Chapter 66: Slow Cast
Compared to the time that Spiritualism was discovered, coming across someone who knew how to use Spiritualism wasn’t all that rare. Uncommon, sure, but not rare, as it was now one of the few things that were required for a trained Vitalist to know.
However, this only applied to the veterans, who had countless years to train and study the path of Spiritualism.
Thus, Hilda was deeply interested when she noticed how confidently Beatrice held out a Talisman, for even the most experienced Vitalists struggled to use Talismans effectively.
Hilda entered a half-hearted stance as she watched herself become the target of nine individuals, each brandishing a pipe, knife, or sharpened stick, which they aimed dangerously at her.
Hilda could tell they were obviously hesitant about going through with this charge. And because of that, she struggled to find the motivation to appear "serious".
Despite the fact that she was up against Vitalists, it was obvious they didn’t have any kind of formal or even informal training, given how they moved towards her.
It was obvious that, compared to Ross, Roxy, Nadia, or even Elias, they were part of the weaker percentage of Vitalists in this exam — the percentage that didn’t have enough experience when it came to combat.
This ultimately surprised Hilda, as she had expected a bit more from them, considering they were presumably a part of Roxy’s hunting squad. Albeit a backup hunting squad.
’I think not using Vitality is a good enough handicap,’ Hilda arrogantly thought.
She wasn’t going to play around with them for the sake of having fun. But rather to stall for time.
A man stepped towards her with a metal pipe and clumsily swung it in a wide arc.
"This is nothing personal!" He shouted.
Hilda smiled kindly at his words before casually stepping back, seamlessly dodging it with a relaxed expression.
"I’m aware, don’t worry~"
She then repeated a similar motion when someone came at her from the side and continued to do this when they surrounded her.
Her dodges were smooth and minimalistic, like a falling leaf avoiding the swings of a child’s wooden stick by using the wind from their swatting to guide itself away.
By now, her consistent dodging had begun to get on the nerves of her attackers.
"Damnit, why can’t we hit her!"
"Did you think it’d be easy? Just keep swinging!"
"Yeah! Eventually one of us will get her!"
Hilda paid no heed to their frustrations. Instead, she kept her focus solely on Beatrice, observing her progress on the Talisman, as she left her body on autopilot to dodge the incoming swings.
It was commonly known that Spells took a significant amount of time to prepare before they could be cast, which could only be reduced through mastery and understanding of Spirituality.
Thus, it was usually not recommended for those who hadn’t yet mastered Spirituality to that extent to use Talismans mid-battle.
Although the idea of having people stall so that a Vitalist could cast a Spell was an effective and well-known tactic, it ultimately depended on two things.
The first being what Spell was being cast, and the second being how long the people in charge of stalling could actually hold out for.
Fortunately, for the latter dependency, it didn’t matter all too much, considering Hilda wasn’t actually coming at them as a real threat.
Though... if she were...
She was certain she could most likely dispatch them all in under a minute.
Hilda then caught a glimpse of a black marking beginning to form on the surface of the Talisman.
’She’s finally on the Drawing Phase.’
After a Vitalist imbues their Vitality into a Talisman and becomes in tune with it, they would then have to begin drawing what Spell they wanted to manifest.
This was usually accomplished by manipulating their Vitality to draw a pattern on the Talisman.
’It shouldn’t take long now for her to cast a Spell,’ Hilda analysed before stepping back and dodging a clumsy swing.
She continued this cycle of dodging for the next few minutes. And fortunately, that was when Beatrice was finally finished.
"Get out of the way, everyone!" She yelled out before tossing the Talisman towards Hilda, who immediately looked over with interest.
The paperslip flew through the air like a dart before suddenly bursting into flames.
"{Firebolt}!"
Everyone quickly scrambled to get away, apart from Hilda, who just observed it shooting towards her at an unexpected speed.
’It’s rather slow...’
With a disappointed look on her face, she reached out her hand towards it under everyone’s shocked gaze and caught it.
Boom.
At the point of collision, the {Firebolt} exploded with a small cloud of flames and smoke, shrouding Hilda’s entire body from the eyes of everybody around her.
Beatrice pumped her fist into the air, her expression ecstatic.
It was a direct hit!
