Vol 1 Chapter 36 – The Power of the Star Knight【Vol 1: The Beastkin Hero Arc】

Trapped in the cage of gravity, the Cyclopes couldn’t move an inch.

Creaaak. Bones groaned as one, then another, collapsed to the ground, unable to withstand the sheer weight.

“…Why!? That power is supposed to belong to Leonhardt!”

Ignoring Null, who shouted with barefaced shock, Allen casually strolled among the bowed, one-eyed giants.

But reaching him wouldn’t be that simple.

To stop the hero from getting closer to Null, Eins stood in his way.

“Tch…”

Baring his teeth in a fierce glare, Eins wore gauntlets on both arms. Judging by his equipment, his Brave Core was likely based on a Fighter Core.

Evidently wanting to force a close-quarters battle, Eins dashed forward, enveloping both arms in flames.

Normally, those who possessed a Fighter Core couldn’t use magic.

Making the impossible possible was the ultimate proof of a Brave Core owner.

Blasting fire from his feet to accelerate even further, Eins unleashed a high-speed barrage of punches, acting as if he wasn’t affected by the gravity at all.

However, anyone trapped within the golden barrier could not escape Leonhardt’s power.

“Star Power Release: Repulsion.”

The flame-clad fists stopped just before hitting Allen, and without even taking a strike, Eins was sent flying back, his body folding entirely in half.

The repulsive force that paired with gravitational attraction could also be manipulated at will.

“—Argos!”

Null called out the name of the only giant in the Cyclops army that could still move—a creature with eyes covering its entire body.

Light-speed beams fired from the giant’s countless eyes. It was a torrential attack that pierced right through several of the Cyclopes, but—

“Star Power Release: Anti-Gravity.”

Allen let his body float upward, evading the attack by taking to the sky.

He had lightened his own gravity to increase his mobility.

The beams obliterated the exact spot where Allen had been standing a second ago, blowing away the ground in a massive explosion that left a deep crater.

“Why can you use Leonhardt’s power so freely?! Is that the power of your Brave Core?!”

“…Exactly.”

Hovering in the air, Allen unleashed even more power upon Null.

“Star Power Release: Attraction.”

“Ghk, damn it!”

It was a bizarre sensation, as if an invisible, giant hand was dragging him in.

Desperately trying to hold his ground, Null dug his feet into the earth to resist, but the pull only grew stronger.

Instead, Argos, still firing beams from its entire body, was dragged forward. Allen thrust out his longsword, piercing the beast straight through the heart.

“I have no choice but to use my trump card…! Brave Skill: Summon Climate!”

Null deployed new magic circles on both sides of himself. What billowed out from those circles was a massive amount of green mist.

The green fog filled the inside of the barrier in the blink of an eye.

“…I see. So magic beasts aren’t the only things you can summon.”

“That’s right. This mist is the very climate of the Demon Continent itself. The Demon Continent where the demons live is covered year-round in highly toxic fog. If you don’t dispel the barrier, you’ll die right alongside us.”

Why did the demons constantly invade the Human Continent?

It wasn’t necessarily driven by the ambitions of the current Demon King.

It was the dearest wish of their entire race—to free themselves from their cursed lands.

Under the cover of the rapidly approaching toxic mist, Eins unleashed a kick, his eyes bloodshot and blood spilling from his mouth.

Staying airborne, Allen dodged the red-hot kick by a hair’s breadth. Using attraction to pull Eins in, he smashed the flat of his blade right into Eins’s face.

Combining the sheer force of the sword strike with gravity and repulsion, Eins was blasted away at incredible speed, coming to a halt only after being buried several meters deep into the earth.

To deal with the encroaching poison mist, Allen used attraction to pull up a slab of bedrock, pierced it with his sword, and swung it like a massive fan to blow the fog back toward Null.

“How are you wielding that power even better than Leonhardt did?!”

“…You’re wrong. Leonhardt fought while using her repulsion to evacuate the villagers. She had her limits while simultaneously dealing with your attacks. But I’m different. I can focus all of this power strictly on you.”

“Even so, it makes no sense! How can you master someone else’s abilities?!”

A Brave Skill inherently consumed mana to activate. Unlike normal battle skills or magic, it required a massive amount of mana.

Even a Brave Core holder, who possessed an overwhelmingly larger mana pool than someone with a normal Mana Core, had to fight while keeping a close eye on their remaining reserves.

But for Allen, that wasn’t an issue.

His Renown Power only kept increasing. Even now, it was growing as he fought. Of course, using his abilities depleted it, but now that he had become a legend by defeating the Demon King…

Allen’s name was synonymous with the great heroes written about in the history books.

His fame simply knew no bounds.

If two people with the exact same abilities fought, what determined victory or defeat was the difference in specs: physical strength, mana capacity, and raw output.

When it came to specs, Allen would never lose. His fuel was essentially limitless.

That was exactly why it looked like he was wielding it better than the original owner. Regardless of the actual truth.

Putting that aside.

Allen extinguished the golden barrier, lifting the cage of gravity.

He landed on the ground and sheathed his longsword.

He looked down at Eins, who was buried in the dirt, and Null, who was immobilized after inhaling his own toxic fog.

Incidentally, the moment Null fell, the Cyclopes were bound by chains extending from the magic circles, dragged back through, and returned to wherever they came from.

“The battle is over. I’m going after the battleship.”

“…D-Don’t screw with me! Then kill us. Kill us right now, or the second you leave, I swear I’ll kill Leonhardt!”

“…”

Perhaps it was the effects of the toxic fog.

Allen frowned at Null’s pathetic, agonizing state—the whites of his eyes dyed red, several blisters bubbling up across his skin.

They were victims, too.

Allen understood perfectly well that the suffering they had endured was beyond imagination.

“Null. Let’s just stop. We lost.”

“…W-We haven’t lost! Vier, we still have you! Fight! Make him look you in the eyes one more time!”

Vier shook her head as Null continued to scream.

Faced with the two of them entirely at odds, Allen wondered what he should do.

Suddenly, all three of them reflexively snapped their gazes toward the sky.

The red streak floating against the night sky stood out glaringly.

Squinting his eyes to get a better look…

“…Acht…?”

Carrying a little girl with purplish-blue hair, a wolf-kin youth was flying toward them at breakneck speed, blasting flames from the soles of his feet.