Chapter 163
The flaming magic bullets fired by Icarus are flying at me .
As expected, he didn’t intend to finish it with a surprise attack, so it’s not that fast or powerful .
To be honest, it’s possible to take this and retire, but a promise is a promise, so let’s fight as seriously as possible .
I hold my head with one hand and poke it with my fingers, and I desperately focus my mind, which is not put together by the side effects of the drug .
“flame, form, ball . ”
A flame lights up at the tip of the wand, but the magic blending doesn’t work .
Inevitably, the excess magic power overflows the flames, causing them to collapse in shape .
“Tch!”
I let the magic circle override and shrink as I let it go out of control and then jumped backwards from the impact .
Although I ended up hitting my hip on the ground, I was able to avoid Icarus’ magic bullets .
“A-, against a sick person, that’s not fair no matter how it is!”
“This isn’t even a duel! You think we’re going to let this go!”
Dissatisfaction began to leak out from the spectators, and it was spreading rapidly .
As for me, it won’t be a problem because it will be an excuse for later, but for Icarus, who has thoroughly gathered the support of the residents until now, his strange behavior and words are certainly noticeable this time around .
In addition to fighting against a sick person, if we let a surprise attack fly, it will only make him more dissatisfied .
Come to think of it, Icarus himself didn’t seem to be willing to fight after seeing me at first .
After Ringus called out to him, he seemed to have decided to continue the duel, but …… don’t tell me you’re not in a rage and lacking in composure, or are you faking it?
There’s only one advantage to doing that .
It’s a stepping stone to do more damage to me than necessary to make me relapse, and to excuse me from the pursuit of myself afterward .
If Icarus thought that his downfall was inescapable as long as I was around, it’s not surprising that he would try such a move .
In fact, when I was in Lark’s mansion earlier, I was attacked once .
I’m sure Icarus is connected to that one, no matter how it happened .
I don’t know how he was going to get away with attacking me at such a bland moment .
“You’re so unsightly . I’m going to end it fast . ”
Two magic circles appear on either side of Icarus .
“Flame, ice, form, ball”
When he waved his large staff in a horizontal cleave, flames and ice magic bullets are shot out of two magic circles at the same time .
As it is, Icarus is coming closer to me as if to follow the magic bullets while re-holstering his staff .
“Icarus-sama! You don’t have to be that serious about it……”
One of Icarus’ subordinates speaks up .
It can’t be helped, the magic power blending doesn’t work, but let’s use our momentum to fool them .
I can’t keep letting it unleash an outburst at hand forever .
If I can’t adjust the details, then I should just go with the general rule .
“Flame, form, ball . ”
The flames that appeared on the tip of my wand take the shape of a sphere .
It’s not easy to control the subtleties, but I made up for it by piling on a magic circle and splicing in more magic power .
It’s out of balance again, so I’m going to make it even bigger . It’s like a snowball .
In the end, the ball of fire, which was about the size of a softball, became a magic bullet with a diameter nearly as big as my height .
“What?”
Icarus stopped in his tracks while shouting and jumped heavily to the side .
The magic bullet was on the verge of bursting because I forced it to be bigger, but I increased the amount of magic power I used for propulsion and forced it to go straight to the ground .
“Go for it!”
As I swept my wand away, the huge magic bullets approached Icarus while scraping off the ground .
The magic bullets that I released swallowed the two magic bullets of Icarus with ease .
As it was, it scraped off the part of Icarus’ body that it had been running on, and then it came to rest buried in the ground, exploding with a roaring sound .
Icarus flew into the air and hit the ground on its side in the aftermath, turning sideways for ten spins while covered in dirt .
The crowd, which had been booing up a storm, quieted down .
“Ugh, geho! Goho! Geho!”
Only the sound of Icarus coughing could be heard in the quieted square .
Icarus, who apparently hurt the inside of his body when he struck his stomach, coughed and kneeled down, causing his body to rise .
“…… Ah, I think I can handle it rather well . ”
“Icarus-sama!”
At the same time I muttered, Icarus’s men shouted, almost a scream .
Icarus turns his attention towards the gathering of his men .
“Thi-, this is impossible! You can’t do it! Let’s surrender!”
“They will kill you if you continue to do this!”
Icarus’s subordinates turned pale and shook their heads .
Icarus checked the faces of his subordinates with a somewhat dumbfounded face, then turned around and looked at the trajectory of my magic bullets digging through the ground and the marks where they had ruptured and gouged the ground, and peeled his eyes away .
Then he shook his shoulders and laughed, “Fufu, fufufu…… . ”
They’re going to leave quietly .
He wasn’t a sorcerer I’d be cautious about .
I was about to drop my wand in relief when I heard Icarus mutter something to me .
“…… today, thank goodness . Under normal circumstances, I certainly wouldn’t have stood a chance . ”
Icarus got up and braced himself .
He had greasy sweat all over his face, but the corners of his mouth hung up in a creepy smile .
He’s still going at it, apparently .
I re-ready my lowered staff .
“That’s a lot of power . No, I’m afraid of it . It’s true that in terms of the amount of magic power, you’re probably a few steps higher than me . ”
Icarus doesn’t lose his smile, though he continues to do so .
