Chapter 5 Civil War Part 9

The magic bullet heads toward Wessel at subsonic speed, piercing his skull—

"Oooh~, you can do this kind of magic? What was that? You seem to have a lot of tricks I don't know!"

—Or It was supposed to.

He was still alive, standing there. He tilted his head to avoid the Mana Bullet before it hit him.

"...Visually avoiding an object that moves in subsonic speed, what kind of monster are you?"

It seems that my estimation was wrong. The Faebern's must have been a family that had ceased to be humans.

To be honest, I didn't think he'd be able to avoid [Shoot], even if it was head-on. I was proud of my most powerful magic spell, but it appears to have a flaw. If someone could avoid it in this manner, it would be unbearable.

"Tsk."

I clicked my tongue and held up my hands. Then I unleashed a barrage of Mana Bullets from my two index fingers. I also used Mind Magic to cast [Increased Pain] and [Decreased Reflex] on him.

I hadn't had the opportunity to use it until now, but I was finally able to use my Debuff Spells.

At present, Debuff Spells cannot be applied unless the target was captured. This makes it difficult to use against enemies like Wessel who have the means to move at high speed. But, I would improve the problem around that area in the future.

In addition to the increased pain of his severe wounds, his reaction slowed down. With this, dozens of [Shoot] cannot be avoided.

While firing a barrage of Magic Bullets, I watched the end of my attack.

In a sense, my prediction was correct. Wessel certainly couldn't avoid the Mana Bullets, but I couldn't end it with that attack either.

He started knocking down a lot of my Magic Bullets with his Buster Sword.

He had wounds on both shoulders and a large sword that could not be moved quickly, so he couldn't defend against all of them. However, he successfully defended himself against the life-threatening attacks. The enemy in front of me was still standing, although there were holes in various parts of his body.

"Are you done? Then, it's my turn."

The bloodied Wessel laughed.

Then his figure vanished a split second later.

[Prediction] worked and foresaw the attack's trajectory would be behind me.

But I wouldn't be able to evade it in time, because the speed of his attack was clearly faster than the previous ones.

I quickly turned around and readied both daggers. At the same time, Wessel appeared and swung his great sword at me.

A powerful slash and a bombardment of fire magic hit me. The metallic sound of the blades crossing each other and the sound of fire spreading tickled my ears.

"Ugh…!"

A groan leaked out.

It's only natural since I completely took Wessel's head-on slash. No matter how much [Body Strengthening] I have, there was a limit to receiving attacks from a great sword with daggers. This was even more so if it was against a first-rate opponent.

Since I've deployed a magic barrier, I wasn't injured at all.

However, I couldn't resolve the situation of our fierce clash. Even now, the enemy in front was pouring his full strength toward me, making it difficult for me to get out.

I mean, it was unbelievably powerful for a blow from someone who was seriously wounded. If he hadn't been injured, I would've been cut in half in an instant.

I could hear the sound of the blades rubbing against each other.

I didn't have to worry about the daggers breaking because of the [Magic Coating], but the ongoing fire magic was annoying.

Although my Mana Barrier was blocking it, materializing it steadily consumed my Mana. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before I ran out of gas.

That's why I need to sacrifice something to solve this problem. It was difficult to break the balance by force, so I gamble by casting my Mana. Then I materialized a large amount of Mana from my entire body and struck Wessel with it.

The enemy in front of me was obviously knocked off after being hit by a massive mass at close range.

With his mental strength, It wouldn't last more than a few seconds, but since I also cast [Slow] Mind Magic, I was able to secure a bit of leeway.

Damn it. Although it couldn't be helped, I've already consumed most of his mana. There wasn't much left, and I could only fire twenty rounds of [Shoot] or so.

It was enough for a normal enemy, but against that Wessel, it was too little. I would've to do something to create an opening.

I had already made a plan, but whether or not it would succeed was unknown.

"Even so, I have no choice but to do it."

I made up my mind and began running toward Wessel, who recovered just now. The first thing I did was to get into a melee battle, which was nothing short of reckless, considering the difference in our skill levels.

"You're the best! You certainly know how to keep me entertained!"

The enemy in front of me who acknowledged it responded with a laugh. For a combat maniac, there was no choice but to buy the fight he was challenged to. I knew that.

That's why his belligerence creates an opening.

We engaged in a sword fight. I fought desperately, swinging my left and right arms, sometimes mixing in some kicks.

However, I couldn't reach him at all. Although I had more hands than Wessel, he was able to block all of them with his great sword or his empty hands. In melee combat, Wessel was several steps ahead of me in both skill and talent.

Then, Wessel's eyes showed a slight hint of disappointment.

"Hmmm. You appear to have new skills, but your talent isn't so great. You're a complete waste of time."

He perceived me as an inferior person. He realized that he could beat me without giving his all.

Hence, he relaxed his shoulders. Even though he doesn't care, he was still seriously injured. It would be a natural reaction if it turned out that he didn't have to put in the effort.

This moment was the gap I was aiming for.

"Oooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!"

With a yell, I charged at Wessel.

He looked at me as if it says, "You realized you couldn't win, so you resorted to desperate measures, huh?"

But that wasn't the case. I was going to jump into his bosom, not by reckless means, but for the sake of certain victory.

Before I could even swing my dagger, Wessel's great sword was moving. How he could maneuver such a large mass so quickly was a mystery to me, but at any rate, he was moving first.

However, the enemy's deadly blade was never swept away.

"Gugah…! Wha–!"

Numerous bullets struck Wessel's limbs, concentrating on the muscles and joints. The impact weakens his grip, making it impossible for him to hold his great sword.

The Buster Sword slipped from his grasp and flew in an unexpected direction. My two daggers were then sucked into the enemy's empty pocket in front of me.

Two silver flashes struck him, and Wessel's body sank to the ground. With his guts ripped open and his heart pierced, his life was now in danger.

I quickly stepped back while acknowledging the fallen Wessel. I was afraid that battle maniac(berserker) would take a shot at me even in that condition.

Fortunately, Wessel did not get up again. Since there was no response from my Mind Magic, it could be confirmed that he was now completely dead.

The battlefield fell silent, and I finally let out a breath of relief.

I had managed to win. Barely…

[Shoot] doesn't need to be fired from my finger. As long as my Mana could reach it, I could use it as a firing point.

However, Wessel did not know that. Because I had intentionally fired only from my fingertips. And also because of that misinformation, I was able to attack him at the last minute.

Suppose I hadn't concealed the trait of my [Shoot]. Suppose he had not let his guard down at the end. Suppose the difference in our level had been just a little bit greater.

If any of these elements had been missing, I would have lost. He was such a formidable foe.

I exhaled roughly, moving my shoulders up and down.

I wasn't glad about my victory. With the strong smell of blood that was going inside my nose, combined with my exhaustion, I felt rather sick.

I then looked up to the sky to shake it off.

However, the sky, filled with smoke from the fire, was a dull, dusky color. No matter how hard I tried, the sky wasn't the thing that would make me feel better.

I wonder if there was anything that could refresh my mind?

When I thought about it, what came to my mind was the face of my younger sister, Caron.

That's right. If it was Caron, she would be able to purify my troubled mind.

"I want to meet up with her as soon as possible."

My murmur with desire echoed on the quiet battlefield.

Incidentally, it was only after the meeting with Caron that I came to the conclusion that I should have used Mind Magic.