Chapter 73

――I will. My close combat skills far surpass Linette's.

"Let's go!"

Zevion charged in, spinning like a drill. The movements of his miasma sword were very difficult to predict.

I chose to dodge rather than try to match his movements. A wave of heat passed over my head. As we passed each other, I cast several low-level water spells. I launched ice bullets at Zevion, who I assumed was behind me and to the side.

"Ugh!"

I heard the sound of impact. Without putting any distance between us, I turned on the spot to check the situation, and it seemed he had blocked the ice bullets with a miasma shield on his left arm. The ice bullets turned into steam and disappeared.

The miasma sword and shield made him look like a black knight clad in dragon armor.

Flame Absorb was useless. I tried it when we fought near the ground... It could absorb the fire from the parts he cut, but the high-temperature miasma lingering in the area would cause the object to continue burning. If a living being was injured, they would be burned from the wound until they died unless they received a blessing or a circulation spell. For me, being burned would be enough, but that was no consolation.

There was no particular change in the miasma that Zevion wielded. I had expected Flame Absorb to be ineffective. The characteristic of his miasma was high heat, not fire itself. It was more like the toxic fumes of magma.

That's why I took a higher altitude. If we fought near the ground, it could turn into a sea of fire, which would be disadvantageous for me. It would be better if there was nothing around to burn.

This also served as a countermeasure against his explosive magic eye. Given the nature of explosive attacks, he could use them to blow up objects behind me and send fragments flying.

He accepted my invitation to fight—probably to separate me from the sea. His goal might be to let the familiar escape or to prevent me from using seawater.

It's troublesome. But that doesn't change how I fight.

I made a jumping motion, sending the Mirage Body that was overlapping with my body upward while using wind magic to control my own descent. The clone and the real me attacked Zevion from both sides, trying to sandwich him.

I gripped the middle of the staff and swung it down like a naginata—only to change the trajectory at the last moment to a horizontal strike.

My posture and gaze were still aligned with the clone above.

In other words, it was a two-choice attack using the clone. The staff struck Zevion's chest, where he had been preparing to block the attack from above.

But it was still a shallow hit. By the time I stepped in, he was already in a position to counter. He swung his left-hand shield to deflect me.

A shield bash. And it would burn on contact. I concentrated my magic and thrust the staff directly into his miasma shield. Sparks flew, and we were both pushed back.

"I thought a mere human wouldn't even be worth fighting. But to enjoy such a battle one-on-one! I never expected it!"

He said this, his shoulders shaking with excitement. He didn't seem to care at all about the fall of his fellow demon.

His main goal was probably to investigate the labyrinth. I don't know about the other demon, but this might explain why he didn't remember my name. Perhaps he saw me as just a human, a demon slayer.

Until now, Zevion seemed to be testing me. But that didn't mean I could let my guard down.

If I could break his guard, I could finish him with a powerful move. And that was my goal as well.

My powerful move—was seen through on the first try. Given his combat experience, he would likely counter a large magic spell. So the moment to reveal my trump card—was the moment to kill or be killed.

A battle where the balance tips in an instant. It's clear.

I glanced at Grace for a moment. She was looking up at me with concern. Grace has won. Ashley is waiting. So I will win too. I will win and return.

You are—just in the way.

"Come on!"

"I've been bored for so long! Let's fight until one of us dies!"

We clashed, and at the moment of impact, my body literally split into two.

A coordinated attack using the Mirage Body, mixing reality and illusion from all directions. A technique established in BFO. Even Zevion couldn't see through it.

I hit him multiple times, but none of the attacks were fatal. I was leaving light scratches on his skin, but Zevion didn't seem to care.

He had determined one of the "me" as the real one and ignored the feints.

It was an effective strategy. His skin was like armor, providing incredible defense, but there was more to it.

I also took damage from the heat, so I had to avoid his miasma sword more than usual. This left me unable to close the final step.

But there was an opening. His pure defensive techniques were still a bit weak. Given his incredible defense and excessive offensive power, it wasn't surprising.

