Chapter 79

The city walls of Dresden are twenty-two meters thick. It was a space wide enough to offer no hindrance to a duel.

However, for me, having to face five opponents at once, it was disadvantageous terrain. A wide-open area meant it would be that much easier for them to surround me. I would have preferred to face them one by one in a narrow alley, but things rarely go so conveniently.

I was the one who proposed the duel, and I’d made the decision knowing full well the odds. At this point, I couldn’t afford to hold anything back. Even if it meant exposing every skill I possessed, I had to go all out from the start.

“Karina, go and fetch a healer from Sohsh.”

Juliana, giving orders to the young boy in maid’s clothing with few words, looked truly delighted. Her eyes gleamed with a predatory light, and her expression was filled with pure pleasure. She was enjoying this situation to an infuriating degree.

“We are ready. Come at us whenever you like.”

That man—I believe his name was Heuberger. He was likely the most skilled among them. He hadn’t become the leader of the escort knights for nothing.

Fortunately, they weren’t wearing armor. My Paralysis Ball has difficulty passing through insulators like wood or leather. Therefore, cheap wooden shields or leather armor are its weaknesses. On the other hand, it passes through metal without issue, making it effective against knights equipped with heavy full plate.

I faced the five knights, refraining from manifesting my staff just yet.

“Will you not draw? You were the one who requested a Red Duel.”

Heuberger provoked me with a mocking tone. I had no intention of using the soldier’s short sword at my waist; if anything, it was just in the way. I pulled the sword out only to set the scabbard aside on the floor.

“Here I come!”

I hurled the sword at a lantern the knights had placed down, snuffing out the light. There was one more lantern left, but the darkness around us deepened significantly.

“You bastard!”

As the knights fanned out to surround me, I fired an oversized Paralysis Ball directly at Heuberger, who was right in front of me, and dashed past him.

Behind me, I heard the heavy thud of Heuberger hitting the ground. A strong smell of urine followed; the shock must have caused him to lose control of his bladder. He’d likely hold a grudge over that for a long time.

“What was that!?”

“Can this guy use magic?”

The knights kept their distance, wary now. Losing their commanding officer was a major blow. They should have ignored their formation and swarmed me all at once.

I manifested a staff in my left hand while firing a warning Paralysis Ball with my right. However, it was deflected by a buckler worn by one of the knights. Since it was made of metal, the power transferred, but because the straps attaching it to his arm were leather, it didn’t knock him out. At most, his arm was probably numb.

“Close the distance! He can’t use that magic in close quarters!”

The man who had been hit shouted while clutching his numbing arm. I ran toward the man who had just yelled, evading the encirclement. I had coated the tip of my staff with a Paralysis Ball, much like a stun gun. My thrust was dodged at the last second, but I didn’t care and ran straight through to my target.

“Running away!?”

No. My target was the remaining lantern on the floor. I hooked it with the end of my staff, lifted it, and extinguished the light. The darkness atop the wall grew even deeper.

“Surround him! Hem him in from the front and back so he can’t move!”

The four remaining knights surrounded me as I stood motionless with my staff raised. However, that was a Dummy I had created under the cover of darkness.

“Gwah!”

One of the knights took a Paralysis Ball from behind and collapsed with a cry.

“What!? What happened!?”

The knights surrounding the Dummy remained oblivious to me lurking in the shadows.

“Heh… you think you can read my movements?”

The knights bristled as the Dummy scoffed at them.

“Don’t mock us! It doesn’t change the fact that you’re surrounded!”

Please, don’t get so angry at it. The Dummy was simply programmed to scoff and say, “Heh… you think you can read my movements?” every thirty seconds.

The moment the knights coordinated their attack on the Dummy, I fired another Paralysis Ball from behind. The Dummy vanished under the knights’ blades, but I had successfully incapacitated one more of them.

Only two left.

“Where did he go!?”

“He vanished the second my blade touched him!”

It seemed they still hadn’t grasped my location.

I created a new Dummy and had it walk straight toward them. The knights were focused on the figure that had suddenly emerged from the gloom and was closing the distance so recklessly; they didn’t notice me at all.

