Jeskan
I became an adventurer solely by chance.
Call it a coincidence if you like.
It just so happened that the fastest way for a no-name brat to earn money was working as an adventurer—that’s the only reason.
I was born in the middle of nowhere.
You couldn’t even call it a village. It was just a couple of run-down shacks bunched up in the same shabby place.
There were no walls to keep out monsters, just an almost useless fence made of some skinny twigs.
If the place was ever attacked by monsters or bandits, we’d all die.
But for some reason, no one ever tried to leave. Everyone assumed it’d somehow be fine, simply because it always had been.
As if that could possibly be true.
Since I seemed to be the only one who realized that, I left home at a young age and became an adventurer.
Sure, it was tough getting by at first.
I mean, I was just a kid.
An adventurer’s main job is culling monsters, but kids can’t manage that kind of thing.
When a monster kills humans, its level goes way up, and sometimes it’ll even evolve.
That’s why there are rules in place to keep adventurers from dying.
The role of the adventurers’ guild is to distribute appropriate jobs so that kids and newbies don’t take on anything they can’t handle.
Meaning while anyone can be an adventurer, not just anyone can earn money doing it.
The highest-paying jobs are monster hunts, but kids obviously aren’t allowed to do those, so I only got odd jobs and errands at first.
I ran around all day long, barely earning enough money to pay for food and lodging for the night.
And so it went for some time.
It’s not unusual for street urchins to become adventurers like I did.
In most cases, those kids can’t keep up that lifestyle for long and eventually resort to petty crimes like pickpocketing instead.
Sounds a bit stupid, but with one good pull, a skilled pickpocket could get the same amount of money it’d take a whole day’s worth of honest work to earn.
It’s no wonder so many kids end up choosing that path when they see how much less grueling it is.
Even if not all of them might make it to the next year.
Sure, pickpocketing might be an easy way to make money, but it’s at the cost of ruining the rest of your life.
Those kids made fun of me for sticking to honest hard work, but to me they were the stupid ones.
It’s not like I avoided pickpocketing because it’s bad, really. It just wasn’t worth it.
You might get money in the short term, but odds are you’d end up in prison in the long run.
Lots of them kept doing it anyway, with the groundless confidence that they’d never be caught, but that obviously wasn’t true.
Just like the folks in my hometown, they assumed they were special, and I have no idea why.
In the end, my hometown got destroyed by bandits, and every last one of the kids who were pickpockets got caught.
I never thought of myself as special. I just made a point of avoiding danger.
That’s the only difference between them and me.
Who’d have thought I would go on to be successful as an adventurer and end up in the hero’s party?
If you told me that when I was a kid, I never would’ve believed it.
Even now, no one’s as surprised as I am.
I became an adventurer by chance, but as it turns out, I guess I had a knack for it.
People call me an expert who can use all kinds of weapons, but when I think about how that happened, I can’t help laughing.
The only reason I’m good with a bunch of different weapons is because I didn’t have any of my own.
How would having no weapons lead to knowing how to use so many of them? That’s what most people ask when I tell them that. All it really means is that I used whatever I could get: hand-me-down weapons from older adventurers, broken ones that belonged in the scrap heap, stuff like that.
I didn’t have any money, after all.
Beggars can’t be choosers, so I just used anything and everything in reach.
Since they weren’t bought in a store or anything, nothing I laid my hands on lasted long, either, so I used whatever I could find for all it was worth.
Eventually, my earnings started to stabilize, and by the time I could afford to buy real weapons, I was experienced with all kinds of them.
If the young adventurers who look up to me ever found out the boring truth, they’d probably be heartbroken.
I’ve heard there’s a fad among the rookies to imitate me by using multiple weapons.
I dunno if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, though.
The advantages and disadvantages of using multiple weapons are obvious.
On the one hand, you can react to more situations.
Different kinds of attacks work on different monsters.
Cutting, impact, piercing, shock: Each one is more effective against certain foes and less effective against others.
If you can keep track of that and use the weapon best suited for your target, battles get a whole lot easier.
So what’s the downside? Your skills grow more slowly, you have to lug around a whole slew of bulky weapons, and it’s a pain keeping them all in good shape.
