Chapter 604

It was not every day we could get a chance to take down Zelyse, so we would use Sierra as bait.

『We’ll make our move as Sierra attacks!』

(Nn!)

(Woof!)

Just like before, the attacks we launched still slipped through Zelyse’s body, but we used this as a cover to build up our strength. We would then use all of that power on Zelyse, who was still distracted by Sierra.

『You ready?』

(Nn)

Immediately after, Sierra jumped up at him with his jet-black sword raised above his head.

I didn’t know what kind of attack Sierra was planning to launch, but I didn’t sense any Space-Time Magic coming from it, so I didn’t think he could damage Zelyse with it.

However, it was enough to keep Zelyse’s eyes on him.

『Now!』

It was just before I was about to unleash my dimension sword, which I had put more than the limit of my magic power into…

「Evil Release!」

Sierra shouted those words. Then, an enormous surge of Evil Spirit began to fill the surrounding space.

「Eh?」

『Uoh?』

Zelyse and I both make a dumb sound at the same time.

The surge of evil that was released from Sierra’s sword was so enormous. I knew that an Evil Spirit was sealed in Sierra’s sword, but…

I never thought that it was this powerful!

The evil coming out of the sword Sierra held was so enormous that it wouldn’t be possible if the Evil Spirit sealed inside his sword was not a super-powerful Evil Spirit.

(Master, what is that?)

『I don’t know! But don’t let your guard down, okay? That thing is already beyond the realm of what a mere adventurer could handle!』

「Nn」

『But still, this Evil Spirit is…』

I didn’t think there was any kind of wavelength inherent to Evil Spirits, but I felt that I remembered something about it. This intimidating feeling… This was not the first time I had felt something similar to it.

『I wonder where I had felt this… Do you know, Fran?』

(Nn)

『Eh? You know?』

(It’s similar to Zelos Reed’s Evil Spirit)

I see. That may be true. Perhaps we unconsciously perceive Evil Spirits that were more powerful than a certain level as being similar to each other.

However, the current situation was not good. I would always feel an indescribable disgust every time an Evil Spirit was close to me.

Our minds were inevitably shaken slightly by the unexpected exposure to such a powerful Evil Spirit. If our minds wavered, the accuracy of our skills would also decrease.

『Fran, don’t lose your focus!』

(Nn)

But it was actually just the beginning. In the next moment, we were exposed to even more psychological shock.

「O Reason, let there be chaos!」

As if in response to Sierra’s shout as he jumped towards Zelyse, the jet-black evil sword emitted an evil light. No matter how I look at it, it was probably the kind of light that we shouldn’t get caught into.

I’ve tried to put up a barrier as quickly as I could, but―――

Booom!

We both fell into the lake by the big waves caused by his attack.

『Eh?』

「Huh?」

「Woof?」

Without any sign, Fran and Urushi’s aerial jump suddenly stopped working.

And that was not all. The magic that I had prepared had also disappeared just before it was activated. It wasn’t that the magic had been blown away, or that it had been blocked.

How should I put it, the skills themselves were disturbed and failed to activate… The Strengthening Magic and Detection Skills that I had activated were all canceled out.

In all likelihood, it was the black light from Sierra’s sword that did it, huh?

I tried to use my telekinesis to pick up Fran and Urushi who had gotten all wet as soon as I could, but it was working fine.

It seemed that the skills I had activated or prepared for the moment I was exposed to the light earlier had been canceled out.

But it wasn’t just us.

「Uwaah!」

Zelyse had also fallen into the lake. Moreover, I could clearly feel his presence now. It seemed that the mysterious skill he had been using had been canceled by Sierra.

A fearsome Evil Spirit and a mysterious ability that canceled skills in its vicinity. To tell the truth, we had underestimated him. It seemed that Sierra had powers that surpassed our imagination.

「Die! Zelyseee!」

「Kuh! That hurts, you know!」

「Tsk!」

Sierra, who was running in the sky, swung his sword down at Zelyse, who had been thrown out into the lake. His sword had definitely sliced through Zelyse’s body. His spurting blood was proof of this.

Zelyse was slashed from his right shoulder to his lungs, and I saw him spit out a lot of blood from his mouth. However, Zelyse escaped from the water into the sky, moving as if he hadn’t taken any damage.

Although he said it hurt, I didn’t see a hint of pain on his face. However, I could tell that the life force that I could now feel from Zelyse had definitely decreased.

Although he had already used some potion to close his wound, it was obvious that Sierra had cornered Zelyse.

We could consider Sierra to be an ally to us, couldn’t we? But because he had previously shot killing intent towards Fran, I did not doubt that Sierra might be harboring some sort of malicious intent towards Fran.

But he was just concentrating on Zelyse now…

『Fran, can you move?』

(Nn!)

It looks like their skills were already working properly. Both Fran and Urushi then went in with their aerial jump.

In the meantime, the battle had shifted from the surface of the lake to the sky, and the fierce battle between Sierra and Zelyse had just begun.

Sierra moved fast, but his swordsmanship was not that great. His status may be strengthened by his sword’s ability, but his skills were probably still the same.

From the distance, we could see Sierra’s evil sword and the beautiful sword made of crystal that Zelyse had taken from somewhere were fiercely clashing.

「Kuh! Zelyseee!」

「You’re pretty fast, aren’t you! But that’s not fast enough to reach me!」

On the other hand, Zelyse’s movement was quite unbelievable for someone like him. He was suddenly moving like a master. He definitely possessed the Sword Saint Skill. And it must be at a pretty high level.

No, maybe it was the effect of his magic stone weapon. He must have developed a technique that allowed him to use the skills contained in the magic stone for a short time. That was probably how he got his swordsmanship skills.

「Haaa! Dieee!」

「Ahahahah! Well, that’s a tall order!」