I am August, the most powerful wizard on this continent. And right now, I am accompanying one of these new heroes. Her name is probably Rex, well, I don't really care; even after 8 months, she's still not strong. She is still too weak for the battle six years from now.
But the fact remains that she is the strongest hero. The team composition is also strange, 1 wizard, 2 warriors, and 2 archers. Somehow, I am the only woman in the group, along with Rex. The rest are not very powerful but very handsome men. I guess it's understandable; after all, she's still young.
"Hey, Rex. Cover your right chest while pulling the arrows."
"Great wizard... My name is Rix."
"Yes, yes, Rex, do what I said."
"But why do I need to cover it?" Doesn't she even know this? Don't they teach her anything in this kingdom?
"If the arrow's string gets between your chest, it might cause trouble."
And dhe didn't really listen to me, these new generation heroes... Haah, probably the string will get between her chest when her attention is diverted.
About 4 hours passed, and individually, they may be strong, but the teamwork is terrible, my dear god. Is this really one of the heroes of the new generation?
"Great wizard... I think we should take a break," one of the men next to the girl said, yes, he's right. We should take a break, but these idiots need training.
"No, we will walk for another hour."
"But at this rate, we'll reach the center of the dungeon." How great.
"Don't answer and walk." Without doubling my words, everyone followed behind me like ducklings.
Haah, if only I had as much divine energy as these stupid heroes... I wouldn't have to entrust my world to these idiots.
There's nothing to be done; not even holy father has as much divine energy as these heroes. Even if I lived for about 2000 years... They filled up with so much divine energy in just 2 years, it's impossible not to envy them!
I sighed deeply and looked ahead; if I remember correctly, there were only 8 heroes left.
And one more thing, strange but familiar. Very strange, so strange that even I don't know what it is.
"I will give a 5-minute magic lesson to anyone who can set up the tents without magic within 2 minutes." You can't motivate humans to work efficiently without a little incentive. After this, the hero had a magic lesson. Before that, I needed to cast a protective spell around the camp.
My thoughts and actions aligned, and since no one could set up the tents within 2 minutes, I would only give a magic lesson to the hero.
While the other three men were practicing swordsmanship, I was giving the hero a magic lesson.
"As I said, hero of the new generation. Magic is essentially just imagination..." After making a nice and simple explanation, the hero raised his hand and spoke.
"You forgot my name, didn't you?"
'... Right... Maybe I should say it?' My eyes twitched a bit, but since it was a fleeting thing, I didn't really notice it. 'I can't give too many concessions to the so-called heroes from another world. As one of the strongest in this world, I shouldn't appear weak to them, and it's uncertain if they'll return to their own worlds.' I thought to myself while considering these.
"Any other questions?" Seconds later, when Rix opened her mouth to speak, August interrupted. "If there are no more questions, our lesson is over~" I teleported to the river about 30 meters away and knelt down, holding my chest.
"Damn it..." I produced holy water from a pocket dimension, applied it generously between my breasts, and then drank the rest.
After removing my clothes, I saw that disgusting thing growing between my breasts again. Another curse slipped from my mouth, and I tried to suppress it again with magic.
"Damn it... That day..." If I had wiped out that village about two years ago... This wouldn't have happened. I let my guard down... For God's sake, I've been living for 2000 years. Not even ancient dragons have seen something like this.
There's almost no weakness to this growing thing, no. It actually has a significant flaw. Its defensive strength varies according to the body it enters. And look, it's in my body. How annoying.
Holy water only slows its spread. Whenever it takes damage, it absorbs my magic to regenerate itself.
I have to find a weakness in this thing... Probably somewhere in this dungeon, there's the owner of this thing... I can feel it.
Strangely, I feel drawn to something. Even though the spread of this disgusting thing has slowed down, I can feel it. It's growing steadily. One of its roots has already reached my heart.
If I had noticed it earlier, I could have removed it. If my mental magic weren't so weak... It's beyond my control. Mental magics are all taboos, and if it's revealed that I've mastered any of them, even if I become a grand wizard, the temple can take my head.
The temple is a rank even I fear.
I can't blame anyone here. Even if I manage to make this creature send signals outside with my mana and put it into hibernation, it's not enough.
I stood up and teleported back. About two weeks later, we reached our destination. If I remember correctly, this was the 7th side branch of the SS-level dungeon.
