Dual Cultivation

TL Note: The chapters were moved a day later for this week due to me being a bit too busy. Because of that I won’t be able to post the extra chapter today either, so I’ll be posting the extra chapter these coming days before I leave for my trip. if you haven’t seen my tweet, I’ll be gone from Friday to Sunday, so no chapter then.

VOLUME 4 CHAPTER 13 MATCH (LAST PART)

After losing their two vanguards, only the three rear guards were left. The girls had no chance of winning in a melee, but…

“We haven’t lost yet!” [Miyabi]

“We’ll fight until the end! Elia!” [Michelle]

“I-I got it!” [Elia]

Elia was feeling bad because she lost her focus, allowing Ryouma to break through, and defeat their two vanguards. But the other remaining two girls brought her back into the match.

The situation was grim, but the girls hadn’t lost their will to fight just yet. Seeing that, Ryouma smiled.

(Right, right… It’d be disappointing if you were to give up here)

As Ryouma was about to engage the three, Michelle and Miyabi’s voice resounded.

“’Wind Cutter’!” [Michelle]

“’Flame Bomb’!” [Miyabi]

A blade of wind and a ball of exploding flame shot at Ryouma.

“‘Earth Wall’ ‘Hardening’” [Ryouma]

Ryouma erected a wall of earth, blocking the wind of blade. And with the wall reinforced, he was also able to block against the explosion of the Flame Bomb.

Seeing that Ryouma was hidden behind the wall, the three girls decided to back off to make some distance. In pursuit, Ryouma jumped out from behind the wall.

“One more time! ‘Flame Bomb’!” [Miyabi]

Miyabi shot a ball of flame against Ryouma who was chasing after them, but Ryouma leapt to his left, avoiding the blast radius.

“‘Earth Needle’” [Michelle]

Michelle aimed for the moment right after Ryouma dodged, and she fired needles of stones from the ground toward Ryouma. But Ryouma only cut those down with his katana.

As the distance between them gradually shortened, Elia, who still had plenty of magic power to spare, began to release her magic power. With the expression on her face serious, she seemed to be completely absorbed in her magic. Sweat even seemed to trickle down her face.

(Telekinesis again? This time, before you cast it, I’ll…)

Ryouma filled his legs with strength, but just as he was about to try and close the distance in one leap, he was intercepted.

“We won’t let you––!“ [Michelle]

“Get any further than this! [Miyabi]

Michelle and Miyabi who were both standing beside Elia, walked a few steps forward, and took out four wooden plates about the size of a telephone card from their bosom, and threw them. The two thrown by Miyabi dodged Ryouma, falling behind him, while Michelle’s fell on the ground right in front of him.

“Magic power… Magic tools?” [Ryouma]

Having felt magic power from those plates, Ryouma stopped moving. The four plates that fell on the ground began to shine red and brown. Then the two plates that fell in front of him changed the surrounding area, about a meter from where the plates were, into a pitfall. The two plates behind him shot out of balls of flame, creating a sound resembling that of firecrackers. But that’s all they did.

From the strength of those fire balls and from the magic power, Ryouma immediately concluded that they were no danger to him. However, during the opening made by those plates, Elia was finally able to make her move.

“I’m going. ‘Fire Storm’!!” [Elia]

The fire magic she casted was the advanced fire attribute magic, ‘Fire Storm’.

Although it was much smaller compared to her grandfather, Rheinbach, who was an expert at fire magic, it was still big enough to swallow about four or five people within the blaze of its flames. As the vortex of fire began to scatter its heat into the surrounding area, it tried to swallow Ryouma into it.

“So you’re now able to use advanced magic. Although it seems you’re still not used to it. ‘Blizzard’” [Ryouma]

As Ryouma worded his thoughts upon seeing Elia cast that vortex of flame, he casted a slightly weaker ‘Blizzard’.

