Ch 177.1
Milly was flying about Tiamat in circles when one of its heads sprang out at her.
Just as Milly was about to change directions to dodge the attack, another of Tiamat’s heads appeared to block her escape.
「Milly! There’s one more!」 I yelled out as I was about to jump off at the tower at any moment.
The shock of having made a mistake could be seen on Milly’s face, as Tiamat’s heads drew closer to her.
Just when I thought that all was lost, an enormous magic ball landed down on Tiamat, drawing its attention away from Milly.
Using that chance Milly managed to escape.
It seems like the back-up came at just the right time.
Standing next to Tiamat’s feet was Silverie alongside some other Dispatch Magicians.
That sure was a close one…
Yera joyfully laughed from the side, as she watched everything unfold.
「… Either way, we’ll wait here. You are all okay with that, right?」 I asked.
「Look at who’s talking. Weren’t you about to jump down just now?」 Rhox said, teasing me.
That Milly… I’ll scold her later.
The sound of Tiamat’s footsteps grew ever so closer to us.
It was hard to precisely pinpoint how far he was because of his sheer size, however, there was no doubt that he was heading towards us.
He’ll be here in a few minutes at most.
「I guess it’s time for us to move as well.」
We all moved towards the edge of the roof, to a place where we could clearly see Tiamat.
This tower was the only place tall enough to allow us to hit Tiamat from above.
As Tiamat took another step, the ground shook once more.
Milly, who was directing him towards us, soared right past the tower. In that fleeting moment our eyes met.
From her complexion and her attire, it appeared like she had exhausted herself quite a bit.
…You did great.
As Milly flew further away I turned my gaze back at Tiamat.
「… Well then, everyone, place your hands on top.」 I said, presenting my prosthetic arm in front of them.
After all it would be impossible for my body to handle the Zeros of all five Heavenly Mages.
Which was why I had planned to use my prosthetic arm to cast the Fusion Spell.
「But Zeph, don’t we need to cast our spells at the exact same time for that Fusion Spell of yours to work?」 Bertram asked.
「He’s right. The timing must be perfect, right?」 Yera asked as well.
Hearing both of them, the remaining Heavenly Mages also lost themselves in thought.
It was true that all of them were spectacular when it came to controlling their own spells, however, they weren’t that great at synching them with other people.
It would be impossible for the five of them to cast their spell with perfect timing.
And the Zero spells’ long chants made it even harder.
「That’s where I come in. After you cast your spells, they will first pass through my prosthetic arm, which will allow me to get rid of any small gaps that may have appeared. By passing through my body, I’ll be able to adjust the timing of the spells in order to make them match.」
「Can you really do it?」 Rhox asked.
「That’s beside the point. There’s nothing else we can do either way. We have no choice but to do it!」 Bertram stated.
Hearing him say that, no one objected anymore.
At that moment Tiamat took another step.
However, thanks to the Dispatch Magician’s attacks, Tiamat lost his balance.
In the surroundings, a powerful magical storm was brewing. Within that storm Tiamat’s steps didn’t halt at all. Each step he took he drew closer to our firing range.
Just one more step!
As if having read my thoughts, everyone began to chant their spell.
「Oh Crimson god, the pinnacle of magic and the culmination of the long winding road. Empower me with your strength. Let the crimson blade rage and annihilate my enemies.」
「Oh God of Water, the pinnacle of magic and the culmination of the long winding road. Empower me with your strength. Let thy blue blade rage and annihilate my enemies.」
「Oh God of Earth, the pinnacle of magic and the culmination of the long winding road. Empower me with your strength. Let thy green blade rage and annihilate my enemies.」
「Oh God of Wind, the pinnacle of magic and the culmination of the long winding road. Empower me with your strength. Let thy black blade rage and annihilate my enemies.」
「Oh God of Souls the pinnacle of magic and the culmination of the long winding road. Let your blade of souls rage and annihilate my enemies.」
Their simultaneous chants were a sight to behold.
I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything less from the five Heavenly Mages. Still, there are some gaps… It seems like it’s my time to shine.
「RED ZERO!」
「BLUE ZERO!」
「GREEN ZERO!」
「BLACK ZERO!」
「WHITE ZERO!」
As soon as their chants ended, a tremendous amount of magic power entered my prosthetic arm, feeling up so much that it was about to break apart.
