EeDechi curiously sized up Pilar. He was a bald magician with a gray beard, his face full of wrinkles and dark spots like the dried-out bark of a pine tree. The black mage robe he wore was embroidered with twisted red threads, forming strange, mystical rune patterns.
His hands were as thin and shriveled as dead branches, clutching a staff as black as charcoal. At the top of the staff was a white skull, its eye sockets flickering with two eerie, dark red wisps of ghost fire, giving it a seriously creepy vibe.
EeDechi pointed at the bandits in front of her, gesturing wildly. "You punks all have Justice Values between -100 and -500. Wiping you all out? Not a single one of you would be wronged."
In this world, there was something called Innate Talent—a power you're born with. Pretty much one out of every two hundred people had an Innate Talent.
Most of them were simple, handy tricks like predicting the weather. Only a rare few got the really badass skills.
When EeDechi crossed over into this world, she discovered she had an Innate Talent of her own—she could see everyone's Justice Value.(In the anime Overlord, it is also called Karma.)
In her vision, a number floated above every person's head, ranging from -500 to +500. From what she'd figured out, Justice Value roughly lined up with a person's sense of good and evil like this:
-500: Extremely Evil
-400: Evil
-300: Very Evil
-200: Wicked
-50: Neutral
0: Neutral
+50: Neutral
+150: Good
+300: Extremely Good
Take a look at this bald mage holding a skull-topped staff—right above his head, the number's -460. That's straight-up pure evil territory. No doubt he's spent his days screwing over plenty of innocent lives.
Pilar felt a surge of rage bubbling up as EeDechi stared at him with that nosy look. It'd been ages since anyone had the guts to eyeball him so rudely. Even the reckless, death-wish bandits in his crew never dared to lock eyes with him head-on.
EeDechi made the first move. She flicked her fingers, unleashing a new attack spell she'd just picked up.
1st Tier Magic: Frost Spike.
A swirl of icy blue mist gathered at her fingertips, hardening into a sharp ice spike that shot straight at Pilar.
Pilar let out a cold sneer. With a thud of his staff against the ground, a faint shield shimmered into existence. The pointed ice spike smashed into it, shattering into a million pieces without even grazing him.
EeDechi's eyes lit up when she saw Pilar block her magic like it was nothing. Pointing at him like she owned the place, she barked, "Not bad! You're that Magic Caster, right? Come on, hit me with your highest-tier magic. Don't hold back."
It's not that EeDechi was some masochist begging to get blasted. It's just that since crossing into this world, she'd been stuck roaming the edges of human civilization. The strongest attack magic she'd ever seen was only 2nd Tier.
Now that she'd finally stumbled across a "big-shot Magic Caster," she wasn't about to let the chance slip by. She wanted to see some real action and figure out where her own skills stacked up.
"You're fucking dead!" Pilar snapped, completely pissed off. He raised his staff, unleashing his go-to spell without a second thought, ready to obliterate this girl in one shot.
3rd Tier Magic: Hellfire Serpent!
A blazing red fire snake exploded from the tip of his staff with a loud "bang," streaking across the gap in an instant. It coiled around EeDechi, turning her into a human torch.
Aaron stood to the side, his heart pounding like crazy. He stared at EeDechi, her whole body—and even the grass at her feet—engulfed in roaring flames. His mind flashed back to George, who'd been burned to a crisp earlier, and he couldn't help but silently mourn for this girl.
The flames slowly faded away, but what happened next left everyone dumbfounded. EeDechi was still standing there, not a scratch on her. If it weren't for the ring of charred grass around her, no one would've believed she'd just been swallowed by a firestorm!
"This is… Mid-tier Magic Immunity!" Pilar sucked in a sharp breath. He knew he'd met his match today.
This EeDechi chick, despite being human, had some kind of Mid-tier Magic Immunity—a trait usually reserved for high-level magical beasts. She was a real pain in the ass.
"Hmph, keep acting tough. You're still just a human in the end. Mid-tier Magic Immunity, huh? Let's see if you can handle high-tier magic!" Pilar raised his staff, muttering a chant under his breath. He was about to unleash the ultimate spell he'd spent his entire life mastering, determined to crush this cocky little human once and for all.
The skull at the top of his staff, its eye sockets pitch-black before, suddenly burst with red light. It flickered like terrifying ghost fire, dancing wildly in the sockets. Magical energy rippled through the air around them, the glow spreading outward like waves on a pond.
