic, it was no big deal to create something that only vaguely resembled a spear without intricate engraving.

Instead of answering the questions, you assumed a throwing stance, as the spear’s lifespan was dwindling by the moment.

Whoosh!

Thud!

Seconds later, after piercing a monkey’s head, the spear shattered as if its time was up.

And just like that, the basket of throwing spears the monkey was holding sunk into the ocean.

The spear’s quality couldn’t even be called acceptable, and the monkey seemed to sport a toughness only homunculi have; still, all you had to do was use more magic.

With Dorothea right beside you, there was no need to hold back.

[‘Tin Knight’ demands the next spear!]

[‘Tin Knight’ figures that tossing two or three at once should be fine!]

“Here!”

Thwop!

In an instant, the heads of three monkeys exploded.

Once again, the throwing spear baskets they carried sank into the ocean.

Franka murmured in disbelief.

“This is insane. You’re actually aiming for all of them?”

[‘Tin Knight’ insists it’s basic to target the enemies’ supply line!]

[‘Tin Knight’ argues that if they can’t use their spears, there’s no need to let them throw anymore!]

While the number of Golden Monkeys was still plentiful, only a few were holding throwing spears.

By accurately targeting only those few, the Golden Monkeys became flustered as they ran out of weapons to throw.

In contrast, you retaliated every time Dorothea tossed you a spear, and eventually, the monkeys could no longer withstand and retreated from the wagon.

It seemed they were leaving to resupply.

Dorothea stated,

“Well, we survived the first hurdle.”

Landing operation, successful.

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