Chapter 73: Anti-Magic Barrier

After shooting down two magic aerial soldiers from the Friez Kingdom, I immediately retrieved General Newsbeck—whom I had concealed underground for safety.

Carrying her in my arms, I pressed on without pause. Our vehicle had been destroyed beyond use, so there was no choice but to proceed on foot and by magic. Still, despite the exhaustion gnawing at my body and the tension that had yet to leave my nerves, I somehow managed to reach our original destination—the western command headquarters.

“Honestly, I never expected you to pull off flight magic so casually.”

For the time being, a makeshift command room had been set up for the General and me. It was crude—little more than a hastily assembled shelter—but it served its purpose.

Inside, I sat across from General Newsbeck, the two of us facing each other in the dim, tense quiet.

“Flight magic… something that was once the exclusive domain of the Friez Kingdom. And now, at last, we may be able to study and verify it ourselves. I can allow myself to hope for that, can’t I?”

“Yes, that’s how it stands. Though personally… I think we should revisit the topic of anti-magic barriers before anything else.”

“Oh? The anti-magic barrier?”

“As a matter of fact, even the place we’re in right now is covered by one.”

“Ah… yes, that’s true.”

The headquarters was heavily fortified.

At all times, an anti-magic barrier remained deployed, forming an invisible shield over the entire area.

“And yet, as you can see… I can still use flight magic.”

Within that very barrier, I gently lifted myself off the ground, my body rising as though buoyed by an unseen current.

“That’s impossible!?”

Magic being cast within an anti-magic barrier.

The very premise that had governed this war until now was overturned before her eyes. General Newsbeck shot to her feet in shock, her expression a mixture of disbelief and dawning realization.

“Why? Why can you activate it!?”

“It has to do with how the anti-magic barrier behaves. Let’s go over it again from the basics.”

I picked up a sheet of paper and drew a single line across it.

“This line represents the ground. Initially, the anti-magic barrier was deployed like this.”

From that line, I drew a semicircle extending upward.

“And then, it evolved into this. With the rise of earth-element magic, the barrier was extended underground as well.”

I mirrored the semicircle below the line, forming a complete circle, then began shading in the interior.

“The effect of the anti-magic barrier is to erase all magic within this area. In other words—it erases mana itself.”

At first, I had described the barrier as a wall that nullified mana, but that wasn’t entirely accurate.

What it truly did was erase any manifestation of mana within its range. More precisely, it eliminated the very expression of mana in that space. Any mana leaking from a living body was immediately extinguished, preventing spells from ever fully forming—they simply vanished before they could exist.

“That’s why enhancement magic, like physical reinforcement, cannot be used inside an anti-magic barrier.”

Back in my first battle, I had charged straight into the enemy’s front lines using enhancement magic. But that had only been possible because, at the time, no anti-magic barrier had been deployed in those trenches.

It had been a calculated gamble. I’d assumed the enemy wouldn’t fire magic in the opening strike anyway—and besides, deploying an anti-magic barrier would have revealed the presence of their forces.

Enhancement magic had only been effective right up until the moment I entered the enemy’s barrier. From that point on, I was nothing more than flesh and blood.

“However, the anti-magic barrier used in flight magic is different.”

“Different…? Is that even possible?”

“Yes. The barrier is activated within one’s own body—more precisely, along the surface of one’s skin. Now, what do you think happens then?”

“…? Even if it’s activated inside the body, wouldn’t nothing really change?”

“It changes everything. The anti-magic barrier eliminates magic by erasing the mana that leaks out from our bodies.”

“I understand that, but… hm? Oh… ohh… I see.”

As my explanation sank in, General Newsbeck slowly nodded, comprehension dawning across her face.

“So the barrier prevents mana from leaking out of the body… meaning… is it that enhancement magic can be used with zero mana leakage?”

“Exactly.”

Even with enhancement magic, which operates within the body, a small amount of mana inevitably leaks out during activation.

Eliminating that leakage entirely is normally impossible. But even a tiny escape of mana would trigger the anti-magic barrier, causing the entire spell to collapse. That’s why such magic is usually nullified.

However, the barrier itself prevents that leakage. Since it erases mana, anything attempting to escape is stopped at the boundary—it never leaves the body.

As a result, magic that can be fully contained within the body becomes viable. And just like that, flight magic—immune to anti-magic barriers—is born.

“…Wait. Even if that’s true, wouldn’t it be useless? You can’t use two spells at the same time, can you?”

“No. It seems the anti-magic barrier doesn’t count as an active spell. Whether it’s a bug or something else… I have no idea.”

“Hold on! That makes no sense!?”

“I agree. And yet… somehow, it works. How the Friez Kingdom even discovered this method of application is beyond me.”

To be honest, I have absolutely no idea why the anti-magic barrier isn’t counted among active spells.

There’s not much to go on. To begin with, why can’t we use two spells at once? Even that remains something of a mystery. The prevailing theory is that the brain simply isn’t structured to handle it—but if that were the case, then being able to combine an anti-magic barrier with another spell shouldn’t be possible either.

As for my own speculation… perhaps it has something to do with how mana behaves?

Maybe the mana inside the barrier and the mana outside it are treated as entirely separate systems, each operating independently…?

Hmm. No, I can’t say for sure. That’s a puzzle for future researchers.

“Hmm… I still can’t say I’m entirely convinced.”

“Even so, we can’t afford to stand still. By deploying an anti-magic barrier within our own bodies, we can erase any magic before it ever touches us. Not only does this block offensive spells—it can also nullify the enemy’s anti-magic barriers.”

“Oh…! So even when pilots approached using aircraft and activated anti-magic barriers, they still couldn’t shoot that one down…!”

“That’s right.”

“…Don’t just say ‘that’s right’ so casually! On your very first day here, you solved a problem that had the entire western command tearing their hair out over!”