The Jack-of-all-trades Kicked Out of the Hero’s Party ~ The Swordsman Who Became a Support Mage Due

　Mana flows into the formula I construct.

　A [Thunder Arrow] flies toward the robe woman.

　For something like this, with how agile the robe woman, she definitely will have no difficulty dodging.

　In fact, I’ll be troubled if she can’t avoid it. If possible, with as little movement as necessary.

“You bought time to construct an intermediate magic formula? Is it that you’re not good at building magic formulas ? No, that’s probably not it.”

　She mumbles something and evades with the briefest of movements. 

　That’s good.

　Right now she must be thinking that the [Thunder Arrow] is a distraction, and that my main goal is something else. 

　Pay attention to my every move.

　I believe that the most important thing fighting against humans is how you go about catching your enemy off guard. 

　A single surprise attack can decide the match.

　Just like how I killed two people with [Decoy].

　The lightning arrow passing by the robe woman hits the [Reflective Wall] I set up behind her and strikes back again at her from behind. 

“–su!?”

　Just before the lightning arrow hits her, she detects it and once again, she dodges. But this isn’t the end.

　I activate multiple [Reflective Walls] to surround the robe woman.

　Each time it hits one of those translucent walls, it repeatedly changes direction and attacks her again and again.

　After she evades a few times, she gives up doing so and sets up a magic barrier to receive it.

“[Status Up], [Septuple]……!”

　As she stops moving, I raise my physical abilities and kick the ground to close the distance in an instant.

(Small techniques and repeated attacks will likely be blocked. –If that’s so, then push through with pure force!)

　After getting into sword range, I swipe Schwarzhase from left to right.

　Like before, she’s trying to catch it with her staff.

　Just like that, cut through the whole cane!

　Right before Schwarzhase and the cane make contact, I activate [Impact] and slash through the both of them in one go — that was the plan.

　The robe woman doesn’t receive the attack head-on, but instead takes the slash while lightly jumping backwards.

　As a result, the woman takes a large leap backwards and is able to open the distance again.

“It’s game set, I guess.”

　The robe woman, heading towards the back, tells me this with a smile on her face.

　[Explosion] is about to be fired in front of, behind, and to the left and right of me, and [Mjolnir] is about to be launched from above me.

“–su! [Magic Sword Unification]! [Fifth Mode]!”

　Realising that I can’t evade, I transform Schwarzhase into mana and form it into the shape of a shield.

　As I raise the shield above my head, pitch black mana covers my surroundings.

　At the moment her attack comes, I activate [Impact].

　The air around me shakes with a roar, but I somehow manage to survive.

　When the black mana around me extinguishes, the smell of burnt soil stings my nose and smoke envelopes the surroundings.

“Bouncing magic to attack me, a pretty interesting way of fighting. But it’s my victory. There’s no way he can withstand this much special grade magic at close range and at the same time. ……..I’m sorry, but I’m doing this to save the world. I just hope that with this, I can get some leeway……”

　The robe woman already thinks she’s won.

“Master!!”

“No….. I don’t want, him to die, Master…..”

“……………….”

　There are screams from my students. 

　I want to reassure them right away, but there are things I need to do first.

　The enemy is completely off guard.

　She’s stronger than I even imagined.

　I’m no longer in a situation where I can afford to say something easy going like half-killing her. 

　If I fail to finish her off here, my chances of winning will be very low.

　Right here, right now — I’m going to kill the robe woman.

“[First Mode].”

　The pitch black mana transforms into a long sword.

(I’ll finish her off with this one blow!)

　Before the smoke clears, I further converge mana on the magic sword. 

　With [Rock Wall] I raise the earth to the left, right, and back of the robe woman, leaving no path for her to escape.

“–su!?”

　As a result of converging even more mana on the magic sword, the space surrounding it distorts. 

“[Celestial Heaven]……!”

　[Celestial Heaven] is similar, but also different, to [Heavenly Flash].

　As I swung down the magic sword, a inky slash flies towards the robe woman.

“Eh, that mana–“

　When the slash makes contact with the robe woman, it transforms into a sphere about three metres in diameter.

　The space around the sphere warps, generating something like a gravitational force.

　Following that, everything the sphere engulfs is obliterated by a torrent of destruction.

