Chapter 89

Chapter 89: Interlopers (4)

GRRRRRRR......!

The Holy Light Lance, with rotational force added to it, scraped through the Holy Flame barrier Bella had unfolded like an excavator and dug in.

Franz and Bella’s expressions hardened, but the Holy Light Lance was already rushing toward them. 

The fact that they had tried to receive it head-on by trusting in their own skills had instead become poison.

“Off you go.”

BOOM! RUMBLEEEEE!

In less than a second, the giant Holy Light Lance pierced through Bella’s barrier and immediately scraped up the floor where the two of them stood, sending fragments large and small flying again and again.

Even for Inquisitors, it was nearly impossible to block every irregular fragment shooting in from such close range.

Thud!

In the end, the two’s bands could not withstand the impact and fell to the floor.

“Team 1 Franz, eliminated.”

“Team 1 Bella, eliminated.”

***

“Team 1 Franz, eliminated.”

“Team 1 Bella, eliminated.”

“Well now......”

“Using an undead like that... Honestly, I’m surprised.”

“...I lost focus for a moment too.”

Potrick, Orwell, and Veroniel, who had been watching the match from the professors’ seating in the arena, trailed off.

So there was a way to use Holy Magic and Black Magic cooperatively like that?

For first-years to display this level of performance, there was no choice but to call it impressive.

“If they had eliminated them faster, Team 44 would have won.”

At Veroniel’s remark, Potrick and Orwell swallowed their questions.

“What do you mean......?”

“Team 44 lost?”

At present, the two people in charge of Team 1’s front line had been eliminated together. 

The only one left now was Elysia.

She should have been at a numerical disadvantage.

“Hehe, I suppose it could look that way.”

Veroniel, an Elf, turned her eyes with a gentle expression.

Toward the direction where Karin and Elysia had been fighting.

“After all, Lady Elysia is not Grade 1 for nothing.”

“Team 44 Karin, eliminated.”

***

“Team 44 Karin, eliminated.”

The amplification magic rang out.

The arena seats stirred.

“...Tch, so much for an easy win.”

I clicked my tongue.

I had spent far more time dealing with the Inquisitors than I had expected.

I cast my gaze toward where Karin and Elysia had been standing.

The first thing I saw was Karin, who had been pushed all the way outside the arena and collapsed unconscious.

And......

“...Get ready, Lloyd.”

Lloyd also stared in the direction I was looking and sharpened his focus.

“From the look of it, her casting is already finished.”

Vrrrrrr......

Completed formulas were rotating on their own around Elysia, who stood leisurely by herself.

Just as Lloyd said, that spell’s casting was already complete. 

If Elysia chose to, that magic would fly straight toward us in less than a second.

“Damon David.”

Elysia spoke casually.

“I’ll admit it. To think you prepared such a solid strategy to win. It seems you truly did intend to keep your vow.”

“Ha, is that so?”

This one and that one, they’re all the same when it comes to misunderstanding things however they please.

“I think highly of that spirit, but I have no intention of losing either.”

THUD!

Elysia struck the ground with the end of her staff.

That became the signal.

Rrrrrrrr......

As if it had been waiting, the ground began to tremble.

The blue light emitted by the formulas swirling around Elysia grew even deeper.

CRACK— CRUNCH! RUMBLEEEEE......!

The floor where she stood cracked open, and from the gap, something enormous began bursting out.

Lloyd looked up at it and muttered blankly.

“...Grade 1 is Grade 1, is that it?”

Creeeeak......

A giant tree.

A massive tree easily over fifty meters tall had grown before us.

Standing at the top of that tree and looking down at us, Elysia... was overflowing with the dignity of a mage who had cast high-level magic.

THUD! CRASH! CREAK!

Roots and vines, large and small, erupted from the floor around the tree and writhed as if they were alive.

‘I did see this in my previous cycle, but it’s still incredible even seeing it again.’

She was not the daughter of the chieftain who managed the Great Forest for nothing.

That was the strongest high-level magic Elysia could cast right now.

Unlike when I had seen it after she became an adult, the casting range and the number of visible roots seemed reduced to about two-thirds. 

If anything, that was fortunate.

‘Yulia wasn’t just sounding weak for no reason.’

In the previous cycle, Team 7, which Yulia had belonged to, had certainly failed to withstand that high-level magic and lost.

“This is insane. How are we supposed to......”

“Sixty seconds.”

“......?”

Lloyd looked back at me.

“What did you just say?”

“Protect me for just sixty seconds. I’ll figure something out somehow.”

Once that was cast, it was powerful high-level magic that ceaselessly lashed vines and roots like whips at any opponent within its range.

Yulia before my regression would not have had any room to prepare powerful Holy Magic.

But unlike Team 7, we had a usable countermeasure.

After all, Lloyd, who controlled undead that were fundamentally resistant to pure magic, was beside me.

Click.

I lowered my stance with the Mana Crystal Dagger sheathed.

“A direct descendant of the Four Great Houses can at least hold out that long, can’t he?”

Lloyd exchanged gazes with me as I raised the corners of my mouth coldly.

A moment later, he laughed quietly.

“Heh heh heh... For a commoner, you provoke people so naturally. Anyone would think you were a noble.”

THUD, THUD, THUD.

The Undead Orc stepped forward with its Holy Light Shield at the ready.

Lloyd also stood before me with bold strides.

