Chapter 158

Helmios was blown away and rolling on the arena floor.

The strongest human wielding the strongest sword made of Orichalcum using a merciless attack while using his skill.

I waited for all the conditions to be met.

I can’t compare myself to him in terms of swords , quality or skills. And even though he was vulnerable to the Awakening skills of the attack-oriented Dragon summons, he didn’t take much damage.

(After all, it takes a Hero to defeat a Hero. Well done, Mirror.)

“…”

B-rank Stone can’t speak, but he looked somewhat proud.

The B-rank Stone Mirror’s special skill, [Reflection] allows Mirror to bounce the damage of physical attacks directly back to the attacker. Note that Mirror will still take damage from attacks while the skill is active.

While the skill is active, Mirror’s [Endurance] is doubled, but if it can’t withstand the enemy’s attack and is defeated, the special skill will have no effect.

I’m glad Mirror could handle the attack. I used a recovery potion to restore its shattered shield and armor. It was recovering at a snail’s pace.

(Now, did that do it?)

Helmios, who was blown, collapsed on his back, looking up at the sky.

However, if you look closely, you can see that he looks like someone basking in the outdoor sun.

“It’s amazing. I’ve been waiting my whole life for this opportunity.”

He realizes that he was led by the nose by me to use his skills. Helmios seemed to be very happy to receive this blow from me.

“Do you still want to continue? I can reflect your skill based attack back on you. You can’t reach me without using your skill. You can only take hits and heal yourself. If you give me the Mana Recovery Ring, this can end, you know? “

I also just found out that I can reflect Helmios’ skill. 

My summoning speed is faster than Helmios’ movement speed. And the ability to reflect his attacks is not limited to just his skill. Since I now know that he has no magic based attacks I can just reflect all of his attacks.

I told him to stop wasting time fighting, to surrender and give me the Ring.

“That’s scary. Haha, I see. I’m glad. I’m really glad.”

“What’s scary?”

I couldn’t help but ask him why he looked so happy in this situation.

“I see, so the Spirit King’s words were real. I guess there is hope for humanity.”

(Hero speaking of hope?)

The Hero who is called the hope of humanity saying ‘there is hope for humanity’ feels strange.

After saying that much, Helmios used Recovery Magic and was regaining his full strength. Then he slowly stood up and faced me.

“What? We’re still fighting?”

“Of course. I think it’s my job as a senior to teach you, Allen, that there’s always someone stronger than you.”

“No, no, no, I’ve already learned your lesson. Wow, a Hero is so amazing, so strong.”

(So give me the Ring already. We can both recover our strength and mana. If we fight any longer, that’ll just be wasting my magic stones. I’ve already used a lot of them.)

“Haha, Allen, you’re still the same. Don’t say that. This is the most powerful blow ever struck by humanity.”

With those words, Helmios’ body refracted like a shimmering flame.

(Huh? What? You are just like Doberg, aren’t you? You also hate losing. Is this the Hero’s Extra skill? Mirror is recovering, but I don’t think it can reflect this attack. Will 2 Tekka’s be enough? Probably not. 5 maybe 10?)

As I was changing the cards in my Holder at high speed, Helmios held up his sword.

Then, he ran straight towards me.

“Take this! Divine Cutlass!”

(Oh, no. You’re not asking me to surrender this time?)

I put Mirror between the two of us this time as well but Mirror’s shield shattered this time, and its special skill [Reflection] did not activate, but instead disappeared in a glowing bubble. Mirror was defeated, and Helmios’ Extra skill could not be reflected.

“Damm it!”

10 C-rank Stones use [Substitute] on me, sharing the damage I received because of Helmios’ blow between the 10 of them. However, the 10 summons turned into glowing bubbles at once, as they couldn’t completely shoulder the damage that I received.

I intercepted the attack with my sword, but the Orichalcum sword, under the effect of Helmios’ Extra skill, shattered my sword and even shattered both of my arms, blowing them away.

I smashed into the arena floor and made a big dent in it.

This was the power of Helmios attack even after subtracting the amount the 10 C-rank Stones negated by using [Substitute].

“Gefu…”

“Well? How was my attack? Still alive?”

“…still alive.”

(Yes, we’re in it for the long haul. Can’t lose this Ring now, can I? Don’t hope for mercy.)

My Grimoire appeared above me, and a fruit-like object fell from <Inventory> storage and touched me.

My arms regenerated in a merry-go-round fashion. My armor and weapon was blown to shreds, but I glared at Helmios and stood up.

“What’s that? It healed you in an instant, is it an Elven elixir?”

“Yes, kind of.”

It’s actually a recovery potion from B-rank Grass, but I’ll reply appropriately. E-rank Grass can’t restore lost limbs.

