Repeat Vice - The Villainous Noble Doesn't Want to Die, So He Swore to Not Die As One of The Four Heavenly Kings

Chapter 41:Golden Dragon

In a pure white snowy mountain range, black and gold magic clashed, reverberating with a thunderous roar.

A vast barrage of dark magic surged forward, only to be pierced by a single streak of golden lightning.

Despite the disadvantage of darkness against lightning, Vallum, armed with only one spear, charged through the overwhelming forces, embodying the strength of a one-man army.

Observing this, Rofus deemed it futile to rely on sheer numbers and immediately switched tactics.

“——‘Lightless World’”

Rofus cast an advanced spell, shrouding the white landscape in a thick black fog.

The spell, activated without full incantation, was weaker than its full potential.

Its scale and density paled compared to when he used it with full incantation against a magic whale.

Vallum flew out of the dark fog on his mount, Frugel.

This indicated that the fog’s spread was limited enough for an easy escape.

However, Rofus layered another spell onto the activated ‘Lightless World’.

Post-incantation.

An advanced technique to strengthen a spell by layering further incantations.

The dark fog expanded further, covering the mountain terrain.

“Ugh, what ridiculous scale… Frugel, ascend. Let’s do that.”

Responding to Vallum’s words, Frugel flew high, escaping the dark fog.

“Hah! Running away won’t win you anything, coward!”

“You’re the one hiding in the dark!”

Vallum retorted, half-angry, to Rofus’s taunt from within the fog.

“Humph, say what you will.”

Five massive black sea serpents, twice their usual size due to Rofus’s magic, swam through the dark fog and emerged, facing Vallum.

Their gaping maws unleashed dark breaths towards Vallum.

Five dark beams assailed Vallum.

“You can control dragons…!”

Riding Frugel, Vallum evaded the dark beams, tracing a path in the sky.

In addition, a barrage of dark magic rained down from the fog, which Vallum either dodged or deflected with his lightning-infused spear.

“Even though it’s mid-tier magic, it’s been boosted to high-tier power with magic. To counter it with just a spear… then how about this——‘Reaper’s Scythe’”

Rofus muttered.

Immediately, Vallum sensed an ominous presence from within the fog.

It felt like the time he almost died encountering a large beast near the empire’s border when he was young, saved only by Frugel.

A chilling premonition of death.

He couldn’t afford to get hit, not even grazed.

Vallum’s instincts screamed at him.

“Dodge, Frugel!”

Without thinking, Vallum urged Frugel into a sharp turn, dodging the threat by intuition.

A quiet yet air-tearing sound grazed Vallum’s ears.

More slashes followed, and Vallum desperately dodged.

Far ahead, a distant thundercloud was slashed with three sharp lines.

Vallum turned pale, speechless.

“Rofus, what kind of magic is this…?”

Vallum was terrified, realizing Rofus’s lethal intent.

Meanwhile, Rofus remained calm, analyzing.

“To dodge even invisible slashes… No matter how powerful, it’s meaningless if it doesn’t hit.”

The vast magical barrage was countered by a single spear, but precise attacks were also dodged.

Even the continuous barrage of dark lances was easily evaded or deflected.

Rofus pondered and reached a simple conclusion.

“…Then, I’ll crush you with overwhelming quantity——‘Tartarus’”

From the dark fog covering the mountains, an enormous darkness emerged, large enough to swallow the mountains.

It shot up rapidly, engulfing Vallum and Frugel.

It happened in an instant.

The darkness was too vast to escape.

A colossal dark dome appeared over the mountains.

Inside, Vallum and Frugel faced thousands of dark spells from all directions.

Not enough to kill but impossible to emerge unscathed.

However, soon after being swallowed, cracks appeared on the surface of the dark Tartarus.

Moments later, Vallum, encased in golden armor, broke through Tartarus’s closed mouth.

His entire body was enveloped in high-density magic, forming a golden armor.

This was beyond the lightning-infused armor, an unnamed technique that would later be called ‘Golden Dragon Shell’.

