Rivage was shocked. When he looked up, he saw a purple wyvern ridden by an unfamiliar man with long hair. A pink wyvern also approached. For some strange reason, the wyverns’ skin repelled any arrows fired at them from below.
Sutrena’s soldiers and mountbeasts can deflect and break metal... That’s insane! They’ve gone past being living creatures! Rivage was once again shocked as he witnessed another bizarre scene. This had to be some kind of magic at work. Though I’ve never seen any magic like this... However, he still believed he had the advantage.
As Rivage looked above him, he spotted a red-haired man riding the pink wyvern. That’s Nazelbart! Rivage kept his eyes glued on him. If he just defeated Nazelbart, Myzahn should emerge victorious. The last time we met, he plucked a ton of money and valuables from us as reparations. It’s time to get back at him.
Rivage took aim from below and fired the mental recovery he’d stolen from Robin at Nazelbart and his mount. The magic flew straight at the two of them and hit them dead-on. Robin’s effective range with his magic was unknown, but Rivage could wield this magic from a long distance.
“All right, that definitely hit them!” Now, Nazelbart would fall into a trance, so it was the perfect time to seal his magic. Next, Rivage targeted Nazelbart with his sealing magic, but the pink wyvern abruptly dodged and avoided his magic.
Huh?! How can it move? I hit both Nazelbart and the wyvern with my magic. Rivage’s mental recovery magic had definitely hit the wyvern too.
Nazelbart suddenly looked toward Rivage; it looked like he could move too.
Was my magic ineffective? Rivage used the same magic again, but the result was identical. Both the wyvern and Nazelbart looked perfectly fine. It was clearly strange.
“Why isn’t my mental recovery working?!”
The purple wyvern swooped down and used its tail to knock away the soldiers who’d come to support Rivage. It looked like this wyvern was also abnormal, as the soldiers were sent flying an unbelievably long distance. There was a giant man in the direction the Myzahni soldiers had been sent to. He didn’t worry about their weapons at all as he grabbed them and flung them away, roaring as he did so.
Gigantification, huh? That was another tough magic to deal with. He’s one of Nazelbart’s men. I remember catching a glimpse of him before. This man hadn’t joined the conference in Sutrena, but Rivage remembered him wandering around as the margrave and margravine’s guard.
Rivage tried using his magic on the giant, who stopped moving. My magic worked! It looks like it wasn’t my fault that it failed to affect Nazelbart and his wyvern. However, the giant also started moving right away; he’d paused for only a brief moment. Rivage’s magic should have had a longer duration than Robin’s, yet it wore off in an instant. Something was definitely off here.
Don’t tell me there’s magic that can negate all other magic affecting someone? But I’ve never heard of such a kind of magic. Although there are cases where opposing magics can weaken each other’s effects, fundamentally speaking, the only magic that can be completely undone by another is sealing magic, using release magic. Perhaps Desnim had someone with special magic besides Robin.
Rivage suddenly started getting flustered.
I absolutely want to duplicate both the magic that deflects metal weapons and the one that can negate other magic, but this isn’t the time for that. For now, I need to retreat and think up countermeasures... Rivage turned on his heel and fell back in a hurry. He had no intention of continuing an unfavorable fight.
However, Nazelbart was faster to act. The ground in front of Rivage bulged, and a large, mysterious plant—like a vine or a cactus—sprouted out of the ground.
“Ugh, so that’s his plant manipulation magic.” Rivage managed to barely dodge the plant and urged his ribbon lizard to hurry.
At the moment, Rivage only possessed Robin’s two magics and sealing. He didn’t have any more conventional offensive or defensive magic available. If he fought against Nazelbart in his current state, his chances of victory were slim.
What should I do? Should I duplicate someone’s magic again? If Rivage was going to duplicate something, it might as well be Nazelbart’s powerful magic. However, although Rivage’s magic was convenient, it also came with many restrictions. He had to touch someone in order to duplicate their magic, which would be difficult when his enemy was in midair. He should probably retreat.
Rivage distanced himself from Nazelbart, but this time, there were screams from the direction he was headed, behind the Myzahni soldiers.
What’s wrong? Is there another problem? Rivage wondered, but he soon noticed the cause. A large swarm of creepy, insectile manabeasts was advancing on his troops. They were covering the ground, turning it pitch-black.
“Aren’t those parala scarabs, insectile manabeasts native to Myzahn?! What are they doing in the desert?”
Parala scarabs were manabeasts about the size of an adult’s head that resembled dung beetles. They normally lived under the shade of rocks or in ruins. But unlike dung beetles, they were ferocious carnivores. They were also called “the desert’s piranha.” They had sharp stingers growing out of their tails. Moreover, parala scarabs didn’t roll dung, but special spheres filled with paralyzing—not quite poisonous—fog imbued with mana. The spheres’ surface was covered by a hard membrane made of saliva, which the scarabs pierced using the stingers on their tails. The paralyzing fog was designed to affect only the parala scarabs’ prey, not them. From there on...they were just like their moniker suggested.
What is a massive outbreak of such dangerous manabeasts doing in the middle of the desert? Is this also the result of a Desnimer’s magic?
Myzahni soldiers who used magic fought fiercely against the parala scarabs, with magic such as gluing, whirlwind, and stone throwing. But as they had their hands full dealing with the manabeasts, they couldn’t spare the time against the Polpystani and Desnimer armies. Then Nazelbart caught up with Rivage, scattering the Myzahni soldiers with his plants. Ordinary soldiers didn’t stand a chance against Nazelbart.
“Your Highness, I’m telling you for your own good: Surrender at once and withdraw from Polpystan.”
“You’re very tenacious.”