PAGE 1

“Blood!”

 

She had flung her own blood onto my face. I frantically splashed a sphere of water into my eyes and washed it away. My heart was racing as I pushed my wet hair back and looked around. Daniela was nowhere to be found. I looked up, but she wasn’t there either… What the hell…?

 

“…? …!!?”

 

I had a bad feeling about it. But not in time. In the next moment, an arrow had gone through my right leg.

She had somehow appeared above and behind me, and the bloody arrow she had unleashed was firmly implanted in the ground at my feet.

 

“Fuuuuuuck! Aggghhh, damn it…!”

 

The blood sprayed as my shaking hands started to cover the holes on both sides with ice. I had done the same thing when fighting the wyvern. Though, it had been a broken sword at that time. It was also just ordinary trousers, and so it wasn’t too big of a deal. But this was my wind dragon armor. The attack had had enough force to pierce dragon equipment… I wasn’t holding back or anything, but it was clear that just a moment’s indiscretion would mean my death.

 

“You are not being careful enough.”

“Gggg… It’s not my intention…”

 

I spun around and looked at her. She had multiple arrows around her and was ready to shoot them. Her left leg was covered in blood, but she didn’t need it to stand, as she was in the air. And Daniela wasn’t weak enough to let the pain break her concentration.

 

It was easy to use Legs of the God Wolf to accelerate. However, there was a specific reason for this fight. This was to show Daniela just how strong I had become. Daniela’s strength. And my strength. We had to show each other by using everything we had. Daniela had gained new power and used magic that she had only talked about up until now. In that case, I had to use both the old and new. I had to show her.

 

It was time for me to test the tricks and skills as well as the new magic I had invented.

 

“Haaahhh!”

 

I sent a surge of water magic into the greatsword. It was the first step in making a water blade, but that wasn’t what I was doing now. The dark blue blade became a medium, and it would turn the mana in the air into moisture. I could feel the humidity rising rapidly.

 

“Wh-what are you…!”

 

Daniela looked frantic as she tried to stop me by raising her bow, but the situation changed too quickly. All at once, the moisture in the air was frozen with ice magic. The dark blue greatsword in my hand had been unleashing water magic. And I had converted it to ice.

 

In other words, we were suddenly surrounded in a thick mist.

 

“This is my magic. Mine alone. ‘White Garden.’”

“Kk…!?”

 

It was based on magic by the noblewoman, Alenbia Ef Quingeria. I had consulted with ‘Jack of all Trades, Master of None’ for quite some time. Even during the auction, my mind had often been busy making calculations. In any case, I already had the materials. It was just about cooking it all together as a meal… And this was the answer.

Furthermore, this mist wasn’t a natural phenomenon, it was magical. In other words, I could cool it down even more and rob others of their ability to move. The fact that my power was surrounding them meant that I could also interfere with their magic to a degree. It was a lot more effective than appearances might suggest.

 

Bam! The mist stopped Daniela’s attack. It had interfered with her magic. This mist could stop any magic that used the mana around us to activate it.

At the same time, I activated Presence Block.

 

“I knew it… I knew you would do that after seeing this mist.”

 

I could hear her voice. I also knew her position through Presence Detection. However, she did not know my position. It was open season…

 

“…Hahh!”

 

Or so I thought, rather smugly. And then an arrow came flying. I thought that I was going to die, but was barely able to move out of the way.

 

“Allowing yourself to be distracted will hurt the precision of your skills. You are using this great magic. So make the most of it!”

“Sorry!”

 

It was like I was being schooled in the middle of a fight. Perhaps I wasn’t taking it seriously enough… She certainly was. I would have to do better.

 

And so Asagi Kamiyashiro had a change of heart.

Next Chapter