Chapter 315: The Tin Knight and the Meaning of the Sacred Treasures (7)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 315: The Tin Knight and the Meaning of the Sacred Treasures (7)
Long ago, when Dorothea first accepted the request from the kingdom.
After hearing the explanation of the eight sacred treasures, Dorothea had thought:
‘What incredibly vague descriptions.’
And for good reason.
The ‘Key of Opium’ — Unlocks any lock in the world.
The Chalice of Tuberose — Grants true foresight to whoever drinks from it.
The Gloves of Haider — Allows for the free storage of items.
The Belt of Amaryllis — Enhances the wearer’s physical abilities.
The Shoes of Borealis — Allows the wearer to move to any desired location by taking a step.
The Pouch of Lilium — Endlessly pours out grains.
The Bracelet of Dicondra — Allows wearers to share a mysterious effect.
While the descriptions for these seven were vague enough, they were practically detailed compared to the explanation for the final treasure.
The Ring of Dracaena — Brings forth destruction.
There was not a single explanation of how to use it, what its power was, or what phenomena it caused.
This was why Dorothea had to ponder its use for a long time even after receiving it from the cinder-covered girl.
Of course, Dorothea was no Tin Knight; she wouldn't recklessly use a magic tool she'd never tried before in actual combat.
She had conducted preliminary tests on her way to the capital and had confirmed that the ring’s effect was to ‘fire a powerful magic bullet proportional to the mana invested.’
However.
‘…Wh-what is this power? It wasn't this strong when I tested it before!’
A small, nearby mountain. The sight of its peak, neatly carved out in a U-shape, was reflected in Dorothea’s trembling eyes.
It was a mark as if a giant had taken a bite out of the mountaintop.
A witch must never stop thinking, no matter how urgent or absurd the situation. Even with death staring her in the face.
Dorothea, who had faithfully taken her master's teachings to heart, desperately sought an answer even amidst her confusion, and soon, she found it.
‘It didn't just absorb my mana. It sucked up all the ambient mana as well.’
The mana scattered about as the Tin Knight and the White Knight unleashed their sword and spear energy. The mana Adelaide and Alonso shed like afterimages as they enhanced their bodies. And even the mana Dorothea and Gale had spread while trading magical blows.
Just as boiling water turns to steam and fills the air, this forest was now saturated with all kinds of mana.
The Ring of Dracaena was a sacred treasure that brought forth destruction by absorbing not only Dorothea’s mana, but also all that excess mana in the environment.
A sudden chill ran down Dorothea’s spine.
If a sacred treasure made from mere ‘relics’ was this powerful, what on earth must the original have been like?
‘No, that's not it. That's not what's important right now.’
Her shock at the ring's absurd power was brief.
As she remembered who she had fired it at, Dorothea's face turned pale for an entirely different reason.
Frantically looking around, Dorothea breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Gale, limbs intact, staring at the point of impact.
Of course, having nearly been hit by something like that without warning, there was no way her state of mind was as intact.
She had to be feeling some negative emotion, be it anger or fear.
Her shoulders trembling, Gale exclaimed.
“That was amazing! Was that the Ring of Dracaena? If you just increased the output a little more, I think you could blow away a magic tower!”
“....... ............ ............Huh?”
What is she talking about?
Regardless of Dorothea's brain freezing up, Gale, with an excited face, was casually spouting nonsense like, “The other magic towers have been picking fights over leadership or something lately, this would be perfect,” and, “Since I'm already buying the shoes, maybe I could borrow the ring for about a week.”
“Hey. Is that... is that the right reaction? Is it?”
“Hmm?”
At Dorothea's words, Gale tilted her head for a moment, then an exclamation mark seemed to pop up beside her head as she adopted a serious expression.
Looks like she's finally come back to reality, Dorothea thought, relieved.
“You're right. It's insincere of me to be thinking of other things in the middle of a proper duel. I'm sorry, Dorothea.”
“That's not the problem! You were almost killed! Shouldn't you have... some other kind of reaction?!”
Dorothea was practically screaming now, not even sure what she was saying anymore.
But Gale just tilted her head again.
“Oh, come on. It's nothing to make a fuss about. These things happen in a duel.”
“……”
Dorothea was reminded once again that the girl before her was a genuine witch, the kind who could shoot a fire breath at someone out of affection.
The fact that her friend had fired a laser that nearly killed her seemed to be a trivial matter to the mage known as Gale Elilaz.
Dorothea decided to let a lot of things go.
And surprisingly, her stomachache, her anger, and everything else quickly subsided.
“Besides, while that attack is powerful, the preparation time is too long. It's not much of a threat to me.”
Saying so, Gale kicked off the ground with a smile.
Dorothea instantly prepared for a surprise attack, but Gale didn't teleport near her.
“I'll be taking a short break.”
Above Sophia's head.
Appearing nonchalantly, she used enchantment magic on the grass on the ground.
