Opportunity in the Game Becomes Reality Episode 250
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Opportunity in the Game Becomes Reality Episode 250
55. Expected Scenario (4)
The ducal palace shakes violently, and the very air screams as if gripped by terror.
The explosion and shock that just occurred are no mere accident.
"A part of the castle has been destroyed?"
A single point strike the castle wall was blasted outward by an impact generated from within.
This was a shock deliberately caused by someone.
In other words, it means we were attacked.
"Should I call this a coincidence?"
This happened right after I heard news of the Holy Son and Heavenly King's visit.
Naturally, I had no choice but to suspect those visitors.
Could the worst-case scenario have unfolded Lord Exceed, the reincarnation of Grand Duke Lucas, coming face-to-face with the Heavenly King and sparking a battle?
No, if that were the case, it wouldn't have ended with just a single burst of noise.
This is a warning.
I don't know the reason, but it's a warning aimed at me.
Whether the opponent is the Holy Son or the Heavenly King, this can only be seen as a provocation.
"Your Excellency?"
Count Elfried, reading the hostility rising on my face, wore a look of concern as if asking whether I truly intended to pick a fight with the visitors.
Faced with her sensible reaction, I deflected with a vague remark.
"I'll entrust the protection of my mother and younger sister to the two of you."
"Yes, understood."
"Then I'll go greet our guests."
And as I rose from my seat with a cold expression and began to walk, Arcia, who had somehow already been standing outside the door, followed behind me.
Leaving Gregory and Count Elfried's worried faces behind, I advanced toward the direction from which the explosion had come.
Given that both of my aides were people who rarely showed changes in expression, I could tell just how seriously they were taking this situation.
Perhaps it was only natural.
Setting aside the Holy Son, if the Heavenly King's appearance was real, this was the event of the century.
"Lately I've only been receiving respect and proper treatment it's been a while since I've dealt with someone this brazen."
"Are we going to fight?"
At my bitter muttering, Arcia asked about the possibility of battle, and I answered calmly.
"Judging by the situation, the odds seem high."
The Heavenly King is an existence on par with the Demon King.
Of course, just as descended Demon Kings have been stumbling around, there may be some stat reduction, but still, he should be stronger than a dragon.
At the very least, the Heavenly Tribe won't be stupid enough to hinder their own allies like the demon race does.
Yet even as I made my way toward such a Heavenly King, I wasn't particularly worried.
Arcia and I had far more experience fighting stronger beings than weaker ones, and we had several hidden cards besides.
"The master of the house arrives."
And a moment later.
I could see the Heavenly Tribe member standing like a tyrant among terrified, kneeling ladies-in-waiting, and the Holy Son trying his best to act composed.
"I wonder what business you have, barging into someone else's home with dirty feet."
The ducal palace reinforced again and again until I could pride myself that it was sturdier than most Heaven-Piercing Fortresses.
Yet the reception room where they stood had its ceiling and walls blown away, as if it had been bombed.
I let out a dry laugh at the sight of the charred reception room.
To a 9th-circle Mage, this kind of provocation is nothing more than a joke.
As I clapped my hands, the destroyed structure restored itself cleanly, as if time were flowing backward.
"I hear Rondel's civilization has advanced greatly. Is that why every bastard I meet is so insolent?"
"So picking a fight first and then calling the other side arrogant am I supposed to take that as a joke?"
Through the Myriad Mirror, the Heavenly Tribe member was unmistakably bearing the title of Heavenly King.
Her name was Heriel.
Even though his stats weren't shown in detail, I could tell he had taken a slight nerf.
Moreover, the reason he came to find me didn't seem immediately related to the Demon King, and his emotional state was a mix of 'displeasure and curiosity.'
Thanks to that, my words were unflinching.
"How dare you respond like this to the king of the Heavenly Tribe. Don't you want to live?"
"You all, get out."
I waved my hand, shooing out the kneeling ladies-in-waiting.
They scurried out as if fleeing, expressing their gratitude.
"How dare you leave without my permission."