Obviously, the most effective way to raise a skill level is to pick a single kind of weapon and keep using it. If you use a bunch of different kinds, that just means more skills you have to level up, and you’ll be dividing your experience among them all.
If I had to have a sword fight with an adventurer who only uses swords, I’d probably be the one to lose.
Then there’s the bulkiness.
If you wanna switch weapons depending on the situation, that means you’ve got no choice but to carry a ton of them around at any given time.
That’s fine if you got a bag with Space Storage on it or something, but Space Magic items are really expensive.
There’s not much supply and a ton of demand, so they sell as soon as they hit the market, even when they’re priced super high.
Then the prices get even higher, so it’s a vicious cycle.
But I happen to have one that Hawkin got for a steal, so I can hit the battlefield without worrying about lugging around a ton of clunky weapons.
Until then, I put all that heavy stuff on my back…
I really owe Hawkin for that.
But even with that problem solved, I still have to maintain all these weapons constantly, and that isn’t cheap.
Weapons are tools that protect your life. If you neglect ’em and they break in battle, you could be in serious danger, so it’s important to keep them in tip-top shape at all times.
I had to use tons of broken secondhand weapons when I was starting out, so I know exactly how dangerous it can be, let me tell you.
Those experiences made me who I am now, but you’re better off using a proper weapon in the first place.
Wielding several proper weapons costs serious cash.
Buying them and maintaining them, too.
A weapon’s price is relative to its effectiveness.
When you’re an adventurer at my level, you gotta use some decent-quality stuff.
If I use a weapon that can’t hold up to my stats, I’ll have to replace it after every swing.
Stronger adventurers reap higher profits, but they have to spend more on equipment, too.
And on top of that, I gotta buy several different kinds of those pricey weapons.
It can’t just be expensive for no reason, either. I need an artisan I trust to craft ’em and make sure that’s the person who does maintenance on ’em, too.
Usually Hawkin takes care of that kind of thing.
When I was investigating a human-trafficking organization on a certain country’s request, I just happened to spot Hawkin for sale and bought him, but that’s frankly gotta be the best decision I ever made in my life.
Without Hawkin, I’d be bankrupt by now…
The reason I joined the hero’s party is because I sensed that I was starting to reach the limits of my solo career. That’s the truth.
But to the rest of the world, it seems like I reached the limits of my ability to fight solo and finally went looking for a group who could keep up with me.
There are a handful of adventurers who work solo, but most of them don’t get far.
Since this occupation means constantly dancing with death, it’s simply too risky to strike out on your own.
Unlike a party, where the other members can help out if one of them makes a mistake, the smallest misstep can mean death for a solo adventurer, and a foe that would be easy to defeat with teamwork is far more difficult to challenge alone.
All good reasons why most people team up with other adventurers of similar strength to form parties.
But I’ve always worked solo.
It’s not that I was particularly set on working alone or anything.
It’s just, when I started out, no one wanted to team up with a broke little kid.
So I kept working solo, and next thing I knew, I had reached A rank, and there were no other strong adventurers around me.
Just like the reason I became an adventurer, I stayed solo because of chance and nothing more.
But that was for the best.
With my strength, I can tackle most monsters alone.
I just have to avoid fighting any monsters I can’t handle.
The true limit of what I could accomplish in my solo career wasn’t decided by any lack of strength.
If anything, it’s because of a lack of money…
Adventurers earn money by defeating monsters, with the amount depending on the monster’s strength.
But powerful monsters worth a lot of money don’t appear all that often.
If you go to dangerous areas where ordinary people never set foot, you can find dangerous monsters of A rank and above, but few adventurers ever return from those places.
If a solo adventurer like me went somewhere like that, you can bet I wouldn’t come back in one piece.
Sure, I could maybe survive if I avoided being spotted by any monsters, but then I wouldn’t earn any money.
But it’s not good to overhunt the weaker monsters, either.
It’s important to keep their numbers low, but if you hunt them too much, you can wreck the fragile balance of the ecosystem and cause unintended consequences.
Best to keep the culling to a reasonable level.
With my strength, I don’t have to worry about not having enough to eat, but that strength also requires high-quality weapons that can hold up to heavy use. Multiple weapons, no less.
