62. Exploration Battle (5)
“…Now I fully understand what role you play in my life.”
Karla wiped the rainwater dripping from her bangs as she spoke.
A chill seeped through her voice, and fury raged in her gaze where grievance and irritation were tangled up in each other.
“You are an obstacle in my life that needs to be certainly removed, Lucas.”
Karla glared at Lucas.
Thanks to Kiara, Lucas stood there without getting a drop of rain on him, looking calm and collected as he smiled while looking at Karla and Ivan.
“To the future husband, what a despicable tendency you have. Isn’t it because you haven’t learned the proper manners of a housewife from your mother, as Mr. Cascata said?”
“Shut up with your useless nonsense. If you keep this up, I might just let both of you go. My goal lies elsewhere.”
“Huh?”
Lucas curled the corners of his mouth into a smile.
Indeed, the confidential information was spot on.
Karla didn’t seem to know why Lucas was here, and neither did the commoner standing beside her, emitting an intimidating presence.
“This is exhausting, mixing with such dimwitted underlings. Haven’t you realized the situation yet, Karla?”
“Stop your idle talk, Lucas. Karla and I have goals elsewhere. It might be better to let this go and walk past.”
Ivan stepped forward, as though protecting Karla, and said this.
If an obstacle exists, it needs to be removed, and it is better to remove it yourself if you are the first to see it.
“A lowly commoner who doesn’t know the fear of heaven-like high nobility. Do you believe Karla will protect you? If you think Karla will protect you, it’s better to wake up from that dream.”
“I haven’t even considered that. I have no intention of clinging to power.”
Ivan found Lucas unpleasant.
Probably, he’d find him unpleasant across the entirety of this companionship.
It was certain—there was no one in this world who would like such a person.
“Why don’t you catch on already? My goal isn’t this trivial Exchange Battle. My goal is—you, standing right there.”
Lucas extended his finger.
Arrogantly and arrogantly raising a blade of only one finger in an overbearing stance, Karla was there.
“Karla, you are my goal.”
“…Hmph.”
At the pointing of the finger, Karla let out a hollow laugh.
It was a truly tiresome connection.
She thought she had crushed and stamped out this filth countless times, but it seemed this creature, perhaps by nature, would always crawl back.
“That won’t do. I can’t hand over Karla.”
“Commoner, this is not your place to interfere.”
“This is exactly where I should interfere. I can’t hand Karla over to a guy like you.”
“Truly presumptuous. In that case, I’ll have to take her by force.”
Lucas then formed a hand seal.
Deep dark green poison smoke flowed from his fingertips, and a different aura of poison dance arose compared to the one during the main tournament.
“By force you say? It’s just laughable.”
Ivan smirked and pulled up his mana.
To the extent that the saying ‘Will the sea salt run out?’ isn’t an exaggeration, his endless mana created wind and lightning black magic with one hand and thunder with the other, roaring strongly.
“Using dual magic? Are you trying to commit suicide?”
Lucas’s voice trembled slightly.
Even though he was following Venere’s instructions, Ivan’s act of performing two magics simultaneously was truly out of the ordinary strength. It was difficult to understand why such a talented commoner existed, but nonetheless, Lucas pulled out a long pin from amidst the thick poison smoke.
— His collar will be there, young master.
— Throw this pin at it.
— There’s only one, so you must hit without fail.
Recollecting Venere’s words, Lucas shouted at Kiara.
“Kiara! What are you doing?! You useless woman, why won’t you help?!”
Kiara didn’t respond to Lucas’s shout but instead summoned hydric power.
The weather, pouring down a heavy rain, was highly advantageous for Kiara too. Thanks to it, the water dragon Kiara summoned with her magic had a power that rivaled Ivan’s.
“…Ivan, I don’t particularly have feelings towards you. I have to do this because I have to.”
Kiara’s water dragon and Ivan’s lightning vortex clashed.
The confrontation between Ivan, who was wielding dual magic, and Kiara, who was using only aquatic magic, would essentially have ended in Ivan’s overwhelming victory, but with the heavy rain pouring down right now, Kiara was also surpassing her original strength by several folds and facing Ivan head-on.
Now, poison was mixing into this.
Lucas wasn’t the type to just stand back and watch. Therefore, Lucas mixed the poison smoke into Kiara’s water dragon, hiding his figure within the poison dance as he approached Ivan.
“Lucas, you rat!”
Karla had noticed Lucas’s movement and rushed at him.
Even though she had only one arm, she was fundamentally a martial artist.
With Ivan holding off the front line like this, Karla believed she could somehow handle someone like Lucas.
“You should wait a little longer, Karla!”
Lucas pushed Karla back with a wall of poison.
