I Became the Burden of a Conscienceless Party

65 – XX Tina (10)

XX Tina (10)

Lieutenant General Haona, who specialized in elemental magic, especially sand manipulation, gradually pressured the warrior party with an attitude that was the opposite of his arrogant tone.

Since the fluid means of manipulating sand are accompanied by physical force, it is bound to be quite tricky.

The sand that flows like hands and feet can easily destroy even Esmeralda’s specialty, swordsmanship.

Esmeralda was holding her breath, waiting for an opportunity in a situation where it was difficult to approach or control from a distance.

Magical fluidity for combat.

At first glance, it was similar to Millia’s tentacle magic, but… … .

“What a truly terrible magic.”

“Poor thing… … . You too are a demon who doesn’t know love.”

Kwaaah!

In terms of efficiency, Haona’s magic was far superior.

Unlike Millia’s magic, which was shaped like tentacles, Haona’s sand was made up of individual grains that came together to create a flow.

So, there is no need to be bound by the form, and there is no problem even if it is interrupted in the middle.

This means that it is much freer than the tentacles of Millia, which attach magic through the viscosity of liquid.

“joy!”

However, that doesn’t mean that Haona’s magic was superior to Millia’s magic.

As there are advantages, there are disadvantages. And the opposite is also true.

Millia’s tentacle magic allowed for a much wider range of attack methods than Haona’s sand manipulation.

Because the sticky liquid can freely contain elemental magic.

Millia’s tentacle magic has many more means than Haona’s, which only uses one means: sand.

That is, magic that can respond to sand can also be put into the tentacles.

It is certainly an advantage to be able to simultaneously extend all kinds of elemental magic essences, such as fire, lightning, water, and ice, through the tentacle strands.

Crunch!

The moment the sand that Haona was manipulating touches the tentacles, it freezes completely.

If it was just simple freezing, I wouldn’t know, but it was water coming out of the tip of the tentacle and freezing together. It was a truly flowing connection.

“Wonderful! Magic may lack elegance, but it is truly practical! But do you think you can beat me with the density of magic?!”

Passs …

The ice that had trapped the sand in Millia was instantly torn apart.

The force to break through the ice is much stronger than the force to hold it in place. Furthermore, since not all the sand was sealed, the ice that Millia created had no choice but to split inside and out.

“It’s not enough. It’s far from enough!”

Haona waved his hands as if he was commanding and pressured the warrior party.

Esmeralda, who is always on the defensive against the sand that rushes in like waves, and Milia, who tries to attack the sand in every way possible, but is pushed back by the firepower.

And behind those two, there is Irina, who is protecting her allies with assistance and barriers.

There was no choice but to maintain the status quo. It was impossible to proceed any further.

If either side makes any reckless moves, they will be the first to suffer.

Moreover, Haona focused on maintaining the current situation without doing anything reckless, as if he was trying to kill the warrior party.

A kind of battle of patience.

Knowing that just maintaining the current situation is enough.

That’s wisdom from his long life in the military. It comes from the patience he was able to build up while doing all sorts of odd jobs for other corps commanders.

‘This is nothing compared to working overtime for 30 days!’

The dried sand resembles the withered and twisted flesh of the Demon King Haona.

There is probably no other tribe with such a high level of understanding of sand.

“You managed to defeat Eleven and Five with just this much?! Impossible! My thoughts were right after all!”

Haona smiled broadly at the thought of going back and questioning Liris.

The insults of the past. The humiliations I had to endure for being weak.

He never forgot it and wrote it down in his diary.

‘To this guy… … !’

Esmeralda, who was reading Haona’s mind like that, bit her lip.

I didn’t like the fact that I was being pushed back by such a weakling, and not by any other strong opponents.

A battle of patience. She is confident, too. However, when she sees the reasons why the other person thinks they are confident, she feels like she is losing strength.

What should I say? Should I say that it feels like the level of fighting has been lowered?

“Milia! Let’s change the method! Instead of freezing, let’s melt!”

Even if you freeze the sand, the opponent’s control will not disappear, because the sand’s shape will not change.

So what if, on the contrary, we could completely dissolve the sand so that it was no longer sand?

When Haona first appeared, he did not manipulate rock walls, but instead destroyed them with sand.

It is limited by form.

If that’s the case, then Haona’s sand manipulation technique will inevitably lose precision if it becomes a liquid and is mixed instead of being individual objects.

“… … Then it seems like it would be us who would be put in danger.”

But, wouldn’t Millia know that?

As a sorceress, she knows that what Esmeralda is trying to do now is true.

Solids and liquids are different.

Even if some of the sand you are handling turns into liquid, it will be difficult for your opponent to manipulate you.

How would you divide it among mixed substances?

Inevitably, the liquid part will have to be discarded and only the grains that are still in a sandy state will have to be moved.

