■ Reverse Tourism □
Bang!!
Despite being surrounded by a lot of mana, a sharp pain rose up my forehead, and I couldn’t help but shed a tear.
But I gritted my teeth and flipped my body, which was flying backward due to the recoil.
I landed by pressing my bruised arms against the ground and released lightning throughout my body.
The dazzling flash caused by it made Nick Iron hurriedly cover his eyes, but he wouldn’t regain his vision for a while.
Unlike muscles, eyes can’t be trained.
I followed Dorothy’s method of using magic.
Tap! Tap!
Like tap dancing, I continuously struck the ground with my heels.
Then, lumps of metal made through alchemy surged from the ground.
I kicked them and sent them flying toward Nick Iron from all directions.
“Kuh! What are you trying to do!”
Hearing that, Nick Iron shouted, but I had no obligation to answer him.
I rolled my heels again.
Then, the delayed magic activated, and the scattered lumps of metal around Nick Iron turned into magnets.
“You said your body is immune to magic, right?”
Then, all I need to do is neutralize you in another way.
Zzzzzzz!
The lumps of metal vibrated and began to glow red.
They had been artificially turned into electromagnets by magic.
Unlike Ozma’s Hellfire Demon Blade, Nick Iron’s body didn’t seem to interfere with the molecular structure of magic itself.
Simply put, he had no way to erase magic acting on him from the outside.
And the chrome that made up Nick Iron’s body was ferromagnetic.
“Ugh!”
Immediately after, a groan escaped his lips.
Of course.
Because he couldn’t move an inch due to the electromagnets surrounding him.
While his movements were sealed by the magnetic force, I gathered mana into my orichalcum knuckles and asked,
“Now that you can’t even run away, what will you do?”
“…Do you think you can defeat me with just this?”
“Guys who say that usually change their tune after one hit.”
I prepared the Little Boy, which had caused an avalanche on the Eastern Front.
It’s an ether-type magic that consumes nearly three times the mana of a normal spell.
Normally, it takes too much time to activate, so I don’t use it, but with a fixed target like now, it’s a different story.
If the power is halved, I can just fire a few more shots.
A sphere of light gathered at the tip of my knuckles.
The pure mana crystal glowed in pure white.
No matter how high his magic resistance is, he won’t be able to perfectly neutralize high-tier magic.
“Ugh! Ughhh!”
Nick Iron tried to force his body to move, veins bulging on his neck, but he only managed to take a few steps.
Considering the magnetic force I had set, that alone was a tremendous feat of willpower, but honestly, he was unlucky.
Because he probably never dreamed that I was the type of mage who could exploit his weakness.
If he didn’t like it, he should have covered his body with orichalcum instead of chrome.
Poof!
The sphere of light that left my knuckles stopped in front of Nick Iron’s chest.
In itself, it wasn’t harmful.
After all, ether or whatever is just highly compressed mana.
The problem arises when another element interferes with it, causing an absurd explosion.
Gulp-
The sound of Ozma swallowing her saliva from a safe distance was vividly audible.
The tension was that extreme.
Nick Iron, who had been alternating his gaze between the magic that could erase his body in one shot and my face, finally gave up and weakly lowered his head.
“…I lost.”
“You should have done that earlier.”
I scoffed and dispelled the Little Boy magic made of highly compressed ether.
—
Both Dorothy, who I worked with on the Eastern Front before, and Nick Iron, who I met this time, seem to have carelessness as their passive trait.
Overconfidence in one’s abilities leading to carelessness and then defeat is one of the typical clichés for villains, but even Nick Iron, known as the “Absolute Defense,” couldn’t escape that typical formula.
“I am truly impressed by your power, Partarth. I formally apologize for my earlier rudeness.”
The demon tribe’s ecosystem is fundamentally a world where the strong are respected.
Having acknowledged through a real battle-like spar that he was weaker than me, Nick Iron’s previously high-handed attitude completely disappeared.