Fire Storm is a vortex of flame, while Blizzard is a ferocious snowstorm. Beads of ice and a chill cold enough to freeze one’s body clashed with that vortex of flame. In less than a few seconds, nothing but mist remained of the two magic.

The three girls immediately tried to cast another set of magic, but Ryouma didn’t give them a chance to.

“’Teleport’” [Ryouma]

Miyabi and Michelle were guarding the front, so Ryouma used his dimension magic to teleport right behind Elia.

“Kyau!?”

As soon as he teleported, Ryouma lightly hit Elia with the back of his katana. It was only after getting hit that Elia finally realized that Ryouma was there behind her. With no methods of escape, she helplessly received the brunt of Ryouma’s attack.

It was only because of Elia’s yelp upon being hit that the other two girls who were standing ahead noticed Ryouma.

But by the time they noticed him, Ryouma had already passed by Elia’s left flank, and was in the middle of attacking Michelle. The turn of events was just too sudden. Michelle couldn’t react at all.

“I’m not gonna let you!” [Miyabi]

Miyabi was able to react a little faster than Michelle, and she intercepted Ryouma. But the most she was able to do was ram her body against Michelle to push her out of the way, resulting in her getting hit by the katana instead.

Moreover, because she suddenly jumped in, she unfortunately took the blade to her face… Ryouma immediately lessened the strength, but her face ended up hurting quite a bit.

Anxious, Ryouma used his Mega Heal on Miyabi as he lightly hit the back of her head with the back of his katana. Right after, Miyabi was declared defeated, and treatment of her injuries began. She only had some bruises and a nose bleed, so her wounds should heal quickly.

After that, Elia and Miyabi were made to withdraw by Sebasu.

Ryouma looked at Michelle who had been pushed out of the way by Miyabi. Michelle came over to talk to Ryouma. No, rather than talk, it would be more apt to say that she voiced out her impressions of the match.

“As expected, you’re really strong. You were fighting five of us, and yet now, the only one left is me.” [Michelle]

“It’s because I’m an adventurer. I wouldn’t be able to do my job if I weren’t strong.” [Ryouma]

“Well that’s true.” [Michelle]

Michelle’s unenthusiastic conduct might have looked like she had already admitted defeated, but Ryouma thought different.

(Looks like she’s not going to accept her lost just yet… Now, just what is she scheming I wonder…)

As Ryouma thought that, he spoke a few words to Michelle.

“Will you surrender?” [Ryouma]

“Nope. If I were to surrender here, the other four will get mad at me. But I don’t think I’ll be able to win alone against Ryouma. I don’t have a plan either. So…” [Michelle]

As she finished saying that, she took out four more plates like the ones she took out before out of her robe. She filled those with magic power, and threw them against Ryouma.

“There’s no other way than to fight and have an honorable defeat!” [Michelle]

(So she’s made up her mind.)

One of the plates that were thrown caused a small explosion in midair, while the other three made sounds resembling firecrackers just like the ones from before.

Ryouma was wary of the plates as he had seen them used just a while ago, but…

“’Rock Bullet’!” [Ryouma]

As he had noticed that magic formations had been drawn over the surface of the plates, Ryouma clad his katana in ki before the plates could even activate, and he struck them all down. Because of that the plates couldn’t show their strength, and they turned into nothing but mere wooden plates.

These cards are the one of the fruits of her research in magic formation. She created these things to be useable in combat, so they’re made out of wood, and designed such that they’d be easy to throw. One can activate these things by filling them magic power, and the resulting effect depends on the magic formation drawn.

But that’s only when the magic formation is safe. If the magic formation is broken before it can activate, then the magic power can only scatter away and vanish. The knowledge Ryouma got from the documents he inherited from his grandmother somehow proved useful today.

But it seems that Michelle predicted that Ryouma would be able to see through the weakness of her plates as she didn’t seem to be bothered in the slightest. As Ryouma drew closer, she threw more of her wooden plates. Of course, it was dealt with by Ryouma. But as Ryouma neared enough to reach Michelle with his katana, Michelle did something unexpected.

