Re-Tale of a Hero - Chapter 12. The Attack

The disappearance of their captain and vice-captain left the camp in turmoil, and a certain individual was watching them from the rooftop of the school.

It was the black-robed assailant. Taking off the hood and the white mask revealed the fearless face of a young man with blue hair and eyes. However, displeasure was apparent from his distorted countenance.

“I put on this mask to look cool, but there’s no hole for me to breathe out of, not to mention it’s stuffy as heck…”

The young man made a mental note to put holes at least for his nose next time. Regardless, his eyes were filled with joy.

“I see, so Ryiru-san can use <Flame Arts>. But there’s still a lot of room for growth.”

After scoring Ryiru’s performance, the young man grinned.

“Last but not least, Al. He claimed to be the strongest in the Duke’s army…I hope your performance isn’t as terrible as the other two.”

The young man distorted his fearless face, put on the mask and hood, and disappeared from where he stood.

*****

Amidst the chaos caused by the disappearance of Lucius and Ryiru, the executives of the camp had gathered, and Alphonse was of course present in the meeting.

“Nii-san and Nee-san have both disappeared. Normally, under such circumstances, I’d suspect them of eloping, but… Nee-san’s too straight-laced to do so, not to mention Nii-san already has a wife.”

Even if it wasn’t Al, anyone who knew the two’s personalities would dismiss the idea of them eloping. After all, being the type of people they were, they would make sure to pass on a message if they didelope.

“For now, we should hide this fact from the people of Tenou Academy. We’ll pretend as if nothing has happened.”

After issuing this order to his subordinates, Al fell into deep thoughts.

(Both of them are among the strongest in the Duke’s army. They wouldn’t be defeated so easily… Not to mention Nee-san was scouted by the head of the Valkyrie Squadron, a special unit that belongs to the Imperial Guards.)

“What about the Madam?”

“Let her know. In the worst case scenario, the Madam might have to make a move.”

The executives were shaken when they heard Al’s words.

“If the Madam has to make a move…”“The enemy might be a member of the Dragon race or someone even stronger…”

A commotion arose all of a sudden. Seeing this, Al smiled wryly and calmed them down/

“As I said, that would be in the worst-case scenario. We’re the strongest unit in the Duke’s army, I’m we can deal with the problem by ourselves. It’s just that we now have people we must protect, so it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

Though Al said this, he thought differently in his heart.

(If our enemy is capable of taking out Nii-san, I would have to buy time on my own and let the students escape. The other members won’t be able to keep up with me when I unleash my full power, so they’ll have to help the students in this escape. Once they’re gone, all I’ll have to do is wait for the Madam’s arrival.)

He was already taking into consideration the possibility of their defeat.

As he was thinking about what to do, he suddenly felt a sense of discomfort and looked up.

“Men, prepare for battle!” he roared.

At the same time, he equipped himself as well.

Unbeknownst to them, a man in black had appeared by the door.

Alerted by Al’s command, one of the executives raised his voice after noticing the man.

“Who are you!”

“And don’t you pretend as if you came here without any intention. You played a role in Nii-san and Nee-san’s disappearance, yes?”

Following Al’s question, the assailant increased the concentration of mana surrounding him and released it to his surrounding.

As it was apparent that the man had come with bad intentions, the executives tried to attack the assailant simultaneously from all sides.

However, the mysterious man further increased the concentration of mana around him, and with a thud, all the executives other than Al collapsed at once. The concentration of mana in the surrounding had exceeded the maximum concentration they could endure, and thus they had fainted.

“…Not to mention Nii-san, he’s stronger than me as well.”

And the difference was overwhelming. Nonetheless, Al’s fighting spirit didn’t wane. In fact, he seemed to enjoy the situation for some reason.

“So, what’s your business here?”

The assailant responded by charging at him and thrusting the spear in his right hand.

“You don’t intend to answer, is it? Fine, I might not be able to beat you, but I won’t be backing down on this fight!”

There were powerless people beyond this point, and as a knight, retreat wasn’t a word that existed in Al’s dictionary.

He managed to dodge the thrust, but the assailant’s spear pierced through the wall and carved out a hole.

The assailant did not continue attacking inside the small room and allowed momentum to carry him outside.

There, he promptly avoided the attack of Al, who had also followed him out.

(Now then, what shall I do? In an upfront battle, I don’t stand a chance. The opponent is using a spear while I’m using a sword and shield. He has the advantage when it comes to range, but he doesn’t seem to be equipped with a flying machine. In that case!)

