Chapter 109: Anti-Magic Trials

While the anti-impact magic circle proved to be extremely useful, there was one big mystery lurking in Isamu’s mind.

Although it had been bothering him since the middle stages of deciphering, he chose to remain silent during the trial to avoid any strange preconceptions.

However, from the appearance of the prototype after the trial and Felix’s feedback, it became clear that his concerns were valid.

“Hmm, the effect against slashing attacks does seem to be weak…”

Isamu said while running his finger over the diagonal scratches on the shield’s surface.

“Yes. After clashing several times, I noticed a difference in the sound when I slid the surface as if cutting compared to when I struck it, so I decided to test it out.”

Impressed that Mizeroi noticed such a difference in such a short time, Isamu crossed his arms and pondered once again.

(Why are they categorizing attacks into various “types” like slashing, piercing, or thrusting from the start? And how do they discern those types? Physically speaking, whether it’s striking, slashing, or thrusting, it’s all about the force applied… Humans use experience and knowledge to distinguish between slashing and thrusting attacks, but how does the magic circle make that judgment? Well, maybe they use parameters like the direction and speed of the force, but what parameters and thresholds do they use to achieve such automatic judgment close to human perception?)

“… Sam”

(If it’s simply about dispersing and converting the given force, wouldn’t the effect be the same whether it’s slashed or thrust, given the same total force??)

“Nyafu!”

From within the special kotatsu, Orihime, seeing Isamu lost in thought, jumped out and playfully scratched his shoulder with her claws.

“Whoa!!”

Startled out of his thoughts, Isamu was brought back to reality by Orihime’s sudden action.

“Seriously, when will that habit of yours go away…”

“Sensei! You’re amazing!”

Seeing Isamu predicament, Eto, accustomed to such situations, gave up. Mizeroi was delighted to witness Orihime’s antics.

“Well, sorry about that.”

(Well, it’s not a problem that can be solved by talking about it. I’ll just have to leave it at that.)

Isamu scratched his head while putting aside his concerns for now.

Although there were worries, since progress had been made toward practical application of the anti-impact magic circle, he began prototyping the anti-magic magic circle from the next day.

“Shall we try making it into a shield as well? It seems convenient and easy to make, doesn’t it?”

While gazing at the replicated magic circle, Willem asked Isamu.

“Well, hmm… I think it’s a good decision to start by making a shield to see the effect. But when it comes to actual deployment, don’t you think a shield would be a bit inconvenient?”

“Inconvenient?”

“Could it be about switching and transporting?”

Instead of Willem, who didn’t quite get it, Felix answered.

“Yes, that’s right, Felix-san. We already have the Xiao mao Type 1 for anti-impact, right? Moreover, if we add more shields for anti-magic, it’ll be difficult to transport them. It’s fine if there’s a logistics unit, but I feel like cavalry often takes the lead, right? Next is switching. It’s rare to know in what order the enemy will attack. Maybe only in the case of the initial strike in group combat? Otherwise, we have to adapt on the spot each time. Especially with magic, which often comes from a distance, there’s a need for immediate response. You can handle it with one shield in each hand, but then you can’t hold weapons anymore…”

“Oh, I see… Shields are usually one per person, so if we make everything into shields, they’ll just keep increasing, huh. Thinking about it that way, I can understand why you might want to force it into armor.”

Willem, showing a certain understanding for the armor type, which could be considered a product of madness.

“Haha, indeed, looking at it that way, going for the armor type doesn’t seem strange at all. But I don’t want to do it, so I’m thinking about making a cape this time.”

“A cape…? Certainly, if we can make that, it can be used in combination with a shield.”

“Yes. Since the armor we brought back this time had magic circles drawn on the cloth part as well, I thought we could draw them on the back of the cape.”

As he said that, Isamu remembered the tool-like cape similar to the blue cat-shaped robot, and suppressed a laugh.

While the basic concept of the anti-magic armor was similar to the anti-physical one, the approach to nullifying its effect was different.

Here, instead of converting it into something else, they aimed to negate the effect of magic by literally hitting it with superior magic.

“Now, let’s see how it activates. Shall we quickly draw the magic circle on the shield and try it out?”

Isamu began drawing the magic circle on a heater shield prepared in abundance during the prototype of the Xiao mao Type 1.

This type can handle both fire and lightning attributes.

Since there aren’t many branches, the magic circle coverage rate isn’t very high, and the prototype was completed in about two hours.

Carrying the finished shield, Isamu and the others went out to the backyard, where Liddell and Marcella were playing chase with Orihime.

Although they had requested the test to the two guards proficient in magic, it seemed that their warm-up with Orihime in the backyard had evolved into something more.

“Nyah”

“Wow, Sensei! You’re amazing!”

Having led Marcella to a corner, Orihime slipped under her legs and escaped effortlessly, leaving Marcella frustrated.

“Nyaa”

“Damn, as expected of you, Sensei! I’ll do it.”

Orihime slips under Marcella’s thighs and escapes easily.

“Damn, don’t do that! Even though we cornered her, it’s a waste of time!”

The main role of chasing him down was probably Liddell. He breathes into his shoulder as he vents his anger at Marcela’s incompetence.

“Because she’s so quick and her body is so soft! Wait!”

Marcella shouted as she turned on her heel and chased after Orihime.

While watching this, Isamu was thinking about the fact that cats are so soft that there is a theory that they are made of liquid.

“Nyaah!”

While running away, Orihime noticed Isamu coming out and ran towards him and jumped on top of him, using his knees and shoulders as steps.

“Ah, Isamu-sama, thank you for your hard work! Have you finally created a prototype?”

