Chapter 178

Kaeld growled at my calm reply.

“I have always hated that smug attitude of yours. Come to think of it, you were like that the first time we met too.”

“It’s just how I am.”

“I will fix that for you.”

He crouched down.

Countless spikes began sprouting from his back.

[What the hell is that supposed to be? A hedgehog?]

‘A man just turned into a monster before our eyes, spikes shouldn’t even surprise us anymore.’

I quickly steadied my stance.

Tak. Chaaak!

In an instant, his spikes came flying at us like a storm.

“Kh!”

—Ridiculously Intense Slashing!

Normally it was an offensive technique, but this time, like Lepia said, I had to use it as a curtain of blades for defense.

My vision was soon filled with the glint of my sword.

They weren’t coming just from the front, so I had to stretch my defense wider than usual.

Kaang! Kagang!

Crackle.

Crackle?

Damn it. Was the sword taking too much strain?

“Neril! Put some distance between us and him.”

“Ah, okay. Just a second.”

Swish.

I heard the sound of her forming seals.

Even though I asked her, I had no idea how she planned to create distance.

But Neril came up with a rather creative solution.

“Huh? Where are we?”

“In the air.”

Before I could blink, Neril and I were floating high above the ground.

Higher, even, than when we used to ride Agril.

“How high are we talking?”

“No idea. I poured all my power into it… didn’t think it would take us this far.”

“You look a little short of breath.”

“Oxygen must be thin up here. Hold on.”

She cast another spell.

Breathing got easier.

I looked down and couldn’t help but laugh dryly.

“Heh.”

“…Maybe a bit too high?”

“Yeah. I can’t even see Kaeld anymore.”

He wasn’t even a dot from this altitude.

We were so high that the entire territory-sized starting point spread below us in plain view.

At this point, calling it the sky didn’t feel right, it was practically space.

“You’re really something, you know that?”

“Save the compliments. Let’s talk strategy. At this distance, I should have time to prep a big one. What do you think?”

“Start right away.”

“Alright. Give me three minutes.”

That’s when…

“Where are you?! Where are you hiding?!”

Kaeld’s voice thundered up to us.

It was impossible that we could actually hear him from this height, but we did.

If I exaggerated a little, it was like hearing a divine oracle echoing in my head.

Neril shivered.

I calmed her down.

“Don’t get scared. Just focus on the spell.”

“Hmph. Who said I was scared?”

She smirked, twisting one corner of her lips.

It had been a while since I had seen that expression, Neril had softened a lot lately, so I couldn’t help but grin back.

Swish.

She began forming seals at an incredible pace.

In her other hand, she held an open spellbook, one from the House of Erenica, no doubt their secret magic.

‘I wonder what it is. I have never seen this spell, not before or after regression.’

Then Kaeld’s voice roared again.

“There you are!”

Whoosh.

To my horror, I saw his spikes soaring toward us.

He was attacking at a height where calling it “sky” didn’t even fit, it was literally space!

I acted fast.

Ridiculously Intense Slashing!

The curtain of blades unfolded again.

The distance weakened it compared to before, but…

Kaang! Taak!

Each deflected spike made my arms go numb.

It reminded me just how monstrously strong Kaeld had become.

Still, I could hold out for three minutes. That much was certain.

Craaaack!

“Ugh.”

“M-Mide! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Hurry up.”

“Mm-hm!”

Trail spoke in a tense voice.

[You’re not fine. There’s a crack running clean through your blade.]

‘Damn it. I liked this sword.’

[Idria made it, didn’t she? That fake hero’s sword.]

‘Blacksmith or not, it’s served me well. Never had one this sturdy even during all my years as a mercenary.’

Regret would have to wait. Now wasn’t the time.

Crack. Crack.

The tiny fracture near the middle started spreading wider.

Soon, cracks formed across the entire blade.

It wouldn’t last much longer.

“Neril! How much longer?”

“Ten seconds!”

That was doable.

Thinking this might be my final swing, I slashed again.

Ka-gang! Craaack!

“Five seconds more… four, three, two, one, done!”

