CH 221

221 – Dragon Killer・Dragon Killers

If a person has excellent skills or a large amount of Magical Energy, he might try to devise a strategy. 

However, there are strong people that will just break straight through that strategy. Those types of simple and reckless people are very troublesome as an opponent and very fascinating to the audience.

Valac is definitely that type of person.

But that’s exactly why.

Ever since I was 10 years old, I’ve had my best friend who is a Contractor of the Four Great Spirits as my rival.

He is unbelievably strong and I can’t stop thinking about it. 

「Wraith. Get behind me for a moment.」

He quickly stepped back while worrying about his childhood friend, Fran.

Although he is highly capable of assessing the battlefield, he reacted way too quickly.

Is it because he has entrusted the task of giving directions to me, so he decided to not interfere with my decisions?

If that’s the case, then I have to live up to that trust.

「A Black Sorcerer is standing in front of a Hero? I’ve never seen such an amusing formation!」

Valac jumped.

She looked surprised at what she just did.

It seemed to be an instinctual reaction, not a rational decision.

As expected of someone who had even defeated a Dragon. She seemed to have excellent wild intuition.

I converted my Magical Energy, which I had refined with my Holy Sword, into Black Magic. Then I emitted it forward.

It is impossible for me to cast the Black Magic that I cast in the middle of space during the battle with Aerial.

However, with the Magical Energy that has been poured into the Holy Sword since the start of the qualifying round, although it won’t become like a huge wave, it is possible to cast magic on a scale close to that.

Instead of filling the space with Black Magic, it’s more like emitting a large output of Black Magic.

Unless they are a Hero, it should be impossible to remove the Resist that the opponent has and then instantaneously cast Black Magic.

It’ll waste too much Magical Energy, so I can’t fire it in rapid succession, but it’ll be helpful if it could hit an opponent with extremely high mobility.

「I’m a fan of yours, but I have to defeat you since we’re opponents.」

Wraith released Water Blade. The high-pressure water blades thrust straight toward Valac, then when it was on the verge of piercing her…she avoided it.

She inhaled so much air that her inflated stomach could be seen from a distance and exhaled it to move her body position.

What a great lung capacity. She managed to avoid midair with only her breath, like what a Wizard would do with Wind Magic.

However, Wraith also expected the possibility that she could avoid his attack.

The Water Blades are continuously released at short intervals.

The next attack reached her sooner than she could breathe in again.

But she tried to defend against it with her tail.

「That’s quite a feat for someone so young!」

The Water Blade broke through the hard scales and pierced her tail, but due to that, its trajectory was changed and no additional damage was done beyond a scratch on her cheek.

She avoided the third blade by using Reverse Eruption to accelerate diagonally downward from the sky, that is, in our direction.

「Lem…」

「Ice!」

Wraith was probably trying to ask what he should do in response, whether he should create water, ice, or fog.

The next moment, Wraith stepped in front of me and swung his Holy Sword, and covered my field of vision with blocks of ice.

It only took less than a few seconds.

My eyes met with Wraith’s

We don’t have time to talk for a long time.

「I feel the same.」

I wondered how much I could convey to him with just those words.

I felt that Wraith grinned.

As she kicked a lump of ice, the Dragon King reappeared.

Aiming for the moment she was wide open, Wraith tried to slash her while riding on the water current that he created

「An excellent decision.」

As if she was using a sword, Valac used her arm to parry Wraith’s slash.

Well, I should say that it’s more like a shield.

By utilizing the scales that are on her arms, it was possible for her to do that without tearing her own flesh.

Of course, it wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t for her ridiculous ability.

Then, just like that, Wraith gets a knee strike on his abdomen, but the battle still doesn’t end since he hasn’t been sent off the field.

Not only did he create a water shield on his abdomen to absorb the shock, but Valac’s right arm which had parried his slash was…frozen.

「I put a lot of Magical Energy into it.」

In addition to the power of the magic, the amount of Magical Energy consumed depends on the range and duration.

For example, assuming that the same amount of Magical Energy is used, if the power of the Fireball is emphasized, then the flight distance will decrease and the range will narrow. The same goes if the flight distance or the range of effect is emphasized.

