Chapter 42 When I Met Someone Who Was Dead (7).
Chapter 42 - When I Met Someone Who Was Dead (7)
Shweeeeeeeeee!
From beneath Niberis’ feet, a tentacles of darkness extended itself. Azell barely avoided it as he retreated.
“Kook… I was outsmarted. I underestimated her too much.”
Blood was flowing from Azell’s body. The leather armor was shredded as if it was paper. His chest had a wound as if a wild beast had scratched him.
Azell had lost this round of the fight. Niberis had seen through Azell’s plan, and she had counter-attacked.
The several dozen tentacles of darkness formed around Niberis’ surrounding, and they didn’t reflect any light. The tentacles of darkness didn’t look solid as it crawled. Niberis spoke from within.
“I can’t kill the Dragon Demon Princess… But I can kill you if I want to.”
“As expected. I was the one who had been disadvantaged.”
Well before Azell and Niberis fought each other, both of them had eyed each other to see how the other fought against one’s opponents.
Niberis was the one who had benefited from the prior investigation. Azell had shown his skills when he blitzed the members of the Dragon’s Shadow to resolve the situation quickly. Niberis couldn’t kill Arrieta, so she hadn’t shown any of her real abilities. Niberis was of the Dragon Demon race, and her magic was outstanding. She also used the latest magic techniques, so there weren’t enough information to gauge Niberis’ true power.
Niberis spoke.
“The secrets within your head is valuable. However, sometimes it is beneficial to throw away the small prey to catch a bigger one. I’m going to go all out now.”
Her voice was heard from behind Azell as a different Niberis rushed him. However, Azell didn’t turn around.
Another Niberis appeared next to Azell’s side.
“Hoo-ooht. So I’m guessing you aren’t fooled by the clones?”
“Unfortunately not…….”
Azell grinned, and he stomped his foot again.
Koo-oohng!
A vibration spread with Azell as the epicenter. It is the most basic method to deal with the clones made by the opponent’s illusion magic. It is to see how the clones reacted to the vibrations, and one would also observe if the cloud of dirt affected the bodies. This was how one could differentiate a clone from the opponent’s real body.
Since Niberis’ clones were illusions, she couldn’t do anything about these weak points. After realizing where her real body was, Azell unhesitatingly charged towards her.
However, Azell’s sword cut through empty air.
“I thought you were someone who was a little bit smarter.”
Niberis appeared behind the fl.u.s.tered Azell. The body that was determined to be the real body was a bait placed by Niberis!
The tentacles of darkness stretched towards Azell. It tried to wrap around Azell’s body.
“I am.”
Suddenly, Azell’s expression changed into a smile. At the same time, his storm-like sword play blocked the tentacles of darkness.
This situation was happening as he intended. Azell had the ‘Eyes of Truth’, so he hadn’t been blinded by the clone in the first place. However, he wanted to trick Niberis, so he used the traditional method to deal with her illusions.
“I thought you were a little bit smarter since you are of the Dragon Demon race.”
“What?”
Niberis became surprised at that moment.
Sss-paht!
Something unseen pa.s.sed by her cheek. When she felt the sharp cut on her cheek, she froze.
‘What the……?!’
She couldn’t understand what had happened. What had cut her cheeks?
She knew her head had been nearly pierced. She took the risk of dividing her attention, so she could nest another barrier within the other just in case. This had save her life.
Niberis turned her head without realizing it. She knew she shouldn’t turn her head, but she couldnt’ stop her head from reflexively turning.
She saw a single short sword on the ground a short distance away.
‘That broke through my barrier?’
The surprised Niberis immediately realized what she was doing, and her body shuddered. She was in midst of a battle yet she had took her eyes off her enemy!
She desperately turned her head back to look at Azell. He was in front of her with 5 floating swords in the air. He levitated the swords he had secretly picked up from the dead monsters, and the swords were letting out light.
“Dragon’s Forces! Go to war!”
At his shout, blue lights in the shape of a dragons wrapped around the swords. At Azell’s shout, the swords shot forward like arrows.
