Breaking Through the Impregnable Fortress

As the boulder was crushed down to the size of pebbles, Shirone unfurled his final veil on a grand scale.

With a loud bang, tens of thousands of fragments scattered in all directions.

The entire process took approximately two seconds.

Those who failed to catch the thousands of events that occurred in that brief window perceived it as nothing more than the illusion of a rock exploding.

Amid the eerie silence, the sound of rolling pebbles was vividly clear.

"..."

The Parrot Mercenary Corps couldn't comprehend what they had just witnessed.

When the light exploded, the boulder crumbled like dust. That was the only thing their eyes could confirm.

"Damn it! What the hell is that brat?!"

The third squad leader's eyes gleamed with murderous intent.

He had roamed battlefields for over a decade, yet never before had he been so utterly overwhelmed in actual combat by a magician who hadn't even reached his twenties.

"Captain, what do we do now?"

"Prepare the magic bombs! Fire at will!"

Even the subordinates who had been manning the catapults joined in, bringing the total number of mercenaries gathered at the fortress to around forty.

As the soldiers swiftly removed the tips of their arrows and attached magic bombs, Shirone's eyes flared open.

At the same time, with a loud pop, a sphere of photons materialized before him, pulsating as it greedily absorbed the surrounding light.

One of the mercenaries, who had already experienced Shirone's magic firsthand, pointed at the Photon Cannon and shouted.

"Captain! That thing is dangerous!"

Indeed, even the third squad leader could tell that this was no ordinary spell.

More than anything, knowing that light itself possessed destructive power, just seeing that luminous sphere made his blood run cold.

"Hurry! Our firepower is superior anyway!"

As if responding to his words, the Photon Cannon shot forward at a terrifying speed and slammed into the iron gate.

With a thunderous boom, the soldiers flinched and took a step back.

Even the fortress walls trembled from the impact.

"What happened? Did it break through? Check immediately!"

A few soldiers rushed down to inspect the iron gate.

The thick iron plates bore some damage, but they had not been breached.

"The gate is intact!"

"Good! Now it's our turn to attack."

Meanwhile, Tess and Rian arrived at the battlefield.

After assessing the situation, Tess spoke.

"Even with magic, breaking through the iron gate will be difficult. Rian and I will circle around and seize the fortress."

Rian, agreeing with her, was just about to strap his greatsword onto his back when Amy stopped him.

"No, wait a moment."

"We don't have time to delay. We have to strike before the enemy reorganizes. This is our chance."

Tess's reasoning was sound, but Amy kept her gaze fixed on Shirone's back at the frontlines.

"He'll break through."

Tess, unable to comprehend her words, turned to look at Shirone—and her eyes widened in shock.

Shirone's entire body was glowing red.

"What's that? Isn't that dangerous?"

The human instinct to feel uneasy about the color red likely stemmed from its association with bleeding.

Even Tess felt a chilling sense of dread. For the enemies who had to face Shirone, their wariness skyrocketed beyond measure.

"Captain, what is that?"

"..."

Being a veteran, the third squad leader had an inkling of what it might be.

But the sheer cognitive dissonance held him in place.

If that crimson glow was truly the magic he suspected, then Shirone should not have been so young.

While he was lost for words, a single streak of laser shot forward, reaching the iron gate almost instantaneously.

The soldiers, well aware of the Photon Cannon's power, recoiled in fear, yet, contrary to their expectations, there was no shockwave, not even a sound.

"...Hah! So it was nothing special after all?"

While the soldiers sighed in relief, the third squad leader turned his head, face dark with fury.

"What are you waiting for?! Fire!"

Forty archers released their magic bombs in unison, aiming to reduce everything around Shirone to ashes.

But before they could land, the iron gate began to tremble.

The soldiers peered below, but they lacked the ability to see through solid walls.

Yet the vibrations felt through their feet suggested that the entire fortress was being shaken from its foundation.

One soldier, risking his life, moved closer to inspect the gate's condition.

"T-That...!"

The first thing he saw was that the iron gate was glowing like molten lava.

Then, as the heat intensified, the metal began bubbling up, protruding like inflating air pockets.

The soldier was convinced.

"Captain! The gate is about to break!"

Even before he finished speaking, the iron gate exploded.

Despite seeing the searing fragments flying in all directions, the squad leader couldn't believe it.

A gate that even siege weapons couldn't breach had been utterly destroyed.

"Damn it! Fire everything! Wipe them out!"

The archers fired their arrows straight ahead.

Now that the gate had been breached, failing to stop the enemy here meant the tide of battle would shift dramatically in favor of the side possessing a magician.

Forty magic bombs hurtled toward Shirone with their explosive energies infused with elemental attributes, causing the air to crackle from sheer friction.

Tess and Rian failed to grasp what was happening, but Amy's gaze immediately snapped toward the sky.

The afterimage of the dazzling light curved in an arc before plummeting dozens of meters away.

'...Spatial Shift.'

To an observer, it appeared as though the light had merely bent, but for the caster, it was the space itself that had warped.

Ignoring the trajectory of the magic bombs entirely, Shirone relocated to the coordinates he had chosen—right in the heart of the now-destroyed iron gate.

Amy spoke.

"Shirone is safe. Let's go in."

As they pushed past the smoke and debris, Shirone stood beneath the arch of the gate, preparing for another spell.

Unaware of this, the mercenaries atop the walls burst into laughter.

"Puhaha! It's over! He's been blown away!"

"Good! Without that guy, the rest are nothing. Get ready to charge!"

As the Parrot Mercenary Corps lowered their bows and grabbed their weapons, Tess tilted her head in confusion.

From her perspective, Shirone was still clearly visible, preparing another spell.

"What are they doing? Why are they celebrating?"

"They didn't hear the sound of the spatial shift. They think Shirone is dead."

Spatial shift was generally a magic used for long-distance teleportation, but Shirone had warped within a relatively short range.

To an outside observer, it must have looked as though the light had simply shot up into the sky before crashing down elsewhere.

A magician would have recognized the brief burst of noise and deduced what had happened, but to those untrained in magic, it seemed as though Shirone had simply vanished.

Just as Shirone was about to unleash his next spell, he suddenly hesitated and took a step back.

When the mercenaries saw his form emerge from the shadows, they looked as if they had seen a ghost.