Chapter 132: Pursuit and Being Pursued
◆ Jairo ◆
“What!? Did he escape!?”
Suddenly one of the Demons flew high into the sky.
Even though his other companion remained on the ground.
“I have a bad feeling!”
“I won’t let you!”
Mina tries to fly into the sky to chase the Demon who went up, but the remaining Demon attacks and obstructs her.
“I won’t let you chase him. You all will be stalled here!”
Saying so, the Demon attacks Mina.
“As if I’d let you!”
I enter between the Demon and Mina to block the attack.
“You guys, what are you plotting!?”
When Mina asks the Demon, the Demon grins.
“Hmph, it’s decided. Our goal is to eliminate the Dragon Emperor!”
“The Dragon Emperor?”
The Dragon Emperor these guys are talking about is probably Big Bro fighting in the finals, right?
But these guys defeat Big Bro?
“You guys who struggled against us? Isn’t that impossible?”
Right? Honestly, I can’t imagine a scene where he wins against Big Bro.
Well, we struggled against these guys too, though.
“The Dragon Emperor is strong. No matter how many of you gather, you won’t win. In the first place, do you know the Dragon Emperor‘s true identity?”
Mina is provoking him like crazy.
However, Mina behind me seems to still be trying to chase the Demon who escaped to the sky, but the Demon ignores me and attacks Mina behind me repeatedly to interfere.
Yet when I attack, he dodges with all his might.
It’s incredibly frustrating.
“Don’t worry. Meguri is heading to the town, so she’ll explain the situation to Rex and the others.”
“Seriously!? Since when?”
“When I found you fighting these guys. I decided to cover you, and Meguri would return to town to contact them. By now she’s probably informing the Mayor and others via the Adventurer’s Guild, and she’ll tell Rex and the others directly too.”
“I see, then the match is cancelled, huh.”
In the end, the match gets cancelled.
Did something bad to Big Bro and the others.
“So first let’s defeat this guy quickly, then catch up to the guy who escaped and defeat him! You don’t want to interrupt Rex and the others’ match, right!”
“Eh?”
“I took precautionary measures, but if we can avoid cancelling the tournament, that’s better, right?”
“A-Ah…”
This girl, she came to cover me thinking that far?
“You’re amazing.”
“!? W-Well, be grateful! Cleaning up your mess is hard work!”
“Yeah! I’m grateful! Then let’s defeat this guy with full power!”
“Yes!”
Alright! Let’s do this!
“Huh? Aren’t you panicking? Why?”
Heh, if Meguri went to report, no need to panic!
Rather, aren’t you the one panicking!
“Eat this!”
I activate Magic Enhancement with full power and charge head-on at the Demon.
I’ll settle this fastest and shortest!
“I said don’t charge head-on! Enchant Wind!”
While complaining, Mina sends support magic.
My body becomes lighter, and I can move my body more freely than ever before!
“D-Damn you!”
Perhaps the Demon resigned himself too, swinging his sword with a serious face.
But getting serious now is already too late!
“FLAME RUSH!”
My attack with increased speed pierces before receiving the Demon‘s counterattack.
My body moving more freely than ever with Mina’s magic has improved accuracy in continuous attacks, burning off the Demon‘s arm swung down for a counterattack.
“Gwaaaaaaaa!”
“Finish!”
The finishing blow pierces the Demon‘s heart.
“Guh!?”
Got him.
“Heh, wrong opponent.”
My magic sword doesn’t just thrust fast.
It also has the effect of damaging the enemy by burning them from the inside by burning the wound.
This guy’s heart is being burned by my magic sword right now.
According to Big Bro, treatment is impossible without high-level recovery magic or high-grade potions.
“D-Damn you…”
The Demon glares at us regretfully.
Too late, you’re finished.
But suddenly the Demon grins.
“B-But you were naive. With this, the Dragon Emperor is finished…”
“Hah, as if Big Bro would be beaten by the likes of you. You couldn’t even beat us.”
“I-Indeed, your strength was unexpected… but that’s if we fight head-on. We have that magic item!”
“‘Magic item?'”
At the Demon‘s confident demeanor, we tilt our heads.
Even if they have a dangerous magic item, I can’t imagine Big Bro losing to such a thing.
Besides, Meguri is heading to town, so Big Bro and the others should realize it.
“Kukuku… the name of the magic item he has is Mana Breaker. A magic item that absorbs surrounding magic power and causes a huge explosion.”
“Huge explosion!?”
Certainly, a huge explosion in the middle of town is bad, but, but Big Bro should be able to do something…
“Wait, what did you say just now!?”
