Shikkaku Mon no Saikyou Kenja~ Sekai Saikyou no Kenja ga Sarani Tsuyoku Naru Tameni Tenseishimashita~

Chapter 337: Strongest Sage, Be Sacrificial Pawn

"Who knows."

After saying that, I continued my assault while being careful not to create an 『Opening』.

What makes this difficult is the fact that this [Opening] Zadokilgias is looking for differs from an [Opening] in ordinary battles.

Zadokilgias isn't looking for a chance to land a risk-free hit on me.

But a situation where it can land a fatal hit on me--while not getting hit by a fatal hit itself.

…Even if Zadokilgias's physical ability is only at the level of an ordinary demon, it's still far sturdier than mine.

For example, this demon would not hesitate to sacrifice one of its arm if it means reaping my neck.

On the other hand, I kept launching fatal strikes at Zadokilgias while being probed for that [Opening].

I can only ever launch attacks that will instantly kill Zadokilgias, otherwise it would have launched a counterattack that ignores any damage incurred, all while maintaining the balance required to dodge.

As such, even if it looks like I'm holding the upper hand right now, I don't actually have that much room to move around.

And yet, having Iris here presents a huge advantage to me.

She hasn't been able to deal a blow yet, however she's got the [Dragon Breath] with her.

On top of boasting unbelievable range, [Dragon Breath] possesses enough firepower to erase Zadokilgias without leaving any trace if it hits.

Meaning, Zadokilgias must be prepared to evade Iris's [Dragon Breath] at all time.

That's why this demon has its wings always at the ready to take the flight at a moment's notice.

In normal times, it wouldn't have even bothered to manage its posture for wings deployment, saving it for emergency instead.

By doing that, Zadokilgias could avoid getting instantly erased by [Dragon Breath] even if that meant creating an opening.

Recovering from a non instant death attack is not at all difficult to those who excel in combat.

While for me, once [Dragon Breath] gets invoked, death is the only fate that awaits me having no means to dodge it and all, thus even if Zadokilgias suffers some damage in the process, it can take all the time needed to heal itself.

Despite knowing all that, I'll be instructing Iris shoot [Dragon Breath] now.

"Go, Iris!"

『I understand!』

Hearing my voice--Iris's claws dig into the ground, stationing her body.

Iris's magic circuits have stabilized. She can afford one shot of [Dragon Breath].

And then--.

『Here I go!』

Iris has started generating her [Dragon Breath].

An enormous amount of mana is converging inside dragon Iris's mouth.

Zadokilgias looked flustered when it saw that.

"--Knew it, you're a sacrificial pawn!"

Zadokilgias released the mana stored in its wings as it shouted that, executing the accelerative force that demon wings possess.

Naturally, doing that in the middle of a close quarter sword fight would create many openings.

I didn't let that chance go and went slashing at Zadokilgias's neck.

The trajectory is such that it can't be parried away or dodged.

The only way for Zadokilgias to escape death here is to--.

"Correct."

I swung my sword while muttering.

However, it was Zadokilgias's left arm that got sent flying in the air, not head.

Zadokilgias has sacrificed its left arm to protect its neck.

Even after losing left arm, Zadokilgias accelerated straight above with its wings perfectly calmly.

Zadokilgias had gained enough time to escape out of [Dragon Breath]'s range in exchange of its left arm.

Since [Dragon Breath] is a wide area attack that goes along the ground, there is almost no way to escape it on ground.

However, it's not completely impossible to do so in air.

Even against the flames of high ranking Darkness Dragon Iris, one can cheat death by going about 300 meters above ground.

Iris's [Dragon Breath] is already about to get invoked, its trajectory can't be altered anymore.

Once Zadokilgias had gone away leaving its left arm behind, Iris's [Dragon Breath] was shot toward the spot I was at.

Right in that instance, I invoked a spell.

The very same magic I deployed in my first meeting with Iris after reincarnating--a spell to destroy [Dragon Breath].

"Wha…"

The moment the spell I invoked touched the [Dragon Breath], its spell formula immediately crumbled down.

Zadokilgias sounded surprised when it saw that.

Even Zadokilgias couldn't have predicted there would be a magic capable of breaking down a [Dragon Breath].

After all this magic is completely outside the realm of Zadokilgias's magical skill.

In order to develop this [Dragon Breath]-destroying magic, one needs to have a complete understanding on the extremely complex [Dragon Spell Formula].

After defeating Zadokilgias, the past me took hundreds of years just to finish developing it.

Just as the theory says--the [Dragon Breath]'s magic circle broke into pieces.

The flames also vanished along with a dry sound, and in its place, a vast amount of mana that was forming the [Dragon Breath] remained.

I've been waiting for this.

"…Now then, it's finally this thing's turn."

As I said that, I took [Man-eating Blade] out of Storage magic and established a connection with Dragon Veins.

Once the connection is formed, I begin constructing a magic.

[Man-eating Blade] connects human's magic circuits to Dragon Veins, enabling them to utilize Dragon Veins as if part of their body.

With Dragon Veins being [Part of Body], Disqualified Crest's limitation of not being able to construct magic far away from the bearer's body has now come undone.

As a result, I have successfully constructed a gigantic magic circle not even other Crests could dream of.

That gigantic magic circle absorbs the vast amount of leftover mana from the broken [Dragon Breath].

A moment later--a dazzling ray of light was shot out the center of the magic circle I constructed, heading straight toward the sky.