Unlike the exhausted state when he forced the lightning armor in the prison tower, Vallum was now at full strength.

The difference in power was vast.

Yet, at this point, Vallum hadn’t mastered the ‘Golden Dragon Shell’.

It manifested due to the crisis in Tartarus, or perhaps another reason.

Regardless, it was Vallum’s first use of the ‘Golden Dragon Shell’.

Rofus, too, saw the golden dragon knight form for the first time.

“…What is that?”

Rofus, wide-eyed in the dark fog, was shocked.

He was surprised that Tartarus was easily broken, but more so by the golden dragon knight form.

He thought the lightning-infused armor was the ultimate form.

“There was no such form in the stories… no.”

Even including the stories, this was Rofus’s first time seeing the ‘Golden Dragon Shell’.

Yet, somehow, Rofus knew about the ‘Golden Dragon Shell’.

It felt like the memory was forcibly inserted into his mind, a strong sense of discomfort.

He also remembered another piece of information.

Given the positions of Vallum in the sky and Rofus on the ground, it was the worst possible scenario.

A chill ran down Rofus’s spine.

“This position is bad…!”

Rofus looked up at the sky.

The golden dragon knight Vallum looked down at Rofus’s dark fog from above.

“Is that the large dark spell you showed at the mansion? A terrifying magic. Then, Rofus, I’ll fight seriously.”

From Vallum’s position in the sky, a massive magic circle was drawn.

A golden magic circle for a single spell.

Rofus clicked his tongue.

“You’ve already prepared… But when did you…”

Rofus recalled how Vallum, riding Frugel, dodged the sea serpents’ breaths and dark magic barrage.

“Was it then…!”

The magic circle was drawn along Frugel’s flight path.

“What a clever trick.”

Rofus grinned, biting his finger to let blood fall into his shadow, chanting.

Preparing to counter the impending spell.

“Rofus. If I win, you’ll spare Frugel. You promised—so don’t die.”

“Hah, arrogant! Come! I’ll crush that confidence and magic head-on!”

Looking down from above, Vallum muttered. Rofus raised his voice with a smirk.

They both chanted their spells.

“——‘Mjolnir’!”

“——‘Gate of Purgatory’!”

The massive golden magic circle in the sky intensified, concentrating its power.

A towering jet-black gate appeared, piercing through the dark fog.

Soon, the gathered golden lightning struck the ground.

A golden lightning torrent clashed with the towering black gate.

A thunderous roar and a tremendous shockwave echoed through the mountains.

Golden lightning and the dark gate clashed, wearing each other down.

However, the dark gate began to erode due to the nature of the lightning.

The ‘Gate of Purgation’ was the strongest defensive dark magic.

But dark magic was extremely weak against light or fire attributes.

Including lightning, it was a brief stalemate.

The black gate gradually eroded.

“‘Gate’ alone isn’t enough. Then——crush it.”

Rofus manipulated the dark fog, wrapping around the golden lightning to weaken it.

“——”

He layered another spell onto the ‘Gate of Purgation’, enhancing its strength and durability.

Additionally, the five sea serpents unleashed their breaths, further diminishing the golden lightning’s power.

The intense battle between gold and dark soon ended.

The golden lightning, having exhausted its power, failed to penetrate the gate and dissipated.

However, the gate, too, reached its limit and shattered, dispersing into the air.

“Even this won’t work…?”

Vallum, looking down from above, grimaced bitterly under his helmet.

Activating the “Mjolnir of Ten Thousand Thunders Binding Humanity” had consumed a vast amount of Vallum’s magic power.

He had poured almost all of his magic into this, intending to end it with this attack.

The manifestation of the “Golden Dragon Shell” at the critical moment also consumed a significant amount of magic.

He couldn’t sustain this for long.

If he lost, Frugel…

Vallum’s grip on his spear tightened, to the point where blood began to seep from his hand.

Frugel let out a growling cry, turning his blue eyes towards Vallum.

“Frugel…?”