『Growth』 『Regeneration』 『Bind』
The weeds at Sophia's feet grew at a terrifying rate, binding her body.
This meant that Camilla, who had been hesitating to attack due to Sophia's holy power, was now completely free.
Dorothea tried to use the Ring of Dracaena again to keep Camilla in check and burn away the plants binding Sophia, but Gale kicked off the ground with her shoes faster.
Her teleportation destination: right next to Dorothea.
Just as her staff, swung down with all her might, was about to forcibly break Dorothea's arm.
Fwoooosh!Clang!
Something cut through the air at a terrifying speed and knocked Gale's staff away.
It was a stone, struck by the Tin Knight's shield.
Naturally, there was a price to pay for such a 'distraction' in the middle of a fierce battle.
The White Knight, as if enraged that the Tin Knight had ignored him to intervene in the witches' fight, slammed an attack into him—not his usual clean and precise strike, but a brutish, forceful thrust. The Tin Knight's arm was severed, and his body skipped across the ground like a stone on water.
The battle between the two knights, which had seemed to be ending in the Tin Knight's one-sided victory, was now a stalemate once more.
However, the Tin Knight's intervention gave Dorothea a chance to attack.
About a tenth of Dorothea's mana was absorbed into the ring, and an intense light of destruction pierced through Camilla's location.
Perhaps judging that transforming into slow-moving mist, though near-immune to physical attacks, would only get her swept away by the wave of light, Camilla split her body into countless bats.
Her evasive maneuver wasn't slow, but even so, about thirty percent of the bats were wiped out.
Returning to the form of a beautiful woman, Camilla coughed up blood.
Gale, ignoring her right hand which had been broken by the impact of the stone, switched her staff to her left hand and attacked Dorothea.
Dorothea also tried to defend herself by swinging her staff, but the difference in their basic martial skills was too great.
Just as the white witch's attack was about to strike down the black witch.
Crackle!
With a flash of violet lightning, Adelaide, who had rushed over at some point, slammed into Gale with all her might.
The cannonball-like force shattered the defensive magic surrounding Gale's body like glass and fractured her bones.
At the utterly merciless attack, Dorothea, who was watching from the side, was even more surprised than Gale, the one who'd been hit.
Adelaide reached out to grab Gale, but Gale kicked off the ground with her shoes faster.
Dorothea and Adelaide hastily scanned their surroundings for the vanished Gale, soon spotting her appearing beside the fallen King Alonso.
They wondered if she was going to heal the fallen king with a potion or something, but that wasn't it.
Seeing Gale touch the bracelet the king was wearing, the two prepared to charge and cast magic respectively, but a storm of blood raised by Camilla blocked their path.
Gale's wrist. The bracelet, with a surface as smooth as a mirror, adjusted its size on its own and settled perfectly into place.
Gale kicked off the ground once more, and immediately after.
The White Knight and Gale appeared 'simultaneously' above Dorothea and Adelaide.
“—!!”
There was no time to voice their bewilderment.
There wasn't even time to realize that the 'sharing' power of the Bracelet of Dicondra applied not only to simple magic, but to the effects of the sacred treasures as well.
It was the moment Gale's gambit paid off—a move where she had intentionally given the bracelet to Alonso instead of wearing it herself, making it seem as if they were only sharing magical enhancements, all to prevent Dorothea from noticing.
Blades of blood summoned by Camilla shot out like throwing daggers.
Gale's staff and the White Knight's spear plunged down from above.
The moment Dorothea reflexively thrust her staff forward, Adelaide, instead of dodging or blocking the attacks, shoved Dorothea with all her might.
In exchange for letting the black witch escape, the little lion took the attacks of three top-tier powerhouses and collapsed.
To put it another way, three enemies were now perfectly gathered in one spot.
For the Tin Knight, who had sensed the crisis the moment the White Knight vanished and had already closed the distance, it was the perfect chance.
Flash, flash, flash!
The three gems embedded in the Tin Knight's shield lit up in unison.
Mana, refined to its absolute limit, repeatedly collided and expanded within the shield, which trembled as if about to explode.
The release was instantaneous.
The target was not an individual, but the space itself.
Immediately after confirming that the Scarecrow's holy power was enveloping the fallen little lion, the Tin Knight's shield bash erupted upon space itself.
—KWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!
Camilla, who had tried to change her body into mist, was instantly forced out of her transformation by an impact that felt like it was striking every single particle of her being, and she collapsed.
The White Knight tried to protect his master, but his body, already battered from his fight with the Tin Knight before being summoned by Gale, had its limits.
All he could do was use his own body as a shield to offset a portion of the attack.
Thud. His two allies fell.
The white witch, who had refused to give up until the very end, gave a bitter smile as she saw the black witch's curse shimmering around her.
“─You've won, Dorothea.”
“─You've lost, Gale.”
The curse rained down.
The already tattered white witch had no strength left to endure it.
And so, the winner of the race for the sacred treasures was decided.