Racer set the unconscious Angel down to the side, leaning her against a tree in the garden.
She groaned, her eyes fluttering open.
She looked up at him weakly and whispered, "Why did you take so long? I almost died."
Racer, who hated hearing the word "slow" more than anything in the world, frowned in displeasure behind his sunglasses.
"I came as soon as I saw the signal flare. I wasn't slow. You're just too weak to hold out until I arrived."
Angel glared at him but didn't argue.
She stared warily at Ankh, who was casually dusting off his hands, and warned him.
"Be careful. Both the 'Fairy Grim Reaper' and 'Iron Rock' Jura are here. They are monsters. It's better to retreat for now."
"Damn it... I don't run from a fight," Racer scoffed.
Meanwhile, Gray, who had been knocked to the ground by Racer's sneak attack earlier, got back up.
He wiped blood from his lip.
Furious, he clenched one hand into a fist and slammed it into his palm.
An ice-blue magic circle appeared instantly.
A biting chill condensed in the air, forming a massive warhammer above Racer's head that came crashing down!
"Ice-Make: Warhammer!"
"Boom—"
The enormous ice hammer descended, once again shattering the poor floor of Guild Master Bob's villa and unleashing a gust of bone-chilling wind.
But when the ice cleared... no one was there.
"Having fast Creation Magic is a good thing... Too bad it's still not faster than me!"
Racer's voice, cold as death, sounded from directly behind Gray's head.
Startled, Gray instantly reacted.
He created blades on his arms and elbows.
"Ice-Make: Lance!"
He slashed backward without hesitation.
Swish.
But he only cut through empty air.
Lyon, also seeking revenge for the kick, activated his Creation Magic as well.
"Ice-Make: Eagle!"
However, his Dynamic Ice-Make birds were just like Gray's attacks—unable to even graze the hem of Racer's clothing. He was a blur.
Racer ran triumphantly through the hall, a yellow streak of light.
He leisurely observed the tense expressions of everyone present as if they were moving in slow motion.
He did possess speed-enhancing magic, but it wasn't enough to make him like an invisible lightning bolt to high-level mages.
Speed magic was quite common, such as the "High Speed" magic used by Jet of the Fairy Tail guild.
What Racer took the most pride in and excelled at was his unique "Slowing Magic" (Body Sense Magic).
With him as the center, everyone's perception of time within a certain range would become extremely distorted.
Their sense of speed would become dull, making everything appear incredibly fast to them, while they moved slowly to him.
Combined with his mastery of acceleration gear and magic, Racer had always been unbeatable in terms of "speed."
"Too slow! Too slow!"
Racer laughed arrogantly, thinking of ambushing someone else.
He quickly dashed toward the person closest to him—the one standing calmly in the center.
So what if he's the "Fairy Grim Reaper"? Let me show you the power of the Oración Seis!
Racer accelerated.
Just as Racer was about to throw a punch at Ankh's exposed back, his gaze inadvertently swept across the person's face.
His entire body froze mid-action.
Ankh had turned his head.
He was squinting, his crimson eyes silently fixed on Racer.
His gaze was unwavering, tracking Racer's high-speed movement perfectly as if locked on by a missile system.
Racer swallowed hard.
'Is it a coincidence?'
He tentatively took a few quick steps to the left.
Ankh's eyes immediately followed and focused.
He moved again to the right.
The eyes followed again.
...
Something's wrong.
Racer gasped, feeling his back drenched in cold sweat.
'He can see me?!'
But after a moment's thought, he reasoned that perhaps Ankh just had excellent dynamic vision and might not be able to keep up physically.
'I'm still faster!'
Gritting his teeth, Racer extended his hand and threw another punch!
"Journey to Hell." Ankh softly uttered the words.
VWOOM.
An inexplicable, crushing gravitational force enveloped him from head to toe.
It finally completely destroyed the remaining floor tiles laid by Master Bob.
A section of the ground collapsed instantly into a crater.
Soil compressed downward by the gravity.
And one unlucky fool who had just tried to throw a punch was crushed beneath it.
"Gah!"
Racer was pinned to the floor of the pit, unable to lift a finger.
"Sorry," Ankh said, looking down into the hole. "Although I'm not afraid of fists, I'd still prefer not to get hit by you.... It hurt you know."
