Chapter 5 – Follow Me to the Parade!
However, from his point of view, my staff didn’t seem very reliable as a weapon.
“I’m going to use the real sword, are you really going to be okay with that? At least, I think it would be better to use that iron stick over there.”
“Even though it looks weak, it is quite usable if you put mana on the outside. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you in advance if it’s dangerous.”
After I stubbornly refused, perhaps it was because it was difficult to recommend any more, Ozma eventually showed an agreement and stepped back.
After that, we talked to each other and coordinated our opinions.
As a result, the referee decided to do it with Vanessa, and for the sake of each other’s safety, the first person to land an effective hit won.
If we fight ignorantly like the Death Knights did, it would be perfect for someone to pay a portrait.
Standing facing me, Ozma drew a sword from her scabbard and said.
“You don’t have to think too hard. You just have to fight like a real fight.”
‘Can’t that be easier said than done?’
“Please be gentle.”
I said that while hiding my inner feelings, lowered my head, and took the same posture as him facing the other side.
This is the basic posture of the ritual sticking technique that I learned five years ago while working for a while in the Kingdom Army as a War Mage.
When both of them were ready to fight, a strange tension flowed in the parade ground.
There was no signal to start, but anyone would know that the match had already begun.
When they were counting down each other, it was Ozma who moved first.
Tadak!
As if running by folding the space, Ozma, who instantly closed the distance of about 5m in an instant, pulled the horizontally raised rapier into his arms as much as he could.
“Huh!”
What came out immediately was a triple thrust that was like a flash war.
The speed was so fast that it was impossible to avoid it simply with body vision, so I blocked Ozma’s attack by predicting the path of the sword and pushing my staff into it one by one.
The surprise attack on his conversion failed, but Ozma didn’t care and took brilliant steps.
A slash at the top left, a stab at the bottom right.
After throwing a couple of blows as if dancing, he spun his body around once and used the centrifugal force to kick me in the stomach.
Of course, I am not the one who will sit still and suffer.
I quickly lifted my knees to defend against the high kick that was aimed at my stomach, then grabbed the staff with both hands and aimed at Ozuma’s chin and bounced the tip of the stick.
However, Ozma, who had predicted the movement after seeing my shoulder move, ducked his chin with a piece of paper and avoided the tip of the staff.
A one-step battle that took place in less than three minutes.
Leaning his upper body slightly, he held out his rapier, his eyes shining like a cat hunting for fish.
“It is often said that mages are weak in close combat, but it doesn’t seem like that.”
I replied, gently shaking the staff I held as long as a pole.
“Isn’t it inevitable if you don’t want to get stabbed by a stern guy on the battlefield?”
Then Ozma raised the corner of his mouth as if he had heard a very interesting story.
“Right… I mean!”
Between breath and breath.
Seizing that momentary gap, Ozma’s rapier dug into the nape of his neck like the claws of an agile beast.
I hurriedly threw my head to the side to avoid the sword strike.
Then, the rapier that passed right next to the ear cut off a few strands of short hair.
Before I had time to catch my breath, I hit his side with the staff in my hand to keep Ozma in check.
“No way!”
Kang!!
A cacophony of clashes between the staff and the rapier.
He also responded to this.
“Chit.”
Knowing that it would be disadvantageous to fight while holding the staff, which is a long weapon, and giving up my arms, I clicked my tongue and immediately unleashed a series of raging attacks.
Since even one effective hit would end the sparring, both of them were in a hurry to block the attack.
Ozma, who initially pushed unilaterally, blocks the attack with a bewildered expression, perhaps not knowing that I would suddenly attack randomly.
However, unlike general rods, the center of gravity of the staff is relatively concentrated in the head, so the hitting feeling is heavy.
It was hard to get all the impact out of a rapier with a thin blade, so it was almost certain that it would gradually strain his wrists.
“Quit!”
As expected, Ozma, whose wrist bent back a bit while blocking the attack, frowned in pain and could not withstand the attack any longer and was forced to step back.
As a result, the battle went into a lull for a while, and finally there was a chance to breathe.
‘How long did we fight?’
In terms of experience, it seems that they fought for about 30 minutes, but the shadows under their feet did not move at all.
It is said that only about 10 minutes have passed since the start of the sparring.
