Suu.
Swooosh—crack!
“…!”
“Ao-senshu cancels her spell attack, closes the distance in one burst, and shatters Shadow-senshu’s magic barrier!”
“Hey, that’s the same move the food-stall guy used.”
“For a slime, that’s insanely skillful.”
The technique Ao used was the very same Barrier Break I used to destroy Sue’s magic shield. It’s a move where you forcibly channel your own mana into the opponent’s barrier, flooding it until it collapses all at once.
That magician’s barrier had already been fractured by Ao’s saturation assault a moment ago, so she must’ve judged it would break easily.
And… apparently I’m not seen as an adventurer, but as “that food-stall guy.”
Crackle—bzzzt, bzzzt!
“!!”
“And now it’s Thunder Bind—an immobilization spell that deals damage while restraining the target! Is this the end for Shadow-senshu?!”
Ao’s Thunder Bind locked firmly onto the magician, leaving him no room to move.
Checkmate.
—or so I thought . At that very moment, the magician made a startling move.
A dark haze spread outward.
BOOM—rumble!
“Whoa! A cloud of black mist just burst out from Shadow-senshu! Ao-senshu immediately responds, unleashing a rapid volley of spells straight into the fog!”
Silence fell.
“Aaaand the mist clears—but Shadow-senshu is nowhere to be seen!”
“Damn it, he ran.”
“He must’ve figured the odds were against him.”
After releasing that black mist, I sensed the activation of some large-scale magic. Most likely, the magician used either a spell or a magical tool meant for tactical withdrawal.
Ao fired off a barrage of spells, determined not to let him escape—but it was already too late.
“With Shadow-senshu’s withdrawal from combat, the winner is Ao-senshu!”
“““Woooooah!”””
Well, Ao had effectively secured victory the moment the magician summoned the heir. But after a performance like that, there could be no objections. The win was unquestionably Ao’s.
Still, because the magician fled the battle, Ao seemed somewhat unsatisfied. She waved his tentacles at the cheering crowd, yet her expression carried a hint of frustration.
“Excuse me, I’m heading over to see the Margrave.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Please be careful.”
After informing the staff members at the food stall, I made my way toward the Margrave.
“Sir, I used detection magic, but there’s no trace of the mage anywhere nearby.”
“Hmm, he most likely used long-range teleportation. Well, probably with the aid of a magical tool. I’ll have the soldiers stay on alert, but capturing him will be impossible.”
“I agree. All we can do now is see how much testimony we can extract from the heir.”
“Well, that boy probably doesn’t know much. Let’s leave it to the royal investigation unit to determine how much his parents were involved.”
The Margrave had already anticipated the magician’s escape.
It was frustrating to let him slip away, but at least we had prevented the shadow organization from interfering with the martial arts tournament.
The damage had been kept to a minimum, too—so for now, I think that was good enough.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
Previous ⚜ Table of Contents ⚜ Next
Yume Neiji's Works 