The Heavenly King reached out toward them, but nothing happened thanks to the 9th-circle 'Absolute Shield' I had cast.
I spoke coldly to the Heavenly King who had tried to harm my people.
"If you want to be treated with respect, then act in a way deserving of it." [New Terms] No new terms.
Seeing me not backing down an inch, the Holy Son's face turned pitch black, and the Heavenly King let out a hollow laugh before spreading his wings wide and lifting his chin.
As if flaunting his might, a powerful aura spread in all directions, but Arcia and I whose status ailment resistance had been honed to the limit didn't even flinch.
"You seem to be mistaken. The Heavenly Tribe are not divine beings we must submit to and revere. They are merely creations woven by Sepia alongside us humans. So is there any reason to grovel after being attacked by such a foe?"
And as intense hostility surged from me, his hand shot out roughly toward me.
Arcia drew her sword and tried to strike his hand away.
But I stopped her, wanting to see what he would do, and the Heavenly King grabbed me by the collar and lifted me up.
I'm not exactly short I stand close to 180 centimeters.
But the opponent's height looked well over three meters, and thanks to that, I ended up dangling in midair.
"The Heavenly Tribe is the race of light chosen by Lady Sepia. Do you dare think you can show hostility toward the king of such a race and walk away unscathed?"
He phrased it politely, but his words, simply put, meant this.
'If you fight me, you die. Still want to go?'
He was asking whether I wanted to fight.
An ordinary person would have bowed their head to the Heavenly King's threat, but I wasn't that kind of person.
"Yes, I think I'll be just fine."
My words meant: shut up and bring it on.
"Hah..."
Why was I being so adamant?
Because I had something to hide.
I was protecting the Demon King and demon worshipers, after all.
At that, the Heavenly King pressed his face close to mine, expressionless, and said.
"Right, I know that face. The face of someone who doesn't know there's a sky above the sky, who thinks they're the best in the world."
Apparently, that was how I looked to him.
And then he grinned.
"Educating brats like that is also part of a Heavenly King's magnanimity, isn't it?"
When I shook my head at the word "education," he swung his arm wide and slammed me into the ground.
An impact that would have burst an ordinary person's body apart.
But I grabbed his arm and spun my body like a dancer.
-THWACK!
In the end, I didn't collide with the ground, and the one who took the hit was the Heavenly King, not me.
Of course, his chin that caught my foot was as hard as if I'd kicked a lump of iron, but he seemed not to have expected a kick, freezing in place.
"Isn't this blasphemy?"
He asked the Holy Son.
But the Holy Son couldn't answer, only sweating cold bullets.
I answered in the Holy Son's place.
"The Heavenly Tribe was cast out of Rondel along with the demon race anyway. If such beings try to attack Rondel, they're no different from the demon race that merely possesses divine power."
Politeness had vanished from my speech.
At the same time, mine and Arcia's attire changed.
Into full combat gear, that is.
Seeing me like that, Heriel the Heavenly King let out an unpleasant laugh.
No more words were needed.
It was the signal signaling the start of battle.
"W-wait a moment. Is there really a need to fight?"
For once, the Holy Son managed to say something sensible.
Certainly, from an ordinary person's perspective, fighting the Heavenly King seemed to have no upside.
But if you're on the side protecting the demon race, the story changes.
The demon race and the Heavenly Tribe cannot coexist under the same sky.
In other words, one side had to be dealt with. Naturally, if I had to choose between the demon race, which I could control, and the Heavenly Tribe, which I couldn't, I had no choice but to pick the demon race.
Hence, I provoked his nerves with a quarrelsome tone to establish a Justification/Cause for battle.
All to take down the Heavenly King before my eyes.
"The purpose of my visit here with Heriel the Heavenly King was for the compass "
I realized belatedly that their goal was a compass for tracking demons, but at this point, it didn't matter.
"Step aside."
I shoved the Holy Son aside and approached the Heavenly King.
* * *
How many minutes had passed since the battle began?