　Gradually, the sphere becomes smaller and smaller, and when it finally disappears, there is nothing left where the sphere used to be.

　The ground and the walls, too, where the sphere had touched, have disappeared in patches.

　Although the body can’t be seen, I was able to see where the slash touched the robe woman. 

　It’s hard to believe that anyone at the centre of that destructive wave is still alive.

“Master-! Are you okay!? Are you hurt!?”

　The three of them rush over.

“I’m so glad…. Orn, I thought you lost……”

“Ah, I’m fine. I’m sorry for worrying you.”

　While patting their heads in turn to calm them.　

“Then, let’s head back.”

“–rew……”

　As we turn away from where the robe woman was to move towards the entrance of the 30th floor, from behind us, we hear a voice. 

　I quickly guard the three of them with my back and look in the direction of that voice.

(Are you still alive after taking all of that……? Wait, that definitely wasn’t where you were just now!? How did you get past [Celestial Heaven]!? That’s the maximum firepower I can unleash right now in the shortest time.)

　In my line of sight is a woman with long, lustrous silver hair. She’s about my age?

　The clothes she’s wearing are tattered, but they are the same robes as the robe woman I was fighting earlier.

　Through the torn bits, I see her almost transparent-like skin and no signs of injury. 

　And as soon as I see her, I feel something……. welling up in me that I couldn’t explain.

(What, is this feeling……)

“Screw you, old man! How far do you have to mess with people before you’re satisfied!!”

　The silver-haired woman is screaming emotionally.

　But it feels like it’s directed somewhere else, not at us.

(What the hell is this emotion……!)

　And at the same time I’m puzzled by her sudden cry, for some reason… I want to reach out to her, who looks like she’s suffering.

　I force down those feelings with my rationality, and after making a spare sword appear from my storage magic tool, I take up my stance again.

“Wait, Orn…. I don’t have, anymore intention to fight. I can’t fight against you, Orn. Can you overlook this? I promise I’ll get the others out of this Great Labyrinth, so.”

　The robe woman pleads with me to let her go in a calm voice.

(Why, are you talking to me in such a friendly manner……!)

　The emotions that I had forced down inside me spring up again.

　And all this while something inside of me is appealing to me…… that I should finish her off here. 

　However, for some unclear reason, she is unharmed. .

　I’m not wounded either, but my instinct tell me that if I keep invoking magic at the same pace as before, it’ll soon cause a headache. 

　And if my head starts to hurt, naturally, the accuracy of my magic will drop.

　The opponent is not as big a target as the Black Dragon.

　And to begin with, I don’t think I even managed to gain the initiative in the battle we just had. 

“………………”

　After long consideration, I decide to pull back here.

　I relax my stance and store my sword. 

　Still, to stay on guard against the possibility of a surprise attack, I pay full attention to her movement and flow of mana. 

“…….Thank you. I pray that the next time we meet, we will not have to kill each other. Well then, see you later, Orn.”

　When the silver-haired woman says this, her figure shimmers as if reflected in the rippling surface of water.

　Then, little by little, she disappears.

　There’s nothing unnatural about the flow of magic and wind around her. It looks like she’s really disappeared somewhere.

“I’m sorry. If we hadn’t been here, you would have caught that woman…….”

　Log apologises with a sullen face.

　It’s true that without the three of them, it would have been easier to fight,

　Having to pay attention to the three of them while in battle did split my concentration.

　But it’s not so clear whether I would have won even without that happening.

“It’s not something you should fret about, Log. In many ways, things went wrong this time. For now, let’s go back.”

　Saying this, I pat Log’s head a little harder.

　I was lucky this time.

　Targeted by “Amunzers” and yet no one was lost. 

　The battle between me and the silver-haired woman might have ended in defeat if the opponent hadn’t let her guard down after her last attack and instead followed up with another attack. 

　Even if I had continued fighting like that, I think things would have eventually gotten worse and worse for me, so the probability of winning was low. 

　In the end, we all survived, but I can’t say that I’m entirely happy with how things went.

(It’s not like I was arrogant, but there’s really always still someone better…… With just this, I can’t protect the things I want to protect. I must become stronger and stronger….)

　In order to protect what’s important to me, I resolve to become even stronger.