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Translator: Kell | Editor: Weasalopes
Contact with the Gray Noble Drakon
As soon as he let the Flame Gospel loose, Hikaru quickly used Group Obfuscation and escaped from the range of the drakon’s spell. He clicked his tongue as he watched the lecture building C crumble.
「I worked hard to clean that place up, damn it!」
It was Hikaru who tidied up the cabin—a.k.a. lecture building C—that Professor Mille appropriated for herself. Seeing it destroyed so easily made him seethe with rage.
『You’re mad at that?! Wait, how’d you even dodge its spell?!』
「Linear spells are easy to dodge if you watch the direction the magic circle is facing.」
『What?!』
「Keep it down for a bit. You better expect that that thing will find you immediately if you leave my side.」
『O-Okay.』
Hikaru wrapped Drake around his neck and ran. He opened his Soul Board and tapped the + button, displaying the new Skills he obtained.
【Soul Blaze】Increases Soul Board’s effect by 10%.
【Unlock Plus】Grants basic ability to points used to unlock a stat.
【Divine Connect】User will know how much points are needed to gain a blessing.
【Access Plus】Increases range from which the user can access others’ Soul Boards to fifty meters.
Now was the time to allocate points to them. Hikaru only had four points on Group Obfuscation, not maxed out.
【Soul Board】Hikaru
Age:16   Rank:42
3
【Vitality】
【Magical Power】
【Physical Strength】
..【Strength】1
..【Weapon Mastery】
….【Throwing】10 (MAX)
……【Heaven Shot】0
【Agility】
..【Power Burst】5
..【Stealth】
….【Life Obfuscation】4
….【Mana Obfuscation】4
….【Imperceptibility】5 (MAX)
……【Assassination】3 (MAX)
……【Sniping】3 (MAX)
……【Group Obfuscation】4
【Intuition】
..【Instinct】1
..【Detection】
….【Life Detection】1
….【Mana Detection】3
……【Detection Expansion】3 (MAX)
With only two points available, he wouldn’t be able to put a point on Group Obfuscation as that would require putting a point each on its base Skills, Life and Mana Obfuscation. He was one point short.
Of course, there was a possibility that four points on Group Obfuscation would be enough to hide from the drakon, but Hikaru wanted to play it safe. He had no other choice.
I’ve never faced anyone immune to my Instinct!
His one point on Instinct usually told him that he could hide from his enemy, or at least he knew he might not be able to. But against the Gray Noble Drakon, such intuition was not available. It wasn’t as though the creature resisted his Instinct, but more like the Skill didn’t work at the target at all.
Hikaru’s Instinct ignored the drakon, like it was some sort of a non-living being.
I just have to be extremely cautious.
Hikaru chose to upgrade his Soul Blaze. His enemy this time wouldn’t show mercy against humans. The moment it found Hikaru and Drake, it would probably unleash an attack. It wouldn’t even care about Drake.
Hikaru could leave Drake behind and max his Obfuscation skills to hide himself alone, but that wasn’t an option he wanted to take. It wasn’t as though he didn’t want to hand Drake over, or that the drakon was already family to him. He just couldn’t stomach playing into the hands of someone who made a fool out of him.
Soul Blaze, activate.
Hikaru’s body felt remarkably light.
Strength 1.1 and Power Burst 5.5…
A ten percent increase was nothing to scoff at. Even with only a point on Strength, Hikaru could carry three Red-horned Rabbits—each about sixty centimeters in length—on his own. Now his Group Obfuscation had 4.4 points. Sure enough, the Gray Noble Drakon lost sight of them.
You tried to kill me. I hope you’re prepared to die as well.
Just like how the drakon didn’t show mercy, Hikaru didn’t plan to show mercy to his enemy as well, whether they were a drakon or a dragon.
Behind the Gray Noble Drakon, Hikaru reached for the magic sword on his waist—the wakizashi—sheathed into the jet-black scabbard made out of wood from a sacred tree.
Casting aside any hesitation, Hikaru dashed towards the drakon, his feet screaming from the power he put into them. The creature didn’t notice himùthe requirement for his Assassination to take effect. He drew his wakizashi and swung it down.