I might not be in danger of starving, but it costs a lot of money to maintain a proper stock of weapons.
It’s not easy to find requests that keep enough money rolling in.
The highest-paying requests involve defeating powerful monsters or working for a government.
A rank or not, as a solo adventurer, I wasn’t rolling in either kind of request.
Since there weren’t enough requests appropriate for my strength, I started falling into the red, which was why I felt I’d reached the limit of my solo career.
A pretty embarrassing limit, I gotta say.
Again, sorry for ruining the dreams of you young adventurers who looked up to me…
In any case, investigating that human-trafficking organization at the behest of some government or other and joining the anti–human trafficking force was exactly what I needed.
Governmental requests pay accordingly well, and the force was funded by many nations.
On top of that, the force consisted of elites from all over the world.
If everything went well, I might get invited to work for one of those countries.
With that in mind, I joined the force with Hawkin in tow.
Hawkin was purely worried about the young hero, but my reasons were much more pragmatic.
And when the force was disbanded, I ended up joining the hero’s party.
…That was a surprise to me, too.
I only spoke to Julius at the wrap-up banquet on a whim, a casual urge to give some life advice to the young boy who already carried so much responsibility.
Through our activities on the force, I got a good idea of young Julius’s nature.
To be honest, he seemed naive to me.
I’ve experienced a lot as an adventurer, both good and bad, so it was almost embarrassing to watch someone so earnest and simple…and concerning, too.
It’s not a bad thing to be honest.
We need people with a strong sense of justice.
But the truth is that the world’s problems can’t be fixed with sentiments alone.
Real adults have to be able to take the bad with the good in equal measure.
Those who are overly focused on chasing the good in this world can get crushed when they’re confronted with the dark and dirty.
It’s one thing if they can manage to pretend they didn’t see anything, but someone whose sense of justice is too strong might get heartbroken right then and there.
I suspect part of the reason Julius was in the anti–human trafficking organization force was for him to get exposed to the darkness early on, so that wouldn’t happen.
That night, I figured I’d give him a little advice while also feeling out whether he really understood that.
And what do you think he said?
“I learned in my time with the force how easily people can turn to the path of evil, too. But that’s exactly what my power is for.
“I am the hero, a symbol of hope for the people. An emblem of justice. And the enemy of evil. I’ll become the hope of humanity and show them that I’ll never let evil win.
“I am here. I am the hero. That’s what I want to let everyone know. As long as I do that, I’m sure the future will be full of hope.”
He clearly understood the dark and the light, but instead of turning a blind eye or being heartbroken, he declared that he would change the very darkness into light.
So this is what a hero’s supposed to be, I thought.
I understood then why he was the only person fit to be called the hero, even if he was just a kid.
And next thing I knew, I was offering my services to him.
Even now, I have no idea why I did that.
Or why Julius accepted without hesitation.
One way or another, that’s how I ended up as a member of the hero’s party.
You never know where life’s gonna take you.
But I don’t regret it for a second.
For one thing, a member of the hero’s party doesn’t have to worry about money.
I’ve been able to fight to my best ability without fear of going broke, although it’s mostly because Hawkin runs around taking care of everything.
And being in the hero’s party means a lot of fame, too.
What more could a guy want?
For a kid who started out practically as an orphan, I think I’ve gone further as an adventurer than I ever could’ve imagined.
I’m perfectly content.
Seems like I don’t have a whole lot of ambition, I guess.
I didn’t even become an A-rank adventurer because I wanted to get stronger or anything.
I was just trying to make my life a little better, struggling to get out of poverty, and next thing you know, that’s where I ended up.
As a member of the hero’s party, I’ve got more wealth and fame than I ever needed, so I’m not looking to get anything more than that.
People say I’m not greedy, but I don’t think that’s true.
I’ve got desires just like anyone else.
I wanna eat good food to my heart’s content and spend my nights with a good woman.
Having money makes me happy, and it feels good to have people fawn over me because of my fame.
But if you get too greedy or ambitious, that can lead to your own doom, so I don’t want anything more than what I’ve got.
Julius’s hyper-noble dedication to justice seems a little heavy to me, but I do think you have to live your life by a code.
