In the Hall of the Throne, the fierce fight raged on, the thunderous din ringing out endlessly, never once stopping.
On one side was the giant Skeleton King, staking out its territory as ruler, turning the entire earth into its own armory to wield.
On the other was the adventurer, racing across the heavens and dancing high in the air, turning the whole sky into his stage.
This was a contest between sky and earth, a challenge in which the weaker sought to defeat the stronger, and the stronger meant to hold onto its own throne.
The monster called Udaeus had already let out countless roars and fired countless black stakes, sending sword-mountains across the sky in a relentless barrage. The sight alone was frightening, yet the comet racing high overhead dodged them time and again. No matter how dense the sword-mountains became, the comet's ever-increasing speed left them behind. They slammed into walls or pierced the ceiling, but not one struck its target.
Dazzling star-bursts kept erupting across the ground. As Leo raced and wheeled through the air as a comet, he continued chanting magic and hurling meteors at Udaeus. Though Udaeus couldn't dodge as Leo did, it chose to meet them head-on with both fists, crushing the incoming meteors one punch after another. Every meteor burst against its giant bone fists without touching its body.
The two sides fell into a deadlock like this, one seizing the sky and one seizing the earth, yet both by unspoken agreement resorting to ranged attacks, sending brilliant meteors and black sword-mountains flying and crossing as they struck at each other, with the result that not a single blow managed to land on its target.
This deadlocked struggle, its heart-stopping tension, rooted the watching girls to the spot.
"What a terrifying fight! This is basically a contest over which side can hit the other first!"
Tiona broke out in a nervous sweat. The already timid Lefiya was worse, gripping her staff so tightly that her hand turned white.
They understood well that whether it was Leo or Udaeus, the moment either side's attack managed to strike the other, that would basically decide the outcome.
Leo's magic was blocked by Udaeus's fists, but the moment Udaeus failed to block one and let the magic stone on its chest get hit, once that stone shattered it would die without fail.
Likewise, the moment Leo got hit by those black sword-mountains, even with the double protection of his magic and battle garb he probably wouldn't come away unscathed. After all, Udaeus's attack power already exceeded Lv.6. Even if Ais went in wearing her armor of wind, taking one hit would likely leave her wounded.
That was an assault that should by rights have required a team of thirty or more adventurers to collectively withstand, one you could only handle after splitting up the firepower, yet now it was all focused on Leo alone, and you can imagine how dangerous that was.
In a situation like this, whichever side got hit first would immediately be put on the back foot, suffer a concentrated barrage, and go down without another chance to struggle.
Such a tense life-or-death battle made Tiona and the others realize just how laughable Leo's earlier claims had been.
What did he mean, he could retreat and flee at any time?
What did he mean, with them holding the line it'd be fine?
In a fight like this, the moment Leo dared expose his back to Udaeus, Udaeus would surely concentrate its fire without hesitation, firing every last black stake at him, and he'd just be shot down out of the air.
Even if he tried to rely on his ever-quickening speed to flee, Udaeus could seal off the entrances and exits with sword-mountains, locking him inside the chamber with nowhere to run.
As for Tiona and the others, could they really charge into the arena in the face of those sword-mountains flying all across the sky?
They'd probably be bombarded on the spot, their whole bodies run through by black stakes, left lying in pools of blood.
"Damn it! We got played!"
Tiona decided Leo had tricked her, and yelled in fury.
It wasn't as if they'd never fought Udaeus, wasn't as if they didn't know Udaeus's abilities, yet because of a little hesitation they'd let Leo talk them around and failed to think all this through, and that was the most infuriating part.
"Stop shouting, and be ready to risk your life at any moment." Tione gripped her kukri, unexpectedly calm. "We should count ourselves lucky that bastard really does have some skill, managing to tangle with Udaeus like this in a situation like this. If he didn't have that flight magic, he'd probably already be down by now."
There was no denying it, Leo's flight magic really did give him the means to take on Udaeus one-on-one.
The whole battlefield lay within Udaeus's attack range, with the ground beneath Leo serving as both its lower body and its armory. If Leo had fought on the ground, those endless black stakes would have run him ragged.
Even if the black stakes didn't hit him, they would remain as obstacles, blocking Leo's path, restricting his movements, and hemming him into an ever-smaller space. Udaeus could gradually compress his range of movement until, no matter how fast he was, he had no room to use that speed or even dodge. One blow from those immensely powerful bone arms would then kill him, with no chance of a lucky escape.