Despite having his body enhanced by the lightning magic, Karla, with her physical defect, began to be pushed back slightly by the wall again, allowing Lucas a chance to rush towards Ivan.
“Commoner, your days end here today!”
Ivan had noticed Lucas rushing in, but subduing Kiara’s water dragon was all he could do at his current best, leaving no time to react.
Lucas’s long pin glinted in his hand.
Without a chance for Ivan to move, Lucas’s long pin, a relentless dagger, soared towards Ivan’s chest, actually aiming for the collar Ivan wore around the neck.
— Pssht!
Like the peculiar sound of wind escaping, the relentless needle struck the precise center of the suppressive collar. A small crack started to spread from the middle of Ivan’s suppressive collar and began to fracture across the whole thing.
— Shing—!
Before Ivan could react, the suppressive collar—what he had merely known as a simple talisman until now—was completely shattered. Emitting a sharp sound, fragments of the broken collar were swept away without a trace by Kiara’s water dragon.
“This, this…ugh…!”
The precious necklace he had received from Albina.
Whenever he felt strange or got upset, he always held it to calm down.
The moment the necklace broke, Ivan felt something snap inside his head. Memories of unconsciously touching the necklace to find stability lined up like fragments surfacing. Simultaneously, the feeling of something anchoring him disappearing evoked a sense of hollowness, and an inexplicable anger weighed down his chest.
‘What…is this?’
As his mind went blank and his breath became rapid, his mana began to lose control and rampage.
With the disturbance in his mana, its output weakened greatly. The thunder vortex that was struggling against Kiara’s water dragon violently wavered and was swiftly engulfed.
“Kiara! Take him out!”
At Lucas’s shout, Kiara closed her eyes tightly and further intensified the output of the water dragon.
With Ivan swallowed up, the roaring water dragon finally emitted a thunderous sound, expanding even wider. Kiara chased after Ivan, who was being thrust away by the water dragon, running at a rapid speed.
“Now that I’ve gotten rid of that commoner.”
Lucas turned to look at Karla, soaking wet.
Although he was thoroughly drenched because Kiara’s protective barrier had disappeared, Lucas’s eyes were gleaming as he stared at Karla.
“…You’re insane.”
“Calling me insane makes no difference, Karla.”
Lucas took a large step forward towards Karla.
Now that Ivan was no longer here—
‘…I shouldn’t rely only on Ivan’s protection.’
Karla slowly gathered her mana.
Even without Ivan, it wouldn’t change anything.
Hadn’t Karla almost defeated Lucas even during the main tournament?
She ultimately lost, but only by a hair’s breadth, so the result shouldn’t be any different this time.
“Resisting will be futile, Karla. That commoner will die at Kiara’s hands. No one can face Kiara in this downpour.”
Lucas grinned and grabbed Karla by the throat.
As the poison-covered hands squeezed her throat, Karla let out a choking sound as her breath was instantly cut off. The mana she had just built up disappeared in an instant as her concentration wavered.
“Don’t think this will be like the time at the main tournament. You’re too stupid.”
Lucas mocked her with a grin.
Rain poured down ceaselessly over his face, the protective barrier having disappeared.
“Tsk, is it the distance from Kiara that makes me feel this way? Annoying.”
Lucas flicked his tongue, swept his bangs aside, and said:
“Venere, that girl gave me something truly useful.”
“…Venere…?!”
Even amid her struggle to breathe, the name Venere drilled into Karla’s ears.
Even as she writhed to pull free from Lucas’s grasp, her gaze remained focused on Lucas.
“Venere…did you say?”
“Yes, Venere. The one who informed me about that commoner’s weakness was also Venere. And…”
Lucas took out a long needle and thrust it into Karla’s sight.
Brilliant, he waved the needle proudly in front of her face, and continued:
“This is also something I received from Venere, Venere. It’s also something that will make you a female beast.”
“You…crazy…what are you trying to…!”
“What do you think? Being outside like this is a perfect first experience. I’ve wanted to enjoy it out here, so this is great.”
Lucas’ hand, holding the gleaming needle, sparkled even in this downpour.
Clearly visible, the needle’s end pointed at her. Karla writhed as she stared at it steadily.
“You will not have your way, no matter what you desire…!”
Her breathing grew labored.
Her fingertips went numb, and her mind began to flicker into darkness, but Karla’s gaze never left Lucas.
“Yeah, that’s right, Karla. Keep resisting. Put all your effort into resisting. I don’t mind, I like it, I’m very pleased. I wonder how your face will twist, what sounds you will cry in tears. I’m very curious.”
The high-raised needle.
Karla tightly closed her eyes.
