Chapter 59
—At the signal to begin, Guy charged at me with his sword raised.
Misa and El made no move.
I’d already confirmed that both of them had zero magic.
Without magic, the best they could do was try to hit someone with their staffs.
That posed no threat at all to me, with 【Physical Enhancement Lv. 1】.
Ordinary adventurers, even those in the back row, knew at least a little about physical combat.
But those two could do nothing but spam Skills.
With no magic, they were nothing but dead weight.
They’d fallen right into my provocation, but I couldn’t understand why they’d even joined the duel.
They really must be idiots.
“Don’t get cocky! Even without Skills, I can handle someone like you on my own!”
—Guy charged at me with no plan whatsoever.
'Wow, he's even lower than a water flea~'
'Yeah.'
Even MP sounded exasperated.
I was calm enough to simply watch him.
Before, I would have felt intimidated and frozen with fear.
But...
—Was he always this slow?
Compared to Rinka’s movements after activating 【First Blade】, he might as well have been standing still.
I easily dodged his wild, strength-fueled swing and aimed at his wide-open torso—
“—Fireball.”
“Guh!”
'Nice one, Master~'
I managed to land a fireball with far less trouble than I’d expected.
Part of it was that fighting alongside Rinka had gotten me used to her speed, but his lack of buffs was another factor.
What supported Guy’s combat ability was El’s powerful enhancement magic.
Until now, thanks to my 【Magic Loan】, El hadn’t had to worry about running out of magic and had repeatedly layered powerful support magic on him.
And Guy had relied on those buffs while firing off attack Skills.
So this was how weak they became when their magic ran dry and they couldn’t use either one...
Although it was just one hit, the fireball struck Guy in the solar plexus, and he let out a sound like a squashed frog.
It seemed to have done a decent amount of damage.
Taking a closer look, his sword and armor were both in tatters.
Were they so short on money they couldn’t even afford Repair Liquid?
“Guy, are you okay?”
“Are you all right?”
Misa and El called out to him worriedly from a distance.
That grated on me, so—
“—Fireball.”
“—Fireball.”
I sent a fireball at each of them.
“Eek!”
The fireballs hit them in the face, and they fell flat on their backsides.
For people in the middle of a fight, they were way too careless.
After confirming their pitiful state, I turned my gaze back to Guy.
“You okay?”
“D-don’t you underestimate me!”
'You're the one underestimating Master~'
Even though he’d taken it head-on while completely defenseless, Fireball was only a beginner spell.
I’d cast it an absurd number of times over the past week, so my Fireball was several times stronger than when I’d first learned it.
Even so, I didn’t think one shot would do that much damage...
After mocking me as someone far beneath him, he was now furious at being so easily brushed aside.
Enraged, Guy swung his sword wildly.
But his anger seemed to have blinded him, and his swings grew even broader.
Which meant—
“—Fireball.”
Dodging him was no trouble at all.
“—Fireball.”
I easily slipped aside—
“—Fireball.”
I jerked aside—
“—Fireball.”
Every time I evaded his sword, I slammed a fireball into him.
“—Fireball.”
The spectators stirred at my movements.
They were probably bewildered by the absurd barrage of Fireballs.
The common wisdom was that repeatedly using the same Skill was impossible because of its recast time.
My 【Magic Deposit and Withdrawal】 turned the impossible into possible.
By restoring my magic as soon as I used it, I could ignore the recast time.
Guy was just as astonished.
“W-why can you use magic...?”
I gave him a grin.
“I should thank you for that.”
“What?”
“I bought it using the magic you returned to me.”
“What?!”
“I was able to get stronger thanks to you. Thanks.”
'Thanks~'
We were speaking quietly, so the spectators couldn’t hear our conversation.
“—Fireball.”
“—Fireball.”
“—Fireball.”
Three fireballs in a row flew at the bewildered Guy.
“Gah!”
He couldn’t dodge in time, and the direct hits drew a groan from him.
Still...
I hadn’t realized he was this weak...
If all I had to do was win, I wouldn’t have needed that Skill after all...