He could not afford to miss such a golden opportunity. No matter how wicked and detestable the black magician was, Mitchell had no reason to refuse a duel with a mage who didn't know his place and rushed in recklessly. Still, as though concerned, Mitchell repeatedly confirmed the promise that no magic would be used.
"You clearly said you would not use magic. I trust that promise will be
kept."
"Of course. I swear on my honor. In any case, if we wear the bracelets, we're in the same position. You cannot use Aura Blade, and I cannot use magic either."
Having finished speaking, Damon put on the last remaining bracelet. Damon, having discarded his loose robe because it was cumbersome for fighting,
equipped the gauntlet he retrieved on his hand. An inward laugh escaped him.
'Kekeke. This fool doesn't even know what this gauntlet is…….'
To him, Mitchell looked like nothing more than a pup trying to tweak a tiger's whiskers. If it was a duel of pure bare-handed combat, Damon was confident he wouldn't lose to anyone. First, he possessed physical arts honed over a long period of time. Moreover, during the five years he spent in Sebaine, he had trained without missing a single day, forging his body. If Mitchell could not manifest his Aura Blade, he could never become Damon's equal. Was that not why he had prepared the bracelet that interfered with mana condensation in advance?
Of course, to Damon, an Archmage of the 9th Circle, such a bracelet could never be a true constraint. There was clearly a limit to the bracelet's ability to interfere with mana condensation. The magic it could restrict was at best around the 6th Circle.
However, Damon had no desire whatsoever to use magic. It was partly because he had originally come from a martial artist background, but he also had something he firmly believed in. Gazing at the gauntlet with its faint golden sheen, Damon's eyes gleamed.
'Even if that fellow uses Aura Blade, it doesn't matter. Because this gauntlet can easily block Aura Blade…….'
The gauntlet Damon currently wore was not the one made by his master, Doyle. Having been badly damaged from long battles, he had wrapped that gauntlet carefully and stored it away deeply. It was a decision made because he did not wish to recklessly wield an item imbued with his master's touch. Instead, he had searched for a weapon to replace the gauntlet in Incresia. He thought that among the countless magic weapons and artifacts the dragons had gathered, there would surely be a suitable item.
Damon's prediction hit the mark precisely. Helvertron had found a gauntlet included in a suit of magic armor. And at that, a gauntlet made of Bernadium that possessed tremendous strength. Originally, this had been part of a complete suit of armor. It was a portion of an artifact called the Armor of Illusion, which ranked at the top of the collection of the Dragon Lord, Kranus.
The artifact that Kranus had created by mobilizing countless dwarves over a full sixty years to make the armor with the strongest defensive power in the world was precisely the Armor of Illusion. Following the form of full plate mail and made entirely of mithril, it was literally a treasure whose value could not even be discussed. On its surface, the grand magic defensive formation personally drawn by Kranus was engraved using inlay (a technique where a pattern is carved out and filled with another material), and the parts that bore force, including the gauntlet, were unfailingly finished with Bernadium. Bernadium, the metal boasting the greatest strength and hardness among all metals.
"Truly magnificent."
Helvertron, who discovered the armor, was seized by the desire to possess it. The armor was so excellent that it aroused even a Death Knight's desire to possess it. But decisively, Helvertron could not wear the armor. The material used to fill the grand magic defensive formation via the inlay technique was none other than orichalcum. A Death Knight could not possibly don armor containing orichalcum, a metal that possessed holy power. Moreover, mithril, the armor's base material, was not a metal particularly friendly to the undead. They could endure mithril's properties to some extent only because they were such powerful Death Knights. If an ordinary undead came into contact with mithril, it would have to suffer considerable damage. Furthermore, orichalcum, which possessed a far stronger evil-destroying attribute, was something they could not even consider wearing.
"A pity."
Helvertron was deeply disappointed. Even Damon, a black magician, could not approach orichalcum. But the armor was not entirely useless. At Damon's request, he selected the gauntlet portion from the Armor of Illusion and brought it to Damon. The gauntlet covered in Bernadium was the only part that did not contain orichalcum. The circumstances of how Damon obtained the gauntlet were roughly as such.
"Excellent."
It was slightly different in shape from the gauntlet he had originally used, but Damon liked the newly obtained weapon very much. The fact that it could block Aura Blade without difficulty was what appealed to him most.
