Chapter 11
—Raust—
「Gh!」
A fireball approaching from right in front of me .
I managed to avoid it somehow by jumping sideways .
No, I couldn’t avoid it completely .
The fireball slightly grazed my leg, causing a dull pain .
But ignoring that pain, I put strength on my legs and kicked the labyrinth’s ground .
Despite only grazed, this was the flame of a phoenix, a super-high difficulty monster .
Normally, it wouldn’t be strange if I couldn’t use my legs anymore .
However, my body currently was fortified with the fire resist magic tool I made myself .
As long as it was only a graze, there would be no problem other than the pain .
Indeed, this time I was helped by magic tools .
Still, I couldn’t rely on those magic tools .
Being a tool, magic tools could break .
In short, there was a limit on how many times it could protect my body from the flame of phoenix .
Also, it could do nothing if I got hit directly by the fireball .
Combined with Laila’s healing magic, I could defend against the fireballs to some extent, but that too had a limit .
…Considering this, there was more pressure than I expected .
「RA─────A!」
「Uoooo!!!!」
Apparently, I seemed to be more nervous in this condition where I fought without using magic detection, guess I was still naive .
While barely avoiding the fireballs by kicking the wall and jumping around, I analyzed the current situation .
Right now, I didn’t use magic detection, I was dodging the phoenix’s attack only by lightly strengthening my body with ki .
I was unable to trigger magic detection which required complex processes in the interval between phoenix’s attacks .
Fortunately, magic detection seemed to be not very useful when fighting the phoenix .
On the contrary, magic detection could be said to have very bad compatibility with the phoenix who attack from outside its range .
…However, it seemed that not having magic detection, which taught me of the dangers around me, activated, was more burdensome than what I had imagined .
「RA───A!」
「Guaahh!」
The pain I felt when I jumped forward with all my strength to avoid the phoenix’s fireball reminded me once again of the value of magic detection .
Until now, I have been evading by the narrowest of margins .
But this time, I made exaggerated movements .
Without magic detection, I didn’t know if I really would successfully avoid the attack and so I ended up making an unnecessary move .
「Hahh- Hahh-」
…As a result, I was fatigued physically and mentally more than I expected .
By now, I didn’t know how much time I have earned, or how much longer I need to keep this up .
However, my fighting spirit was still ablaze in my heart .
「《Area Heal》」
Along with Laila’s dignified voice, my injury healed and my physical fatigue recovered a little .
Given my current fatigue, the physical fatigue recovered was just a mere consolation .
However, that 《Area Heal》 worked wonder on my mental fatigue .
To be honest, I had really bad compatibility with the phoenix .
It was much more troublesome than the hydra before it was mutated .
Even so, I was full of motivation compared to when I fought the hydra with Sword of Lightning .
The presence of the comrades I have behind me was what inspired me .
And so, I smiled as I grabbed the dagger I usually used after I threw the melting greatsword that just got in the way .
「Raust, back off!」
It was at that moment, Zieg-san’s shouted .
The moment I heard him, I immediately understand that Armia’s magic was ready .
I wasn’t aware how much time had passed as my sense of time was off during the battle
For a moment, I felt relieved, knowing that I managed to do my part .
「RA────A!」
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「—!」
But the next moment, I realized something, my face tensed .
…It wasn’t just me who noticed Armia’s magic .
The phoenix was no longer interested in me .
At the end of its line of sight was Armia who had her eyes closed as she concentrated .
Looking at that, I was convinced that it really noticed Armia’s magic .
It wasn’t clear if the phoenix’s magic sensitivity was what make it noticed the almost completed magic or if there was another factor .
However, regardless of the reason, the phoenix was certainly aware of Armia’s magic .
「RA───────A!」
Phoenix raised a roar of anger at Armia .
Apparently, the phoenix had noticed the trump card we hid until the last minute .
「With this, we win…」
Yet, even knowing that, I laughed .
I was convinced that our victory was guaranteed .
