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Chapter 3-20. You’re Late
“
 Lequam Saulmaldt 
!”
When his name was called, Lequam mumbled, “Ho-,” and stroked his chin.
“Do you know me?”
“No shit. It’s easy to remember the name of a freaking inhuman madman”
“Huh? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t play dumb with me, you filthy old rag.”
It seems like he’s going to cut us unnoticed, fortunately we were fine, moreover we knew he was visible , it’s like he’s already admitted it too.
But wait.
Why is this guy here?
We should not have been followed because 【Haze Manipulation】 was active.
If it’s not, Uchikage will notice it too.
Besides, this time he wasn’t chasing us from behind, he was ambushing us.
What does this mean?
Since when did he know what we were doing?
Damn, I can’t even think about it.
“No need to be that angry. I’m only here to collect and source my experimental subjects..”
“Sourcing 
?”
“It seems that one of you can use purification. You also resisted my spells and 

 was a little late coming out, but I’m glad I set up the warp device here.” “
I see
warp huh.
I guess he was using warp to get ahead of us after confirming that we were leaving.
If he beat us here, word would not spread from the town.
Besides, he can go back to warp point right away.
Damn 

, he’s really thinking it through.
.
“Ouren-sama”
Uchikage hopped up and stood next to me.
“Is there a problem?”
“His magic is very strong. Even my claws couldn’t cut through it.”
“I see. 

 Uchikage, can you still going?”
“Of course, sir.”
We took a stance.
We took up our stances.
Alena and Satella are behind us, but if Lequam’s goal is to recover the slaves, he will not hurt them.
It would be more trouble than it’s worth if he took them hostage. 


” 【 Dark Medium 】 “
Uchikage created a body clone and sent it to the carriage where Alena and Satera were.
He said it would protect them if anything happened to them.
What a good skill.
“Hou-! You’re going to be my opponent huh! Take me on! I haven’t been moving lately. It’s getting sluggish and I don’t like it
 And an Oni. 

 would make a good test subject.”
“Who will be your experiment subject? Know your place.”
“I wonder which one I should ‘done’ first.?”
Lequam chanted quickly and activated six magic circles in the air..
After that, fireballs were shot from six magic circles at a tremendous rate of fire.
Even Uchikage could not avoid the fireballs, and pulled back for a moment.
However, let me take care of this.
“【Liquid Barrier】!”
A shield made of water formed right before our eyes.
The attacker’s fireball was sucked into the shield as if it were being eaten by it.
Since it is a fireball, when it touches water, it evaporates and vapor is scattered around it.
For the time being, the opponent’s vision should have been cut off by this.
Uchikage confirmed this and then vanished.
A second later, a cry of pain is heard from the direction where Lequam was.
A sharp clang of steel rang out.
It seems that the Uchikage has struck a blow at Lequam.
The fireball stopped flying and gradually dispersed.
At the far back, Uchikage was beating up Lequam to a pulp.
He must be using his [ Herculean Legs ] constantly.
Although I couldn’t see the Uchikage, I could see Lequam dancing in the air after being hit.
After a few seconds of dancing, Uchikage knocked Lequam to the ground with a heel drop.
Now we know that the Oni are strong in close combat.
That nuts.
And in an instant, Uchikage was back next to me.
But his expression was not pleasant.
“What happened?”
“I can’t get the blade through him. So I changed to a blow, but none of the blows land a hit

”
“What?”
I looked at Lequam and saw that he was up and standing up.
He was unharmed, despite having been hit so hard.
What in the world is going on?
“Hmm 
 that was so-so.”
“
 I knew it. Magic coating.”
“Uh? What’s that? But I don’t know if you have the time to explain?”
“In short, if we don’t get rid of that, we won’t be able to do any damage.”
What a hassle. 

 It’s going to be a long term battle.
But it’s using magic power, right?
If it’s magic power, then once the MP runs out, the coating and such should no longer be applied.
If this wasn’t an auto-activated skill, we might be able to get a counter or something.
Maybe there is some other way to break through. 


