---Rudeus's View---
Upon high ground which overlooked the deserted village that Orsted had been lured into.
I lay in wait there, and the instant I saw the smoke rise, I sent a full-powered "Lightning" toward the target site.
It should have hit him.
I practiced over and over again for this day.
I even made sure to cover the floor in canola oil for the sake of him not being able to avoid it immediately before it hit.
But this wasn't the end.
If he could be taken down with this, he wouldn't be called the strongest instead of Atofe and various others.
I stood my staff upon the ground and gathered magical power.
I imagined a giant cloud, a supercell.
The Saint-class water spell "Cumulonimbus".
The sky instantly became covered with dark clouds, as lightning and heavy rain began to fall.
I gathered even more magical power.
I sent magical power into the staff, not trying to oppose the sensation of it being dragged out from the depths of my body.
What I visualized was ice.
Centering on the deserted village, I stopped the movement of every molecule.
I steadfastly lowered the temperature.
[Frost Nova]
I loaded the maximum scope and maximum force into the spell I'd used countless times, and released it.
The downpour of heavy rain steadily became frozen.
The ice layered and stacked up.
Once the ice had become like a mountain, I stopped casting.
The next move.
I loaded magical power into my staff.
I created a rock in the sky above the deserted village.
I focused all my magical power into increasing its size, creating an inescapably large rock, directed its acceleration downward, then fired it.
The rock struck with such a speed as to make one think that its large form had suddenly teleported.
The ground shook.
A little later, a rumbling sound reached my ears.
A little after that, the sudden gust of wind and shock wave reached me.
While holding my arm in front of me to protect my eyes, I gazed at the rock's landing point.
The ice had been smashed, and two thirds of the rock had been buried underground.
If that was a direct hit, I don't think he survived, but...
"...Did I get him?"
I tried saying that.
No reaction.
Could it be over?
That would be nice, but...
The moment after I thought that, the rock broke apart.
"Hiiu!"
An unbelievably terrifying killing intent was sent to my location.
Fear ran through my spine.
My legs trembled, and my eyes watered.
I dived toward the magic armor that I'd set immediately next to me.
I fed magical power to its parts as I'd practiced hundreds of times, set up my posture, and grasped my staff.
I felt the killing intent approaching.
Activation complete.
In order to deal one more blow, I gathered magical power in the staff held in my right hand.
I visualized a nuclear explosion.
With the intention of putting all my magical power into it, I sent magical power from my arm into the staff.
I pointed the staff, yelled out, and shot out the spell, and at the same time held my left hand out in front of me and concentrating magical power into the absorbing magical stones.
The center of the deserted village lit up.
Slightly later, flashes of heat ran across the ground as though they were licking it.
I confirmed out of the corner of my eye that all the trees burst into flames and turned into black shadows.
Slightly later, the explosion came.
But this magic armor that contained my magical power weighed several tons.
I withstood the blast without flinching.
After carefully waiting for the destruction to settle, I lowered my hand.
An enormous mushroom cloud had risen from the center of the deserted village.
I couldn't see the ground well because of the smoke, but I had loaded enough force to blow away everything.
That was probably the highest class of force out of everything I'd ever used.
"..."
And yet.
And yet, my body wouldn't stop shivering.
The killing intent which had been inevitably drawing closer since earlier hadn't disappeared.
It was drawing near at a fierce speed.
It had been so far away, and now it was already so close.
My teeth were chattering.
I clenched my hand that was shivering with fear, placed my staff in the holder on my back, mounted the Gatling gun on my right arm, and held the shield in my left hand.