S-Rank Adventurer Betrayed by His Fiancée in the Hero’s Party Sets Off on a Journey to Heal His Broken Heart ~The Strongest Betrayed Adventurer Ends Up Forming a Harem Party~ - Chapter 60: The Azure Lifeline Carries Pride — Part 3

Chapter 60: The Azure Lifeline Carries Pride — Part 3

[Side: Betrayed Adventurer]

Dragons—

If you go by ranking, they’re classified as S-rank monsters, the strongest beings out there.

I’ve fought a few before, and honestly… dragons—or rather, all S-rank monsters—are a massive pain.

Why? Because they either have gigantic bodies, devastating large-scale attacks… or both.

“Seriously, what kind of nonsense is this…!?”

Every time I fight something like this, I think the same thing—

These creatures are just plain ridiculous.

And the one in front of me—Carina—was no exception.

Because right now, filling the entire sky in front of me… was a forest of ice spears.

“Be skewered, you wretched human!”

“Like hell I’m going down that easy! This scale is on a whole different level—!”

Ice spears—no, calling them spears didn’t even feel right.

Each one was over ten meters long, at least a meter thick.

It was like dozens of castle pillars raining down from the sky.

There was no way I’d just get pierced.

If one of those hit me head-on, I wouldn’t have a hole in me—I’d be flattened into paste!

“There’s nowhere to run… This is the end!”

A barrage of icy pillars came crashing down all at once.

Yeah, the numbers were insane.

No escape route anywhere.

“But even if there’s nowhere to run—there’s always a way through!”

In situations like this, going backward is a losing move—forward is the winning one!

I stepped into the first falling pillar, slipping past it, then dashed straight toward Carina, who hovered in the sky!

“God, you’re annoying!”

Despite their size, the ice pillars shot down at arrow-like speed.

But their aim was scattered—they weren’t fully locked onto me.

And honestly? That just made them even more annoying to deal with.

“Then I’ll just cut them down!!”

I ignited Heedrise.

While sprinting forward, I swung it straight into an incoming ice pillar—!

“《Flame Cloak》—《Blazing Bloom》!”

An overwhelming surge of heat swelled—

And in the next instant, it erupted.

The massive ice pillar I struck shattered completely, taking several nearby pillars with it in a violent blast.

“Alright—so they’re fragile, huh!? 《Wind Fang》—《Steeled Tail》!”

As I leapt forward, blades of wind extended from Breathslate, slicing through the surrounding ice pillars in one sweep.

“What—!? You’re cutting through my ice that easily…!?”

“There might be a lot of it, but there’s no density! It’s not even that tough!”

The strength of magic depended on how dense the mana within it was.

And this ice? It was practically hollow.

Proof that her mana control still had room to improve.

Aiming for Carina as she flew through the air on her icy dragon wings,

I dashed across the sky using wind magic—sometimes even stepping on incoming ice pillars to propel myself forward.

“《Wind Rush》!!”

“Wha—!?”

“Finally at eye level, huh!? You’ve been looking down on me this whole time!”

Boosted by the wind at my back, I slammed both Heedrise and Breathslate down with full force.

—But Carina caught them with her bare arms.

When dragons took human form through Dragon Magic, their raw power dropped compared to their original bodies.

But even then… their natural toughness was absurd.

Even in human form, her body was durable enough that normal strikes wouldn’t cut through.

Still—

The burning blade of Heedrise managed to sink slightly into her skin.

“Tch—hot…! Get off me!”

“Too bad—backing off won’t save you!”

Carina swung her arm and knocked me away, but that meant nothing.

A few meters of distance? Might as well be zero to me.

“This is how you’re supposed to use water—《Lake Cleaver》!”

In an instant, I stored Heedrise into my storage ring—White Phantom’s Vault—and drew the blue magic sword at my left hip.

At the same time, a blade of water extended from its rippling edge, slashing diagonally across her torso.

“This…! That’s Grandma’s power! How dare a human—!”

“She gave it to me, so I’m putting it to good use!”

“You—!”

“Too slow!”

I followed up with another slash.

Two clean cuts carved into Carina’s body.

“Not bad—I cut you pretty deep! Guess dragons aren’t that tough in human form!”

“Hah!? That’s nothing more than a scratch—!!!”

Even as I watched, the wounds regenerated almost instantly.

Seriously… dragons are such a pain to deal with.

Enraged, Carina spread her bird-like ice wings and charged straight at me, accelerating in a flash.

Fast—but!

“Whoa, coming in barehanded? You’ve got guts—”

“SHAAAAAA—!!!”

A piercing dragon’s roar split the air.

At the same time, her fingers extended—long, sharp claws of ice, each one as deadly as a dagger.

“I’ll tear you apart with my own hands!”

With a hysterical scream, she lashed out, her ice claws cutting through the air at dragon-level speed.

Slower than Elmie’s Godspeed Blade, sure—but there were two of them, striking from every angle.

Her coordination wasn’t anything special, but the sheer speed made it look like her attacks were multiplying.

A wild, relentless flurry.

With claws that sharp, anyone caught in range would be shredded in seconds—

Anyone but me.

“Don’t underestimate me. —This is my range!”

“Guh…!?”

Midair, with no footing.

A massive difference in raw strength.

Every condition stacked against me—

So what?

“W-What the…!? Why can’t I land a single hit—!?”

Deflect. Redirect. Slip past. Counter.

