Arc 4 Chapter 18 : Raul de Garcia Vs Adrien Ionescu

[Raul PoV]

He threw a punch at my head with incredible speed.

I immediately activated Accel and ducked beneath it.

—Swoosh!

I could clearly hear the gust of wind created by his fist as it passed directly over my head.

"Temper..."

I activated the enhancement magic in my right hand and drove my fist hard into his knee.

Yet the two-meter-tall man didn't budge an inch.

"Hahaha! That attack merely tickled me!"

I looked up.

The enemy standing before me wore a deathly grin as he raised both hands and clasped them together like a massive axe.

I immediately moved to evade his incoming attack.

"Axe Fist!"

The man brought his clasped hands crashing downward, aiming directly at my head.

I managed to leap aside just in time using Ashpalt.

"Hoo~ So you can use that magic, huh..." Adrien muttered, sounding impressed. "At such a young age, there are only two destinies that await you. Either you die by my hands before your potential has a chance to bloom and become something terrifying... or you kill me and someday become renowned for your incredible fighting ability."

What he said was true.

Only exceptionally talented individuals—those destined to shine someday—could master this kind of magic before reaching the age of twenty.

However, what I was doing had nothing to do with Raul's monstrous talent.

It was because of my knowledge of magic.

I was the person who had developed these spells myself—the one who had created the magical mechanics that existed in this world.

"All right! I won't underestimate you by holding back!"

Adrien lowered his body into the stance of a Brawler.

Tiny red particles of light began emerging from his hands and feet.

I blinked.

And suddenly, the man I had been fighting was already in front of me, preparing to throw a punch.

"Phantom Impact!"

I immediately activated Repel to absorb part of the damage while attempting to evade using Ashpalt once again.

—BAM!

But I was caught off guard.

I could already feel the impact of his attack even though his fist hadn't made direct contact with my body.

The force of the blow sent me flying backward until I crashed into the wall of a nearby building.

"Ughhh... That really hurt."

I clutched my shoulder as I struggled back onto my feet.

"If I had been even a moment late activating Repel, the force of that attack could have shattered my shoulder."

But what exactly had happened just now?

My current theory was that his Mana Spectrum was exceptionally wide, allowing him to strike his opponent even without his fist making physical contact.

If that was true...

Then he could extend his Mana Spectrum as far as thirty centimeters.

That was ten times wider than the Mana Spectrum possessed by the Holy Knight I had fought previously.

But it seemed this man had specifically trained his fighting style around his Mana Spectrum.

That was the only explanation for why his Mana Spectrum was so formidable.

"Don't lose focus while fighting me!"

But I didn't have time to continue analyzing my opponent.

The man shot toward me again, using Ashpalt.

I drew my sword and coated its blade with Avilar to sharpen it.

Then I charged toward him as well.

I wanted to conduct a little experiment.

"Phantom Impact!"

The massive man threw a diagonal Hook from below, while I swung my sword diagonally downward from above.

—Tang!

Our attacks collided, even though my sword had never actually touched his enormous fist.

The difference in our strength sent my body flying into the air.

I glanced behind me.

A thirty-meter-high earthen wall created by the Wizards stood nearby, trapping the Draconian forces within the area.

I twisted my body and drove my sword into the earthen wall, using it to prevent myself from falling from such a height.

But then I noticed Adrien smashing the ground beneath his feet with his bare hands, breaking it into smaller chunks.

I swung my body around, then leapt onto the top of the wall, preparing myself for his next attack.

"Meteor Rising!"

The massive man began throwing the chunks of earth upward toward me.

I activated Temper on the sword in my hand and started destroying the incoming pieces, slicing them into smaller fragments.

But what came flying toward me next wasn't a chunk of earth.

It was a massive man.

And he wore an enormous grin as though he were having the time of his life.

"Meteorite Punch!"

I attempted to evade his attack.

But the Mana Spectrum surrounding his fist reached my sword and knocked it from my grasp.

The weapon fell from the top of the wall.

Now, Adrien and I stood facing each other on top of the earthen wall.

"Ghost of Cataluna," Adrien called out, smiling at me. "Do you like flying through the sky?"

I remained silent.

I didn't respond to his question because I was completely focused on his next movement.

Sometimes, a person would deliberately ask their opponent a question in the middle of a battle to make them lose concentration and create an opening for an attack.

Then I caught the slightest movement of his foot.

I immediately jumped backward.

As expected—

Adrien shot forward like lightning, reaching out with his enormous hands in an attempt to grab me.

"Tch!"

He looked annoyed after failing to catch me.

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But his attack didn't end there.

His hands and feet began glowing once again after he activated Temper and Accel.

Then he launched a relentless barrage of punches.

Left.

Right.

Right.

Left.

I desperately avoided each attack, making sure not to get caught within the enormous range of his Mana Spectrum.

"How about this! Liger Bomb!"

He threw a straight punch toward my face.

It was faster than before.

I slightly lowered my head to evade it, then stepped forward and launched a Counter Punch toward his solar plexus.

—BAM!

This time, I put all my strength into the punch.

