Chapter 60
I addressed Guy, who was grimacing from the pain and heat, with complete composure.
"What's wrong? Aren't you going to use your Skills?"
"Tch..."
Guy's face contorted.
My taunt, knowing he couldn't use his Skills because he was short on magic, seemed to be working quite well.
"Misa! Use magic!"
"B-but..."
"Use up the rest of the magic recovery potions if you have to!"
"All right!"
Guy held his sword ready, trying to keep me in check while he bought time.
If I cast Fireball at Misa, he was probably planning to slash at me that instant.
But his caution was pointless.
I had no intention of doing that to begin with.
I planned to let Misa use the magic she was best at――and then plunge her into despair.
"I won't get in your way, so take your time getting ready."
Misa downed a magic recovery potion.
But Misa's magic remained at zero.
The moment it recovered, it went toward repayment.
Their magic wouldn't recover until they'd paid off today's amount.
Misa emptied one potion, then a second, her face contorting with discomfort.
Magic recovery potions had a distinctive bitterness, and drinking too many in a short time brought on terrible nausea.
Even as she fought the intense nausea, Misa kept drinking――.
Man, she looks like she's having a rough time.
They could have shared the potions among the three of them until today's repayment was paid off.
They really don't understand anything...
Two weeks should have been enough time to investigate and reach a reasonable understanding.
But it seemed they hadn't even had the brains to do that.
And then――Misa finished her fifth bottle.
They say five is the limit for how many magic recovery potions you can drink in a day.
She'd downed all five in one go.
Misa let out a retch, her complexion awful.
She looked ready to throw up at any moment.
"I'm ready! Guy, move!"
"Yeah, leave it to me."
Misa staggered to her feet and began chanting.
She intended to unleash her strongest magic.
Despite retching a few times, Misa finished her incantation――.
"――Fire Tornado!"
A gigantic five-meter-tall tornado of flames shot toward me.
The fire tornado, ready to swallow everything and burn it to ashes, drew near, then suddenly vanished without a trace just one meter in front of me.
"W-what?!"
They must've thought it was over.
All three froze in shock.
"This is my Skill, 【Creditor Protection】!"
This was the Skill I'd purchased by stockpiling magic specifically to counter the 'Sky-Cleaving Sword.'
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【Purchased Skills】
〈Magic Storage Type〉
【Creditor Protection】 (NEW!)
・Negates damage dealt by debtors, up to a certain limit.
・The amount of damage negated is proportional to the amount lent to the debtor.
・Accumulated damage resets after a certain amount of time.
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It cost a hefty 150,000 MP, but its effect was powerful.
With the amount I'd lent them, even their strongest Skills would take over a hundred hits to break through it.
With this Skill, there was never any chance of me losing the duel.
This Skill would continue to protect me in the future.
There was always a chance debtors might fly into a rage and attack me again.
Either way, this was a Skill I needed to acquire sooner rather than later.
Realizing his Skills had no effect, Guy went berserk.
"Damn it!!"
He swung his sword around, slashing at me again and again.
This time, I didn't dodge.
But the sword Guy swung was stopped by an invisible wall and couldn't reach me.
Before long――.
"N-no way..."
The sword slipped from Guy's exhausted hand.
It hit the ground with a clatter, its blade badly chipped from his reckless attacks.
If he'd kept going much longer, it would've snapped in two.
"Your attacks can't hurt me."
Guy dropped to his knees, his strength gone.
He'd finally realized he had no chance of winning, I suppose.