Chapter 26: Unbelievable Sight

I reached the shelter and immediately checked the number and positions of the undead. There were a dozen or so scattered throughout the entire facility. It was still just after dawn, so visibility was poor, but the ones I could make out were over three meters long—bipedal, human-headed, but with a spider-like body.

"Shit! Bullets barely do anything!!"

"They’re moving toward the residents too!"

A Self-Defense Force member was backing away while firing. Lower-tier undead might fall to bullets, but these higher-tier ones clearly weren’t affected.

The undead lunged at the Self-Defense Force, raising claw-like limbs.

"AAAH!!!"

"Thunder Crash!!"

A few bolts of lightning struck the two undead, hurling them back seven or eight meters. The monsters writhed on the ground, twitching.

"Are you okay?"

Normally, when hunting monsters, I use "Stealth" to stay unnoticed—but now wasn’t the time for that. "Stealth" weakens when I initiate an attack.

"Ah... ah..."

The Self-Defense Force member stared at me, eyes wide, frozen in disbelief.

The undead I’d just blasted back slowly got up again, turning toward us. If it had been the lower-tier ones I’d taken down before, that single hit would’ve finished them.

Thanks to the "Composite Magic" effect, my control over "Lightning Magic" had improved. Lightning Magic is the most powerful of all magic types.

Yet this monster rose again after taking the strike. It had high magic resistance and a strong defense—magic just wasn’t working well on it.

"GAARRRHHH!!"

I whispered calmly as the undead lunged forward with its mouth wide open.

"Composite Magic: 'Lightning Flame'!!"

The undead, struck by a powerful bolt of lightning, erupted into violent flames, writhing uncontrollably.

After a moment, it stopped moving completely. No matter how high its magic resistance, a stronger spell still broke through. And then...

"Gravity Press!!"

The other one was crushed just as easily. Gravity manipulation wasn’t magic—it was a 'skill.' So even with magic resistance, it had no defense. Against the undead, gravity control was unstoppable.

Still, relying too much on it feels like I’m not improving my magic skills. So I’ll try to take them down with magic whenever possible.

Outside, the commotion had woken up the sleeping refugees, one by one. With casualties possibly rising, I should end this quickly.

I floated upward, speeding toward the other undead.

"Hey! What the hell is that?! A person flying through the sky!?!"

"A monster’s attacking us!?!"

The panic was spreading. Well, I don’t think it’ll take long to finish these undead…

That day, everyone in the shelter witnessed something they couldn’t believe.

Sure, a giant monster attacking the shelter was bad enough—but even more unbelievable was watching a human flying through the sky, cutting down monsters with 'magic.'

One after another, lightning bolts struck the beast. Then countless fiery spears pierced through it.

The monsters fell, one by one, motionless.

"Wait… this isn’t a dream, is it? This is real?"

The Self-Defense Force had stopped fighting, frozen in shock, staring at the scene.

A man was surrounded by several monsters, one of them hurling him aside. I flinched—yet the man stood up calmly, raised his hand, and the monster crumpled with a squelching noise, flattened into the ground like a pancake, dead.

Then, a thunderbolt the size of a tree struck down, turning another monster black and charred. A sudden, fierce gust of wind blew—before I knew it, the monster was torn apart, scattered to pieces.

The man, having defeated over ten monsters, said nothing and simply vanished into the sky.

The refugees and Self-Defense Force members who had witnessed it all stared blankly at the empty air where he’d disappeared, unable to believe what they’d just seen.

“Dangerous! Dangerous!”

I’d let my guard down—then I was blown away. Yeah, magic users really aren’t good at close combat. Gotta watch out for that...

After returning home, I spent the afternoon hunting undead as usual, and by the end of the day, I’d maxed out my Great Mage skill. Defeating a high-tier undead seemed to be the key.

My stats increased like this:

Great Mage Lv99

HP 306/306 → 388/388

MP ∞/∞

Strength 125 → 160

Defense 79 → 104

Magic Defense 177 → 238

Agility 95 → 122

Dexterity 212 → 262

Intelligence 317 → 478

Luck 123 → 173

[Profession Skills]

Magic Arts Rank A

Healing Arts Rank C

Compound Magic Rank F → Rank D

Acquired “Magic”: Lightning Magic (I) ×2, Wind Magic (I)

The Great Mage’s total stat increase was nearly 500. Honestly, if you just look at stat gains, being unskilled was still the most efficient path.

But the real win? Compound Magic boosted my lightning magic usability, and now I can actually cast powerful combined spells.

With stats this high, I shouldn’t fall behind even if monsters attack... but still...

I’d planned to head to Tokyo once I maxed out Great Mage, but if there are tons of undead—upper-tier beasts—maybe I should level up a bit more first.

Now it’s just deciding which class to grind. I’m weak in close combat, so specializing in “Warrior” or “Martial Artist” might work.

Trying out various classes, figuring out which one to focus on... maybe. But one thing keeps bugging me.

What’s the upper limit of class rank? Is “A” the peak? Or is there “S” beyond that? Could there even be “SSS”?

If “SSS” is possible... I can’t even imagine how strong that’d make me.

Can’t know until I try. I just can’t rest until I push something to its absolute limit, you know?

So if that’s the case, I should focus on the class with the highest growth potential right now—“Mage,” currently ranked “A.” There are still seven Mage class boards left.

Gonna try them all. See how high I can go.

Thinking that, I pulled out the Mage class board and tapped the letter “Y.”