Ch.231Chapter 231 – Rubrum (4)

Kay’s armor form changed.

From a distance away from Kay and Rubrum, Eve, who was fighting Lirina, could clearly see the scene.

“So that’s…”

“The new combat method of the helmet.”

Beatrice had approached from behind Eve without notice and spoke.

Then, seeing a fireball flying toward their position, Eve quickly pushed Beatrice away with her arm and jumped backward.

“You didn’t need to save me.”

“There’s no need to waste energy trying to block it either.”

Eve said as she readjusted her grip on her sword.

“The opponent is stronger than I expected.”

“Yeah, I wonder if she’s powering up in front of her master.”

Beatrice wondered if perhaps there had been restrictions placed on them when they fought before. She hadn’t realized it then, but now she could sense that the opponent had been hiding another card, making her somewhat wary.

“What matters is something else. Is that form safe?”

“Strictly speaking, bringing out the dragon armor itself can’t be called safe.”

Beatrice replied coldly.

“And the safest form is the one that appeared when the helmet first transformed. Whatever form it takes now, it can’t be as stable as that one.”

Beatrice concluded that Kay’s current heavily armored form was relatively stable, but not the most stable state.

However.

“Sometimes specializing in one aspect might be better.”

Beatrice said quietly.

“In the original form, it would have been difficult to emerge safely from the lava like that.”

Beatrice confirmed that Kay was able to safely reappear after falling into the lava because he quickly transformed his form while falling.

After all, she knew the defensive capabilities of that form better than anyone, having helped discover it.

“Kay…”

Eve’s expression darkened at Beatrice’s words.

Once again, Kay was pushing himself too hard.

‘At this rate…’

Negative images kept appearing in her mind.

But there was no time for such worries, at least not now.

“Am I not worthy of your full attention?!”

Lirina’s slightly angered voice rang out.

Eve immediately saw the trajectory of Lirina’s incoming sword and positioned her own sword in the path that would deflect it most easily.

Lirina had clearly intended to swing her sword in succession, but when her first strike was heavily deflected, most of her follow-up attacks were blocked. Then Beatrice wrapped her chains around Lirina and threw her away.

“Watch out! Dodge!”

“Sister Lirina is flying toward you!”

The green-haired girl shouted and quickly dodged, while the yellow-haired girl was crushed beneath the blue-haired one.

Then Eina and Sera, who were facing them, shouted loudly.

“Thank you!!”

“Eve, behind you!”

Sera quickly warned, but Eve had already noticed the attack coming from behind.

Without looking back, she jumped slightly to the side to avoid the attack, and a flaming whip struck where she had been standing.

The sound of Lorona clicking her tongue was heard, and Beatrice immediately grabbed the whip with her hand and pulled.

“What?!”

“Fly away!”

Beatrice kicked Lorona, sending her flying.

Then she quickly turned to Eve and said:

“Miss, I understand your concern, but let’s focus on these ones first.”

“You’re right.”

After all, no intermediate presence could intervene in the battle between Rubrum and Kay.

There was little she could do to help.

‘…Still, if what I just passed on helps…’

She had instructed Sera to hand over the item based on a glimpse of the future she had seen.

While she was thinking this, Kay and Rubrum resumed their battle.

The sound of impact filled the surroundings, and the battles around them intensified as well.

Eina swung her axe against the green-haired girl, and Sera restrained the yellow-haired girl with magic.

And Beatrice easily broke through Lorona’s flames and began her attack.

‘Please come back safely.’

Eve quietly prayed as she defended against Lirina’s ice sword attacks.

+

Like Rubrum had done, I had formed a hypothesis while experimenting with armor transformation.

What if it was possible to create armor that specialized in one aspect and then rebalanced from there?

As long as the dragon armor was composed of magical energy, I hypothesized this would be possible.

‘Beatrice warned me it was dangerous.’

No matter what, the original armor form was optimized for me.

She warned that any other form couldn’t be as stable.

But I thought having various options was necessary for future battles, so I found answers through many dangerous trials.

And after various trial and error with my companions, the answer was my current form.

‘Though there was a price.’

I glanced slightly at my empty back, recalling what I discovered through trial and error.

Wings should have been there, but now they were gone.

‘When the armor gets thicker, I can’t maintain the wings.’

As the armor thickened and weight increased, I couldn’t create wings capable of sustaining flight.

If I were a proper dragon or even someone forcibly extending life through magic, I might have been able to create them regardless of balance, but that wasn’t my case, so it couldn’t be helped.

Therefore, to move quickly, I had to propel myself with magical energy discharge.

That’s why I transformed my form to withstand the lava and then shot up using magical energy discharge.

And there was another problem.

‘I can’t maintain this form for long either.’

Though it was a relatively balanced form, it wasn’t the most optimized.

If maintained too long or moved incorrectly, the magical energy balance would collapse, leading to severe chest pain.

Through training, I could gradually extend the time, but eventually I would have to either release the armor or return to the optimal form.

However.

The advantages gained while maintaining this form were clear.

-Thoom!

Rubrum’s fist struck my body again.

But the thickened armor didn’t budge even under Rubrum’s attack.

Rubrum immediately retreated and fired a light bullet, but again I felt no particular pain.

When Rubrum thrust his spear, I deliberately blocked it with my armor and grabbed his arm.

When I applied force, Rubrum’s solid armor cracked slightly.

[…The armor.]

Rubrum hesitated slightly and muttered.

I lifted him up and threw him.

-Boom!

This time, opposite to when I was thrown earlier, Rubrum flew through the wall.