Rules are made for a reason, and breaking them usually isn’t worth it.
I’m not noble and pure of heart—I just never break rules if it’s not worth the risk.
In that sense, I’m probably the only member of the hero’s party who isn’t a good and virtuous person.
Actually, no, I guess there’s Hyrince, too…
But I guess Julius probably needs someone who sees things from a different point of view.
Maybe he even keeps Hyrince close at hand because he realizes that.
Since I’m the oldest and all, I sometimes end up being like the teacher who guides the other members of the hero’s party.
At first, I didn’t think that suited me, but I’ve gotten used to it over the years.
So now I sorta feel like their guardian.
But that’s not a bad feeling.
…Maybe I’m getting soft as I grow older.
Back in the day, I probably would’ve died rather than watch over a bunch of brats.
The main reason I always worked solo is because there wasn’t anyone else around who was about the same level or strength as me, but it’s also because dealing with other people is a pain.
Where I come from, gossip and envy were all fairly common.
People sometimes suspected me of picking pockets, although it was always a false charge.
With that unpleasant history, I decided not to team up with anyone unless I knew I could really trust them.
And when it comes to Julius and the rest of the hero’s party, they’re so damn nice that there was never any doubt.
It’s like these guys have never even heard of jealousy or envy.
In that sense, I had nothing to worry about, but I wasn’t used to being in the position of relying on others or even guiding them.
But now I’ve gone so soft that I’ve even considering teaching young adventurers once I retire.
I’m getting old, all right.
Technically I’m still on the younger side, but as adventurers go, I’m undoubtedly a veteran by now.
It’s the nature of the job that you can’t do it for all that long.
The gradual weakening and slowing down that comes with age can make the difference between life and death in battle.
And it gets harder to balance your strength and earnings, just like what happened in my case.
If you get married and have kids, you obviously have to take care of them, too.
Once an adventurer reaches a certain age or level of strength, they usually start to look for a more stable line of work.
Many people even wash their hands of this dangerous job long before they reach that point.
The time has come for me to start thinking about what I’m gonna do when I quit being an adventurer, too.
Julius and the others are grown adults by now.
They’re strong enough that they’ll do just fine without me.
Once this all-important battle with the demons is over, I’ll begin looking for a successor and figure out what I’m gonna do with myself from now on.
I haven’t had much of a chance to form a deep connection with anyone over the years, so maybe I should look for a good woman, too.
But I guess I can take time to think about all that after I survive this fight.
We’ve been deployed to Fort Kusorion.
It’s the most important of all the major forts, making it a fitting place to be personally defended by Julius the hero, humanity’s trump card.
The enemy knows this, too, which is why they’re attacking so aggressively.
Our commanding officer shouts orders, and the soldiers hurry into action.
But even their resolute attempts at defense are being pushed back in the face of the demons’ almost self-destructive recklessness.
“Down you go!”
I kick a ladder that’s been propped against the wall of the fort.
The demon that was climbing it takes a tumble, too, but another ladder almost instantly appears just a few paces over.
By the time I knock that one over as well, the first one is already propped back up again.
There’s no end to it.
Nearby, another soldier deals with a similar situation, but the enemy proves too strong for him to push the ladder down; a fight breaks out as the first demon climbs onto the wall.
“Hiyah!”
Julius cuts down the demon with one strike.
“Healing, now!”
Little Miss Yaana uses Healing Magic to help the wounded recover.
“Get back!”
Hyrince raises his shield at the outer edge of the wall to repel an enemy spell that comes flying toward us from the distance.
“Here’s a little somethin’!”
Behind Hyrince’s shield, Hawkin tosses something down at the soldiers below the wall.
Judging by the resulting screams, it must’ve been some wildly dangerous item.
We’re holding down our section of the wall well enough, but there are just too many enemies.
Fort Kusorion is huge. With attacks coming from all sides, there’s no way we can cover everywhere at once on our own.
“Eek?!”
“Careful.”
The wall trembles, and Miss Yaana stumbles a little.
Julius quickly catches her and finds himself propping her up for a moment.
At a glance, it looks like they’re embracing, and they both certainly seem flustered.
But this is the hero’s party.