It was precisely because Leo could move throughout the sky, beyond the black stakes' ability to confine him, that he could hold his own against Udaeus. Even its immensely powerful bone arms were reduced to defensive clubs, useful only for swatting at anything that came too close.
Without this advantage, he'd probably have been beaten long ago.
Of course, even with this advantage, the situation was still fairly unfavorable for Leo.
After all, Udaeus's two arms could swing out countless times, and the black stakes were spread all through the ground, all but inexhaustible, whereas Leo's flight magic and attack magic alike grew ever more draining on his Mind the more he used them.
Sure enough, after firing off another meteor, Leo began fishing a high-grade Magic Potion out of his waist pouch and pouring it down his throat.
"He's started using potions to replenish his Mind!"
Lefiya's voice was thick with worry.
The others knit their brows too, eyes fixed on the comet dancing above the chamber.
Amid wave after wave of displaced air, the comet had reached an unbelievable speed, making the incoming sword-mountains easier and easier to dodge.
But the faster his speed, the more Leo could feel his own Mind draining away like running water, all of it pouring into this flight magic and turning into its power, forcing him to fish out another high-grade Magic Potion and pour it down his throat.
"In a fight of this intensity, even with a Development Ability like Spirit Healing that automatically restores Mind, the recovery amount is just a drop in the bucket."
Leo had grown used to the increasingly frequent stabbing pains in his head lately. Ignoring that stabbing sensation, he accelerated without pause as if to break free of the cosmos, thinking calmly all the while.
"A high-intensity fight like this really has to be settled fast."
Dragging it out was absolutely to his own disadvantage.
"Let's take the gamble!"
At that thought, Leo gritted his teeth, and his figure suddenly plunged down sharply from high in the air, shooting toward Udaeus.
Udaeus immediately fired black stakes, layer upon layer of them forming a black sword-mountain that came grinding down on Leo, bent on crushing the comet racing across the sky.
Facing this blow, Leo, against all his usual habit, no longer changed direction to dodge. Instead he ramped up his Mind output, making the starlight protection wrapping his whole body denser, and slammed straight into the oncoming sword-mountain.
With a violent roar, the comet plunging from the sky smashed through the sword-mountain at a terrifying speed, passed through countless fragments of black stakes, and flew on toward the giant Skeleton King with its momentum undiminished.
"He actually rammed it head-on...?!"
The watching group all cried out in shock.
That collision made the starlight wrapping Leo's whole body seem to be viciously stripped away by more than half, dimming abruptly.
But because Leo had deliberately increased his Mind output, instantly strengthening his protective power, he still broke through the sword-mountain smoothly and charged right up before Udaeus.
"Meteor Dance!"
Seeing that Udaeus hadn't reacted in time, Leo burned away the greater part of his remaining Mind. He ignored his darkening vision and fired an enormous meteor.
This meteor aimed straight at the magic stone inside Udaeus's chest.
Starlight brimmed over, engulfing the entire field of vision, so that although Udaeus couldn't react in time, it still sensed the fatal danger.
At the crucial moment, the bones on Udaeus's chest squirmed, forming layer upon layer of protection to shield the magic stone inside.
The giant meteor struck Udaeus's chest dead-on and exploded, throwing up blinding starlight and a massive shockwave that blasted its entire upper body backward.
Udaeus screamed, though the explosion swallowed the sound. The bones across its chest cracked and splintered one after another until they finally burst apart, scattering fragments in every direction.
Within, the giant magic stone was completely exposed, no longer shielded at all.
"He, he did it!"
Seeing this, the watching girls' eyes widened in delight.
Ais too went taut all over, her heartbeat suddenly quickening.
Leo's speed didn't slacken in the slightest as he shot out and charged toward that giant magic stone.
With his Mind all but exhausted and no longer able to use magic, he drew the Dragon Fang Sword.
With a roar torn from his throat, Leo's whole body seemed to become a spear of comet-light, shooting straight at that giant magic stone.
His sword stabbed out savagely, likewise going straight for that magic stone, unstoppable.
At that critical moment, an unprecedentedly huge black stake broke through the ground before Udaeus and surged upward.
Unable to dodge in time, Leo was struck dead-on by the black stake shooting up into the sky. With an explosion, the starlight around his whole body shattered, and he was sent flying backward, slamming into the ceiling and smashing it to pieces.
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