"Shall we have a round to warm up?"
Having finished his preparations, Damon leisurely turned his body toward Mitchell.
Mitchell stood with his sword drawn, waiting anxiously for his opponent to finish preparing. Yuliana cautiously approached Mitchell's side. She encouraged him in a low voice.
"Use this chance to kill that bastard without mercy. Got it, Mitchell?"
Mitchell nodded with a grim expression. In truth, even without Yuliana's urging, he had no intention of leaving his opponent alive. How much trouble had that bastard caused him? Mitchell's eyes gleamed with killing intent.
The one who had become troubled instead because of the duel was Kasim. He watched Damon with deeply worried eyes.
'I'm going mad. Why would he make such a nonsensical duel promise…….'
Of course, he acknowledged the opponent's magical prowess. But this was a fight of pure physical strength. From any perspective, the black magician was at a disadvantage. First, it was a fight between an old man and a youth. On top of that, it was a confrontation between a longsword and a spiked gauntlet, which could barely be called a weapon. No, even if everything else were favorable, the very idea of a fight between a magician and a swordsman was unthinkable. Even without using Aura Blade, a swordsman was strong enough, but to a magician, magic was the entirety of his power.
For that reason, Kasim's worries weighed on him heavily. His honest feeling was that he did not want to lose a magician he had recruited with such difficulty. With a heart full of worry, Kasim approached Damon and spoke.
"Will you be alright?"
"Don't worry. I have a plan as well, don't I?"
Having reassured Kasim, Damon looked at Mitchell.
"Ready?"
"Everything is finished. Come at me at once."
Damon began shuffling his steps toward Mitchell, who had taken his stance.
"Does it hurt a lot?"
Yuliana was touching Mitchell's face with deeply worried eyes. Mitchell's face, staring blankly into the air as if his mind had completely left him, was a sight to behold in a word. His usually presentable appearance was nowhere to be seen, and his face was filled with dark blue bruises at their peak. His eyelids were swollen as if about to burst, and his nose had become a flattened dumpling, while blood continuously seeped from his split lips. In particular, the four deep scars engraved on his right cheek would certainly never fade even if he lived a lifetime. It was not just his face that was ruined. The plate mail he had been wearing, old but well-maintained, had become a complete rag. It was so crumpled and battered that not a single intact corner remained. One might say he looked like someone who had been lynched by a hundred orc infantry for an hour.
"Get a hold of yourself. Mitchell. Please……."
Yuliana nursed Mitchell with an attitude drastically different from usual. Considering how she had hated Mitchell like poison, it was an extremely changed attitude. But she had no other choice. In this place, Mitchell was the only one on Yuliana's side. Therefore, Yuliana could not help but worry about Mitchell's physical condition.
"Euh, euh, euh."
Mitchell, who had been staring blankly into the air, suddenly burst into tears. At a glance, he was seized by extreme self-loathing. He had not been this sorrowful even when defeated by the Dullahan. But the fact that he had been defeated by a magician who didn't even use magic—a magician he had been confident of defeating—was making doubt about the swordsmanship he had honed until now well up within him.
In the end, Mitchell began to wail at the top of his lungs. The resolve to become a knight of the Crossen Empire had vanished without a trace due to the repeated trials.
"Don't cry, Mitchell. That bastard is a despicable villain. He must have used magic to defeat you."
Yuliana repeatedly tried to console him, but from the start, it fell on deaf ears. Having crossed swords for about an hour, Mitchell knew better than anyone that he had not been defeated by magic. Rather, that fact pained Mitchell even more. Because being defeated by a magician who did not use magic was a greater humiliation than being defeated by an ordinary soldier, Mitchell's tears would not cease.
"Hic, hic, hic... Father... why did you instill such confidence in me?"
Now Mitchell was resenting his father, Hales, who had passed down swordsmanship to him. His father's encouragement—that with his level of skill, he could cross swords without difficulty with the royal guards of most kingdoms—was something Mitchell no longer believed. Having been defeated by the Dullahan, no, and even in a duel with a magician whose physical condition was worse than an ordinary man's, his confidence had been completely shattered. Yuliana earnestly comforted the weeping Mitchell, but it was futile from the start. Mitchell could not easily come to his senses, like a man who had lost all hope…….