Let’s just try to figure it out for now.
“Uchikage, Back off a little bit.”
“Yessir!”
“Haven’t done a practical battle in a long time. 
【Water Spear Volley】!”
I created twenty water spears.
The power of this spear has become much sharper through training.
Although it cannot cut through the bones of animals like a sharp water sword, it can easily cut through flesh.
“W-what is that !?”
Lequam is dismayed. Haven’t you seen this skill?
Well, then, I’ll take my chances!
The twenty water spears are thrown at Lequam at full speed.
Since they are in the air, the timing of their thrusts is impeccable.
Lequam also formed six magic circles to counterattack, but the spears, being manipulated in every direction, cut through all the fireballs and went toward Lequam.
“Guh If only this much then!”
Lequam chanted quickly again to form another magic circle.
From it emerged a flame in the shape of a sword.
It thrust toward the spear.
But it doesn’t seem to have much in the way of maneuverability and can be easily knocked off.
Simply put, he’s a showoff.
Is this guy really an S-rank adventurer?
I wondered, but the flame sword suddenly attacked me at full speed.
I was surprised at the suddenness of the attack, but the Barrier was still in place.
Everything was completely diminished.
“Hmm. You can’t win at putting on a good show, huh?”
Apparently, there is still room to grow.
But that leeway can be fatal.
The reason why?　My stance was broken from that attack.
“【Reamed Water Spear】”
Convert two of the deployed 【Water Spear Volley】 into 【Reamed Water Spear】.
The threads were attached and pulled at once.
The threads cut off Lequam’s legs once and for all.
I was a little surprised because I was too stunned, but so was Lequam, who was also surprised.
“GHUAAAAAA- !?”
He falls to the ground, his face contorted with intense pain.
He seems to be clenching his teeth as he desperately tries to endure the pain.
I didn’t think it was that easy to cut something like that. 


What’s up with the coating?
Do your job.
I didn’t mean to go that far either.
But a surprising thing happened.
The blood stopped flowing from Lequam’s leg, and a new leg grew back.
The leg that had been cut off earlier had been thrown away.
But Lequam was standing on his new leg.
“How dare you let this great me 

 use my 

 regeneration skills 

 

!”
He seems very angry.
Then Uchikage comes back from behind.
“That is the skill called 【 Recovery 】 . You can even recover your own missing body parts, but you’ve probably lost a lot of magic power because of that.”
“I see. That’s a bit disconcerting, isn’t it? What’s with the magical coatings? That’s not even funny”
“I didn’t know the details either, but perhaps a weapon attack made with magic power might work.”
“Oh, I see.”
“


 That’s enough. I will extinguish you all.”
Oh, did he get angrier when we ignored him?
Grandpa, you’ll go bald if you get angry.
I don’t want to tell you that, because you might try to kill me for real.
Lequam created a large magic circle.
I don’t expect much intensity from this guy anymore. 


“Find out for yourself why I became an S-ranked adventurer 
 【 Heat Rays】 .”
“Ah, yeah, sure. Well then, let’s kick him in the ass.”
Zudoooon!.
“Khuha 
”
Uchikage, who was next to me, was blown away to where the carriage was.
eh?
What the?
There is a Liquid Barrier in front of me right now 

.
I looked and saw a hole in the Barrier.
It evaporated cleanly and was emitting smoke.
The moment I confirmed it, a strong shock hit me in the stomach.
“Bhuha 
”
My vision was distorted and I found myself slammed into a wagon over a blown up Uchikage.
It hurt like hell.
How powerful 

.
I can’t believe it pierced through my Liquid Barrier. 


