S-Rank Adventurer Betrayed by His Fiancée in the Hero’s Party Sets Off on a Journey to Heal His Broken Heart ~The Strongest Betrayed Adventurer Ends Up Forming a Harem Party~ - Chapter 16: Oathsworn Radiant Swords, Part 2

Chapter 16: Oathsworn Radiant Swords: Part 2

“Watch closely, Abel! Your big sister has gotten so much stronger!”

Maria’s fighting style was a unique combination: she held a shield in her dominant right hand and a short staff in her left.

While Elmie and Frey relied heavily on skills for their combat, Maria primarily focused on magic as the core of her strategy.

“《Bolt Rain》!”

Raising her staff toward the sky, Maria unleashed a burst of lightning.

After a brief pause, bolts of lightning rained down from above, striking the bloodthirsty magical beasts.

“”Gyaaauuuu!!!””

The speed of the wide-range lightning spell was too fast for even the nimble Blood Wolves to dodge.

However, wolves are pack hunters, and Blood Wolves, being magical beasts descended from them, are no different.

One of the wolves used its injured packmate as a distraction and lunged at Maria just after she cast her spell—but—

“《Impact Bash》! And 《Counter Burst》!!”

With a powerful shield bash from her oversized shield—large enough to cover most of her body—Maria intercepted the attack.

“Wow… that wolf got sent flying. Was that the shockwave from the shield, combined with the counter-skill? That’s wild.”

“Yeah, but it’s really tricky to pull off~. If she misses the timing, 《Impact Bash》 alone won’t be enough to stop them, and 《Counter Burst》 needs to hit just right at the core to work properly. It’s a tough combo to master.”

As Frey swung her halberd to cut down the approaching Blood Wolves, she explained.

“That’s exactly why Maria is an A-rank adventurer—she can pull off such advanced techniques.”

The Blood Wolves had scattered into disarray thanks to Elmie’s and Frey’s fierce attacks.

Although they were still charging at us, they were now spread out in all directions.

Maria systematically picked them off with her magic, ensuring none slipped through.

Maria’s Job is 《Battle Mage》.

It’s a powerful class that blends weapon skills and magic at a high level.

While the Job can be mediocre if either skillset is weak, once both are sufficiently developed, it becomes a class with no blind spots—effective at close, mid, and long-range combat.

A well-trained 《Battle Mage》 can even combine magic with their skills, amplifying their power.

“I’m not done yet! Watch this—《Buster Soul Bolt》!”

Maria’s graceful figure shimmered as golden lightning-like magic energy enveloped her.

Covered in this crackling magic, she easily bashed away the attacking beasts with her shield, sending them flying.

“A physical enhancement skill, huh? And it’s layered with lightning magic. You can see the sparks on impact.”

I tightened the headlock on the Blood Wolf I was holding, crushing its skull, then punched another one out of the air as it lunged at me.

Strengthening skills with magic—this was the true power of a 《Battle Mage》.

Then, Maria surprised me. She stored her shield and staff into her magic bag, a magical storage item.

Putting away her staff, which amplified her magic, she pulled out something else instead.

“What… what’s that?”

It was a sword—but not an ordinary one.

The blade was thick and segmented, as if made from several smaller blades joined together.

“Huh? Abel, you don’t know about this? It’s my new style~!”

Maria cheerfully waved at me while answering my muttered question.

Well, it’s fine since we’re fighting weaker enemies here, but I’d appreciate it if she stayed cautious.

Still, when she swung the new weapon she’d just pulled out—there was a metallic clink.

“Did it just… break? No, wait—it split apart and extended? What is that thing!?”

What is that thing!?

I couldn’t help but stare at the sword in fascination. Maybe I could ask to borrow it later.

While I was distracted, Elmie, having finished cutting down a pack of wolves, appeared beside me.

“It’s called a segmented sword. The blade segments are connected by wires, letting it extend and act like a whip.”

“Whoa… but wouldn’t that make it bad at cutting?”

I mean, stabbing might work, but since the blade segments don’t fully connect, it probably wouldn’t be good for clean cuts.

As I kept watching, though, the magic energy covering Maria’s body began to flow into the sword.

“Oh, I get it. She’s using her skills to create and control the blade’s cutting edges.”

“Yep! I had it custom-made at a dwarf settlement! It’s designed specifically for me to use!”

The segmented blade clinked as its parts separated along the wire, stretching—extending.

It writhed like a snake, and when Maria swung it, the segmented sword sparked and slashed through the Blood Wolves with speed too fast for the eye to follow.

A whip’s tip can exceed the speed of sound, and with this sword, enhanced by skills, it wasn’t far behind—

“Jump, all of you! I’m clearing them out! 《Gale Whip Bladebolt》!”

A lightning-fast strike.

The extended blade swept beneath us as we leapt, slashing through the remaining scattered Blood Wolves and cutting them cleanly in half.

This was the strength of the A-rank party, Oathsworn Radiant Swords, who reached such heights at a young age.

Elmie, the master swordswoman, created openings by breaking the enemy’s formation.

Frey, with her overwhelming power, punched through those openings.

And Maria, capable of fighting at any range, provided versatile support and follow-ups.

Sometimes Maria even took the front line, using her shield to hold the enemies back, while the combined firepower of the group crushed everything in their path.

