Shalk fixed his eyes on Alus, moving at speeds similar to his own, from atop the bell tower.
Normally, it would have been a fatal wound. With his stomach pierced by a steel beam, what would he do next?
Try to put distance between Shalk out in front of him? Or perhaps try to counterattack with his musket?
"Kio's Hand."
"…!"
Neither.
Alus produced his weapon on the spot, turned around, and made a clean sweep through the air with his magic whip.
"…Impressive."
Shalk jumped right as the murmur left his mouth. Immediately afterward, the flash of the magic lightning bullet pulverized the foundation of the bell tower into rubble.
Blinding light and searing heat, surpassing actual lightning itself. The delayed thunderclap tore through the sky.
Alus the Star Runner's magic lightning bullets were as fearsome as a dragon's breath.
I was moving pretty fast for that surprise attack, yet he was still able to avoid a direct hit to the head. Not only that but…
The steel beam, wrenched free from Alus's body, fell to the ground.
He even saw through the steel wire attached to the beam, huh?
The steel beam fired from the Fire Pipe had been connected with steel wire to a winch secretly placed inside a freight warehouse within the abandoned district. In that moment, if Alus the Star Runner had elected to put space between them, or closed the gap to counterattack, his movements would have been restricted by the wire's tension, and Shalk, jumping from the bell tower, would
have created the perfect opportunity to run his skull through.
And he can still fly, too?
Had he missed Alus's internal organs by a stroke of bad luck?
Or perhaps, was there some unknown magic item at his disposal that made it possible to keep fighting, even in his current state?
I'm dubious that I'll be able to follow through with a frontal attack but, well, no other choice here.
Escaping from his restraints, Alus didn't pursue Shalk. Instead, a lightning bullet was brought down on him.
Shalk ran a bit faster than the flash of lightning and evaded the trajectory of the bolt before it bored into the earth.
As he escaped, he never for a moment dropped his sight from his enemy in the sky. Alus was flying upside down. In this situation, he couldn't afford to ignore the Aureatia army's cannon barrage, either.
Being on the ground was, in fact, the superior position against an enemy forced to watch the sky.
"…They're getting in the way…"
"You use a gun, but you're scared of bullets? Quite the ordeal there, Alus the Star Runner."
Even a single shot hitting the tip of his wing should have been more than the wyvern could afford. While he adjusted his slightly off-set flight, he would get hit with the incessant storm of scatter shots. This was the reason why shrapnel fire, each individual shot having a low impact, was effective against wyverns.
Conversely, Shalk the Sound Slicer didn't even possess the flesh for said shrapnel to cut up in the first place. His bones, as a construct, had undergone a strengthening process as well, so he could move while ignoring some degree of gunfire his way.
Of course, in my case, even if my body wasn't just bones…
Grasping several shots from among the torrential rain of shrapnel, he loaded them into Heshed Elis the Fire Pipe.
It'd be harder to get hit by bullets that're slower than me anyway.
It wasn't completely impossible to surprise the world's strongest rogue from behind.
A few moments ago, Shalk had fired a steel beam and hit Alus's torso. Someone who ran at such ludicrous speeds was impossible to visually track.
Cannon fire constantly rained down from overhead. It was impossible to keep his guard up in both directions. Right now, Alus had no way of predicting Shalk's position.
Aiming above Alus's head, he fired the shrapnel shell he had loaded into Heshed Elis the Fire Pipe.
A sniper shot borne on his own unworldly fast speed.
It'll hit.
The air surrounding Alus appeared to fluctuate.
The shrapnel shell was deflected with a grating metallic noise. "…What?"
Alus hadn't even been looking in his direction. Shalk's groan came from his understanding about what Alus had done in that moment.
He extended out his whip in his blind spot ahead of time and reflexively moved it as soon as the shell came into contact with it.
Neither from a prediction nor part of some automatic defenses. He performed such a daring feat solely with his own abilities.
As if the magic item were a part of his body, like an insect's antenna.
Certainly if that was possible for him, then any amount of saturated shrapnel fire would have ultimately been meaningless.
"Give me back…my treasure."
"Whoa, now… You're not angry with me, are you?"
While his sniper shot hadn't actually hit the target, Shalk had been aiming for a different effect, too.
He had purposely used Heshed Elis the Fire Pipe against Alus for the sake of the most effective tactic in this situation.
"Thing is, I thought for sure you were dead, so I took this treasure for myself… That can't possibly be what's got your scales in a bunch, right? It's the same thing you've been doing up until now, isn't it?"
Taunting him, running around, and continuing to take the wyvern's attacks.
He'd get hit when his concentration was finally broken. His attention would turn to another objective. He'd come down to steal the fire pipe back.
No matter how Alus the Star Runner ultimately ended up, there would be no losses for Aureatia.
…Jeez, except it's all losses for me here. Ah well. I'm the first one on the scene and all.
Neither the cannon barrage nor Shalk's sniper fire would land a decisive blow on Alus. Understanding that alone was a good haul.
Shalk raced to the east.
On the east side, the cannon fire was intentionally sparser. Since the true aim was to guide Alus in that direction, the fort side of the battle didn't adjust their
aim, either.
