◆Prince of Algore, Omiros

  I defended myself from Goz’s slashing attack with my shield.

  「TAKE THIS, FIREBALL! ! 」


  When Goz stepped back to dodge my atack, he sent out fireball magic from his hand, which I also blocked with my shield. The magic shield would have burnt if it was made from timber or pelt, but it stopped the fireball.

  「Acceleration! ! 」


  Goz used another magic attack in no time. Using that diversion he tried to cut me from the sides with his increasingly faster movements.

  GAKIN! !

  The resulting clear ringing sound of metal clashing against metal was caused by the shield that I could feel moving on its own. Despite all that I was still on the losing end since I stopped that blow with a forced posture.

  Since Goz kept using his magic in quick succession, I kept being pushed back by him.

  I raised my shield in a hurry.

  「WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SHIELD? ! ! ! 」


  Goz screamed in frustration.

  Just as he said, the shield was incredible . If I had to say, the incredible thing about the shield was the fact that it was moving on its own when I didn’t have time to react.

  I then recalled the words of the one who gave me this shield.

  「You absolutely must not give this shield to Parsish.」


  It was as if he had already predicted this situation beforehand.

  Really, just who the hell was that minstrel?

  But I had no time to ponder about such things right now. Goz’s attack was coming at me again.

  「Fu*k! ! ! WITHOUT THAT FU$KING SHIELD YOU’D BE A GONER―――! ! 」


  Certainly, I would have long since been defeated by him without this shield.

  It was vexing, but I was weaker than Goz.

  I was so frustrated by my inability to do anything against Goz just like when I met him all those years ago. I couldn’t do anything but look at the crying Regena at that time.

  That was why I desperately trained myself ever since that day. To prepare for this day, to protect Regena.

  But, Goz was obviously more powerful than the current me. He could have easily killed me if not for this shield.

  It was vexing. I felt so…… I wouldn’t be able to protect Regena if things stayed as they were.

  I was really frustrated.

  Goz attacked from an odd angle again. I somehow blocked that with the shield’s help, but I was about to reach my limit.

  I somehow reached a stalemate due to the power of the shield, but I wouldn’t hold out for much longer. It was only a matter of time before Goz defeated me, but I definitely wouldn’t let him lay his hands on Regena.

  「My bad, Goz! ! I won’t let you have Regena! ! 」


  I said, as I pushed Goz back with my shield.

  Ever since the day we met Goz, Regena became too scared to go out. Seeing Regena in that state was really unbearable for me.

  Thus I wanted to become strong enough to protect her and make her feel at ease going out. But, it turned out that I wasn’t strong enough. My strength alone wasn’t enough to protect Regena.

  I went to her side while fighting Goz.

  「Listen to me, Regena. I will hold him back in this place, you go call for reinforcements during that time.」


  If I’m not strong enough to beat Goz, I just need to receive outside reinforcements.

  「U-Understood, Omiros. Be careful, I’ll be back with reinforcements immediately.」


  「Yeah, leave this place to me for now.」


  Goz blocked the stairs in order to stop us from escaping.

  「You want to stop ME? Do you think you can do that? 」


  Goz grinned widely as he responded to our conversation that he overheard.

  「GOZ! ! Yes,I’m no match for you indeed! ! But, I can at least hold you back in this place! !」


  While I pointed my sword to Goz, Regena moved quietly to the side.

  「KUKUKU…… You better give up.」


  「What are you talking about, Goz! ? 」


  「OPEN YOUR EARS, PRINCE! NO ONE CAN SAVE YOU! ! ! ! 」


  As I tried to listen as he said I heard the screams of the people.

  「This is bad, OMIROS! ! There’s a horde of goblins below! The goblins are invading Algore!!」


  Regena screamed as she confirmed the situation below.

  It was already night, but the moon was shining brightly in the cloudless sky illuminating the scenes below.

  「GOZ! ! YOU BASTARD! ! 」


  I glared at Goz.

  「Ha~h, those goblins are my subordinates, who I led to invade Algore! ! Right about now, they’re killing the Algorians who were too preoccupied by the Dark Knight to notice our approach! ! 」


  Goz laughed at the top of his lungs.

  「Today marks the end of Algore! ! NOW FALL INTO DESPAIR―――― OMIROS-KUN! ! ! 」


  ◆Dark Knight, Kuroki

  「HYAKURETSUHYAKUHOKAMIKEN! ! 」


  The woman called Kaya kept sending shockwave attacks from a distance with her fists.