“Kook!”
Niberis desperately used her barrier magic. She was able to block every sword with a light dragon around it.
At the same time, she was puzzled.
‘Why is the power of the attack so weak?’
She had expected a dangerous attack since her eyes had been drawn away. However, the attack was weak enough to make her yawn.
The reason was soon revealed.
“Princess! Right now!”
From behind Azell, Arrieta charged forward. Under Azell’s instructions, Arrieta had recovered her stamina, then she had been waiting for this moment!
The Dragon Demon magic injected within the white blade exploded forth, and it reacted to Arrieta’s command.
“Oh Evil Darkness, Rend Apart!”
Pahhhhhhh!
The flood of light a.s.saulted Niberis. At the same moment, Niberis realized what trap Azell had readied.
‘I never knew such a devilish technique existed!’
There were 5 swords stabbed into the top of the barrier magic. Each sword was letting out various pattern of magical vibrations, and the swords were resonating with each other. The pillar of light sent by Arrieta struck on top of the swords. The swords continuously changed its magical pattern to disrupt the barrier.
This was a technique that would give nightmares to any magician. Every second the magical pattern randomly changed at those points. This attack was ruthlessly breaking down her barrier magic!
Moreover, Azell started to move from beyond the barrier.
“Dragon’s Forces! Bloom!”
The shout carried his command. With time stretched, he amplified his magic, then he poured out all of his power.
The light dragon wrapped around his sword. and it let out a roar as it attacked Niberis.
“Kyahhhhhh!”
Niberis let out a scream.
She was going to die like this! The rampaging dragon of light was going to absorb into her bones!
Her brain felt like it was burning from just maintaining her crumbling barrier. With her desperate will, she activated another magic. Unlike human magic, she could use a power that could bend reality with her will. She concentrated her Dragon Demon magic to activate a magic that would have been impossible to cast in her normal state!
“Mirror of… Emptiness……!”
Accompanying a shout that seemed to have been wrung out of her, the pillar of light heading towards her like hail warped!
Kwahhhhh!
The light dragon bent as it was almost upon her, and it pierced towards the sky. The ma.s.sive barrier of darkness covering the surrounding ripped, and the night sky showed itself.
Gohhhhhhhh……!
The thunderous roar quickly sped away, and the air started to change.
7
A faint light shined through the s.p.a.ce that had been completely dominated by darkness. The moon was barely there, but compared to the complete darkness of the Curtain of Darkness it felt very bright.
“Ha-ah, Ha-ah, Ha-ah…….”
Niberis swayed as if she was going to fall over.
However, Azell didn’t attack her. It wasn’t because he had used up all of his power. If he had, he wouldn’t have grabbed Arrieta, who was about to charge Niberis.
Arrieta turned to look at Azell with a questioning look. Azell told her his reason.
“If you charge in right now, you will be hurt.”
“…what?”
Arietta was surprised, and instead of explaining himself, Azell twitched his finger. This caused the sword that had grazed Niberis before to rise up from behind Niberis. It flew towards her.
When the sword approached Niberis’ vicinity, it was bizarrely distorted, and the sword broke.
Azell thought to himself as he saw this.
‘She had caused her magic to berserk in a fixed domain. She forced the uncontrollable explosive power into a certain direction.’
Normally, one couldn’t control the berserk magical energy. The moment when one fails to control one’s magic, the magician should expect death from the berserk magical energy.
However, Niberis purposefully caused it to happen, and she used a method only available to the Dragon Demon race to control it.
‘Even if her control over the magic crumbled, she used her strong will to force change in the reality. She had poured a ma.s.sive amount of Dragon Demon magic to cause this effect. In theory, it is possible to do this, but she actually pulled it off… She is a formidable young lady.’
The difference between magic, and dragon demon magic was simple.
At its heart, will was refined into magic. Whether it is magic or Spirit Order, the technique could cause phenomenons that would occur in nature.
