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Chapter 274 – Wraith Party VS Jack Party 2 / The Unyielding Illusion (Part 1)

274 – Wraith Party VS Jack Party 2 / The Unyielding Illusion (Part 1)

「How unfortunate.」

Said the Hero of the Ten Bows Jack just before the battle started.

「What is?」

Said our leader, the Water Hero Wraith, tilting his head.

「I had thought you had the same goals we did.」

「…Oooh, that. You mean about fighting without borrowing the Spirit’s power?」

There was disappointment in Jack’s eyes.

No matter how much stronger he’s gotten, to Jack’s eyes, Wraith has made a contract with the Spirit.

In other words, he is someone who cannot become the next Unyielding Hero.

「When you appeared, my heart sang. Finally, his son will show the world just how great that man was. In fact, you achieved great things without relying on the power of the Spirit.」

Wraith had a complicated look on his face.

To this young man, that is a memory of his past ignoring the Spirit as an ally.

But at the same time, the Wraith of that time and the current Jack both fought with the same goal.

「Ah…that’s how it is.」

Seeing Wraith scratching his head like he was troubled, Jack looked at him suspiciously.

「What?」

「I mean, I think everyone is free to have whatever goals they want…」

And then Wraith shot a glance at me. And laughed.

「I like myself a lot more as I am right now.」

「I am not against those who were chosen by Spirits. But someone has to abolish the current trend where those who weren’t chosen are devalued. I had thought you once rejected the Water Spirit for that very reason.」

「Yeah, so that’s why I… You know what?」

「?」

「You’ll get it once we fight.」

At Wraith’s words Jack…smiled? I think?

He looked like he nodded or cleared his throat, it wasn’t clear.

「True enough. We didn’t come here to discuss.」

On one side, the Jack Party is made up of a Hero, Warrior, Paladin, Wizard, and a Hunter.

On the other, the Wraith party is made up of a Hero, Destroyer, Miner, White Sorcerer, and a Black Sorcerer.

An orthodox Hero party and the new age party clash with the eyes of the world watching.

The Jack Party assumed a battle formation where the Strongman Heavy Warrior Goliath and the Sturdy Paladin Mildred stood in front, protecting the Sure-shot Archer Shio and the Rainbow Wizard Leslie in the back.

And then, true to his title, the Hero of the Ten Bows Jack readied his bow.

Before the first shot came, we were already on the move.

The Miner Melania and the Destroyer Fran dashed out.

The very ground shook as the half-Cyclops Melania ran.

Her equipment up to this point has changed.

Her weapon was no longer a club, she now carries an ax.

Fran moved while hidden under Melania’s shadow so that the enemy won’t know what she’s up to till the last second.

「Goliath, I leave it to you.」

The Strongman Heavy Warrior got pumped up at Jack’s short command.

「Got it!」

Melania raised the ax high above her head and swung it with the momentum of her sprint.

If this hits them, it would be enough to split the entire Jack party along with the ground.

The Jack party did not move. Like it was not necessary.

Among them, Goliath held his ax diagonally down in order to meet Melania’s ax and swung it.

A deafening clang rang out as ax meets ax, causing sparks to fly.

Melania and the Jack party’s clothes fluttered in the wind caused by the aftershock.

And that’s not all. Goliath sank into the floor under his feet after receiving the blow.

But he was unharmed.

「Uooooooh!」

His muscles bulged to their limit as he screamed like a wild animal.

His muscles made his silhouette look like a mountain range.

With his battle-ax, wielded by his physical strength that surpasses all Human limits, he…repels the half-Giant Melania’s attack.

「Eh?!」

Pulled by the momentum of the repelled giant ax, Melania stumbles several steps back.

Our party has done some research on the Jack party.

Despite that, it’s only natural to still be surprised after experiencing such inhuman strength firsthand.

If a person lost a game of strength against a cat or a rabbit, it would still be shocking, even after being told that they are a special cat or rabbit.

For a half-Giant like Melania, losing a test of strength to a pure Normal is just that shocking.

But it wasn’t easy for Goliath either.

His breathing is haggard, his face is red. Only his expression was shivering with excitement and delight.

That is when the Destroyer Fran attacks.

「Shio.」

Jack said.

But the Sure-shot Archer did not respond.

Right now, in his mind, I’ve shoved a Blank Space in there with my Black Magic.

It doesn’t matter if you’re one of the top seven archers in the world, no one can fire an arrow when they can’t think.

And even though the Sturdy Paladin Mildred moved for a follow-up, she moved unnaturally slow…because of my Speed Down.

