Arc 11: Dragon Heart (5)

Suppose you were recruiting archers during a war.

If there was only one archer, you would usually take a swordsman instead. A hundred archers, however, would be worth considering. And if there were ten thousand, of course you would take them.

With bows, then, quantity takes priority over quality if you intend to use them at all. Archers are only effective in numbers, and arrows only realize their full worth in large-scale battles.

'I see. Used like this...'

Renzo considered the arrows raining down on him at his leisure. An arrow fired by a single person had split countless times, becoming a barrage that descended upon him.

'At this level, you could say he has the strength of a hundred-man company all by himself.'

Literally one man against a hundred.

But Renzo could annihilate a mere hundred-man company with laughable ease.

Greatsword Technique

Renzo Original

Left to Right

Renzo lifted his enormous greatsword with one hand and swept it from left to right. A stormlike wind rose along that horizontal line. With a feeble pattering, the arrows were driven away by the pressure of his swing.

'Whatever trick this is, arrows without a bow are only worth—'

His thought stopped there. With the arrows cleared away, Frondier was right in front of him.

'He used the arrows as a screen!'

Frondier thrust the spear that had appeared in his hands toward Renzo’s chest, left exposed by his greatsword swing. It was an ingenious move that exploited Renzo’s carelessness.

But...

'Too slow, boy.'

Renzo brought the greatsword he had used to sweep away the arrows back in front of him. His recovery was far faster than Frondier’s attack. Frondier’s eyes widened at the unbelievable sight.

And when their blades met...

'...?'

Silence fell.

Renzo witnessed the strange phenomenon firsthand. Their blades had clashed, yet there was no sound.

'No. They didn’t clash.'

Just before the blades collided, Frondier had relaxed his spear and pressed it against Renzo’s sword. Their weapons were touching.

A dry crackle, like burning firewood.

Then—

“Ha!”

A smile spread across Renzo’s lips, filled with savage delight. He had thought the “fun” would come much later.

In that instant, his eyes flicked toward his right hand. The greatsword had slipped from his grasp and was flying through the air.

It was Atzier’s technique.

Falling Tension.

* * *

'Ghh!'

My body screamed. My palms felt ready to split, and tremors traveled from my arms up through my shoulders, leaving my entire body creaking.

Making Renzo drop his sword was all well and good, but I had dropped my spear in the process. What a farce.

An incomplete Falling Tension.

I had watched the Golem’s Falling Tension over and over on the Wizergram, but its difficulty was absurd. Now I understood why Atzier had told me not to try it. I had nearly wrecked my body.

Because the technique was incomplete, both Renzo and I had dropped our weapons. It might seem as though neither of us had gained anything.

But I was faster than Renzo, who had to pick his weapon up again.

Fabrication, Black River

Weapon Grade - Legendary

Gram

Black droplets gathered in my hand. In an instant, they took shape, and I gripped the weapon with both hands.

Without hesitation, I slashed diagonally at the unarmed Renzo!

Atzier’s Basic Spearmanship

Frondier’s Swordsmanship Adaptation

Diagonal Slash

This was the technique that had cut through a steel Golem. No matter how strong Renzo was, there was no way a human body could withstand Gram.

But I saw it.

No, I felt it. Was it because we were inside Menosorpo? A formless energy gathered in Renzo’s hand.

'Aura—!'

Renzo manifested Aura with his bare hand. It was a level every combat student at Constel dreamed of reaching. Yet he did it without a second thought and deflected my all-out strike with a single hand.

Now I was the one left defenseless.

“Hya!”

Renzo’s fist shot toward my exposed side.

'Weave a shield—'

BOOM!

The sky flipped over as I flew through the air and slammed into the ground. The shield I had hastily woven tore like paper.

Even after scraping across the ground several times, I felt nothing. Then—

“Gah!”

I coughed up blood, as though spitting out all the agony churning through my insides.

Menosorpo dissolved.

“Oh, sorry, sorry.”

Renzo strolled leisurely toward me where I lay.

“I don’t know how to hold back when I use my fists.”

'You just have no intention of holding back, you bastard.'

I wiped the blood from my mouth and stood. But standing was all I could manage; I was already at death’s door. My ribs felt broken, and blood rose in my throat, making me gag. My whole body shook.

And this was after blocking with a shield. On top of that, using Gram had burned through almost all my Mana.

“You feel strange to hit, though. Your side’s pretty hard.”

Renzo shook out his hand as he spoke.

He had punched through a shield, and all he thought was that it felt “strange”? His ridiculous strength drew a hollow laugh from me.

“You looked pretty entertaining, but I guess you’re just a rookie after all. That weapon’s far too good for you. It must be weeping.”

Weeping, my ass.

I was the one who wanted to cry.

'What do I do now?'

I had no Mana left, and my injuries were severe. A single blow to my side had left me like this. A second would probably kill me.

Had Aten escaped?

I couldn’t take my eyes off Renzo, but she probably had. She knew what she was worth as a hostage.

But...

“Stop.”

A voice came from behind me.

“You want to take me, don’t you? He has nothing to do with this.”

“Well, sure. Come quietly, and I’ve got no complaints.”

Aten came to stand beside me. I spoke in an exhausted voice.

“I told you to run.”

“I can’t.”

“You know what will happen if you’re kidnapped. Have you forgotten who you are?”

“I’ve never forgotten. Not for a moment.”