They’re not stupid enough to do something like that in the middle of a battle.
The two of them quickly separate and scan for the source of the tremor.
“…That’s not good,” Julius murmurs gravely.
Immediately, there’s another tremor at our feet.
It’s coming from a siege engine shaped like a massive pillar being smashed into the main gate.
“Dammit! What are the guards down there doing?!”
Hyrince curses, but I’m sure the soldiers aren’t slacking off, either.
They’re doing their best to stop the enemy from ramming the gate, but the siege engine has too much momentum to be stopped completely.
The demons draw back to drive the siege engine home again.
Defenders shoot magic at them to try to stop it, but even a direct hit doesn’t slow them down.
Even as they’re scorched by flames, electrocuted by lightning, and lose limbs to Earth Magic, the demons crash into the door once more.
“They broke through…”
I barely even notice that the words are coming out of my mouth.
The demons flood in through the shattered gate.
Of course, Fort Kusorion won’t fall just because a single door was broken down.
There are more layers of defense inside, and the attackers might even expose themselves to a pincer attack if they aren’t careful.
So there’s no need to panic just yet, but the fact that the famously impregnable Fort Kusorion has been breached at all is a considerable shock to our allies—which isn’t good when they were already intimidated by the demons’ viciously aggressive attacks.
At this rate, our side’s morale could take a serious blow.
“Julius, what’s our move?”
“…Let’s go.”
Julius hesitates for a moment, then starts running toward the front gate.
“We’re going to take care of things down there! Don’t worry! Just hold steady up here for now!”
With a brief call of encouragement to the soldiers, I follow on Julius’s heels.
If the soldiers up here started flagging because we left and that gave the enemy another opportunity to break through, our efforts would be completely wasted.
We need them to keep digging in their heels even after we leave.
The hero’s party rushes toward the gate, Julius leading the way.
When we reach the wall closest to it, Julius takes a running jump right into the fray.
“Haaaah!”
With momentum and gravity on his side, he brings his sword down on a group of enemies who are clumped up.
A boom echoes off the walls as Julius lands on the remains of an enemy soldier.
He’s annihilated the whole swathe of demons in a single attack.
Just like that, the enemies who made it inside the gate have all been wiped out.
Julius isn’t satisfied with that, though, and runs out through the broken gate.
“We’re going, too! Hang on!”
Hyrince scoops up Miss Yaana and jumps down after Julius.
I pick up Hawkin and follow in the same way.
Of course, it did occur to me to just leave Hawkin there. But after he showed me last night how determined he was, I couldn’t betray his trust.
I use Dimensional Maneuvering as I land to make sure it isn’t too rough on Hawkin.
Julius is already locked in battle with the enemy’s frontline troops—or rather, he’s already cutting right through them.
With every swing of Julius’s sword, another demon goes down.
Their stats are higher than ordinary humans’, but as the hero, Julius is even stronger.
I’m sure only a handful of the strongest demons could even hold their own in a fight against Julius.
…But I guess now isn’t the time to stand around being impressed.
“Don’t run off on your own!”
Hyrince catches up to Julius and raises his shield.
I come over to stand at Julius’s other side. “Let’s push them back right here and now.”
Charging into battle like this, both armies are bound to notice.
Our allies’ morale will improve when they see how dependable the hero is, while the enemy will falter in the face of the hero’s fearsome strength.
It’s better to set Julius loose on solid ground where he can fight to the fullest than have him defend a tiny section of the wall.
Julius seems to be in agreement with my plan, as he keeps pressing onward.
He slashes his way forward through the enemy as easily as if he’s cutting through an empty field.
I finish off any enemies Julius missed, while Hyrince protects Miss Yaana and Hawkin as we advance, the two of them supporting with long-distance attacks.
Our teamwork is in perfect sync.
We’ve never fought in such a huge battle before, but the cooperation we’ve polished fighting monsters and bandits is working perfectly here.
The enemy had a lot of momentum before, but now they’re definitely quaking in their boots.
“Out of the way!” Julius shouts. “We have no quarrel with any who turns back now!”
But none of the demons get ready to run away.
Why would they?
“Uh, Julius. I don’t think they’re gonna understand human language, yeah?”
