There's No Point Running Away (7)

The Dark Dragon slowly closed its eyes, as if to say it was impressed. In the next instant, the blue-white sphere unleashed another rain of heat rays at Kagami.

'Then, in answer to your resolve, I shall put you to the test... to see whether your words are true, and whether you possess the power to carve out your own future...! Now, overcome my trial!'

"A-are you insane?! Again, after what just happened...? There's no way Kagami can endure it! Kagami-dono was obviously just bluffing! Wouldn't it be a problem for you if Kagami died?!"

'If so, then that was simply the extent of his ability. If he dies here, then even if he proceeds to the next stage, he'll only die in the same way after making such empty boasts.'

"...! Kagami-dono! Answer me... Please answer me...!"

The heat rays struck Kagami again, setting off violent explosions. Smoke from the blasts enveloped the area, and, as if to pile on, more heat rays rained down one after another, triggering countless explosions around Kagami.

Menou couldn't believe Kagami could survive this attack. Unlike during the battle in Salmaria, there was no one here to heal Kagami. How could Kagami's body, still nowhere near recovered even with the power of Skills, withstand an attack that had already brought Kagami to the brink of death once?

Menou had thought the Dark Dragon would hold back more than before, but instead, even larger and more powerful explosions erupted around Kagami. It seemed impossible for Kagami to survive.

"Kagami-dono... K-Kagami-dooooon!"

"You called?"

"Kaga...mi...! ...Huh?"

An unexpectedly casual reply came from right beside Menou.

Menou immediately turned toward the voice. Kagami stood there with his arms crossed in a relaxed pose, watching the spot where Kagami had been moments earlier, where explosions were still erupting—as though he were watching fireworks.

'W-what...?!'

The Dark Dragon, too, noticed that Kagami had somehow moved. Recognizing Kagami's figure, it stopped its attack, its expression astonished.

'How did you escape? You were attacked from every direction... There was no way to get away. No, even if you tried, the intense pain from the explosions should have kept you from moving... How?'

"This magic has a weakness. Doesn't it?"

At Kagami's words, the Dark Dragon fell silent.

"What do you mean, Kagami-dono? That merciless attack has a weakness?"

"The Dark Dragon kept attacking that spot without noticing I was here, right? In other words... that magic targets you after pinpointing your location. If I move while hidden by the smoke... you can't hit me anymore. Right?"

'No... Normally, I can pinpoint a target's location from the mana it emits. But if the target possesses an extremely low amount of mana, that is another matter. The target can hide from my senses behind the medium I created.'

"Too bad for you. I barely have any mana. I've barely grown at all."

'...So you were a warrior type. I never imagined you would notice that weakness so quickly.'

"I was just testing it. I wondered if you could really see me through all this smoke."

'Even so...'

Saying that, the Dark Dragon smiled happily.

'But... even so, there's one thing I don't understand. That attack from every direction... how did you get through it? Those magical heat rays explode on impact... Even if you escaped, just one hit would have revealed your position in the blast.'

"I was getting hit, though. I got hit a whole lot."

'Then how?'

"Didn't you notice the explosions were bigger than before?"

Hearing that, Menou remembered that the explosions had clearly been much larger than before, which had made survival seem impossible.

"Wasn't that because the Dark Dragon had increased its power?"

'No... I merely repeated the same actions as before. What exactly did you do?'

"Near the end of getting pummeled just now, I noticed something strange happening. I figured I'd take the hits on my left hand and use my right to create blasts to fend them off, but..."

As he spoke, Kagami raised his left hand in front of him, holding it up where the Dark Dragon could see it clearly. Immediately afterward, a faint blue light, different from the glow of Charge Blow, began to shine from Kagami's left hand.

"My hand turned out like this."

'What is that?'

"Fire one heat ray at me, and you'll see."

The moment it heard Kagami's declaration, the Dark Dragon promptly fired a single heat ray from the blue-white sphere floating in front of it. The ray raced toward Kagami at tremendous speed—and...

'...?!'

Before anyone knew it, the ray had struck the Dark Dragon's head, setting off an explosion.

'What? What did you do?!'

"I bounced it back. The heat ray... I added the force of my punch to its speed."

It took the Dark Dragon a moment to understand what Kagami meant. It wasn't that the Dark Dragon couldn't grasp the principle behind the deflection. It could easily tell that Kagami had bounced the heat ray back using some kind of power.

But it was clear that Kagami hadn't been able to do that before. If he could, he would have done it the first time. In other words, this human had acquired that power while fighting the Dark Dragon. And it was almost certainly not a technique or magic, but a power granted by a Skill.

'Did you grow stronger and level up while fighting me? At this critical moment? And... just enough to reach Level 100? What a miracle. What astonishing luck you have.'

"I don't know what you're mistaken about, but my level hasn't gone up."

'It hasn't gone up? Impossible. You couldn't suddenly gain that power otherwise... That absurd power is a crystallization of potential granted only to humans. It must be a Skill!'

"It is a Skill, sure... but my level hasn't gone up. I can't level up anymore."

As he spoke, Kagami showed his Status Window to the Dark Dragon. The moment it saw it, the Dark Dragon moved its head close to Kagami at tremendous speed and stared at the displayed Status Window in astonishment.

'L-Level 999? No, more importantly... V-villager?!'