Manowa

『This is a complete monster.』

Jin Bahar looked at the mass of meat in front of him and muttered.

『Well, I'm the same, though.』

His skeletal jaw rattled as he laughed.

In front of Jin Bahar was the mass of meat Marie, whose appearance no longer showed any hint of a human form. She used the insect legs growing from her entire body to move at high speeds, and a moment after she used bat wings to fly into the sky, Jin Bahar had to dodge as a huge dragon-like mouth came out of her groin and tried to eat him.

「Bone-chan, cuuuuuuute!」

Then something transparent filled with the colors of the rainbow popped out of Marie's stomach and emitted light.

『UooO!』

In response, Jin Bahar swung Gungnir, which was shrouded in Fighting Spirit, to ward off that light. That warded off light gouged out the ground behind Jin Bahar, sending clouds of dust into the air.

(I sense Louise-dono's magical power. She absorbed Judgement Bolt and is using it as a weapon?)

Jin Bahar thought while running. As countless flashes of light were fired at him, Jin Bahar could only grasp their trajectories through her firing motions as he continuously wielded Gungnir. All the rays were repelled, raising clouds of dust in the surroundings, but Jin Bahar never stopped running.

Only Light attribute energy waves were being fired at him. Since the Lightning energy that Judgment Bolt had contained had been separated and sent into the ground, Marie's attacks only contained the Light attribute. If lightning had been mixed into those attacks, Jin Bahar would have received electric shocks, which would have likely weakened his movements, but since there was only Light, Jin Bahar was able to manage.

『Take this!』

Then Jin Bahar successfully approached the mass of meat Marie and pierced the rainbow-colored object that had been emitting those rays of light.

『An explosive discharge!?』

「Light, pretty.」

Then, the energy accumulated inside was released on the spot and exploded.

「GyuBuWaAAAAA」

Inside the explosion, the mass of meat Marie was writhing in pain. Damage at point-blank range. There was no way it would be small. On the other hand, Jin Bahar was unharmed. Just like when he once slipped through Jinrai's technique『Thunder Run』, he had grasped the wavelength of the flashes of light he had been receiving until a moment ago and used the Bahar style secret technique『All Things in Creation』to nullify it.

『Drop dead!』

Then Fighting Spirit converged on Jin Bahar's Gungnir, and wind whirled. Unlike the technique『Thunder God Spear』that emphasized maximal piercing power at a single point, this wind attribute spear technique『Wind God Spear』was used for attacking in an area. A vestige of it remained in the Barnes style secret technique『Great Earthquake』, but it was considered one of the lost techniques of Hyvern spearmanship. When Jin Bahar tried to fire it,

『Please dodge!』

Tiara's voice let Jin Bahar notice the sign of something approaching him from behind.

(Tch, I made a mistake?)

He was probably too focused on his fight against the mass of meat Marie. The white bear Gora had come. Tiara's Flame Knights and Shippuu were supposed to be handling him, but he had broken through their defense net and was charging at Jin Bahar. In the current situation, he would be directly hit. Thinking so, Jin Bahar cursed his lack of skill...

However, Jin Bahar wasn't blown away.

『What!?』

Jin Bahar, who had no eyes, made a movement as if he were opening his eyes wide in surprise. The cause was the silver-haired warrior standing in front of him who had stopped the white bear Gora.

「Hehe, it looks like I accidentally absorbed the『Echo Shield Medal』together with the shield.」

『Send him flying, myself!』

There was an invisible defense field formed in front of the silver-haired warrior, which had stopped the white bear Gora. The silver-haired warrior immediately pushed out his spear, and the white bear Gora was blown away.

「Guruuga」

However, the white bear Gora spun his giant body while he was still in the air and landed on the ground. He had fearsome body movements, but with the addition of attacks from Shippuu and the Flame Knights, his movements were blocked. Then Jin Bahar looked at the warrior in astonishment.

『You are... Lyle... right?』

In that place was his own current disciple and Jinrai's grandson. His outward appearance and atmosphere were different from what Jin Bahar knew, but from his facial expression, Jin Bahar instantly knew that he was Lyle.

「Master Jin, it looks like I caused you worry as well.」

Lyle called out to Jin Bahar.

『Don't mention it; the most important thing is that you lived.』

Jin Bahar said and laughed with a rattling noise.

『I'd like to ask how you're alive and about that appearance, but I'll save that for later.』

Then Jin Bahar turned his gaze to his enemy. A squid-like monster fell out of her loosened stomach. That looked to be the true identity of the thing that let her absorb Judgement Bolt earlier and attack with flashes of light.

「Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, wasteful.」

So saying, Marie started swallowing up the fallen squid monster again. During that time, Jin Bahar spoke to Lyle.

『Can I leave that beast to you?』

Jin Bahar sensed a strong power welling up from Lyle's entire body. Then Lyle gave him a thumbs up and nodded.

「Leave it to me. I'm invincible now!」

『Don't get too cocky.』

After Lyle's words, Jin Bahar shrugged and looked at the mass of meat Marie. Her appearance as she savored the squid was ugliness itself.

Then both started running back to back.

Jin Bahar ran towards the mass of meat Marie while Lyle dashed towards the white bear Gora.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

「GURUuuUUU」

Suddenly blocked by an invisible wall.

The moment he thought so, the polar bear Gora was blown away.

Despite having a huge body, the white bear Gora's movements were nimble. After he made a full revolution in mid-air and landed on the ground, the surrounding enemies made of flame rushed at him, and he swung both his arms to try and send the Flame Knights and the cat Shippuu flying.

「Na!」『KyaAA』

Shippuu easily avoided the polar bear Gora's attack with agile steps, but the Flame Knights couldn't do so; even though they blocked with their greatshields, they weren't able to stop the attack, and seven Flame Knights were blown away. Then, to take advantage of the opening from the bear swinging both his arms, the Flame Power dove from the skies.

For Gora, the Flame Power in the air was the most difficult among these foes. He was fed up with the stinging attacks that came every time he left an opening. While the power of the Flame Power's Flame Lance was troublesome, its attacks still only caused an amount of damage that could be mended immediately, so that wasn't strange.

Thinking that it wasn't to the same degree as Lyle's attack earlier, the white bear Gora purposely let himself get hit by the Flame Power's Flame Lance and immediately slammed it against the ground.

Just after, he tried to finish it off, but he was thwarted. By the warrior he hadn't seen until a moment ago. Gora back-stepped away to dodge the approaching spear and put some distance between them.

The one who hindered Gora was a man with silver hair, dark skin, and red eyes.

Gora felt like he resembled the man who had blown off his own head, Lyle, but before his eyes was a distorted existence like a dragon had been compressed into a humanoid figure. Gora immediately judged that he was completely different from that man and shook off the thought.

『Lyle!』

「Yo, Tiara. It looks like I made you worry as well.」

Lyle, who was acknowledged as a different person, approached the Flame Power and exchanged words while holding his spear at the ready. The white bear Gora grasped his claw demi-gauntlets and assumed a stance in response. An unknown enemy. On top of that, Gora's wild instinct was sounding a warning against Lyle.

「I'll take care of this guy. Please assist Jin-san. Shippuu, you too.」

『I've heard the story, but will you be okay?』

Tiara's question was natural. A short while ago, Lyle died once from being defeated by the polar bear Gora in front of them. But Lyle nodded. He laughed and replied「No problem.」

『Jeez, please don't be rash. I never want to feel like that ever again.』

「Yeah, sorry. Ah, I've been constantly apologizing since a while ago.」

「Naago.」

「Shippuu too. Please.」

Shippuu nodded after Lyle's words. It was his nephew's request. You only have to ask... it was unclear if Shippuu thought something like that.

Then, the Flame Knights and Shippuu left that place and headed towards the mass of meat Marie. Gora silently watched them.

With the strength of the pressure he felt from Lyle, he couldn't thoughtlessly move. By nature, wild beast-type monsters tended to feel fear towards dragons. The polar bear Gora was suppressing it, but he also felt it. Gora probably felt more intimidation from Lyle than he properly should have.

On top of that, Gora was influenced from needing to be shielded by the mass of meat a short while ago. Therefore, he was thinking that he wouldn't push himself and instead confront only Lyle.

「Now then, this is the second round. I'll win this time!」

『Make this the final round, myself.』

As Lyle conversed with Gieve, his spear was turned toward Gora, and he took a step forward.

Gora thought he felt the sign of someone from that spear. Even though there was only one person before his eyes, Gora felt like there was something overlapping him.

As a matter of fact, Gora had trained to understand people's words to some extent. And Lyle in front of him seemed to be saying that he would have a rematch with Gora, but Gora had no memory of that.

In Gora's perception, the Lyle he defeated earlier and the Lyle before his eyes couldn't be the same. But Gora didn't care. From watching the mass of meat and his master, Gora understood that human beings were creatures that spoke mysterious things from the start. The dragon warrior in front of him may not be human, but that didn't matter to Gora.

The important thing was to kill and eat strong beings.

