Chapter 5
THE SOLDIERS SHIFTED to form a ring, and in its center I stood alone. Clara, Elisabel, and the others were waiting outside of that circle. In front of me were the three “suitors,” including the new captain and the battle slave, with the court sorcerer lagging behind.
I guess the military captain and the sorcerer made sense, but it was pretty hard to believe that the battle slave was a suitor. “He was probably selected by my stepmother,” Elisabel explained coolly. “That’s because there are no especially strong fighters in the knights led by my half-brother Agveil. Consider him a stand-in. Someone else’s champion.”
“Let the duel begin! The winner will receive my daughter, Elisabel Roney Filsandia.”
“Woo!”
“Grrr…”
The courtyard grew quiet. The captain prepared himself, gripping his spear; the slave slung his axe over his shoulder. The eyes of the captain looked fully prepared for combat, while the battle slave…well, he just looked bloodthirsty. The sorcerer behind them held his staff calmly.
“Langer be praised!” The duke called out the name of the god of war. It was our signal to start the duel.
“Rrrgh!”
As expected, the battle slave rushed me immediately, brandishing his double-bladed axe. The captain was one step behind him. The sorcerer pointed his staff toward me and let out a short shout: “Dark Cage!”
“Huh?”
An endless number of black pillars appeared around me. The pillars connected above my head and trapped me like a birdcage. Wait a second! I thought he would have started with some sort of sorcery like Calm Sounds to try and silence my incantations.
“Gaah! Hyah!”
“Yaagh!”
The battle slave deftly swung his axe through the gaps in the Dark Cage. However, my familiar Invisible Demon was blocking that nicely. The captain charged in next, thrusting with his spear—but it was just as ineffective.
Due to the severity of the situation, I summoned three Invisible Demons that day. From their perspective, both warriors were stabbing the air with their weapons only to find intangible resistance.
“Wh-what’s going on?”
“Why don’t the slave and captain move?”
In Filsand, strength was probably synonymous with trustworthiness. The incomprehensible situation facing these two warriors led to uneasy chatter among the soldiers.
“How did he use sorcery inside a cage that blocks magical powers?! It must be some strange materia or magical focus!” The sorcerer twisted his clean-shaven face and yelled out another incantation. “Dark Spear!” The way he flowed from one sorcery to the next really showed why he was qualified to serve the duke.
The cage I was trapped in disappeared. Instead, a spear wrought from pure darkness shot out of the end of the sorcerer’s staff.
Now that the weird cage is gone, it’s time to move. I activated the effect of the Fly spell that I’d chanted in advance and flew seven or eight meters into the air.
“What the?!” the sorcerer cried in surprise. His dark spear pierced the ground where I had been standing mere seconds ago. Something like a poisonous mist spewed out from the point of impact.
“Argh…!”
“Gaaah!”
The captain and slave had finally escaped from the Demons’ restraints, and looked up at me in frustration. There was nothing more they could do if they only had close combat weapons.
“This…this is it! Valvord Galeiza!” The court sorcerer raised his staff with both arms as he yelled. The staff shined blue, and its length started to charge with thunder. He floated up in the air, grasping his staff, which had transformed into a spear of lightning. As I flew at him, he remained steadfast, pointing his crackling weapon straight at me. It was pretty amazing sorcery, but I was prepared.
KA-BOOM!
There was an explosion about halfway between the sorcerer and myself. The magnitude of the blast was substantial, and it dispersed into lightning instead of flames. It was probably capable of blowing a gigant to pieces. The soldiers below were scrambling to get away, too. But I was unscathed. My Mana Shield was working nicely.
“What?!”
“N-Nathan’s sorcery…!”
“You must have somehow armed yourself in advance!”
Under the D&B rules that governed my spells, spears made from sorcery were not deemed to be magic. Therefore, Invincibility, which defends only against magic, was not effective against sorcerous attacks. However, the simplest defense spell, Mana Shield, was an invisible barrier that automatically reacted to any attack. My guess that the type of attack was irrelevant turned out to be correct, so it could even defend against a spear made from sorcery.
“A higher level of sorcery than mine? How can you possibly defend against my Thunder Spear?! What manner of trickery is this?!” Clearly, I’d struck a nerve with the court sorcerer. I suppose in a way I was cheating, but I couldn’t afford to lose this duel. Sorry, not sorry.
After flying a bit higher, I started chanting a spell. “As a consequence of this spell, thunder and storms and oceans will transform. I will create a mighty blue dragon in this space under my command for a duration of thirty minutes. Create Monster: Any!”
“Wh…what the hell…?”
“Grrr…!”
“Impossible…!”
As soon as I finished chanting the spell, the sky above me began to swirl. The air slowly rippled from nothingness to a thick, syrupy, swirling aura. The two warriors and sorcerer stood petrified. Out on the terrace, the duke and his party were shrinking back, as were the soldiers that enclosed our contest.
The next bit wasn’t strictly necessary, but I felt like putting on a show.
I bellowed: “Come forth! Huge blue dragon!”
A giant shadow emerged from the distorted air. The shadow grew thicker, resolving into a black mass of darkness, which then grew and twisted, spreading out and taking shape.
“Raaargh!”
A long neck, tail, and wings appeared. The massive body was wrapped in blue scales. The huge blue dragon that appeared was a Level 32 monster.