Even the Rainbow Wizard Leslie was slowed down by having to spend his Magical Energy to activate Resist before unleashing his magic.

「…Lem, so it really is you.」

Jack said my name.

Through the battles that have happened up till now, the world’s view of me has been changing.

The ones whose view has changed the most are probably my opponents.

They think of me as the most troublesome, so they aim to take me out first.

It would seem Jack feels the same.

Since the time Melania dashed out, he had already fired seven arrows.

The arrows shot from his bow aiming for my head were red.

Jack’s arrows are multi-colored.

Red arrows are fire attributed. Where it lands, flames shoot out.

Blue arrows are water attributed. Where it lands, water blades shout out.

Green arrows are wind attributed. Where it lands, wind blades shoot out.

Brown arrows are earth attributed. Where it lands, earth walls pop out.

These are just the basics, his arrows are not simply elemental, but fly while imbued with all sorts of magic.

He got his title. the Hero of the Ten Bows, from the ten basic kinds he uses.

Wraith put up an ice wall to protect me against the arrows, but the accuracy of his arrows was terrifying.

Since the ice wall blocked my line of sight, I moved to its side, but as if Jack could see through the wall, an arrow was heading straight to where my head is without the slightest deviation.

It’s also a fire arrow that can melt Wraith’s ice wall.

The fifth arrow peeked through the ice wall, the sixth arrow is slowly penetrating the wall, and Wraith managed to block the seventh one by tripling the ice wall layers.

The arrows were taken care of but there was a troubling heat that kept getting hotter and hotter.

Wraith had to keep remaking the ice wall again and again due to the heat melting the walls.

Firepower that is enough to bust through the Water Hero’s defense without the use of Spirit Magic is a result of his years and years of training.

Of course, this is far from Wraith’s full power, but it’s still fearsome magic.

「Wraith.」

「I know.」

Being shown such stupendous magic, I’m sure Wraith is itching to fight back.

But he’s sticking to defense in order to keep to my strategy.

I turn my attention back to Fran.

My view was obstructed by the ice wall, but I can still sense her with Magical Energy Detection.

「I don’t care! Bring it on!」

Goliath screams without falter, despite knowing he won’t get any backup from his allies in time.

I think he’s wielding his battle-ax on the side of his waist because he thinks that Fran will avoid a downward swing.

He probably lowered his center of gravity to be able to swing at a slightly low angle in consideration of Fran’s smaller stature.

This way, even if she were to take evasive action, Fran would have to keep her distance or jump away.

If she jumps away, someone like Goliath could just throw away his battle-ax and immediately chase after her.

With his years of battle experience leading him to this conclusion, he would not hesitate.

In contrast, the old Fran would probably have attacked him head-on.

For she is a Destroyer.

Someone who is simply strong.

It is unlike someone who practices martial arts, repeating the same action again and again until it becomes muscle memory in order to perform the action according to the situation.

She performs many unconventional actions for the first time at a moment’s notice.

She is someone who was born with a body that can do that naturally.

On top of that, she has a childhood friend, who is the son of the Unyielding Hero, that aspires to be an Adventurer

The Adventuring knowledge gained by growing up with him added wisdom to her movements.

In regards to wanting to get stronger, the advice Wraith and I gave her is to develop that further.

Just before she enters the range of Goliath’s ax.

「…Wha-?」

With her disproportionately large right arm compared to her small frame, Fran strikes the ground.

The stone field was dented by that powerful attack, causing it to flip up.

Rocks flip up on both sides of her fist to sandwich Goliath between them.

In any case, this is more than I could have hoped for.

It’s all going according to plan.

This is a joint operation between Melania and Fran.

Our advice to Melania was to utilize her Job as a Miner in battle.

She was always down on herself because her Job wasn’t combat-oriented, but that was a waste.

The traits of a Miner are Mining, Transportation, Stamina, Strength, Night Vision, and Spatial Awareness among other traits.

The ability that caught our eye was Mining.

This isn’t a trait that simply makes it easier to dig.

It’s a general term for a more comprehensive trait.

It’s a trait that allows a Miner to live by unearthing what they desire, digging it out without collapsing the mine.

What she has…is the Giant version.

This, of course, means that the scale of their digging operations is incomparable to Normals.

Melania knows this.

At first glance, the field looks like a uniformly created Magical Energy space.

She can see the Magical Energy deviations, or rather, the seams of the field.

She knows what would happen if a location is hit with a certain force.

If this ability can be used to dig through without collapsing the mine, it also means she knows how to collapse it.