Arphia's course of action, once she had made up her mind, was simple.
She would swat away this bug—the intruder—and annihilate the pest clinging to her little sister.
She immediately activated her fastest spell once more.
"[Gospel]."
"[Firebolt]!"
The two spells collided again.
Heat and sound crashed together, and the resulting shockwave swept through the surroundings with a tremendous roar.
This was the problem.
Annoying as it was, that man's magic was excellent. If anything, when it came to one-on-one combat, it was outstanding.
Fast and powerful. Simple, and therefore effective. The moment he chose a tactic of simply blasting his opponent away quickly rather than relying on complicated secondary effects, Arphia's options became severely limited.
Even Arphia did not truly ignore the world around her. In truth, one could say she really didn't care, but that didn't mean she fought with everything she had.
Arphia held no ill will toward Orario. She had no intention of turning the homes and shops of ordinary people into ash.
That was why her means were limited. Normally, with her own near-silent incantations, she could blow away just about any opponent, but unexpectedly, she had been pinned down by an opponent who used true no-incantation casting.
Yes, indeed. He is certainly strong enough to claim he can stop me.
At the same time, Arphia reflected on herself. She had always despised her own arrogant, haughty goddess, yet before she knew it, she had begun acting like Hera herself—queenly, proud, and overbearing.
"I apologize, little one."
For underestimating you so badly because of my own arrogance.
At Arphia's apology, everyone there was stunned.
First, because the legendary Arphia had actually apologized.
And then again when they realized what those words meant.
By acknowledging her own arrogance and declaring that she would now fight with everything she had, Arphia's unwanted praise sent a tremendous tension rippling across the battlefield.
And the one who received that praise was...
"...First, I'd like to correct one thing."
"Go on."
"I am not... a little... kid."
"...What?"
"I am... a proper... adult."
At those words, a different kind of shock spread through the air.
Everyone who could read the emotion behind those halting, word-by-word statements thought the same thing.
Is that really what matters right now?!
It was a silent scream.
"...How old are you?"
"Thirty-two."
"""""A lie?!"""""
In the end, it became a shouted scream.
Even Arphia froze for a moment at the sudden bombshell.
And when she looked toward her own goddess with a slightly flustered expression...
A lie—?! A lie— lie— lie— lie— (echo)
The proud goddess's expression, no different from that of any other member of the familia, turned her confusion into outright shock.
In truth, adventurers often looked younger than they were.
The blessing of the gods, the Falna, even suppressed the aging that was an unavoidable fate of living beings. But even that had its limits.
Arphia was still young, so it did not matter, but with age, skin naturally sagged and wrinkles appeared.
Voices lost their clarity, and the body gradually began to deteriorate.
Of course, the Falna's power could forcibly preserve one's lifespan and peak condition, but unless one belonged to a race with very little aging, like elves or Pallum, there would eventually be a limit.
She glanced at the skin faintly visible beneath the black robe.
Not a wrinkle, not a blemish—just clear, smooth, taut skin.
Including that thin voice from earlier, no matter how she thought about it, he did not seem like a human in his thirties.
But judging by his behavior, his race was probably human.
That was why she was surprised. It was the first time she had seen a human age so extremely slowly.
Especially for an adventurer, a profession so prone to stress.
"How?! Why?! Howooo?!"
A scream pierced her ears. It was the woman who had recently been complaining that her skin seemed to be sagging.
Ignoring that entirely, Arphia began to find the noisy voice irritating.
"...Yes, I was rude again. I'll allow it, so tell me your name."
Allow it...?
It was a strange way of putting it, but since she had asked, he supposed he should answer.
"I... am called Vesta."
"...Vesta?"
It was a name she had never heard before. But considering the pause from earlier, it might have been a false name.
Someone who can't lie, huh. Like Materia.
"Vesta?"
"Vesta?"
"Hm?"
Then puzzled voices came from both sides.
They were the hysterical goddess and the bug of a male god.
Both of them seemed to sense something from the intruder's name and looked a little flustered.
So it's not an alias?
If he had lied, they would not be reacting like that... perhaps he had simply given his real name.
But that was not important. What mattered was that she had heard his name, and that she had made up her mind.
"Vesta. Yes, that is a fine name. Worth remembering."
"Uh... thank you?"
"...Yes, then die."
"...Huh?"
"[Gospel]."
At that moment, all sound vanished.
A spell unleashed with full power, unlike before.
The alarm bell rang in his mind. He knew it instinctively.
That attack was stronger than his own maximum-power [Firebolt].
Unless he used [Argonaut], there was no way to neutralize it by raw power alone.
And it was already too late to use [Argonaut].
"[Firebolt]!"
Then he would simply fire again and again.
"!"
Seventeen flaming lightning bolts shot out in an instant.
Ten of them were swallowed and erased by the [Sound].
Five more canceled out the shockwave, and one of the remaining two sacrificed itself to open a path.
A crack ran through the wall that had seemed impossible to breach. The last surviving flaming bolt surged toward Arphia like an enraged bull.
And Arphia...
"[Ataraxia]."
The flaming bolt wrapped around Arphia.
It was Vesta who was thrown into confusion. He had expected Arphia to do something, so seeing her take the attack head-on left him stunned.
That created an opening. And there was no one here who would fail to seize it.
"[Gospel]."
Boom—!
Perhaps because not much magic power had been packed into it, the attack was weak. But even so, it was still more than enough to be lethal.
The fact that he managed to evade it was due entirely to the experience and instincts he had accumulated, and to [Luck].
"...Ha ha."
A laugh escaped him on its own. They said people laughed when they were trapped in a situation too absurd to accept.
This was exactly that kind of situation.
"Your instincts are quite good."
"...Thank you."
Seeing Arphia emerge from the smoke without a speck of soot or dust on her, he felt strangely hollow.
He had wondered why she had not dodged... but it turned out she had no need to.
She definitely chanted something just now.
A new incantation, different from the one she had used for attack.
It was surprising enough that she could use no-incantation casting like him, but to have two different incantations as well... she truly was remarkable.
A defensive spell... maybe?
He still did not know its exact effect. But it was clear that she had used that incantation to block his magic.
Simple defense... or maybe a spell specialized against magic, like Juggernaut.
Perhaps because he had gained some experience, he was at least able to analyze his opponent to some degree. That might have been because he had fought so many unusual enemies.
"You don't seem very surprised."
"I've seen something similar before."
Juggernaut was, in the truest sense, a mage-killer.
Its tremendous mobility, offensive power, and nightmare-like magic reflection...
It had performance so vicious toward mages that it seemed as though it had been born solely to kill them.
But this opponent was not Juggernaut. She was a pure mage, so she would be weak in close combat, and her magic only defended rather than reflected.
And if she needed an incantation, then it was an active-type defense. Its instant protection might be high, but it would have plenty of openings, making her a perfectly manageable opponent.
Besides, his goal was only to buy time. If he held out just a little longer, those two would be able to escape safely.
As for me...
All he had to do was stall that terrifying woman.
Gulp.
Without realizing it, he swallowed.
The woman he should have been able to face seemed strangely enormous.
It was just his imagination... right?