Volume 3 Chapter 18: Target

Target

The Coeurl and me who was riding on its back escaped from the deep underground together.

It would be difficult for me to escape from that place by myself, but perhaps because of the fundamental difference in our physical ability, the Coeurl managed to run up that brittle wall before it crumbled.

The Coeurl didn't stop there and kept running using a withered tree so big it was as though it was towering to the sky. Using that tree as foothold, it leaped up even higher and from that position I looked around to ascertain the situation.

The sun was still high in the sky when we encountered Grave, but now the sun was already sinking quite a lot. The blue sky was starting to be encroached by orange color.

Is the battle still going on? I believe even now that Viro and Samantha wouldn't lose even with Grave as their opponent, but there was still a possibility that they were in danger even if they didn't lost.

「Over there.」

『GAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!』

The Coeurl responded to my fighting spirit and its killing intent also shot up without restrain. The Coeurl landed on the dry ground heavily that it caused a crack to form before rushing through the desiccated forest while avoiding the holes littering the ground.

Wait for me......I'm going there right now.

**

「You did well hanging on for this long, Sandstorm Witch. Is this due to your wisdom that come from you age?」

「Don't act high and mighty you brat-!!」

The old woman moved in high speed using level 4 Body Strengthening and Martial Art despite being a rank 5 sorcerer. Countless rock bullets fired at Grave like a stone bombardment.

It was the earth magic Stone Shot, but in the hand of a skilled sorcerer like Samantha, it boasted a power that was nearly equal to level 3 Stone Lance that was effective against living creature while still maintaining the mana cost of level 2 sorcery.

As expected it would be difficult to deflect this number of attacks, so Grave leaped to dodge while at the same time Viro attacked from behind. But──

「──Splash──」

「Kuh」

Grave fired water sorcery even with his posture unbalanced. Viro blocked that by using his mythril short sword that had good conductivity for mana, but Grave's kick that was unleashed in that timing blew him away.

「Guhoh」

Grave not only had swordsmanship and stealth skills, his attack sorcery was also at a level that was practical for real battle. Even so before this his skill in that field was only at level 2 just like his former colleague Sera, but he had trained his sorcery ability until level 3.

「Your attack is getting monotone there, Viro. Are you worried about your disciple's situation?」

「Shut your trap-! Dark Mist──tsu!」

Viro too had trained his dark sorcery until level 2 in these three years. His Magic Power Control had also reached level 4 through that training. With that his Body Strengthening had also gotten more precise which increased his combat strength.

Before he didn't put that much importance in his individual combat prowess but, perhaps seeing the way Aria fought where she continued to fight powerful enemies alone might have influenced him.

Even if his reason was something stupid like not wanting to get overtaken by his disciple, in reality it was actually difficult for adventurer of rank 4 and above to constantly harbor the desire to improve like that.

The dark mist that Viro let loose blocked Grave's sight. Just before Grave could move to escape from the range of that mist, Samantha casted her sorcery.

「──Rock Skin──」

Samantha covered herself with armor type sorcery that covered herself with earth element magic particles. The armor would absorb damage until a certain amount. Grave realized that Samatnha came rushing using Viro's darkness as smokescreen.

「So that's your play.」

Night Vision didn't work inside this darkness that was made from magic particles. It would also be difficult to grasp her location using detection.

Normal attack would be ineffective against Rock Skin. Even though the opponent was a sorcerer, she was a veteran adventurer with level 4 Body Strengthening, so it was possible that an attack from far outside Grave's imagination would come the moment his attack got blocked.

He thought that he would be able to cut the Rock Armor altogether with Samantha herself if he used Battle Technique, but if his attack missed inside this darkness, his opponents wouldn't be so kind to wait until he recovered from his freezing state.

(I can only back away here.)

Grave made that judgment and jumped down. At the same time Samantha's sorcery was fired once more from inside the darkness.

「──Water Ball──」

Grave knew about this level 3 water sorcery because he could also use it. It was a sorcery with weak power and also slow, but the advantage of this sorcery was that it was an "AoE attack" which was rare for level 3.

「Kuh」

Grave got washed away by the surging water pressure. He would be able to hold his ground if he was standing on soil ground, but doing that on a wooden plank would require special equipment.

Viro aimed for that moment and leaped even while getting hurt by the water pressure too. Their figures crossed and Viro's blade finally landed on Grave, cutting his side.

「Eat that you fucker!」

「Don't let your guard down boy-!!」

Samantha who came out of the darkness scolded Viro as she stood beside him with vigilance.

Grave grimaced at the blood that flowed out from his side, even so he glared at the two to keep them in check before using healing sorcery on himself.

「──High Heal──」

It was level 3 light sorcery that instantly granted recovery and healing effect. Its mana cost was three times greater than Heal, but in exchange tremendous effect could be expected from it.