To Vallum, the cry sounded like a rebuke, as if scolding him for trying to fight alone.

It was as if Frugel was angry, telling him not to fight alone.

“…Sorry, my bad.”

Vallum laughed and relaxed his shoulders.

Yes, he wasn’t fighting alone.

A dragon knight fights as one with their dragon.

A new strength filled Vallum’s eyes.

At that moment, a huge tentacle appeared from the dissipating “gate.”

The black tentacle belonged to the large Kraken, Straaf.

But the tentacle couldn’t reach Frugel, who was flying in the sky.

“What is it trying to do?”

Vallum watched intently.

The extended tentacle bent backward and threw something towards the flying Frugel.

Something flying at high speed.

Vallum, who was about to evade, widened his eyes as he saw what was flying towards them.

“What… Rofus!?”

“You had quite the hidden card, Vallum!”

Rofus, holding a scythe in one hand, attacked Vallum.

Vallum, though surprised, urged Frugel to dodge Rofus.

However, Rofus immediately used the large dark hand, Dark Hand, to leap onto Frugel.

“A close-range fight? Interesting! But it won’t be like last time!”

Vallum readied his spear to counter Rofus, who lunged at him with a scythe.

In close combat, Vallum’s superior skill was evident from their previous battle.

But Rofus challenged him anyway, seeking a complete victory over Vallum.

Vallum’s spear, imbued with golden lightning, blocked Rofus’s descending scythe.

“It’s useless. I’m not the same as before.”

Last time, the Dark Scythe and the lightning-imbued spear were evenly matched.

But this time, Vallum wore the “Golden Dragon Shell,” and his spear was charged with golden lightning.

Both the density of magic and power were on a different level.

However, Rofus laughed.

“That’s right. But my ‘scythe’ isn’t the same as before either.”

The spear, imbued with golden lightning, was cut in two as the scythe blade dug into the shaft and sliced it apart after a brief struggle.

“…!”

Vallum narrowly avoided the silent slash that followed, but his golden armor and side were cut, drawing blood.

“That scythe…!”

“The ‘Reaper’s Scythe’ can be used four times.”

Rofus had saved one strike for this moment.

The pitch-black scythe dissipated after exhausting its power, and Rofus immediately summoned the Dark Scythe.

“With your spear broken, my scythe will suffice… but I won’t be careless against you.”

Six dark arms, Dark Hand, extended from Rofus’s back, each holding a Dark Scythe.

With one in his right hand and six held by the dark arms, Rofus wielded a total of seven Dark Scythes.

All seven blades were aimed at Vallum.

“Hey, being one-armed isn’t a handicap for you…”

Vallum smiled dryly, holding the broken spear halves in both hands.

“Surely, you won’t surrender now.”

“Of course not.”

“Good. We’ve come this far. I expect nothing less.”

Rofus smiled and swung the seven Dark Scythes simultaneously.

Seven huge dark slashes assaulted Vallum.

Vallum countered with the broken spear, but the overwhelming volume of slashes consumed him.

One slash tore off one of Frugel’s wings, causing him to lose balance and start falling.

“Damn…”

Rofus clung to Frugel’s back with Dark Hand, cursing under his breath.

Frugel’s lost wing was quickly regenerated by the dark power, and with Frugel’s effort, they managed to stabilize, though the footing remained precarious.

Rofus crouched to maintain his balance.

As the dark torrent of slashes cleared, Vallum stood tall.

His golden armor was cracked, with some parts missing, but Vallum’s eyes remained firmly on Rofus.

Rofus was astonished.

“You withstood it!? Impossible, how resilient are you…”

The unstable footing.

No more scythes at hand.

But Vallum, imbuing the broken spear with golden lightning, approached Rofus unperturbed by the instability.

To Vallum, unstable footing in the sky was routine.

It was no hindrance.

“Damn you…!”

Rofus desperately unleashed numerous dark balls, Dark Ball, but Vallum didn’t dodge or counter them, letting the golden armor take the hits.