It was at that moment. Mina, who was listening to the Demon‘s story, shouted with a pale face.
“Did you say absorbs surrounding magic power just now!?”
“H-Hey what’s wrong Mina? Why are you panicking?”
“Ho, you realized? That it absorbs the magic power of activated magic too.”
“What did you say!?”
Absorbs the magic power of activated magic? That means…
I return my gaze to Mina, and Mina also looks at me and nods.
“In other words, if the magic item that Demon has activates, interception magic and defense magic to protect everyone from the explosion will all be absorbed.”
“Wh-!? Crap! We gotta stop him quickly!”
“Fuhahaha! Too late! Why do you think I went out of my way to tell you this! Being spies, our combat ability is not high, but our flight speed is superior to other brethren by that amount! Even if you chase now, you won’t make it!”
Ignoring the dying Demon, we fly up into the sky.
Time is too precious to finish off this dying guy.
“Leave the small fry to you!”
Before flying out, I leave the rest to old man Bakin.
“Where are you going, Lord Jairo!?”
“To protect the town!”
◆
Having defeated the stalling Demon, we chase the Demon who headed to town.
“Helpful that Big Bro made me new equipment.”
Thanks to the new armor assisting my flight magic, I’m getting closer to the preceding Demon little by little.
But it’s still not enough.
At this rate, he’ll arrive at the town first.
“Damn! Stop right there!”
“Be careful not to get involved! Chase Lightning Lancers!”
To stall the Demon, Mina fires magic.
“Eat the fastest lightning spears!”
Reacting to Mina’s voice, several generated lightning spears fly out with tremendous momentum.
As expected, lightning magic is fast!
“Tsk!”
To dodge the swarm of lightning spears, the Demon‘s speed unavoidably drops.
Furthermore, Mina’s magic that should have been dodged drew an arc and attacked the Demon again.
“Kuh, tracking magic!?”
“Exactly! A swarm of lightning spears that paralyze and immobilize on touch, I wonder how long you can dodge!”
Alright, continuing to dodge that is impossible no matter how you think about it!
Then he has no choice but to intercept with magic.
If that happens, while he’s fumbling with the lightning spears, we’ll catch up!
“Fu.”
It was at that moment, the Demon bastard suddenly floated a fearless smile.
“As expected of the Dragon Emperor‘s subordinate, quite the magic. …But it doesn’t work on me.”
Saying so, the Demon opens the box he held in his hand.
“No way!?”
Crap, he had that!
“Devour magic power! Mana Breaker!”
Holding up the gem taken from the box, the lightning spears attacking the Demon vanished as if melting.
“Liar!?”
Her magic nullified, Mina raises a voice of surprise.
“You did well for humans. I shall praise you.”
The Demon bastard praises us condescendingly.
“I ain’t happy being praised by you!”
“Fu, don’t say that. To you who fought well, I shall give a reward.”
“Reward!? Treating us to a meal or something!? If a guy like you enters a shop, the shop people will be scared and call the guards!”
“Hahaha, not such a boring thing. The reward I give you is the right to watch the moment the Dragon Emperor dies from a special seat!”
The Demon‘s movement stops.
Before I knew it, the Demon had already arrived right above the venue.
“Crap!”
“Now, watch the moment the human world ends! It’s the end, Dragon Emperor!”
“STOOOOOOOP!”
Ignoring my restraint, the Demon threw the magic item towards the arena stage.
Damn, can’t make it in time from here.
“BIG BROOOO!”
The magic item gets closer and closer to the ground.
Damn, if that Demon‘s story is true, no matter how amazing Big Bro’s defense magic is, it can’t prevent the explosion!
Far from that, it will suck Big Bro’s magic and cause a huge explosion in the middle of town!
“Run, Meguri! Ryune!”
“Norb! Old men! Everyone in town! RUUUUUUUUN!”
Ah, I’m an idiot.
I should have had them call Big Bro immediately when I found them.
Because I ran alone with stupid obsession, everyone in town will…
At the hopelessly terrible result, I regret from the bottom of my heart.
KAKIIIIIIN!!
It was at that moment. Suddenly thinking I heard a somewhat nice sound, something flew from the ground at tremendous speed.
“Fuhahahahaha! Finally all Dragon Knights will disappear from this worl-BUBERA!?”
And it smashed into the face of the triumphant Demon.
“EH!?”
The Demon was blown high into the sky as is, and a huge explosion occurred far up in the sky.
I don’t understand what happened at all.
But I know who did it.
“…Big Bro, huh.”
Without understanding catching up, I mutter Big Bro’s name from the figure that came to mind.
