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

Chapter 273: Strongest Sage, Foresees Attacks

"Gotchaaaaaa!"

Just as I passed right below the spear, the man cast another magic on his spear.

But, it's too late.

The move magic he used in the beginning was something he had prepared beforehand. As such, its cast time was quick.

Compared to that, this magic was cast impromptu as a reaction against me dodging the spear.

Hence, I've got enough time to cast a counter magic.

"Mwu!?"

The man sounded confused when he saw his own spear.

As the spear's trajectory didn't curve out.

The reason is simple.

I've put a defensive magic on the 『Enemy's Spear』 to block magical interferences on it.

And the opening created from my dodge is enough to end this fight.

I swing my sword within the range.

An unavoidable strike aiming for the enemy's center of gravity.

"--Kuh!"

The man pulled back his spear in an attempt to defend his body.

This is exactly the timing I was waiting for.

I cast move magic on my sword which was going for the enemy's waist and changed its aim.

--My target is the enemy's arm.

His arm was wide open precisely because he was trying to defend his waist instead of dodging.

"Gaaaaah!"

The enemy's arm flew in the air as a pained scream reverberated.

My sword has cut off his arm.

The enemy moved away from me even while screaming in agony.

That he would still trying to calmly salvage the situation even after he got one arm cut off is a testament of an ancient magic combatant… The fact that he's lost one arm still remains though.

But the match is as good as over now.

I came out on top even when the enemy still had both arms.

Now that he's lost one arm needed to swing his spear, there's no way he can fight properly.

Or so I thought, but…

"It grew back!?"

Alma was shocked when she saw the enemy.

For some reason, the man's arm that had been cut off has regrown.

…I've never seen this phenomena even with recovery magic.

Regrowing arms are not an impossible feat like [Dead Revival], but there are better ways to do it.

"…It's a by-product of dead revival, ya see! Cool huh!"

The man shouted so while checking out his new arm.

It seems like Dead Revival has an additional limb restoration effect included.

Since I didn't sense anything like this on Grevil, this must be an original magic or something created by the guy who revived these [Warmongers].

I could sense a hint of fluctuation on the unnatural spell formula imprinted on the enemy when he regrew his arm.

I fix my sword stance in front of the man.

"The end result won't change even if you have both arms."

"Yer' certainly better than me alright! …But winning or losing is all about luck. Who knows, it might even be me who came out victorious!"

"…Unfortunately, that's not going to happen."

I closed in on the man as I said that.

The man thrust his spear while casting his magic in an attempt to kill me--however, an extremely simple magic I cast completely neutralized both his spear and magic.

Then a moment later, my sword has been thrust before his neck.

"How! How come you dodged my spear!"

"Your moves are too easy to read… You'd better put some effort into increasing your patterns if you ever get revived again."

The man's eyes were wide open.

He must have been shocked to see his spear that had taken so many lives got so easily nullified.

Of course I'd read his spear.

After all, he thrust his spear the same way he did in the beginning and even used the exact same move magic as an assist.

This man must have reached his current strength by polishing that same pattern in many battles.

It would have eventually been countered off if he kept fighting that way--but since this man killed all opponents he defeated, he never had to worry about that.

To the man, completely mastering one pattern made all other patterns redundant.

But that tactic is not applicable to opponents who have a wealth of experience under their belt.

They'd see through the fact that he only had one pattern by looking at the way he thrust his spear.

One's battle predisposition shows in the way they carry their weapon, the way they approach their opponent and also their line of sight as well as mana flows.

Once one failed their first attack against such an opponent--the only thing waiting for them is defeat.