If they were going to keep battling a threat of Alus the Star Runner's level, it would consume a tremendous number of soldiers and weapons. If a direct magic lightning bullet was fired toward the military facilities like it had been earlier, Shalk had no means of protecting them.
The reason the Thirty-Eighth Fortress didn't make any use of magic items themselves was to avoid leading Alus to them.
The sounds of bursting cannon fire grew sparse. He was advancing beyond the range of the Thirty-Eighth Fortress's cannons.
If the battle shifted to somewhere without any cannon support, Shalk would be locked into battling against Alus with just his individual fighting power, but that, too, was precisely what he wanted.
He'd keep going to the eastern side and head outside of Aureatia's borders. Right before he could, Alus stopped chasing him.
He came to an eerie standstill, as if he had seen through Shalk's intentions. "…Where are you going?"
"Scared? Come on down here and steal your treasure back."
"In Aureatia…there's a lot of treasure. Much better than…Heshed Elis the Fire Pipe…"
Behind Alus lay the cityscape of Aureatia's Eastern Outer Ward.
Shalk had planned on leading him along while they battled each other, but they were close.
Did it mean Alus was leading Shalk toward Aureatia's streets himself?
The fifth borough of Aureatia's Eastern Outer Ward. With the time Shalk and the fortress soldiers bought, the evacuation should have finished, but…
This is right on the borderline.
Could he lure him even farther out from here? Was he going to attack Aureatia city?
Whatever direction Alus went to make his move, there were only a few possible ways for Shalk to intervene.
"…If you'll fight against me one-on-one…"
Shalk made a show of sticking Heshed Elis the Fire Pipe into the ground. "I'd be fine letting you have this thing. Interested to see which one of us is
stronger?"
"You're lying…," Alus coldly declared.
Shalk had an absolutely terrible feeling. As if Alus had clenched down on some core feeling that even Shalk wasn't aware of.
"Why do you say that?"
"You…you're trying to protect people." "Don't be stupid."
It was all too idiotic. Did Alus really think that he was returning Shalk's provocations here?
There wasn't anyone as unfit for saving others, or any sort of heroics, as Shalk the Sound Slicer. There had been several opportunities mid-battle where he had the opportunity to save someone, but he didn't save any of them and never even gave the idea a moment's thought.
Ridiculous. This annoying little show is all just part of the job.
He readied his spear, as if to readjust from the discomfort.
"Listen. The only thing that matters is this fight. Right here, right now. Even you'd rather have a big open space to fight me with everything you got, right?"
"...An open space?" There was an oozing sound.
An odd sound, like bubbles welling up from some sticky viscous liquid.
Shalk realized that just a bit below Alus floated a red-hot orb, big enough to hold in one's hands.
There had been one incomprehensible fact about the battle up until now.
I heard about the magic items Alus has from the Aureatia guys. If he was gonna torch the military installations, there should've been far more effective items at his disposal than the magic lightning bullets—
The orb of traveling flames, Ground Runner.
Rotting Soil Sun, creating and launching projectiles of mud.
While he was fighting with me, what did he do with those? This red-hot glowing orb might have been Rotting Soil Sun.
Except seeing it tinged with reddish-brown heat and distorting the air around it, it resembled a small sun.
Was this how Rotting Soil Sun usually behaved? Another oozing sound could be heard.
Uh-oh.
The sound he could hear from Rotting Soil Sun wasn't merely something bubbling.
There was something jammed inside it, something unable to bear the pressure. And it was boiling.
Shalk should have attacked then, but it was too late. "...Now."
The sun burst.
Red-hot lava bullets swarmed down.
In an instant, Shalk kicked off the ground and dodged wide. With his speed, it was possible.
A sharp turn. He went to turn to the counter—and saw the fifth borough of the Eastern Outer Ward.
"It's more open."
The town was in flames.
Shalk's dodge and turn had happened in a fraction of a second.
In that instant, Alus the Star Runner had reduced the entire district of the Eastern Outer Ward's fifth borough to ash.
"What…did you do?"
He murmured the names of his treasures. "Ground Runner. Rotting Soil Sun…"
Alus had never tested their combination against anyone else. Thus, there was no one who could predict it, either.
There was only a single wyvern, the greatest adventurer in the land, who could control several magic items at once and even combine their unique abilities.
Rotting Soil Sun was able to add pressure to the endlessly gushing mud and fire it at high speeds. By manipulating the pressure, it was possible to freely shape the mud at will.
In that case, instead of releasing the pressure, what if it was used for compression instead?
The source of Ground Runner's fire would never be fully extinguished, even if it ran out of oxygen. If this flame continuously burned inside the super-high- pressurized and ultra-dense mud, then what would happen when it was released?
Ultra-pressurized lava missiles, fired off in every direction simultaneously.
Even in the middle of his fight with Shalk the Sound Slicer, he had already prepared this technique, solely for the purpose of burning the city to the ground.
"I take pride in my treasures…" He was calamity incarnate.
I just have to fight him here.
The fifth borough of the Eastern Outer Ward was deserted. Or rather, it was
more accurate to say it had just become deserted. Whatever the case, now that he had invaded Aureatia itself, Shalk couldn't afford to let Alus the Star Runner leave.
