Chapter 267

Chapter 267, Acceptance

“One! Sancta Boundary!”

“Ngh–!?”

Asley chose not to start with healing himself, but rather restrict Kokki’s movement. This was to ensure that everything went smoother for him going forward.

“Two! High Cure Adjust!”

Then for the second move, he chose to restore himself to full health.

“Damn you…!”

Haiko used Air Claw in an attempt to snipe Asley down.

“Three! Unyielding Bulwark!”

Asley, seeing through the attack, summoned a wall of light in front of him to block it.

With the first three moves he had made, Asley had put himself in the perfect position — or rather, the best possible one he could manage.

“Oh no, you don’t!”

Kohryu, following up Haiko’s attack, swung its tail.

“Hiya–!”

Asley countered it with a roundhouse kick. 

The two attacks colliding against each other was quite a sight to see, hyping up the other adventurers fighting down on the ground.

“Well well, my man’s busting out some fancy moves up there…”

“We can’t let him keep showing us up like that… RIGHT!?”

Giorno and Lylia were in the middle of the wave of advancing monsters, as if the two groups had merged together.

“Let’s go, Weldhun! We’re going to…!”

“KILL THEM ALL!”

The fighter and the Ox pumped up their heated fighting spirit.

The battle was more chaotic than ever. Lylia’s weapon-holding hands were beyond exhausted.

Yet they still charged onward. Asley’s showing had given them the motivation to keep moving.

“Four! Grand Inferno!”

Hellish flames burst up all around Asley. Upgraded to the zenith level, the spell was so powerful that the Heavenly Beasts could not get close to it.

This made it quite difficult for Asley’s opponents to attack him directly.

“Five! Whirlwind!”

Asley leaped from the center of the flames into the air and unleashed the wind spell — a support spell that allowed him to leap even higher. He had used Grand Inferno to stall for time, during which he repositioned himself in the air where he could more easily launch a counterattack.

The red eyes of a certain dog caught sight of Asley high in the sky.

“Master!? What do you think you’re doing up there!?”

“Shaddup! Six! Elemental Blast!”

Seven-colored light blasts rained down on Kohryu.

The Yellow Dragon, transfixed by Asley’s ever-changing strategy and flashy execution, could not help but utter a few words of admiration.

“Now that is… impressive.”

Kohryu, wrapped in the rainbow light blasts and taking major damage, collapsed and fell unconscious.

“Ngh…! Let’s see how you handle this!”

Haiko, with one terrific leap, made it all the way up to Asley.

However, Asley grinned, as if he had expected the Tiger to do just that.

“Seven! Remote Control!”

Using his original arcane energy fixation method, he created a stepping platform on air, then used the Remote Control spell to change it into a vehicle.

“WHAT!? You can actually fly!? Oh no–!”

Haiko had considered how Asley had leaped into the air and used Whirlwind to levitate, and figured that the latter would have no way of avoiding attacks aside from falling straight down. That was why the Tiger had decided to attack while Asley was airborne.

However, Asley had anticipated Haiko’s move. He was supposed to fall, but now he was able to land on his feet… in mid-air. Which allowed him to avoid Haiko’s otherwise well-aimed blow.

“Curses…! I’m a sitting duck up here…!”

“That’s right! Eight! Purging Inferno!”

Haiko’s body was instantly wrapped up in flames.

Unable to even scream before fainting, the Ashen Tiger crashed into a pile of rubble down below.

“Nine! Explosive Boundary!”

Asley proceeded to descend and cast a magecraft at the Sancta Boundary in which Kokki was confined.

“Gah…!?”

The boundary broke apart with a large bang, blasting a tremendous shockwave inward at the Kokki.

The shock was so great that it carved a crack in the Black Tortoise’s gigantic shell.

And not a moment later, the creature itself lost consciousness.

With the three Heavenly Beasts out of commission, Asley landed on the ground and stood amid the ruins of Sodom. Then, he fell to his knees.