Gora was a monster called a Majin Bear, which was one the high level monsters that inhabited the north, and due to a mutation, his intelligence was higher than normal. He was tamed by Madoru and became a member of the Borgiana Clowns, but he hadn't lost his instincts as a monster.

「GURURURUUUuuU」

And while growling, Gora sprang at Lyle.

Immediately after Lyle put himself on guard in response, an invisible wall suddenly appeared in front of him, blocking Gora's steps.

「Heh, as long as I block his charges, he can't do anything to me.」

Lyle shouted, but for Gora, that was a laughing matter. Using the claws extending from his demi gauntlets, Gora cut an X-mark in the invisible wall.

「What!?」

Lyle's expression was filled with surprise. However, the claws extending from Gora's demi gauntlet were Magic Killing Claws made from the same material as Naoki's Magic Killing Sword. They were weapons that could easily cut apart anything formed of magical power.

Then Gora charged at the dragon warrior.

But rather than simply launching an attack from instinct, Gora unleashed a spinning kick. Lyle's response to that sudden『kicking technique』was slow. And Lyle was blown away.

However, the white bear Gora felt that something about the reaction to his kick was unnatural. The armor felt like dragon scale, and the contents had a toughness that was unbelievable for a human.

Gora had a puzzled expression, but seeing Lyle's figure in the air, he broke into a run. Gora judged that he hadn't caused much damage. In that case, he needed to strike even more.

「Tch, why is a bear using a spinning kick?」

Lyle shouted, but he used Divine Protection of Wind to control his stance in the air and landed on the ground without receiving the shock of a crash. At that time, Gora sprang at him. Lyle avoided the claws swinging down from above and pierced Gora's chest with his spear.

「GUuuuOOOOOOO」

The white bear Gora screamed at the pain.

『Become charcoal from the inside, beast.』

The flames of Dragon Breath were spit out from his spear.

The white bear Gora screamed at that attack and swung both hands down, but they were blocked by an invisible wall. It was the power of the『Echo Shield Medal』Lyle absorbed together with the dragon bone shield. The tips of his claws could have torn through, but this time, Gora had swung his fists down to smash Lyle at point-blank range. Therefore, it could be blocked.

While the defensive field made of sound waves was blocking Gora's arms, Lyle continued burning the white bear Gora as he cut through up to his right shoulder, and as soon as the defensive field disappeared, he put some distance between them. Gora's right shoulder couldn't move, so he had only swung his left arm, but Lyle was already gone.

「Did I do it!?」

『...... I wonder? It looks unlikely.』

Contrary to Lyle's words, the reaction of the spear Gieve was cautious. And just like Gieve said, the wounds of the white bear Gora started closing before their eyes.

「Hey, isn't that cheating?」

Lyle involuntarily muttered in amazement. In the first place, it normally should have been settled when Lyle crushed his head in exchange for his own life. However, the white bear's regenerative power showed no signs of weakening even now.

「What should I do?」

『I don't know. However, the fact that he's still regenerating even after his Core was burned away means there's probably an external supply of power.』

After those words, Lyle looked at the red moon in the sky. Now that Lyle had Dragon Eyes, he could see something like a line connecting it to the white bear Gora. It was a connection made by a spell. It would be difficult to destroy it.

「Well, I'll just have to do something about it.」

And Lyle pondered.

His current physical specs were markedly better than before. His offensive power, defensive power, and stamina had all increased. Furthermore, he could freely use the power he had absorbed from the『Echo Shield Medal』, and with Divine Protection of Wind, he could accelerate quickly. Being able to read the flow of power with his Dragon Eyes should also be useful.

And above all, his dragon fang spear's evolution into『Gieve's Spear』was major. The flames of Dragon Breath that could be emitted from between the two-pronged blades shaped in an imitation of a dragon's head had turned it into a terrifying weapon capable of burning the insides of a pierced opponent.

(Even still, I don't feel like I can beat grandfather or Yumika)

Lyle complained in his mind. Against Jin Bahar or Naoki, he felt like he had good odds if he bulldozed through with his full power, but a vision of winning against Jinrai or Yumika didn't come to mind. He was thoroughly made to realize that there was always someone stronger in the world.

(Well, that's for later. The problem is that power of regeneration.)

『Myself. Rather, why not burn him away until there's nothing left?』

Gieve proposed from the spear.

「Is that my only option? As I am now, my output is insufficient, though.」

Lyle recalled his body turning red shortly before his death. The『Red Body Transformation』that covered one's body in Fighting Spirit to raise their physical ability. If I use Dragon Spirit instead of Fighting Spirit now, then... Lyle thought and looked at the white bear Gora.

