novelraw Chapter 119 : No Surrender (5)
Chapter 119 : No Surrender (5)
Chapter 119: No Surrender (5)
“…This is the first time I’ve seen the Chairwoman participate in a sparring match.”
“Same here.”
“Hmm.”
“…….”
Sneaking in among the murmuring crowd, I pretended to be nonchalant as I looked at the two of them.
Barely a minute had passed.
“To think she’d counter the Aura Blade like that.”
Frederick, who had noticed it in that short time, quietly approached me.
“What on earth did you do?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m talking about the Incurable Curse.”
“Ah… that thing.”
Well, the only ones who knew the full story were some members of the Special Task Force and the Mallet.
Since I couldn’t exactly reveal the truth right away, I decided to make something up.
“I happened to get my hands on a secret elixir from the Imperial Court.”
“Elixir?”
“Yes. One that wipes away any curse completely.”
“Does such an elixir even exist?”
“I didn’t know either. I never thought something like that actually existed.”
“…I’ll verify that later?”
“I don’t know how you plan to do that, but… suit yourself.”
Frederick stared at me suspiciously for a long while, then smirked and blinked.
“Well, let’s leave it at that.”
Anyway.
“Who do you think will win this match?”
“Who knows. Does it really matter who wins? It’s not like this spar is about victory or defeat.”
“That’s what we think.”
“…….”
That was true.
Rubia Magnus and Michel Bernhardt.
They had no particular connection and no real reason to be hostile.
But for their own reasons, neither of them would ever want to lose.
For Rubia, it would be because of what I said earlier.
For Michel, it would be because her pride and the situation itself wouldn’t allow her to lose.
Whoever won, I needed to analyze their fight carefully.
‘It’s rare to see these two face off.’
Unlike Rubia, who appeared on the battlefield fairly often, Michel almost never engaged in direct combat.
Her position was always the rearmost line, no matter what kind of formation was used.
Besides, in the upcoming war, I’d be at the front, facing enemies head-on from start to finish.
There’d be no time to check how those behind me were fighting.
So I had to pay attention now.
In the future battle against the Bernhardt Family, her power would be indispensable.
From a distance far greater than before, the two took a moment to ready themselves.
After about five minutes of warming up, Rubia spoke first.
“I’ll be in your care, Chairwoman.”
Instead of replying, Michel merely tilted her head slightly and drew her wand.
“…….”
Offense, defense, support, healing, and even holy magic.
A versatile mage proficient in almost every kind of magic except for a few rare types—Rubia Magnus.
A rear-line specialist mage with relatively low offensive power but exceptional defense and support—Michel Bernhardt.
If it were a fight to the death, Rubia would hold a slight advantage, but no matter how seriously they fought, this was still a spar.
Ultimately, victory would come down to the smallest difference.
A brief silence passed between them.
Then, without anyone moving first, both began to cast magic.
Swaaaash!
As expected, Rubia struck first.
While scattering spear-type spells in every direction, she was also calculating the timing to cast a binding spell.
Michel countered by deflecting every ice spear barrage with minimal barriers and then deployed a Frost Field toward Rubia.
Quickly stepping out of the freezing range, Rubia retaliated with a Paralyze Field.
Sensing it immediately, Michel dodged lightly and connected it with another field spell.
One side—offense plus debuffs.
The other—defense plus debuffs.
A perfect back-and-forth exchange.
The seamless flow of attacks and counters had the spectators’ heads turning rapidly back and forth.
Watching the scene, I brushed my lips with my hand.
‘This is still just a probing phase.’
She wouldn’t go all-out with killing intent like she did against Francia, but Rubia wasn’t the type to hold back much either.
Either way, one of them would eventually bare her fangs first.
Judging by the faces beside me, everyone seemed to be thinking the same.
Around ten minutes later—
As if they’d agreed beforehand, both suddenly lowered their wands.
About twenty exchanges had already passed.
Wiping the beads of sweat from her forehead, Rubia smiled.
“As expected of you, Chairwoman. That level of attack won’t cut it, huh?”
Michel loosened her shoulders slightly and asked.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well… I suppose I’ll have to go all out.”
And shortly after—
More than eight magic circles began to bloom at once, both in the air and on the ground.
A mage from the Magic Tower.
One ranked just below a Seer—a special-grade proxy.
Only now did the spectators begin to realize what that title truly meant.
Kwoo-koo-koo-koo-kwang!
Four different types of spears rained down from above, while countless wood needles shot up from the ground.
From each magic circle, about 20 spears and 10 needles were fired every minute.
Even if they were basic spells, maintaining eight circles of that tempo and power simultaneously was no easy feat.
“…….”
Even so, Michel skillfully blocked them all with graceful movement.
But that was only the beginning.
Wooooom―
As if the previous barrage had merely been a warm-up, the number of projectiles pouring from the circles doubled in an instant.