From his tone, it was clear that he respected me.
Once the hierarchy was established, the rest of the conversation went smoothly.
I asked Nick Iron how he nullified magic.
From what he said, it seemed he couldn’t completely halve high-tier magic, but for a mage, his existence was quite shocking.
Then, Nick Iron, scratching the back of his chrome head as if embarrassed, answered my question.
“It’s not exactly nullifying. I absorb mana through the contact surface.”
As he said that, Nick Iron opened his abdomen.
Inside were not organs but several cylinder-like devices, and the transparent cylinders were filled with a blue liquid.
I instinctively realized that it was my mana.
“The blacksmith who modified my body, Ku Klip, is extremely skilled. He can gather dead bodies and create new lifeforms. I was essentially reborn from his hands.”
This was another secret I hadn’t anticipated.
It wasn’t Nick Iron’s personal trait but a gimmick installed by the blacksmith that made his body absorb magic.
At this point, it seemed like the only thing he gained through his efforts was muscle, but I decided to keep that thought to myself.
After all, I had already won, and tormenting him over that would only create unnecessary enemies within the Demon King’s army.
Anyway, I had heard everything I wanted to hear from him and said everything I wanted to say, so there was no more business left.
I said to Ozma, who had been waiting for the conversation to end,
“Let’s head back now.”
“Y-yeah.”
—
After leaving Nick Iron’s cabin, Ozma’s demeanor seemed off.
When I asked why, Ozma scratched her cheek with an awkward expression and replied,
“Caldlasth, I had no idea you were such a powerful mage.”
“Ah, I see.”
What else could I say?
“You can treat me as usual. It’s not like it’s a big deal now, and I prefer being treated the same as before.”
Recently, Ozma and I had become something akin to a master-disciple relationship, but I wasn’t officially recognized as her disciple.
Aside from that, she was the Demon King’s daughter, my boss, and I was just a new recruit.
Of course, it’s only right to treat her with respect.
But it seemed Ozma found that uncomfortable.
“But you’re strong enough to defeat a Heavenly King, aren’t you? If you don’t receive proper treatment despite that power, wouldn’t you be angry?”
In a way, it’s what I most wanted to say to my former comrades in the hero party.
So I smiled and said,
“As long as I don’t cross any lines, it’s fine. And I’m also a human living in society. I don’t go around smashing everything just because I’m angry.”
Seeing my unexpectedly flexible attitude, Ozma nodded with a troubled expression.
I added, seeing her like that,
“Well, isn’t it the difference between demons and humans? For demons, strength is the absolute measure, but humans also consider the other’s status. I’m just a petty guy who doesn’t have the guts to mess with the daughter of someone higher than me.”
“…Alright, if that’s how you feel, I’ll treat you comfortably from now on.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
After the short conversation, Ozma kept her mouth tightly shut and didn’t say a word until we returned to the lodge.
—
The next day.
We headed to the colosseum, where we had been yesterday, to participate in the martial arts tournament’s main event.
“Wooow!!”
The atmosphere was much more excited than yesterday.
Unlike the preliminaries, where all sorts of people participated, the main event was filled with nothing but the strongest.
After parting ways with Ozma, who was dressed as a man as usual, at the reception desk, I headed to the contestants’ waiting room.
Inside, many participants were already waiting for their turn.
Today, the round of 32, 16, and 8 would take place.
There were demons with normal builds like me, but most had unusual forms or very large bodies.
It was literally a scene of chaos.
Thud, thud.
With confident steps, I entered the waiting room, and for a moment, everyone’s gaze turned to me, but thanks to the mask, my poker face didn’t break.
Honestly, I had received more attention and killing intent before, so I had just built up a resistance.
I sat in an empty seat, crossed my arms, and closed my eyes.
The others were eagerly trying to gather as much information as possible, eyeing each other, but I had no desire to join such a farce.
Soon, the outside of the waiting room became noisy.
The main event of the martial arts tournament had begun.