Despite being heavy due to his armor, Rubrum flew away lightly.

A form that sacrificed wings for powerful defense and strength.

That was my current form.

‘I’ll simply call it the close-combat enhancement form.’

Mask asked if there wasn’t a cooler name, but honestly, I had no ideas so I chose something simple.

He kept promising to come up with a suitably cool name later, so maybe it would get a better name.

But the name didn’t matter.

Rubrum was the priority now.

‘I need to end this before he gets used to it.’

My instinct was whispering.

With the sudden transformation, Rubrum was momentarily confused and unfamiliar.

If I didn’t finish him now, I would lose.

I gathered magical energy, propelled myself toward Rubrum, and swung my fist.

-Boom!!

A large, dull sound spread around, making me question if I was really just swinging a fist.

Rubrum blocked such a heavy punch, but cracks formed in his armor.

‘He’s ridiculously tough too.’

Although cracks were starting to form, I couldn’t help but be impressed by Rubrum’s defense.

Even with increased strength and weight in this form, I could barely crack his armor, which wasn’t entirely favorable.

Moreover, Rubrum could still fly in that state, while I had given up flight for this extreme transformation.

I needed to prevent the enemy from taking the battle to the air again.

‘I don’t have time for a long fight anyway.’

Due to the prolonged battle with Rubrum, the dragon armor itself was approaching its time limit.

I needed to finish Rubrum before I became incapacitated.

A short, decisive battle was necessary.

Seeing Rubrum quickly distance himself from me, I also discharged magical energy to rapidly close the gap.

I threw a punch before Rubrum could completely reposition himself.

Another punch.

And yet another.

‘No time for lengthy considerations.’

I continued to pummel Rubrum.

I kept delivering blows while taking Rubrum’s counterattacks fully with my armor.

I relentlessly pressed in, throwing punches to prevent Rubrum from escaping into the air.

Finally, I succeeded in landing another punch on Rubrum’s face.

As I was about to throw the next punch, it was caught in mid-air.

Then Rubrum spoke in a cold voice.

[Yes, good. Let’s see who wins.]

Perhaps he no longer intended to pressure me in various ways.

Magical energy began gathering in Rubrum’s fist.

His fist was thrust forward and soon made contact with my armor.

-Boom!!

A sound unlike that of simply throwing a punch rang out, and the impact coursed through my body.

‘…Ha, damn it.’

The armor that had been unaffected by Rubrum’s attacks until now cracked slightly like Rubrum’s armor.

Rubrum must have increased his attack power to match me.

Still.

As long as Rubrum had come down to the same level as me instead of flying into the air, what I needed to do remained unchanged.

I withstood Rubrum’s punches.

I landed punches on Rubrum’s face.

With each punch I took, my body screamed in pain.

With each punch I delivered, his armor crumbled.

Without flashy magic or weapons, only a pure fistfight was occurring between Rubrum and me.

-Boom!!

Had he put more magical energy into his fist?

When hit by Rubrum’s punch, a very dull sound rang out, my body shook, and I felt great pain.

Gritting my teeth in defiance, I also gathered magical energy in my fist.

-Booom!!

With the acceleration from discharging magical energy, Rubrum’s body shook greatly.

Perhaps as a reward for all the blows I had delivered, his helmet finally broke.

Through the slightly dislodged helmet, his right eye was partially visible.

[…You, bastard!!]

His reptilian eye gleamed.

As if gathering his magical energy to the maximum, flames gathered in Rubrum’s fist.

His fist struck my armor again, and finally part of it shattered.

‘Is this the limit?’

My body became sluggish.

Any more would jeopardize my life maintenance.

The armor flickered momentarily as if about to disappear, and Rubrum didn’t miss the opportunity.

[Now it ends!]

This time, as if putting his all into the strike, his fist bore a form resembling dragon claws.

I blocked it using the thick armor.

-Crack!

And finally, the dragon armor reached its limit.

Pain began to surge due to the additional strain on my already overexerted heart, and fragments of the broken armor scattered around.

[In the end, you couldn’t hold out.]

Rubrum’s gleaming eyes were visible through the fragments of the broken armor.

In that moment, seeing those eyes certain of victory.

‘Now.’

I quickly bit down on the object I had kept in my mouth.

-Crack

With a slightly sweet taste, the medicine made by Sera spread.

It was medicine I had received from Sera when I flew between my companions during the fight, and had secretly put in my mouth before falling into the lava.

It doesn’t have the ability to heal all wounds.

However, it does temporarily alleviate pain and reduce fatigue somewhat.

Thanks to the magical processing done to make the medicine work faster, the pain in my heart diminished slightly.

As I regained some clarity, I quickly reached out and grabbed a fragment of the disappearing armor.

“Not yet.”

I hadn’t completely lost control of the armor yet.

All I needed was the magical energy from this armor fragment.

I concentrated and transformed the armor fragment into a magical dagger.

Then, I sent the magical energy still lingering in my body to my legs and discharged it.

-Whoosh!!

Because I wasn’t fully conscious, I couldn’t fly precisely toward the enemy.

My legs felt somewhat numb due to the forced magical energy discharge.

But my body was already flying toward the enemy like a bullet.

Rubrum’s eyes, which had been certain of victory, widened at the sudden development.

And toward those eyes.

I swung the dagger I was holding.

-Slash!

Though it was disappearing, the sufficiently sharp dagger tore through Rubrum’s eye.

Feeling the blood spurting from his eye touch the surface of the helmet, I smiled with satisfaction.

“I said I’d crush your eye.”

As I said those words, I fell to the ground behind Rubrum.