"My name is Fern. I'm nine years old."
Yuta looked at the girl in front of him, who was almost 20-30 centimeters shorter than him. She was probably only about a meter tall and older than him. Fern was a bit shorter than her peers, while Yuta was much taller than his peers.
Yuta tried to normalize it as much as he could when he told her he was six years old. After all, people who knew his age also thought he was six. Well, this is the Naruto verse, after all, children grow up fast here. Maybe it's a hormonal disorder...
Fern looked him up and down for a while and then said okay.
Yuta sighed after an awkward silence and decided to chat later. After leaving this dark place, he wanted to sit by a beautiful moonlit lake with Fern and talk about magic.
Yuta silently aimed to cut Fern in half from head to toe using the slash technique. In Yuta's estimation, this was the best way to kill her without giving her a chance to suffer. Brutal as it may seem, he knew it was the best way after having seen animals whose necks he had cut flutter on the ground for a few seconds.
The slash reached Fern in much less than half a second, but just as it was about to hit her, a blueish octagonal shield of small shields appeared in front of Fern and the slash technique was destroyed by hitting the shield.
Yuta didn't think much of the fact that she could already use the shield technique, but he was surprised that the slashing technique was so easily stopped.
As expected from the shield technique created by Frieren. Yuta thought before apologizing.
"I'm sorry, but for us to get out of here, either one of us has to die or you have to surrender, and it would be impossible for you to show 100% surrender to someone you don't know. What am I talking about though... Sigh let's fight, I'll give you the advantage and go away for a while, wizards are physically weak I guess."
Without answering Yuta looked at the girl who was staring at him intently, sighed one last time, and turned around and started walking away.
When Yuta had gotten far enough away, he turned around. He wasn't worried about being hit from behind because his physique was carefully focusing on the sounds. If something was approaching from behind, he would have immediately fled into the shadows.
Yuta turned around and saw a sight that shocked him. It wasn't Fern. It was the final boss Frieren.
Meanwhile, Frieren was pointing her magic staff at him and silently watching him. When Yuta saw that his opponent was Frieren, he immediately realized that he could not defeat him. Yuta was about to open his mouth and try to talk to Frieren when he felt a pressure in his chest that shattered every bone in his body, and he was thrown with great force to the end of the arena.
As Yuta hit the dark wall and fell to the ground without a single intact bone in his body, Frieren turned around and spoke to Fern. "The analysis is complete... Lesson one: know your opponent before you fight. He is not even human and he lies about his age. Judging by his spiritual being, he must be at least 70 years old."
Actually, the person Yuta had been talking to all this time was not Fern but Frieren. Frieren had cast an invisibility spell for Fern before she came here and then transformed herself into Fern. After digesting the information mysteriously transmitted to her mind, Frieren secretly analyzed Yuta and evaluated his power.
Yuta quickly used the reverse curse technique as he came back from the brink of death.
When Frieren saw him recovering, she said in a voice only she could hear, "He is a monster for sure. But not of the demon race."
After Yuta had fully recovered, he looked at Frieren who was hiding Fern behind her back. Fern looked even more frightened than before, but she was somewhat relieved to witness Frieren's strength.
Yuta was about to try to persuade them to talk once more when he saw Frieren raising her staff towards him again.
"Summoning hellfire: Vollzanbel."
Before Yuta could speak again, he saw a whirlwind of crimson flames aimed at him and he quickly ducked into the shadows, hiding from the attack.
Frieren closed his eyes and tried to sense his presence but found nothing. She needed a more detailed research spell to find Yuta hiding in the shadows.
Frieren pointed his staff at Fern first and suddenly both of them were floating in the air.
Meanwhile, from the shadows below Frieren, Yuta was thrown into the air and waved his arm at Frieren with all his might. Yuta's slashing technique this time had cost him almost a tenth of his cursed energy and he had a feeling that Frieren's shield would not be able to withstand it. Even if it did, Frieren would lose a huge amount of mana.
Frieren's eyes glowed blue as she looked at the slash flying towards her. The slash was too fast and they couldn't escape, so Frieren blocked the slash by building several layers of shields in succession. Indeed, this blocking had cost Frieren one-thousandth of her mana. Frieren felt the amount of mana lost and decided to end this battle quickly.
As soon as Yuta saw the purple ball appear in front of Frieren, he immediately wanted to hide in the shadows.
"DESTRUCTIVE LIGHTNING: JURDARJIM"
When Yuta saw a few of the dazzling lightning bolts that were bombarding the whole area coming towards him, he immediately tried to get into the shadows but realized that his technique was not working.
At this moment Frieren's voice came from the sky. "I told you the analysis is complete. There must be a shadow before you can enter the shadows."
Yuta saw that the lightning illuminated the entire area perfectly in all directions. That was the first time; Yuta felt the Fear of Death...
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