The Gray Noble Drakon had complete control of holy mana, a power that allowed it to fly and cast magic, regardless of whether Spirits were present or not. Transcending any other lifeforms, it carried out its life mission of obliterating anything evil. That’s what the Gray Noble Drakon believed.
It couldn’t comprehend right away the sudden unease it felt in one part of its body. A little bit of time was needed for the creature to remember that it was “pain” and that he was “wounded”. Apart from its battles against huge creatures like an evil dragon, it never sustained an injury in all other fights—whether they could even be called actual fights, though, was doubtful; they were more like one-sided trashing.
There was just that much difference in power between drakons and humans or monsters. But something inexplicable was happening right now. Crimson blood was gushing out of the drakon’s body. It could feel a tingling sensation at first, then it turned hot as if burning—pain.
The Gray Noble Drakon howled and flew up. It hadn’t felt pain in a long time. The wound was deep. It tried to fly straight up, but instead turned to the right. It was extremely vexing. Its flinching earlier only served to amplify the humiliation it felt.
《————How dare you. You will not get out of this alive.————》
Blood gushed out in a steady stream, but the below-freezing temperature up above froze the blood, sticking to its scales.
The tremendous fury made it lose control of itself. A gigantic magic circle that encompassed the whole academy appeared in mid-air.
But the spell never activated. A jet-black beam fired from the roof of one of the buildings hit the Gray Noble Drakon directly on its face. Most of its face, left eye included, was ripped out and vanished into thin air. The huge creature lost its balance and plummeted down, crashing into one of the lecture buildings.
「Phew. Looks like Sniping worked.」
Hikaru stood on the roof of the admin building, revolver on his hand. He used the last bullet he got from the Underground City of the Ancient Gods, the one containing evil magic.
The other bullets that Hikaru had all contained Lavia’s spells, not suited for long-range shooting. Hikaru thought the last “evil” bullet might work, and he was right. It was clearly effective against the Gray Noble Drakon, destroying its face easily. Whether that was its weak spot, he didn’t know.
With Soul Blaze’s effect, I get 11 points on Throwing. Hitting my target at a long distance with only a gun is easy.
『D-Did you kill it? Is the Gray Noble Drakon dead?』
「If it’s still alive after that, we’ll have no choice but to run away. That thing didn’t just want me dead, it tried to kill you too. Heck, it didn’t care if it destroyed the whole academy.」
『No, no, no… A human killing a drakon is unheard of! And that spell just now felt ominous!』
「Was he your friend or something?」
『No, not really… Wait, forget about that!』
Hikaru came down from the roof. Going up was much easier since he could just jump with his Power Burst, but going back down was quite a pain. He had to carefully choose his path. Unfortunately, there was no such thing as “Fall Resistance” on the Soul Board.
He made his way to where the drakon crashed. Clouds of dust filled the air.
「This looks awful… Wait, what?」
Hikaru couldn’t believe his eyes. The Gray Noble Drakon was nowhere to be seen. He thought it was buried under the rubble, but he couldn’t find it. With its huge body, it should be sticking out of the building. But only scales stuck to the walls and blood on the snow remained. The body was gone.
『It probably got summoned back home.』
「Summoned?」
『I think someone from home immediately noticed that the Gray Noble Drakon was dead. We can’t leave the corpse of a drakon out as evil creatures might use it.』
「Forget about the reasons for now. Drakons can be summoned?」
『Yes, but only back home. Our home can’t be found in this world. It’s located somewhere… hmm, how do I put it… in a different dimension? That’s what the elders said.』
All Hikaru got from that was Drake sucked at explaining things.
「Hey, what’s that?!」
「Is this where the attack happened?!」
Hikaru sensed a lot of people arriving at the academy’s entrance. He could feel Lavia’s mana among them as well. They must be the guards that she called.
Now how do I explain this mess? Will they even believe me if I told them about the drakon?
「What a drag.」
Hikaru decided he wasn’t going to explain what happened. Instead, he wore his hood and took out a silver mask from his pocket.
I’ll just hold Silver Face accountable for all this.