episode_0133

Regardless of how the sparring went, the end result was my victory.

So.

Naturally, the way they looked at me had to change.

“H-how is that even possible?…”

“There was no mana reaction… He didn’t even move his body… And they were wiped out?…”

“His voice?… Verbal incantation?…”

“No way… Verbal magic is something only transcendent beings like dragons can use… How could he—?!”

“No. If he’s the boss’s rival, it’s not strange for him to use verbal magic.”

“!!!!!!”

“If he’s the boss’s rival… then it makes sense!…”

“So that’s the level required to be the boss’s rival…”

“I see… That’s how it is…”

Dark’s subordinates nodded with expressions of sudden understanding.

“Cain!”

Alice, unable to hold back, ran up to me and declared:

“Fight me!”

The moment she arrived, she threw down a challenge.

Hmm…

What should I do?

Maybe I should stall for time.

“Wouldn’t it look bad if you lost in front of everyone?”

“Wow… You think I’d lose? You’re that confident?”

“I am.”

“Wow… Then I definitely can’t hold back!”

“You really want to fight?”

“Yeah!”

“Even if you get hurt?”

“It’s fine! Lia’s here too! Come at me like you’re trying to kill me! I’ll do the same!”

A battle maniac, as expected.

With Lia as a means of recovery, she’s completely unrestrained.

Well…

Fine by me.

Her habit of dueling without regard for her life is why she’s grown stronger than she was during the Prophecy RPG days.

…I thought to myself as I took my stance.

And.

I was ready.

“Give us the signal to start!”

“Okay!”

Alice asked the referee for the signal before settling into position.

“Begin!”

The moment the referee spoke, she tried to charge.

But.

My needle was faster.

Tuk!

“Huh?…”

Alice dropped to one knee.

Ting!

Her right hand lost strength, and her sword clattered to the ground.

“Wh-what is this…”

“Now, add a mana seal.”

Diiing!

Alice even lost the sensation of mana—something she had grown so accustomed to that she was sick of it.

“Finishing move.”

Thuk!

A shadow needle stimulated Alice’s brain.

The result?

Alice was knocked out—

“Ghk!…”

“?”

“Ghhhk!”

Boom!

A violent explosion of mana erupted from Alice’s body.

“Cough!…”

The mana burst was so intense that her entire body was drenched in blood.

“Hah…”

But her expression only grew sharper.

Kwaang!!!

Covered in blood, Alice sprinted faster than ever before.

‘Ah…’

I understood what she had done.

She forced all the mana in her body to go berserk.

The mana explosion blew away all the magic embedded in her.

‘Impressive.’

Because of the explosion, all the shadow needles I had prepared were gone.

‘She took some backlash damage, but…’

Alice also has HP recovery skills.

She can’t heal others,

but she can heal herself.

‘The recovery amount is mediocre, so it’s only good for emergency treatment, but…’

It’s enough to restore damaged muscles and get her back into fighting shape.

The other wounds won’t heal, so it’ll hurt like hell.

She can’t stop the bleeding either.

But she can still fight.

…And this mad charge of hers proved it.

‘I need time.’

I don’t even need to make many shadow needles.

Just one will do.

‘Let’s do this.’

Lasting more than 10 seconds against Alice is incredibly difficult.

But not impossible.

Swish!

Thuk!

“Ugh!…”

My shadow techniques are magic so stealthy that even gods wouldn’t notice them.

So tripping Alice by subtly tangling her legs is…

Bam!

“Huh?…”

Alice didn’t fall.

Her left leg lost balance,

but she regained her footing by pressing her ice-constructed leg into the ground.

As a result,

Alice charged straight at me without slowing down.

“Haaahp!”

With a battle cry, she swung her sword.

But.

I had no intention of going down easily.

‘My shadow techniques grow stronger the closer the distance!’

Sluurp!

A shadow hand, emerging from my shadow, coiled around Alice’s body.

It had grabbed her.

…Or so it seemed,

but an attack like this wouldn’t stop Alice.

She’s a tank character with high defense,

and she has a cheat-like auto-defense skill called Ice Auto-Shield.

So,

no matter how many times the shadow hand attacks, the damage would be close to zero.

But.

Even Alice’s defense has gaps.

Hm?

What are they?

‘Alice’s Ice Auto-Shield only reacts to attacks.’

This was crucial.

The reason my shadow leg-trip worked in the first place was because of this.

It wasn’t an attack.

Or at least, not one strong enough to be considered one.

That’s why it could touch her,

and why I could trip her.

Of course,

Alice isn’t stupid enough to fall for the same trick twice.

This time, she didn’t fall.

Anyway,

the important thing is this:

My shadow hand can touch Alice’s body while ignoring her ice shield.

So?

That means I can do this too!

Squish!

Squish!

By slightly pushing her arm, I could alter the trajectory of her sword!

Swooosh!

The sword missed by a hair’s breadth thanks to the altered path.

And that created an opening.

‘One needle loaded!’

I formed a single shadow needle inside Alice’s body.