Grave had trained himself until he was able to cast this sorcery without chanting. For him sorcery was a tool, although he hadn't reached the level of changing its composition like magic, he was able to use it with activation speed that rivaled Samantha by perfectly memorizing it.

Samantha and Viro couldn't press their attack because of the usage of this magic by Grave.

When using high level sorcery in a situation where there was no heavy warrior to act as shield and spear, the sorcery had to be successful in rendering the target powerless with one attack in order to crush any chance of the enemy counterattacking. That was because just like with Battle Technique, powerful sorcery would also create an opening after usage.

It would be necessary to create an opening in order to land the powerful magic without fail. But that chance couldn't come in a close quarter combat like this. Even though Samantha fired low level sorcery in succession to create opening, medium damage would only get healed because Grave would use High Heal every time.

Because of that Samantha was also forced to be sparing with her sorcery in order to keep her mana consumption in check. Viro was protecting Samantha who was holding back, so Grave too also couldn't fully commit into attack in order to leave some spare strength to cast High Heal. Like that the battle between the three was falling into a stalemate.

But even that stalemate was gradually crumbling.

「It's too bad. If only Aria who can use light sorcery is here, then perhaps you two would be able to put up a slightly better fight.」

Grave finished the treatment to his wound and smirked mockingly.

「You bastard......」

「Aren't you a chatty brat」

Samantha could also use light sorcery better than Grave. But, she might need to fire high level elemental sorcery in order to finish off Grave. Because of that Samantha had to be careful with using light sorcery in order to save her strength. It resulted in Samantha and Viro gradually getting more wounded as time passed.

If it was Heal or Cure then it wouldn't consume too much mana, but those two sorceries needed skin contact to work. It was difficult to use them in the middle of battle. Conversely High Heal could be fired like attack sorcery. It had immediate effect due to that trait so it was perfect to be used in the middle of battle.

The three of them had potions with them but, all of them weren't so easy as opponent that they would allow their enemy to drink potion in the middle of battle.

As the result, Samantha and Viro who were prevented from using healing sorcery couldn't treat their injuries. Grave himself also had his mana getting consumed, but he didn't rely on attack sorcery like Samantha and mainly used close quarter combat, so he had more leeway than the two.

The stalemate was gradually crumbling down. Even so Grave wanted to force Samantha to use light sorcery and ran out of mana, so that his victory would be unshakeable, but even that would soon become unnecessary. He decided to go into the offensive.

「Allow me to finish this before the mythical beast can come back. You two should also treat your injuries already, if you have the leeway for it that is. Aria too, I thought if it's her it might be possible that she would be the one coming back but, looks like I had overestimated her a bit too much.」

「This son of a bitch......」

「......Don't think that we will just drop dead that easily you brat.」

Viro and Samantha emitted killing intent. Grave also poured even more mana into his two favorite magic swords and took a stance of pitching forward.

Even Grave wouldn't let his guard down because his opponents were a rank 5 sorcerer no matter her age and a rank 4 scout in active duty, but he had managed to see the "limit" of these two to some degree after fighting them for several hours.

「It's over」

Grave muttered that and prepared to leap, but then──

.

『GUAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!』

.

The roar of a "beast" resounded through the marshland forest. The three looked to the side and saw the figure of the jet black mythical beast Coeurl dashing here from far away with a terrifying speed.

「......Looks like we have spent too much time.」

There was a possibility that it wouldn't come back if it got injured in its fight with Aria due to its uneven temper as a beast, but Grave felt disappointment, thinking that he might have really overestimated that girl too much.

But, this changed nothing to Grave's plan. The Coeurl couldn't really differentiate one human to another. It didn't even understand the difference between Grave and Viro. He didn't think that he would lose easily even if he fought against the Coeurl, but it was still a powerful enemy that ought to be feared even for Grave who had trained himself to his current level. At present the Coeurl also wasn't an opponent that he ought to defeat even at the risk of his life. The best plan would be to run away unashamedly.

If he used Viro as bait, Viro should be able to buy at least enough time for Grave to escape. Then after Viro and Samantha got killed by the Coeurl, he could return to his assassination plan of the duke leisurely.

Besides in his pocket he still had the "trump card" against beast that he had prepared since the time he decided to lure out the Coeurl.

He needed to negotiate with a certain group in order to get his hand on this but, it was worth it. It would even be possible to direct the Coeurl to the duke's knights if he used it effectively.

「The mythical beast......? Dammit!」

Viro noticed that for the Coeurl to be here meant it was possible for his disciple(Aria) to have been defeated. He turned an angry look toward the approaching Coeurl.