The magic was cast at close range and the target is only her arm, and on top of that a large amount of Magical Energy was used…the power it has would be unbelievable…

「Ha! That’s great!」

After being kicked, Wraith fell down and returned to the ground after having the impact stopped by the water he created.

Valac smashed the ice on her arm again, but her arm turned bluish-black.

「It’s frozen to the core… Then it’s useless.」

She said that and made a prompt decision.

She tore off her own arm by herself.

Instead of blood, Magical Energy particles were scattered around.

The leak of Magical Energy continued for a while, but it stopped when she fired herself up and said「Hm!」.

No, there might be another reason other than being fired up, but it looked like that.

It has been less than a few seconds since she landed on the ground.

I was running toward her.

My hand was on the hilt of my Holy Sword.

But she can’t find the “me” that is approaching her.

Or perhaps I should say, there were too many of “me” that she saw.

「Ah?」

It’s a Water Mirror.

You can see your own reflection when you look into the water.

Wraith used that phenomenon to make a disturbance by creating multiple full-length-sized Water Mirrors.

Now Valac is looking at the countless mirrors that are reflecting me.

It is extremely difficult to identify an individual only by their Magical Energy response.

Even I can only distinguish a few of my comrades and best friend. The rest just depends on intuition.

Valac is strong. On top of being strong, she is also tough, has good intuition, and can breathe fire.

However, it is obvious that she is not a Wizard type. No matter how I look at it, she is a Warrior type.

In this situation where the magic of a Hero is surrounding us, she can’t discern my Magical Energy.

「Interesting magic, but it doesn’t mean much to someone like me.」

Ordinary people would be confused, those who are accustomed to fighting would be wary, and experts would try to find the real one.

But some people, like Valac, would do nothing.

Because…the moment the real one attacks her, she can just deal with it.

In fact, the attack using my Holy Sword that was revealed to the world for the very first time was easily repelled by the back of her hand.

Ahh, that’s a relief…

「You…」

…Valac is someone who prefers to fight.

She values the process of fighting, not just the victory.

She is strong. A very, very strong and sturdy person.

The Dragon King is a strong woman who can choose to remain unguarded…because of her own overwhelming strength and interest in the fight.

If she was cautious, she would not get stepped on by the Giant.

With her speed, she might have been able to bypass Melania and still approach us at a high speed.

She didn’t even show any pretense of avoiding Fran’s attack.

Despite all that, there are another two points to consider.

From the beginning, she tried to avoid my wide range Black Magic and Wraith’s Water Blades.

She wants to enjoy the fight, including the strength of the opponent, so she will not avoid the attacks.

However, if she does not avoid the lethal attacks, the fight will end, and above all, she will be defeated.

She has the sensitivity to discern the attacks that could immediately end the fight if she ignores them.

It resembles the innate talent that I felt from the Silver Hero Nicola.

Anyway…

In order to defeat her, we either need to execute consecutive lethal attacks and corner her until she can no longer avoid it…

Or…make her receive the attack without realizing that it’s actually lethal.

My large-scale Black Magic is something that can’t be done by an ordinary Black Sorcerer, and even if they could, their Magical Energy will be completely exhausted and it will take time for them to restore it.

In addition, her well-honed combat instincts allow her to avoid the Black Magic even after it has been cast.

In other words, she would think that it is possible for her to continue the fight even if she does not resist the Black Magic that was squeezed out after I cast the large-scale Black Magic.

With her personality, she probably wanted to experience the attacks from the very first one.

It can be said that the time needed for Valac’s instinct to judge that it would be bad to receive the attack was quicker than her thought process.

Rather than the power of Black Magic itself, she may have sensed that if she had received that attack, then she would become defenseless, if so, she would be exposed to a concentrated attack from the Wraith party and get sent off the field.

「It’s hard for me to defeat you by myself.」

Unfortunately, the Black Sorcerer Lem’s swordsmanship is better than the average person since he was blessed with a teacher named Furcus.

This is why I knew that I probably won’t be able to slash her, no matter how sharp the Holy Sword is.

Of course, I struck her with all my might, but I knew she could deal with it.

