Ridiculous?
Was it laughable?
An inexplicable crisis had vanished just like that. The cruelty and bloodshed that might have unfolded, the sight of a plaza awash in blood, never came to pass. There would be no screams or howls, only a bubbling pot of soup, white fish balls tumbling within it, and the savory aroma of fish broth lingering beneath their noses.
Fate?
Tender fish balls bumped against one another in the soup pot.
Ruger looked back. The Hexagonal Tower stood alone in the empty plaza. That swaying, crooked figure had yet to emerge, as though the empty tower held something too enticing to leave. In the distance, the eleven surviving Wizards had actually followed their example and begun cooking, though their ingredients were much simpler-pitiful, even. Barry Danton was sending two Mushroom People over with some supplies: a little fish, but mostly mushrooms of every variety.
That swaying, slightly hunched figure was clearly far more powerful than anyone present, yet a coincidental counter had left him with nowhere to apply his strength.
Hearing about something could never compare to seeing it firsthand. This encounter with a spell sequence had greatly surprised Ruger. He marveled at its bizarre ingenuity and power, but was equally astonished by the awkward predicament it fell into once someone countered it.
That was certainly no ordinary Shedding Spell. Its magical fluctuations alone revealed extensive modifications, and the purpose of those changes was easy to imagine. They must have included measures against this sort of predicament. Previous difficulties simply could not have been as absolute as this one. Perhaps he had merely happened upon a bald enemy or something similar. Even a bald person still had fine hairs all over their body, leaving room for the spell to work. It was not limited to the conspicuous