The moment she shouted “Done!”

BOOM!

My fake hero’s sword shattered completely.

Fragments of the blade fell from the sky like shards of glass.

I couldn’t hide the pang in my chest.

‘You have served me well.’

[Save your farewells for later. More spikes incoming.]

‘Tch.’

I turned to Neril, ready to dodge, but there was no need.

“Ogrema Wave!”

She pointed her finger at the incoming spikes.

And in that instant, she became the sun itself.

Or rather, she fired a sun.

A colossal surge of light erupted from her fingertip, streaking down toward the starting point.

Fwoosh! Fwaaaah!

The spikes flying toward us melted instantly, unable to resist.

That light was pure, absolute radiance.

No matter how powerful Kaeld was, there was no dodging it, no enduring it either.

KWAAAAAANG!

The entire starting point exploded.

Before, when I had fought him on the ground, the damage had been limited to one section.

But this time, it was gone.

Everything at the starting point detonated, burned, and vaporized.

“Neril… what was that?”

“Haa… haa… How did Beyond even make something like this?”

“Huh?”

“That was a spell stored on the first page of the book. A spell made by Beyond Erenica.”

She steadied herself, catching her breath.

“It detonates elements by forcing them to react with each other. You know, elements…”

“Not at all. You will have to explain that later.”

“Hehe. Anyway, Beyond invented it, but it was never used in battle. Even the greatest geniuses needed a full year to prepare it, and it only worked within a few dozen meters.”

“…”

“It was just a theoretical experiment spell.”

“What you just did looked nothing like that.”

Neril’s eyes widened slightly.

“Thanks to you, I got the spellbook and access to the sealed pages. I have actually been studying it secretly every night, figured it might come in handy someday.”

“Neril.”

“Still, if I hadn’t been able to use Fame, I wouldn’t have even dreamed of this. Thanks again, Mide.”

“No matter how I look at it, I think I should be the one thanking you right now.”

I looked down again.

The massive explosion Neril had caused had formed a tremendous cloud of smoke.

It felt like a volcano had erupted.

Neril spoke cautiously.

“Do you think he is dead? I hope he is.”

“I doubt anything could survive that… but we will have to check for ourselves. Can we go down?”

“Ah, yeah. Wait a sec. It will be too hot if we go down right now, so I will cast a simple spell.”

Neril waved her hand.

“There, done.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

We began descending back to the ground slowly, carefully, unlike when we had gone up.

Thud.

A few minutes later, our feet touched solid ground.

Ssshhh.

I heard something burning and looked down.

Huh. My shoes were on fire.

No wonder my feet felt so hot.

“Ah, sorry. I forgot about that part.”

Once Neril cast her spell again, I could finally breathe.

I narrowed my eyes and scanned the area.

“Can’t see him. Must be all this smoke.”

“We’re at the same coordinates where we fought before, though… should I blow the smoke away?”

“No need. Look.”

I pointed in one direction.

Neril squinted and nodded.

“He is down.”

Right.

Kaeld was lying on the ground, his entire body charred black.

[It’s over… No, forget I said that.]

‘Good restraint.’

[Still, Neril’s magic is incredible. Her Fame is much lower than yours, but the power she unleashed was enormous.]

‘That’s exactly why you can’t give mages time to prepare. They can produce results far beyond their natural limits.’

Even so…

I clicked my tongue.

“We didn’t finish him off.”

“What?”

I didn’t bother answering.

Twitch.

Smoke puffed from Kaeld’s snout as he coughed violently.

“Wh-what was that magic…”

“Why aren’t you dead?! After taking that hit, you should be dead!”

“Ghhk…”

He staggered to his feet.

But the overwhelming energy he had shown earlier was completely gone.

He was barely hanging on.

“Ugh… my body…”

I didn’t need to hear more to know he was a wreck.

Neril’s eyes gleamed.

“I think I could kill him now. You can’t, so I will do it.”

“Not sure. Impelium said it wouldn’t work.”

“Hmph. Watch me.”

Neril formed a seal with her hands.