“…Tch.”
No matter how efficiently she blocked them, before such sheer numbers, she would eventually be overwhelmed.
In other words, defense wasn’t the right choice now—evasion was.
Within seconds, Michel made that judgment and immediately began retreating outside the storm.
However.
“Paralyze Field!”
That, too, was part of Rubia’s winning pattern.
The pattern itself wasn’t much different from before, but the scale this time couldn’t even be compared.
A magic circle with a diameter of more than twenty meters welcomed Michel.
Realizing she couldn’t avoid it in time by jumping, Michel kicked up a blast of wind pressure and barely escaped the boundary.
And there, spread wide across the ground, was already a Frozen Field magic circle.
“Checkmate!”
Even though the range was so wide that its effect was halved, in a situation this tense, even that could be fatal.
Seeing the countless spears raining down on her, Michel muttered briefly,
“…Immune Aura.”
Kwaaaaaang!!
A cacophony and a storm of dust erupted as all the magic converged into one spot.
From among the spectators came a mixture of sighs and admiration.
“She’s just overwhelming her with sheer numbers.”
“How much mana does she even have in her body…?”
“It’s not just the quantity—it’s the efficiency. The process of casting magic is incomparably shorter than ours.”
“Can even basic spells like Spear Magic be compressed like that?”
“How should I know? That must be one of the Magic Tower’s secrets.”
“Hmmm….”
Rubia wore a satisfied smile, Michel was buried under the cloud of dust, and the crowd murmured in excitement.
It seemed like the match had been decided in a single blow—but one person firmly shook his head.
“That won’t be enough, Rubia.”
“…Eugene?”
As Rubia turned her head at the faint sense of someone’s gaze from afar—
A gale swept through.
Whoooosh!
When the dust cleared, standing tall and unscathed was Michel Bernhardt.
Every single attack that had been aimed at her had vanished without a trace.
“Kh…!”
As Rubia hastily regained her stance, Michel added softly,
“That’s enough.”
She slid her wand back into her robes with a calm smile.
“This should be sufficient.”
“But…!”
“I know you’ve still got something hidden. That must’ve been your ultimate move, and you were quite confident in it, weren’t you?”
“…….”
“But there’s no need to use such a trump card here, is there? Not when so many are watching.”
Her words carried a subtle weight to them.
Whether her caution was directed toward Rubia or the onlookers was unclear.
Michel gave the bewildered Rubia a bright smile.
“You’ve done well, Professor Magnus.”
Thus ended the second duel.
Though her expression was a bit sour, Rubia quietly stepped down.
Watching that, I scratched my chin.
‘A shame, but… it can’t be helped.’
Whether I intervened or not wouldn’t affect Rubia’s awakening anyway.
And as Michel had said, there might still be an undiscovered spy among us.
There were too many factors at play to focus on her alone.
After that, the duels continued one after another.
Each of the special combat units displayed remarkable prowess.
They couldn’t quite match Francia or Rubia’s level, but many of them showed potential for valuable tactical use.
Even if they couldn’t fulfill their roles just yet, they’d eventually prove useful.
In a world headed toward the Apocalypse, one could never have too many capable people.
Once all the assessments were completed,
we began the official Dellowell-specialized training.
I started the briefing with the most crucial point.
“First thing to remember—do not think of them as humans like us.”
If I had to draw a comparison…
“Yes, you can think of them as Beasts.”
At that, one of the squad leaders in front raised his voice.
“Beasts… sir?”
“Yes.”
If Beasts moved as one through a shared mental network, then fanatics moved as one under their absolute faith.
They disregarded wounds or injuries and did not hesitate to treat themselves as expendable parts in the name of achieving their goal.
And on top of that, they had powerful command entities leading them.
In some sense, they were an even more monstrous force than the Beasts themselves.
“That’s why we’ll fight them the same way we fight Beasts.”
The key to a Great Beast battle was formation maintenance.
The enemy always exploited humanity’s weaknesses with obsessive precision.
Humanity had survived the Beast outbreaks not just because the creatures hadn’t gone all out yet, but because we’d managed to maintain our lines effectively until now.
But that applied to humanity as a whole. When it came to the Mallet–Karbenna Alliance, things were entirely different.
Our greatest weakness right now was the absence of a spiritual pillar.
The Dellowell fanatics had the Ribenian Orthodox Faith as their foundation and three Executors as their moral anchors.
Meanwhile, for the Mallet, Duel was merely a superior organization—nothing they could truly rally behind.
Neither the Magic Tower Master Gustav nor Chairwoman Michel held the same influence as those figures.
That was why I was needed.
The name Eugene Carter, the legendary war hero who spearheaded the reform upon his return.
“Let’s start by drilling the basics of formation reorganization.”
I snapped my fingers sharply and pointed at my old colleague.
“Belfor!”
“H-huh?”
“You brought the manuals, right? Take out every single one.”