However, he wouldn’t be smiling because he could afford it .
The fat sweat that poured from Icarus’s face ran down his cheeks and down his chin to the ground .
“A top-notch sorcerer…… would be able to deploy three magic circles in parallel in actual battles . ”
As Icarus raises his staff, four magic circles appear around him .
“But I! As far as the magic bullets are concerned, I can shoot out four at the same time!”
Icarus shouted as he swung his staff down .
“Flame, form, ball . ”
The spheres of fire that flew from the four magic circles fly to me in a semi-circle from each direction .
…… Does he intend to scatter them so that I won’t be shot down by a single ball?
“Plus…… one more shot!”
Icarus waved his staff again as he leapt forward .
The fifth fiery magic bullet is coming towards me while going straight ahead .
In terms of speed and power, this is probably the best magic bullet Icarus has ever fired .
“As, as expected of Icarus-sama! He fires an additional shot right after deploying all four at the same time! If you shoot this many shots, you can’t prevent at least one of them from happening ……”
One of Icarus’ men shouts out .
I readied my wand and deployed ten magic circles around me .
“…… Huh?”
If I’m in my perfect physical condition and I’m allowed to use the Ortem, I’m confident I can fire twenty-six rounds at the same time .
Even now, if I loosen the control, I can fire three times as many rounds, but there’s no point in putting out that many, and if it goes off, I won’t be able to look at it .
Ten would be enough .
“flame, form, ball . ”
This time, I discarded the detailed controls and generated all the larger magic bullets from the beginning and ejected them all at once .
The ten magic bullets bent their trajectories as they swallowed Icarus’ magic bullets and approached Icarus .
“Oh, oh, ohhhhhhh!?”
Icarus backs away, wide-eyed and dismayed .
He squeezes his large staff tightly, as a young child does to a parent’s arm when he is anxious .
It’s designed to hit the ground and self-destruct when properly approached by a human, so it may take the aftermath, but it won’t be life-threatening .
The ten magic bullets burst around Icarus .
By the time the smoke cleared, Icarus was charred and limp .
“…… Are we done?”
I call out to Icarus .
Icarus is stunned, as if he doesn’t understand what happened, but when he sees my face, he suddenly starts to laugh .
“Fu, fufufu, fuhahahahahahahaha!”
“…………”
When I was speechless and looking at Icarus, he stopped laughing loudly and stood up, gripping and squeezing the large staff in his hand .
“wh-, why are you still……”
“You don’t understand! I am! I’ve finally become a king here! In this small, boring, rural, countryside place! All these unrelated idiots are desperately trying to show their affection to each other . After more than 20 years of work! I’ve finally become a king! The one who is feared as the Icarus of the serial bullets! You know why!? “
Icarus’ eyes went white and he raised his voice .
I was so overwhelmed by the power of it that I stood there, dumbfounded, unable to say anything .
The other residents would have done the same .
“For someone like you! I didn’t want to sit on my ass in the middle of nowhere to be disturbed by people like you! I! I had the opportunity to serve a great nobleman who had a fiefdom close to the Royal Capital! I had! I left that behind and did it in the service of such a drab country! With my life on the line!”
In a semi-crazed frenzy state, he hits the ground with his fist .
Icarus’s skin rips and wounds form, dirt and blood mingling into his flesh .
“I’ve been in this shitty land from twenty to forty…… forever! And now I finally get the chance to be king of the land in name only, and then someone like you comes along! I chose this goddamn frontier to avoid the likes of you! What am I supposed to do now that I’ve been banished? What are you doing with my life! You know how much I’ve contributed to this place so far! Who do you think I am! I am Icarus the serial bullets, you know! Normally, I’m not the kind of magician who smokes on the ground like this! Without me, this territory …… would have been even worse……! Give it back…… I’m the king! I was the king……”
Icarus plopped down on the ground, whimpering and screaming .
The entire square was enveloped in an awkward silence .
The moment I lowered my wand and retreated, Icarus’ eyes glittered .
Icarus raised his upper body with great force and aimed the tip of his wand at the ground around me .
“Earth, turn into poisonous snakes”
The earth transforms into a snake .
They look like a snake made of dirt, and although their bodies are earthen, only their fangs glow suspiciously purple .
“Geh!”
Even with my current body condition, if it was sorcery exercised at this distance, I could have counteracted it before it was activated, but since it was on the spur of the moment, the rule of ‘do not use anything but magic bullets’ stayed at my mind and my judgment was delayed .
If this happens, there’s no choice but to shoot that little moving snake with the current unstable control of magic .
“Huhahahaha! Now, now die! This land belongs to me!”
“Wind, form, blade”
The light from my staff mingled with the wind and shot straight out as a single white arrow .
The arrow of wind pierced precisely under the chin of the snake that raised its sickle-neck .
…and the belly of Icarus was in the extension line, laughing maniacally .
“Ah . ”
I don’t know who uttered that short word .
I was upset, too .
Maybe it was my own, maybe it was Icarus’, maybe it was someone’s in the crowd .
Anyway, with that one voice, the duel came to an end .
It was also the moment when the power struggle between me and Icarus ended .