“Wha—?! I can only focus on him...?!”
“That’s my skill: Iron Target. It forces my enemies to make me their sole target. You have no choice but to fight me now.”
Forcing my opponents into battle with me by making them focus all of their aggro on me: that was the crux of my Iron Target skill.
With things now being one-on-one, the two of us faced off, leaving the rest of the Fifth free to go after the balloon in the back.
“I had always wondered how the royal capital had managed to weather so many battles thus far with such a shortage of forces. Now that I’ve seen this skill of yours, though, everything makes perfect sense.”
“You’ve got to fight me now, whether you like it or not. And while we do that, you’re going to lose your balloon.”
“As things stand now, that may be true.” Heedless of his dilemma, Leobolt suddenly smiled. “In which case, I will simply have to defeat you and force the skill to terminate. After that, I can stop the others and prevent the balloon from popping.”
Things had taken a sudden unexpected turn—yet he had calmly assessed the situation, then immediately managed to choose the best option out of those available to him.
Which meant he was going to put his undivided concentration into defeating me.
I saw Leobolt pull back for a thrust—and then, all at once, he rushed in at me.
“Heavenly Blast!”
The tip of his sword wrapped in wind, he unleashed an explosion of power in a single devastating attack. With the wind coiled around it, the blade hurtled in my direction, threatening to pierce straight through me. It was so overwhelmingly fast that it left no sound in its wake, affording me no opportunity to dodge—which naturally meant the lone option I had left was to take it head-on.
I planted my feet on the ground to avoid being blown away by the wind, raised the shield in my left hand, and adopted a stance to take the full force of Leobolt’s special technique.
The power of his strike was focused on a single point, and it broke straight through my shield. However, mere moments before it could pierce through my torso, the blade of his sword buckled from the pressure and shattered into splinters.
Apparently, my defense power had ever so slightly beaten out Leobolt’s attack power.
“Guh—?!” Leobolt gasped in surprise at the splintered-tipped handle that used to be his sword. For the first time, a crack had formed in the mask of composure he had been wearing.
As all that was occurring, Spinoza and the others were nearing the balloon. Just when I thought we were about to capture the win, though—
“It’s not over yet!”
Wearing an expression of urgency, Leobolt turned on his heels and sprinted toward the balloon.
Sure, I was surprised he hadn’t lost his will to fight yet—but that was nothing compared to the other thing that blindsided me.
He broke my Iron Target?!
Leobolt’s special technique was so powerful that it had forced me to terminate Iron Target and devote every last bit of my concentration to defense. If I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have been able to stop his attack.
However, his wooden sword had already been shattered to bits. He didn’t have any way to stop the others’ attacks.
“Awright! Let’s finish this balloon off with a bang!”
Just as Spinoza, certain that we had won, confidently wound up for a huge hammer swing to burst the balloon, I cried out, “Spinoza! He’s right next to you!”
“Huh?!”
Only when she heard my voice did she notice Leobolt rushing at her throat. By the time she realized what was happening, she had been yanked to the ground.
“Gah?!”
Then, keeping up that same momentum, he tried to go after Seira.
“I don’t think so.” Fam released an arrow, which Leobolt noticed, allowing him to dodge at the last second.
However, this gave Seira a split-second opening to attack, and she brought her sword down at the balloon. “Got you!”
Just as the tip was about to pierce its target, though—Leobolt slid into the line of fire.
“Wha...?!”
Seira’s wooden weapon struck the man. He had blocked the attack with his body.
“He sacrificed himself...?!” Spinoza sputtered.
Even after taking that blow, his eyes still shone with vigor. Just as he was about to lash out at Seira with a counterattack, a voice bellowed out from behind us:
“That’s enough!” Commander Bolton’s shout put an end to our battle right then and there. “We’ve got plenty of an idea how good you are now, Leobolt. If this doesn’t stop now, things’re just gonna get uglier.”
Upon hearing those words, Leobolt relaxed his battle stance. He released an extended breath, during which he let his bestial ferocity subside. Soon, he was back to his former pleasant demeanor.
“Were you satisfied with my performance in battle, then?”
“Sure was. You’re not hailed as a Sword Saint for nothing—those were some amazing moves. I doubt any one of us guards is better than you are when it comes to pure swordsmanship,” Bolton admitted. “And keeping up with the whole Fifth by yourself like that for so long? Crazy stuff. Though you only managed to pull off that last move because we were using wooden swords.”
He had to have been talking about Leobolt using his body to stop Seira’s sword strike. While it was easy enough to brace oneself and tank a hit like that when dealing with wooden swords in a mock battle, it wouldn’t exactly be possible in actual combat.
However, the response that followed was unexpected.
“What are you talking about, Commander Bolton?” Leobolt said. “If I had encountered that situation in an actual battle, I would have done the exact same thing.”
“Huh? What are you talking about? You’d be a bloody mess if you did that. Throwing yourself in front of a monster attack like that could easily get you killed.”
“Of course it could. I’ve always been prepared for that possibility. Between my life and the entire world, I believe it’s quite obvious which holds greater importance.”
The commander’s mouth fell open. He was blown away by the sheer strength of Leobolt’s willingness to prioritize protecting the Orb of Light over his own life.
Leobolt cut his gaze away from Commander Bolton and turned it in my direction. “I was truly impressed by your skill, Sergeant Sieg. Your defensive power is absolutely exceptional. I was stunned that you were able to stop my special technique.”
“You surprised me too,” I replied. “Your technique forced me to cancel my Iron Target.”
“As a foe, you would be fearsome indeed, but as an ally, there would be no one more reassuring. I could fight on the front lines without fear.” He looked among the other members of the Fifth standing next to me. “The entire Fifth Squadron fought quite excellently. I firmly believe that your deeds are what have kept the Orb of Light safe for so long.”
“Heh. This guy gets it.”
“It certainly doesn’t feel bad to hear praise...”
“You were quite strong as well, Leobolt!”
Spinoza, Fam, and Seira, respectively, all seemed rather pleased at the compliments. Everyone’s impressions of Leobolt, including my own, had improved greatly compared to before.
“I think we share the exact same sentiment about being reassured to have you as an ally,” I said, and he flashed us a pleased smile, as if honored by the words. He then extended his hand outward.
“With our powers combined, we would have nothing to fear, no matter what fearsome foes may come. Let us fight to protect our world.”
I took hold of Leobolt’s outstretched hand and shook it firmly. It was proof that we had become allies in defending the royal capital. We had forged a bond of trust that would allow us to rely on each other on the battlefield.
And so the Guard Corps had gained a powerful new member.