How To Suck Honey With Extras [EN]: Chapter 131

144. There are Treasures in the Basement (2)

Lucel has almost no aptitude for magic.

All she can do is spiritism and a few minor tricks.

Even that spiritism only recently moved beyond the level of a third-rate.

But her intuition screams.

Whatever it is, it’s extremely dangerous.

“You there! Get down now!”

As Lucel shouted, she ducked to minimize the impact.

From that massive magic circle, pure white light poured towards the Falgentania Grand Duchy’s castle.

A blatant magical terrorist attack directly targeting the Grand Duchy.

There was no time to think about who was responsible or what their purpose was.

How many seconds had passed?

Lucel, bracing for a major impact, grabbed the nearby maid by the collar and ducked under the table, blinking blankly.

“Huh…?”

Nothing happened.

Judging by the scale of the magic circle, she could roughly guess the potential devastation.

It definitely wouldn’t end simply.

But how could there be no sound other than light, let alone an impact?

“Huh? Is it cold?”

Her skin prickled.

Apart from the earlier goosebumps, she genuinely felt cold.

That couldn’t be. She hadn’t felt this cold just a moment ago.

“Lady Elbeid? What’s going on?”

As the maid looked puzzled, Lucel hurriedly got up and looked out the window.

“…What.”

She was speechless because the entire scenery outside the window was subtly tinged white, as if frosted over.

“…The impact of the magic just now?”

There was no doubt about that.

This couldn’t be a natural phenomenon.

Above all, Lucel herself had a frost-type spirit among her contracted spirits.

That’s why she couldn’t understand.

Why on earth would someone do this?

If she were trying to commit terrorism, wouldn’t she just use the most powerful attack?

“…Um? Maybe it just failed?”

From behind the bewildered Lucel, the maid cautiously offered her opinion.

“Failed?”

“The Grand Duchy has various magical tools for defense. And magic circles too…”

In any noble’s castle, unless they are terribly poor, one of the things they are most wary of is magical terrorism.

Of course, the larger the castle, the easier it *could* be for a mage to destroy it.

They *could* just throw a fireball and hit it.

So, preparing for it is common sense.

The Falgentania Grand Duchy is no different.

Especially since they have a treasure they must protect, they are more thorough in preparing for magical terrorism than other places.

“I don’t know much about magic, but I know that magic below the 5th Circle is weakened enough.”

“…I’ve heard that too.”

Lucel felt uneasy because, of course, it couldn’t be common sense only known to them.

Could someone who can deploy a magic circle of that scale not know such obvious things?

That couldn’t be.

She didn’t want to be arrogant and say she knew everything, but Lucel instinctively knew that couldn’t be the case.

“…Huh?”

At that moment, a second magic circle unfolded in the sky.

This time, multiple.

Not as absurdly large as before, but there are many of them.

Dozens of red magic circles unfolded, and the same number of fireballs fell from them.

To think they would launch a second attack right away.

“It’ll be okay! The previous one didn’t work either.”

The maid said confidently, but Lucel couldn’t shake her anxiety.

In her life experience, if there’s such a confident belief…

KWAHHHH!

It’s bound to collapse easily!

“Kyaaaaaaa!”

“Damn it! It’s working!”

Flames erupted from explosions everywhere.

Each time a fireball exploded, an ominous tremor was felt underfoot.

She didn’t know what happened, but it meant that the magic terrorism countermeasures the maid had proudly mentioned weren’t working at all.

“Be careful! Whatever it is, it’s coming again! It’s dangerous inside too! Evacuate even if you’re scared.”

“Ye, yes!”

This time, the maid genuinely felt a sense of crisis, turned pale, and crawled out first in a low posture.

Lucel followed suit.

Meanwhile, an ominous shout rang out from outside.

“Attack the Falgentania Grand Duchy!”

“They’re out of their minds right now!”

“Kick their faces in!”

Rough shouts and *manner of speaking*.

Just by listening, it wasn’t the kind of voice that knights or soldiers working here would make.

Soon, the sound of soldiers on this side shouting back was heard, followed by the sound of weapons clashing and screams.

‘What?! We’re completely under attack.’

The situation was unfolding without a chance to collect her thoughts.

She didn’t know what trick they used, but the attackers ignored all the Grand Duchy’s magical defenses, inflicted damage, and then mobilized additional troops to surround the entire castle.

It was an undeniably planned flow.

‘How is that possible?!’

She wasn’t an expert in this field, but Lucel never imagined this would be possible.

Magic aside, where did the troops come from and how were they moved?

The problem is that shouting impossible here won’t change anything.

She would naturally find out if she overcame this situation.

Lucel immediately switched gears and jumped out of the window in the hallway without hesitation.

“Seriously! I thought I could finally relax! What is this!”

Of all times, things had to happen while the person in charge of giving instructions was away.

Lucel felt like she wanted to lash out.

A group was approaching, recklessly breaking through the soldiers’ defenses and pushing in.

Just perfect.

Lucel grinned and decided to vent her frustration on them now.

“It’s just one *bitch*!”

“Ignore her and trample her!”

Politely, the enemies didn’t care about Lucel at all.

“Hmph, try to pass if you can.”

Lucel fearlessly blocked the enemies and lightly placed her hand on the floor.

Behind her, a bird-shaped spirit made of ice appeared.

Lucel’s contracted spirit, the ice-attribute spirit Grace.

“Grace, don’t hold back and freeze them all.”

