Heavy Knight Volume 3 – Chapter 37

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Chapter 37

“Luce-san…..and Celt-san too…..!”

Her face pale, Mabel rushed towards the two of them.
Neither Luce nor Celt will be able to return to the battle anytime soon.
I can only try to keep the attention of Kalos by myself while Mabel gets them back on their feet with her White Magic.
That being said, I’m on the brink here as well.

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【Elma Edvan】
Class: Heavy Knight
Lv: 75
HP: 14/265
MP: 28/110
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Not only is my HP steadily going down due to poison, the shockwaves from various attacks, and my use of [Half-Dead Savage Dragon], but frequently using [Magic Guard] to reduce the incoming damage left me with barely any MP as well.

“I’m leaving Celt to you!” I shouted towards Mabel as I charged at Kalos.

“Are you trying to hold out until they are back in action? It’s admirable that you still have the will to struggle, but this is just too reckless of you.”

I deflected Kalos’s hit with [Parry].

“And I will succeed. You yourself are not that big of a deal after all.”

Hearing my words, Kalos got so angry I could see a vein pulsing on his temple.
I taunted him to make him lose his cool even a little bit.
Normally, Kalos tends to act calm, cool, and collected, but it seems he was in fact an arrogant person with a short fuse.

“Stop spouting nonsense! I know you got slower due to the poison!”

Kalos started attacking with a renewed vigor.

“The cooldown on [Hydra Break] will soon be gone too…. That will be your end! You have no way of avoiding my special move now!”

That is true…. If I drag this out too long, that Skill will be making a return.
Also, with my speed lowered by my poisoned state, I won’t be able to evade it.

For me to be able to do it, I would need to get a [Poison Heal] from Mabel.
Kalos swung at me, relying solely on brute force.
My taunt seemed to have worked.
He was slightly overextended right now.
This seemed to be the best time to try it.

Instead of using [Parry], I aimed at the point where his swing was at its end, nearly out of power, and blocked it with my shield.
Using [Magic Guard], I poured every last bit of my MP to cancel out as much damage as possible.

“Hahaha, now you are really on your last leg….!”

I let go of my shield and thrust out at Kalos with my sword that I had at the ready even before I activated my [Magic Guard].
The next moment, Kalos, who noticed my aim a bit too late, tried to pull back in a hurry.
I landed a hit on Kalos’s chest boosted by [Half-Dead Savage Dragon] and [Relentless Vigor].

“Guuuh….!”

Kalos flew back from the hit, then hunched forward with a hand pressing on his chest.
I immediately went after him again.

“You imbecile….I will recover from this in no time at all!”

Kalos howled with blood shot eyes.

“This is your time to die either way! The cooldown on [Hydra Break] is over!”

Kalos raised his sword towards the sky.
Reddish purple lights enveloped the sword.

“This is goodbye, Elma. You were indeed a fierce opponent. I will remember your name!”

The next moment, a single arrow lodged itself in Kalos’s shoulder.

“Such attacks are useless against me….,” Kalos chuckled scornfully.

Just then, the arrow shone with a bright white light.
The reddish purple light covering his sword disappeared.

“What’s going on? No way…..[Enchanted Arrow]!?”

Kalos went deathly pale.
His lips were trembling in fright.

“Was this the right time?!”

Celt asked with a shout.

With his bow in hand, he was supported by Mabel.

“Yeah, your timing couldn’t be any better!”

[Enchanted Arrow] is a Skill you get from the [Intermediate Archery] Skill Tree. It can be used to seal a spell into an arrow.
The spell used in this arrow was [Poison Protect].
It was the White Magic spell Mabel just recently acquired from her [Staff of Faith] Skill Tree at 【49】invested points.

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〈Poison Protect〉【Normal Skill】
After healing the target’s poisoned condition, it also protects the target from the same for a certain time.
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The important part is where it protects the target from getting poisoned again for a time.
This Skill is one of the few that can cure a Magic Swordsman equipped with a [Black Rope Sword Gehenna], making it a viable counter.

The [Hydra Break] can only be used while under an abnormal condition.
That is the reason why Kalos’s Skill fizzled out.

Originally, I did not want to involve Mabel and Celt in this Raid.
However, while reviewing the documents supplied by Hallein, the notion that Kalos might be responsible emerged. This likelihood increased upon verification with Hilde, though it also raised another potential concern.

The possibility that Kalos’s Skill Tree composition was the Poison Zombie Magic Swordsman, or something akin to that.
From what I managed to confirm until then, something like that was impossible according to this world’s common sense.

However, despite Kalos’s alias being the Black Flame Sword, the Magic Swordsman class doesn’t have any Skill that would coat the sword itself in black flames or light.
The closest it has are ones that cover the sword in red or reddish purple light and a mid range attack that releases black flames.
So I thought what if someone managed to see Kalos with his [Black Rope Sword Gehenna].

Therefore, to prepare for the worst case scenario, I invited Celt and Mabel to serve as a powerful counter to the Poison Zombie Magic Swordsman build. I even meddled in their own Skill Point distributions.

For safety reasons, I couldn’t even bring up the possibility of Kalos being the culprit, since he was the one leading the Raid.
As a result, I had failed to convey my true intentions to Luce and the others. Nevertheless, I deliberately gave subtly contradictory orders to them, so as to avoid arousing suspicion from Kalos.

We acted like Mabel’s [Poison Protect] did not exist, saving it for the perfect moment. By deliberately not mentioning Luce, who was also severely injured, I instructed Mabel to prioritize Celt, and had them overcome the drawback of [Poison Protect]’s small range by using it together with Celt’s [Enchanted Arrow].

“Shit…!”

In a panic, Kalos lowered the sword he raised to launch [Hydra Break] and tried to intercept my incoming attack.
However, I did not intend to let this chance slip through my fingers.
Deflecting his imperfect blocking attempt, I landed a hit on Kalos’s chest.

He flew back with great force from the impact.
His body shook violently as he took a few steps backwards, then he fell to his knees while holding his chest.

“Impossible….this can’t be. To think that I would fall to a bunch of no name, lower leveled adventurers….,” Kalos whispered in a state of despair.

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