Chapter 336
Chapter 336 Strongest Sage, Ident.i.ty Seen Through
I was still young when I fought Zadokilgias in my previous life .
This demon held the upper hand in term of pure combative skills back then .
As such, winning proved difficult in a direct confrontation .
That was why I developed [Resonant Sword] .
This demon would dodge every single one of my magic attack and block all my sword slashes .
However, Zadokilgias"s body itself wasn"t st.u.r.dy enough to receive those slashes .
As such, letting it take my sword slashes and break its body with [Resonant Sword] is very effective .
[Resonant Sword] is virtually a technique specialized in killing skill-based demons like Zadokilgias .
" . . . To think there"s someone who deploys that magic in this era . "
Zadokilgias took some more distance away from me as it said that .
Gaining distances is the basic method for fighting a Disqualified Crest .
Magical ranged attacks are favorable to Zadokilgias especially for avoiding clashing its sword against my [Resonant Sword] .
But that"s speaking only if Iris wasn"t here .
Getting away from me means getting into Iris"s range .
『There it goes! I"m gonna get it!』
Iris swung down her claw the moment she saw Zadokilgias getting away from me .
Moving away from me here naturally got it closer to Iris .
Inviting her for another attempt at the demon .
Zadokilgias deployed a new set of barriers mid-air as a foothold to dodge her attack .
They were farther apart than earlier thus it made it in time .
However--that instance it deployed barriers created an opening if only for a second .
It"s not a problem with skill, it"s simply due to the latency of outputting magic .
It"s not long enough to get a hit in--but more than plentiful for getting in the range .
Making use of this chance, I made us engage in a close quarter combat .
" . . . What an irksome tactic . "
Zadokilgias blocked my sword slash which had got [Resonant Sword] added .
Then--the moment our swords touched each other, mine got repelled back .
--『Reflective Strike』 .
A magic that outputs a huge blast of mana all at once to instantaneously flick the opponent"s sword away .
This magic will forcefully repel away the opponent"s sword no matter what magic enchanted on that sword, it"s unparalleled in a close quarter sword combat .
Against someone with an inept sword skill, the opening created by this magic could even be used to deal a finishing blow .
There was even a period of time where sword enchant magic was seen in a bad light due to this [Reflective Strike] magic .
However, such a mighty magic does not come without a price .
This [Reflective Strike] outputs a vast amount of mana through one"s sword, it"s a basic magic in a sense .
Which is precisely why it"s mostly unaffected by other magic--but as a drawback, you"re required to release a huge amount of mana all at once .
Even amongst Disqualified Crest bearers, only a few with exceptionally st.u.r.dy magic circuits, and high-ranking demons that far outcla.s.s Zadokilgias are capable of releasing the required amount of mana in an instant .
In all other cases, one has to build up mana in their sword over time and release it only when the need arises .
Due to the load caused by building up mana, [Reflective Strike] users can"t use other magic in parallel .
In contrast, I"m only deploying the much easier to cast [Resonant Sword] over [Reflective Strike] .
Meaning I could shoot other attack magic with my spare energy .
" . . . Dodging even this huh . . . "
Zadokilgias managed to deal with the combination of my attack magic and [Resonant Sword] somehow .
Defending against an attack while enduring the load from invoking [Reflective Strike] should be quite a task--yet, it dealt with it well .
As that thought crossed my mind, Zadokilgias spoke up while flicking my sword away .
"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d . . . You"re even better than the guy who killed the past me in skill alone . "
The guy who killed the past Zadokilgias . . . Me huh .
Indeed, my magic skill has seen much improvement compared to the me back then .
Now that I think about it, the me back then was quite crude for a magic combatant .
. . . That said, I was already 80 by then, so my magic circuits were far far superior than the current me .
I gave a reply while thinking that .
"I see . So you"re saying you"re going to meet your maker a second time?"
"Not happening . Regardless of your skill, this absolute gap in powers aren"t something that can be easily overturned . . . In fact, the only time you managed to deal damage was from that [Resonant Sword] ambush--even after all you"ve done thus far . "
Zadokilgias is peering for a chance to attack even while chattering away .
This conversation itself is likely an attempt to take me out of my pace .
The act of talking may slightly throw off one"s pace if they don"t have enough experience in battle, creating an exploitable opening .
That"s probably this demon"s aim--but unfortunately for it, this tactic is meaningless to me .
It might have worked on the past age 80 me though .
" . . . How old are you anyway? Those magical skills, that bottomless swordsmanship--cannot be of a mere child . I wouldn"t be surprised if you told me you were a 『Reincarnated』 one like me . "
Zadokilgias murmured when it saw me not relaxing my guard .
Looks like it"s made a conjecture of my ident.i.ty .
Not like that would be of any use in this fight though .