Demonstrating Magic

"You mean you want to teach them magic?" Serie tilted her head, staring at Rhode.

After the initial excitement of their reunion faded, Rhode had pulled her aside to a corner and made this request.

"As you wish."

Serie had no objections—teaching one was the same as teaching two, after all.

Besides, the magic she and Rhode now used had been improved upon, already breaking away from the scope of Elf race magic.

The only issue was that Rhode would have to convince Kraft himself.

But that shouldn't be a problem, since that guy hadn't returned to the Elf Forest in centuries; he probably didn't care about those old rules anymore.

"But what kind of magic did you use to severely wound that Demon Race member?"

Serie recalled that when she arrived at the cliff, that Demon Race member had already been gravely injured, half its body blown away. It was only alive thanks to its unique physical condition.

"I suspect that Demon Race member must have modified its own body as well; otherwise, such severe injuries would have long since been unbearable and turned it to ash."

Serie reasoned carefully—since the opponent had magic to control Monster corpses, it wouldn't be strange for it to have performed an undead transformation on its own body.

"That's indeed possible."

Rhode nodded, agreeing with her speculation, then explained the technique he had used to severely wound the Demon Race member.

"Absorbing light and then exploding?" Serie found it hard to grasp. "Can you show me?"

Rhode looked a bit troubled.

The main issue was that he was still in the experimental stage with this technique and wasn't very skilled at using it yet.

More importantly, he only knew how to release it, not how to stop it—and the thing made quite a commotion.

After voicing his concerns to Serie, she simply said lightly, "Then let's go somewhere far and try it out."

Serie had never forgotten her purpose.

To teach Rhode magic so that he could create even more powerful spells.

Now that she heard he had created such a powerful technique, she naturally couldn't suppress her excitement.

Rhode nodded and informed Norn and Erik about it, since if he made too much noise later, it would definitely alarm them.

Consider it a heads-up.

But to his surprise, the two of them also wanted to see it.

Mainly because they had never witnessed the terrifying power of magic before, and during their sparring sessions with Rhode, the magic he used had always been restrained, with no large-scale destructive spells employed.

Rhode agreed, but he hadn't expected Kraft and Som to be drawn in as well.

Looking at the group of people staring intently at him, Rhode said helplessly, "You really have nothing better to do."

"Since Brother Rhode is giving us a rare demonstration, I have to join in the fun," the Dwarf Som replied with a grin.

And so, the group made their way to an open clearing outside the village.

Since this area still fell within the Gremir Forest, there was no need to worry about Monster attacks—only the occasional wild beast that might appear.

But for the people present, if any reckless beast dared to show itself before them, it would only serve as an extra dish for tonight's dinner.

Rhode stood in the center of the clearing, told everyone to stand behind him and keep their distance, then began to manipulate his magic power.

Within his palm, layers of magic circles began to appear.

Back then, the situation had been urgent, and Rhode hadn't had time to optimize this spell, but fortunately, its power had met his expectations.

Now, Rhode intended to release the spell in its complete form.

Rhode focused entirely on controlling the flow of energy, and Serie could clearly sense that the magic power around him was taking on an extremely violent demeanor.

Then, in the next moment, darkness fell before everyone's eyes.

To be precise, the light of this space was stripped away.

This darkness lasted only an instant, not even half a second, and Norn and Erik even thought their eyes had played tricks on them.

Som noticed the anomaly, rubbed his eyes, and instinctively took two steps back.

As for that darkness, Kraft and Serie, who had the keenest senses, both wore extremely grave expressions.

The former reacted out of a warrior's instinct, while the latter had detected something wrong from the flow of magic power in the air just now.

"What a terrifying aura," Kraft remarked.

His warrior instincts had subconsciously put him in a combat stance, every muscle in his body tensed.

"Mm, it seems Rhode has created a truly terrifying spell."

Serie discreetly layered two Defense Magic spells on herself while quietly unfolding a magic circle in her small hand, ready to release a magic barrier if anything went wrong.

As their words fell, Rhode, standing before everyone, finally completed his charge.

Since he no longer faced a life-or-death crisis, Rhode could take his time to build up power.

The small white dot from before had also turned into a fist-sized ball of light, meaning its power had multiplied several times over.

This white orb floated quietly in Rhode's palm, then began to spin, emitting a piercing hum, forming visible rings of light waves.

Norn and Erik's eyes went wide as they instinctively stumbled back a few steps, even ducking behind Som without a word.

This made Som so furious he'd be blowing his beard and glaring—if he had a beard, that is.

Of the two who didn't retreat, Kraft had taken a defensive stance, while Serie silently unfolded a magic barrier before herself.

They had never sensed such overwhelming energy fluctuations; just watching from a distance made their hearts pound.

"Here it comes!"

Rhode hurled both hands forward, flinging the orb of light dozens of meters away, then instantly conjured a magic barrier identical to Serie's in front of himself.

Boom!!!

A deafening explosion tore through the air as a blinding pillar of light shot straight into the sky.

The violent shockwave of energy radiated outward, flinging everything on the ground into the air. Everything at the epicenter turned to ash, exposing the black soil beneath.

Even the trees far from the blast center swayed violently, leaves and broken branches raining down like a downpour.

When the light faded, the group stared in shock at a charred crater dozens of meters wide in the middle of the clearing.

"Th-this..." Erik's mouth hung open, unable to form words for a long moment.

He didn't dare imagine what kind of disaster such a spell would cause if it landed in a village.

"What a fearsome magic." Norn stared at the crater the spell had carved, as if lost in thought.

If humans could learn magic this powerful, they should be able to stand tall in this world instead of living in hiding.

In that instant, a fierce resolve surged in Norn: no matter the cost, he would make Rhode teach him these spells, and then pass them down to his descendants.

Passed down and developed generation after generation, these spells would surely forge a brighter future for humanity.