“…Yeah, it’s Rex.”
Understanding the situation immediately in that situation and dealing with it, only Big Bro could do it…
Big Bro easily solved the Demon attack we struggled so much to defeat.
“As expected, Big Bro is amazing…”
Really, Big Bro is amazing.
Big Bro is different from the likes of me…
“Whaaaat are you saying! You defeated a Demon too!”
“Uoh!?”
Suddenly Mina hit my back with amazing force.
“The opponent is a Demon, you know? Just defeating even one of those is plenty amazing. Don’t you remember? That time when we first encountered a Demon.”
“…I remember. Clearly.”
Ah, I’ll never forget that day.
I thought I’d definitely die. I was scared enough to vomit.
But I could hang on because Big Bro was there then.
Thinking if I could endure until Big Bro came.
“Compared to that time, aren’t we vastly improved? Normally just two people can’t defeat a Demon, you know?”
Nn, well… maybe, so.
“So hold your head high! ‘We defeated a Demon, Big Bro!’ Like that! Besides, two Demons appearing at the same time is cheating! You’re not at fault!”
Mina slaps my back bang bang.
It feels gentler than when she lectures me calling me an idiot like usual.
Maybe she’s being considerate in her own way.
Geez, usually she’s naggy, but only at times like this she’s kind.
“Because you fought outside, I could send Meguri to town, and we could reduce the number of Demons. If that magic item was thrown in from the sky without knowing anything, there’s no mistake something much worse would have happened.”
“…”
“So, you fighting wasn’t a mistake.”
“…Yeah, understood. Report to Big Bro after the match!”
“Yes, do that. That’s much more like you than being depressed.”
That’s right. I’m getting stronger too. Still no match for Big Bro, but I should be able to catch up to Big Bro’s back someday!
Might be impossible alone… but I have these guys!
“Alright! Then since we’re here, let’s watch Big Bro and the others’ match.”
“Fufu, special seats. Watching from the sky, a luxury even the King has never done.”
“Right!”
We cheer for Big Bro and the others from above the sky.
Determined that the next time I come to this town, I will fight Big Bro down there.
“By the way.”
“Nn? What?”
“For a mage, you became ridiculously strong, didn’t you? When you hit my back earlier, I thought my bones would break. Isn’t it stronger to fight with bare hands instead of as a mage?”
“Shut up idiot! Watch quietly!”
“Guho!?”
Ouch! As I thought, this isn’t a mage’s strength!
But well, this is more like us.
Haa, the wind blowing over the town seems to comfort me.
◆
!?
In the midst of the battle with Norb, I noticed a sudden abnormality occurring in the sky.
The magic power around that thing appearing in the sky is disappearing.
Before realizing what that familiar phenomenon was, it flew towards us at high speed.
“Rex! A Demon appeared outside the town! Jairo and Mina are fighting!”
There, Meguri, out of breath, arrives.
Realizing her words and something flying from the sky were related to the Demon, I immediately took interception action.
From the disappearing surrounding magic power, sensing it was a weapon with the property of absorbing magic power, I immediately changed the sword grip 90 degrees and received the flying object with the flat of the sword.
And after absorbing the impact using my whole body, I swung through with all my might.
Absorbing magic power means I can’t rely on normal Body Enhancement Magic.
But for a heavy object of this level, I can deal with it sufficiently with technique.
Hun!
That thing, which I could repel easily enough to be anticlimactic, flew high into the sky, and exploded after hitting something.
DOOOOOOOOON!!
“W-What!?”
“Something exploded in the sky!?”
“Did Tyran do something!?”
Just in case, I use wind magic to blow away any fragments of the exploded something far away so they don’t rain down on the town.
Something like this.
“Umm, well, did something happen just now?”
Then, Norb, who I was fighting, asked apologetically.
Yes, something flew in so I hit it back. According to Meguri, it seems to be something a Demon released, though.
“Y-You immediately repelled something you didn’t know what it was?”
Yes, I didn’t understand it well so I just repelled it for now. Considering the possibility of it being an explosive, I hit it back after properly absorbing the impact completely, so there was no danger of it exploding the moment I received it.
“Isn’t that an outrageous technique?”
No no, anyone can do it if they get the hang of it.
Complete Impact Absorption Hitting Method is an essential technique against magic items of the type that react to impact, you see!
“I was casually asked to do the impossible. Moreover, in the middle of a match…”
For some reason, Norb is staring somewhere not here.
Umm, then shall we continue the match?
“Eh? Ah yes, let’s do that.”
Thus we resumed the final match.
Even so, what was the thing that flew in earlier?