"Hero, I hope you've learned something valuable on this journey."
"Yes, grand wizard. Thanks to your guidance and wisdom, I've learned tons of things."
The other men nodded, and we continued forward. Although this place wasn't particularly challenging for me, it must have been demanding for the hero. After all, the boss of an SS-level dungeon is as powerful as demon dukes!
"Hmm? Grand wizard, why does your face look like that?"
"Hmm?" After returning my expression to its usual state, I replied, "My face is as usual, hero."
Thinking about that person must have made my face scrunch again. Well, there was nothing I could do; we were weak back then. What's the point of recalling painful memories? There's no meaning.
"Alright, hero and companions. Our next dungeon is the Naga dungeon you see here. It may not be very challenging, but it shouldn't be a problem for you."
According to my senses, there are either 20 or none of them in this Naga dungeon. But somehow, there are two angels. Something is odd here. And one Basilisk? 'Strange.' Even though I feel this way, I can't do anything about it. After all, I can easily kill them.
And as I said, we attacked. After destroying the entrance with a massive fireball, the hero's 'men' finished their business in close combat. The scents of these men and the hero have largely merged. Well, they are all young, and I understand their sexual desires, but...
'Anyway, it's not my problem.'
We started fighting Nagas, and I haven't cast any spells yet. It's not necessary for now. Our warriors have suffered some scratches and powerful blows, but they haven't fallen apart yet. After all, Nagas are physically stronger than humans.
After killing half of the Nagas, two angels appeared.
"Weird..." I murmured these words softly. Are angels collaborating with dungeon creatures... This is really unusual. There is no sign of corruption, so are they doing it willingly?
I need to investigate this. I looked at one of the angels, flew to it, and teleported myself 100 meters away with it. I threw the angel to the ground at full speed and killed it.
"The spirits of the underground, I invoke the name of Belzebub..." After extracting information from the angel's memory using dark magic, I learned more or less about what happened.
"Oath of loyalty..." and it seems that the man I saw has some connection with these mushrooms. It's worth looking into.
Yes, I know dark magic, and that's why my relationship with the temple is not good. If I cover my biggest loophole, it would be the last straw for the temple, and I would be excommunicated, both me and the magic school.
After throwing the angel's body into my subspace, I teleported back there, and the battle was over.
"Good job, all of you." After setting up camp, I also took the bodies of the female angel and the drake. After all, the kingdom uses them, and the angel's body is also my field of study.
About 5 minutes later, I gave the hero and her companions some time to rest. I have work to do too.
I went to where the Naga king should be and couldn't find someone. "Interesting... There's no one here..." I looked around with magical perception, but I couldn't find anything. It's impossible for someone to be here at my mana level. So it would be absurd for them to block me using the same wavelength. So, there really is no one here.
I came back and looked at the Wyvern-like creature that the hero hunted. It resembles a Naga a bit, but there are too many physical mismatches.
"I guess Wyvern blood is too dominant." Well, that's understandable. Nagas show a different resemblance to humans and snakes. If you add something like Wyvern to this blood pool, apparently, it results in something like this.
"This corpse will be very useful to me."
"...I'm taking this." The hero didn't say much, but it's clear from his face that he wants to object. Well, I can't say I care much. We left there, and within approximately 2 to 3 weeks, I forcefully woke the mushroom from its hibernation mode.
When this phenomenon occurred, I felt a terrifying perception. But since I strengthened my mental barrier, it didn't affect me.
'I don't care about the church anymore.'
'I won't fall for the same trick twice.' But it's a bit different... How should I say, I'll call this enemy the third force.
This third force attacked through the mushroom in my body. But why did it do that? If it attacked using this mushroom, it would have defeated me by now. 'What if it can't?' That would be the most logical explanation.
But on the third day of its attack, I found its center. And on the fourth day, tons of monsters infected with mushrooms, just like me, attacked me. Fortunately, the hero and his team had left two weeks ago. Otherwise, they would really have been a hindrance.
"!! This damn mushroom!" Does even a vampire have one?! It's not much of a problem, but... What exactly is this mushroom? It looks somewhat similar to the one in my body, but it's not exactly the same. And it doesn't seem to have control over it. But how?
Even though I killed hundreds of S-level monsters, their numbers didn't diminish. The mushroom started to evade me at some point, but I continued to attack. I attacked for a long time.