Chapter 3: Chapter 3: a turtle size of a mountain

How did this thing get so big?

That was my first impression of this big turtle.

Fighting this thing head-on is doable but it would be really hard to do so. How do I take it down?

"That's... The devil," the little girl said to me.

"I see," argh, how should I comfort a child again? This is getting more troublesome than I thought it would be. Wait a minute, she isn't crying?

I looked behind me and saw Lapiz staring at the devil with uninterested eyes.

"Why aren't you scared."

"I... Already saw it."

That doesn't explain it. You're facing a calamity-level devil and yet you're just there sitting and staring at that thing with an uninterested face? What did the world become?

"Sigh, I guess I'll protect you. Just sit right there and don't move. I'll somehow take care of this. Wind: rumpens!"

I then ran to the turtle at top speed leaving nothing but flames on my path. Though I slowed down for a bit once I reached a forest that is blocking my way. 

I was used to fighting devils but this is the first time I'm dealing with such a big one. Normal tactics that I always used also wouldn't work due to their sheer size. 

Maybe destructive moves could work? 

Normally, devils like this have very tough skin in exchange for their slow speed. Using flame magic wouldn't work because the flame will not spread. Water magic "one tap" also wouldn't work due to the thickness of its skin. I guess I have to use my wind magic.

"Wind: hasta Aeris!"

Spears made of wind appeared beside me waiting for my command to attack. No matter what animal it is, the eyes are usually a weak spot.

"Release!"

The wind spears launched a barrage of attacks that seemed to never end. The turtle retaliated by using some kind of earth magic to defend his eyes but it ultimately cracked and got pierced through.

The beast growls as it opens its mouth towards me. Moments after that, some kind of light appeared on its mouth. Wait a minute, is it getting ready to attack?

"Wind: scutum!"

I chanted panickily. With no time to prepare, this shield would be a weak product. I also have to expand it so that there would be no collateral damage to this guy's attack. 

The turtle then fired a huge beam of light that easily engulfed my figure. Thankfully, the shield was enough to block its attack making me sigh in relief.

It suddenly stopped attacking me making me look at it in wonder.

"You're a strong man."

Did it just talk? Never once in my life, I have found a talking devil. I thought those things were just in the legends.

"Why were you attacking this empire?" I question him. Maybe I can distract him this way.

"Fragment... I sensed one of the fragments around this empire about 3 years ago. It was only once but I still remember it vividly."

"Fragments? What are you talking about?"

The big turtle stared at me with a frown as if he didn't expect me to question that.

"It seems that you still don't know. Discover it in the future, grow not to become stronger, but to live. This will be my advice to you, God of humans."

After he said those fancy words, he turned around and tried to leave but I stopped him with my aura pressuring the big turtle. He didn't flinch for one bit though.

"You do realise that you just destroyed one of the human empires right? You are still a devil, I cannot let you live," I said with conviction as I made more wind spears behind me.

"Do as you wish, though always remember this, I was never your enemy in the first place."

"I will, Wind: Inanis!"

All of the conjured wind spears suddenly merged into one as it moved toward the turtle at fast speeds breaking everything in its path be it trees, rocks, sound, space, everything.

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The turtle tried to block it with his earth spells but it almost did nothing. The reason why this specific wind spell is so strong is that I had time to prepare for this attack. I mainly distracted him when we were talking but to think that he would actually give me some information is a bit unexpected.

The wind spear pierced his skin drilling down to his insides. Though the face he makes is an apathetic one as if he had expected his death a long time ago.

His dead body fell to the ground making massive earthquakes in his surrounding. 

That was faster than I thought it would be.

"I'll remember your last words," I said before I walked back to the little girl hoping that she was safe from all of that ruckus.

It seems that the crumbled empire was unaffected by our sudden encounter so I guess that was a plus.

I saw the little girl sitting in the rubble with uninterested eyes. Maybe the fight between us was not that interesting after all or maybe she was just bored. Kids these days.

"I'll continue our talk, I cannot take you with me because first, I need your guardian's consent if you have one. Second, I travel around the world fighting calamity class devils like that one earlier so I cannot ensure your safety. Lastly, I simply do not have the patience to teach someone," I ended with a nod as if I didn't just kill a gigantic, mass murderer devil earlier.

The kid seems to be unbothered by my behaviour which is a plus, she's still not going with me though.

"Even then... Teach me," she said with conviction while having an apathetic face confusing me even more. Is your facial muscle dead or something?

I stayed silent for a minute just thinking of some other possibilities that I can do.  Having a kid with me is a no go mainly because I had to protect her. On the other hand, I can't just leave her here in a wasteland. Why is she so hung up on the idea of coming with me in the first place? Just what are her...

"You, why do you want to learn magic?" I said with a serious tone of voice. If she has a weak resolve and goal then she is not worth the trouble.

She tilted her head as if she doesn't understand the question.

"Sigh, I'll decide what to do with you depending on your answer."

She thought for a moment heavily thinking about the answer while I was finding the best place to sit in. After I sat she answered my question quickly.

"It... Wasn't stale."

I was speechless. No, not because of the absurdness of her answer. It was because her answer was rather too... Simple? 

"All Things in this world are... Stale and repetitive. I always lose interest in an activity because they are too repetitive," she stop to take a deep breath and continued again.

"Learning... magic was different. I don't know why but I never get bored experimenting with it. Maybe it was because I was also learning new things from it but this was still the first time I felt this. Death was the only thing that ever got close to this feeling and I want to explore it more. Maybe I will be disappointed, or maybe I will not regret it." 

Holy shi- Is this really a kid? She's too mature for her age.

The answer she gave me was quite unexpected considering her age but it was still... Disappointing. 

"Having a shallow motivation like that will not make you survive the outside world. You're lacking that aspect of your life."

She stayed silent for a few seconds making me conclude that she gave up. Oh boy, how wrong I was.

"This motivation... Is the best I could have."

I then stared at her with a are you serious face. 

"No, that's just too shallow. Doing something on a whim is very shallow. Going into dangerous adventures with that shallow of a reason is suicide. Trying out everything because you feel bored is one of the most shallow reasoning I have ever heard in my whole life!"

I shouted the last sentence at her face unintentionally. Oh shit, I forgot she was a child.

She didn't cry, she didn't retaliate, she didn't even flinch at my sudden outburst making me doubt if she had any emotions at all.

She started at me with her usual stare but this time, I can see a hidden conviction under her apathetic eyes.

Is she that hung up on her reason? 

This is very interesting. I don't know how she got that conviction. Maybe because of her short experience? Maybe she was born with it? That I do not know of.

"Fine, I'll teach you magic. But if you, even for a second, lose interest in magic then I am going to abandon you," I said as a condition. Also, it's really weird to go and talk with a child like this.

She just nodded confidently agreeing to my condition. 

Never did I expect that this was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my whole life.