Gluttony Demon King with the Swampman ~A Man with No Magic Power Who Dreamed of Magic, Wielding Knowledge from His Past Life Through Steady Research and Hard Work to Become the Most Vicious Final Boss~ - Chapter 10: The Magician of the Dawn Sky

Chapter 10: The Magician of the Dawn Sky

Light veins ran across the ice dragon’s body surface, and several points glowed more strongly here and there.

Zaria had slashed one of those points, dealing damage to the ice dragon.

What kind of magic was that?

Noiche provided the answer.

“The Levi family’s magic power has a great affinity for projecting the night sky.”

That made sense, I nodded.

Astronomical magic was “magic of analogy”—reinforcing the concreteness of output by likening magic to natural phenomena or myths. But for that, affinity with the source concept was necessary.

If magic power had high affinity with the night sky, it worked. The Levi family had developed astronomical magic under those circumstances.

“But Zaria’s magic power is a bit off. It projects not the night sky, but the d-a-w-n s-k-y.”

“The dawn sky…?”

“It has the property of illuminating the day and exposing what hides in the night darkness. It is completely the opposite of the ‘night’s silence’ that the Levi family originally reveres.”

In other words, Noiche continued.

“The current magic applies those properties of the dawn sky. It exposes the enemy’s weak points and makes them visible.”

“…I see, that’s some impressive magic.”

Those red light lines and the flashing light points were the ice dragon’s weak points.

Exposing the weak points and slashing them.

The action was simple, but its advantage in battle was immeasurable.

Especially the “visualization” was brilliant.

Not only grasping the enemy’s weak points oneself, but also conveying them to allies at a glance—that was extremely excellent as a design.

“As magicians, Zaria and I are almost equal. But if we talk only about combat—Zaria is several levels stronger than me.”

Without any envy or jealousy, Noiche gave that evaluation.
Ahead of Noiche’s gaze, Zaria swung her magic power sword around and clashed repeatedly with the rampaging ice dragon.

“Thanks for the info. I’m heading back in.”

“Yeah, please do.”

I kicked the ground and jumped back into the battlefield. The battle situation was good, so I could not afford to be dazed.

Chain Saw, the Crown of Chains—the Ink turned into a rotating blade in my hand again, and while preemptively grinding away the ice bullets created in the air, I slammed that strike into the ice dragon.

“—!”

“Oh, it really cuts.”

The flashing point of the red light.

Along with the ear-grating ultra-high sound, the Chain Saw, the Crown of Chains shaved off the ice armor and even slashed through the dragon scales inside it. The dragon reared back and let out a high-pitched scream as if resonating.

The hate that had been directed at Zaria until now shifted to me.

The dragon’s jaw that leaped in to devour and kill me, and moreover, ice lines ran across the ground, and right after, countless ice needles began to rise from underfoot.

Bitten to death or skewered—

“—I’ll reject both. Ricochet Mark Pinball.”

I ran Ink across the ground.

The black liquid that ran along the ground quickly drew a magic circle, and right after, the ground where I stepped sank down with a thud.

It sank, and then repelled.

My body was l-a-u-n-c-h-e-d into the sky like a pinball.

“H-Haro flew!?”

Ricochet Mark Pinball.

An original magic that greatly enhanced the b-o-u-n-c-i-n-g property of the Ink main body and the ground permeated by Ink.

I bounced high into the sky, dodging both the ice magic and the dragon’s jaw snap.
I caught the Ink that followed me from the ground with one hand, turning half into the Chain Saw, the Crown of Chains, and the other half back into the Ricochet Mark Pinball’s magic circle.

“This is the modern aerial combat maneuver.”

I flipped my body and stepped on the small magic circle I had drawn overhead with my foot.

I kicked hard with a thud, repelling with the reaction— in other words, from mid-air, I launched my own body like a bullet toward the ice dragon.

The Chain Saw, the Crown of Chains swung at the tip of my left hand deeply slashed the ice dragon’s shoulder with a high-pitched vibration sound.

“Come on, Haro! I’ll catch you!”

