Chapter 955 – Look First and Move First

000

Boom!

Cleon’s swung holy sword struck down the opponent’s shoulder, drawing a path of flash.

Since it was an attack that seemed to have a large gap, Melusine, who was dealing with Cleon, would have been able to easily avoid the attack by seeing it with her own eyes and moving out of the way of the sword’s trajectory.

However, rather than dodging the attack, she chose to counter it directly with her sword.

The reason is that she realized that avoiding that attack was Cleon’s goal.

Cleon’s swordsmanship is a dual sword style.

Because he holds a sword in each hand, even if one attack misses, he can immediately proceed to the next attack without needing to take a breath.

At that time, a pattern appeared in her eyes and sparkled.

Even though she has already reached a higher level in her swordsmanship than Cleon, when she begins to use the power of her special eyes, Cleon begins to wonder if all of her movements are being read. Br〉

Moreover, from the moment she took off her visor and revealed her eyes, the precision of her magic also increased.

＇Could it is a special magic poem? ＇

In general, the vision of magical power that allows one to see a dark flow of magical power, such as traces of the use of another person’s magical power, is called magic vision.

However, even with the magical powers of magicians, it is impossible to see each and every subtle flow of general, natural magic power, and it is difficult to detect the magic power within a living being’s body unless it is condensed to some extent.

If you could see and recognize those magic powers.

Especially, if you can interfere with the perceived magic power.

In her case, as very detailed control of magical power becomes possible, not only will the precision of magic increase, but even the opponent’s movements will be able to be predicted in seconds.

‘That’s annoying.’

Cleon thinks so, and Melusine thinks Cleon has read it to that point.

In fact, Melusine was moving as if predicting Cleon’s movements.

And, as Meluzin expected, she was attacked by an attack that would have been difficult for her to respond to if she had originally avoided it.

What you need to avoid is this attack.

Step back from the range of a horizontally swung sword.

When I thought I heard a sharp sound, it was the sound of her boots slipping backwards as they touched the ground.

Since the movement was faster than Cleon expected, he thought that some kind of magic had been used and glanced down at his feet.

‘Did they move at high speed by freezing the ground?’

On the bottom of her boots, something like a skate blade was formed using ice magic.

Probably, she appears and disappears repeatedly according to her will.

And, raising the ground at the same time reduced friction, making it possible to move faster than walking.

Moreover, the remaining frozen surface becomes a difficult place for Cleon to move.

The next moment, on the ground, Melusine once again glided towards Cleon as if being sucked in.

Accelerated movement, and ice spreading on the ground.

She moves over it with an acrobat-like movement, stabbing and swinging the frozen sword in her hand with lightning-fast speed.

Each of her attacks, as she swings her sword around herself, is lethal.

Before we knew it, an ice sheet had formed in a circle surrounding Cleon, except right under his feet.

There are limits to blocking a sword in place.

Formation of one-sided environmental advantage.

For her, using her magic and swordsmanship at the same time is probably one of her important tactics.

Unfortunately, there is no way to create such an environmental advantage for Cleon, who uses both her magic and sword skills like she does.

She couldn’t skate like she did if the ground was frozen, and she didn’t have a body suited to that special environment.

If he could turn his whole body into fire like Laila, one way would have been to turn the surrounding area into a sea of ​​fire, but unfortunately, if Cleon uses the same method, he will usually be burned or suffocated.

‘It’s an annoying tactic. Then, what I have to choose is decided…’

If she cannot raise herself to the same level as her, she is pulling her down to herself.

You may be criticized for being cowardly, but in actual combat, that doesn’t matter.

… And Talcheck said it.

As Cleon thought so, he quietly put strength into her hand holding her sword.

Should I say that was Cleon’s habit just before squeezing out magical power? It was like a preparatory move to draw out magical power through will.

Just as a wizard or priest who uses a staff focuses on the staff, and a shaman focuses on the tool in his hand.

The fluctuations of emotions increase the flow of magical power.

＂Flame Burst!＂

Finally, the magical power of the flame gathered in Cleon’s body spread greatly towards the surroundings, melting the frozen ground and, hopefully, inflicting a heavy blow on Melusine –

＇Pishuk…＇

Didn’t give it.

What I heard was a draining sound, as if an unexploded firecracker had exploded.

It wasn’t a flame, it was just a warm gust of air spreading towards the surroundings, unable to melt the ice or even push Melusine away.

＂What-＂

Cleon himself may have been embarrassed, but as the warm wind passed through his body, Meluzin raised the corners of his mouth and continued his attack.

As the attack continued without any time to erase his embarrassment, Cleon had to click his tongue and raise his sword to block her attack.

‘What? There was no problem in activating magic or consuming magical power. However, the fact that the magic is weakened this much means that there is a problem with the environment itself…’

With that thought in her head, Cleon moves her arms to confront her.

Her attacks start from the front, then the sides, then the back, and then the sides again.

The attack was aimed at the joints of her shoulders, sides, thighs, and back of her arms.

Since swordsmen basically have the habit of concentrating their defense on ‘places that should not be cut’, they place the focus of defense – that is, the position of their sword to block the enemy’s sword – there.