  As for me, I was sliding around while parrying those attacks.

  I wanted to come to Kuna’s side as soon as possible, but this girl just wouldn’t let me go.

  I have no choice then.

  I made up my mind.

  「So you finally made up your mind. But that’s strange…… Regena-san is in the other direction you know.」


  「My bad…… I’m just a diversion. I’ve sent another force to save Regena.」


  I told her such a smooth lie.

  That “Another force” was just bullshit that I said in the spur of the moment. My ranking in Nargol is second only to Modes indeed, but I have no subordinates at all.

  「I see…… But our reason to come all the way to Algore is you, Kuroki-san. Including arresting Regena, everything will be settled as long as I can hold you down in this place.」


  She really won’t let me go huh.

  「Do you think you can do that? 」


  Hearing my question Kaya nodded.

  「I don’t feel any hostility coming from you. You’re definitely stronger than me, but you can’t win against me if you don’t attack.」


  Saying so, she drew her fist.

  Though this woman’s attacks won’t take my life, it feels like she won’t take my life while leaving me with one or two broken ribs. Incidentally I wanted to cry at the moment since her words hit the bull’s eye.

  Despite my attempts to advance further by dodging her kicks and punches, I really didn’t make that much headway.

  I can’t advance any further unless I do something about this woman.

  I slowly became impatient. I wanted to come to Kuna’s side as soon as possible.

  Should I deliberately create some sort of opening? It’s hard to advance further without doing anything to her. In that case, I can only do that.

  「SURGING PALMS! ! 」


  When I created a gap in my movements on purpose, the woman called Kaya sent in a shockwave through my armor with her left palm.

  I rotated my body to the right to eliminate the force behind that blow as I seized her hand, and then turned around to toss her to the left.

  「WHat! ! 」


  She still sent a kick despite being tossed in that manner.

  I dodged the kick the best I could by bending my body backwards. What a splendid counter. It was also splendid in another way: I could incidentally see that she was wearing black laced panties when her skirt turned up due to her kick from before. The woman called Kaya stood up while taking a defensive stance after doing the backflip.

  As she stood, she held her left arm.

  She shouldn’t be able to use it for a while at least.

  I apologized to her in my heart for inflicting such a pain on her.

  「Well done…… But, don’t you think that you went too easy on me with that skill just now? Are you worried about my safety? You really are a kind person, no?」


  Yup, I was going easy on her with my throwing technique just now. It was in fact a technique to make your opponent feel intoxicated by rotating him to the right and then to the left, but I failed to do so.

  Yes, I failed to perfectly execute my technique thanks to that black laced panty. This is a secret of mine that I will bring along with me to the grave.

  Thank you very much for the eye candy.

  「It seems that I can’t stop you just with normal attacks…… Then how about this! ! 」


  Saying so, she suddenly stopped sending punches towards me, and instead approached me as she spread her hands to the side.

  「What the? ! ! 」


  I unintentionally leaked out.

  I mean she was basically defenseless now. Any attack that I would send at this moment could easily take her life.

  But, maybe, she intentionally left such a big gap in her defense seeing that I wouldn’t do anything dangerous to her.

  A nice fragrant smell entered my helmet. I wondered what in the world she was going to do?

  「TAKE THIS! ! TOURMALINE GLOVE! ! 」


  Powerful electric currents ran through my body along with her words.

  Several seconds later, she finally released her forceful embrace of me.

  「I released all the thunder spirit that was sealed in this glove in that attack just now. So no matter how powerful you are, this is the end.」


  Saying so, she then released her hands.

  「Maybe you already feel that your body is paralyzed. Don’t worry, I’ll ask Sahoko-sama to heal you later. Well you might not be able to hear me now, but someone who can’t attack will never win against someone who can.」


  This woman was already sure of her victory. This was the moment I was waiting for.

  Not missing that momentary gap, I grabbed her head.

  「Eh? ! 」


  She seemed to be quite surprised when I grabbed on to her.

  「Sleep! ! 」


  I released my most useful magic directly into her brain.

  「Ah……」


  Kaya’s body trembled as she began to fall to her knees.

  But before she lost her consciousness, she glared at me.

  It seems that her mind was resisting the sleep magic that I cast on her, but her body failed to do so.

  I became convinced that this magic absolutely wouldn’t have any effect on someone of her level unless I utilized it the moment she had a gap in her awareness.

  「How……?」


  Holding on to her head, she then fell on her knees.

  Maybe she expected that electric-type attack to work on me seeing that it worked on me before.