“If you’re going that far, that means you have some way to break through it, doesn’t it?”

THUD! 

Hissssss......!

When Lloyd stamped his foot, black fog rose around him.

“You are impertinent, but it is also true that I was able to smash those Inquisitors with ease thanks to you.”

One Undead Orc and numerous low-rank undead emerged from the black fog and began forming a wall as if surrounding us.

Just the ones visible before my eyes numbered around fifty.

“So this time, I will dance to your tune.”

Lloyd raised the tips of both hands and began precisely controlling the numerous undead.

Undead, wide-area summon.

This was the maximum number of undead Lloyd could summon right now.

“If this still isn’t enough after I block it, prepare yourself.”

“Just block it properly.”

RUMBLEEEEE!

Roots and vines, large and small, almost too fast for the eye to perceive, surged toward us with vicious momentum.

***

The arena stands.

“Wow... what is that?”

“She really isn’t Grade 1 like me for nothing......”

Yulia and Viole let out pure admiration as they saw the high-level magic Elysia had unfolded.

Countless vines and roots were driving Lloyd’s summoned undead back without pause.

Lloyd was nimbly moving both hands and using more than fifty undead as shields, but that would not last long either.

“Why is he just standing there?”

Viole looked at the screen with a resentful tone.

In contrast to Lloyd, who was looking in every direction and pouring all his effort into defense, Damon was standing there without moving.

“Whew... Good question.”

Yulia also could not understand Damon’s actions.

With the dagger sheathed and both knees bent, he was continuing to hold his stance.

What was he trying to do by standing still like that?

If it were her, she would never do something like—

“...Huh?”

Feeling a strange sense of déjà vu, Yulia tilted her head.

No, that was not it.

Yulia recalled what she had said while teaching Damon how to condense Holy Power.

‘Once you get used to the method, you can imbue it into a weapon too.’

Surely not......

Yulia held her tongue and focused her gaze on the sheath of the dagger Damon was gripping.

And before long, she saw it.

Vmmmm......

The dense concentration of Holy Power filling Damon’s sheath.

“...You’re kidding, right?”

Yulia’s eyes trembled.

Those were the preparatory movements of a technique she had shown Damon only once.

Because he was reproducing those movements exactly, as if he had copied and pasted them.

***

RUMBLE! BOOM! RUMBLE!

The undead Lloyd created lost their limbs one by one and ceased functioning.

“Tch!”

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!

The undead that had served their purpose were being detonated as they were to damage the roots, but it was not enough to block the plants growing without pause.

CLANG—!

The Holy Light Shield held by the Undead Orc was at least blocking the fatal attacks, but even that could not have much durability left.

About fifty seconds must have passed by now.

Vmmmm......

During that time, I had managed to gather mana and Holy Power together in the dagger’s blade.

Grip.

As I tightened my hand around the handle, I recalled what Yulia had said.

‘Once you get used to the method, you can imbue it into a weapon too.’

She was certainly right.

The Mana Crystal Dagger had already been filled with mana to its maximum.

I had thought that if the amount of mana was sufficient, I would be able to condense Holy Power at a slightly faster speed.

And my judgment was not wrong.

‘Condensation.’

CRRRRUNCH!

Rapid Holy Power condensation.

I had condensed so much that dense Holy Power leaked from the sheath.

Twist my waist and wrist slightly inward.

Use my right foot as the pivot here.

Keep my gaze firmly fixed on Elysia.

CRAAACK!

The Holy Light Shield the Undead Orc was holding was pierced through and turned to powder, and at the same time—

Shing—

I drew the dagger.

Putting Elysia into the dagger’s trajectory.

From left to right.

SHAAAAH......

The dagger cut through the air.

***

Perhaps because my metabolism had become active from the aftereffects of strongly condensing Holy Power all at once, my perception speed slowed slightly.

‘Hmm......’

The vines were intact. 

Normally, the moment I used it, the Holy Power should have traced a waterfall-like trajectory like Yulia’s.

It was an obvious failure.

‘...Was it impossible just to copy what I saw?’

Well, that might be only natural.

That had been High-Rank Holy Magic that even used a formula. 

For me, who did not understand High-Rank Holy Magic formulas, there was a clear limit to fully executing it with movements alone.

And the physical ability I was running on Holy Power right now was inferior to Yulia’s.

Since I condensed the Holy Power in a rush, the amount was likely insufficient too.

A bitter smile formed on its own.

‘It isn’t easy to become like you, Sword Radiance.’

Whoosh.

Watching the plants charge toward me, I sheathed the dagger again.

‘I don’t particularly like this, but......’

Tick, tick-tick.

Golden lines were carved.

They were on the vines and roots that had been in the trajectory I had drawn just before.

Hehehe!

The golden line that had been drawn all the way outside the arena was blocked by the defensive magic placed over the arena and bounced away.

SNIK— SNIK, SNIK! RUSTLE......

The plants in the dagger’s trajectory were sliced away like autumn leaves swept by the wind.

Those traces spread steadily like a wave, starting from the plants near me.

I raised my head and looked up at the top of the tree where Elysia stood.

‘...Should I be satisfied with this much for now?’

With a golden line drawn across Elysia’s chest up there as the end—

Thud.

I saw the band fall from her wrist.

“T-Team 1 Elysia, eliminated.”

WAAAAAAH!

Cheers roared from the spectator seats.