Physics The Greatest Magic 34 Chapter 34: BugBears

"Mn..." She let out as she opened her small eyes

She looked around and noticed that she had fallen asleep

"John?" She muttered

"Yes?" I asked

"Nothing... Can I stay like this until Serena wakes up..?" She asked

"Isn't it uncomfortable?"

"No... John is soft, like a pillow." She said

"I don't know how to feel about that."

She kept her head on my shoulder as she continued to talk

"John... There's a lot I don't know about you... And since you've always helped me, I thought it would be better not to ask... But if you ever want to talk about it, you can tell me." She said

"Hm... Thanks. But don't worry, everything I told you and Serena are pretty much everything I know. I lost all my memories and I met you." I said

"John... What would you do if... Your memories returned..." Ariel asked

"Hmm... I don't know. But I'm sure nothing would change. I'd keep travelling with you guys around the world. If I had a master then I'd probably stop by any kingdom he'd be at and say hi. But I wouldn't leave the party if that's what you're wondering" I replied

"Mn... do you remember your promise..? When we were at the inn?" She muttered

Promise... The one I made when we were at the inn. Where I said I wouldn't leave her?

"How I promised to never leave you?" I asked

"Yeah... About that... John has always been helping me... You taught me how to use magic... You helped me when I lost everything and even now you continue to take care of me... I want to stay with john but It feels like I'm being selfish and forcing you to stay with me..." Said Ariel as tears streamed down her eyes

So she's felt this way...

"D-Don't be stupid, I'm staying with you because I want to. Don't ever put it in your mind, that you're forcing me. I made that promise because I wanted to stay with you. Did you forget about all the help you've given me so far? We're a party we're supposed to help each other!" I said

This girl, she can be so ignorant to the number of things she does, even recently she protected me from the spider's attack... What is she an idiot?

"John..." She muttered

"And you can be more selfish, We're a party so we're supposed to tolerate each other. If there are any selfish demands you want to make, let them out. Sure, we might argue or I might not like them. But I want you to be yourself and we're a party so..." I Said

Just get to the point!

"In other words! just be as selfish as you want! That won't change the fact that you're my precious partner!" I added on

Seeing as how I was desperately trying to cheer her up, Ariel let out a giggle

"Did I sound that stupid..?" I muttered

"No... It's not that, it's just that it made me really happy... You said that I could be more selfish... Then... I'd like to stay with john forever..." Said Ariel as she placed her hands on my face

As her thin slender fingers held on to my cheeks, her deep dark eyes looked directly at me. I could feel my heartbeat getting faster and faster

"Yeah, we're a party, after all, we'll get to go on many adventures together and experience many new things. So... Basically... Don't ever leave me..." I said with slightly red cheeks

"I won't! I promise!" Said Ariel with reddened cheeks and a bright smile on her face

Ariel's mood had completely changed, she looked relieved and happy thanks to our conversation.

"Mnn," Said Serena as she stretched out her arms

Thanks to all the noise we made from talking, Serena finally woke up

"This is... Someone's shoulder... Did I fall asleep?!" Said Serena as she looked up at my face

This girl is always so full of energy

"Good morning. or night, I'm not sure what it is." I said

"I-I'm sorry I fell asleep." Said Serena as she got up

"It's fine. You both used up quite a lot of mana after all." I said

"Ariel, fell asleep too?" She asked

"Yeah," Ariel replied as she also got up

"How come you're full of energy? Wait... You didn't do anything to us when we were asleep did you!?" Asked Serena with a worried expression

"Huh!? Who do you take me for!? Is that really what you're supposed to be assuming to the guy who kept watch for you?!" I asked

"But it's precisely because you're a guy that I'm assuming that!" She replied

"I didn't do anything to you in the Inn before so why would I do it now!?" I added

"Y-You have a point... And you're a kid too... Sorry, I was getting worried for nothing." She said

"I'm 3 years younger than you..." I replied

This body is 12 after all. Although since I was 14, so I'm guessing spiritually that makes me one year younger.

"A kid is still a kid." She replied

"That's quite a lot of talk coming from someone who even adults mistake for a kid," I replied

"Y-You! You did not just go there!" She said with an embarrassed expression

"I wanna join too!" Said, Ariel

The two of us were taken aback at the sudden comment of Ariel

"Wh What do you mean by that Ariel?" I Asked

"I said, I want to join too. You guys always look like you're having fun whenever you're arguing so..." She replied

"I-Is that so..." I muttered

Thanks to Ariel's sudden comment, I no longer felt like Arguing. I looked over to Serena and even she looked surprised.

"M-Maybe next time. I-If you want to join in an argument you need to find a reason... It doesn't just happen naturally." I replied

"O-Okay..." Said Ariel with a saddened expression

"More importantly, are you sure you don't need any rest? You were awake all this time, weren't you?"