From there, actually reading the enemy’s attack and moving to where you need to block it creates a slight time gap, creating a vicious cycle in which your pace will inevitably continue to fall even after you block the attack.

But, is the position of the sword taken from the beginning to block such a place?

On the contrary, it was the same act as giving up to the other person a vital point where one could die in one blow.

Would it be better to say that it is an act of giving up one’s bones to protect one’s flesh?

Especially against an opponent who specializes in quick swordsmanship like her.

‘No, rather than that, it is first important to think about why the magic failed to activate.’

Cleon had no choice but to force her concentration back after being distracted by her sword.

Even Cleon could tell that her blizzard-like cold, sharp, and unrelenting attack was intended to prevent him from understanding why his magic had weakened.

Think about it, there aren’t many reasons for magic to weaken, except for internal factors.

That’s just like the countless battles where he unleashed his dark magic domain to weaken divine magic-

＂Is that so…!＂

Kaang!

At the moment when Cleon’s sword and Melusine’s sword collided, Cleon noticed her trick and a happy voice came out of her mouth.

Upon hearing those words, Melusin herself looked surprised at first, but then the corners of her mouth raised as if she was amused.

“I guess you noticed.”

“Ah. Could it be that these ice sheets not only serve as a stepping stone for high-speed movement…”

Let’s go!

Melusine, instead of pushing Cleon by repeating her blows and retreats like now, this time, perhaps to hear the answer from Cleon, she faced Cleon’s sword as it was, and she herself did not bite her sword. Strengthen her arms to maintain her position.

[It’s cold~!!!]

Galatea screamed because of the cold coming from the sword, but Cleon continued her words to Melusine.

＂It was a preparation for spreading the realm of water attribute magic to the surroundings…!＂

As Cleon said that, he strengthened the arm holding Galatea and began to push Melusin away.

＂!＂

As Cleon said, the ice spread around contains her – Melusine’s magic power.

The distribution of magical power that seems to cover the surroundings, in other words, creates a space dominated by that magical power.

The ice sheet created to surround Cleon acts like a barrier to confine Cleon, forming a wide area of ​​water magic that is so faint that it is invisible to the eye.

If Lila is in it, magic cannot be used, and it is a powerful suppression of magic to the point where it glows.

Pajik!

Just when you think a spark flies from Cleon’s body, the next moment.

Cleon’s body disappeared in an instant.

And, as he reappeared from the outside of the ice, he took a deep breath.

＇… Metastasis? ＇

Melusine thought that she had never thought that Cleon would use such high-level space magic, and she turned to face him.

To be exact, it is not a transfer but a reflection of thought.

Even as Cleon, it was quite painful to use a card called Barisada’s ability that I didn’t want to use just for movement, but-

With this you can deal with pesky ice patches.

Cleon held out his palm in the direction where Melusine was standing.

Then, an unprecedented amount of magical power gathered in his palm.

＂Agni Wave!＂

For a moment, Melusine felt the sensation of a vacuum sucking air into his palm

At the same time, her eyes saw

Unimaginable waves of flame spewing out ahead.

＂…!＂

At the same time, Melusine moved.

The direction was forward – that is, it would have been the direction of Cleon, who was confronting him.

Cleon’s hand can be said to be a nozzle, waves of flame spewing out from there.

It was a possible choice because it was Melusine who ‘saw it in advance’.

Next moment.

Kwaang!

A truly gigantic bomb explosion sounded, and the flames that started from Cleon’s palm spread out in a wide fan, with the force of sweeping away the ice and Melusine in front.

Thanks to escaping from the magical realm, the power of flame magic returned to its original state.

However, Melusine narrowly missed out –

By wrapping her own body with her water, she was able to escape its range.

Thanks to that, all that flew away was the ice.

Her body her itself was unharmed except that the tips of her hair She had evaporated a little.

However, Cleon was confident of that.

Even though it is magic I have never seen before, I accurately check and act on how to deal with it.

To say it was just a good feeling – she moved from where she was standing after seeing the only direction she could reach in the nick of time.

And that too, right before the magic is activated.

＂Is this the magical eye of the future…!＂

As Cleon spoke while looking into Melusine’s eyes, Melusine nodded her head to the story.

“… It’s not at the level of truly being able to see the future, but it’s similar. When you look at the other person, all you have to do is read their magical will and derive a prediction of their behavior from there.”

She is an extremely trained magical eye, and since she is a fairy, she is even more friendly to magic, so she has acquired magical eyes.

＂Seondog (先?)’ S magical eye＂

Therefore, Melusine can always hit ‘player’.

In other words, when playing rock-paper-scissors, you can look at the hand that your opponent will play and make a winning hand in advance based on that.

“Haha… That’s a foul…”

Grumbling…

Watching Cleon’s magic end, Melusine answers.

“I wouldn’t tell you to read all the other person’s movements to that degree. It’s not a level that humans can easily reach.”

And she spoke to Cleon while adjusting his posture once again.

“But… That’s right. By the end of Lesia’s training with me, she was able to catch up to some extent. Should I ask you to do the same thing?”

At her words, Cleon silenced her for a moment and then-

She answers, activating her magic vision in his own eyes as well.

“Good. Let’s give it a try.”

If that name came up, her motivation would be sufficient.