Chapter 292

The Laser Cutter shot by Tatsuro split midair into two beams, aimed to sever both the right and left arms to prevent the opponent from wielding a staff.

However, the moment Tatsuro sensed Curse Magic leaking from Aarenfrit, the Laser Cutter curved and soared into the sky, not even grazing him.

"-What's that!?"

"Kukuku - come on, you still have questions you want to ask, don't you?"

It wasn't Aarenfrit's magic or abilities that caused the beams to bend.

At the moment they were about to hit, Tatsuro, Amaterasu, and even Tsukuyomi felt an inexplicable urge not to attack the man, hastily diverting the beams together.

This was likely due to that man's Curse Magic. Despite understanding this, even when Tatsuro tried to assess his condition with Spirit Eye, his mind refused to process the results, and he couldn't even attempt to use Dispel Magic to resist.

"No matter how you look at it, this is impossible. I can't believe there's such a gap in strength between us."

"You're right. Indeed, Sensei, your resistance is abnormally high, and on top of that, something separate from Magic Resistance keeps trying to revert things to their original state. Dying wouldn't be fun, and I hate pain. So, I was about to give up on satisfying my desires this time. But there was a moment when your Magic Resistance dropped significantly, wasn't there? At that moment, I bombarded you with Machine-Gun Talk and succeeded in completely breaking you down."

"-That time, huh?"

When Tatsuro entered Neraro Cave and was provoked by a human named Yoshiry, he used the Ring of Reversal.

At that moment, Tatsuro's Magic Resistance and endurance swapped, and due to his overly specialized Stats for a Mage, his resistance plummeted.

Tatsuro thought it would be fine since Cardina was keeping an eye on Aarenfrit, but Aarenfrit slipped through even that precaution, perfectly casting Curse Magic on him.

And, unfortunately, that day was-

"It was the day of curses, wasn't it?"

"-Exactly. The day when Curse Magic is easiest to use, Sensei. At my level, even such a minor influence can yield significant results. You really are an unlucky person, Sensei."

"I know that already - damn it!"

(That's why someone as unlucky as me managed to pull Spear Arts at just the right time, huh!? My luck was tilting toward the worst possible outcome!!)

Understanding the situation, Tatsuro cursed his bad luck deep in his throat for drawing himself into a situation where he used the Ring of Reversal on the day of curses.

Yet, his mind was already racing to find a way to break the situation.

"You seem pretty confident, so tell me. What exactly does your Curse Magic do?"

"I love that unyielding expression. It gives me chills! You, Sensei, and those who rely on your Magical Power will have their consciousness rewritten if they try to attack me, making them think they shouldn't. And any attempt to undo it will also be rewritten to make you think you shouldn't. By the way, the human girl and the dwarf girl fell for it easily without any tricks, so calling them here would be the same."

"That's all?"

"Yeah. That's the extent of the Curse Magic's effect."

(The effect of the Curse Magic huh.)

Feeling the pieces of a strategy falling into place, Tatsuro asked again.

"Your Curse Magic doesn't take effect unless you trigger it, right? Otherwise, it'd be way too powerful."

If it was just the Curse Magic embedded in Tatsuro, the title effect of Endeniente should be trying to revert it, so the effect should weaken over time.

Yet, even after dozens of hours, being so perfectly trapped by the magic was beyond abnormal- it was impossible.

Thus, he concluded that the magic likely worked as a pair between the caster and the target, mutually reinforcing each other.

In fact, during a nighttime conversation, this man had boasted about such a method of casting Curse Magic.

"Kukuku, I'm glad you listened to me properly. You're right. But what does it matter if you know? You can't attack, and you can't undo it. So just ignore me and go save the dwarf girl. I'll just watch from nearby."

"Don't follow me. You're starting to creep me out. Let me ask one more time. I can't think of attacking you. I can't think of undoing the Curse Magic. Just those two, right? You're not going to pull some nasty trick like saying there's one more, are you?"

"I swear there isn't. I can swear on my divine Curse Magic."

This man had absolute confidence in his Curse Magic.

Given that, and considering he said it so confidently while knowing that overly complex magic weakens its effect, Tatsuro judged his words trustworthy and smirked.

"I see then, I've won."

"Sensei, a bad bluff only degrades you."

Feeling as though his Curse Magic was being mocked, Aarenfrit showed displeasure for the first time.

