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Chapter 237

No sooner had the reverberations of Dran’s signal for the start of the mock battle faded than Gundeus quickly took aim with both arms. A flurry of gleaming arrows the size of a human index finger shot forth from the bow guns to Kushli before her.

Kushli’s magic vision did not miss the fact that the bow guns, which were not loaded with arrows, had converted the magic it had absorbed from Gundeus into arrows.

A magic bow gun that saved the wielder the trouble of reloading arrows was not an uncommon item. They were items whose performance was evaluated according to the magic conversion efficiency, the arrows’ penetrating power, the arrows’ flying speed, and their rapid-firing speed.

Kushli accelerated his own body with an explosive step. The bow gun, which released arrows twice as fast as a normal one, pierced through only the shadow of where he had been.

The leg power of being a Locusti gave Kushli speed that was superior to the bow gun’s arrows. If it were not for the stage that had been reinforced by Dran, Kushli would have left a deep dent into the ground with his feet.

In addition to the innate leg strength of the Locusti, Kushli was exercising the body enhancement magic that he had activated at the start of the battle. This was magic that made the Locusti elements of his body and soul manifest even more intensely, further raising his physical abilities.

As a result, the insect aspect of the Locusti had the possibility of overwhelming Kushli’s human self, leading to the adverse effect of simplified thinking. Thus, excessive strengthening was undesirable, and the magic itself was rather difficult to manipulate.

Without the protection of the judgment ring prepared by Dran, Kushli would have been too kind to swing his leg over Gundeus.

「Huagh!」

Kushli’s breath was as sharp as a razor blade, and his right leg as malleable as a whip. At the same time, his extraordinary leg strength made his legs as sharp as a famed sword—lethal enough to easily cut an armored human body into two.

Leaping backward, Gundeous easily avoided the blow that would have sent chills down the spine of even a seasoned warrior. She did not stop there; she swung her bow gun to attack Kushli, who was swinging his right leg out of the way.

The sound of countless flying objects piercing the air was heard continuously, and a magic arrow flew straight at Kushli’s right flank. Kushli swiftly changed his trajectory and unleashed a spinning left kick, hitting down the arrows that flew by.

Dran let out an impressed gasp as he watched Kushli’s spontaneous power. Kushli spread his Locusti wings on his back mid-air, eliciting another astonished gasp from Dran.

「I won’t go easy on you!」

「Please don’t.」

Kushli’s comment was rather unnecessary, but Gundeous seemed to think it was a matter of courtesy and replied in the same manner. With this, Gundeus’s emotional growth was once again evident in developing such understanding.

Gundeus ended her long-distance combat stint with her shooting and stepped forward to close the distance with Kushli. With the skirt of her maid’s uniform fluttering and the expressionless face of an elaborate doll, Gundeus approached Kushli. For a moment, Kushli was startled by a creepy and eerie sensation. Once again, he reminded himself that he was not facing an ordinary opponent.

As Gundeus closed the distance between herself and Kushli, she kept her bow guns aimed at him. She fired arrow after arrow without wavering, and they flew forward as though they were connected by a string.

Kushli swung both legs like before and moved both his arms to minimize the damage from the arrows. Clearly, he was quick on his feet and made decisions swiftly even when unexpected situations occur. As he immediately suppressed his shock, he took effective measures at top speed.

On the other hand, Kushli was also slow to read Gundeus’s intentions. Gundeus had chosen to close the distance with Kushli and rain attacks on him because the core of his martial arts was carried by his footwork. She was trying to sneak into any space between his legs to obstruct him.

Bow guns usually worked with projectile motion, but Gundeus was using small ones not much bigger than her hands. Moreover, her bow guns need not be loaded with arrows. With Gundeus’s strength, she could easily use them in hand-to-hand combat like daggers or small swords.

Gundeus moved violently around the stage, and the area was punctuated by a series of magic arrows. The arrows hit the hemispherical wards covering the stage and shattered. Spinning kicks that reeled through the void were unleashed one after another at a rotational speed reminiscent of a tornado.

「Fumu, Lenia, Kushli is pretty good. I’m impressed that he withstood your grueling training and pressure to come here for training. If I may say so, he’s a warrior of body enhancement magic, but I’m curious to find out how he’ll fare against tricky illusions.」

「You’re ever so perceptive, Dran. He’s an outstanding magic warrior for his age, but he’s too nice and has many entrenched ways of dealing with situations. The high concentration of magic he possesses gives him superior defense against regular combat magic. However, when it comes to magic that interferes with the mind, or pestilence and toxins, he is, to put it bluntly, pretty horrible.