The magic power didn’t stop there and continued to spread within my whole body.
Urgh… Wh-What a tremendous torrent of magic power! It feels like my body’s about to break apart! It doesn’t matter! I cannot let this chance go to waste!
I focused all of my attention to the five Zeros colliding with one another in my arm
It felt like my head was about to explode.
I aimed my trembling hand right on top of Tiamat’s head and shot off the spell.
「Penta Fusion… Platinum… Zero!!!」
The blade made out of golden-white light shot forth from my arm and pierced straight through Tiamat.
As I looked at Tiamat disintegrating within the light I slowly lost consciousness.
The whirlpool of light and the thundering noises constantly assault my aching head.
I leave the rest… to you…
I completely lost consciousness before being able to say those words.
◆ ◆ ◆
「FU!!! ZEPH!」
I suddenly heard a voice. It appeared that something was holding onto my hand.
My body, it feels so heavy… However, I can still stand.
I managed to open my eyes, albeit a little sluggish.
As I did so I immediately saw Milly’s crying face.
「T-Thank god! ZEPH!」 she yelled out, giving me a big hug.
Her long blond hair was running down my face and tickling my nose.
「Good grief… There’s no need to cry now is there…」
「B-But… I-I thought that you ended up like that time!」
That time? Is she talking about the time when I slept for three whole years. Come to think of it, that was the reason which led Milly to develop her Unique Spell Healing Bic. Hmphm, why does my body feel so refreshed?
「Milly… You can’t have…」
「…」
Milly just nodded at my question.
Good grief. She’s such a worrywart. I only lost consciousness for a bit. There’s no way I’d get that wounded ever again. Well I guess it’s still my fault for making her worry.
I let out a sigh as I placed my hand on top of Milly’s head.
Milly’s Healing Bic was quite the dangerous spell.
That was because healing spells usually took a burden on the caster’s body.
For example, the Healing spell requires a tremendous amount of magic power for not that much of an effect, so it’s not used that often. Milly’s Healing Bic, on the other hand, completely restores the target’s body.
However, its rebound should be huge as well.
Could this be the reason why Milly’s growth has been this slow…?
「… Zeph? What’s wrong?」 Milly asked, raising her head to look up at me.
Looking down at her chest I judged that it really hadn’t grown at all these past three years.
I guess I should tell her not to use it that much.
◆ ◆ ◆
As soon as we defeated Tiamat the Mushussu monsters around town disappeared as well.
According to one of the Association’s ancient records, back in the day Titan had apparently suddenly emerged out of nowhere on a little island in the middle of nowhere.
He was apparently put down by the Association’s powerful magicians at the time after destroying that little island.
I guess that when they named him.
「Hyaa～ that hole sure is huge～」 Lydia said with a shocked face.
The force of the Platinum Zero had been tremendous. The spell had created a massive crater, the bottom of which could not even be seen.
We even tried throwing stones inside, however, we couldn’t hear them hit the bottom.
And even though we threw in a bunch of thrash and rubble, the crater showed no signs of being filled up.
「Well I guess we can just use it as a huge dump, don’t you think?」
「You’re right Zeph-kun, that might prove to be quite efficient.」 Claude said, giggling at my proposition.
A month passed after the battle. I was currently in the process of helping the restoration of the town with Lydia and Claude.
Everyone else had also split into groups and were doing various tasks.
Right after the battle Shirushu’s nose proved to be quite useful since she could track people buried under the rubble and help them.
Milly and Silverie on the other hand joined other teams and helped destroy big rubble with their spells.
The Dispatch Magician as well as the other adventurers all helped with what they could as well.
They were usually the type of people who wouldn’t bat an eye to such occurrences, however, considering the state that the city was left in, even they pitched in.
It was all thanks to the help of everyone that the wounds of destruction left behind by Tiamat were almost completely healed.
「So, where should we go and help today?」
「Area B has already been repaired, so how about we go and help out at Area D? They probably still need people over there.」 Claude said.
「I guess you’re right.」
This past month she had worked together with the Magician Association to efficiently discover where and what needed to be fixed, and was doing a great job of forming a plan based on that. According to her, she apparently had wanted to help as much as possible.
It was the perfect job for someone as hardworking as her.
After we arrived at Area D, we met up with some of the adventurers there and began working.
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