Yet his body didn't move.

It was as though he hadn't even felt my attack.

"Hey, don't you have some kind of powerful special attack or something?" the massive man asked.

Ugh...

This was because I had made Raul's character too weak.

It wasn't that my attacks were too weak.

It was that his body was absurdly strong.

But as I complained about him internally, an intense pain suddenly exploded through the right side of my ribs.

The man had kicked me with tremendous force.

My body was sent flying through the air before crashing through the wall of one of the city's buildings.

"Urgh! Urgh!"

I coughed blood onto the floor.

None of my attacks had succeeded.

He seemed to possess some kind of defensive Profound Codex that protected his body from external attacks.

On top of that, his attacks were both fast and extremely deadly.

If I took one of his punches head-on, the injuries would be fatal.

At the very least, my bones would be shattered.

To get through his defenses, I would probably need to incorporate Mana Spectrum into my attacks.

The problem was that my own Mana Spectrum was still extremely small.

But there was no harm in trying.

It was better than allowing him to beat me to death.

I needed to become accustomed to using it in an actual battle like this.

—CRAASSSHH!

The roof of the building suddenly collapsed.

A massive man with a thick beard landed directly in front of me.

"Come on! Show me your true strength so this fight can become more interesting!"

I spat the blood that had accumulated in my mouth onto the floor and forced myself back onto my feet.

He smiled again.

His hands and feet began glowing once more, signaling that he had activated Accel and Temper.

I did the same.

Then I stared at him coldly.

The real battle was only just beginning.

We both charged toward each other.

"Gloria Punch!"

Adrien unleashed a rapid five-hit combination toward me.

His attacks were incredibly powerful, but his speed was still below Elena's sword strikes.

I avoided every punch he threw, taking large steps to keep myself out of the range of his Mana Spectrum.

"Arrrghhh! Liger Bomb!"

He launched the same attack as before.

I ducked beneath the punch, then moved closer and leapt slightly into the air.

"Take this!"

I drove an Uppercut directly into the man's chin.

—BAAMM!

This time, he was forced to take several steps backward from the impact.

But he recovered almost immediately.

He stood upright as though nothing had happened.

"Hahaha! I felt it! I felt it!"

He burst into laughter before looking at me with an exhilarated grin.

"Even if it was only a little..."

Even if the impact had been small, at least I could still injure him with my limited Mana Spectrum.

"Your Mana Spectrum is impressive," I told him. "But your Unreality Field seems extremely weak."

A person's Unreality Field could minimize the effects of attacks using Mana Spectrum as well as enemy magic.

That was why, despite my Mana Spectrum being so small, my previous attack had managed to affect Adrien.

"I don't need an Unreality Field because I have strong defenses!"

Adrien charged toward me again.

I raised both hands and clenched my fists at nose level like a boxer preparing for a match.

"Dragon Lariat!"

He threw a right Hook at me.

I swiftly dodged and moved toward the right side of his body.

—Bam! Bam! Bam!

I struck his left ribs three times with my right hand, causing Adrien to grunt slightly.

But I couldn't afford to become Greedy.

I immediately moved away as Adrien twisted his body and swung a left Back Fist toward my head.

I avoided it by crouching slightly.

"Radical Blow!"

I unleashed a combination of attacks.

He took every punch without showing any sign of serious injury, as though none of them could hurt him.

I finished the combination by driving an Uppercut into his chin with everything I had.

After taking the barrage of attacks, the man was forced backward.

But I wasn't finished yet.

I activated Ashpalt and Temper in my legs, then sprinted toward him.

I leapt into the air and delivered a Flying Kick directly to his face.

—BAM!

His body was sent flying backward through the glass window of a building before crashing down from the rooftop.

"Hah... Hah... Hah..."

Both of my hands were throbbing with pain.

I had been the one landing all those blows, yet my hands felt as though I had been punching a gigantic boulder.

I was certain that attack hadn't been enough to defeat him.

I approached the shattered window and looked down.

The two sides were still engaged in fierce combat.

Yet I couldn't see Adrien anywhere.

Could he have switched targets and started attacking the Imperial soldiers instead?

But considering his personality...

That seemed unlikely.

There was no way a man like him would simply run away from a fight.

I jumped down from the building and landed on the ground.

The sounds of battle echoed from every direction.

Then I looked toward the place where Adrien should have landed.

A hole had been created there.

Something about it made me suspicious.

"Don't tell me he—"

I turned around.

The enemy I had been fighting emerged from beneath the ground, stretching out his arms to grab me.

I attempted to evade using Ashpalt.

But I was too late.

The man caught my left leg.

"Got you!"

The massive man lifted my body into the air before slamming me violently into the ground.

My entire body felt as though I had been hit by a truck from my previous world.

"Not yet! Not yet!"

He continued smashing my body against the walls of the surrounding buildings.

My vision began to blur as my head suffered one impact after another.

"Are you enjoying this, huh!?"

Damn.

He was incredibly talkative for a fighter.

But he didn't stop there.

After weakening my body by repeatedly smashing me into the surrounding buildings, he threw me high into the air.

