The planned trip to the Adventurers' Guild to pick up commissions turned into Jhin and Megumin heading to the Shattered Stone Desert to test magic instead.
Once the group arrived at the Shattered Stone Desert, Jhin put the ancient magic scroll away. He had spent the entire two-hour journey thoroughly mastering [Dark-Corrosive Thunder], the offensive ancient magic sealed within it.
Heart thumping with excitement, he stepped forward a few paces, spotted a withered tree in his field of view, and raised his hand toward it. "Dark-Corrosive Thunder."
A pair of magic rings woven from lightning and dark elements materialized around his arm, then interlocked with each other. Jet-black lightning screamed from his palm at breathtaking speed. The dead tree let out a shriek that set their teeth on edge before it exploded into a shower of flying splinters — splinters that dissolved like snowflakes as they drifted to the ground.
"So that's ancient magic. It fuses two elements together and releases them like it's nothing." Kyaru stared wide-eyed through the whole display, awed by what she'd just witnessed. "Does that mean every ancient mage was some kind of all-element genius?"
"Probably. The scroll says that mastering multiple elements is one of the most basic prerequisites for becoming an ancient mage."
That was when Kyaru noticed something nagging at her. She walked over to Jhin, plucked the ancient magic scroll from his hands, and opened it to look. "This is written in ancient script. You can actually read it?"
"Of course." Jhin's [Linguistic Mastery] skill could facilitate communication with elements and mana itself — ancient script was hardly going to give him trouble.
"Haven't you noticed?" Megumin finally seized her chance to swoop in and do the teasing before Kyaru could. "He's a person from Another World, and yet from the moment we met him to filling out the Guild application form, he's been speaking fluent Astraea Common Tongue the entire time."
"Because he talks with us so naturally, I keep forgetting he's even from Another World."
"Truly."
While his companions debated his linguistic talents, Jhin's mind was already turning toward improvements for [Dark-Corrosive Thunder]. Ancient magic had no fixed casting procedure — its essence lay in the fusion and manipulation of elements — which meant every ancient spell held the potential to be optimized in any number of directions.
[Dark-Corrosive Thunder] was a single-target attack spell, and its raw power was beyond reproach. But Jhin wasn't satisfied with single-target. As his only ranged attack magic at the moment, he absolutely needed to work out a way to give it area-of-effect capability.
On the girls' end, the conversation had drifted from his linguistic gifts to ancient ruins, with speculation that Jhin could definitely lead everyone through every trap and waltz off with all the treasure, since he could read the writing inside.
A low humming sound, like the buzz of a swarm of bees, cut the conversation short. All four of them turned toward the source — Jhin.
The magic rings of lightning and dark elements were pulsing in his open palm at incredible speed.
Jhin made several quick leaps to put distance between himself and the girls, raised his right hand high, and crushed the pulsing magic rings in his fist all at once. "Feast your eyes on what real lightning looks like!"
Dozens of jet-black lightning bolts struck the earth around him as their epicenter, turning the surrounding area into a hell of thunder and darkness. It was obvious: [Dark-Corrosive Thunder] had been successfully upgraded — it could now unleash area-of-effect attacks.
Having fully cosplayed as Misaka Mikoto to his satisfaction, Jhin strolled back toward the group, unable to resist showing off. "Pretty cool move, right?"
"It's alright. Hits pretty hard."
"He really is something else, isn't he."
"The lightning kind of looks like chocolate."
"Wait — does that scroll have two spells written in it?" Megumin was starting to have regrets. Two spells would have been worth two million Eris from Jhin — and she'd handed it over just like that, all for a Void weapon.
No — I absolutely did NOT do it for the Void weapon. I did it for a more spectacular Explosion magic!
"Just the one. What you just saw was my slightly improved version. My magic is tested — now it's time to test your Void weapon."
The moment Megumin heard those words, she puffed out her little chest and stepped forward. "Then come on — draw out the Void weapon."
"You were about to say 'chest-grab move' again just now, weren't you?"
"N-no I wasn't! Hurry up and stop stalling." Megumin was losing patience and leaned in closer.
Under the girls' burning gazes, Jhin drew out the Void weapon. Kyaru cast [Mana Touch] on him and Megumin, temporarily linking their mana pools.
"Hurry up and fire an Explosion magic so I can see it!"
The way Megumin said it sounded uncannily like Hey, give us a smile, sweetheart — it made Jhin's skin crawl. Wanting to get it over with as fast as possible, he raised the weapon and began chanting the incantation. "Darkness darker than black, shadows deeper than the dark abyss — wait!"
Jhin stopped chanting abruptly and turned to look at Megumin. "This is different from Pecorine's Void weapon — I can't fire Explosion magic by myself. We have to do it together."
"There's something that cool involved?!" Megumin had been scheming from the very beginning to someday team up with Jhin to unleash Explosion magic together — and now it was happening right here and now. How could she possibly refuse? She grabbed her magic staff and moved to his side. "Then let's begin!"
"You do the chanting. I'll back you up."
"No problem — in fact, leave everything to me!" The distinctive twin crimson pupils of the Crimson Demon Clan blazed with vivid red light even in broad daylight. Megumin was completely in her element now — with the Void weapon's amplification, she could feel the mana inside her doubling.
This time, it will be the most spectacular Explosion magic in the history of the world!
"I am Megumin! The one who loves Explosion magic more than anyone in existence!"
With that declaration ringing through the sky, mana surged like ocean waves and gathered before the tips of both magic staves. Under the scorching sun, in a cloudless Shattered Stone Desert, dark storm clouds gathered for the first time in the land's history.
"Unrivaled destruction,
reduce all creation to ashes,
descend from the abyss —
Explosion!"
After two and a half minutes of chanting, the terrifying orb of condensed mana was swallowed in an instant, as if consumed by some invisible gaping maw.
The magic formations blanketing the sky ceased their rotation all at once. A pillar of light, thin as a red thread, pierced the heavens — then expanded, and expanded, and expanded. Everything caught within its range was annihilated.
Jhin stared at the Explosion magic they had created together. It felt like a reaper's scythe was laid against the back of his neck. Cold sweat poured down his spine. Without a moment to say anything, he instantly activated Time Stop and began frantically condensing earth-element barriers in front of the group.
When Time Stop ended, the earth-element barriers were webbed with cracks in the blink of an eye. Jhin could only keep piling new earth-element barriers in front of them to protect everyone. If the shockwave alone had this much power, he didn't even dare imagine what was happening at the epicenter. He didn't want to think about it.
Only when the earth-element barriers finally stopped shattering did Jhin let out a long breath. He turned around to check on the others — and found he could see their mouths moving, but couldn't hear a single sound.
"Jhin, our Explosion magic was incredible, wasn't it!"
"Master, are you alright?"
"That was really touch-and-go — I was half convinced we were all about to die."
"Huh? What are you all saying?"
"I'm regretting letting you two test the Void weapon's power."
Everyone waving their hands, miming gestures, and talking into the void continued for quite some time. Only once their hearing gradually returned did the hilariously broken game of charades finally come to an end.
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