“Guh…! Hahaha… gah… That was rough! Ten, Holy Virgin’s BOundary!”

Asley needed healing not only for the scratches on his body, but for his messed-up internal organs as well. That was how taxing it had been for him to take on three Heavenly Beasts at once, by himself.

Once he was done casting the internal restoration-accelerating magecraft, Asley repositioned a Circle of Giving Magic to under his feet, then started preparing three more magic spells.

“Rise, A-rise, High Cure Adjust: Count 3 & Remote Control!”

He proceeded to cast a recovery spell for the three collapsed Heavenly Beasts.

Once their wounds were healed, the three beasts quietly opened their eyes, all at the same time, as if they had arranged this beforehand.

They proceeded to walk toward Asley, who was still on his knees and out of breath.

Although Asley noticed the three shadows, his exhaustion and still-recovering internal damage made him unable to look up.

The three shadows moved only slightly.

And then, once he was finally able to look, Asley’s eyes were presented with a scene unseen by any living creature before.

“Hah hah hah…”

Haiko crouched and bowed its head.

“…Huh?”

Kohryu coiled its long body and pointed its mouth to the ground.

“Haha… ha.”

And Kokki did the same, stretching its neck forward as far as it could.

Asley, finally breathing normally, forced himself to stand up. 

“Well done. I didn’t expect you to actually knock down all three of us…”

“With your wisdom, bravery, and capabilities, you have bested us with nine spells…”

“We have underestimated you as a mere youngling… No, no excuses. We used everything we had, and were still defeated. As such, we are not worthy of placing our eyes higher than your head.”

Haiko, Kohryu, and Kokki all showered Asley with praises. And then–

“…Hahaha.”

“However–“

Haiko opened its eyes wide.

“If all you wanted was for us to obey your command, you could have gone about it some other way. What you did was… nothing short of foolish.”

“Huh?”

Kohryu followed suit.

“You cast recovery magic spells for us — Why? Why did you not consider that we could get back up and start attacking again? That is quite difficult to understand. What a painfully foolish decision.”

“Huh?”

And naturally, Kokki did so as well.

“And the very last trick of your chain — was it actually a good choice to spend it on a gradual restoration? No. Vigilance and assurance of the situation were what were truly important. The fact that you used that last magecraft was pure foolishness.”

“Huuuhhh…?”

Asley tilted his head, though his eyes showed that he was amused.

And what came after was yet another strange experience for him.

“”However, that is perfectly fine.””

Asley felt a mysterious force striking him.

What exactly was invoked in Asley’s heard by the three beasts’ unified voices, no one knew — not even Asley himself.

Seemingly fully recovered now, color returned to Asley’s face, and he clenched both his fists, driven by the unexplainable force building up within him.

“Okay, hear me out here…”

Upon his words, the three beasts corrected their postures.

To them, it was to show that the two sides were standing on equal terms now.

“Please hel–“

As soon as Asley started talking, Haiko grumbled as if to speak over him.

“–I don’t think you quite understand, Wielder of a Thousand Tricks.”

The words caused Asley to freeze over, Kokki to groan heavily up its nose, and Kohryu to chuckle.

“You have won, human — against the three of us. No one, not even the Devil King, has accomplished the feat that you just had! And you still feel the need to say ‘please’!? That is not how it works for wild beasts such as us!”

Asley’s expression gradually loosened, and he looked down for a moment, looking somewhat embarrassed.

Then he quietly walked away…

…In the direction of the battlefield.

Going past the Heavenly Beasts, who cast their eyes down on him again, Asley then raised the corners of his mouth and uttered, quietly yet impactfully,

“Follow me.”

“”GARRRRRRRRR!!””

Thunderous roars echoed through the battlefield.

Leading the way was the foolish wielder of a thousand tricks.

And following him were the gigantic Sacred Beasts of Legends…