A Road with No End in Sight (25)

The sharp yet somehow unfocused glint of the man’s eyes beneath his hood, his height, and his slender build all brought Kagami to mind.

But Alice’s thought vanished seconds later. The fragment of stone bridge the hooded man had been holding flew over their heads and slammed into one of the pillars supporting the bridge behind them.

“Hey... isn’t that guy seriously dangerous?”

Parna broke into a sweat at the incredible events that had unfolded in an instant.

They and the Beastfangs were at opposite ends of the bridge, at least several dozen meters apart. And yet the man had hurled a lump of stone that must have weighed far more than an iron ball with enough force to smash it into a wall. Even in Earthclear, only the one-eyed giant Cyclops and a handful of monsters could pull off a feat like that. And this tiny individual had just thrown it. There was no way they couldn’t be terrified.

As if to say he’d missed because he’d thrown it with brute force, the hooded man began loosening up, swinging his arms around.

“Now that the Ace has shown up, losing sight of him would be dangerous! Avoid fire magic and attack! Don’t just stand there! Shoot! Shoot!”

At Balmung’s command, the Resistance members who had been thrown into confusion regained their composure. They immediately took aim and unleashed a rain of magic bullets and spells that hurled spears of ice at the hooded man.

At the same time, the hooded man let the Beastfang girl cling to his back and charged toward the Resistance. He kicked off the ground with enough force to make it seem as though a small explosion had gone off, darting from side to side. Without slowing down at all, he dodged every attack raining down on him with such agility that they couldn’t even tell when he’d changed direction.

“Now!”

As everyone began to feel as though a nightmare were closing in on them, given how impossible it was to hit the man, Balmung gave the order with a triumphant grin.

At that instant, the ground bulged upward in a wide strip. The area was too broad to dodge to either side, and the sudden attack left no time to escape. Clumps of earth engulfed the hooded man’s feet, trapping him in place.

“Not yet! Lock him down completely!”

At Balmung’s next order, the rear support team used magic to make clumps of earth wrap around the hooded man’s lower body, piling them on as if to deliver a follow-up attack. They kept at it until he was encased in something the size of a boulder, then used magic to harden the earth and make it even tougher.

“This is our chance! Everyone, hit him with everything you’ve got!”

The hooded man struggled desperately to break free, but he couldn’t escape the earthen mass, which the rear support team’s magic had made incredibly strong. The mages in the rear support team were also pouring magic into their spells to keep him pinned down; despite several of them working together, their faces were strained with effort.

Their efforts paid off, and they managed to fire so many magic bullets in front of the hooded man that he had no hope of dodging them at this point. The bullets flew straight toward him, spiraling as they went, without straying far from their mark.

Just then, the hooded man gave up trying to break free and turned his gaze forward, a faint blue-white light glowing around his hands. He clenched his fists and took a stance facing the incoming magic bullets, then thrust both fists forward at an imperceptible speed.

“That’s...!”

Recognizing the power, Takako could hardly believe her eyes.

His fists shot forward again and again so quickly that afterimages made it look as if he had several arms. As each incoming magic bullet touched his fists, it changed course as though dodging them, flying past the hooded man and off behind him at an angle.

The hooded man precisely deflected the countless magic bullets raining down on him with a rapid succession of punches. His display of skill was enough to sap their will to fight. The Resistance members’ bold roars gradually changed into cries tinged with fear and desperation: “Hit him... Just hit him!”

“Don’t give up... Burn him to ashes with magic! He can’t move right now... It doesn’t matter if we lose sight of him!”

Still unwilling to give up, Balmung ordered the rear support team to attack. Several of them joined forces to unleash flames ahead of them. The flames converged along the way, swirling as they surged toward the hooded man.

But even that didn’t reach the hooded man. Before the vortex of flames could engulf him, he broke free of the earth covering his lower body and leaped into the air. The mages who had been reinforcing the earth with their magic were now on their knees, panting heavily—proof that he must have been using his strength to break free even while deflecting the magic bullets.

“Now, Merry! Don’t miss!”

Balmung shouted as if this were exactly what he’d been aiming for.

“Leave it to me... I won’t miss. This is goodbye, Ace!”

Once a Beastfang had leaped into the air, there was no way to change direction midflight. They could only move according to their momentum. If there had been objects around them to use as footholds, they might have been able to move even in midair. But the only things up there now were the hooded man and the Beastfang girl clinging to his back, leaving the hooded man a perfect target.

Merry immediately aimed the magic sniper rifle—a magic-modified Dragunov—at the hooded man. She braced it firmly with both arms, used her whole body to prepare for the recoil, poured every bit of magic she had into a single shot, and took aim with razor-sharp focus.

“...It’s over!”

The instant the hooded man began turning his body in midair to prepare for landing, Merry’s eyes widened as if she’d been waiting for just that moment, and she pulled the trigger. The magic bullet shot straight toward him at a speed that far surpassed anything she’d fired before.

The blue-white light surrounding the hooded man’s hands repelled attacks. So, to keep him from knocking the bullet aside, Merry needed to strike the center of his back—a spot beyond or difficult for his hands to reach—at a moment when he’d be slow to react. She fired with impeccable accuracy and timing.

But a moment later, everyone in the Resistance, including Balmung and Merry, was left speechless.

The hooded man had dodged even that, as if it were only to be expected.