Chapter 84
Chapter 84
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: Leona (2)
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“You really don’t hold back, do you?”
Leona sneered like that.
“Challenging me, a dragon, as a human? You’re way too early for that!”
Gray snorted at Leona, who placed her hand on her waist again and cleared her throat with an ahem.
“You’re funny. You look like the weakest among dragons at first glance. Desk jockey, huh?”
“⋯⋯.”
“Seeing how you climbed all the way to Mage Tower Lord, you must be pretty smart, but you don’t seem to have any talent for combat. I could kill you in five seconds flat.”
At the Hero’s words, Leona sank completely.
It had struck right at her core.
Of course, she still muttered something under her breath.
“⋯⋯A Hero has the right to say that, but I’m still a dragon, aren’t I?”
The opponent wasn’t the Hero to begin with, but Carlyle anyway.
Gray didn’t bother refuting even that, merely tilting her head crookedly without adding more.
It was true. Even if you brought a renowned superhuman rather than an ordinary human, withstanding a single exchange against a dragon would be difficult.
The greatest achievement earning Gray the title of ‘humanity’s strongest’ alongside the Holy Sword was slaying Arta, the eldest black dragon among dragons.
Pure mana lifeforms. Their capacity to wield supernatural powers from birth was incomparable to humans.
Ordinary humans couldn’t win.
“-If they’re ordinary humans, that is.”
Carlyle scratched his head quietly as Gray grinned mischievously.
Seeing that gesture, half troubled and half awkward, the Holy Sword snorted.
[Why accept the challenge if you’re going to cower like that, all unmanly?]
‘Because I trust you.’
[⋯⋯What? Didn’t I say I wouldn’t use it anyway?]
‘Yes. But I still trust you.’
Carlyle continued matter-of-factly.
‘I trust the Hero. You’d never ask me to do something impossible.’
That held true even for the lady over there.
Carlyle Bellfast trusted the Hero.
[⋯⋯You’ll face off against a dragon on my one word?]
‘Yes.’
Carlyle grinned.
‘It’s been years together; how could I not trust at least that much?’
[⋯⋯.]
‘Ah, it hurts, hurts hurts hurts!’
⋯⋯A stinging jolt rose up.
No clue why she was lynching him before the fight.
Anyway.
The match conditions were simple. Since injuring each other would lead to all sorts of hassle, they’d agreed on a single strike.
“Hit me once—if you dent it even a little, you win!”
Leona gathered mana around her body and spoke in a voice brimming with confidence.
“Succeed, and I’ll grant anything. Fail, and admit you’re a fraud!”
⋯⋯Hmm.
‘If she says “anything,” there’s one person who’d exploit it viciously.’
Carlyle glanced back, and sure enough, there was the Hero already smirking with pure malice.
“⋯⋯.”
Seeing that stirred doubts about whether he should even win against Leona here, but anyway.
He couldn’t afford to lose.
“I swear to the Great Will—”
In the midst of those thoughts, Leona closed her eyes and began chanting.
Everyone started watching her with curiosity.
“⋯⋯What? First time seeing a chanting mage?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Ah, that was normal for mages.
Forgot because Vespa skipped chants casually and blasted spells left and right.
Seeing this really drove home how far from ordinary she was.
To the Great Will and whatnot—complicated, pedantic, boring.
Please!—simple, memorable.
‘⋯⋯No.’
But the defensive field Leona had erected right before his eyes looked plenty formidable.
Even a serious attack wouldn’t leave a scratch—that was the vibe.
Just a single translucent barrier, yet her command of spells and mana density clearly surpassed even Vespa’s current level.
‘As expected.’
Her confidence made sense with that density.
More than solid enough, since even a slight breach meant defeat.
The Hero watching from the side had raised an eyebrow in interest too.
She must have realized that a dragon—and one who’d risen to Mage Tower Lord at that—was no ordinary mage.
Now, to pierce it in one blow⋯⋯
[Projectile with a spiral. The tougher it is, the smaller and sharper the pierce.]
‘Yes?’
[Spin the attack. Use everything at your disposal.]
⋯⋯Projectile, spiral, rotation?
Got the theme. It was the attack the Hero often used when aiming to penetrate defenses.
‘I’ll give it a shot.’
Base it on the Hero’s mana. Mold a ‘bullet’ in the form of a sword strike near the Holy Sword.
Next, rotation.
The small mana bullet began spinning.
“Hmph. That gonna work? My barrier’s tough.”
First enhancement: Eye of Quilia.
Carlyle’s bracelet glowed, channeling mana received from Vespa to impart primary rotation to the bullet gathered at the sword tip.
The bullet’s spin speed doubled.
“You’re trying hard, real hard. Still just an egg against a rock.”
He appropriately applied his pre-learned mana-related skills.
The bullet’s spin speed quadrupled.
Then, the second enhancement.