"Tch!"
The Heavenly King Heriel, who had been sneering to his heart's content up until Adrian and Arcia assumed their combat stances, no longer bore any trace of arrogance.
He had already figured out that his opponents were a 9th-circle Mage and a Grand Master of the 8th Circle.
That was enough power to maybe take on a single dragon.
But now that he actually faced them, the two's combat abilities seemed capable of easily overwhelming most dragons.
'No, individually they're inferior to a dragon. The problem is their teamwork.'
The way the two moved like a single organism was truly the ideal coordinated combat a fighting style that proved one plus one wasn't simply two, but could become three or four.
And what was even more irritating was
"How arrogant!"
that they were fighting in a way that wouldn't cause damage to the duchy right beneath their feet.
This meant his opponents were fighting while looking one step ahead of him.
-KWAANG!
The backlash from the deliberate collision between Arcia's Sword Aura and Adrian's Hellfire sent Heriel the Heavenly King tumbling roughly through the air.
But perhaps he'd intended to create distance from the start he showed no panic, spreading his four pairs of wings wide to regain his balance.
And above his gritted teeth, a small sun rose into the air.
-ZZZZING!
It wasn't just shaped like a sun.
It was small in size alone it carried an aura that evoked a true sun.
If it fell, the scale of destruction would easily surpass Meteor.
It was enough power to reshape the terrain of the duchy entirely.
But as if they already knew what attack pattern would come next, Adrian and Arcia had taken position with their backs to the sky rather than the duchy and to strike at the two of them, Heriel launched the small sun into the air.
-KWAAAAANG!
The miniature sun came screaming in at speeds that put fighter jets to shame.
Yet Adrian and Arcia didn't even glance at the attack as they dodged it with ease.
"Huh?"
That attack wasn't something you could avoid unless you were already prepared for it.
The attack range was far larger than it appeared to the eye, and it moved at near-light speed.
The two seemed to move a step ahead, as if they could see the future.
-KWAKWAKWANG!
-SWISH!
What followed was a relentless barrage of attacks from Adrian and Arcia.
A flurry of spell volleys and Sword Aura that became a single beam of light, targeting his back.
Though they couldn't land a decisive blow on Heriel, it was more than enough to instill a sense of crisis.
"Where do you think you're going!"
The Heavenly King Heriel used the wind pressure of his wings to blast the two away, but he couldn't shake the feeling of being trapped in a swamp.
How could he not, when the same pattern repeated itself over a dozen times?
-KAAANG!
-HUP!
But then
A different pattern emerged.
Arcia appeared before Heriel's eyes, sword in hand.
Judging that Adrian had begun using 9th-circle warp magic in earnest, he swung his sword to intercept Arcia but that attack was a fake.
The Arcia before his eyes was an illusion so exquisitely crafted it fooled even him, and the real attack was the 9th-circle ultimate spell 'Storm of Stardust' rising from beneath his feet.
A violent storm that painted the world in golden light became a massive beast and swallowed Heriel whole.
-CRACKLE!
Whirling star fragments and plasma phenomena striking like lightning bolts.
A 9th-circle offensive spell was on an entirely different level from lower-circle magic, both visually and in scale.
"Tch!"
Heriel defended against the golden storm engulfing his vision with wings coated in Divine power, but it wasn't a spell weak enough to be overcome by that alone.
To escape the crisis, he needed a far stronger defensive spell.
But just before he could deploy his defensive magic
-SWISH!
Four Sword Auras, which had been pretending to be star fragments within the golden storm, flew in precisely targeting his neck.
-KWAAAAANG!
Heriel barely managed to Cancel Out all the attacks using his defensive magic.
But a long gash carved across his cheek, and blood streamed down.
If he'd been even one step slower, it wouldn't have been his cheek that was cut it would have been his neck.
"Heh…."
He could no longer deny it.
The fact that he, who had been called a Heavenly King, was being pushed back by mere humans.
"Honestly, I'm surprised. I never imagined there'd be a human who could make me this flustered."