Chapter 214 (Self Edited) – Battle with Dragonkin
Hildegard bit her lower lip lightly as she watched the scene in front of her. On top of feeling irritated, she felt terribly frustrated. She wondered if she could go through this, but… it couldn’t be helped saying that she couldn’t.
Then, when she swung her right arm with a sigh, a shock wave went forward, and her nails were literally slammed on the ground. However, it was surprising since this had been repeated and the opponent had received the shockwave many times. After all, the young man wasn’t affected. His body, which was stopped moving unnaturally, was moved forcefully.
It was Lina who was overcome with surprise because the man got used to it already. The moment the man was stopped, Lina took a chance to head into his range.
It was either to protect or attack. Lina’s movement slowed down slightly as if something appeared in her mind.
And the opponent wasn’t someone who overlooked that kind of opening…
“I’m not going to let you do that!” (Hildegard)
Before those words were uttered, Hildegard had swung her left arm. The shock wave that flew knocked the man like a counter, but… it dissipated similar as before.
However, his body stopped unnaturally again. In the meantime, Lina took a distance. He would have been able to launch an attack, but he decided that it wouldn’t make sense to launch it in an appropriate distance.
It was a good decision.
“Sorry. I was saved.” (Lina)
“No, it’s rather my responsibility. I didn’t expect that he would get used to it so quickly. Even so, to be able to proceed until that point… well, he doesn’t have enough dexterity.” (Hildegard)
“Hmm… I lost to your farce. I’m not sure how to get through this, but if I do, I’m going to defeat you.” (F?????)
It turns out that it’s not so easy to deal with the man… or should it be said that he wasn’t someone that they could handle in the first place. But there was no point in saying that. Under this a.s.sumption, Hildegard had no choice but to support Lina.
“Goodness… he isn’t yielding even a little bit.” (Hildegard)
Fortunately, the blurt wasn’t heard by anyone. Or it might be because Hildegard couldn’t afford to worry about other things. Lina matched the timing of the opponent’s attack as he jumped in, and a high-pitched sound echoed.
About thirty minutes had pa.s.sed since the battle began. Nevertheless, both sides weren’t hurt so much because they were lacking of decisive strikes.
It was as if both sides were equal in ability. Lina’s skills and number of moves were higher, but the man’s had better strength and defense. However, the other side had higher overall strength. Hence, the addition of Hildegard had managed to create an equilibrium.
It wouldn’t be easy if the man’s attack hit them, but Lina was good at handling it and returned it with counterattacks. However…
“Ugh… I don’t feel I can cut him no matter how many times I do it. Well, I haven’t actually landed a hit on you, but why is it so hard? You don’t look like wearing special armor or using magic…” (Lina)
“Hmmph… of course, it’s natural. With such a sword and skills, you won’t be able to penetrate dragon scales.” (F?????)
“Scales…? What do you mean? It’s obvious that you have the same skin as us…” (Lina)
“No, it’s a matter of concept. As a Dragonkin, he has inherited some of the power he once had. I don’t really know how much he has inherited, but what he can use now are the scales and claws. Even if you can’t see them, it’s not wrong to think that the scales cover his whole body.” (Hildegard)
Rather than a prediction, Hildegards said it confidently as she narrowed her eyes. There was a frustration in her emotion.
“You… Why do you know that? Is it possible to notice? It shouldn’t be something that humans can understand.” (F?????)
“I guess I’m not an ordinary human.” (Hildegard)
“You…” (F?????)
The man was even more frustrated, but Hildegard was just telling him the truth. Although she didn’t explain things every time, she had no obligation to explain
Anyhow, she wasn’t lying. What Hildegard had been saying was nothing that ordinary people could know, much less understanding it.
If that was the case, it was possible to figure out Hildegard’s ident.i.ty, but still, that was also difficult.
The reason was, Dragons or Dragonkin were illusion-type species. If a person had led G.o.d into his body, it wouldn’t be weird to think if the man also had a similar circ.u.mstance. Hildegard was no exception.
So, why did Hildegard notice it? Well, she had memories of spending time as a G.o.d in the other world. Therefore, she had experience and knowledge gained at that time. More importantly, the power that Hildegard inherited was the authority of her ‘eyes’. Although her fighting capabilities had dropped a lot, she was pretty confident about what she was looking at.
That was why she noticed something about Lina, and if the ‘eyes’ were used properly, there was no reason she couldn’t figure out that the true ident.i.ty of the man was a Dragonkin. However, Hildegard wasn’t able to go out to the frontline and fight the man because she noticed something.