‘Target: the heart.’

At first, I planned to paralyze her and then knock her out.

But playing it safe didn’t work against Alice.

So,

I’d attack with the intent to kill.

‘Here goes.’

Shadow Acupuncture – Heart Burst

Thud!

The needle pierced.

Sluurp!

Though it was a needle when it struck,

it transformed afterward, spreading like clay to block her blood vessels.

“Ghk!…”

Her vessels were clogged.

The blood that should’ve circulated throughout her body stopped at her heart.

So?

What happens next?

‘Obviously, it explodes.’

Like a balloon endlessly filled with air,

the fate of a heart endlessly pumping blood was all too predictable.

“Blegh!…”

Alice vomited blood and collapsed.

Her heart had burst.

Therefore,

this match was my victor—

Swish!

“Gah!”

The fallen Alice swung her sword and stood back up.

“Hah… hah… hah…”

As she steadied her breathing, color slowly returned to her face.

“Uh… Alice?…”

“Yeah…”

“Didn’t your heart just explode?”

“Yeah… it did…”

“Then how…?”

“Remember what I said before?…”

“?”

“Ice magic is sculpting magic… a magic that can create anything…”

“You did say that, but… don’t tell me…”

“I made a heart… Shaped it from ice… and used mana as a power source to circulate blood…”

“You made that?!”

“Yeah… It’s my first time, so it’s a little rough… But… it’s good enough to fight.”

Alice slowly took her stance.

At first, she fumbled awkwardly with her ice heart,

but now she had adjusted.

She was weaker than with her real heart,

but she was still in fighting shape.

“Wow… What kind of person does this?…”

“Right… If it weren’t for Cain, I’d never have experienced something like my heart exploding… Thanks to that, I learned a new trick… As expected of Cain… A worthy opponent, just like the mentor of the Hero’s Party… Every fight with you feels fresh…”

Alice grinned and raised her sword.

But.

I had my shadow needle ready too.

‘Stabbing her ice heart would be pointless since she can just remake it… This time, I’ll target her brain!’

A heart just needs to pump.

With magic, a substitute can be made.

But the brain?

Destroy that, and it’s game over.

…Or so I thought, as I moved my shadow needle—

Ting!

“……?”

“Hah… I figured as much…”

“Wh-what?…”

“I don’t get the principle, but it seems like a technique that attacks the inside of the body… So I coated all my insides with an ice barrier… Looks like something hit the brain area?”

“Wow… You’re insane…”

Scientifically, this makes no sense.

Coating the inside of her body with ice to block all attacks?

Well…

If the ice were thin enough, maybe it could coat even delicate things like blood vessels for protection.

But.

If it were that thin, body heat would melt it instantly.

So,

the idea of coating all her internal organs with ice barriers is nonsense.

‘From a scientific standpoint, it’s bullshit.’

But.

From a magical standpoint, it might not be.

Magic is, after all, a miraculous technology that turns plausible nonsense into reality.

The impossible becomes possible.

It doesn’t matter if it defies science.

If you believe you can do it,

you twist reality with convincing nonsense.

Or, you can throw logic out the window and brute-force it.

The closer it is to reality, the less mana it consumes.

But in other words?

Even if it’s nothing like reality, you can just pour in more mana.

Alice is someone with so much mana that she needs mana-draining items just to function.

An inefficient magic for someone like her?

She can spam it all day.

So,

attacking with shadow needles became meaningless.

‘She can’t maintain full-body ice barriers 24/7… I could try to create an opening and break through, but…’

The problem is, I don’t have the stamina to last that long.

So, I said:

“Sigh… I’ll admit defeat here.”

“What… You’re not gonna fight anymore?… Ending it like this?…”

“Breaking through an ice barrier covering even your insides… Well, I could… but even I’d feel guilty doing something like that to a comrade.”

“So you do have a way to win?…”

“Of course?”

“Then do it… No matter what you try, I’ll overcome it and win…”

“You sure about that?”

“Do I look like someone who’d be scared of that?…”

“Uh… Well…”

Knowing Alice, she’d probably charge headfirst into any technique and figure it out later.

‘Originally, she was the type to value her life—if things got too dangerous, she’d retreat…’

But with Lia as a revival item,

Alice has evolved into a woman who doesn’t care about her life.

In real battles, she wouldn’t choose to take hits on purpose,

but in sparring, she’s developed a habit of deliberately enduring attacks to analyze her opponent’s techniques.

Well…

It’s not a bad thing.

Thanks to that, she absorbs and masters her opponents’ techniques with every fight.

But.

I had no intention of letting others see her get hit by this technique.

“Lia.”

“Yeah!”

“Put up a barrier so only the Hero’s Party can see us.”

“Okay!”

Lia cast the barrier.

“Wow… What kind of technique is so secretive that you hide it from others?…”

“I don’t have the hobby of publicly humiliating the woman who’ll be my future wife by showing her collapsing in a pathetic state.”

“So you’re that confident?…”

“Well… I’d probably win.”

“Good… Let’s see it…”