First, an analysis– the opponent in front of me didn’t appear in the game. In the first place, I never interacted with beings that should be called Spirit Gods, like Garuku, in the game, nor did I ever visit their dwelling.

I recall reading in a Strategy Guide interview or something that the concept was considered but ultimately scrapped… So, I’ve never fought Garuku in the game, and I don’t know how strong it is.

However, it’s clear that it’s more powerful than even high-ranking Demon Race members… I think there’s little chance of it falling to a single blow from me, but if I were to accidentally destroy it, it would be irreparable. I need to break its will to fight and get it to listen to me, but I absolutely must not destroy it.

While considering how to manage that balance… I tried attacking with Magic as a feint. Light attribute Lower-tier Magic “Holy Shot”– Since Garuku controls the attributes of light and earth, there’s almost no chance of it being defeated by this.

“Oh…?”

Then Garuku seemed to frown. Immediately after wondering what was happening, the light projectile struck something like a wall before reaching Garuku, and burst.

Magic Barrier– As a Spirit, it can freely manipulate Magic Power, so it’s probably constantly generating a Barrier now that it’s in combat.

“It seems to be low-tier Magic for Humans… but it still has power.”

Garuku assessed. Then, narrowing its eyes slightly,

“But… you are foolish.”

Immediately after its voice, Garuku raised its right front paw. It was too far away to attack with the claws at the tip of its paw. What was it going to do–

Its right paw slammed into the ground. Immediately after, I felt a slight vibration and dense Magic Power at my feet.

Just as I was about to retreat, I realized that the Magic Power was surrounding me. It probably slammed its paw down, interfering with the ground’s Magic Power, and attacked–

I can’t dodge it– I decided, increased my Magic Power, and strengthened my own Magic Barrier.

In an instant, light erupted from the ground. Countless sharp, blade-like forms sprouted around me and closed in. An attack from all directions. I stared at Garuku– and took the attack.

Enveloped in light, the impact assaulted my body. But–

“I see, your defense is quite good as well.”

The light vanished. I was unharmed, and my Barrier was also intact.

In my case, even if the Magic Barrier were to break, the equipment I’m wearing has incredible defensive power, so it would block everything. It’s a double defensive structure, so to speak… but it felt like I could have defended with even less Magic Power.

Nonetheless, what just happened probably wasn’t Garuku’s serious intent.

“Now, what should I do next?”

Garuku looked wary, observing my next move… and here, I reconsidered the enemy before me.

The Spirit God who governs light and earth… Garuku had just called my magic attack foolish. He probably meant that “magic of that level won’t work” or “light attribute won’t work.”

The important point here is that light attribute doesn’t work. I don’t want to defeat Garuku, and I shouldn’t. So how should I deal with him without destroying him? I’ve thought of one thing, but I need to confirm if it will go as planned. First, that—

“Hmm?”

Immediately after concentrating magic power in my left hand, Garuku raised his voice. He still showed caution, but he didn’t attack like before.

Well, what will happen… The magic I’m concentrating now is light attribute Intermediate Magic “Holy Lance.” As the name suggests, it’s magic that fires spears of light at the target.

I held up my left hand. At that moment, Garuku also showed a slight caution—and at the same time, a “Holy Lance” with a deep blue color like the sea was released.

With that, I ran. Then, this time, I gathered magic power in my right hand.

“That power—as expected of a human, excessive power.”

Immediately after Garuku spoke, the spear struck directly. The impact made the barrier waver once, but it didn’t break. This is still no good. Then—

“It’s powerful, but it can’t break my barrier.”

Against Garuku, who evaluated me thus, I closed the distance. And the magic I activated was “Durandal,” my most proficient magic.

The Light Sword was unleashed towards the barrier. When it hit, the barrier made a loud creaking sound.

“Oh? That magic is quite highly refined, unlike the others.”

Even Garuku frowned. At the same time, the barrier’s magic power became denser, and he showed a stance to counterattack.

The magic power poured into the barrier became thicker—but I ignored it and slammed a sword strike into the barrier. In an instant, I felt a reaction.

Thinking I could do it, I poured in magic power before he could counterattack, adding a third strike with maximum power enhancement—and in an instant, the barrier was destroyed.

“What?!”

Garuku was astonished. He didn’t seem to expect to be overwhelmed—I widened my eyes and swept the opponent’s body, which had a momentary opening, with the Light Sword. However, just in case, I lowered the power as much as possible—even so, Garuku’s body leaned back slightly, perhaps from the impact.

The presence of the monsters around me sharpened slightly. Ignoring them, I retreated and observed my opponent.

The Light Sword should have definitely swept through Garuku’s torso… but as expected, it’s a spirit that governs earth and light. There are no wounds at all.

I felt a reaction, but… I understood the situation from countless battles with monsters I’d fought. It was—

“It should have been a good opportunity to wound me… Unfortunately, it won’t work.”

—As Garuku said, it seems Light Attribute Magic is nullified.

Depending on the monster, they may have resistance to elemental magic, such as halving, nullifying, or absorbing it… If this were a game, using light magic on Garuku would result in zero damage.

In games, no matter how powerful the magic, if it was nullified, it was all nullified… I remembered the battles with monsters I had during my training. I had experimented with various things because there was a possibility of different behaviors depending on the attribute… Monsters that had the nullification characteristic in games nullified even advanced magic. Garuku is the same.

And the destruction of the barrier. This was also important. Light Attribute Magic doesn’t work on Garuku’s true self. But I was able to destroy the barrier. Some monsters have a nullification element in the barrier itself, but… in Garuku’s case, the barrier doesn’t have the power of nullification. Furthermore, I can destroy Garuku’s barrier with brute force.

Moreover, he recoiled from the attack. This means that even if he can nullify it, he can’t prevent the impact of the attack… If I can verify this far, it’s enough. I was about to make a plan for what to do next and move—at that moment,

“My barrier was destroyed… It seems it’s better to settle this in one go rather than waiting and seeing.”

Garuku said. Along with that, an even denser magic power, as if the forest was rustling, leaked from Garuku. Until now, he had only used light attribute magic, so he was half cautious and half observing, but he finally seemed to be getting serious.

He’s coming—immediately after that intuition. I gathered magic power in my right arm. That, too, would probably be excessive power for a human in Garuku’s eyes.

“Are you still clinging to light? Are you foolish or—”

Garuku stated. He stared at me, trying to guess my intentions—but I silently concentrated magic power, and further thickened my barrier in preparation for his attack.

At this point, light began to gather directly in front of Garuku. As I understood it to be a concentrated light bullet or something, I also gathered magic power to counter it.

The magic used was light attribute Advanced Magic “Gungnir”—magic that creates a silvery divine spear, possessing top-class power among single-target attack magic. All monsters I encountered during my training disappeared into nothing before this—I wondered how much it could contend with Garuku’s seriousness.

For a moment, silence ensued while magic power was being concentrated. The surrounding monsters that had shown hostility towards me earlier also showed a restless presence. They might have started evacuating to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.

Amidst that, Garuku and I were strangely silent—and eventually, Garuku roared. Just before the light bullet was about to be fired, I braced myself to unleash the divine spear.

The next moment, the light bullet and the divine spear—those two were unleashed, colliding at the midpoint between me and him, and a flash and a roar filled the forest—