I also knew that I would be counterattacked immediately afterward.

That was all necessary.

I have known beforehand that this slash would be dealt with by her. So, I immediately pulled back right after the sword was deflected.

I stopped her kick with my sword and jumped simultaneously with the impact.

I was flung up into the sky like a cannonball.

But I could see it clearly.

Wraith froze Valac’s feet, the recovered Melania was protecting Josh from the other contestants, Josh cast White Magic on Fran, and Fran’s fist captured Valac again.

What I cast on her was not Confusion nor Speed Down.

It was Defense Down that nullified her incredible durability for just a moment.

I predicted that she was going to deal with my sword directly, so when the sword was deflected, I used that opportunity to cast Black Magic through the contact surface.

From her point of view, the individual members of the Wraith party must be lacking in some areas.

In fact, I think she’s right.

All of my allies are still in the process of growing.

They will become stronger from now on.

But at this moment, we have to win.

If we are lacking and it is difficult to win alone.

The answer is easy.

We are not alone.

「Comrades complement each other.」

Wraith also said this and I feel the same way.

「Tsk…」

Valac left the field with a vexed, fun, unsatisfied, yet satisfied kind of smile on her face.

『I see, so you earned the team’s victory after abandoning the individual victory and incorporating a reckless strategy.』

Dark was saying something.

Anyway, Valac, she…

『She wasn’t fixated on dealing the final blow. Her objective was probably to fight against you, partner.』

That’s right. The main reason why all the members of our party are safe and sound was that even though Valac counterattacked, she didn’t pursue us.

From her reaction when she noticed that I cast Black Magic on Garth, she might not care much about the points.

…I wonder what happened between her and Furcus that she would pay that much attention to me.

『More importantly, partner, the current you can’t fly in the sky.』

My body was still in midair.

But it’s okay.

It’s about time.

I twisted my body and swung the Holy Sword right behind me.

Instantly, the sound of swords clashing resounded.

The one who had a trail of crimson flames, with his cloak fluttering like the wings of a bird, and flew toward me was…

「Hey Fenix, what a coincidence, meeting you in mid-air.」

「…It seemed to me that you were intentionally flying toward me, though.」

The Flame Hero Fenix was there.

Our eyes met over our clashing Holy Swords.

I sensed that Fenix was coming here. All I had to do was to adjust the positioning and timing, then jump simultaneously with Valac’s counterattack.

Well, the plan has worked out well so far, but there isn’t much time.

「Can you bring me down?」

「Aren’t we opponents now?」

「That person as well.」

Fenix instantly confirmed what I was trying to show him with my eyes.

Immediately after, Fenix grabbed my outfit and left the place.

After a short pause, the space we were flying through seemed to distort.

Beyond the distorted space, a knight was standing on the ground.

The Scales of Justice Astrea.

One of the 13 Commanders of the Knight Order who has a contract with a high-ranking Lesser Spirit that is extremely similar to the Four Great Spirits.

If we were a little slower in leaving that place, we would have been crushed flat on the ground, just like the trees in the forest that were crushed.

「…It doesn’t seem that it would be easy to fight against the party that you picked.」

I felt there were some thorns in his words when he said “the party that you picked.”

「Don’t be sulky, all five members of the Fenix party are present, right.」

We went down to the ground as we were cracking jokes.

I know that Fenix wants to have a rematch with me.

I decided that he wouldn’t like the idea of me being sent off the field by Astrea’s magic, even if we are currently opponents.

「If possible, I’d like to fight with all the members from our respective parties present.」

While we were fighting Valac, the other battles naturally went on as well.

The battle between Fenix and Garo was won by Fenix, despite turning the area into a hell-like place.

The battle between Astrea and Barbatos was won by Astrea, with her only having a slight scratch on her outfit.

Considering that Barbatos and Valac are in the same rank as the Big Four in the Western Demon King Castle, Astrea is considerably strong.

「Then what do you want to do?」

Fenix laughed.

「I guess I’ll have to ask everyone other than us to leave the field.」

「Okay, let’s do that.」

This was the moment when an alliance was made so that we could fight against each other comfortably.