Under everyone's astonished gaze, Noelle unexpectedly erupted with a massive amount of mana. Her Grimoire automatically hovered around her; it flipped to a new page and automatically inscribed a new spell she had just received.
Noelle's potential was enormous, not inferior to anyone in her generation. Unfortunately, she had been negatively affected by terrible events in the past that impacted her psyche, making it impossible for her to unleash her magical potential.
But now, everything was different. Noelle had received words of encouragement as well as the trust of the villagers; all of them were believing in her. This gave her more determination as well as confidence in herself to respond to the hope they had placed in her.
Noelle's eyes at this moment showed an unshakeable resolve; her Grimoire shone brighter than ever, and the mana in her body continuously surged.
"Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's Nest!"
Noelle's mana flared up extremely powerfully; immediately, a dome made of water with many whirlpools on the surface appeared, covering Noelle, Magna, and all the villagers standing behind her inside.
The size of the water dome Noelle had just created was extremely large, and based on the powerful mana this spell radiated, everyone believed it could defend against the attack spell cast by the mage using Ice Magic.
"For real…?"
Magna stood inside the water dome, looking at Noelle in disbelief; he could not have imagined that a girl who just yesterday still couldn't control her mana could now use such a strong defensive spell.
"What kind of magic is this?!"
Not only Magna, but the mage using Ice Magic was also terrified looking at the spell Noelle had just cast. He thought only Brian was the one with an unreasonably terrifying amount of mana, but unexpectedly there was another person with extraordinary mana here.
Noelle's appearance had caused his plan to target the villagers to create an escape opportunity to fail; he no longer had any other plan to flee. The villagers were protected by Noelle, and Brian no longer had to worry about anything else; he could focus entirely on capturing him.
"Damn it…"
The mage using Ice Magic cursed as he realized he no longer had the ability to escape. He looked at Brian, who at this moment was no longer extending both hands toward those coffins.
Brian's action made him confused for a moment, but then seeing the faint smile on the corner of his mouth, he also realized that he—no, more accurately, everyone—had been fooled by him.
"Was all of this just for that girl?"
The mage using Ice Magic asked Brian while glancing at Noelle, who was still surging with emotion and could not hide her happiness at being able to use an unexpectedly powerful spell.
His gaze at this moment suddenly became unusually calm, "It seems you aren't exactly a true Magic Knight, are you? You don't care about those useless people at all."
"Yeah, you're right, but only partially."
Brian nonchalantly replied to him, speaking in a voice only the two of them could hear, "I could have easily resolved all of you, and could even have protected the villagers safely while doing it. But if I did that, Noelle wouldn't have had the opportunity to grow, which wouldn't be good for me at all."
From the moment Brian and his group went outside Sosshi Village, he had thought of this little plan of his. Just by stimulating Noelle a bit, putting her in a situation where she was forced to act when people trusted her, this girl would have a breakthrough development in a short time.
Brian didn't just want to save the villagers; he also wanted to let Noelle become even stronger, helping her become a mage strong enough to stand beside him later.
Thinking of this, Brian flashed a smile that looked very warm, but in the eyes of the mage using Ice Magic, this smile looked extremely detestable, "Thanks to you, she was able to grow more. As a way of saying thanks, I'll let you say your last words before I kill you."
"Kill me? You don't intend to capture me?"
Hearing Brian say he wanted to kill him, the mage using Ice Magic looked at him with a bit of confusion. Not because he was afraid of death, but because normally, he was the most valuable person among those here.
Brian had captured his three subordinates; his purpose for doing so was certainly to get their testimony. Therefore, he chose to capture instead of directly killing. The testimony of a leader like him would certainly be much more valuable than his subordinates; Brian should have prioritized capturing him instead.
"You intend to commit suicide, don't you?"
Brian suddenly looked straight into the eyes of the mage using Ice Magic, a look as if he had known his intention beforehand, "When there was a chance to escape, you were ready to do anything to run, but when you realized there was no more chance, you relaxed your body as if you had accepted fate. For a person who disregards human life like you, the possibility of you choosing suicide over letting me capture you is likely to happen."
Hearing these words from Brian, the mage using Ice Magic took a close look at him. He indeed had the intention of committing suicide before Brian could catch him, but he didn't expect him to be so decisive.
But regardless of Brian's words, his vigilance toward him still reached its peak; he didn't dare to be careless at all in this situation. He didn't dare to bet whether Brian was telling the truth or if he was just deceiving him to find a way to capture him.
"What was your purpose for attacking this village? Why deliberately kill people unnecessarily? Were you acting on your own, or under someone else's orders?"
Brian kept his steady gaze fixed on his eyes, "Which faction in the Clover Kingdom do you belong to? The crazy nobles, or some terrorist organization?"
"Whose orders… did you follow to come to this place?"
The mage using Ice Magic didn't dare to hesitate any longer; Brian's continuous questions exerted huge pressure on his extremely strained nerves. His Grimoire flipped quickly to the page recording the spell he intended to use. He wanted to commit suicide immediately, not letting Brian have any chance to capture him.
But… he miscalculated one thing.
"Don't you realize the problem?"
Brian spoke as if he couldn't understand his sudden action, "I said I could resolve all of you easily."
As he finished speaking, Brian immediately erupted with his mana, wrapping himself in mana and concentrating a large amount of mana into his legs. Without a single wasted movement, he launched himself straight at the mage using Ice Magic with extreme speed.
Mages can use mana to reinforce physical strength, and if that mage has trained their basic physique beforehand, their physical strength will be even more enhanced after receiving the reinforcement effect from mana. Even though Earth Magic is not a type of magic specialized in speed, Brian could still increase his movement speed by using raw mana to reinforce his physical strength.
"W-What…?!"
The mage using Ice Magic didn't have time to see or sense Brian's movement; his speed at this moment had surpassed the speed he used to catch the subordinates earlier, making it impossible for him to react.
"This is far enough."
With his newly reinforced physique, Brian easily approached the mage using Ice Magic in a split second. He immediately threw a straight punch into his stomach.
"Ah!"
Brian's punch made him unable not to curl up like a shrimp. Not stopping there, he also immediately felt a light breeze blow past his ear, at which point he had received another punch from Brian aimed at the head, knocking him unconscious on the spot.
Brian did not lose his vigilance upon defeating him; he immediately cast Earth Coffin to imprison him. When imprisoned, his consciousness would also be locked by this spell, making him unable to do anything other than sleep peacefully inside the coffin.
With all the mages attacking Sosshi Village captured, Brian's group had successfully protected the village with zero casualties occurring.