Toxic Parent Reincarnation ~ When I Doted on My Daughter Destined to Become the Final Boss, She Ended Up Liking Me an Abnormal Amount ~
Aldo and Clara are engaged in combat with a female-type evil spirit. As Aldo swings his sword, the spirit dodges his attack. However, Clara is waiting at the spot where the spirit evades, ready to deliver a punch. Yet, the spirit catches Clara’s attack with its hand. A sharp sound echoes as the spirit deflects Clara’s strike.
“What’s wrong? Is this all you’ve got with the two of you? Why don’t you bring that useless little mage brat from the back into the fight too? Ahaha!”
The evil spirit laughs mockingly, hitting Iris’s insecurities. Iris takes further emotional damage, but Aldo can’t just stand by and watch.
“You… don’t you dare mock Iris!”
Gritting his teeth, Aldo swings his sword in a fit of rage. It’s a wide, powerful strike, but its predictability allows the spirit to dodge and close in on Aldo again.
“How simple-minded.”
With those words, the spirit punches Aldo in the abdomen. The blow lands squarely, but Aldo braces himself and endures it. It’s precisely because Aldo has low faith that he can withstand such an attack. An average person would have suffered fatal spiritual damage from that strike.
“Aldo! Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s nothing.”
“Stop acting tough! Ugh, having such a stubborn teammate is such a hassle. Giving up just because your magic didn’t work for a bit during the fight. Having to babysit such a burden is just pitiful!”
The spirit presses its attack. In truth, Aldo’s body is still numb from the earlier blow, and his movements are slower compared to when he was unharmed. But Aldo has no choice but to stand his ground.
The spirit launches a kick, and Aldo, enhancing his speed with the power of the Wind Blade, narrowly dodges it at the last moment.
“What?!”
The spirit is shocked. This time, Aldo closes the distance and lands a punch with his left hand on the spirit’s jaw.
“Gah…!”
“Don’t worry. I’m not hurt. But this thing hurt Iris’s feelings. I can’t forgive that.”
Aldo tightens his grip on his sword with both hands, drawing out the power of the spirit weapon. The mana surrounding the spirit weapon is unleashed to its fullest potential.
“Whirlwind Slash!”
Aldo swings his sword, and the attack strikes the spirit.
“Gah…!”
The spirit could still endure this level of attack, but the true power of this technique is just beginning to show. The wound inflicted by the sword begins to generate rotating blades of wind, tearing the wound wider and dealing further damage to the spirit.
“Ahhh! Wh-what is this…?! Gaaaah!”
Aldo sheathes his sword. He knows the battle is over. The spirit’s body is still being carved up by the wind blades. Once wounded, there’s no escape—countless wind blades emerge from the cut, eventually causing the spirit to vanish.
“N-no way…! Nooo!”
The spirit’s body disappears, and with it, the wind blades vanish too. All that remains is a small stone fragment falling to the ground where the spirit once stood. The battle is over.
“Ugh…”
As the spirit’s body disappears, Aldo drops to one knee. Clara rushes over and casts a healing spell, “Apat,” to treat him.
“Are you okay, Aldo?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. But what about Iris?”
Despite their victory, Iris’s expression remains somber. Given her upbringing, her self-esteem is incredibly low.
Though her physical wounds are healing, the emotional scars of a child who was never loved by her parents aren’t so easily mended.
“Iris…!”
Aldo approaches Iris and pulls her into a tight hug. He senses that she needs this embrace more than any words of comfort.
“Dad… I’m sorry. I… I…”
“It’s okay, Iris. This isn’t your fault. You’re not useless. Remember that dungeon we explored before? There was a spirit that was resistant to physical attacks, and you were the one who saved us then. This enemy was probably just a spirit resistant to magic. There’s nothing you could’ve done about that.”
“But… all I have is magic.”
“If that’s the case, then I can’t even use magic. We complement each other’s weaknesses. That’s how it should be.”
Iris’s voice trembles with tears. Just as it seems she might break down crying—
“Hmm. The young man speaks wisely.”
A voice echoes from nowhere. The tone is elderly, but the voice itself is youthful—almost childlike.
“The Spirit of Abundance!”
Clara calls out to a girl about Iris’s height. Her hair is green, and her skin is slightly tanned. She has triangular body paint around her eyes, giving her a wild, untamed appearance.
“It’s been a while, Clara. You’ve grown.”
“Ahaha, have I? But you’re still the same height, Spirit.”
“Hahaha, well, I suppose. I give most of my energy to this land, so I don’t grow… Just kidding. Spirits are mental entities, so we don’t age or grow. Once our form is set, it doesn’t change.”
The Spirit of Abundance approaches Iris and lightly taps her cheek.
“Ow!”
“Iris?! Hey, Spirit! What are you doing to my daughter?!”
“Ahaha, calm down, old man. I just gave her a little pep talk. Little girl, it seems you don’t yet understand the nature of spirit magic.”
“The nature of spirit magic…?”
Iris tilts her head, confused. Sensing that an important conversation is about to begin, Aldo and Clara step back.
“Red magic, blue magic, green magic, yellow magic—though their attributes differ, their fundamental nature is the same. The strength of the magic depends on the caster’s faith, and the damage is reduced if the target has low faith. This is the basic principle of magic. But spirit magic and evil spirit magic are different.”
“Different…? How?”
“First, let me explain spirit magic. If the caster’s faith is high, the power increases; if not, it decreases. This is an absolute principle of magic… but in the case of spirit magic, the target’s faith has no bearing on the damage.”
“Wait, really?”
Clara’s eyes widen in surprise.
“Clara, you didn’t know this?”
“Ahaha, my bad.”
“My apologies. This is my fault for not teaching you properly. Now, let me explain evil spirit magic. The caster’s side works the same as other magic, but the target’s faith plays a significant role. High faith means greater damage; low faith means less damage. The nature is similar to other types of magic, but the variance is much greater with evil spirit magic.”
“Variance…?”
“You don’t seem to grasp it. For example, let’s say there’s Person A with high faith and Person B with low faith. Color magic deals 10 damage to A and 5 damage to B. Spirit magic deals 8 damage to both, as it doesn’t depend on the target’s faith. But evil spirit magic deals 20 damage to A and only 2 damage to B. The correction based on faith is much more pronounced.”
“So… if the target has high faith, using evil spirit magic is more effective, but if not, it’s better to use other types of magic?”
“Hmm. You catch on quickly, little girl. That spirit earlier had low faith, so it had high resistance to evil spirit magic. That’s why your attacks didn’t do much damage.”
“Ah, now that you mention it… when Dad was hit by evil spirit magic, it didn’t do much damage, but when I used it on the boss in the previous dungeon, it dealt massive damage.”
“That’s because that boss was a magic type with high faith.”
Iris nods in understanding.
“So my evil spirit magic isn’t useless after all.”
“Exactly. If you choose your targets wisely, you have the potential to be more useful than anyone else.”
While Iris’s expression brightens, Aldo’s darkens.
“Wait a second. What happens if Iris is hit by evil spirit magic?”
The air grows tense. The advantages and disadvantages of high faith are two sides of the same coin. While high faith allows you to deal massive damage, it also means—
“Well, she’d likely suffer fatal injuries. She might even die.”