What made me the strongest swordsman in the world wasn’t my magic swords or my mana—

It was the swordsmanship I forged through three years of brutal, life-or-death battles!

Every one of Carina’s attacks was neutralized, and I kept firing back strike after strike.

And on top of that—

“《Wind Slash》.”

“Kyaa—!?”

Yeah, I mixed in magic too.

A blade of wind formed behind Carina and struck her back.

It barely scratched her, but it threw off her balance—

And the follow-up slash I slipped in cut across her cheek.

—But.

“You dare…! But I see it now! You’re using that sword to cast your magic, aren’t you!?”

The wound on her face—and all the others—healed instantly.

No matter what I did, it reset back to zero. What a pain.

And on top of that…

She’d figured out my weakness.

“Not bad—you figured it out. For someone with child-level mana control, I’ll give you a passing mark.”

“You’re seriously getting on my nerves…! But if that’s the case—!”

Her mana surged.

Even as we clashed, the overwhelming mana pouring out of Carina wrapped the entire area in a raging blizzard.

“You can’t use three at once! You’ve only got two arms! Freeze to death just like that!”

“Tch… yeah, this is rough…!”

So she figured it out…!

Even if I could control the wind with Breathslate in my left hand, without Heedrise, I had no way to deal with the cold.

For an ice dragon like her, this was nothing—but for me, it was extreme freezing.

My movements were starting to slow. I needed to warm up fast, but—

“I’m not giving you the chance to switch weapons!”

“Figures! Everyone I fight always tries that!”

Her ice-claw attacks intensified even more.

A relentless barrage, all to keep me from switching magic swords.

So she was starting to think tactically now…

Guess she’d finally begun to recognize me as a real opponent.

“—Lucky break!”

“Huh?”

“This is the second time I’m telling you—don’t underestimate me!”

I stepped forward lightly, kicking off the air with wind beneath my feet.

Twisting my body sideways, I raised Granchario in my right hand high overhead—

“Grandma’s sword again…? Huh? That’s—”

“《Flame Cloak》—《Blazing Bloom》!”

The explosion from Heedrise slammed into Carina—

And sent her flying.

“Kah…! Why you—!?”

“You mean how my magic sword changed, right?”

Carina steadied herself midair and shot the question at me.

Warmed by the heat of Heedrise, I casually swung the red magic sword in my right hand.

Then I showed her the ring on my finger.

“This magic item—White Phantom’s Vault—has a pretty handy feature. Anything I’m wearing can be stored inside it… and anything stored can be summoned to any position I want.”

“What…!?”

With that ability, what I did was simple.

As I raised my sword, I hid it with my body—

And in that instant, swapped Granchario into storage and pulled Heedrise straight into my hand.

With White Phantom’s Vault, there’s no opening when switching weapons.

“Call it the power of civilization. You know—the same humans you look down on.”

Hovering in midair using Wind Step, I spoke calmly.

“This ring? Granny Crim was always going on about how amazing it is. Useful for everyday life, and just as useful in battle.”

“…!”

“You might not care about humans at all. But if you’d paid even a little attention to what Granny Crim found interesting—”

“Shut up…! Shut up, shut up, shut up!”

But Carina just covered her ears, refusing to listen.

“If I want to become like Grandma! I don’t have time to waste on things like that!!!”

With that shout, Carina charged again at terrifying speed.

“…Seriously.”

She was just frustrated.

Her beloved, pride-and-joy grandmother had taken interest in something she didn’t care about.

So she sulked.

Turned away whenever she was invited to share it.

Yeah… I could picture it.

I’d seen that same attitude before—my ex-fiancée used to act like that too.

“That kind of thinking… it’s childish.”

A reckless charge driven by anger wouldn’t work on me anymore—not now that I had access to the full arsenal in my vault.

I deflected her claw attacks with the Azure Ice Sword, blew them back with the Blazing Flame Sword, entangled them with the Piercing Wind Sword, and unleashed a relentless wave of slashes using all three magic swords in succession.

“Wha—! Ngh… gah…!?”

Right before each strike, I switched to a different sword, catching her off guard every time.

Store. Draw. Switch hands. Strike again.

An ever-changing, unpredictable assault—

And Carina was steadily being cornered.

“Kuh—damn you!”

“That’s exactly why—there’s no way you’ll ever become like Granny Crim if you stay like this!”

“—Shut up! Die!”

The moment I raised my sword high for a heavy strike,

Carina lunged in with her claws.

I deliberately took the hit on my shoulder—

And in return, I slammed Heedrise, packed with mana, straight into her.

“Gah… aaagh… ggh…!”

That strike finally knocked the ice dragon—who had been flying all this time—down to the ground.

“You… injured yourself just to do that—!?”

“If taking a little damage lets me cut down a dragon, that’s a pretty cheap trade.”

Landing on the frozen sea, I healed my left shoulder with Healing Magic as I shot back.

Sure, non-attribute healing used up energy, so I couldn’t spam it—but this was more than worth it.

I raised my sword, killing intent pouring out.

“Come now, you brat. I’ll beat you back into shape.”

“Grr…! You’re the one who’s going to die!”

Yeah… get mad.

Lose control completely.

And then—crush you for good, before you can get serious.

—

Wow, Abel, that boomerang just came back and hit you twice.

Anyway, it’s Sora Akatsuki here.

I’ve uploaded a side story, “Millia’s Diary,” in the notes section.

It’s a little extra piece to add flavor to the main story.

This one’s for supporters only—

Just a small way to give something back to those who’ve sent gifts!