『It won't last long.』

Gieve, who understood Lyle's thoughts, said that, and while he knitted his brows, he grinned. Fangs were protruding from his mouth.

「You're the one who said to counterattack, right? Now is the time.」

『Well, it's something I said. I have no intention of stopping.』

Then, a red and black aura emerged from Lyle and covered his entire body.

The white bear Gora sensed the threat and put himself on guard. The regeneration of his shoulder hadn't finished yet, but with the pressure being emitted at him from the front, now wasn't the time to worry about that.

Then Lyle and the white bear Gora started running towards each other.

「UooOOOOO!!」

「GURUooOOO!!」

Lyle and Gora's cries echoed at the same time, and as soon as they grew close, Gora's right hand swung down toward Lyle,

「Let's show him the power of a dragon, Gieeeve!!」

And he blocked with his own left arm. The red-black Dragon Spirit concentrated there, and Lyle's left foot sank into the ground. But Lyle blocked that arm. Gora made a surprised expression in response, but this time he raised his left arm and immediately swung down.

「Raa!!」

Lyle blocked it『with his right arm』this time. His right foot also sank into the ground. However, Lyle didn't collapse. And with both arms blocked, Lyle's spear,

「Fuhahe!」

Held in his mouth, pierced Gora's throat. A dragon's jaw was strong.

「Guru!?」

Then, a scream leaked from Gora, and the flames of Dragon Breath were emitted from Gieve's Spear. Lyle was covered with Dragon Spirit by a technique called『Dragon Garment』, and pouring an enormous amount of Dragon Spirit into Gieve's Spear,

「GURUuoAAAAAAAAAAA」

He burned away the white bear Gora. Then, feeling the power of Gora's arms weakening, Lyle moved his arms away from Gora and held Gieve's spear with both hands to squeeze out more power.

「Drop deadddddddddd!!」

And Lyle's full power formed a pillar of flame in that place that rose into the heavens. The entirety of the white bear Gora was burning away. Scorched by the blazing prison of flame, even his bones started disappearing.

And when Lyle's flame stopped, nothing remained in that place.

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Summoning Fighter

Title: Ogre Killer, Dragon Slayer, High Beast Summoner, Rea King, Liberator, Guardian

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Draghorn Tonfa x2, Dragon Eating Ogre Army Armor (True), Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, Heroic Spirit Summoning Ring, Circlet of Wisdom, Aim Bracelet, White Magic Accumulator (Revised) ×2, Rainbow Necklace, Rainbow Dragon Ring, Angel Bracelet

Level : 40

Health: 156+20

Magic Power: 378+520

Strength: 81+45

Agility: 83+39

Endurance: 45+20

Wisdom : 75

Dexterity : 53

Spell : 『Fly』『Torch』『Fire』『Heal』『Firestorm』『Healer Ray』『High Heal』『Golden Dusk「Dragon Exclusive」』『Mirror Shield』『Rabbit Speed』『Flare Mirage』

Skill : 『Kick Devil』『Kick Decapitation Wave』『Warrior's Memory: Lv2』『Night Vision』『Crushing Blow』『Dog's Sense of Smell: Lv2』『Golem Maker: Lv4』『Aegis Shield』『Fire Principle: Third Chapter』『Healing Principle: Fourth Chapter』『Air Jump: Lv2』『Killing Leg: Lv3』『Fear Voice』『Invisible』『Tiger Eye』『Wall Walking』『Intuition: Lv2』『Cheat Death』『Nimble』『Charge』『Material Shield: Lv2』『Information Link: Lv2』『Optical Camouflage』『High Dash』『Bloodsucking Blade』『Dragonization: Lv3「Dragon」』『Regenerate』『Soul Breaking Blade』『Stealthy Hand Placement』『Thunder Chariot: Lv2』『Sturdier Teeth: Lv2「Dragon」』『Crystallization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Devil King's Intimidation』『Stone Minotaur: Lv2』『Mega Beam: Lv2』『Space Expansion』『Pseudo-Silver Creation』『Poison Claw』『Fireball「Dragon」』『Cuticle「Dragon」』『Arms Creation: Black Flame』『Ingredient Connoisseur: Lv3』『Dragon Pheromone「Dragon」』『Boost』『Monkey's Strong Arm』『Two-sword Style』『Boobies Plus』『Living Armor』『Alarm』『Six-sword Style』『Mental Attack Complete Protection』『Spider Web』『Wire Cutter』『Flexible』『Magic Power Absorption』『Red Body Transformation』『Friendship Tag-team』

Naoki: 「Not yet, Aneki? For some reason, I have a very unpleasant premonition.」

Kazane: 「Me too. A tremendously bad feeling...」