Her face was gravely pale, and she had even begun to look sickly. It was clear that it took a large percentage of her Vitality to cast that Spell.
A wave of vertigo hit her, but she didn’t care.
’I’ve been racking my brain for a plan of escape, but to think you’d be so arrogant as to take it head-on...’
She then grinned and began to laugh wildly:
"Bahaha! What kind of idiot stands in front of a Spell like that? Like seriously!" Beatrice then clutched the side of her head with a look of discomfort, though she kept on talking, "Ugh... It serves you right, you arrogant LRM mutt—"
"Well that isn’t very nice~"
Beatrice immediately froze in place at the unfamiliar feminine voice.
’Who’s that?!’ She thought before watching as the smoke that was previously wrapped around Hilda was waved away.
"I haven’t even spoken to you before, und yet you have such a bad impression of me~... could it be we’ve actually met before?"
Beatrice ignored Hilda’s question and took a fearful step back. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
’She...’
She was completely unscathed!
Besides the sleeve of her coat, which had caught on fire before being put out, Hilda didn’t look the slightest bit injured from her Spell.
Even her glove, which had been the one to make contact with her Spell, wasn’t even damaged or burnt. In fact, it looked pristine and polished, like it was before catching her Spell.
’What the hell happened...’ Beatrice took an involuntary step back, speechless. ’I definitely drew my Spell correctly, so why isn’t she injured?!’
Although she knew that her Spell wasn’t going to be enough to kill Hilda, she expected it to at least injure her to the point of backing off. So why...
Why was she completely unscathed!?
Hilda dusted herself off with a look of disappointment on her face.
’I knew there was something wrong with how slow it was...’
The size, speed, and even strength of {Firebolt} were below anything she had ever seen of the Spell. And she knew the most plausible reason for that...
’Her Strength of Heart is lacking.’
Hilda sighed.
’On top of that, she looks like she could barely stand.’
She hadn’t ever heard of a Vitalist capable of using Talismans with such little Vitality and such weak Strength of Heart.
Had she somehow skipped past the basics and straight onto Spells?
’It’s definitely possible...’
At this thought, Hilda grew even more disappointed.
’Well, at least she knows how to cast them, that’s something.’
After thinking that, she cast a random glance at the people who were attacking her earlier. Upon eye contact, she watched as they anxiously shook.
She smiled comfortingly at them before strolling over to Beatrice, who had collapsed to the floor. Frightened, stunned, and incredibly fatigued.
When Hilda eventually reached her, she crouched down to Beatrice’s level before raising a hand.
"It was your idea to attack me, wasn’t it?"
Watching as Hilda raised her hand in a seemingly threatening manner, Beatrice immediately tried to crawl back before shouting weakly:
"H-hey, don’t you know who I am! I’m the daughter of Neuman C. Johnson, you better not touch me, or else I’ll get my dad on you—!"
Slap!
Her face suddenly snapped to the side as a sharp pain pulsed from the side of her face.
She widened her eyes in shock as she slowly held a hand to the side of her cheek.
’Did she...’
Did she just slap her?
Slap!
Beatrice’s face then snapped to the other side when Hilda slapped her other cheek.
She was frozen in place, unable to properly comprehend what just happened.
And once she finally processed it, she glanced back at Hilda, who slowly raised her arms with a mischievous and kind smile:
"I surrender~"
’...’
"Huh?"
After Hilda said that, she began to explain what "really" happened to the other half of her group to Beatrice, using the fabricated story she had put together.
On top of using the burning "Predicament" as proof of what happened, it didn’t take long to convince Beatrice and her group.
When everyone listened and processed what they just heard, they were immediately overcome with guilt over what happened, especially Beatrice.
Though more so for a different reason.
’Gosh damnit... Roxy’s gonna be so pissed when she hears about this...’ Beatrice dreaded silently.
Seeing apologetic looks on everyone’s face, Hilda couldn’t help but smile a little. Things were now back on track.
Her ears then twitched when Beatrice asked her a question:
"Wait, if that rat was the one who attacked them, then why are you in this area?"
"Oh, that?"
Hilda chuckled before helping Beatrice up to her feet and answering her question.
"I was actually on the way to your camp. Mind showing me the rest of the way?"