The Clown looked at the blood-splattered battlefield. He was certain Bai En hadn't used magic just now, but... how could there have been such a drastic change all of a sudden?
His surging strength and incredibly simple movements... in terms of temperament, the subtle sharpness he had previously displayed had completely dissipated, replaced by introversion and stillness.
The Clown's gaze never shifted, fixed on the figure amidst the blood and gore. He thought of many things... such as the powerful things he had discovered in the Land of the Sun, different from magic but still potent—Jujutsu and Samurai.
A faint white mist swirled from the center of the flowing blood.
It was like the steam of heat radiating from all the pores of a human body with an excessively high temperature, or like the lingering cold air released by an ice frost alligator.
The water patterns on his cheeks had not faded. The handsome young man, bathed in blood and surrounded by white mist, quietly turned around. There was no smile on his face, giving off an exceptionally calm feeling.
But... only a few could perceive the tyrannical power and might, like that of a despot, beneath that calm facade.
"I won," Bai En said, word by word, feeling incredibly free and enjoying this state. Looking at the Clown not far away... the thought of challenging him again sprouted in his mind.
If he were to use magic now... maybe... 'What am I thinking?'
Bai En warned himself, whose strength had improved. Improving one's strength was a good thing, but choosing to court death after improving strength... that was another matter.
He was well aware of the helplessness he had felt in the previous battle... something he still couldn't overcome now.
'Unless... I can grab him... or keep up with him.'
'Phew... there's still a long way to go. Very good, the next goal is—to maintain a constant state of the Transparent World.'
The dice suspended on the Clown's fingertip spun. This time, the number that appeared face up was "six." "Water Creation Magic, Jellyfish Swarm's Abundant Home."
One by one, blue jellyfish began to surround Bai En. Their long tentacles, like silk ribbons under their bell caps, began to soothe his injured areas. The gentle water magic was like a healing elixir, and the injured blood tissue began to repair itself.
Dislocated and fractured bones reset and reconnected, and a tingling sensation spread throughout his body.
"Hiss~"
Bai En couldn't help but murmur softly.
The magic he had used in the previous battle with the Clown was also slowly recovering. It was a remarkably powerful recovery magic.
'Healing... creation... truly a perverse type of magic. It feels no less inferior to Anti-Magic, and in aspects other than combat, it almost certainly beats Anti-Magic!'
While he was contemplating, the Clown waved his small hand, and space folded, intertwined, and shifted.
In the blink of an eye... he and the Clown had disappeared from the circular platform.
Like Luck and Fragil, he had entered the treasure selection phase. The fairy's seed was merely an extra reward for defeating the Magic Beast without using magic.
"Like Asta at the Underwater Temple? What does that mean?" Magna and Luck were still discussing the reason for Bai En's instant victory.
Luck looked at Magna in confusion, "Didn't you hear Finral mention it? After we fell unconscious during our battle with Midnight Sun, Asta, Finral, and Vanessa stopped that muscular ape, who was even bigger than the Captain."
"During the stalemate, the tyrannical muscular ape used forbidden magic. To stop him, Asta saw a transparent world at the last moment."
"Huh? I did hear about it, but..." The pompadour-wearing hoodlum, Magna, questioned, "How could such a thing be true? Do you really believe human eyes can see through skin to directly view blood and muscles?"
"How could it be? I always thought those guys were just bragging."
Luck became uncharacteristically serious: "No, it should be true."
"While Asta's arm was injured, I habitually used magic to ambush him. In the past, even though he could sense my movements, his body couldn't react... but now, my ambushes have almost never succeeded."
"One time might be a coincidence, so I experimented 13 times in total, and not a single ambush succeeded. Even my second jump with stored power was dodged."
Luck recalled, "His gaze and aura seemed to have changed completely."
"Hmm, just like that guy just now."
"Huh?" Magna listened to Luck's words and remembered the look Asta gave him one afternoon while practicing sword fighting—that chilling feeling. "Can the human eye really see through the body?"
He propped open his eyelids with his hand, staring hard at Luck. His eyes were pressed against his glasses, but the scene in his vision remained unchanged.
"What? I can't see anything at all, it's even blurrier."
Magna grumbled, and after experimenting like an idiot for a while, he resignedly lowered his hands and whistled idly.
'What the heck? Out of the three of us, I'm the only one who didn't defeat the Magic Beast and get to choose a treasure. If Luck hadn't defeated the Magic Beast and obtained the potion that could cure ancient cursed magic, I might have missed the opportunity before me.'
'So powerless...'
'I was clearly a genius in my village and joined the Magic Knights, so why is the gap so huge? I don't even know what the Captain saw in me to choose me.'
'Should I go back and ask Asta for advice? Achieving great magical power might not be possible, but if it doesn't require magic... I should be able to do it, right? No... that's someone else's secret, how could he tell me?'
The young man, currently in the Magic Palace and caught in self-doubt due to talent and effort, did not know that his future self would "solo" a terrifying enemy that even the Captain couldn't defeat—the possessor of the Demon King Lucifero, the leader of the Dark Triad, Dante Zogratis.
So, keep it up, young man... The change in environment made Bai En observe his surroundings. A flat granite floor, white embossed walls with carvings, and the ground piled high with treasures, magic tools, longswords... The gilded, black longsword in his hand was probably casually taken by the Clown from here.
How perfunctory. He didn't even pick a slightly sharper one for him during the battle just now. It took a lot of effort to break through the alligator's defense, how stingy... "What are you thinking? Aren't you going to choose?" The Clown asked, looking at Bai En, who was standing still in a daze.
Could it be that his injuries hadn't recovered yet? That shouldn't be the case. The recovery magic he just released should have been enough to heal those minor injuries, right? Although this body didn't have much magic left, he shouldn't be making such a low-level mistake.
"Oh~ nothing, I'm looking around."
"By the way... didn't you say there was no treasure vault in the Magic Palace? Where is this?"
The Clown smiled and said, "Do you think this is still the Magic Palace?"
"..."
Thinking of the Clown's space magic, Bai En said no more and surveyed his surroundings. The glittering gold shone brightly, dazzling his eyes. 'What should I choose?'
...