As I was thinking that, another ray flew by.
It hit Uchikage again, rolling on the ground and stopping at my feet.
The heat rays had burned off his blindfold and left a terrible burn mark on his face.
“Uchikage!”
I called out to him, but he did not respond.
But his eyes were still open, looking firmly at me.
It’s all right, he is still alive.
When I look toward Lequam, I see that the magic circle is turning red.
Perhaps it takes time to recharge.
It would be bad to take any more of that attack.
But there are two people in the carriage.
We have to defend ourselves somehow, but the Liquid Barrier is useless.
The water shield would be useless too.
Then, I’ d better use that 

!
“【Pneumatic Barrier】!”
I poured MP into it to create a reasonably hard barrier.
The moment I created it, a heat ray came flying at me, but I managed to repel it.
If it is not water, it seems to be able to prevent that attack.
But it was so powerful that the barrier cracked.
I put 50 MP into it, but it still couldn’t seem to withstand that attack.
The barrier was re-applied.
This time, I put 70 MP into it.
“How’s that!　This is my power!　With this I can melt even the scales of dragons!　This is the magic I’ve spent years developing!　It’s a 【 Heat Rays】 !　But I’m still holding myself. This is just the right amount for a snotty brat who’s getting carried away.”
The heat ray is released again.
The pneumatic boundary shakes greatly to repel the heat ray.
This time, no cracks seemed to appear.
But the power of that heat ray seemed to increase with each strike.
If we don’t do something about it, we’re going to be out of steam.
We don’t know when his MP will run out.
I had already used 120 MP just to reapply the barrier.
And even with the 【Fluid Barrier】, the 【Reamed Water Spear】, and the 【Water Spear Volley】, I still had quite a bit of MP left.
Considering the MP for attacking, I don’t want to reduce my MP any further.
Another hot ray was released.
This time, a small crack appeared.
It seemed that the power was increasing with each strike.
Now that the Uchikage is down, I have to do the attacking as well.
I really want to use【Great Heal】on Uchikage, but Lequam is looking at me all the time.
It is dangerous to expose my healing skills here.
In addition, the 【 Heat Rays】  hit the 【Pneumatic Barrier】 directly.
The cracks are getting bigger, and a few more shots will break it.
There was no choice but to leave Uchikage here and fight on my own.
However, if I use 【Reamed Water Spear】, the magic coating will be meaningless.
So I should have a chance to win.
So the 【 Heat Rays】 was released once more, and the【Pneumatic Barrier】 was broken.
It didn’t hold a few more shots. 


I would have liked to have had a better plan, but I had no choice.
I mean, I’m so weak on the defensive battle. 


I stood up and took a stance with my will.
I deployed and maneuvered the three waterline spears.
The most crucial thing to do now is to exhaust all of his magic power.
If that doesn’t happen, the rest is up to me 

.
There are still a number of possible attacks, so while he is paying attention to this string of water spears, he should activate some other skill.
Just as I was thinking that, a heat ray came flying at me.
It was faster than before.
And it didn’t take long to charge.
Or rather, it seemed as if it had not even fully charged.


 I think he intentionally faked the activation by creating a charge time to catch me off guard!
I couldn’t handle the abruptness of it all.
I close my eyes to prepare for the next shock.
Zudon!
There was a loud noise.
It must have been a fairly powerful attack.


 But the shock never came.
I opened my eyes to see what was going on, and to my horror, I saw someone standing in front of me.
I don’t know if he fell from the sky or what, but there was a small crater at his feet.
I could not see his face because I only saw the back of his head, but I knew it was a young man with black hair.
He was dressed in dirty rags made of animal skins, with blood stuck in his coat.
Surprisingly, the young man was catching the heat rays that had just blown me off with his bare hands.
The young man saw his hand receiving the heat rays and then shook his hand.
“That’s a pretty light attack.”
“Well 
 You just caught that 【 Heat Rays】  with your bare hands 
!? You are 
”
It’s a voice I’ve missed.
When was the last time I heard it?
A month 

 or maybe a bit longer.
I instantly understood who he was.
I can’t forget.
This voice, and his hair that is black too.
I didn’t think that the vestiges of that time remained so far.
But I’m relieved that he hasn’t changed.
“You’re late.”
“I’m sorry to have kept you waiting! Ouren-aniki!”
He turned around and saluted me.
He is as good-natured as ever.
Short black hair, jet-black eyes.
He is dressed quite wildly, but it fits him well.
He has a dignified face, but still retains some childishness.
Reizen.
That’s his name.