Published: September 10, 2025
Satou here. Maybe I wasn’t blessed with talent, but I’ve always been terrible at gambling since I was a kid. Back in college, people invited me to try betting on horse races or mahjong, but I never really understood what was so fun about it. Perhaps enjoying gambling requires a certain aptitude.
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“Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
At Mr. Heim’s question, I raised the magic spear Gaibogul (・・) made of ヒヒイロカネ.
“Then let’s begin.”
I stood at the starting line near the center of the spacious training ground.
The distance between us was about twenty meters.
“Magic blade, dwell within my sword.”
A red light glowed on Mr. Heim’s demonic sword.
I noticed just now that he seemed to have applied physical enhancement beforehand, as his magic power gauge had decreased.
“My demonic sword Heim, which bears my name, grant me speed swifter than the wind――”
It looked like he intended to use the Acceleration Catapult formation embedded in his demonic sword from the very start.
I decided to let him have the first move and lowered my magic spear to a low stance――
――Huh?
Like a frame drop in a video, Mr. Heim suddenly closed the distance and launched a lightning-fast thrust.
――Seriously?
He apparently had the Acceleration Catapult activated beforehand.
I parried the thrust of his magic sword, which trailed a red afterimage, with my spear held before I was fully ready.
Red light particles scattered, and beyond them, I saw Mr. Heim’s mouth move.
“――Flash.”
A flash released at point-blank range whitened my vision.
It seemed he used a pre-channeled light magic spell that had been held in reserve.
Before my dazzled sight could recover, Mr. Heim wasted no time and attacked from the opposite side of my earlier parry with a lethal slash.
I traced his movements through the vibrations in the air and intercepted with the spear’s butt spike I kicked up.
――GYWEEEEEEEEEN.
The clash of sword and spear’s butt spikes rang out with intense metallic noise.
The red glare overlaid the whitewashed field of vision.
“――Acceleration Catapult!”
Mr. Heim’s shout shattered the momentary silence.
The vibrations transmitted through my feet revealed the timing of his step.
“――Instant Movement.”
I bent my body just fast enough to avoid becoming earth shrinking.
Thanks to my light intensity adjustment skill, my vision instantly restored color, showing Mr. Heim spinning through the air in a thrusting posture.
He twisted midair, drawing his sword back like pulling a bowstring.
――Could it be?
His magic power concentrated on the blade.
From a distance that should have been unreachable, his thrust transformed into a red light projectile and charged forward.
――Magic Blade Cannon.
Apparently, he had mastered the secret technique used by Mr. Jureberg, Head of the Eight Swords of Shiga.
I countered the speeding magic blade cannon’s light projectile with a small magic blade cannon fired from my magic spear.
Beyond the explosion, cheers from Miss Karina and others reached my ears.
“To survive three surprise attacks and then even defend against a hidden magic blade cannon?”
Mr. Heim landed with a manly grin.
This chatter was probably to recover magic power and catch his breath.
“Surprise attacks are the monsters’ specialty. As for the magic blade cannon, there was an excellent teacher involved.”
At my words, Mr. Heim cast a quick glance at Liza.
He meant the Elf master, not Liza herself, but since there was no need to correct him, we continued.
“Show me the power of your magic spear. This time, we’ll be the ones to endure it.”
From Mr. Heim came a remark full of sportsmanship.
He has the Counter skill, so reckless big moves are dangerous.
――Mostly in the sense of holding back.
I lightly swung my spear and took a low stance.
“――Here I come.”
Using Instant Movement, I stepped forward to close a third of the distance, then switched to the fastest Instant Movement mode used by Liza and others.
Exploiting the reach of my polearm, I attacked from outside his range with a thrust.