Using “Gecko Hand,” the real me clung to the side of the fortress wall and moved around to their flank.

“What!? There are two of them?”

I had tried to approach under the cover of darkness, but I was spotted halfway through. Changing plans, I swung a blow at them, but it was parried by a sword. If the tip of my staff had touched the blade, I could have paralyzed him, but the point of impact was off.

“Watch out! If you touch the glowing parts, you’ll be numbed!”

So they’d seen through it.

Still, the momentum of the battle was mine. Setting my resolve to keep the pressure on, I stepped forward with my left foot and took a half-body stance. It was the opposite of my usual guard.

I held the staff with my right hand as if resting it on my shoulder and thrust my left hand out toward the knight, splaying my fingers wide. From his perspective, my left hand was in the way, obscuring the right hand holding the staff.

This was the “Haze Stance”, designed to hide the trajectory of an attack.

“Heh… you think you can read my movements?”

I repeated the same line as the Dummy to provoke mental confusion. The opponent faltered, unable to distinguish between the real me and the clone.

And this time, even the Haze Stance was a feint.

With a dull thud, the hilt of a sword collided with the back of the knight’s head, and he sank to the ground. Taking advantage of the moment he was distracted by my stance, I used the “Attraction” skill to fly a dropped sword into my hand. Of course, I made sure the back of the knight’s head was directly in the flight path.

One left.

“You coward! Why won’t you fight fair and square!?”

Coming from guys fighting five-on-one, that was rich.

I closed the distance instantly and parried the last knight’s blade. He wasn’t particularly skilled, but he was swinging a live steel blade. If it hit my body, a serious injury was guaranteed. Enduring that fear, I swung my staff desperately.

I had already shown most of my hand. I decided it was time to try an application of my techniques.

Staff arts include kicking techniques. I would combine this with paralysis magic. While I had released magic from my hands and weapons before, I had never tried it from my feet.

The enemy’s sword knocked my staff upward as he lunged into range. I unleashed a kick imbued with paralysis magic toward the hand gripping his sword hilt. The kick struck the knight’s hand unerringly, and his numbed fingers dropped the sword.

I finished the fight by driving a thrust into the solar plexus of the now weaponless and bewildered knight.

Fighting five people is exhausting. I braced my hands on my knees and caught my breath. Checking my body, I found two shallow cuts. Thanks to the adrenaline, I didn’t feel much pain.

Once my breathing stabilized, I faced Juliana.

“I win. Now, break the spell.”

“And if I say no—”

My staff let out a whistle as it came to rest right against the Saint’s neck. I had no intention of indulging any more chatter.

The woman named Lara stepped in front of the Saint, clutching a knife, but I hit her with a Paralysis Ball without mercy. Even as I watched her fall, her body convulsing, I felt no pity.

“If you go back on your word for this duel, I will end this by throwing you off this wall.”

I was prepared to kill everyone here. If I didn’t, it would cause trouble for many people, and I couldn’t bear the thought of spending the rest of my life with half my heart stolen by Juliana.

“Do you hate me, Hinoharu?”

At the repeated question, I gave a clear, firm answer.

“I absolutely loathe you.”

My heart felt suddenly lighter, and I knew Juliana had released the Charm.

“I’m going home.”

Leaving it at that, Juliana began to descend the stairs alone. Watching her retreating back, I felt a wave of helplessness wash over me.

I had said I hated her. The Charm magic was already broken. And yet, my heart ached with a sharp, stinging pain. I knew she was crying, even though I couldn’t see her face.

Akito’s words echoed in my head.

“Maybe she was just your type to begin with, and you didn’t realize it? Your intuition picked up on it instantly.”

I knew it myself. Despite her being such a terrible woman, I couldn’t bring myself to hate the Saint. It wasn’t logical…

When I looked up at the sky just as she had, a silver moon hung over this city I had grown used to. The winter moon was far too cold to gaze upon alone.

If we had met differently, would we have been able to look at this moon together?

I knew such a hypothetical was a sad and meaningless thing. But even so, the thought continued to circle gloomily in my mind.