‘Let’s see. It was definitely⋯⋯’
He couldn’t wield extreme eastern sorcery like Panhaima, but he’d picked up her knack for explosively concentrating mana in one spot.
Buried somewhere in memories from a previous loop.
-Clarity of Mind, Single-Point Focus. Gather a pure mind in one place, compatriot.
“Haaa—”
He aligned his breathing. White steam rimmed his teeth.
Not as masterful as Panhaima, but he gathered the mana flowing through his body to a single point and imparted it to the bullet.
The bullet spun sixteen times faster.
“⋯⋯Hmph, heh. Now it’s somewhat—”
Finally, he activated the Tear of the Star.
The very item that had brought Leona here.
Short-term only, but the necklace unleashed a near-infinite burst of mana, all focused on the mana bullet.
⋯⋯The mana bullet spun 256 times faster.
“⋯⋯.”
Leona fell silent.
Her face was turning deathly pale.
The Hero’s mana clump at the sword tip spun so ferociously it whipped up gusts strong enough to shove nearby objects.
Well, still not quite the Hero’s original.
But serviceable enough.
[⋯⋯Even a small hexagon.]
He heard the Holy Sword chuckle softly.
[If the benchmark ‘large hexagon’ is me.]
A catastrophe to anyone else.
“—Here goes?”
Carlyle nodded and spoke; Leona’s face had gone utterly ashen.
“⋯⋯H-Hey, wait. If you’re powering up like that, give me more time—!”
Before her words finished.
Leaving a sonic boom that shattered the sound barrier, Carlyle’s mana bullet launched from the sword tip.
The spiral tore straight through space.
-⋯⋯
-⋯⋯!!!!
It shattered Leona’s barrier like glass and slammed into her.
And before that attack reached Leona.
Between the stiffening Leona collapsing to the floor and the bullet, a figure intervened in an instant.
It stepped unhesitatingly into the mana bullet’s path toward Leona and took it head-on.
Gusts, explosion, and recoil shockwave swept every direction.
“⋯⋯Professor Siona?”
Carlyle blankly uttered the name of the one who’d intervened; Siona scratched her head and lowered her arm.
The arm, shifted to reveal dragon scales, was ragged from blocking Carlyle’s mana bullet.
“I saved you. Leona can’t fight worth a damn, so why’s she always so feisty?”
Siona sighed and scratched her head as she said that.
Between her slightly parted sleepy eyes gleamed the slit pupils unique to reptiles.
And as those eyes flashed, her tattered arm regenerated to perfect condition in an instant.
“⋯⋯.”
Whoa.
That was a trick even the Hero couldn’t pull.
‘That wasn’t mana just now, right?’
[⋯⋯Pure physical prowess. She consciously accelerated her metabolism. Only a mana lifeform like a dragon could manage that.]
Controlling even basic metabolism and activity with mana. A feat befitting a higher mana lifeform.
As those thoughts surfaced, Siona bowed her head to Carlyle.
“Apologizing on behalf of the family for the troublemaker. My sister barges into her workplace without a word—a real tomboy.”
“⋯⋯Wait. Family? Sister?”
“This one’s my little sister. For now.”
“⋯⋯.”
⋯⋯No idea why ‘for now’ was tacked on.
Siona’s expression clearly wove countless complex emotions.
Enough to make even Carlyle hesitate on a retort.
And as he wavered.
“Well, for now⋯⋯”
Back to her usual sleepy eyes, Siona scratched her cheek hesitantly.
She clearly didn’t want to say it, but couldn’t avoid pointing it out.
“⋯⋯Better clean up ‘that’ first.”
“⋯⋯Huh?”
Leona blankly echoed back; Siona pointed to the floor where Leona sat slumped.
“⋯⋯That. Right now. Why pick fights when you’re such a scaredy-cat?”
“⋯⋯.”
Leona tilted her head as if wondering what that meant and looked down.
And upon spotting what was there, her body froze solid.
⋯⋯Liquid trickled from beneath her dress.
Unmistakably from Leona’s body.
“⋯⋯.”
“⋯⋯.”
Everyone who realized what it was fell silent.
Even Siona, who’d pointed it out, looked embarrassed as she scratched her cheek and gazed skyward.
And Leona.
She stayed frozen, statue-still.
Lost on what expression to make amid peaking shame.
After a long freeze, Leona began trembling.
“U, uu⋯⋯”
⋯⋯Tears welled thickly in her eyes.
“Waaaaaah⋯⋯”
Teardrops like chick poop rolled down her face.
“⋯⋯.”
“⋯⋯.”
Amid the pitiful sobs of a full-grown dragon echoing out, everyone kept silent.
[⋯⋯Carlyle Bellfast, made a female dragon pee herself.]
“⋯⋯.”
[Also, made her cry within a single day of meeting⋯⋯]
Don’t phrase it like some grand achievement.
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