Her voice was just as it always was, without a tremor or a trace of fear.

“I am an imperial princess.”

“...”

“The imperial family exists to protect its people. Standing above so many others means accepting that much responsibility.”

“If you become a hostage, even more people could get hurt.”

“No.”

She looked at me with a lonely smile.

“I’m not worth that much.”

“... Aten.”

She took my hand. Blue light shimmered from hers and passed into me.

It was Mana. Aten gave me most of what she had.

“It’s dangerous to stay here. Use this Mana to escape. You can manage that much, can’t you?”

She released my hand and slowly walked toward Renzo.

I lowered my head.

At this rate, Aten was very likely to die. She wasn’t wrong when she said she wasn’t worth much as a hostage. The Terst emperor would abandon her. He was that sort of man, and from the imperial family’s perspective, it was the right decision.

But was Aten’s death really such a big problem for me?

Of course, clearing the game would become harder. But my chances wouldn’t be zero. There had to be some way.

What good was saving Aten if I died? Besides, I had no way to save her. As I was now, I couldn’t beat Renzo. I had used every trick I had and hadn’t left a scratch on him.

I had done my best. Literally to the point of breaking my ribs.

I didn’t want to die for nothing.

I didn’t want to die.

It had only been a few days since I met Aten. She was just a character in a game. There had to be another way to beat this game.

So...

“Menosorpo.”

I spoke the word once more. As the magic circle spread, Aten turned toward me in shock.

“Frondier! Stop!”

Renzo grinned.

“Yeah. I knew you’d do that. I knew you had promise the moment we first clashed. Let’s have some more fun.”

What the hell was he talking about?

You’re the only one having fun, you sick bastard.

I extended my thumb, index finger, and middle finger. One idea had occurred to me.

But honestly, I had never tried it even once. I had no idea what would happen. It might do nothing, or it might cause something utterly absurd.

Either way, whatever excuses I made, however many tens of thousands of reasons I came up with to justify abandoning Aten...

I had decided to save her.

In the end, that had been my choice from the start.

But as I was now, I couldn’t beat Renzo.

So I couldn’t remain as I was.

Fabrication

Grade - Legendary

Dragon Heart

I used all the Mana Aten had given me to weave a Dragon Heart. Shaped like a rod bent into a triangle, the gleaming crystal rested between my three outstretched fingers.

As I had said before, properly absorbing a Dragon Heart increased your total Mana capacity. That was why I had made it.

The problem was that this was a fake created through Weaving. Increasing my Mana capacity with something made from my own Mana didn’t make sense. Above all, simply eating a Dragon Heart would leave you a wreck.

'Since it’s made from my Mana, it shouldn’t be volatile.'

Even that was only a guess.

Eat a Dragon Heart made from my own Mana to increase my total Mana capacity. Was something like that even possible?

Despite thinking of everything that could go wrong, I swallowed the woven Dragon Heart.

And then...

“... Urgh!”

THUMP!

A heartbeat unlike any I had ever heard pounded in my ears. It felt as though an earthquake had erupted inside my body.

'Something’s happening, at least...!'

I could feel an unbelievable amount of Mana welling up inside me. But in equal measure, I felt something within me disappearing.

'So... that’s it...!'

Weaving a Dragon Heart.

Weaving merely produced phenomena, not real matter. In other words, it could produce the phenomenon of increasing my Mana, but it didn’t actually supply any.

To resolve that contradiction, something inside me was turning into Mana instead.

I didn’t know what that something was.

Blood? Flesh? Bones? Organs?

Something I needed to continue existing as a human was being lost in proportion to the Mana.

“Oho!”

Renzo exclaimed in admiration. His face was more animated than I had ever seen it. There wasn’t a single thing to like about this bastard.

“I see, I see! A performance boost! Whatever you did, that’s an unbelievable amount of Mana!”

“Renzo! We already settled this! Take me!”

“Shut up, bitch!”

Renzo violently shoved Aten away as she clung to his arm. She slid backward under the force and fell.

“I’ve changed my mind. This kid’s way more entertaining than I thought!”

Even looking at my surging Mana, Renzo spoke with brazen confidence. He faced me with his stance wide open.

“But do you know something, boy? Mana isn’t just about how much you have! Without the magic and techniques to use it properly, you’re just a water tank, no matter how much you’ve got. You could fire plenty of those arrows from before, sure, but that’s all. That won’t be enough to hurt me! I’ll take it head-on and show you.”

If you poured more Mana into a spell than it required, the excess would simply disperse. Adding more Mana didn’t make a spell stronger. You had to use a stronger spell.

That applied to everything that used Mana or Aura.

But...

“... You’ll take it head-on?”

My voice seethed as I spoke, shaken by the earthquake I could feel inside me.

Fabrication, Black River

Grade - Chief Deity

Mjolnir

A short-handled hammer with a metal head rested in my hand. Mjolnir.

Most of the Mana that had explosively increased after I ate the Dragon Heart went into it.

Some of the ease vanished from Renzo’s face.

Yes. Do you recognize this?

I held Mjolnir in my right hand and drew it back. My stance was almost identical to the dagger-throwing stance I had practiced countless times in the training room.

“Let’s see you take this, madman.”

With those words, I hurled Mjolnir using the Throwing Technique I had raised to intermediate level.

For the record, intermediate Throwing Technique never misses a stationary target.