"Hey! Naoki!"
At the entrance of the café, clinging tightly to a lamppost like a monkey to avoid being blown away by the strong wind, Waver shouted at Naoki, who kept walking forward: "Why do we have to go outside? It's too dangerous out here! We can set up a magical barrier inside the shop!"
"But that's just waiting for death, isn't it?"
Naoki turned around and smiled.
"Besides, this storm is getting worse. If we let it continue, the situation will only get more dire. Waver, you go back to the shop and protect yourself. I'll handle things outside."
"Handle things? Hey! With your Magecraft skills, which are almost as bad as mine, what can you possibly handle?"
"At least I'm better than you at one element—"
"Aowwwwwww!"
Before Naoki could finish his sentence, a howl that seemed to come from the distant mountains startled both of them. Their magic circuits were suddenly filled with a bone-chilling cold, and an extremely malevolent Mana quickly filled the entire barrier.
*BOOM!*
A thunderclap suddenly echoed across the sky, and a blinding flash of light tore through the darkness of the barrier. With that light, Naoki could finally see his surroundings clearly, as well as the source of the howl.
It was a black hound, its entire body pitch black and enormous in size. Just the height of its legs was as tall as Naoki. What was even more terrifying was that just by standing in front of it, Naoki felt his magic circuits overheating.
This was an overreaction caused by absorbing abnormal Mana, which meant that, at least in the surrounding area, the Mana had completely changed.
"A Black Dog..."
"Naoki! That's a Black Dog! A legendary creature that's now a fairy and a malevolent spirit at crossroads! It's also the embodiment of thunder!"
"Thanks for the explanation! So how do we deal with it?"
"How should I know?"
"Alright. Then get back inside the shop! You're useless now!"
"Uwaaa!"
Waver's scream was immediately drowned out by the sound of the strong wind. Watching Naoki face the Black Dog, Waver pursed his lips, then panicked and ran back into the café. Glancing at the people inside the shop who were starting to look outside, his heart raced.
'Right, the Black Dog is a malevolent spirit. Unlike ordinary spirits, its interference with reality is very clear, and its size will definitely attract attention! If ordinary people see it, the secrecy of the supernatural will—'
Thinking this, Waver hurriedly grabbed his and Naoki's backpacks and rummaged through them.
"Found it! The enhancement catalyst!"
Seeing the catalyst in his hand, Waver couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. For a third-rate Magus like him, if he wanted to use high-level Magecraft, this catalyst was absolutely necessary, so he always carried it with him. As long as he had this, he could also use intermediate-level Magecraft that required a lot of Mana, such as wide-area suggestion Magecraft. Although he didn't know how large the range would be, something was better than nothing.
'All I can do is this. I'll leave the outside to you, Naoki. Please finish it as quickly as possible.'
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
Standing in the middle of the storm and facing the Black Dog, Naoki removed his glasses since they were too much of a hindrance in a situation like this.
"Useless."
Seeing the Black Dog not moving at all, Naoki sighed in resignation.
The Mystic Eyes of Spirit Eater could indeed be called a spirit killer, but that was for normal spirits. For a Black Dog, which was a malevolent spirit, it would have no effect at all.
In other words, the biggest trump card Naoki always relied on was completely useless. All that was left was his half-baked Magecraft.
A half-baked Magus trying to defeat a Black Dog head-on was tantamount to suicide.
"Even so, I have to move forward."
Magic circuits like glowing wires lit up on his arms. Although the flow of Mana wasn't very smooth due to the environment, according to Kayneth, the quality of Naoki's circuits was indeed very high, especially in terms of Mana flow efficiency. Even now, despite the interference—
*WHOOSH!*
The strong wind enveloping Naoki's body seemed to be pulled by something, like arm guards, quickly wrapping around both of his arms. With a swing of his hands, two whirlwinds immediately spun into existence!
Conversion and Release—this was the nature of Naoki's Magecraft. Although it wasn't very useful for complex Magecraft, when it came to elemental Magecraft, he could use it more easily.
Not to mention, in an environment with strong winds like this, using wind-element Magecraft was as easy as thinking!
*BOOM!*
The two whirlwinds directly hit the Black Dog's head, but to Naoki's astonishment, the Black Dog only slightly lowered its head and showed no other reaction. Then its powerful legs bent slightly—ready to attack!
*THUD!*
The ground was crushed under its feet, and with the flying debris, the Black Dog's massive body instantly turned into a black whirlwind charging toward Naoki!
"Ugh!"
His vision blurred, only seeing a shadow flash before his eyes, Naoki felt a chill run down his spine! Without a second thought, he immediately rolled to the side.
*BAM!*
Almost simultaneously, the spot where Naoki had been standing was completely shattered and torn apart by the Black Dog's claws, leaving three half-meter-deep trenches carved into the ground.
If he had been hit by that attack, he would have died instantly—that thought filled Naoki's mind.
'Thankfully... I'm safe, but what should I do next?'
Even though it was only one round of combat, Naoki was already certain that with his half-baked Magecraft, he had no chance of breaking through the Black Dog's magical defenses.
'Using the nature of Magecraft to defeat it? The nature of malevolent spirits is yin, so using fire Magecraft... No, that won't work. In this weather, the fire element is completely suppressed by the wind and water elements! Then earth... I can't control such a clumsy element!'
"Grrr..."
As Naoki quickly thought of a way to deal with his opponent, the Black Dog, which had failed its attack, let out a low growl. Its red eyes stared at him for a moment, then it suddenly turned and ran back into the darkness.
"This..."
Naoki couldn't help but stand there in shock.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
At the top of a certain building.
Using far-sight Magecraft to observe the situation at the crossroads, Morgan frowned slightly: "Strange... Why is he so weak? He's received the Logos React, equivalent to two-thirds of King Arthur, so why can't he even defeat a Black Dog?"
If Morgan hadn't immediately ordered the Black Dog to leave, Naoki would have been seriously injured.
And—
"Why hasn't the aura of King Arthur in that boy's body changed at all after receiving the Logos React? He was at the Blackmore Cemetery... Could it be that nothing happened to him there?"
If that's the case...
Looking again at Naoki, Morgan sighed in resignation: "Anyway, I'll have to go to the Blackmore Cemetery first. It seems something there isn't going according to my plan."