Below me, he lowered his body into a stance, preparing another attack.

His hand began to glow.

This was going to hurt.

"Roaring Tiger Blow!"

As my body reached the same height as his, I activated Repel and Unreality Field, using both to absorb part of his attack.

—BAAAAMMMM!!!!

His fist struck me head-on.

My body was sent flying through the air, smashing through several buildings.

I could feel my right shoulder and several of my toes breaking from the sheer force of his attack.

Unreality Field minimized the damage from the magic and Mana Spectrum he had used when striking me, while Repel reduced the damage caused by the physical force of his punch.

None of my attacks had dealt significant damage to him.

No matter how much power I used, it meant nothing if I couldn't actually hurt him.

This was one of my greatest weaknesses.

Unlike most protagonists in stories, I didn't possess some overwhelmingly powerful attack that could instantly destroy my opponent.

I supposed I would have to find Evelyn—a sword suitable for me—someday so that I could actually injure opponents with defenses as powerful as his.

But first, I would have to unlock my Awakening if I wanted to take that sword from the woman guarding it.

—CRAASSSHH!

I saw the man land from above, crashing down near where I was lying.

"Hey, are you dead?" he asked.

I tried to stand.

My right arm hung limply at my side, completely unable to move.

There were only two ways I could defeat him in this battle.

The first was to attack him with Reject Impact.

That would prevent him from using magic and disable the Profound Codex responsible for making his defenses so strong.

However, if I did that, I wouldn't be able to use both of my hands.

There was no way I could defeat a high-level Brawler like him using only my legs.

If I forced myself to continue fighting that way, I would simply die.

The second method had a considerably higher chance of killing him—but it also carried a massive risk of failure.

It would be a true Win or Die situation.

I would have to stake everything on a single attempt.

But I had already made my decision.

"Hooo~ Even in that condition, your fighting spirit hasn't faded yet, Young Man," the man said as he lowered himself into another stance.

I had to bait him into using his strongest punch.

I began running away from him.

But he didn't chase me.

Instead, he focused on gathering Mana within his massive hand.

So he was preparing a long-range attack...

A Shock Wave generated by his punch?

Or perhaps he was going to use the Earth Nature Mana he possessed?

"Galaxy Impact!"

He threw a punch toward me from a distance.

I immediately leapt forward using Sartaxio, narrowly avoiding the attack.

—BOOOMMM!!!

A tremendous gust of wind erupted.

The building behind me was completely destroyed by the force of his attack.

But he didn't stop.

He once again lowered himself into the same stance, preparing another attack.

"Galaxy Impact!"

Again, I desperately avoided the attack by leaping to the side.

The thunderous sound of collapsing buildings echoed throughout the battlefield.

"Tch. You're pretty agile even in that condition," he said, clearly annoyed. "In that case, I'll beat you with my strongest punch directly."

There it is...

Suddenly, strange vapor began pouring from his body.

The muscles and veins in his arms swelled dramatically, as though he had activated some kind of immensely powerful buff.

"RAARRGGHHHHH!"

He roared as he concentrated an enormous amount of Mana into his right hand.

A blood-red Mana Aura began radiating from his fist.

His appearance reminded me of the final phase of a Game Boss commonly found in video games.

"Cast Off My Wrath..."

I began chanting to activate one of the Profound Codex abilities I possessed.

"Cloth Me With Rage... And Turn My Enemy Into Nothingness..."

My left hand became enveloped in a black Mana Aura.

"No matter how much you increase your strength, your attack won't have any effect on me!" the man shouted, clearly ready to strike. "The attack you're about to receive will kill you instantly, even if you try to withstand it with your Unreality Field and that pathetic defensive magic of yours!"

He then charged toward me at incredible speed using Ashpalt.

I did the same.

We both rushed toward one another.

Thirty meters...

Twenty meters...

Ten meters...

The distance between us rapidly disappeared.

I could already feel the enormous pressure of the Mana concentrated within his right hand.

But I had to remain focused.

For my plan to work, everything had to be executed perfectly.

"Die! Dynamite Punchhh!!!"

"Full Vengeanceee!!!"

We both threw our punches.

But at the last moment, I shifted my body slightly to the left.

My fist struck the area near his elbow.

His right arm twisted unnaturally from the impact, causing his own punch to redirect toward the left side of his chest.

—BAMMMMMM!!!!

The armor covering his body shattered.

His right fist pierced through his own left chest.

The massive man dropped to one knee.

Blood began pouring down his body as his strength slowly fad

ed.

"My attacks may not be able to penetrate your strong defenses..." I muttered.

—THUD!

His body finally collapsed onto the ground, unable to withstand the wound inflicted by his own attack.

"But your strongest attack can destroy your own body."

My plan...

It worked.

I...

Won.

"Hahaha... What a terrifying monster..." he muttered weakly. "You didn't even use your full strength, yet you were still able to defeat me, Young Man..."

His eyes slowly closed.

Then he took his final breath in this world.

"It was an honor to fight you, Ghost of Cataluna..."