As the ice spirit flapped its wings, the cold transferred to the enemies’ bodies.

Since the temperature had already dropped, the enemies, who had become insensitive to the cold, initially misjudged the cold emanating from the spirit and tried to laugh it off as nothing.

But.

Crackle!

A sound like something splitting and breaking rang out, and they were soon trapped in a giant ice block.

The ice soon collapsed and shattered, and the enemies trapped inside were also brutally crushed all at once.

But her spiritism doesn’t end here.

“Not yet! Ifrit!”

She summoned another spirit, this time a red giant covered in burning flames.

A fire spirit with purely the same level of power as the fire spirit Eilon wields.

The fire giant rushed towards the approaching enemies.

As it swung its arm and collided with the front of the enemies, it exploded spectacularly and flames soared.

“Kuaaaaaaa!”

“It’s a fire monster!”

“It’s a spirit, okay?”

As Lucel shouted in annoyance, the flames became even more intense.

Despite the intense flames, the allied soldiers facing the enemies didn’t feel even a bit of heat.

“Everyone! Stay focused and defend! It can’t be helped that it’s already been breached! Recover as much as possible and hold out!”

Lucel shouted to the soldiers.

She had no intention or position to give orders, but it was better for her to step forward now.

When things are chaotic, it’s good for someone to take the lead with determination.

Lucel was somewhat aware of that.

Above all, she had been asked, so she intended to do her minimum duty.

“I’ll take on any overwhelming enemies that come! So, you guys prepare whatever you can do now! Hurry!”

The soldiers quietly gave a short salute and immediately reorganized their formation and hurried to prepare for a full-scale defense.

There was no reason to listen to the orders of an outsider, but it was also an outsider who had stepped forward for them now.

“…I don’t know who or what kind of bastard did this. Come if you dare!”

Lucel boldly unleashed her spiritism and poured it towards the enemies, shouting.

She would get a separate allowance for this later.

Lucel began to block the enemies, thinking of the two humans who were probably moving diligently underground right now.

* * *

The Falgentania Grand Duchy’s castle was under attack by *unknown assailants*.

Several humans were looking down at the entire scenery from a point overlooking it.

“They were only trusting in their pathetic magical defenses, so they had no choice but to be caught off guard by this surprise attack. …Their consideration of magic is lacking, those young punks.”

Among them, an elderly mage with a staff chuckled.

“So? Gramps? How did you break through it?”

The one who asked, pressing him, was a red-haired woman watching with binoculars.

The woman, wearing armor made of animal skin and fur, watched without taking her eyes off the binoculars as if it were an interesting sight.

“Gramps, didn’t you say the magical countermeasures there were considerable?”

“Certainly, they were excellent defenses, but they weren’t without flaws.”

If all the magical defenses deployed in the Grand Duchy’s castle had been properly activated, it would have been troublesome even for the old man to break them.

However, the old man neutralized it with a single spell and inflicted damage with the next attack.

“7th Circle wide-area freezing magic. Prosk Cloud. …That’s what I used first.”

“Oh! 7th Circle! …Huh? Wait? 7th Circle? Wasn’t the power underwhelming for something like that?”

She remembered being excited when she first saw the scale of the magic.

Soon, she recalled being disappointed when she saw that the effect was only enough to cause frost.

“Don’t judge magic by its power alone, you little brat.”

It’s a pathetic prejudice.

The old mage inwardly ridiculed her attitude and began to explain.

“If we’re only talking about power, that magic is worse than even a 2nd Circle ice magic. It’s originally a failed magic in development.”

Originally, it was intended to have the effect of freezing a wide area, but due to a mistake in the design of the magic formula, it became a flawed magic that didn’t even reach its original effect.

However, the flawed magic had an advantage that even the developer didn’t recognize.

“The cold also interferes with the flow of mana.”

“Hmm? Gramps? Is that strange?”

“It’s a magical phenomenon, but I don’t think you’d be interested in explaining how bizarre it is that temperature interferes with the flow of mana.”

“Yeah. Just tell me the conclusion, Gramps. I don’t want to hear anything annoying~.”

The old man clicked his tongue, saying, “That’s why they don’t know the true taste of magic,” and continued.

“All magic is made up of the flow and change of mana. The interfering cold stagnates them…”

“So?”

The theory is enough! Conclusion!

The red-haired woman asked bluntly.

“…It means that the reaction of all magic circles and magic tools is slowed down.”

The activation is delayed or does not activate.

“Isn’t that a scam?”

“It’s easy to prepare for that countermeasure if you know it. But the little brats don’t know.”

Besides, it’s still a 7th Circle magic.

Usually, very few mages know of its existence.

Even fewer mages can use it.

So, it’s a blind spot that they can’t help but fall for at least once.

“Hmm~ So you’re the Empire’s strongest mage after all.”

The red-haired woman readily admired and smirked.

The old man, who snorted as if dissatisfied with that attitude, was indeed the Empire’s strongest mage.

The head of the Empire’s Magic Corps and concurrently the master of the enemy’s magic tower, the *Red Tower*.

Clifford Belphenas.

The so-called Empire’s strongest mage.

There is a rumor that he once even fought with the crazy lich Kmel, though it is only treated as a rumor.

“So, why don’t the strongest mage cast one more spell? You could sink the entire castle, right?”

“Stop talking nonsense.”

However, Clifford only sneered after hearing the red-haired woman’s request.

“Have you forgotten the request, mercenary? That’s your job.”

The woman pouted, as if her intentions had been discovered.