“’Paralyze Mist’” [Michelle]

Michelle calmly chanted those words as she summoned a paralyzing mist with poison magic.

Ryouma held his breath, and just in case, he chantlessly casted the antidote magic, ‘Antidote’ to counteract the poison magic. He also used the preventive magic, ‘Vaccine’. After that, he couldn’t help but be surprised at the sudden turn of events as he muttered within his thoughts to himself.

“To think she would actually go this far…” [Ryouma]

The moment the poison mist covered Ryouma, it also covered Michelle herself.

(I did think she would fight to the end, but to think she would actually commit suicide. At most maybe a simultaneous hit, but I would never do something like this even though I have poison resistance…)

Normally, you’d use magic in a way that it wouldn’t hurt you. But Michelle used herself as a decoy, and created a poison mist while fully knowing she’d get caught up in it. As a result, she was able to successfully enshroud Ryouma within the poison mist.

“’Storm’” [Ryouma]

Ryouma immediately casted an intermediate wind magic, and blew the poison mist up into the sky. When the mist had cleared up, Michelle, having inhaled the poison mist she created, fell over.

“With this you won’t be able to fight anymore.” [Ryouma]

“R…ight…” [MIchelle]

Michelle spoke when the referee, Sebasu, came over to confirm the situation, but because of the poison, she was visibly weak.

“The winner of this duel is Ryouma-sama!” [Sebasu]

The fallen Michelle, and Ryouma who stood up on his own two legs, still able to move. The victor was clear as day, but Sebasu still declared the results in a loud voice. Upon which, a great chorus of cheers erupted for Michelle.

“You did great, girl!” [Spectator 1]

“Your friends too!” [Spectator 2]

“You all did well consider Ryouma was your opponent!” [Spectator 3]

As those cheers rained down on them, Elia and Miyabi rushed over to Michelle.

“Michelle, are you alright?” [Elia]

“I’m… alright. I’m just… a bit… paralyzed.” [Michelle]

“You don’t sound convincing at all.” [Miyabi]

Elia anxiously checked on Michelle’s condition. Michelle tried to say she was alright, but Miyabi denied her, saying she wasn’t.

“You three sure get along. I need to fix her up, so excuse me a bit.” [Ryouma]

Ryouma interjected into the three’s conversation, and with the palm of his hand, he touched Michelle’s forehead.

“’Antidote’” [Ryouma]

Ryouma filled Michelle’s body with the poison-type magic power, neutralizing the poison she had swallowed. After a few seconds, Michelle was able to move her body freely again, so she stood up.

“Fu… Thank you. I’m feeling better already. I was wondering why Ryouma didn’t fall, but I guess it was thanks to this, huh?” [Michelle]

“Yes. It’s magic meant to remove the effects of poison type magic. Do you feel strange anywhere?” [Ryouma]

“Nope, not at all. Thank you. By the way, Riera and Kanan are?” [Michelle]

“Riera lost consciousness, so she was sent to the clinic just in case.” [Elia]

“And Kanan went to accompany her.” [Miyabi]

“Then in that case, let’s go to the clinic first.” [Michelle]

“Right. It’ll be better to talk after Riera’s woken up too.” [Ryouma]

Like this they ended up meeting with Kanan and the others by the clinic. As they began to move out, Ryouma said.

“Ah, sorry about this, but could you all go to the clinic ahead of me? I need to do some light repairs on the training area.” [Ryouma]

The wall of earth that Ryouma erected and the magic formation plates that Michelle and the others used to create holes could be seen here and there.

“Then I’ll help too. I specialize in earth magic after all.” [Michelle]

“let me help too!” [Miyabi]

“You allowed us to use the facility here, so let me help too.” [Elia]

Ryouma didn’t have any particular reason to refuse them, so he agreed to let the girls help.

After they fixed the area a bit, they went to the clinic.