34. The Reversal Strike

“—‘Berserk’!”

As Rogan spoke those words, his skin rapidly turned gray, and his eyes began to glow violet.

Berserk.

Reet had only read about it in books and never actually witnessed it, but he’d heard it was a special Skill.

In exchange for losing reason forever, one gains explosive magical power through a state of oblivion.

“Die!!!!!!!!”

After screaming those words, Rogan launched himself toward Reet.

“Dragon’s Breath!!”

He unleashed a high-tier magic attack from directly above.

It was a technique Reet had seen during the recruitment exam, but—

Reet immediately sensed the danger to his life and leaped backward at full speed.

The next moment, the ground where Reet had been standing bore a massive crater.

The power was completely different from before.

Rogan’s strength had multiplied several times over due to the Berserk Skill. Even the same technique now wielded a power as vast as heaven and earth.

“I’ll kill you—Dragon’s Breath Nova!!”

Rogan unleashed the highest-tier flame magic skill, the most advanced magic in the Mage-class system.

Naturally, when he had fought Reet before, he hadn’t possessed such a technique.

Normally, even a prodigy of Rogan’s Mage level shouldn’t be able to acquire such a Skill.

Probably—he had acquired it through the power of Berserk.

A scorching inferno pursued Reet, burning away the earth beneath it.

“—Sacred Blade!”

Realizing he couldn’t dodge the wide-area attack, Reet met it head-on with his strongest technique.

The holiness of the Holy Knight clashed directly against the madness of a man who had sold his soul to darkness.

A deafening roar.

The heat wave shook Reet’s body.

And for the first time, Reet experienced the fact that his Sacred Blade had shattered.

The light twisted and was engulfed in the scorching heat.

“—Fire Wall!!”

Reet immediately deployed a defensive Skill that could activate at point-blank range.

But a lower-tier magic couldn’t withstand Rogan’s highest-tier magic.

Reet was blown backward along with the magic itself, his protection ring’s barrier shattering as he was slammed into the ground.

The hard earth resonated through his chest.

Even with his strongest Skill, Reet couldn’t match the power of Berserk.

This meant that with his current Skills, Reet couldn’t stand against Rogan.

“Hahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!”

Rogan laughed wildly, his human face stripped of all humanity.

Vengeance had become his only instinct, driving him forward.

“‘Dragon’s Breath’!!”

Another magical attack came flying.

Reet gathered all his strength in his legs to stand up, collecting every ounce of magical power from his entire body.

“‘Dragon’s Breath!’”

He countered with the same technique—

But Rogan’s, freed of all limiters by Berserk, easily surpassed Reet’s Skill.

Realizing magic alone couldn’t defend him, Reet once more—

“‘Sacred Blade’!”

He unleashed a full-power strike without hesitation.

Only then did they reach a stalemate—he barely managed to block Rogan’s attack.

But—

“Fire Lance!”

Rogan immediately unleashed the next technique, a lower-tier magic with superior speed.

Reet quickly chanted “Fire Wall” to focus on defense, but he couldn’t block the momentum and was blown back once more, his entire body slamming hard against the ground.

His body wouldn’t move properly anymore.

Reet resigned himself to death.

“What’s wrong? Is that it?!”

Rogan turned his crazed eyes toward him, stumbling forward like a drunken man intoxicated by madness.

He didn’t want to defeat Reet—he wanted to take revenge on him.

In just three weeks, he had lost everything.

His noble status, his dream of becoming a knight, his family, his friends—everything.

All that remained was his desire for revenge against Reet.

“That’s not enough yet.”

Rogan looked down at Reet from above, kicking at him as he tried to stand.

“Gahhh!!”

Rogan didn’t possess Physical Enhancement Skill, but the kick from a body that had lost all reason carried enough force to make even the battle-hardened Reet cough up blood.

“Because of yoooou, I lost everythinnnng!!!!!!!!”

This time he kicked from the back, adding another vicious strike.

“If you didn’t exist, everyone would have recognized meeeee!!!!!!!!”

Another kick.

Strike after strike, Rogan’s kicks rained down upon Reet’s body.

“—What’s wrong, is it over now?”

Rogan, for the last time, drove a full-power kick into Reet’s abdomen.

Reet was kicked upward, his body launching into the air, tumbling backward and falling face-down.

He no longer had the strength to even swing a sword properly, and his bones were probably broken too.

“Are you dead?”

Rogan lifted Reet with his foot to check if he was still alive, flipping him onto his back.

“What, you’re still alive? My anger isn’t satisfied yet.”

Rogan looked down and spat the words out.

Against that—

“…Yeah, I suppose it isn’t.”

Reet squeezed out such words.

“What does ‘I suppose it isn’t’ mean?!”

Rogan kicked Reet’s abdomen again.

But—

That kick was a mortal wound.

Not to Reet.

To Rogan.

The kick gouged at his abdomen. But at the same moment, Reet grabbed that foot with his left hand with all his might.

“What?!”

And with that foot still in his grip—Reet drove his fist into it.

Rogan didn’t know.

That Reet possessed the power to acquire the Skills of those he struck.

And even if he had known, in a state of lost reason, there was nothing he could have done.

If Rogan had rushed to kill Reet at maximum speed, against such overwhelming magical power, Reet would have been helpless.

But he came close to torment him, and so Reet’s fist reached him.

The punch didn’t deal damage, but—

“Don’t touch me!!!!!”

Rogan reflexively kicked, and Reet’s body flew into the air, blown backward.

Looking to the side, he could see his sword that had been blown away earlier lying on the ground nearby.

Somehow he managed to stand up, his trembling hands touching the ground as he raised his body.

“—I was… fortunate.”

“What are you saying?”

“…Even when my father abandoned me, there were others who believed in me. That’s why I’m alive now.”

Reet remembered the moment his father had abandoned him, the vast despair of that moment.

But at the same time, Reet had power, and there were people who recognized that power.

“You’re not at fault.”

Reet knew these words wouldn’t reach the maddened Rogan, but he couldn’t help but speak them.

He was a foolish man, but Reet knew he himself could have become the same.

That’s why he couldn’t condemn him.

“You bastard!!!!!”

Rogan raised his palm to the heavens and unleashed magic.

“‘Dragon’s Breath Nova’!!”

Rogan poured forth all his magical power, releasing the highest-tier magic once more.

Against that, Reet—

[—You have obtained the Skill “Berserk”]

[—You have obtained the Skill “Dragon’s Breath Nova”]

The goddess’s voice announced the acquisition of Skills.

And as if echoing that voice, Reet declared:

“‘Dragon’s Breath Nova’!”

From the fist Reet thrust forward, a great dragon’s primordial fire erupted.

Clashing magical powers.

In terms of pure power, Rogan had the advantage due to his Berserk state.

But—

Reet picked up his sword and pursued the trail of his own flames.

Rogan’s flames shattered Reet’s flames and came rushing toward him.

Yet—

“—‘Sacred Blade’!”

The holy blade pierced through Rogan’s weakened technique.

And then—the sword pierced straight through Rogan’s heart.

“———!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The scream of death couldn’t form words.

The violet light disappeared from Rogan’s eyes.

An explosion sounded behind him.

The next moment, Rogan’s body, now deprived of the driving force of madness, collapsed to the ground with a thud.

†