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When Zelyse was being held back by Urushi, Fran, who had made herself unnoticeable, launched a surprise attack.
「――!」
Fran was silently descending from the sky to the lake surface. The natural signs of sound, air movement, and body heat were being completely eliminated by her skills. Even her own shadow on the lake surface had been erased by magic.
By the time Zelyse noticed Fran falling from the sky, the distance between them had already shrunk to only a few meters.
「Uwaaa!」
「Shii!」
Fran swung me down at Zelyse, who was making a dumb face.
I could not sense any martial arts capabilities from Zelyse. He may have possessed the skill, but he didn’t seem to be a master. The only unusual thing was that Zelyse had noticed Fran’s surprise attack before he was cut down.
As I thought, he was no ordinary opponent. With that in mind, I activated multiple attribute swords at the same time.
『Eat this!』
And then my blade slashed through Zelyse’s body. It was not that I had sliced through him so easily that he couldn’t even resist. But I didn’t even feel a slicing sensation at all. It was as if I had cut through an illusion, and my blade went right through his body.
The slash that Fran unleashed slipped through Zelyse’s body, only to cut deep into the water at his feet.
Just a moment before Fran sliced Zelyse, I could clearly feel his presence at that spot.
But it has changed now. Even though I could see him, I couldn’t even feel any presence or magic coming from his body.
He looked exactly like when we used Dimension Shift, but he didn’t seem to have used any Space-time Magic.
I have no idea of what he has done.
However, Fran and I were not that surprised by it. We were not that surprised, because we had thought, somewhere deep inside our minds, that this guy might dodge.
That was why we could still move on to our next action without getting freaked out.
「Haaa!」
『Orraa!』
Fran unleashed a series of slashes without pause. And at the same time, I continued to shoot Lightning, Fire, and Storm Magic at him.
I didn’t know what kind of permeability power Zelyse was using, but if it was a Dimension Shift kind of power, it shouldn’t last that long.
If that was the case, we would just have to keep attacking until that ability wore off. That was our strategy to handle this situation.
「Oya! Isn’t it Fran-san!? Long time no see!」
「Even at a time like this…!」
『Does he think he can afford to be so relaxed!?』
「Don’t make such a scary face~」
Zelyse flashed a carefree smile without a hint of hostility at her. Seeing that, Fran increased her speed even more, but Zelyse’s permeability power did not seem to be disrupted at all.
No matter how many times Fran’s sword struck that smug face of his with powerful telekinesis, he just stood there smiling and laughing.
『Then how about this!』
「Ahahaha! I’m so surprised you can even use the Space-time Magic with no chanting!」
I unleashed my Space-time Magic, the Dimensional Sword. It was a technique that ignored the opponent’s defenses and dealt damage, but it was also effective against Dimension Shifts.
However, Zelyse’s annoying smile remained on his face.
『Tsk!』
My Dimension Sword had been repelled! It appeared that he had prepared all countermeasures against it. However, the fact that he had prepared a countermeasure for it meant that attacks with the Space-time attribute were effective.
『Urushi!』
「Grrrr!」
「Uwaah! Even this wolf!?」
Urushi used his Dimensional Fang skill. It had the same Space-time attribute as my Dimension Sword, but it was far more powerful.
Perhaps what he was using was not Space-time Magic, but a skill similar to Dimensional Magic, which is the superior version of Space-time Magic.
Seeing the approaching fangs, Zelyse created a barrier in front of him. The barrier, which was put up in the spur of the moment, couldn’t have blocked Urushi’s attack, but he hoped it could buy him a moment of time.
Zelyse’s figure drowned into the water then appeared a few meters from where he had been standing. But the weird thing was, I couldn’t detect if he had activated any magic at all.
I was constantly paying attention to our surroundings in order to anticipate if he was going to use teleportation. And yet, I was unable to detect any sign of him using teleportation at all.
Then was it possible that the Zelyse we were facing was just an illusion? No, if he was just an illusion then I should be able to feel the magic power of his illusion. However, I couldn’t feel anything from this Zelyse at all.
Then, was that figure of his a mirage, a false image created by natural phenomena? I couldn’t help but think that was the case…
But if that was the case, there was no way he could have a conversation with us.
Moreover, he could block my Space-time Magic and dodge Urushi’s attack. So, it seemed, he must have erased his own entity in some way.
『…Fran, unleash your Space-time Magic at full force』
「Nn」
Even if the Space-time Magic was not very powerful, it could be strengthened by putting too much magic power into it.
『Urushi, focus on your attack. I need you to attack that guy without pause』
「Grrr!」
It was Zelyse we were facing, and he was always quick to escape. So even if this would use up all of our magic power, we must bring him down here!
「Fran-san, why did you even come to this place… Or have you perhaps been following me by any chance?」
「No. Rather than that, what are you doing here?」
「Ee~h? You want to know?」
「I know you’ve been working for a very important person from the Raidos Kingdom. So, what are you up to in this country?」
「Fufu~n, if you’re that curious, I’ll tell you about it then」
In response to Fran’s question, Zelyse easily spoke up and started blabbering about his misdeeds. Yes, this was what kind of guy he was.
Well, I’m grateful for that because it allows me to ready my skills and understand his circumstances.
「It wasn’t the Scarlet Waterweed medicine we were after!」
「Nn?」
They were not aiming at the Scarlet Waterweed medicine? But why have they been hoarding so much of it?
「You’re wondering why, aren’t you?」
「Then, why have you gathered that much Scarlet Waterweed medicine in the first place?」
「We didn’t really mean to gather that many, we just threw the unnecessary ones in the warehouse」
I didn’t understand. Didn’t they make the Scarlet Waterweed medicine and store it in the warehouse because they needed it?
「What we wanted was something that came out of the Scarlet Waterweed medicine’s manufacturing process」
「Something that comes out of it?」
「Its waste liquid. Well, for me, that’s the real deal, and the Scarlet Waterweed medicine is just like the real wastewater」