Vmmm.

A familiar spell activated.

Transcendent Disintegration.

The same spell that had once erased an entire mountain was now fired at Kaeld.

He didn’t even try to dodge, just stared blankly.

Kwooooom!

“Uaaaaaah!”

He screamed in agony.

But the very fact that he screamed meant Neril’s magic hadn’t worked.

If it had, he would have been annihilated instantly, not given a chance to cry out.

Grinding her teeth, Neril cursed.

“Damn it. What’s with that body?”

“Velosian’s power still sleeps inside him. That power is protecting his flesh.”

“Tch.”

“No helping it. We will stick to the original plan. Cancel your spell.”

Reluctantly, Neril dispelled her magic.

Kaeld was already coughing up blood.

“Ghk… Th-this can’t be… impossible…”

“You look like you’re in a lot of pain. Go in there and get some rest.”

I activated my skill again.

Drag into Space.

Zzzzk.

Last time, Kaeld hadn’t budged from it.

But now, broken and bleeding, things were different.

“N-no!”

His body began to drag toward the rift, my dimensional prison.

He clawed at the ground, desperate to resist.

“Uaaaah! Let me go!”

“Cool off in there and think about what you have done.”

He collapsed flat on the ground, scraping with both hands and feet.

A fitting look for Kaeld.

“No… I can’t… be captured like this…”

“Give it up.”

“Not yet! Not yet!”

What?

And indeed, his words proved true.

The blackened surface of his body began to regain color.

Light returned to his eyes, and his muscles swelled again.

Velosian’s power, still dormant within him, was flaring back to life.

“You’re still not in full form, are you? You’re pushing yourself too far.”

“…!”

“Your size alone has shrunk a lot, hasn’t it? What now, two or three meters tops?”

“Haa… shut up! I can still kill you both!”

Not a chance.

Unlike before, he couldn’t even form new spikes now.

At best, he could resist my pull.

“Mide, I can go again….”

“Nope. I am finishing this.”

“Huh?”

“Let me look cool for once.”

Neril chuckled.

Well, truthfully, I just didn’t know what a cornered Kaeld might try next.

“Didn’t your sword just break, Sword master of No Killing?”

“Even sword masters like a bit of hand to hand sometimes!”

I clenched my fists.

Quick Sprint!

Then I charged straight at Kaeld.

“Ghhk! Kaaagh!”

“Just die…. no, not die, just stay down already!”

He raised both arms, smashing down at my back.

Instead of dodging, I twisted my body and kicked.

A kick powered by 1.2 million Fame. It was far beyond anything that could be called a simple kick.

Crunch!

Both of his arms bent at grotesque angles.

“Uaaaagh!”

Foaming at the mouth, he kept attacking wildly.

Tap! Thud!

We traded blows countless times.

But in the end, it was only a matter of time.

He gradually failed to block my strikes.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

One to the face, one to the gut, another to the chest.

Each time, his body crumpled, shattered, and broke.

“Mide… Mide Mohan!”

“Yeah, yeah. You know my name. Now shut up.”

“Why… why must I always fall to you? How long must I keep losing?”

“How long?”

I lowered my stance, channelling all my strength into my right leg.

My eyes darted, gauging the space behind him.

Right in line with the spatial rift I had opened earlier.

Perfect.

“This will be the last one.”

“Wh-what?”

“Because next time, I will kill you without mercy!”

Flash!

I kicked with everything I had.

His body was launched backward.

With his heavy legs gone, my gravitational pull seized him completely.

He tried to anchor himself by clawing into the ground.

Scrape.

I stepped on his hand.

“Aaaagh! N-no!”

“…”

“Mide! Let me go!”

“Ha.”

“I-I will never defy you again. Take the title of Hero, take it all! I will disappear completely, just spare me!”

I smirked.

“You, giving up on being a hero? That’s like a dog giving up on eating bones.”

Thud!

I stomped down with all my might.

Crack.

His claws and bones shattered.

“Gaaaaah!”

And at last, Kaeld vanished beyond the rift.

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