After all, the course of action it took was the worst thing it could do .
Between the phoenix and Armia was the figure of Zieg-san and Narsena .
The situation might change if the phoenix noticed Armia’s magic a few minutes earlier .
However, no matter how desperately it fired the fireballs, its attack wouldn’t be able to reach Armia .
Armia’s magic would be completed before that could happen .
In other words, the action the phoenix took was completely useless .
And one more thing, the phoenix had overlooked something big .
Perhaps, the phoenix which head currently fully focused at Armia didn’t even notice it overlooked something .
Convinced with that, I opened my mouth as I ran toward the greatsword I threw away while I was running around .
「It has completely forgotten that I was the one that gave it a big wound at the beginning…」
Currently, the phoenix stopped paying attention to me .
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That was something it should never do .
Even when I was trying to pick up the greatsword, the phoenix didn’t notice .
It seemed despite the deep cut on its body, the phoenix had already forgotten what happened at the beginning of the fight .
That I am also capable of hurting it .
While I was amazed by such fact, I lifted the greatsword .
The blade of the greatsword had melted and become rounded .
The blade most likely was brittle now .
However, it should be able to withstand the flame armor once more time .
After determining that, I reinforced my body with magic power and ki, reverse-grip the greatsword’s hilt and raised it .
「Haaaaaaaaaa!」
And then I threw the greatsword at the phoenix .
The greatsword flew straight toward the phoenix .
「RA────A!?」
And the phoenix just noticed that right when it was about to fire the fireball .
The phoenix held off on releasing the fireball and twisted its body, it was trying to ward the greatsword with the fireball somehow .
…But, the phoenix was too late .
「RAAAAAAAA !?」
The next moment, the greatsword deeply penetrated the phoenix’s body, the phoenix roared in pain .
「Bless me oh spirit of water!」
It was at that moment, Armia’s magic completed .
In response to Armia’s last chant, a large amount of water appeared and engulfed the phoenix’s body .
For normal water, it wouldn’t be able to strip off the phoenix’s superheated flame armor .
The water would just evaporate before it could do anything .
But the water created with Armia’s magic wasn’t just normal water .
It instantly removed the armor of flame which should evaporate water in an instant .
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「RA─────AA!」
The phoenix rampaged around to try to shake off the water from its body, alas that action was meaningless .
Tens of seconds later, the flame armor covering the phoenix’s body was extinguished .
Seeing the sight after the flame armor disappeared, we were convinced of our victory .
「RAaaaa」
No matter how powerful the flame armor was, super-high difficulty monsters weren’t such an easy opponent we would be convinced of our victory after sealing that .
Fighting against super-high difficulty meant being vigilant until the very end .
…Even so, the phoenix was in such a tattered condition that we were convinced that there was no way we could lose .
Under the armor of flame, the exposed body of the phoenix had two deep wounds on it .
One was the one I gave from when the battle just started before the flame armor extinguished .
I didn’t realize because of the flame armor, but the phoenix was already deeply wounded at that time .
It was so deep even the phoenix who had the ability to regenerate beyond what other super-high difficulty monsters able to couldn’t heal that off .
Still, until now, the phoenix fired fireballs and fought desperately .
However, the phoenix seemed to have reached its limits .
I knew that because the phoenix couldn’t even fire anymore fireball .
「It’s cruel to drag this on longer . 」
Does Zieg-san arrive at the same conclusion as me? Holding the magic sword, Zieg-san muttered that and walked toward the phoenix .
I guess he wants to deal the finishing blow at the phoenix .
Seeing him, I was convinced this was the end for the phoenix .
The duration of this fight should normally be considered very short .
However, probably from the extended time of keeping the phoenix’s attention to me, my body was deeply fatigued .
But, this is the end of this phoenix’s subjugation .
Right, I took my mind off of it……
「rAAAAAa──────aA!」
「………Gah-!」
…However the next moment, I was stunned by the sight of Zieg-san being blown away together with his magic sword by the phoenix .
「…………Huh?」