I took out my spare Adamantite sword from <Inventory>.

Helmios’ eyes widened at the sight of me taking out the sword. It was because my will to fight had not diminished at all.

“What? Why are you still coming at me, Allen?”

“Because you want the Ring?”

(What the hell are you talking about? You attacked me with your Extra skills. Ah? You’re not going to go back on your word now, are you?)

“No, I mean, I think I just showed you a tremendous difference between our powers, didn’t I? Aren’t you going to give up?”

“If you give up because your enemy is strong, it’s the end. It’s only natural that the enemy is strong at first.”

It’s been that way since my previous life. My enemies are strong and I am weak. And it takes a long time to make myself strong.

“What if you had the power, and the only thing beyond that was despair?”

I looked at Helmios with a look that said, “What kind of question is that?” His normal smile and smugness had disappeared from his face. He seemed to be looking for some kind of answer.

(Right. You’ve seen so much despair over the years. So you are smiling to hide your own heart, huh, Helmios.)

I wonder how people would feel if the hope of humanity was not a smiling person, but someone overwhelmed by despair. I wonder if he’s hiding it in his heart and smiling because of this very reason.

Knowing that the hope of humanity is smiling is a kind of hope for others.

“Mr. Helmios. If what comes after that is despair, of course, I will show you how to overcome that despair as well.”

“Overcome the despair. I wonder if anyone can do it. Who the hell are you?”

Helmios couldn’t help but ask. I didn’t want to answer at that moment, but I had to answer.

“You want to know who I am?”

“Yes, please tell me.”

The Hero looked at me with eyes that made him feel like a boy again.

“I have heard that the Demon King calls himself ‘Demon King of the End’.”

“Yes, he does. What about it?”

“Then I am Allen, the ‘Summoner of Beginning’.”

(I thought about it just now.)

“Allen, the Summoner of… Beginning.”

I am the first Summoner in this world and an enemy of the Demon King. I made it clear that I was standing against the Demon King.

Helmios recited my name.

Then Helmios trotted over to me. He took something small out of the bag on his waist and handed it to me.

I received it without resistance, it was a Mana Recovery Ring.

“What? Are you sure?”

(I got a Mana Recovery Ring. Huh? Did I get it because I could endure his Extra skill? Or because I fought well?)

I was wondering if I had misunderstood the conditions for obtaining the Mana Recovery Ring that Helmios had told me in the Principal’s office. Looking at the Grimoire, I checked my notes from that time.

“Of course. I was told by the Spirit King to give this to Allen, the Summoner of the Beginning.”

(Huh, so the only way I could get it was to call myself ‘Allen, the Summoner of the Beginning’?)

From what Helmios had said, Rosen’s sleep talking story had foretold my name.

“Is that okay? You need it too, don’t you?”

I don’t want Helmios to die because of me taking his Mana Recovery Ring.

“This is for ‘Helmios the Hero’. They are matching, look. The Spirit King is very generous.”

Helmios showed me the other Mana Recovery Ring that he has already equipped. It seems that the Spirit King Rosen gave him more than 1 Mana Recovery Ring.

(Well, I’ll take it without reservation then. I guess there’s only one thing to do then.)

I raised my right hand with a determined look on my face.

Helmios was surprised at my action.

{Third Person POV}

The arena was just barely in its original form, but there were still quite a few people watching.

Of course, Allen’s friends have been watching my fight against the Hero all along.

The Crown Prince was also there with the Nobles. The Royalty and the Nobles really wanted to run away from the situation, but they couldn’t let the guests of honor from all over the world see them like that.

And the guests from each country were there as representatives of their countries. To be honest, they wanted to run away when the Dragon appeared, but they couldn’t show such weakness to the Latash Kingdom, so they watched the match until the end.

Most of them had stayed in the arena since the start of the match, while the Knights evacuated some of them. They were now watching the conversation between the two in the fighting arena, wondering what had happened.

The arena had been dented round by Helmios’ Extra skill, but everyone could still see the two of them clearly.

The audience thought that the black-haired boy raised one hand as the Hero handed him something. For a moment, they couldn’t understand what he was doing. Then, they remembered that this was an arena and that they were witnessing that year’s Academy Martial Arts Tournament’s exhibition match.

“I give up. I’ve already used up all my strength. It’s so frustrating~”

(The reason for fighting is now gone. Thank you very much.)

Allen showed the surrender pose and said so.

Helmios didn’t know what it was for a moment, but then he murmured in dismay, “That’s just like you, Allen.”

Thus, the match between Allen and Helmios ended with Helmios winning.

The students watching from the audience, the guests from other countries, the Crown Prince and the Nobles could not keep up with this situation.

They could only watch the exchange between the two men as they stood on the wrecked arena.