Tatsuro's grin widened.

"A bluff? Don't be ridiculous. I'm serious."

"Hmph, then show me!"

Tatsuro was indeed unlucky. But he'd never suffered fatal consequences because of it.

Sure, he'd been caught up in a bizarre situation like Interdimensional Transfer Magic, but he hadn't lost his beloved, and he'd gained the power to survive.

Even with the treasure chest in the dungeon's extra stage, despite his bad luck, he obtained explosive magic.

And this time was no different.

"For example, if I don't think about attacking you and just blow up the entire town, wouldn't the aftermath hit you?"

"...You're right. As long as you don't act with the intent to attack me, the Curse Magic's effect won't apply. But, Sensei, can you do that? There are countless innocent people here."

"You're right. I can't do that. It's not a situation where sacrificing others to take you down is justified."

"That sounds like you'd do it if the situation called for it."

"If I had to do it to save someone absolutely dear to me, I'd sacrifice any number of strangers without hesitation."

"...But that's not the case now, is it? Stop with the clumsy threats."

"Threats? No, this is just confirmation. So, Aarenfrit, if you undo the Curse Magic now and let me beat you up quietly, I'll show you some mercy."

"Enough! I told you to do it if you can!!"

Aarenfrit felt uneasy, wondering if he'd overlooked something, but he dismissed it and shouted angrily.

In response, Tatsuro gave a pitying look and grinned boldly.

"I see. That's a shame. Then let me invite you to hell."

"Hell? What are you- guh!"

The moment Aarenfrit furrowed his brow at the word "hell," his vision warped, and he found himself in a dimly lit world with a purple sky, where sharp rocks protruded from the ground.

The gravity in that world was abnormally high, crushing him to the ground, his body impaled on the sharp rocks in a mangled state.

Unable to comprehend what happened, Aarenfrit could only look at Tatsuro, who stood unaffected by the gravity, gazing at him coldly with rainbow-colored eyes.

"You okay, Aarenfrit? In this world, everything except me and what I possess is subject to insane gravity. So, I'm not attacking you, got it? And I'm not trying to undo the Curse Magic. It's just that this world is like that, so you're in this state."

"What- are you- ugh!"

"Explain? As if I have time for that. Damn, still not enough? Ugh, I wish we could go to a world with even stronger gravity. So, let's increase the gravity some more!"

"What- guh-!"

The moment Tatsuro said "increase the gravity," the crushing force intensified, the sharp rocks piercing deeper, his lungs collapsing, making it nearly impossible to breathe.

As his consciousness began to fade, the Curse Magic affecting Tatsuro was forcibly severed.

"Alright! Amaterasu, let's undo it with full power!"

Tatsuro activated Magic Domain Transcendence, boosting the level of Dispel Magic to its limit, analyzing and unraveling the Curse Magic within him.

With Amaterasu's Magic Brain computing power, the analysis was completed in an instant, and the Curse Magic on Tatsuro, Amaterasu, and Tsukuyomi was completely erased.

"Perfect! Here we go!"

"-!?"

Testing whether he could attack, Tatsuro landed an amateurish knee drop, executing it flawlessly.

"Flawless. Alright, let's go back."

Saying this to Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi, Tatsuro canceled the effect of Creator – Destruction with a slightly relieved expression, returning to the original world.

The moment they returned, Tatsuro felt a wave of exhaustion, as if a weight had been placed on his body, due to the loss of Magical Power and Dragon Force. Suppressing it from showing on his face, he transferred the remaining Dragon Force to Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi for conversion into Magical Power, which he absorbed to recover quickly.

The reason he had Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi convert the Dragon Force was because they were more adept at handling it than he was.

As he did this and looked forward, he saw a bloodied man lying there, his bones crushed and body riddled with holes from the sharp rocks.

Yet, he wasn't dead, likely due to his abnormally high Magic Resistance.

The sudden sight of a man who had been sitting in a chair moments ago now lying bloodied caused a commotion, but Tatsuro ignored it, walked up, grabbed him by the collar, and forcibly lifted him.

"You're the guy who gave me the chance to meet Leah Schleiermacher. And thanks to you, my knowledge of magic deepened. So, I won't kill you. But there won't be a next time. If you mess with us or anyone close to us again, I'll take everything you have."

