Black Iron Magician

Haruna’s flank was gouged by a blade, but she’s still maintaining the mount position. For Deris, who is lying on his back on the ground, this position is the worst of the worst, as his back will fully receive Belial Shade’s attack. Not only lower back, which is currently in a critical condition, but also the back of his head is within the attack range. It’s terrifying to have a haircut, a brutal haircut, approaching from behind.

(It’s bad for my heart and it hurts a lot. Still, even without the divine armor, if it’s Belial Shade, a magic without Little Peerless, I can survive for tens of seconds with my endurance. After all, my body is not soft enough to be minced so easily. But my hair and waist are different! I know it’s inappropriate to be concerned about such things in a life-threatening situation, but I’m at the age to worry about such things!)

Deris is desperately trying to protect his head, lifting it up and doing his best to keep it out of contact with the ground, which is the attack range of Belial Shade. For Deris, it seems that this is more of a problem than having his body cut into pieces.

On the other hand, Haruna, who’s accurately taking advantage of Deris’s old-age weaknesses, presses the handle of her Doggan Staff against Deris and is doing her best to forcefully drop him into the abyss. Deris let go of his hand from the blade that stabbed Haruna and grabbed the handle of the Doggan Staff to push it back, but now that Haruna’s Little Peerles is activated, the power-up by doping is meaningless. No matter how much he raises his power, her Unique Skill will reach an even higher level of power. No matter what he does, Deris will be pushed down and will gradually sink into the abyss.

…… However, the current situation isn’t entirely in Haruna’s favor.

(My body hurts. My throat and stomach are burning. The severe pain made my eyes and nose useless. My body is poisoned after all…!)

Yes, Deris was chanting 『Fatally Venom』 when Haruna chanted Belial Shade. This magic, a level 100 scroll magic of Abyss Magic, creates cracks on the ground that emit deadly poison. The large amount of deadly poison released as gas instantly covered the hole where the two were, and it even began to invade the battlefield outside. At the same time, Deris also deactivated the area magic 『Op Room』 that nullifies abnormal status.

(Ugh…!)

The wound on Haruna’s flank hurts. The black blade of is still stuck in her flank. If she pulls it out now, she will bleed a lot, and in the first place, she doesn’t have the time to pull it out. The poison that is eroding Haruna from the outside of her body and the poison that’s gnawing at her from the wound are far more powerful than any of the poisons that she uses. The continuous damage and the unpleasant action-inhibiting effects are all things that she has never experienced before. It’s clear that the poison has already damaged her on a serious level.

(I’ve stopped Shishō’s blade with my Unique Skill by hardening my muscles, so it won’t widen the wound any further, but… ugh…! The poison that’s coming from the wound is awful. I’m gradually losing strength. I’m still pushing him thanks to my Unique Skill, but I think it won’t last long. Yes, I can tell because it’s my body.)

Deris is on the verge of being pushed into the abyss, and Haruna is in danger because of the deadly poison. In other words, both are in great danger, and it’s not strange for either to win or lose.

(At this point, it’s only a matter of luck, no, Chinatsu is still out there, so I’m rather at a disadvantage. The number of magic bullets I fired at the end was considerable, but I’m not sure if it was enough to finish her off―― hmm?)

There, Deris noticed something.

(What? Is it an optical illusion? Just like the poison around Haru’s Doggan Staff, the poison swirling behind her seems to have vanished slightly….)

The Doggan Staff, made of black magic stone, repels all magic except Haruna’s, so it also erases Deris’s poison. However, it is impossible for the Doggan Staff alone to erase all poison. And the poison that seemed to have disappeared earlier was behind Haruna, opposite to where the Doggan Staff was. Deris squinted while half a doubt, and then he saw that the poison disappeared again in a different place.

(It wasn’t my imagination! But there was no sign of Haru using some kind of magic, and it didn’t feel like Chinatsu had come―― wait, those are!?)

Deris saw multiple black balls gliding down the side of the hole. They are the black balls made of black magic stone that Haruna used for throwing. It’s unknown where they came from. They are not that powerful, but they are running around in the hole. Sometimes the black balls collided with each other, changing the direction where they ran around, and then they collided with each other again―― as they repeated such marble-like trajectories, the hole was filled with a large number of black bullets. Just like the Doggan Staff, those black balls erased the deadly poison produced by Deris’s magic. The force of the black balls that neutralized the poison was greater than the amount of poison produced.

「Haru, when did you take them out…!?」

「Ehehe, they are the ones that Shishō shot down…! I made them rotate in a way that they would gather here when they were intercepted and dropped to the ground…! You see, it was like moving a golf ball to the green to put the ball into the hole…!」

「HAAAH!?」

Deris couldn’t help but let out a surprised voice. If Haruna’s words were true, then the black balls were rolling on their own to this hole that was created later. The hole is dozens of times bigger than a golf hole, but it’s still unbelievable.

(Is she saying that she threw the balls in a way that they would head toward the hole, which she wouldn’t have known where it would be, on the assumption that they would be shot down by me!? After making the balls made such abnormal trajectories in the air, she made them rotate again after being shot down!? How is that even possible!? Such a fantasy throwing is――)

Even though Deris denied it once in his mind, the next thing that came to his mind was the numerous martial arts that Haruna put into practice so far. They were too much fantasy. Her aiki that could restraint her opponent by just touching them is a kind of fantasy that could never be realized in reality. Assuming that Haruna has reached such a level with the correction of the 『Throwing』 skill that has reached high level―― even Deris can’t declare that it would be absolutely impossible.

『Magic is something you throw!』

Haruna’s words mysteriously echoed in Deris’s mind.

(This idiot disciple…! She really threw magic without using magic and without using magic power…!)

Even in this situation where the poison, which is the only way to win, is erased, a hot feeling rises from the bottom of Deris heart. He unconsciously rises the corners of his mouth and shows a smile.

「But! I’m not going to let you beat me yet!」

「That’s what I hope for…!」

The master and disciple, who are supposed to be in a near-death state, send sparks flying as if saying that they aren’t fighting enough. However, the end of the battle is something that come unexpectedly――

「――Hardship Clearing Sword.」