Additionally, there were very few effective ways to fight against Alus, flying at high speeds through the sky. While it may have been possible to make his attacks reach the wyvern by using Heshed Elis the Fire Pipe, Shalk had already shown him the attack. If he was going to use it one more time, he would need to find the right moment for it to be a guaranteed kill.
Shalk determined the attack from his enemy's opening movements. "Here it comes. The lightning magic bullet."
A flash of light shot down, and an abnormally persistent electric discharge cut across the city.
There existed no other but Shalk the Sound Slicer who could dodge this attack.
The flames, like a glint of light, furiously approached Shalk from the left behind him.
"…Ground Runner."
He predicted the trajectory. He kicked the ground. Instantly accelerated. Kicking debris, he changed his running path and, keeping Alus in his sights, arrived on the roof of what was once a fire station.
Ground Runner. The seeds of flame shot down from the composite bomb attack moments prior ran through the streets and continued to pursue Shalk across the surface. Flames obstructing his sight lines and narrowing his routes of escape. The conflagration was contained to just the fifth borough area right now, but it was highly likely they would spread to the other districts as well.
There still had to be some magic items that Shalk didn't know about. The left half of Alus's body being replaced with a metallic configuration was likely the work of yet another magic item. It was probably also the reason why Shalk's opening ambush hadn't been fatal.
Rotting Soil Sun, shaping mud bullets and firing them at will. The magic whip Kio's Hand, which freely cut through any targets. The Greatshield of the Dead, delivering absolute defense at heavy cost to the user. While he didn't appear to carry Hillensingen the Luminous Blade, perhaps he was keeping it hidden.
Flight at super speed. Magic bullets bringing instant death. Masterful sniper attacks. Persistent flames and earthen blades. If I could get in close, he's practically invincible even at that range. Along with absolute defense, he has
crazy regenerative ability…
Simply enumerating all the proven threats made him seem like a monster beyond Shalk's control.
How am I even supposed to kill this guy in the first place?
Destroy his head. Shalk understood that it was the only way.
As long as he possessed regenerative abilities that allowed him to continue fighting even after being pierced through the stomach, there was no other option but to destroy his thought center in a single attack that allowed him no chance to regenerate.
But how?
His enemy was farther away than even the latest models of guns could reach, fast enough to avoid any shot after the trigger was pulled, as well as clever enough to anticipate his opponent's tactics. On top of that, Shalk would need to find a way around the Greatshield of the Dead, get his attack to precisely hit the wyvern's small head, and deal a lethal blow.
Feels like I have to keep solving this unbelievably annoying problem while I'm locked in a fight to the death here. Those Aureatia guys did a pretty good job, but…If I had someone like Regnejee up in the sky, I might've had a bit of an easier time here.
He recalled the name of the red wyvern he had formerly fought with.
There no longer existed any air force in this world. The only ones able to bring down this wyvern champion who even outshone dragons were a fighting force of similar sublime and outstanding individuals like him.
"… Fine, then. I'll go ahead and work just a bit harder."
However, at that moment, the situation took a dramatic turn for the worse. Shalk heard a voice.
"Help…" "…Oh c'mon."
Directly under a wall of rubble. This was one of the spots that had been untouched by the fires, yet it was still the worst outcome of all.
He heard the frail voice of a young man. "Some…one…help…"
"You gotta be kidding me… How the hell're you still kicking in a situation like this?!"
Aureatia had successfully guided the evacuation proceedings without any ineptitude at all. Despite having close to no time to spare until Alus's attack, they had succeeded in making almost all residents evacuate.
However, perfection was impossible.
If I stop to move the rubble, I'll be a sitting duck. I'm abandoning this guy.
One extra corpse isn't going to cause problems down the line…
There wasn't anyone as unfit for saving others, protecting others, or any sort of heroics, as Shalk the Sound Slicer.
He had seen many willing to charge into their deaths, and he had always thought he didn't care whatever the hell they did.
He had never tried to protect another person before.
I can just run away. That's what I've always done, for as long as I can remember.
In that brief moment, his feet stopped moving.
…As long as I can remember?
He heard a gunshot from the sky.
The lightning bullet twinkled like a star in the sky, before— "Shalk!"
A young girl, appearing like a gust of wind, stopped the torrent of electricity. Her long chestnut-colored braid trailed behind her as it fluttered.
"You."
Neither Shalk nor the delayed evacuee was hit with any of the aftermath from the heat and destruction.
Had she instantly manipulated her body's conductivity? The enormous electric current had been repelled into the ground, as if the girl's body itself were a lightning rod.
Taking the huge electric shock that had destroyed the fortress towers in a single attack with nothing but her outstretched right arm, she stood there perfectly unharmed, while her clothes were seared from end to end.
"…Saved my ass there."
Shalk the Sound Slicer knew this young girl. "I should be thanking you."
He knew that she possessed an invincible physical body that surpassed all accepted knowledge of physics.
"You really are a nice guy after all, Shalk."
At the center of a roaring flame that incinerated all it touched, Tu the Magic smiled.