'Did I go too far?'
Damon tilted his head as he looked at Mitchell and Yuliana. Thrashing the brat splendidly had been exhilarating, but seeing him sprawled out and bawling was somewhat embarrassing. Just then, someone approached Damon's side. When he turned his head, the face of the mercenary captain, Kasim, entered his eyes. Complex emotions such as surprise, shock, and doubt rested upon his face. Kasim, who hesitated for a moment, carefully began to speak.
"Th-that was truly incredible. To defeat a Paladin with your bare hands……."
"Did I not tell you repeatedly? As long as there is no Aura Blade, there is no need to fear a Paladin at all……."
"Even so…….."
Kasim's feelings were no less complicated. In truth, he had not predicted Damon's victory at all. Because if you excluded magic from a magician, literally nothing remained. A magician's stamina was at a level far below that of an ordinary soldier, so…….
But the situation was truly unexpected. During the hour-long fight, Damon had literally pushed Mitchell back one-sidedly. Yet there was no sign of magic use. Because the fight had unfolded using only pure physical arts……. As Kasim reflected on the duel process, an expression of incomprehension floated onto his face.
'He didn't even cast Haste. And Shield was the same. Judging from my experience, that black magician undoubtedly defeated him with pure physical arts. And with a physical art of such power that I have never seen before in my life.'
Damon's movements were in no way lacking in making Kasim marvel. It was a powerful physical art that only someone who had fought many swordsmen could display. By no means had Mitchell, his opponent, been weak.
The precise movements, fierce attacks, and timely evasive maneuvers made exclamations burst from Kasim involuntarily……. Despite not manifesting his Aura Blade, Mitchell's skill was so outstanding that even Kasim would not dare to face him.
But the physical arts displayed by the black magician could be evaluated as decidedly superior. In the fight, he showed the appearance of a lion stalking its prey. The black magician repeated attacks and defenses in ways no one could have expected, digging into his opponent's gaps with senses like those of a wild beast. Even wielding an overwhelmingly short weapon, he was not pushed back at all. No, the accurate expression was that he one-sidedly drove his opponent back throughout the fierce battle.
The technique of slightly blocking the sword with the short blade of the spiked gauntlet, then sliding up the blade as if gliding to attack the hand was astonishing, and the attacks that maximized momentum by turning his body lightly were also more than enough to evoke exclamations. Moreover, the exquisite kicks (kick, a foot strike) that rained down relentlessly at every opportunity made Kasim's blood run cold as he watched. When kicks landed on the back of the legs or the kneecaps, Mitchell invariably lost his balance and staggered severely. Recalling that fact, Kasim unknowingly turned his head toward where Mitchell was.
'If this fight had been a normal battle, Mitchell would have died ten times over.'
A nonsensical duel—a contest of swordsmanship between a magician and a knight. Of course, the expectation that one side would be overwhelmingly superior had not changed. The problem was that the winner and loser had been reversed. A magician who toyed with and humiliated a knight—in fact, a Paladin-class knight—for nearly an hour in a pure contest of swordsmanship. And he had gone easy on him multiple times at that. Therefore, the eyes of the mercenaries looking at Damon were steeped in deep reverence. Never before had they seen such a magician.
Feeling awkward, Damon barked.
"What are you doing? Aren't we departing?"
Because the fight between the two had delayed them considerably, Kasim set aside his thoughts and cautiously approached where Mitchell was.
"I believe we must depart now."
Yuliana, who had been holding Mitchell, glared at Kasim with fierce eyes.
"How could this happen? To reduce a person to this state……. Is that wretch even human?"
Unable to contain her anger, Yuliana attempted to vent her fury on the innocent Kasim.
But this was Kasim, who had already had his full share of experiences with Yuliana. At Kasim's following reply, Yuliana could only be left speechless.
"As far as I can see, the knight seems to be the one who started the fight first. What has the magician done wrong? A magician is also clearly a man. A man cannot avoid a fight that comes his way under any circumstances. Ah, yes! Since you are a lady, you must not know much about the world of men."
"Y-you……."
Yuliana trembled, unable to contain her anger, her lips quivering. Kasim continued his words as if nothing had happened.
"We have been delayed considerably. If we do not hurry to the next city, we will have to spend the night in the mountains."
But Yuliana did not even pretend to listen.