“Got it.”

Zaria slid in and caught my body as it was thrown toward the ground with the momentum from slashing the dragon.

Zaria bent down while holding me to dodge the sweeping dragon tail, and then kicked the ground to take distance right away.

…

The ice dragon rampaged wildly, raising a roar as if writhing in pain.

Countless ice spears generated on the ground and then collapsed, and the flying ice bullets were shot down with the sword and Ink.

“Zaria, Haro. Can you still fight?”

“Leave it to me!”

“No problem.”

Then go ahead, urged by Noiche’s push on our backs, we faced the dragon again.

While dodging the ice dragon’s attacks, we aimed at the emerged vulnerable spots and slammed in slashes over and over.

None of them could become a clear finishing blow. But we challenged a war of attrition, carefully, carefully chipping away at the enemy’s stamina.

The ice dragon’s attack methods were mainly four kinds.

Raging around with its giant body in close-quarters combat, ice barrages, ice spears running along the ground, and b-r-e-a-t-h.

That was the blast of cold air exhaled from its large jaw.

If taken head-on, the whole body could freeze solid.

That said, if careful, it was just about the head’s position and direction—the preparatory motion of greatly inflating the chest was easy to read, and it could even be said to be an ideal opportunity to jump up and slash.

“Ricochet Mark Pinball”

Ricochet, ricochet, and slash.

We deeply slashed the vulnerable part emitting red light, and furthermore, Zaria followed up.

The double slash reached deeper than before.

“Haha…”

A smile slipped out unintentionally.

Zaria, as if caught by that carelessness, rebuked me with a wry smile.

“Hey, Haro? You’re awfully relaxed?”

“…”

“It’s a situation where we could die if we’re not careful, and I’m pretty on edge here. You seem to be enjoying it, huh?”

“Well… it would be a lie to say I’m not having fun.”

It proved the results of ten years of research.

There was no other experimental ground as culminating as this.

And above all, it was beautiful.

Noiche, Zaria, and the ice dragon. Beautiful magic unleashed by high-level magicians flew around, clashed, and scattered sparks.

This was the other world I had aspired to.

“I’m glad I came along with you all.”

As I let those words slip, Zaria deepened her wry smile mixed with joy, embarrassment, and exasperation, and slapped my back with a smack.

“Ah, come on, get fired up! Don’t go dying on me easy!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

We jumped out together.

We dodged left and right the chain of ice spears running along the ground, and furthermore processed the ice bullets fired to fill our vision with Ink.

“Swirl.”

I spread the Ink vortex and entangled the barrage.
In that gap, Zaria who had slipped into the ice dragon’s bosom swung her dawn-colored sword and inflicted a wound on its chest.

“Breath incoming from below.”

“Got it! Borrowing the jump platform!”

“Help yourself.”

The breath mercilessly unleashed toward Zaria in the bosom—Zaria stepped on the Ricochet

Mark Pinball I had set up a bit behind and repelled the attack.

I also stepped on the same Ricochet Mark Pinball.

I generated a small Chain Saw, the Crown of Chains with the remaining Ink, confirmed Zaria slamming in a slash in the gap right after the breath—and overlaid the Chain Saw, the Crown of Chains on that wound.

…That was a big hit.

Along with the ear-grating ultra-vibration sound, it deeply gouged the flesh of the dragon’s neck.

For the first time, the ice dragon spewed blood foam.

“Nice one! Haro!”

“You too.”

“Watch out for the dragon blood!”

Whoops, right.

Dragon species’ blood was a potent poison called “dragon blood.”

It had extremely high efficacy as a magic catalyst or magic potion ingredient, but in its raw state, the irritation was too strong to touch directly. At least, it would blister the skin.

That aside, magic that exposed the enemy’s vulnerabilities combined with refined sword skills…

I had not expected the daughters of a ducal family to have acquired skills so specialized in combat. In this situation, they were more reliable than anything.

The ice dragon swayed unsteadily, shaking its long neck left and right. Its stamina was undoubtedly depleting.

But at that moment——

Intense cold assaulted us.