Al used the flying machine attached to his magic armor and flew up into the sky. Normally, this would mean his attacks won’t be able to reach the assailant either, but he had another card up his sleeves.

“Destructive Wave!”

With a shout, Al unleashed a slash with his sword that was coated in mana. In response, the assailant stretched out his left hand and emitted a bluish-white light from his palm which negated Al’s attack.

(His Mana Release has the same power behind it as a technique unleashed using a weapon…What a monster.)

Unlike skills that were the result of directing and converging mana, there was no directionality when it came to pure mana.

Since Mana Release simply involved releasing mana to the surrounding, a considerable gap had to exist between the users for Mana Release to negate a skill.

Yet Al’s opponent had managed to pull it off. At this point, others would’ve normally lost their will to fight, but Al was enjoying every second of it.

(To think there’s someone this powerful aside from the Madam…)

Al could single-handedly defeat a young Lesser Sky Dragon. There was virtually no one who could match him in the duchy other than Kazuha and Kaito’s former retainers, so he had been starving for a strong opponent.

“Take this! Cross Directional Destructive Wave! Shower Down !”

With one wave of his sword, Al produced a cross-slash, and with another wave of his sword, he produced a large number of slashes that rained down, but the assailant simply stretched out his arm again as if to block them with another Mana Release.

(Naive!)

Those slashes had been a decoy, and Al was storing up a large amount of mana in his sword. However, before he could activate another skill, something happened that left him stunned.

(He’s gone!)

Al had lost sight of the assailant as the latter’s Mana Release had led to a blinding flash of light. He searched the ground, but the assailant wasn’t present anywhere.

In the next instant, he felt mana fluctuation coming from behind his left arm, and he instantly casted <Enlarge Shield> on his shield before swinging it backward.

He had managed to make it in time as the assailant who was about to thrust his spear backed away in the air.

(Flight skills. I’m assuming genders here, but considering his power, I guess it’s nothing strange…)

The fact that flying machines for magic armor had to be invented showed how delicate flight magic was and how hard it was to maintain said magic during battles where multiple spells and martial arts had to be used at the same time.

(What should I do now? The sky’s no longer safe, but it’s not like being on the ground is any different. Having said that, no matter how much mana he has, flying continuously for several minutes without using a flying machine would surely…no, I shouldn’t make such assumptions carelessly.)

Al was momentarily lost in his thoughts, and the assailant took advantage of this opening to lunge forward with his spear once more.

Al countered with his sword and shield, and coupled with his martial arts, he was able to avoid the attack. But his odds of winning seemed slim to none.

However, he didn’t give up. Instead, he slowly accumulated mana, waiting for a chance to strike. It felt like the chance would never come, but just then, for some reason, the assailant stopped in his track for a moment.

(No idea why you stopped there, but I won’t be letting this chance go to waste!)

Thinking so, he tried to launch an all-out attack, but the assailant’s weapon instantly transformed into the same sword and shield as the one he was using, and his attack was blocked.

(Wha-! His weapons aren’t stored in another dimension?)

Al had assumed that the assailant kept multiple weapons in another dimension just like them, but it seemed he was wrong.

Though he was surprised, Al refused to let go of this chance and continued his attack. The assailant parried, avoiding taking the brunt of the damage, but for some reason allowed the momentum to stick around which eventually crashed him into the ground.

Dust flew as a result of the fall, but in the next moment, a spear wrapped in purple electricity shot out of the dust, accompanied by the sound of rumbling. The assailant also revealed himself along with his spear.

(Not good!)

Al realized from the mana dwelling inside his opponent’s spear, that he wouldn’t come out unscathed if he took a direct hit.

He allocated as much of his mana as possible into his shield and casted <Enlarge Shield>, using the curved surface of the shield to deviate the trajectory of the spear.

He succeeded in doing so, but at the cost of the majority of his remaining mana.

Judging that he wouldn’t be able to block another attack of such magnitude, Al tried to approach the assailant, but the next thing he knew, he felt a strong force pushing him down from behind him, and he was knocked down to the ground.

“Gaha!”

As soon as he landed, he stood back up and faced the front, but he was greeted by two familiar faces.

“So you were brought here as well?”

“I guess that means you lost too.”

Indeed, it was Lucius and Ryiru. And thus, Al’s too was defeated.