On the other hand, Dragon Demon magic didn’t have to go through a complicated process like magic. It can coerce natural phenomena through the owner’s will. The being could just create a strong mental image of fire erupting as one focused one’s Dragon Demon magic then the fire would form. (TLN: basically dragon demon magic can skip the refinement process+spells)
The special attribute of Dragon Demon magic was only found in Dragon Demons, and those of the Dragon Demon race. This was the reason why they had more talent for becoming magicians.
When one becomes a high ranked magician, the gap between magic and Dragon Demon magic lessens. However, there were certain things that could only be done by those possessing Dragon Demon magic.
The technique used to defend herself by Niberis was an example of this method. She intentionally let the magic making up the barrier go berserk, then she used the special attribute of the Dragon Demon magic to coerce the magic into a certain direction. The light dragon that was about to break down the barrier was swept up into the magic going berserk and it was sent towards the sky.
Niberis let out a dark laugh.
“Hooh hooh. This is quite humiliating for me as a magician..”
Magicians strive to use elaborate magic to get the result they want. She had lost in terms of technique to an opponent, who was woefully lacking power. Moreover, her life had been saved from danger by using brute force. As a magician, her humiliation was endless.
Shweeeee….
Once the magical energy goes berserk, the thrashing magical energy doesn’t dissipate immediately. This was why Azell hadn’t attacked. Niberis looked like she wasn’t doing anything, but she was blocking the magical energy from harming her.
Niberis spoke as she calmed her breathing.
“I lost this round of battle. I’ll admit it.”
Her pride had been hurt. She stared at Azell with fearsome eyes.
“So, I’ll ask you again. You with the name seeped in sin. Do you have more methods left you could use?”
Niberis’ murderous intent pressed down on Azell and Arrieta’s senses.
Azell looked at Niberis with a stiff face. Niberis took one step forward.
“You technique is much superior to any human I have come across. However… Unfortunately, you don’t have the power to back up your techniques.”
Azell used surprising techniques, and psychological traps to outmaneuver Niberis. However, she would crush him with the absolute difference in their power.
No matter how outstanding his technique was it was meaningless if one was short on power. Maybe if it was any other opponent, it might be possible for him to defeat them. However, Niberis was someone he couldn’t defeat with techniques only.
Suddenly Azell spoke.
“Well, I had some idea things might turn out like this.”
“…what?”
Niberis eyebrows rose when Azell relaxed his expression.
Azell spoke.
“You might be able to block my attacks.”
Azell had regarded Niberis highly. Even if he compared her to the Dragon Demon race from the Dragon Demon war, she would considered to be on the strong side.
However, he had put down two traps to deal a great blow to her.
He had tricked her into believing he had pierced through her unbreakable barrier to cause confusion within her.
Azell had used the ‘Earth’s Sage’ since Niberis barrier didn’t extent below ground. He had used the energy within his foot to circ.u.mvent the barrier from below, while he acted as if he used some meaningful sword art.
However, if he put too much power into his stomp then there was a high chance Niberis would react to it.
To create a psychological disturbance, he used his mental wave to stimulate Niberis’ sense into believing she had received a light blow.
At the same moment she became agitated, Azell had used another technique towards the swords touching Niberis’ barrier. The constantly changing magic pattern was used on a portion of Niberis barrier. He had mixed in his energy, so he could change the pattern as he wanted. Afterward, he kept distracting Niberis, so she hadn’t realized the fact that the powerful attack had ripped opened the barrier.
He kept up with attack to create a crucial weakness. He used his Concealment technique to hide a nearby short sword, and he controlled it remotely. He created a small gap and he had squeezed the sword through the barrier.
When Niberis was caught off-guard, she unconsciously turned around to see what happened. This created a decisive crack in her defense, and he had attacked by mobilizing Arrieta. Even as he did this, Azell had made plan in case Niberis was able to block the attack.
“However, the barrier that was imprisoning us is gone.”
At his words, Niberis eyes widened. The Curtain of Darkness they had prepared beforehand using magical tools had been ripped apart and it was gone.