Watching them, now stronger than ever, made me realize just how far they’d come—and it made me genuinely happy to see it.

“Fuu—looks like it’s over. Do you have any idea how many there were?”

“Probably around seventy? That’s about the size of eight normal packs.”

“This would’ve been tough without an A-rank party. It’s a good thing we took this job—I’ll let the guild know.”

“It all worked out in the end. And we had Abel with us, too. Let’s start cleaning up.”

We needed to dismantle the defeated Blood Wolves and collect any materials we could sell.

The area was drenched in blood. In situations like this, we had to sprinkle deodorizing powder while working to keep other magical beasts from being attracted by the scent.

While the three of them were busy dismantling the wolves and gathering materials, I placed my hand on the Breathslate at my right hip and concentrated the wind. Using an advanced application of 《Wind Drift Step》, I lifted the corpses into the air to gather them together.

“Wow, that’s amazing! Abel, that’s wind magic, right? I’ve never seen that before—is it your original spell?”

“Yeah, more or less. I think it turned out pretty well, but what do you think, Maria?”

“I’d say it’s better than anything I could do! Abel, your mana control is incredible!”

Maria, the only one in the party who primarily used magic, was immediately drawn to the spell I showed off.

Magic users are always hungry for knowledge about new spells.

Unlike skills, which depend on your Job and physical training, magic is more like a science or a field of research.

Magic is learned by studying mana and honing it through training and practice.

With enough effort, anyone can use basic non-elemental spells like 《Body Strengthening》 or simple elemental magic like fire, water, wind, and earth.

However, special attributes or unique types of magic—like Maria’s lightning magic—require specific magic-related skills, such as 《Lightning Attribute Magic》.

These skills aren’t tied to a Job, but they’re necessary to use such specialized magic.

By the way, magic-related skills also enhance the power and efficiency of spells within that attribute.

Magic, in its essence, isn’t heavily tied to Jobs, meaning anyone can become stronger through magic. You’d think that people with weaker Jobs, like mine, could simply focus on refining their magic, right?

Well, not quite. There’s still the ever-present wall of “talent,” a gift—or curse—bestowed from above.

There are three fundamental abilities required to use magic effectively:

First: Magic Capacity
This refers to how much mana a person possesses to convert into magic. Without sufficient mana, nothing can happen. The more mana you have, the stronger and more frequent your spells can be.

Second: Magic Control
This is the skill to manipulate mana effectively. It enables easier use of complex spells and enhances the precision, effectiveness, and overall power of magic.

And third: Magic Output
This measures how strongly you can release converted magic from your body. A higher output means you can unleash more powerful magic in its raw form.

Together, these three traits are collectively known as “magical aptitude.”

“Maria, weren’t your magical abilities above average across the board?”

“Yep! And now I’ve gotten even stronger than I was back then.”

“Even though you were already so well-balanced and ideal before, you’ve improved even more?”

“Abel, you were way more amazing than me! Your magic capacity and control have always been monster-level!”

“Yeah, but without strong magic output, those two don’t really mean much, do they?”

Maria has a balanced magical aptitude: high magic capacity, excellent magic control, and solid magic output.

She can cast a wide variety of spells and fire off powerful magic continuously.

She’s the ideal type of mage—strong and capable of sustaining long battles.

On the other hand, there are people on the extreme end of the spectrum—like me.

Even as a kid, my magic capacity and control surpassed those of most A-rank adventurer mages.

In fact, just in those two areas, I was better than Millia, a 《Sage》.

But I had zero magic output. Not “low”—zero.

I could only use magic that stayed within my body, like 《Body Strengthening》. Offensive magic? Completely out of the question.

Because of this, my abundant magic capacity and precise control were practically useless.

I didn’t have a good Job, and I couldn’t even properly use magic. Back then, I was so powerless I fell into despair…

So how am I able to use magic now?

“It’s because you compensate for it with the magic swords, right?”

“Exactly. By using the magic swords as a catalyst for magic output, I can project magic externally. I’ve learned to combine it with my sword techniques to make it work.”

“I’ve never heard of anyone using magic swords like that. Normally, you just channel mana into them and let the sword’s power do the rest.”

“Yeah, but without this method, I wouldn’t be able to use magic at all—and it’s powerful.”

The techniques I use combine magic and swordsmanship—what you could call “Magic Swordsmanship.”

By harnessing the elemental powers of my magic swords and my immense magic capacity, I’ve developed techniques powerful enough to reach S-rank.

That said, if I don’t have these swords, I can’t use these techniques at all.

Without them, I’m just a 《Swordsman》 with strong 《Body Strengthening》 and high recovery ability, which is… less than ideal.

“It’s ridiculously difficult and has terrible efficiency. Do you even realize how much magic capacity and control you need for that—”

“Hey, you two! Stop disappearing into your own little world and help clean up!”

Before I realized it, Maria and I had gotten caught up in a discussion about magic, prompting Elmie to shout at us.

“Ah—sorry. I’ll get back to it right now.”

“Don’t get mad just because we were having fun chatting~.”

“Wha—t-that’s not what I meant! I’m just talking in general!”

Elmie’s face turned red as she tried to explain herself, but just then—

The blood-soaked ground near us erupted, blowing debris into the air.