Hyrince’s calm observation is right.
Demons speak their own language, after all…
Julius turns a little red with embarrassment.
An awkward silence ensues, even though we’re smack-dab in the middle of a battlefield.
“But it did work as a threat,” Yaana suggests encouragingly.
“Yeah, and your crazy strength is scarin’ ’em for sure.”
Hawkin is right, too: Even if they didn’t understand what Julius said, his power certainly requires no translation to be understood.
“It’d be great if they would take that as a cue to retreat…”
Julius makes a hopeful comment, but I’m sure he knows as well as the rest of us that’s not going to happen.
Even now, there’s a commotion spreading from the back of the enemies’ ranks.
“Julius, something’s coming.”
I’m sure he realizes that, but I warn him anyway.
The demons open up a path.
And an enemy on horseback appears.
“Hero! Prepare yourself!”
The mounted warrior shouts in human language, albeit a little falteringly, and slashes down with his sword.
Julius parries the blow head-on, but despite his attack failing, the fighter on horseback simply pulls his horse aside and gallops briefly away.
…This guy’s strong.
The fact that he wasn’t defeated in that exchange with Julius is more than enough proof.
Julius was able to defend himself but couldn’t counterattack.
Even if it was a sudden strike from a fighter on horseback, Julius is the hero, so the fact that he couldn’t turn the tables instantly means that the enemy must be powerful.
This has got to be one of the demon elites.
“?! Hyrince! Above us!”
Sensing something strange, I call out a warning to Hyrince.
Hyrince moves instantly, protecting Yaana with his shield from something raining down on her from above.
“Urgh!” he groans.
There’s the dull thud of a weapon crashing against the shield, but before the echoing dies down, the culprit has already escaped.
The damn thing’s fast.
I put away the ax I was holding and ready my bow instead.
The enemy, a giant birdlike monster, is flying through the air.
And riding on its back appears to be a man in the prime of his life.
This newcomer is bad news.
My Danger Perception gives me a shrill warning: That man is strong.
The warrior on horseback was already a formidable foe, but this guy is even worse.
“I am Bloe, Seventh Commander of the demon army. Let us do battle, Hero!”
The demon called Bloe introduces himself in human language and readies his sword.
“I am Julius the hero. I accept your challenge.”
Julius draws his blade as well.
“Hmph.”
On the other hand, the man on the flying mount looks at Bloe with something resembling exasperation.
“I suppose I shall introduce myself, too. I am Agner, First Commander of the demon army. Prepare to perish.”
In contrast to that Bloe guy’s stammering human language, this one speaks quite clearly.
I knew he had to be an elite of some kind, but to think they are both commanders…
They must have been aiming for the hero’s party, or specifically Julius the hero himself.
If they can defeat the hero, it will be a huge blow to the human race.
That must be their aim.
But the reverse is true, too.
If we can defeat two commanders in one battle, I’m sure it’ll have a serious effect on the demons.
Guess that means it’s time for a showdown.
“Julius! You take that one!”
“Right!”
I’m sure Julius can handle a commander on his own.
The problem is the other one.
“Hyrince! Protect Miss Yaana and Hawkin!”
“You know I will.”
“Missy, Hawkin, you’re on support duty.”
“Of course.”
“You got it!”
It’ll be four against one, but that might be our only chance.
Agner starts weaving magic.
I figured as much. The air is the perfect position to launch a long-distance attack.
Our only options are to either counter with long-distance attacks of our own or figure out a way to bring him down.
Whereas he can attack us however he wants.
On top of that, he can dodge in any direction, including up or down.
As long as he’s in midair, we’re at a disadvantage.
We’ve got to take him out before he can finish his spell!
I nock an arrow to my bow and loose it at once, but at that same moment, Agner finishes his spell and casts it.
The arrow and spell crash into each other, and of course the magic wins out.
I take a quick step back to avoid the spell—a black spear that pierces the earth.
It must be the Dark Magic spell Dark Spear.
What a troublesome opponent.
Dark spells are the opposite of light-based spells and are seriously dangerous.
They’re stronger than other kinds of magic on a comparable level, and since they’re made out of something as abstract as darkness, they’re difficult to dodge.
It’s also impossible to cut them apart completely with any ordinary sword.
The only option is to block them with a shield, and even then it won’t work if the shield isn’t powerful enough.
Hyrince’s shield should be able to handle it, but my only choice is to dodge.
On top of that, he constructs spells incredibly fast.
It takes him no longer to cast than it does for me to ready and loose an arrow—except his attack is inevitably stronger.
On top of that, he’s got the better position, since he’s in midair.
This really isn’t good.
…I guess I might have to get a little reckless.
“Cover me, please, missy.”
I give a nod to Little Miss Yaana, then shoot another arrow.
Agner fires another spell, too, but this time instead of crashing into my arrow, it flies right toward me.
So fast!
But since I know it’s coming, it’s not so fast that I can’t dodge.
He must’ve timed it to match when I shot my arrow, but the arrow was actually a feint—it flies off in some random direction.
If I had lined it up properly, the magic might’ve landed a direct hit, but I was just pretending to aim at him as I started my next move.
I put all my strength into my legs, jump over the spell flying toward me, and then activate Dimensional Maneuvering.
It’s difficult to control, but as long as you maintain your focus, for a brief moment you can run in the air as if you’re on the ground.
Using the skill to make footholds beneath me, I sprint straight toward Agner.
What?!
His spell construction is even faster than I realized!
Dimensional Maneuvering is too difficult to use for making precise movements.
It’s easy to dodge a spell if you know it’s coming and start moving in advance, but otherwise it can be nigh impossible.
He’s got me!
Bastard! That must not have been his top speed before!
Was he testing me or just getting warmed up?
Either way, he wasn’t fighting at his full strength before.
I’m screwed!
The burst of Dark Magic flies toward me but crashes into a beam of light that comes flying from behind me: Miss Yaana’s Light Magic!
I’m saved!
Dark Magic and Light Magic are opposites.
Spells of the same level from either are evenly matched, and neither has physical substance, so they simply cancel each other out on contact.
Moreover, Miss Yaana has studied the Ronandt method of magic enhancement, so her spell is more powerful than it normally would be.
Yaana’s magic will come out on top.
But even as relief floods me, it’s replaced by a sharp pain in my stomach.
I don’t have to look down to know what happened: His spell just ran me through.
What a powerful bastard.
His magic actually beat Miss Yaana’s.
Luckily, it seems like her spell slowed it down considerably; judging by the level of pain, it’s not too grave an injury.
Bah, it’s just a hole in my stomach the size of a pinkie finger.
Not enough to slow me down!
Pushing down the pain, I keep using the Dimensional Maneuvering skill and pumping my legs to quickly shorten the distance between myself and Agner.
Since I’m too close for him to fend me off with magic now, he pulls back the reins of his bird monster to fly away from me.
“You’re not getting away!”
I’m not on top of him yet, but I still swing the weapon in my hand.
The sickle and chain!
It goes flying, and the sickle cuts through the giant bird’s wing.
The creature lets out a shriek of pain and thrashes around.
I yank on the chain as I keep closing in.
Agner pulls out his sword, but even he can’t get into a good position while on the back of a thrashing beast.
In a matter of seconds, Agner and I clash in midair.
I yank hard on the sickle, taking off the bird’s whole wing in the process.
As retribution, Agner’s sword bites deep into my shoulder.
Seems like he was aiming for my neck, but the bird’s wild movements made him miss.
Luck was on my side.
But this is still a serious wound.
Agner and the bird both go crashing to the ground.
Unable to control my Dimensional Maneuvering, I fall down not far behind.
“Uh-oh!”
Right before I crash into the ground, Hyrince catches me in midair.
Immediately, Miss Yaana begins casting Healing Magic on me.
“If I gotta catch someone like this, I’d rather it be a cute girl than an older dude…”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Hyrince jokes, but I pull myself out of his arms and stand.
The battle’s not over yet.
He lost his flying mount, but Agner still landed on the ground unharmed.
It was worth taking a risk to bring him down out of the sky, but the real fight’s just getting started.
“Focus. He’s strong, all right.”
At that, Hyrince and the others shift into battle mode.
Facing off against us, Agner calmly readies himself.
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