The Shepherd Alone on the Hill is a Genius Wizard

When the explosion first occurred, no one at the battle scene understood what Turan had done.

Having seen him use fire spirits for emergency evasion several times, they only wondered, 'Why did he detonate it when he wasn't even under attack?'

They felt a change when the boulder, affected simultaneously by centrifugal force and explosive power, thus flying at several times the speed of sound, precisely penetrated the giant sea serpent's vital point.

The wound area that had been created by some god in the past, which had probably ended the enormous beast's life originally.

The boulder shot into that spot, tearing through the stormy flesh before piercing through the scales on the other side and exiting.

The impact was so severe that the giant sea serpent couldn't even scream, only opening its mouth wide and violently twisting its entire body.

"Get-a-way!"

When the merman king shouted using the characteristic large lung capacity of a whale, his voice resonated loudly through the storm.

Watching his children retreat urgently, the king recalled that incredibly fearsome attack.

'What was that just now...'

Although he merely lived going back and forth between the sea and around his kingdom, the merman king boasted superior insight compared to ordinary merfolk, thanks to living for quite a long time and inheriting various wisdom from his ancestors.

From his perspective, the sling attack that Turan had just shown was not something that should come from a magician of his level.

It was power that might be seen from the most powerful human wizard monarchs, those they called great house heads.

Considering that Turan's power hadn't been at that level until just now, it was an abnormally high level of firepower.

'Indeed, he must be one of the immortal races...'

The king, who had been somewhat suspicious because Turan's power was weaker than expected, now solidified his belief upon seeing this.

He swallowed his rising thoughts inwardly and protected his children from the aftermath of the struggling giant sea serpent.

[□-------■-------!]

The impact created by the writhing of a monster over a hundred meters in length was truly immense.

Every time its massive mass churned the air and water, tsunamis arose, and from the wound that had been pierced by Turan's attack earlier, an enormous amount of wind poured out, creating a magical storm.

A giant octopus with a body size of over eight meters, floating half above water, was caught in it and flew hundreds of meters away.

"Urgh-!"

"Come into my mouth! Quickly!"

After seeing Solif, who had been attacking from a sea turtle's shell, slip into the turtle's mouth, Turan checked Bize's location using tracking magic.

The tsunami and storm that swept the surroundings had pushed away the already ravaged sandy beach and shattered the forest behind it, but fortunately, it seemed not to have reached the inner part where Bize was.

"Phew..."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Turan tossed aside the sling that had been tattered from the explosion's aftermath.

Normally, he would protect the sling with magic when throwing stones, but it seemed that wasn't enough to withstand the recent explosion.

'I see my hand is injured too.'

His fingers were burning and blistered, suggesting he had been burned by the explosion's aftermath. Explore more stories with My Virtual Library Empire

Considering that he hadn't even activated the guardian magic tool to minimize magic consumption, it was fortunate he was only injured to this extent.

While contemplating whether to eat some recovery potion to treat it, Meisa approached and asked:

"How did you do that just now?"

"I used fire spirits... I'll explain the detailed principle later."

In fact, since it was an idea that came to him on the spot and was immediately implemented, he thought there was a good chance it might fail, but for some reason, he was able to coordinate it perfectly as if he had practiced it hundreds of times.

He had felt this sensation a few times in the past when throwing stones.

The certainty of hitting the desired target, something that could only be felt in critical moments.

This could be the result of Turan's skill and intuition, developed through countless practices since childhood.

Moreover, he couldn't even use magic to guide the stone to the target just now because he was using the wind path.

'Besides, this technique, if researched more, seems like it could have quite a lot of applications...'

There were already several applications coming to mind.

Filling a large pouch with hundreds of pebbles and fire spirits, then throwing it into the midst of enemies and detonating it, or as the dwarves did in the past, placing metal fragments in a long, thin tube with fire spirits at the back and firing by detonating them.

In the midst of all these imaginative thoughts, the giant sea serpent's thrashing gradually began to subside.

