-6-
“WHAT’S THE MEANING OF THIS?!” screamed Naiarotop, losing his composure.
The barrier of light he’d put up, Absolute Sanctuary, slowly lost its glow and eventually disappeared altogether.
“…Did I drop the spell in my excitement?” he asked. “No, that’s not possible. Could Master have stepped in and removed it…? No! What reason would he have for that?”
“Naiarotop… I won my biggest gamble when you were in such a rush to define the rules of this match,” I said, mustering the strength to speak.
“What do you mean?”
“There’s no rule…stopping third parties from stepping in…”
“What?”
We had talked about making it a one-on-one fight, but the only real rule we agreed on was that the match was decided when one of us died. The only thing making sure this fight stayed one-on-one was Naiarotop’s barrier. Which meant that now that the barrier was down, other people could step in and join the fight. He couldn’t use the rules to stop that.
“You filthy—! What are you saying?!” he said, and then it happened.
“Earth Magic Level 10: Ground Missile!”
Rosemonde’s voice rang out, and several huge masses of earth flew toward Naiarotop from the other side of the barrier, crashing into him and exploding.
That seemed to act as some sort of signal. Next, a huge warrior with three swords strapped to his back rushed in front of me. It was Nobunaga. He swung his blade at the explosions.
“Fire Magic Level 21: Temple of Searing Hellfire!”
A giant magic circle appeared, then crimson flames in the shape of a temple erupted out of it above the explosion.
“Atlas’s Axe!”
Kotone leapt into the air, bringing down a fifty-foot-tall axe toward Naiarotop. The axe smashed into the temple of fire, shaking the entire capital city.
“Spirit Magic Level 10: Behemoth’s Rage!”
Pomera waved her staff, and a huge rhinoceros made from fire charged toward Naiarotop.
I felt someone clap on my back. I looked and saw Lovis. “Short Gate!”
The two of us were engulfed in a magic circle, and the next moment, we had teleported away. Lunaère was standing right there.
“Space-time Magic Level 23: Retrograde.”
A white magic circle appeared, and my body was surrounded by warm light. My wounds healed in an instant.
“Thank you, Lunaère-san. The plan went well,” I said, standing back up.
“I wish you had explained it a little more… Things would have gone poorly if I were just a little bit slower,” she said with a heavy sigh of relief.
But I couldn’t have done that. If Naiarotop had realized what I was doing, he’d have either demanded different rules for the match or come up with some countermeasure.
What I asked Lunaère to do was to use what she learned from the Ravia Tablet—a stone recording of a spell used by a higher being—to shut down Naiarotop’s barrier. Lunaère had figured out through her research that it was some sort of defensive barrier, but concluded it wasn’t something that a human could recreate. I agreed at the time that that meant there really wasn’t much reason to keep analyzing it.
“If I were to give you some advice, I would tell you that they honor contracts and reputation…and that you already have a valuable method for resisting. Figure the rest out yourself. They are listening to this conversation, after all.”
But then Zoras said I had a valuable method for resisting already. I thought through it over and over, but the only thing I could think of that might fit that description was the Ravia Tablet.
So, I thought about it, and I wondered if Lunaère wouldn’t be able to find a way to use the principles and structure of the spell she already learned to find a way to undo the barrier when used by a higher being, even if she couldn’t cast the spell herself. When I thought back to Zoras talking about the higher beings honoring contracts and reputation along with a valuable method for resisting, I realized Zoras was speculating that there was a high probability Naiarotop would use the spell on the Ravia Tablet when we met.
And just as Zoras’s advice implied, the barrier spell on the Ravia Tablet was the exact same spell Naiarotop used: Absolute Sanctuary.
Zoras had learned about us through Naiarotop. He must have figured this was the only way we had to protect Locklore from the higher beings.
The biggest gamble was whether or not Naiarotop would be in such a rush that he didn’t insist on clarifying the rules, which was the weakness left when he relied on the barrier. The moment he agreed to my terms without thinking them through, I seriously felt like luck was on my side. I was sure we would win.
That was how I was able to keep getting back up, no matter how big a difference in power he kept showing me.
“How dare you make a fool of me with your ridiculous little plan! You’re nothing but worms, don’t let this go to your head! You can’t win against me, no matter how many of you gang up on me!”
He was already back to his feet, the tentacles of his arms stretching out to lash out at the area around him. It looked like his first move was to gain control of the battlefield so he could recover the damage he suffered in the surprise attack.
“Hee hee hee! A swing and a miss, moron!” cried Ramiel as she twirled effortlessly through the sky on her dragon wings, evading Naiarotop’s tentacles.
“Double Slash!” Mitsuru brought his huge sword down hard onto the tentacles as they stretched. “Whoa, they’re actually not that tough! Hey, Naiarotop, you remember the first day we met? You were all looking down on me, and I was just thinking ’bout how I’d kill you someday!” Mitsuru grinned wide as he shouted his challenge.
A large gold gate suddenly appeared in front of Naiarotop. The second it opened, a flood of mask-wearing golems poured out, pushing toward him.
“Argh! They don’t stop!” he cried with hatred as he lashed his tentacles around. The horde of golems showed no signs of letting up. Veranta must have made a lot of them with Omnipotent Alchemy.
“Your back is wide open!” said Nobunaga as he unleashed a sword strike into Naiarotop’s back, sending him stumbling. “Gya ha ha! A tough one, aren’t you? Never met a tree that needed to be turned into a stump as much as you do!” Nobunaga howled with laughter.
We got a surprise attack in while Naiarotop was caught off guard, and now we were hitting him with lots of attacks before he could gain control again. And yet, none of it looked like it was going to take him down.
“Let’s go, Kanata,” said Lunaère.
“Yes, let’s.” I nodded.
Lunaère and I would defeat Naiarotop while the others kept him occupied.
-7-
COUNTLESS GOLEMS thronged toward Naiarotop as he was buffeted by gales of magic.
“Don’t underestimate me, you insects!” he said as he created several magic circles. “Space-time Magic Level 28: Cube of Erasure!”
Four glowing, white cubes appeared around Naiarotop. Their light exploded in a blinding flash, then they disappeared, and everything that was in their space was neatly eliminated from this world. Close to one hundred of Veranta’s golems were wiped out. The ones that had been right on the edges of the cubes had portions of them cut out with perfectly straight edges.
Even the gold gate which the golems had been pouring from was erased by Naiarotop’s spell.
“That’s…an insane spell,” I murmured as Lunaère and I moved toward him.
“We can’t let ourselves be intimidated at this point,” said Lunaère. “And…no matter how skilled the magic user, there is always an opening in their defenses the moment after they cast multiple spells.”
As if to prove Lunaère’s point, Naiarotop was increasing the number of his magic attacks. He was desperate to reduce the size of the golem horde, even if that meant weakening his defenses.
We had the advantage now, but we wouldn’t again. Naiarotop had an insanely high level, high HP, and high MP. If he reduced our forces and came for a real attack, we would all be wiped out in an instant.
And with the golden gate gone, Veranta couldn’t supplement the golem horde’s numbers any further. The tables were going to steadily turn in Naiarotop’s favor. This was the only chance for me and Lunaère to take advantage of these concentrated attacks and go after him.