Even the bandits tasked with guarding Pilar up close instinctively backed off a few steps, not wanting to get caught in the spell's crossfire.
EeDechi frowned, pulling a pen from her pocket. She pointed it at Pilar, who was mid-chant, and said:
"The Magic Repeater."
The Magic Repeater? Pilar froze for a second. Was that a spell name? How the hell had he never heard of it?
To stay sharp in battle and know both himself and his enemies, Pilar had busted his ass studying every mainstream magic in the world. Even if he couldn't cast it himself, he knew it inside out—hell, even the Divine Magic used by clerics, he'd memorized the casting methods and effects.
But what the fuck was this "The Magic Repeater" spell?
He glanced around, confused. No sign of any magic kicking in, no ripple of mana in the air. EeDechi was still standing there like an idiot, pointing some pen-looking thing at him.
Just a bluff? A wave of irritation surged through Pilar. Some no-name little adventurer had the balls to mess with him? Time to die in agony! He slammed his raised staff down hard.
5th Tier Magic: Reaper's Reflection!
A piercing shriek tore through the forest from all directions, like demons screaming straight out of hell.
A thick, blood-like red mist erupted from the skull's eye sockets at the top of his staff, swallowing the sky whole. Then the mist morphed into a massive humanoid figure wearing a red hood. Its arms stretched out slow and wide, like the Grim Reaper opening its hands, lunging straight for EeDechi in the clearing!
The red mist crashed over her like a flood of spilled blood. The bandits nearby freaked out, scrambling over each other to get away, terrified the drifting crimson fog might hit them too.
Pilar leaned on his staff, smug as hell, waiting for the mist to clear so he could admire the masterpiece of his ultimate spell.
By now, EeDechi should be a wreck—eyes bulging and bleeding, limbs twisted into something barely human, sprawled on the ground. No screams earlier, huh? Probably bit her own tongue off in the agony before croaking.
Pilar pictured the gruesome fate of this punk who dared screw with him, and a twisted thrill crept into his chest.
A soft breeze swept through the forest, and the thick, blood-like red mist slowly faded away. The grass on the ground had completely withered, and the surrounding trees looked like they'd skipped straight to winter—leaves all fallen, leaving bare branches jabbing at the gray, hazy sky.
Nearby, a bandit who'd accidentally breathed in a wisp of the red mist was clawing at his throat, writhing in pain on the ground, his body jerking in spasms.
"Achoo!" In the thinning red mist, someone sneezed.
EeDechi stood there, steady as ever, holding up her pen.
"Achoo!" She sneezed again, two streams of red mist shooting out of her nose like a silent middle finger to Pilar.
"This… this can't be real!" Pilar's eyes nearly popped out of his skull. His dry, gray lips stretched wide as he roared, "No way! No fucking way! How the hell are you immune to my high-tier magic?!" Pilar was teetering on the edge of losing it.
But he didn't have to wait long to fall off that edge completely.
After sneezing, EeDechi pointed her pen at the stunned bandits standing around and said, "Start repeating."
5th Tier Magic: Reaper's Reflection!
5th Tier Magic: Reaper's Reflection!
5th Tier Magic: Reaper's Reflection!
5th Tier Magic: Reaper's Reflection!
5th Tier Magic: Reaper's Reflection!
5th Tier Magic: Reaper's Reflection!
The red mist of death surged and churned like a tidal wave of blood, flooding the entire space. Red-hooded Reapers sprouted up all over the forest.
The once-bright, sunny sky turned dark with thick clouds in an instant, plunging everything into gloom. The forest morphed into a screaming hellscape filled with gut-wrenching shrieks—part demonic wails, part the bandits' dying howls.
Aaron, the cavalry captain, tried to bolt from the area, but his legs were shaking too hard to obey. The knight's sword he'd been gripping slipped from his hand and clattered to the ground. His knees buckled, and he dropped into the red-mist hell, ready to face his end.
"Huh? Hey, you, the little dude with a Justice Value of 153—quit playing dead on the ground!" In the middle of his despair, Aaron heard a girl's loud shout from a distance. Then he felt someone rush to his side, dragging him out of the red mist.
(Note:The number of repeats is: 11 - spell tier. For example, a 5th-tier spell has a repeat count of 11 - 5 = 6)