「Back off boy(Viro)!!」

Grave changed his position to use Viro as bait. Samantha reacted to that and tried to get away from there, but Viro remained there alone. She raised her voice at him.

But, a faint "voice" from the direction of the Coeurl reached the ears of the people there.

.

「──No. Not "that".」

.

The Coeurl who was about to pounce at Viro nimbly jumped over him in respond to the "girl's" voice.

Viro looked up at the Coeurl that jumped over his head. His eyes caught the figure of an "ash covered" girl who was holding a dagger with her right hand and her left hand in the tight grip of the Coeurl's tail.

「Aria-!!」

Viro's joyful yell spread through the battlefield. Aria muttered before that voice faded.

「Let go」

<──end──>

Grave held up his sword to respond against the Coeurl that was just a moment away from attacking him. But before he could swing down, the Coeurl stopped rushing as though it had pulled the emergency brake. Aria was snapped away from its powerful tail and flew like bullet. Her black dagger stabbed deeply into the shoulder of Grave who was taken aback in surprise just for a moment by that.

「You should just die already.」

「So you're alive, Aria!!」

Grave displayed a warped emotion that was similar to delight even though his shoulder was stabbed with a surprise attack.

「This is unexpected!! FUHAHAH!」

Grave let out a twisted laugh while swinging his sword at Aria using his still usable hand. Aria too seemed to have predicted that and quickly jumped away, dodging the blade with a somersault while pointing his fingertip at Grave from midair.

「──Pain──」

A phantom agony that dealt intense shock. But Grave was already aware of that. It wasn't something to be feared as long as he was ready for it.

「Something like that at this point──tsu!?」

The phantom pain that should be endurable gave him a sharper pain that expected. That slight difference stopped his movement just for an instant.

(Impossible, did she increase her sorcery level in this short time-!)

But, even that only lasted for an instant. Aria couldn't continue attacking properly while she was still midair. Viro and Samantha too still hadn't been ready to get back into the fight due to their momentary confusion.

Even so, Grave's enemies weren't just "them".

『GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!』

The Coeurl that let go of Aria attacked Grave using its remaining momentum. Grave just barely managed to avoid having his throat getting tore apart, but his left arm was bitten off as the Coeurl's mouth passed through.

「Guooooooooooooooooh!!」

As expected even Grave let out a pained moan from that. He leaped back to open a distance from Aria and the Coeurl.

「──Stone Shot──」

Samantha fired her sorcery from a distance and it pierced Grave's side. A knife that Viro threw also slashed open his right shoulder.

There Aria swiftly swiped aside her skirt while pulling out a throwing knife and targeted his forehead. Grave could only block that by throwing his remaining sword.

Then without pause he opened the distance even more using martial art that was unthinkable from someone who just lost an arm. His arm reached toward his the back of his waist while he looked toward Aria with joy that he couldn't completely conceal.

「......Impossible, for you to tame the Coeurl....... Did you turn fate itself into your ally?」

「Don't talk of "me" using that kind of cheap word.」

Aria turned a cold gaze toward Grave with her pendulum at the ready vigilantly. Grave's eyes snapped wide open and next he suddenly began to laugh.

「Fuhahahahahah, certainly it's just as you said. I don't know you. And it's just as I expected from the start, I'm right to think of you as dangerous.」

Grave had lost one arm and also his favorite weapons. Even so his eyes were still filled with vigor as he fixed his gaze on Aria. Then he suddenly took out a "sphere" from behind his waist and threw it on the wooden highway.

「Don't let Grave get away──」

Viro who saw that rushed forward, but Samantha yelled to stop him.

「Boy, get back! That's poison smokescreen!」

The smoke with strange smell spread through the area instantly. Even so the Coeurl still tried to chase after Grave, but it couldn't endure the odd smell and leaped aside to dodge.

「............」

With the field of vision covered up, Aria's eyes that could see magic particles had their detection ability reduced sharply. Even so Aria still readied her pendulum vigilantly. It was then Grave's voice came from inside the smoke.

「I won't target small fry like the duke anymore. Aria, I shall recognize your value. You're my target from now on. Show me how you'll protect the princess. I'll definitely come to kill her.」

Grave's thin presence vanished completely together with that voice.

「......He got away.」

Aria covered her mouth with her shawl while muttering that with a low tone. Grave was a scout type light warrior who could even use light sorcery, so she judged that it would be pointless to give chase.

Grave declared that he would target Aria even while telling her to protect the princess. His intent must be to limit Aria's movement by targeting the princess. But putting it another way, as long as Aria stayed at the side of Princess Elena, Grave wouldn't target anyone else other than her.

Aria understood that and narrowed her eyes quietly, glaring at the direction where Grave vanished into.

.

「Bring it on, Grave. Next time I'll definitely kill you.」