Ankh rubbed his eyes and smiled at Racer in the dark, deep pit.
'Hmm,' Ankh analyzed internally.
'Can this kind of magic also train strength and reaction speed?... I almost didn't see him earlier, and my body didn't keep up perfectly.'
'Not bad.'
'Body Sense Magic is quite useful.'
'If paired with a more powerful acceleration-type magic, it would be even better—weakening enemies while strengthening ourselves.'
'There's significant room for improvement, though his personality is somewhat problematic—too arrogant.'
'For now, I'll give him an eight out of ten, reserving two points for future potential realization and personality growth.'
Angel, watching from the sidelines, saw Racer—who had been boasting earlier—get captured by the enemy in a pit after running just two laps like an athlete.
She couldn't help shouting.
"Racer! Get up!"
Ankh glanced at her.
'Seven points for you,' he evaluated.
'Neither strength nor potential is impressive, and intelligence/personality is lacking... but plus one point for good looks.'
'No issue there..... she's useful for PR.'
Pinned at the bottom of the deep pit, Racer struggled.
He channeled his Magic Power and roared, "Death GP!"
Vroom! Vroom!
Just as everyone froze and became spectators once again, the roar of engines came from outside.
Dozens of unmanned magical motorbikes charged toward the crowd from the forest like a stampede of wild horses.
"Dodge!"
Jura shouted while simultaneously casting his defensive magic again.
"Rock Magic: Iron Rock Wall!"
Dozens of stone pillars shot skyward, attempting to smash the motorcycles and block their path.
But after a flash of intense light, Jura's rock magic—known for being hard as steel—suddenly softened.
Splorch.
The originally solid rocks turned into pools of mud.
Jura's attack against the motorcycle swarm vanished into nothingness.
"What?!" Jura gasped. "My earth turned... to sludge?"
With a grave expression, Jura had to temporarily leap away to avoid the charging GP bikes.
Ankh likewise temporarily released the unlucky fellow at the pit bottom to avoid the explosion and retreated to the second floor with the others.
Boom! Boom!
After the bike swarm roared past and exploded, Racer hurriedly jumped out of the pit, bruised and battered.
He fled the scene to regroup.
"How pathetic, Angel, Racer."
A deep, gloomy voice suddenly rang out from the forest edge, accompanied by the sound of a staff striking the ground.
Tap. Tap.
Four new figures appeared from the shadows.
The leader was tall, wearing an open-chested coat with dark skin and gray-white hair swept back.
He held a skull staff wrapped with straw rings. Brain.
The figure to his left was even more massive and taller, with a large belly, dressed in church-style worship garments, holding a book.
His face was shaped like a blocky prism.
Hoteye.
The figure to his right had spiky red short hair, upturned eyes like Natsu's.
He wore a black shirt with a white stand-collar coat and red pants—looking quite trendy—with an arrogant expression on his face.
Cobra.
A thick, long purple snake was coiled around his back, its head currently being stroked by this non-mainstream individual.
Another nearly unnoticeable person hid behind the three.
He wore a sleeveless top and sat cross-legged on a flying carpet with his lowered head.
He had black hair tied in a small braid, dark eyeshadow, skull earrings, and purple lips—this outfit looking even more outrageous than the upturned-eyed guy's.
Midnight.
Cobra, the snake-handler, looked at the disheveled pair (Angel and Racer) and couldn't resist mocking them.
"You made such a mess dealing with a few people from the light guilds? I can hear your fear."
Angel glared at him irritably and retorted defiantly. "There are so many of them! Why don't you try dealing with them yourself!"
Racer brushed the mud off his clothes, trying to suppress the internal injuries nearly caused by the gravity pressure earlier.
He said with feigned calm: "They're difficult to handle together. It's best to separate them first."
The leader, Brain, looked at the prepared Light Alliance forces gathered at the villa.
He revealed a mocking smile.
"Then let them experience how terrifying the things created by their own guilds can be!"
Brain raised his staff.
"Dark Rondo!"
A sinister surge of magic power emerged as a black beam shot straight into the sky.
ZWOOM!
Within mere seconds, a colossal object suddenly appeared in the sky, blocking all sunlight above the allied forces!
---------
Read 40 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator