The man was very fast, seemingly because he stomped hard on the ground, which gave him a slight boost in speed.
"Woof woof!"
The Holy Beast rushed out first, but it seemed to lack combat power. After all, it couldn't use magic like Julius, and could only bite and do nothing else.
"Shall we use flying stones?"
No... Barsaka wants me to buy some time; simple magic definitely won't stop a man's attack.
The swamp...
That won't work either... The Holy Beast is also within the range of magic.
The fireball... well, it'll probably just blow both of them away like before.
So……
"Woof!"
To coincide with the Holy Beast's jump, I created a small explosion in front of the man to attract his attention.
"Kid! You're far too naive!"
The man suddenly lowered his body, and with a similar sliding tackle, he emerged from under the leaping Holy Beast. He then stood up again and swung his sword at me.
"Phew...that was close! That was close!!"
Fortunately, she knew very well that explosions would not have any effect on men, so she prepared to create distance in advance and jumped back as he swung his sword.
"Not bad, kid! You actually managed to dodge that sword strike. Compared to those rude guys, you do have some skill!"
Although he was praising me, I knew very well that the man was using this to attract my attention. Sure enough, after saying the last sentence, the long sword in his hand suddenly changed direction and slashed horizontally at me!
"He's a very cunning old fox!"
Although I am usually a naive and clueless person, this kind of trick is useless against me. After creating distance again, I can see the Holy Beast rushing towards the man's back within my field of vision.
"That's right! Lord Holy Beast! Bite him!"
"Waaah..."
However, such sneak attacks were also ineffective against the man. With a kick and a turn, he struck the Holy Beast's body, sending a white shadow flying to the side and crashing heavily into a tree.
Just then, the man suddenly leaped high into the air. For a moment, I couldn't understand why he would make such a move, since I hadn't even launched an attack yet, and the Holy Beast was already lying on the side.
"Oops!"
Seeing his left hand twitch slightly, my heart skipped a beat. Recalling the scene of the man dealing with Hela, I almost forgot that the man had more than just a longsword as a weapon.
"Go to hell, you brat! Don't be so ungrateful in your next life!"
After he finished speaking, he threw out three dagger-shaped shadows, which flew straight toward my chest.
"A giant fireball!"
Upon realizing this, I quickly gathered magic power in my hands and hurled a large fireball at the man while dodging to the side. Luckily, this was a move the man had just used, otherwise I might not have been able to notice it in time.
The man seemed very confident in his attack and didn't react in time. He was slammed down from mid-air by the fireball, while I narrowly dodged the dagger he threw.
"Ughhhhh... Damn brat! Just die already! Why did you have to put up such a futile resistance!"
Struck by the fireball, the man became covered in soot and looked at me with disbelief. He couldn't believe that he couldn't defeat me in three moves, so he became furious.
"Kid! Don't blame me for being ruthless! It's all over! Die!"
As soon as he finished speaking, I saw the man suddenly sheath his longsword, then step back with his right leg and bend his body slightly, as if he were about to unleash some kind of trump card.
Since that's the case, I can only gamble with my last sliver of hope, concentrating my magic power in my hands, intending to use "Eightfold Rashomon," which is the only magic I can think of that might be able to withstand a full-force attack from a Sword King.
"Boss! I'm here!"
Just as I was facing off against the man, Basaka's voice suddenly rang out behind me, and something flew over my head at the same time.
—It's a black bag!
Seeing the unidentified flying object suddenly enter the battlefield, the man instinctively wanted to attack it, but he withdrew his sword the moment he drew it and instead covered his face with both hands.
Suddenly, the black bag hit the man's face without warning, and something like ash sprayed out of it.
"Good heavens! They actually came up with a strategy to attack the eyes like that!"
I suddenly felt a bit of admiration for Barsaka; after all, it was quite remarkable that he could come up with such a surprise attack.
However... as the black bag slid to the ground, I noticed that the ash hadn't hurt his eyes at all. After all, he had covered his face with his hands, so his entire upper body looked like he had crawled out of the ash, and even his hair had turned gray.
—The surprise attack failed!
"Hey! Kid! That's outrageous! Using something like that to launch a sneak attack!"
Just like before, I became the ultimate culprit. It was clearly Basaka's decision, but... I could also be called an accomplice, as I did buy him some time.
"Woof woof!"
At this moment, the sacred beast got up from the ground and bit the man's shoulder.
"That's it! Lord Holy Beast!"
Since the surprise attack failed, I could only try to gather powerful magic again. Then, the Holy Beast pulled out the gap in the man's body, and I raised my hands above my head to begin gathering dark clouds.
"Heavenly Thunder!"
Seconds later, thunder roared, and lightning bolts leaped through the clouds. One of the bolts struck the man.
"Holy Beast! Get out of the way!"
Upon hearing my call, the Holy Beast immediately released its grip and jumped aside, while the man seemed to have not yet reacted. In other words, he did not notice the abnormal change in the sky at all. After all, he had just unleashed "Heavy Rain," so in the man's eyes, this was the final weather.
Most importantly, I can do magic without chanting, so he can't know when I will use what magic. He probably still can't imagine that I am a king-level mage who can use king-level magic!
"Boss! We've got this in the bag!"
"Yes! We've got it in the bag!"
Just when Barsaka and I thought the outcome was decided, something unexpected happened.
"O spirit bathed in the aurora, heed my call! Buried deep within the earth, blaze forth, shatter, descend before me, and burn away all my blessings—'Explosive Flame'!"
The man raised his hands above his head and chanted a spell. Just as the lightning was about to strike, a huge fireball appeared out of thin air above his head.
Boom!
The explosive flames and thunder collided violently, producing a deafening roar, and the resulting shockwave and gale-force winds sent me flying several meters away.
The Holy Beast's limbs gripped the ground tightly, so it wasn't too badly affected, but Basaka was in a terrible state, crashing hard into a tree and spitting out a mouthful of blood.
"Kid! It's over!"
The man, on the other hand, remained completely unaffected, and approached me with his long sword in hand, his cold gaze fixed on my neck.
"This is bad! This is bad! This is bad!"
At this distance, there's absolutely no way to avoid it!
Bang!
Just as I was feeling desperate, a shadow suddenly flashed past my ear and smashed the long sword out of the man's hand.
“Maggots! How dare... how dare they…”
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