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CHAPTER 193: REMATCH AGAINST BRIDE ⑤

CHAPTER 193: REMATCH AGAINST BRIDE ⑤

「Let’s do this thing, Bride!!」

「Before I die, I am going to make sure that I will kill you!」

The lightning spear and flame lance were fired by us almost at the same time, colliding in the middle of the space in between us and their explosions would send both of us flying. It was still just an opening spell, a magic that was supposed to only test the proverbial waters, but the clash of the two spells, with the INT -Intelligence- values ​of their casters being close to the value of three hundred, caused the air around us to tremble violently and the resulting shockwave shook our hair violently.

Meanwhile, I put the Red Demon’s Iron Club back into my Magic Bag and took out the Shironuemaru instead.

The Red Demon’s Iron Club was good at destroying other weapons and pieces of equipment, but unfortunately I did not have any kind of offensive Skills when it comes to wielding clubs, and besides my sword fighting Skill was at a high Skill Level of “Lv.6”. This may be due to the difference in the length of time I have been using it, but it was also because my fighting style was essentially compatible with the long sword type of a weapon. Also, if I’m going to seriously try to kill Bride from this point onwards, it would be far better for me to use the Shironuemaru, which I was already so used to using.

As I equipped the Shiranuemaru on my waist, I focused my eyes on Bride’s movements.

I noticed that he was flapping his black wings energetically and approaching me in a straight line, even in the headwind, as he poured more and more magical power into the magic sword Orgnus that had now basically become one with his right arm.

It seemed like he had not even considered losing any MP here…… He clearly had no intention of using the full ten minutes that he had left in order to fight me. That’s why I was so happy right about now.

I lightly gripped the hilt of Shiranuemaru equipped to my left hip and unsheathed it faster than Bride could swing his magic sword Orgnus down at me.

— SCREEEECCCHHHH!!!!!!

However, what echoed immediately afterwards was the metallic sound of our weapons clashing against one another. This was followed by a shock-like sensation delivered right to my stomach, and it was more than enough to blow all of the air out of my lungs for a moment.

Bride’s sword speed exceeded my wildest expectations. Not only that, Bride used the recoil from the blow to spin his body around and to land a spin kick on me. This was probably Bride’s aim from the very beginning. There was no hesitation in his movements whatsoever. Furthermore, he did not miss a single opportunity for a counterattack and creating an opening, and fired a fireball at me at close range.

— BOOM!!

「Damn it…… That really hurts, you know!?」

That was really close…… I took quite a bit of damage from that, but I managed to guard in time and somehow reduced the damage with an offensive magic barrier.

「You’re defending even at that tight timing…… I was originally going to burn you to pieces. But how about this instead!?」

Several flame lances were then deployed at the same time, at least thirty or even more, all coming my way. He was attacking without regard for the MP consumption that this would generate.

But he was not Kinu, so I could not quite believe Bride could actually handle that many flame lances all at once —

「Tsk! Is that how it is, huh……!? That magic sword of yours is really troublesome!!」

Until now, when casting magic, he would hold up his left hand in order to activate the spell. But right now, he activated it while waving his right hand, which had been eroded by the magic sword, back and forth like some sort of makeshift baton. That magic sword must have had the ability to combine close-range attacks with magical support at the same time.

As Orgnus, the Magic Sword, was swung down, the flame lances were deployed all at once and flew right towards me.

「Eat this, Aun!!!」

「Good job out there!! But I will still block it all, you asshole!!!」

As I put up the Magic Barrier again, and I deliberately stepped forward to shift the impact position of the incoming barrage even a little bit. Then, I continued swinging Shiranuemaru at the lances that were likely to hit me directly, somehow managing to minimize the damage that was being inflicted upon me.

I was hit by several flame lances on my arms and legs, but the barrier reduced the damage that I have received. The flame lances grazed my cheek and landed right behind me, and I felt the heat on my back, but I did not lose focus because of that. And so, after a couple of long seconds that felt more like eternity, I was able to block the rain of incoming flame lances.

Glancing behind me and seeing the carnage that was happening all around, I was convinced that I had made the right choice.

If I had taken the damage from those things directly, or had panicked and jumped back, I would have certainly taken more damage than I did just now.

The reason I was able to keep the damage to this minimal level was also thanks to the Legendary Armor I was wearing at the moment, the “Ibaraki-Douji Kimono”. In addition to having a simple boost to the wearer’s defensive power, this piece of equipment had an automatic repair function. It was burned and ripped in places, but one of my strengths was that I could fight without worrying about damage to my own equipment.

However, the attack had taken away about forty percent of my remaining HP, and I could not just take such attacks head on multiple times. So I should switch on to the offensive. Besides, I still had a trump card up my sleeve that Bride did not know about. There was no point in saving it any longer, I guess.

「Aun…… You are indeed a formidable opponent. You are far stronger than anyone I have ever met in my life. I am dissatisfied to admit that, but I have no other choice but to accept it. …… But still, I am not going to lose to you. I swear, before my life is over, I will definitely take your life!」

「I can see that even after turning yourself into a genuine Demon, your character did not change all that much, huh? You placed too much importance on certainty and missed the point of this battle. Besides, is this the time to be getting cocky and trash talk your opponent? You just blew away your last chance to have a clean shot at killing me.」

「Fuh! L-Lay off, you! No matter what you do here, the initiative still remains in my favor!」

Bride flapped his wings and floated up into the distant sky. He was probably preparing for his next attack while he was still in the air, where he had the upper hand over me.

But if that is really what you want, then I guess I have no other choice but to drag you down towards the ground, instead!

Don’t you dare to think that you can keep the initiative on your side forever!