“Hmm… dragon scales, is it? Well, it shouldn’t be similar to the real one, right?” (Lina)
“I don’t think it is exactly the same, but it’s not going to make much difference. From the beginning, it is a conceptual reason that the attack isn’t effective or hard to work on Dragons. I don’t think we can break through his defense even if we cut him.” (Hildegard)
While saying so, they were measuring the timing of each other’s movement.
By the way, the main reason why she was talking was to exchange information. Even if Hildegard said that she had knowledge, the views of the one who was fighting was still important. Lina needed the information since she was actually fighting the man.
Anyhow, the exchange of information wasn’t completed since the battle started soon. Hildegard didn’t think that it was necessary to tell.
Perhaps, the man had just woken up as a Dragonkin. He was clearly swayed by power, and although he was powerful, there were still many opportunities. Overall, if they joined their power, they were equal in strength, and this was clearly an advantage.
In addition, there was something that only Hildegard knew. If they fought together, she thought that they could win without problems, but…
“Cutting dragon scales, is it…?” (Lina)
“What? Are you saying that you don’t have confidence?” (Hildegard)
“Well, if I cut him, I think I can, but…” (Lina)
“…Ooh? You can cut the dragon scales? With your capabilities…?” (F?????)
It was probably a provocation, but at the same time, the man was half serious. His eyes showed that. That was why Lina couldn’t keep her mouth shut.
“Hmm? Are you going to say I can’t cut it?” (Lina)
“In fact, you haven’t been able to inflict a single wound, right? I can’t stop laughing if you think you can cut me.” (F?????)
Along with those words, the man’s distorted mouth displayed a mockery appearance… At that moment, the air around Lina changed.
It could produce a misleading statement when it was said in that way, but Lina hadn’t really gone all out yet. At a glance, Lina knew that the opponent was more competent than her. If her serious attack was prevented, she probably knew at that point that she would never win.
It was the same no matter how much Hildegard supported her. Dragonkin inherited the characteristics of Dragons, so half of them were conceptual.
Speaking of a concept, it was a synonym for reason. In other words, it was a law, and a fixed event. It was almost impossible to break a strong concept. Once it had given a fact that it had won, it wasn’t possible to overturn the concept by half-baked means.
No one told this fact to Lina, but she seemed to understand it either from the instinct or the knowledge of the Arbitrator. But now, Lina was trying to get serious no matter how the situation looked like…
“I’m still trying hard to follow the steps of Nii-sama. That’s why I won’t be dragged down if I’m told that!” (Lina)
Lina, who seemed to be serious when she said so, glanced at Hildegard for a moment, and it was returned with a small nod. It was because Hildegard understood that intention.
Perhaps, Lina was following along with what the opponent said, and she was probably intended to do so from the beginning. Hildegard would probably think the same thing. The main reason for continuing the conversation was to exchange information, but at the same time, they thought that they wanted to provoke him.
The reason was simple. It was unlikely that they could win. Strictly speaking, it was possible to continue the conversation, but it made no sense to do so. However, if they tried to attack poorly, Lina would surely be killed.
This was mainly done to learn on how to respond to the opponent. Despite being swayed by power, the man learned that he didn’t need that much power to defeat Lina. In fact, it was reasonable to use less power.
But the issue was the response. It was from Hildegard, but… that was impossible. If the man could handle her from the beginning, he would have already done it.
He knew that Hildegard was able to respond to his attack. Therefore, he concluded that he shouldn’t spend more time with them. Even if it was a little bit too much, if he couldn’t defeat those two, the situation would get worse.
And maybe, his opponents were aware of it. It wasn’t possible not to notice that fact.
Thus, he shouldn’t have been bothered by their provocation.
“Lina…” (Hildegard)
“I got it…” (Lina)
When Hildegard whispered Lina’s name, she heard a low voice and a small node. There was almost no mistake that it was a trap, but they were heading toward the man even if they knew it.
Actually, there was no other way. Perhaps, someone would come if they held up, but… it was too optimistic to think that.
In such a case, there was no Soma, who seemed to come to help in a timely manner. That was why they couldn’t take a chance to be held back in such a place.
There were no words for each other, and there was only a tensed atmosphere. The other side was probably preparing to meet them since the atmosphere around him was noticeably different.
It was so calm that they could hear each other’s breathing sounds… Suddenly, a roaring sound came from a far. At that moment, the two bodies move as if it were a signal. More importantly, before the roaring sound was hard, there was a sound that was similar to stepping on plants, coming from the rear.
“…Headmaster!?” (Lina)
When Hildegard heard Lina’s screaming voice, she had caught the opponent’s figure. At first glance, it looked like a shadow, but it was something that looked familiar.
Shadow Eater.
Its arm, which had the capability of stealing the opponent’s skills, was swung down toward Hildegard.