Frieren: Understand Humans, Aura!

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"Lady Aura, my name is Kritobi."

It was a year later when the young man stood in front of Aura again.

He had grown taller and his expression had become more resolute, no longer the fearful youth he once was. His eyes held a determined spark, a fire that had been kindled through relentless training and perseverance.

Aura also narrowed her eyes and stared at him for a long time before she recalled from her memory that there was such a person who had obtained the qualification of a third-class mage in her previous examination. The recognition was faint, buried under the countless faces she had assessed.

"Please guide me." His tone was earnest, filled with a mixture of respect and challenge.

"Hmm—"

Aura responded indifferently. What was this human trying to do by telling her his name? Was he trying to get close to her?

Ha, did he think that just because she remembered his name, she would go easy on him?

Boom!!!

"Huh?"

It seemed his magic stability had improved significantly. Aura remembered that during the last examination, Kritobi barely managed to withstand the magic suppression, relying more on an unusually high amount of magic power rather than precise control.

'After being beaten and scolded by me, did your abilities actually improve?' Was her previous judgment the catalyst for his growth?

Aura frowned slightly, a mix of curiosity and irritation.

It must be that the torture she inflicted was not enough!

Swish!!

A barrage of magic blasts swept over, their speed and precision a stark contrast to the boy she remembered. The air hummed with energy as the spells collided with a circular white-hot shield, which quietly dissipated, leaving a faint shimmer in the air.

As the shield disappeared, the human mage named Kritobi launched a counterattack. It was still the simplest offensive and defensive magic. A bright white beam of magic light flashed and hit the diamond-shaped defensive magic floating in front of Aura.

"You've earned the second-class mage qualification..." Kritobi's eyes lit up with joy. As expected, Lady Aura's guidance last time was correct. By abandoning all flashy illusions, mental, and invisibility spell, and devote all his energy to practicing simple offensive and defensive magic. Only then could he achieve a casting speed of milliseconds - even the great mage could not dodge it and had to defend hastily.

"Next, I will challenge the first-class mage examination. Please guide me..." Before he could finish speaking, Aura swung her axe, shattering his shield and sending Kritobi flying with a horizontal slash.

Cough, cough—

Kritobi coughed up blood, his eyes bulged, and he tried desperately to stand up and dodge, every muscle in his body screaming in pain. 

With a swish, the axe spun back and was reflected in front of his eyes. He was too late to dodge and was knocked backwards and rolled several times.

"Fool! Why are you just trying to dodge? Do you think your body can move faster than the enemy's attack? Your body can never move faster than your hands. Use your brain!"

"If you lower your head, will the enemy disappear, Kritobi?! Raise your head!!" 

Crunch!!

Aura shattered his defensive spell through the opening he left when he lifted his head.

Although she dulled the axe blade with magic due to the restriction against harming humans, the blow hit Kritobi's chin, and the strong shock caused his pupils to dilate and he almost lost consciousness. The world blurred, and for a moment, everything seemed to slow down, the pain radiating through his skull.

'Powerless! Too powerless! Why am I so weak even though I have become much stronger, yet I am still vulnerable in front of the examiner!'

Kritobi felt deep despair and frustration, a bitter taste in his mouth as he struggled to understand his own inadequacies.

"Hey, Kritobi, what are those tears for? What's with that expression on your face? Do you think this will make you stronger?!"

The sharp reprimand snapped Kritobi out of his daze.

'Right, Lady Aura hasn't given up on me!'

'Wasn't it Lady Aura's guidance that helped me find my mistakes and become stronger before? As long as I receive her guidance again, I can definitely break through my limits.'

"Don't dodge, Kritobi!"

The passionate encouragement reignited the demoralized human mage's spirit.

'In a fair examination, Lady Aura takes care of the examinees' feeling. How gentle and kind she is.'

Just as Kritobi lifted his head with renewed hope, a torrent of Sturmkanone surged towards him.

"Don't dodge, face the magic head-on!"

'Shit!!'

Kritobi's eyes widened in shock.

Boom—a beam of magic cannon light that was twice as tall as Kritobi enveloped his entire body, carving a straight gully into the ground beneath him. The force of the blast was immense, shaking the air and sending dust and debris flying in all directions. When the smoke cleared, Kritobi was left smoldering, his clothes singed and his body limp, foaming at the mouth, and utterly unconscious.

Naturally, there were special priests nearby who immediately rushed forward. They chanted softly, calling upon the goddess's recovery magic to mend Kritobi's injuries. The air around him shimmered with the soft glow of divine power, and his breathing steadied, his burns and wounds gradually closing.

Aura wiped the sweat from her forehead and let out a satisfied sigh.

If you are unhappy about something, just find a human to beat up and you will feel better!

Heh heh—

She glanced disdainfully at Kritobi, who was surrounded by priests and was surrounded by colorful lights of various healing magics, and smiled with disdain.

'Humans are so stupid, they listen to anything I say and are so easy to fool.'

She had only been joking in suggesting that the human stand still and take the attack, but she hadn't expected him to take it seriously and become a target.

How gullible he had been, blindly trusting in her words as if they were a path to enlightenment rather than a setup for pain.

If only all humans were as stupid as this idiot, standing in front of Aura as a target, and she would harvest them one by one. It wouldn't be long before human mages would become extinct.

Tsk—

Aura leaned on the long axe handle, the heavy blade embedded in the ground. Thanks to being a great demon, even without focusing on physical strength, she had immense power, able to wield the axe smoothly as if it were a sword.

Human defensive magic today... no, even future defensive magic would be limited against pure physical attacks. If these human mages want to maintain their defensive shields against Aura's giant axe, they'd better dream on for another two thousand years!

'But...recently, the new mages seem to have become stronger...'

Thinking of this, Aura felt inexplicably melancholy.

'It's really strange. Obviously, on the path of magic, as long as there are a lot of setbacks, any demon with normal IQ will give up this path and spend their time on other things that can bring more benefits.'

'Yet, humans didn't seem to have this sensible thinking.'

'Are all humans stupid?'

'They're getting stronger... Even though last time they were unstable and poor at magic, unable to dodge my offensive magic...'

Aura pondered, realizing that Kritobi was just one of the many examinees under her supervision. Most of the mages who passed her stringent tests would indeed become stronger, each pushing their limits, just like Kritobi had done this time.

However, their progress, while noticeable, wasn't as obvious as Kritobi's exceptional leap forward.

"This is unsettling."

Aura felt more and more uneasy. These humans did not seem to make the wise "reasonable retreat" as she had expected. Instead, they were stubborn and charged towards the "impossible" again and again.

At this rate, there might be a large-scale transformation among this batch of young human mages in a short time...

'But—so what?'

'Heh. Do they think that humans, who live only a hundred years, can surpass me, a five-hundred-year-old great demon!'

'Humans are a short-lived race. It is impossible for them to reach the pinnacle of magic even if they spend their entire lives. They are nothing but trash~'

'Not even worthy of being small fry! Hahaha!'

Aura's sharp eyes gleamed with a renewed sense of superiority as she thought it through, her initial unease melting away. She relaxed, confident in her position of power, convinced that no matter how much these humans improved, they would never reach her level.