“Thank you for playing with Orihime, Marcela-san and Liddell-san. For now, I’ve created a prototype to see how it will react, so I thought I’d give it a try.”

Isamu answered while showing the newly completed shield.

“It’s dangerous to hold it in your hand from the beginning, so we’ll fix it to the scarecrow first.”

Holding the shield, Isamu walked over to the scarecrow he had set up in the backyard and fixed it there.

“Then, let’s start with fire magic. It’s scary even if it’s too powerful, so I’ll just go with the standard power magic, Fire ball. Could you please? ”

“I understand!”

Marcella, who is in charge of fire magic, enthusiastically responds to Isamu’s orders. Liddell was sitting next to her, furrowing her eyebrows because of how light she was.

Without worrying about that at all, Marcella chants the spell.

“Born from nothing, the flames burn up the enemy in a single mass. Fireball! ”

A basketball-sized fireball appears above Marcela’s head and flies toward the scarecrow with a fixed shield.

Fireball… As the name suggests, it is the most common fire-attribute attack magic that throws a fireball at the opponent.

It doesn’t explode like fire blast, but its simple attack method of shooting blazing flames is still powerful. Since it appeals to people’s instinctive fear, it can cause great psychological damage when used in groups.

That moment when the fireball, the symbol of destruction, directly hit the prototype shield. Isamu saw light blue magic rising from the shield. His ability skill captured it.

The flames momentarily spread to engulf the shield due to the force of it hitting the shield, but the next moment it disperses from the center of the shield’s surface to the outside.

The shocking sight left everyone speechless.

“Amazing……”

Isamu grumbled.

“Hey, hey, hey, hey, this is outrageous.”

Eto, also surprised, muttered with wide eyes.

“My, my Fireball…”

While Marcella knelt down in disappointment, one person’s shock was different from the others.

“Since I saw a fairly strong light blue glow, it seems that water attribute magic, which is indeed the dominant attribute, was activated!”

Recovered from the shock, Isamu spoke with a hint of excitement.

“I’d like to confirm a bit more about its behavior, so let me take a closer look. Marcella-san, could you please cast Fireball once again?”

“I-I understand!”

Though her expression still held a hint of shock, Marcella replied and stood up.

“Everything’s ready, so go ahead!”

Approaching the shield, Isamu called out to Marcella. Beside him, Liddell also looked on with keen interest.

“Born from nothing, the flames burn up the enemy in a single mass. Fireball! ”

Following the incantation, the fireball flew towards the shield once again.

And it hit.

Just like before, a light blue magic aura rose up. Upon closer inspection, for a moment, a white light traversed the surface of the shield from the point of impact.

Then, following that, a shimmering film-like substance spread out from the point of impact, seemingly swallowing up the flames.

“The first one was the magic’s scanning, and following that, the water magic, which is the dominant attribute, seemed to chase after it… It’s an orthodox theory, but doing it at this speed is impressive.”

“…Isamu-sama, did you understand what was happening in that split second just now!?”

Liddell, who was standing nearby, was astonished.

“Oh, well, since I know the contents of the magic circle, it was just a hypothesis based on that. It’s like knowing who the culprit is in a crime case. Cheating, I suppose.”

Saying so, Isamu laughed.

Next, to test magic of a different attribute, they swapped to Liddell to cast lightning magic.

Lightning magic seemed to be a bit of a niche, and Liddell was one of the few who could use it properly, or so Isamu understood.

It might be hard to imagine since it’s called lightning magic, but it’s probably some sort of electricity magic, Isamu thought, understandingly.

This time, Isamu stood by near the shield from the beginning, watching closely. Marcella, too, stood beside Isamu with great curiosity.

“I wish for it. Let the lightning soaring through the heavens gather in this hand and burst forth as a bullet. Lightning Bolt!”

As soon as Liddell finished the incantation, a cluster of white-purple flashes, accompanied by a “badip,” sped toward the shield.

The lightning sphere that hit the shield dispersed all at once, but a brownish substance, like scales, spread out on the surface of the shield, canceling it out.

And when all the lightning was cancelled out, the shield was back to its original state.

“Did-did you see that!? When her lightning bolt hit with a ‘bam,’ something like scales came out from the shield’s surface, and it swallowed up the magic with a ‘gwooo!'”

Clearly able to see it, Marcella, excited, rambled on quickly with her words, filled with sensory expressions.

“Yes. Just like before, some sort of earth magic, which is the dominant attribute, was activated… the reaction speed is still incredible.”

Even with the lightning magic, which spread faster than the fire magic, it was impressive how it completely neutralized it without any delay, Isamu marveled.

“Now that we’ve understood that it’s quite practical, the next step is to actually try it out while wearing it… Are you both absolutely sure about this?”

Feeling worried, Isamu double-checked with the two. They seemed perfectly fine at a glance, but there were no guarantees. If they were to accidentally get seriously injured, it would be a huge problem.

“Yes, it’s totally fine! We sometimes use magic of this level in simulated battles during training, you know.”

“Indeed. We also have permission to use potions in case of emergencies!”

Despite Isamu’s concerns, the two seemed completely unfazed.

While it was a bit concerning in its own right, clinical trials were essential, so Isamu trusted the two and made the request…

“Take this! Eat this!”

“Hmph, as if you can hit me!”

Upon opening the lid, there were two people running around joyfully, firing magic at each other like children playing pretend.

However, thanks to this real-life pretend play, it was discovered that magic attacks hardly reached people even when held in hand. Though there were challenges regarding the shape, it was deemed practical enough even in the form of a shield, and thus, it was decided to create it as an equipment.

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