"Not really, I got to sleep too. Look." I said as I pointed towards the Ice

"We're inside your Ice sphere move?" Ariel asked

"Yeah, didn't you notice earlier?" I asked

"No, because it didn't cold at all... And I was only looking at john..." She said

How can she admit that so easily...

"Y-Yeah... I was converting magic to the thermal energy store in the air me so we wouldn't feel as cold..." I said

"There goes john with his complicated logic..." Serena added

"Well, in other words, we've all gotten enough rest. Let's start moving to the next floor" I said as I got up and undid the ice

They nodded and we moved on

***

The 8th floor had monsters called Bugbears. Their body was full of fur and they were around 8 feet tall. Their face looked a lot like a goblin's and they would carry around Iron weapons and armour.

Rose was the one who told me their names. She also told me that they were related to goblins and hobgoblins, like some sort of superior race.

We could easily fight them off but decided to save our energy and use furtim to head straight to the boss room. We didn't need their magic stones and the bosses were worth a lot more, so...

However, as we moved on. We decided to kill a few. They were easy to kill and dropped medium size stones.

After 30 minutes of rushing, we finally reached the boss room.

"Hey don't you two find it weird? These monsters are weaker than minotaurs yet their magic stones are bigger and they're part of the 8th floor..." I said

"It might have something to do with individual magic power, for example, minotaurs are strong physically and they're magical resistance is slightly high but they can't use magic themselves. And they have a low amount of magical power." Serena said

That's accurate.

"Meanwhile, bugbears contain a lot more magical power within them, we can tell thanks to the magic stones that they dropped whenever we killed them."

"That makes a lot more sense than my previous theory. Thanks."

"What was your theory?" Serena asked as she opened the door

"It was that the boss was simply a lot stronger than the minotaur boss, and this strong boss might prefer Bugbears as it's minions," I said as we walked in

In the middle of the boss room stood big creature which resembled a fiendish minotaur, it appeared to be 20 feet tall. It didn't have any armour but it carried a big long Curved sword.

"Do you know what that is?" I asked

"Not really... But doesn't it sound like that monster Rose talked about when we were on the 9th floor?" Serena asked

"That's right! The Garister right? It's the 8th-floor boss and has high magical resistance, so we should be careful if we ever fought it." I said

"It's Goristo! And Yeah, It's fur is highly resistant against magic... So We should focus on physical attacks from your blade." Said, Serena

"Understood," I said as I lept at it.

Serena and Ariel followed behind and got into their positions, waiting for the right moment to strike.

"Ventus!" Said, Serena

The wind blade flew past me and hit the goristo. A cut appeared on the location the goristo was hit and it let out a roar.

"Oi, if you focus on singing, you won't be able to fight back," I said as I slashed at its right arm with my right blade

The dagger seeped into the hand, causing him to let out a scream. It hadn't noticed me earlier since I had activated Furtim before my attack.

"Cancel. Is that the best a surprise attack can do? Darn... I knew I should have added more mana into my blade." I said as I transferred more magic into my left blade and arm and swung at it.

The momentum and force were enough to fully cut off his arm. It let out another scream and moved to grab me with its remaining arm. I easily dodged it by stepping back

"Is that all, it's weaker th"

Before I could finish, the boss jumped at me and tried grabbing me again with his remaining arm. From tilting my body to jumping around, I continued to dodge, his grab attempts as he persisted in trying to grab me.

"This... How persistent." I said

"John, Move!" Shouted Ariel

"Huh?" I said as I lept away from it.

In that moment, Ariel who had been gathering the air in front of her, cast a spell. The wind which was being gathered gained a form of a spear and went straight at the goristo.

Despite being overly resistant to magic, it was pierced by the spear in seconds. It tried dodging but the spear was too fast, almost as if it was the wind itself.

It let out a scream and turned into a magic stone. The entrance to the 9th floor was opened shortly after.

"U-Um... Ariel... What was that? I asked

Both me and Serena were surprised at Ariel's recent spell

"Um... I've been practising creating a new wind spell for the past 2 weeks... And this was the spell I managed to come up with..." She said

"I-I see..."

I looked over at the magic stone formed from the death of the boss...

"I better make sure I don't get on her bad side..." I muttered to myself

"Hm? Did you say something?" Serena asked

"You must've imagined it, anyway, let's head to the 9th Floor. Also, I'd like it if you could tell me how that spell works if you don't mind" I replied

"Sure!" Said, Ariel

"Hey, ariel..." Said, Serena

"Yes?" Ariel asked

"Can you teach me that later? I can use wind spells but they're not as strong as yours." Said, Serena

"Sure, but you'll have to teach me your new fire one too." Said, Ariel

"Of course." Said, Serena

These two girls... Has learning concept magic made them stronger than I expected? I wonder how many spells they didn't use against me in our fight. Moreover, that wind spear... I'll tell ariel to call it Ventus Framea later...

Chapter end