Zevion, well aware of his own characteristics, knew that one hit would end everything. He combined his weapons to create a massive miasma sword and tried to sweep both the clone and the real me in one go.

I couldn't avoid it.

I returned the control of the Mirage Body and held the staff with both hands, forming a giant Magic Shield at its tip.

I faced the blade coming down from above head-on. A heavy impact on both arms. Sparks flew.

Uroboros growled in annoyance, and I felt my circulation amplifying.

"Haahh!"

"Oooohh!"

We roared, and the energy that had nowhere to go exploded, sending us flying. We immediately turned around. Zevion split his miasma sword into two and charged at me with both weapons.

I gripped the middle of the staff and clashed with his dual swords. The red glow of his magic eye. The explosion above my head. I dodged the impact by bending my body and countered with an ice spear from a Magic Circle near my forehead.

The ice spear, reinforced by magic, was not a natural object. It hit his chest armor and left a slight wound, but it immediately evaporated.

Magic ice, evaporating? Even when it hit his body—?

"Not yet! Don't die yet!"

I could see Zevion's body becoming white-hot, radiating intense heat.

Air Screen, a wind magic spell. I created multiple layers of air and enchanted my coat to be heat-resistant. I continued to clash, blocking the extreme heat even as I approached.

His response made him grin with genuine delight. I smiled in response.

I lost all sense of up and down. I couldn't hear the sounds around me. The stinging pain of minor burns didn't bother me. I was completely focused on the exchange of life with him.

The tip of my staff grazed his forehead. The smell of burning. A two-point simultaneous attack with a strike and a spell. Sparks flying. The miasma blade breaking through the layers of air. The heat I felt on my cheek. Someone's laughter. The repeated crossing of magic and miasma.

I deployed a Magic Circle on the soles of my feet and was about to kick him in the chest when I fired an ice bullet.

We were separated. A surge of fighting spirit from his left miasma sword—his martial technique was coming.

Combining heat and martial technique. He launched a slash while approaching with his right sword at his waist. If I dodged too much, I couldn't counter effectively. I wouldn't retreat. I would advance.

I let the slash graze my side and the thrust graze my cheek.

The intense heat I could feel up close. The distance I could finally reach by dodging the death line. A hell of heat waves. A moment of crossing. This was the range I wanted.

The staff was wrapped in a vortex of cold air. With the momentum of both our charges, I synchronized my entire body's movement and unleashed a piercing strike at a single point.

"Penetrate!"

"Ugh!"

A different sensation from the usual, a numbness in my hand from the impact. I delivered a full-body blow and followed up with a strike to the jaw. Cracks appeared in the chest armor, and for the first time, Zevion let out a groan of pain and stepped back.

Now was the time to make my move.

I positioned my staff in front of Zevion and deployed a giant Magic Circle. But then—

"Too bad!"

Zevion's eyes glowed, and a blast of wind erupted in front of me. I had only broken through his outer layer. The explosion was slightly off target, but there was no time to use a defensive spell. I crossed my arms in front of my face to brace for the impact.

The heat from his entire body concentrated on his mouth. A blinding, sun-like glow appeared in his wide-open mouth, and a massive heat beam—no, a pillar of heat—was emitted.

My body was instantly engulfed by it. This was his main attack. His trump card. A move that would burn me to ashes, leaving no bones behind.

If it hit.

"This is—!?"

The figure engulfed by the heat pillar was an illusion. When I directed his gaze upward, I had left the Mirage Body behind and used free fall to escape.

I completed the spell and charged from below, propelled by the explosion.

Zevion, having radiated all the heat he had stored in his body, couldn't even dodge. I drove Uroboros' horn into the wound in his chest and activated the completed spell.

Ninth-tier water magic. Glacial Fortress.

The ice tree pierced through Zevion's back and grew in the air. It extended its branches and roots, growing with a creaking sound.

"Shatter!"

At the moment it finished growing, the ice tree, along with the engulfed Zevion, shattered into tiny pieces.

With a loud roar, countless sparkling ice fragments rained down to the ground. Zevion, with his chest shattered from the inside, fell to the ground with the rain of light. His face seemed to bear a satisfied smile.