CHAPTER 91: RAIN OF MAGIC ARROW

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November 22, 2021 iokioka Honing Magic Arrow to the Limit Leave a comment

In all honesty, I didn’t have the faintest idea what was going on.

A hologram of Carlyle as large as the school building popped into view.
“My dear academy students, it’s me, Carlyle,” he said, waving his right hand.

The students must’ve noticed his voice, as they peered out the school building windows.
Sheer disbelief written all over their faces, they gawked at the massive hologram of Carlyle.

“Heed me well.
A big bad guy snuck into this academy, and we gotta defeat him! He’s right over there!” Carlyle pointed at the masked man standing in front of me.
“So without further ado, let’s all gun him down with Magic Arrow!”

Then, as if time had begun flowing again, the man launched himself at me in a flash; he must’ve realized Carlyle’s intentions.

I was more than ready to respond in kind.
“Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow.”

One after the other, white flashes of light flew at the man.

However, he cut down all of my arrows in the blink of an eye.

I didn’t care.

Whether it entailed keeping him at bay or making him take even one step back, my job was to stop him.

I didn’t need to be the one to defeat him.

“Everybody ready? And a one, and a two, and a three: Magic Arrow~♪” Carlyle sang, conducting the choir.

However, the students didn’t react, unable to process what was happening in the slightest.

“Now now, don’t hesitate.
And a one, and a two, and a three: Magic Arrow~♪ Magic Arrow~♪ Magic Arrow~♪ Magic Arrow~♪” Carlyle chanted cheerfully, spurring on the students.

Thereupon, the students slowly but surely followed along.
“Magic Arrow…?” The first one to speak was doubtful.

““Magic Arrow…”” A few students joined in.

“““Magic Arrow.””” More and more voices overlapped with each other.

““““Magic Arrow!”””” Their voices gave rise to a frenzy that enveloped the students.

Before long, the entire student body joined in, yelling out, “““““““MAGIC ARROW!””””””” 

Together with the thunderclap of their voices—

Magic Arrows rained down from above.

A torrential downpour of Magic Arrows cascaded onto the masked man.

“HAAAAAAAA!” The masked man dexterously sidestepped the students’ Magic Arrows while simultaneously dealing with my Magic Arrows—but he had nowhere to run.

Pitch-black butterfly scales sprouted from the masked man’s body; it was the same thing that covered Liz’s body when she lost it.

He swung his sword.

In one fell swoop, he erased a significant portion of the students’ Magic Arrows, but he didn’t get rid of all of them.
The white arrows that he didn’t manage to eliminate struck him. 

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However, the scales enveloping his body seemed to be canceling out the arrows. 

“Hey hey hey! There’s still plenty more where that came from.
Here we go: Magic Arrow~♪”

“““““““MAGIC ARROW!!””””””” The students continued to fire.

I didn’t plan on missing this chance, either. 

“Magic Arrow.” I fired my spell right when the man was engulfed by their rain of Magic Arrows.

You only have one sword.
Which will you choose to defend against?

I was sure he wouldn’t make it out unscathed either way, but—

“DON’T SCREW WITH ME!” he exclaimed.
Then and there, his sword broke out of nowhere.

It broke?

No… It split into two swords.
He wielded a sword in each hand.

With his two swords, he masterfully cut down the Magic Arrows at his front and rear.
Then, he withstood the rest he couldn’t eliminate with his black scales.

“Hahaha, way to go! Keep up the amazing work, my students!” Carlyle said, his voice fading away from behind me.

Did his hologram disappear?

I didn’t have the luxury to turn around and check, though.

“““““““Magic Arrow!”””””””

“Magic Arrow.”

“““““““Magic Arrow!”””””””

“Magic Arrow.”

“““““““Magic Arrow!”””””””

“Magic Arrow.”

Countless Magic Arrows rained down upon the man one after the other.

He single-mindedly continued to counterattack and dodge, and the arrows he couldn’t cut down, he endured.
His scales would probably protect him, but—

Am I seeing things?

I’m pretty sure his scales were gradually thinning out.

The man broke into a sprint, dealing with the barrage of arrows using his swords.

That was a reckless move.

He wasn’t taking care to ward off each of my Magic Arrows one-by-one like at the beginning of this battle—rather, he gambled everything on his luck and charged at me.

This was proof that the masked man was in dire straits.

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Right when the black scales covering his body completely disappeared—

“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

—he finally went beyond the students’ firing range.

The only thing standing in his way… was me.

The man reverted his two swords back to one greatsword and advanced upon me.

“Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow.” I released a flurry of white arrows.

With a wave of his greatsword, he cut down my Magic Arrows in a fraction of a second.

…This is bad.

The man was within arm’s reach.

“IT’S OVER!” he yelled, thrusting his jet-black greatsword at me.

“Magic Arrow!” I held out my right hand and let loose a white arrow.

Black and white clashed against each other.

Immediately after—

The sound of glass shattering resounded…

and the man’s greatsword burst into pieces.

“Wha!?” He let out a voice of surprise.

His sword must’ve reached its limit.
It fended off the sea of Magic Arrows from the entire student body, and it even took the full brunt of my Magic Arrows.

If anything, it did well to endure thus far.

In his shock, the man came to a halt for a split second, but he went into a battle stance immediately after.

He was a swordsman—a warrior.

And close quarter combat was a warrior’s forte.

Thud!

He drove his fist into the side of my face, making a dull noise.
I managed to block with my arm by a hair’s breadth and avoid a direct hit, but I could feel the weight of his blow through my arm.
I felt my consciousness flying away.

As I staggered, he thrust his hand at my throat with tremendous speed.
If he landed a direct hit, I’d undoubtedly… die.

Just then—

I was dazed, and my vision was sent spinning, but I happened to catch someone out of the corner of my eye.   

Her body bent over the rooftop railing, a white-haired girl was desperately screaming something.

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She was far in the distance, and tons of students were yelling their lungs out; I couldn’t possibly understand what she was saying.

However, her franticness conveyed her prayer-like hopes and wishes to me.

She simply prayed for my safety—nothing more, nothing less.

And convey she did.

She wanted her hopes to reach me, and I wanted to accept them with open arms.

I’m sure of it.

Your prayers have reached me.

How could they not?

And now that they’ve reached me…

I can’t afford to die.

My body was spurred on by sheer force of will.
I learned some martial arts while I was a noble, and I dabbled in a few martial arts lessons in the academy as well, but that was all.

With a first-rate warrior as my opponent, I doubt I’d be able to even defend myself with my level of experience.

But struggling for dear life, my body moved, and I barely managed to evade his thrust. 

Then, I screamed with every last bit of energy I had, “MAGIC ARROW!”

I fired off my Magic Arrow at point-blank range, but he reacted in time and moved out of the way, dodging my white arrow. 

However—

The robe he was wearing couldn’t keep up with his nimble evasive moments.

It fluttered off his body, and my white arrow gouged out the chest area of his robe.

In the middle of sidestepping, he violently swung his arm at me, blowing me away.

“Guh!?” I was sent flying.
Staggering, I put distance between us.

Just then—

Clank, clank.

I heard the sound of something light.
Both the man and I looked in the direction of the noise.

Something had seemingly fallen from his tattered robe.

A black object rolled around on the ground.

“!?” The man’s shock was apparent upon seeing it.

Should I go over and pick it up, or should I prioritize fleeing somewhere safe?

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His hesitation was nearly palpable.

But quicker than he could find an answer, something else had happened.

Beneath the man’s feet—

a magic circle materialized.

A magic circle?

…But why?

His body jumped with a start.
From the looks of his reaction, he wasn’t expecting this in the slightest.

Neither the man nor I paid any heed to the black object.

The masked man’s reaction was swift: both figuratively and literally, he took off at lightning speed, heading for the main entrance at a furious pace.

I extended my right hand in an attempt to shoot the masked man with Magic Arrow.
“Wait! Magic—”

However, my field of vision suddenly became blurry.

I’ve reached my limit.
The blow to my face from a short while ago must’ve done me in.

“Kuh…”

I fell to my knees and collapsed, my consciousness sinking into a deep, dark abyss.

Carlyle stood on a balcony located on the highest floor of the royal castle.

The recording of a video floated mid-air. 

It showed the Son of Darkness trying to escape from the academy.

…You really think you can get away from me, Son of Darkness? I can’t just let the big fish I managed to catch run away like that.

Carlyle intended to finish things once and for all right here.

For quite some time now, he’s been weaving together an unbelievably long string of words.

It was a spell chant.

He was ranked as a Seven and a genius in every sense of the word—there were next to no spells that he needed to chant.

However, this was a special occasion.

Why, you ask?

Because the spell he was trying to cast was divine-class.

Because this spell existed in the realm of Gods.

Carlyle’s lips twisted into a grin. I wonder, Son of Darkness.
Will you be able to escape from the Divine Dragon King’s wrath?