Was it truly at the brink of death now?

It seemed Turan wasn't the only one thinking this, as the giant octopus that had been blown away by the wind earlier approached and raised one of its legs toward the giant sea serpent.

At that moment, a change could be seen occurring inside the monster, which was in a half-dead state.

"Get away!"

Turan urgently shouted, but they were already too close to each other.

The giant sea serpent, which had been wheezing as if its breath was about to stop, suddenly opened its eyes wide and burst forth with green light from its entire body.

The storm spirit that had been contained inside its body until just now escaped somewhere, transforming it into a complete undead.

Although it was still crushed all over and on the verge of death, it seemed to have gained a bit more strength in the process, as it opened its mouth wide toward the octopus and gathered magical power in its mouth.

What burst forth was-

"Aaaaargh!"

With a golden flash, the giant octopus's body melted away as if butter being cut with a heated knife.

The Light of Judgment.

Seeing Baraha's prized vision magic of the sun bloodline pouring out from the giant sea serpent's mouth, Turan was momentarily speechless.

How on earth did that creature...?

As if mocking such questions, the giant sea serpent immediately began to emit a massive amount of lightning throughout its body, targeting not only the merfolk royalty around it but also Turan and Meisa who were flying in the sky.

It wasn't difficult to guess that this was returning Meisa's lightning attacks that had been hammering its body until recently.

Unlike Turan, who urgently detonated a handful of fire spirits to propel his body away and avoid the lightning, Meisa was struck by lightning and fell into the sea with a scream.

Turan was about to go rescue her but realized the giant sea serpent was staring at him and gave up.

He had to believe that Meisa, having awakened the complete storm bloodline unlike Turan, had strong resistance to electricity and would be safe.

'Mimicker...'

The first word that came to mind as he dodged the consecutive bolts of lightning was precisely this.

Nowhere in the ancient texts about the giant sea serpent, which he had obtained by asking the librarian, was there any mention of it possessing such abilities.

It seemed that, like his relic, rather than stealing and handling the power of those it killed, it could copy abilities it had been hit with.

Had it been in contact with the Mimicker god, with their undead essences intertwined?

Judging by how it used Solif's power once and didn't use it again, there seemed to be some limitations, but even considering that, the situation wasn't very optimistic.

This was because Meisa had been launching magnificent lightning storms from the beginning of the battle, aided by the cloudy weather, like something the Arabion house head might display.

If it spewed out all of that power again, it would be enough to kill everyone here twice over.

While thinking and dodging the incoming lightning, Turan realized that the storm that had been raging around them was subsiding.

It seemed that with the disappearance of the storm spirit that had been fused with the giant sea serpent, it had lost the ability to control the weather.

Moreover, not only the merfolk royalty who had been avoiding the lightning storm, but also Meisa who had fallen due to the lightning attack earlier, and Solif were approaching underwater and attempting attacks to draw its attention.

While this was likely taking advantage of the fact that lightning cannot exert its power underwater as it spreads instantly, considering the high possibility of instant death if struck once by that overwhelming physical body, it was truly a bold act bordering on recklessness.

'In that case...'

He couldn't waste this precious opportunity that his companions had created.

Unfortunately, since the large sling had been torn by the explosive force, it was difficult to use the same technique again, but if the storm had subsided, he could employ the tactic he had discarded earlier.

Turan's body, flying through the sky, vanished as if it were a lie.

==

'Damn it...'

Taking a breath through the breathing tube he had created by manipulating water, Solif cursed at the majestic sight of the mythical monster before him.

Just earlier, he had been struck by the wave created when it thrashed its body to shake off annoying flies, and had been pushed back dozens of meters.

If the giant sea serpent had deliberately targeted Solif, he wouldn't have lasted long.

Being somewhat lacking in proficiency with fluid manipulation magic, he couldn't move very nimbly underwater.

But swallowing such fear, Solif created a spear of light underwater and threw it toward somewhere on the giant sea serpent's belly and chest.