"Explosion is the strongest spell. On the other hand, it requires a long casting time. Before I am ready, please keep that toad at bay."
We brought Megumin who had eaten her full along to seek revenge against those giant toads.
I could see a toad in the distance on the plain. That toad had already noticed us and was charging our way. And I could see another toad heading towards us from the opposite direction.
"Please target the toad further away. As for the one nearer… Hey, let's go
Terly. We will avenge ourselves this time. You are a former goddess right? How about showing what you are made of sometimes?"
"What do you mean by former? I am a current goddess! My position of a
high cleric is just a disguise!"
Meguma looked at the self proclaimed goddess choking me and said:
"…Goddess?"
"… Just a pitiful woman claiming to be a goddess. She will say stuff like that
from time to time, please don't mind her."
After hearing my explanation, Meguma looked at Terly with sympathetic eyes.
Terly was on the verge of tears, and charged towards the nearer toad in
frustration with her fist clenched.
"You are just toads that are strong against physical attacks, let me show you the power of a goddess! Kanike, watch this carefully! I haven't done
anything great yet, but I will definitely succeed today!"
Terly who lacked the capacity to learn shouted and succeeded in infiltrating into the body of the toad, stopping the movement of one toad. As expected of a goddess, sacrificing herself to buy time for us.
… At this point, the air around Meguma started to tremble. Even a novice to magic like me could tell Meguma was preparing to use
amazing magic.
Meguma's chanting got louder as sweat falls from her temples.
"Watch closely. This is the strongest possible attack of humans… The
ultimate attack magic."
The tip of Meguma's staff started to glow. The scale might be small, but it seemed to accumulate vast amount of light as it shone brightly.
Meguma's red eye was wide open with a brilliant light.
"'Explosion'!"
A light flashed through the plains.
The light emitted from the tip of Megumin's staff pointed towards the
distance, hitting the toad approaching us dead on…!
The violent effect of the spell could be seen immediately. That dazzling light and the loud bang reverberating in the air made the toad explode into pieces.
I was almost blown away by that strong wind as I covered my face and braced myself. After the dust settled, a crater 20 meter in diameter could be seen where the toad was, showing how powerful that explosion was.
"… Amazing– so this is magic…"
The power of Meguma's spell moved me, and at this moment. A toad climbed out slowly from underground, probably woken up by the shockwave and sound of the explosion.
I was thinking that without rain and water source in the plains, the toads dry up under the hot sun. It turned out they burrow underground to avoid being baked alive.
The toad that was climbing out was near Meguma, but its movement were very slow. If we use this chance to move away from the toad, and let Meguma use her 'explosion' spell again, we could blow the toad into cinders.
"Megumin! Let's retreat for now, and attack from a distance…"
I looked over at Meguma at this point. And my body turned stiff. Because Meguma was lying face down on the ground.
"Hmmp… Explosion is my ultimate spell, it is powerful and used a lot of
mana… Simply put, the mana I used exceeded my limit, so I couldn't move. Ah, to think a toad would appear out of nowhere… No good, I will get eaten. Sorry, please save me… Hya…!"
And so, I finished off the two toads whose movement were sealed by the body of Terly and Meguma.
We completed the mission to defeat 5 giant toads in 3 days.