Without even thinking about wiping the beads of sweat from my forehead, I checked the condition of the staff in my hand.
There were already countless knife marks on the top and bottom.
Despite reinforcing the strength of the staff by enclosing magic on the outside, at this level, it seemed that they would not be able to withstand the attack any longer.
Like me, Ozma, who was standing on the other side and breathing heavily, must have had similar thoughts, so he held out his rapier and said patronizingly.
“Why don’t you change your weapon right now? I don’t think I’ll last long with that.”
But I calmly shook my head.
“As I said before, I’m really fine. There are plenty of ways to deal with it. So, when is Ozma-sama planning to use the magic built into that sword?”
“… How did know?”
“With the magical power circuit drawn so clearly along the blade, it is impossible not to know it without knowing it.”
I don’t know exactly what kind of magic is built into that rapier, but it must be the kind that helps in combat.
Hearing my words, he must have thought that there was no point in hiding it any longer, so he suddenly grabbed the rapier he was holding in one hand with both hands and took a nose-raising ceremony.
Then, the sapphire embedded in the sword’s pommel began to emit a cold light, and soon frost rose on the blade of the rapier.
‘Looking at the magic pattern, is it at least 4th rank?’
Perhaps a demonic sword of a considerable level.
With that kind of sharpness, the cheap staff I’m carrying could be cut in two at once.
Said Ozma, the thin blade pointing at me a blue rapier completely covered in icicles and frost.
“Since it seems like there would be no point in procrastinating any more time, why don’t we settle the match with the next blow?”
“That sounds like a good idea.”
Anyway, it seemed that each other’s taijutsu was a good thing.
If that’s the case, it would be appropriate to compete with something other than taijutsu.
After I accepted his offer and both of them took a deep breath, the sparring began again.
Ozma always went first, but this time I moved first.
“Suck!”
As a weapon, its lifespan was over anyway, so he threw the staff he was holding in his hand with all his might as if throwing a javelin in a surprise attack.
Perhaps it was an unexpected attack, Ozma flinched for a moment, but soon lowered himself to avoid the staff.
“Foolish!”
The staff, which had not even touched his body at all, fell to the floor with a loud sound.
Ozuma, who hit the ground as it were, dug into his arms without hesitation to stab me with a sharp ice awl.
“I got caught.”
Ozma’s face belatedly stained with bewilderment, as if he had heard my murmur, but it was too late to stop his outstretched arms.
I spread both hands.
Left hand turns right, right hand turns left.
The wind elements generated within the body rotate in different directions, creating small typhoons.
Quadra Spell-
‘Seonpung Dogol’
In an instant, the tornado wrapped around both forearms swallowed the frosty magic sword that had come close to it.
Kagagakak!
As the blade of the magic sword was ground in an instant, as if it had been touched by a blender, Ozma’s expression as he held the hilt of his sword instantly turned dazed.
I didn’t aim for that gap, and punched the armor in front of my eyes with my fist wrapped in the wind element.
Kwak Kwak!!
Then, Ozma’s body, hit by the dragon fist, bounced off like a cannonball and hit the wall surrounding the parade ground.
It was a short sparring conclusion.
***
“Ozma-sama!”
Vanessa, who was watching the sparring, hurriedly ran towards the fallen Ozma.
Her broken sword is also a sword, but her breastplate, which protected her chest, was in tatters after being hit by the Dragon Fist wind and ripped off her whole.
“Ozma! Wake up!”
Vanessa cradled Ozma, who passed out from the shock of hitting the wall, and shook Ozma’s shoulders urgently.
“This is what I said to control my strength.”
I was about to go over and apologize right away, wondering if I had done it too badly, but at that moment I realized something was wrong.
It was because Ozma’s chest, exposed through the broken breastplate, was tightly wrapped with a compression bandage.
‘No way.’
At that moment, Ozma, who was in Vanessa’s arms, opened his eyes.
“… What, did I pass out?”
He got up in Vanessa’s arms, then realized belatedly that his breastplate and the fabric inside it had been damaged, exposing his chest, and looked around him hurriedly.
Then, when our eyes met, his face blushed and he hurriedly crouched down.
“Look, don’t look!”
It was.
As it turned out, Ozma, the son of the demon king Nero, was a princess, not a prince.
