Chapter 384: A Match With Lylia

Chapter 384: A Match With Lylia

“Kuh–! RAH!”

“That’s right! Proper breathing is key!”

The day after the Devil King’s resurrection and the Devilkin army’s attack, I started learning to fight like a warrior under the guidance of Argent, leader of Team Silver General.

And perhaps taking my predicament quite seriously, he agreed to start training me immediately.

Team Silver joined in, too, not wanting to be outdone.

“Man, Asley’s speed never fails to amaze me! He’s even faster than ol’ Argent!”

“But his movements are still not perfectly optimized. We can all tell, now that we’ve gone over level 150.”

“Yeah, ‘thanks’ to those things called... Beta, I think? They really give out a ton of experience points.”

I heard Bruce, Blazer, and Betty’s voices. They seemed to have come to observe us.

Hmm, so they all are over level 150 now... That’s nice.

This was probably a miscalculation on Billy and Cleath’s part. The people who were supposed to be killed ended up surviving, and as a result, they got their levels boosted due to all the enemies they killed.

“By the way... what are they doing?”

“Oh, you’ve never done it before, Adolf? They’re playing tag.”

“Tag... as in the children’s game? Aren’t they just hitting each other?”

“The rule is that if you touch your opponent’s body with your hands, you change sides. Look there — notice how ol’ Argent’s tapped on Asley’s shoulder? Now it’s Asley’s turn to chase the old man. The difference here from the usual tag is that, instead of running away, you have no... not get hit, and know whether you’re supposed to attack and defend, so to speak. You wanna give it a try, too?”

“Yes! I’d like to!”

Warriors and mages everywhere are trying to improve their skills, as apparent in how some of them are here to take a look so early in the morning, even when it’s before the time for class.

I’m seeing Lina and Hornel in the distance, too.

“Oh-ho, feeling confident, I see... There!”

“Whoa...”

“–! Hoho! See if you can handle this!”

“My eyes are slowly getting used to your moves.”

“...Impressive!”

It’s quite true that I possess a high aptitude for being a Warrior. I’ve been aware of that for quite some time now, and my experience so far speaks for itself.

Until now, I’ve dedicated myself fully to the arcane arts, but that won’t be the case from here on out. I’ll immerse my body in the secret techniques of skilled warriors and prepare for the coming battle against the Devil King.

And I’ll have to settle the score with Gaspard, too.

But one question remains... Why did I not feel the Devil King’s arcane energy anymore after Billy and Cleath’s attempted invasion? ...Hell, I might’ve stopped sensing it while that invasion was still going on, even.

It couldn’t be only because of my arcane energy depletion. And while I was protected by my own Magic Shield, I did not feel any pressure at all, unlike in the previous era. It’s enough to make me wonder if he has really been resurrected.

Suddenly, a little noise came from further south.

Argent noticed it, too, and so we both stopped.

“What was that?”

Argent turned to ask one of his subordinates, a mage, who proceeded to shoot a Telepathic Call.

“Sir, several monsters have appeared to the south. But they have already been taken care of.”

“All right. Don’t let your guard down just yet, though.”

“”Yes, sir!””

Asley, let us continue.”

“”Yes, sir!”

...The monsters have not stopped being aggressive. Makes sense, now that the Devil King is back.

Could he be suppressing his arcane energy? No, I don’t see him doing that...

Maybe this means...

“Hah, looks like you’re having fun!”

“......Oh, what’s an Ogre King doing here?”

“Really? That’s what you’re gonna call your mentor? Very brave, four-eyes.”

“If you’re my mentor, then I’m YOUR mentor, too! You haven’t forgotten all the stuff I taught you, have you, Tūs!?”

“Oh yeah? You did?”

“And you showed up to the fight just to SLEEP!? That was bullshit, man!”

She did not stop attacking, of course. I waved my staff to keep up with her assault.

“Wha–!?”

“I bet you’re wishing you had a bladed weapon right about now!”

The moment her blow clashed with my staff, she jumped onto it, using it as a foothold.

And then she kept on slashing at me.

“Oh no–!”

She was not even putting in all that much strength, but it was still an attack.

Her blade plunged right through my forearm.

“Ngh–! ...Heh, g-gotcha!”

“What the– I can pull it out!?”

That’s right — her sword is in my arm. My muscles would not let it go.

“SHAAA!!”

“Hng–!?”

I landed a headbutt on her forehead, the impact knocking her sword out of her hand.

“A-all right, that’s one against one!”

Lylia said, glaring at me with tears in her eyes.

By the time she did that, however, I was already somewhere else.

“W-where–!?”

No decent warrior would answer that. Getting into Lylia’s blind spot, I swept her leg with my staff.

“Ugh–!?”

“And that’s two against one!”

I was about to make a follow-up attack as she staggered, but then the look in her eyes prevented me from doing so.

Her intimidation sent a chill running down my spine. Holy shit, now she’s coming at me for real... she’s out to kill me!

Lylia crooked her mouth into the shape of the crescent moon, her eyes shining in scarlet.

...And then she attacked.

“EAT THIS...!”

First, a slash in the shape of a cross.

If I were to take that, I would’ve been close to death.

I leaped backward and parried her follow-up attack, which then split the earth below us.

“Hahaha... Man, her strength’s inhuman...”

Bruce said, his comment similar to one I had made in the past.

Still, I kept on fighting Lylia — the fighter of the Holy Warriors — without using magic and magecraft as one would expect to see from Poer the mage.

“Gah...! Take this!”

I avoided Lylia’s successive attacks by sidestepping, manipulating my bones and muscles, and sometimes grabbing onto her limbs.

“...!”

Man, Lylia’s good...

With her uppercut slash, my staff was knocked off my hands...

“Two against two now.”

...And I was grazed on the cheek.

I swiped the blood from my cheek with my finger and lowered my stance again.

“It’s over, Lylia.”

“That’s right. Brace yourself, Asley– wait, where’s your staff? ...!?”

The Drynium Rod fell from the sky... onto Lylia.

And so this marked the second time Lylia took a blow to her head today.

“GAH......!?!?!?”

At the same time, it seemed that a switch had been flipped inside of her, too.