However, getting to that point is extremely difficult.

The sand is constantly flowing, and even if it transfers heat to some part, it quickly mixes up and transfers the heat evenly.

It will take quite some time to dissolve the sand into a liquid.

If that happens, it is obvious that the sand that has not melted but merely absorbed heat will return as a weapon aimed at this side.

“I can take that much responsibility, so just do it!”

“Okay, I get it.”

Esmeralda urged, as if to cut through Milia’s worries.

Millia did not hesitate at Esmeralda’s boast and began to scatter fire-attribute magic.

It really looks like he has no worries about Esmeralda at all.

Esmeralda tried hard to portray Milia’s attitude as trust.

‘Okay, now it’s my turn.’

Finally, he pulls out another sword that he had been hanging on his waist without using it for swordsmanship.

The statue she cherished and cherished.

A magic sword with the freezing attribute that contains the essence of the Glaciers Magic Tower, which is said to have been created by the Magic Tower Lord himself.

If you use this, even hot sand will be easier to endure.

“Let’s take this opportunity to catch the legion commander.”

There isn’t much of a gap between the current warrior party and Haona, even considering that they are tired and Tina and Jim are missing.

‘Huh? Now that I think about it, Tina… … ?’

Esmeralda, who had been making such a firm resolution, only then realized that Tina and Jim were nowhere to be seen.

“under…….”

Did you run away? Esmeralda was now used to seeing her colleagues who only thought of themselves.

***

Tina ran away when General Haona attacked.

‘Hahaha, now I can have all the luggage to myself. No one can get in my way!’

She was running away with her luggage hanging from her waist.

A situation where one’s own greed grows bigger than one’s affection for one’s colleagues.

She seemed unable to even conceive that Esmeralda and her companions might be in danger.

The field of vision is extremely narrow.

“Tina.”

“Oh, Jim. Are you awake? You could have slept a little longer.”

“What are you doing now?”

“Huh? Running away. Don’t you like running away too?”

“No, well that’s true… … But still, I think it’s unfair that Tina, not me, would run away and abandon her comrades.”

“What’s wrong with me?”

“I see. Could you please give me a ride first? I feel like I’m going to throw up.”

“Trying to run away?”

“It would be useless if I ran away from the current Tina… … Ugh! She’s coming out… … Guweeeeek.”

“… … .”

Jim vomited.

Tina had no choice but to put her luggage on the floor and pat her on the back. The more I got to know her, the more I fell in love with her… … .

Wouldn’t a true wife be someone who knows how to love even that kind of appearance?

Tina felt satisfied with her understanding attitude.

“Tina, do you know that you are in a strange state right now?”

“Huh? Well… … it’s not like me. But is that a bad thing? I actually think it’s better this way.”

“Well, everyone has different perspectives. If you think the current state is better, that’s fine too.”

“Uh, umm… … .”

Tina scratched her cheek awkwardly, as if she hadn’t expected him to acknowledge her so readily.

“But, it’s a bit different from the Tina I like.”

“Don’t you think any woman with breasts is good? That’s what I heard.”

“That’s wrong. I like women who have breasts and a pretty face.”

“Are you going to cover that again… … ?”

On your topic?

“Well, in that sense, Tina-sama’s breasts may be below standard, but her face is quite pretty. That’s why I’ve added her to my list of people I like.”

“Should I be thankful for this? No, but for a country-born porter, you really have incredible confidence.”

How should I accept a crazy guy who confesses that he likes multiple people at the same time, not just one? No, is that why?

Is that why he’s so confident, because he knows he’s popular?

But no. Tina has no intention of sharing her burden with anyone else.

Complete privatization of public assets.

That’s why Tina was running away from the warrior party.

“Anyway, I think the current Tina is a bit lacking. Even though she lacks breasts, she passed because her face was pretty, but now she’s a bit shaky.”

“what?”

“Tina, can you see your surroundings?”

Tina looked around, bewildered by Jim’s contemptuous expression.

Only then did I notice the scholars belonging to the ＜Eye of Truth＞ lying around in the hallway.

“uh……?”

“If it were Tina, whom I love, she wouldn’t have ignored this situation. How are you now?”

“… … .”

I was completely out of my mind and my vision was narrow. No, maybe I thought they didn’t care.

As that thought occurred to Tina, her mind grew colder.

Jim left Tina alone and approached a familiar face.

A person who is dead with his eyes open.

A person who wasn’t a good meeting person and who I would never be able to call close to.

“Rest in peace, Melody.”

I laughed at the name saying it didn’t suit me, but when I saw it like this, I couldn’t help but feel complicated.

Jim closed Melody’s eyes.

“Don’t touch me, kid.”

“Miss, I’m surprised. Are you alive?”

I thought it was a corpse.