"Haha, aren't you... kind...?"

"Kind? I'm about to rip off both your arms so you can't hold a staff and both your legs so you can't walk... but yeah, not killing you is kind, I guess."

"If possible... I'd rather... you didn't..."

"If it's you, you could find a Master of Life with enough time, pay them, or control them with Curse Magic to heal you."

Even without a staff, his magic wouldn't be completely unusable, just less effective.

If he paid a skilled Master of Life or controlled them with Curse Magic, he could restore missing limbs.

Though, when it was Jeanne, her Magical Entity nature allowed instant regeneration, for a living human, even a level 10 Life Magic would take about a week to regrow one arm.

Even with Tatsuro using Magic Domain Transcendence to boost light to level 17 and Life Magic to level 13, plus Nana's power and Amaterasu's assistance, a full-power healing spell would only shorten it to about three minutes per arm.

So, unless Aarenfrit asked Tatsuro for help, full recovery would take considerable time, and by then, Tatsuro could save Leah Schleiermacher without issue.

Thus, it was time for some limb-ripping.

"It's getting noisy around here, and some people might not like gore-"

Tatsuro deployed a mixed spell of Curse Magic and darkness around himself, making everything that happened seem normal and ensuring no onlookers paid attention to what would happen next.

As planned, the crowd that had gathered lost interest, forgot about the fight, and dispersed.

"Alright, grit your teeth-"

Tatsuro fired an ultra-high-output Laser Cutter from Amaterasu's staff, raising it overhead.

As instructed, Aarenfrit gritted his teeth, and Tatsuro swung down toward his right shoulder.

But-

"Damn, that's tough! What kind of Magic Resistance is this!?"

"Kukuku - it's... impossible... isn't it?"

At this output, it only left a shallow line on his shoulder.

For Aarenfrit, martial classes weren't a threat; he was wary of Mages resistant to Curse Magic.

So, he equipped himself with items to maximize Magic Resistance, including three pieces rivaling Celestial Gear.

Gravity from Creator – Destruction was close to a natural phenomenon, so Magic Resistance had little effect, allowing injuries, but normally, even damaging him with magic was difficult.

"No choice then."

"Right. Give up-"

(Amaterasu. Let's go all out.)

Thinking Tatsuro's "no choice" meant surrender, Aarenfrit looked relieved, but Tatsuro meant "no choice but to go all out."

Tatsuro had Amaterasu boost him to High Output Body, pushing his light to level 17, fire to level 14, plus Amaterasu's fire level 14 with Offensive Enhancement, maximizing staff correction to unleash the strongest technique possible.

"-What's... that Magical Power...?"

Among elves, there are Magic Elves, a race even more magic-specialized than standard elves.

They are born with a natural affinity for sensing magic.

And Aarenfrit's Nia Elf, considered the main branch of Magic Elves, had a magical sense surpassing even the original Clear Elf.

Before Aarenfrit's keen magical senses, a radiant greatsword of heat and light, imbued with Magical Power and force unlike anything he'd encountered in thousands of years of battles against humans and monsters, formed at the tip of the staff.

"Wai-"

"Haaaaah!"

"-Gah!"

"One more!"

"-Guh!?"

"Keep going!"

"-!?"

"Last one!!"

"-!?"

Believing his Magic Resistance was invincible, Aarenfrit saw it easily shattered as two clean strikes severed his arm from the shoulder.

The third strike cut his right leg from the hip, and the fourth took his left leg similarly.

The wounds were cauterized, preventing bleeding and fatal injury.

Tatsuro then used Light-Fire Dragon’s Breath to reduce the severed limbs to ash, ensuring no regeneration through reattachment.

"Aarenfrit. Let this be a lesson. Never show your face to us again. If you keep that promise, we'll call it even with two arms and two legs. But if Leah Schleiermacher has been harmed, that's another story. Got it?"

"Yeah... I'll never... come near Sensei... or interfere... again. I swear."

"Good. Then this is goodbye forever, Aarenfrit."

"Kuku... in the end... you never... called me Aarl... did you, Sensei..."

"If you'd called me by my name, I might've called you that. But now, I'll never call you anything again."

"That's... how it was, huh - if only earlier..."

Before Aarenfrit could finish, Tatsuro turned on his heel and left.

Then, he soared into the sky, hurrying to join Ai and the others.