I Can Hear the Saint’s Inner Thoughts

88 – Idea (3)

Originally, it was against the rules for other participants to interfere in the arena. If that was allowed, people could team up and create situations where the other was outnumbered.

But that didn’t mean it was forbidden to lend someone your power.

I was exploiting the loophole in the Forsaken Hollow to complete Idea, even if just a little.

“Pointless effort. You can’t kill me, a Death Knight. I suggest you stop struggling and find another way.”

Durahan hadn’t drawn his holy sword yet, pulling out another pair of swords to keep trying to attack me.

He was clearly looking down on me.

Thinking of me as a toy he could kill anytime, not caring what methods he used.

That fact pissed me off a little, annoyed me, so I deflected Durahan’s attempt to stab me in the eye with his swords, and used a kick to sweep his torso to the side.

Pain shot up my leg, making it numb.

I couldn’t even guess what his armor was made of, it seemed resistant to physical attacks, and magic as well.

“What, getting a little scared now?”

“That’s why I hate hot-blooded young punks.”

I spat out the blood pooling in my mouth.

Holding onto Idea in one hand, while continuing to block Durahan’s attacks, was close to impossible.

But I couldn’t give up beforehand.

I used the Coresword in my other hand like a shield, deflecting his attempt to fly into the air and slam down on me.

“The scythe that killed the creature with the most lives in the world, Drepanaon.”

“…!!!”

Right then,

Without a moment’s hesitation, Durahan switched the weapon in his hand from twin swords to a scythe right before my eyes. He used the scythe like a hook to knock aside the Coresword I was holding, a highly unconventional move.

I immediately reacted by dropping the sword from my hand, and punching the center of his armor.

A loud metallic clang echoed from the recoil, and Durahan staggered slightly backward, leaving a thick drag mark on the ground where his feet had been.

“The bow and arrow that brought down and killed the creature with the largest wings in the world, Argyrotoxos.”

As the distance widened, the Durahan drew his bow to exploit the advantage. I knew this variable was easily predictable, seeing as we had Tarion, practically a god among archers, in my party.

My opponent was a Weapon Master, capable of wielding any number of weapons with complete mastery.

I’d prepared meticulously to face a guy like this.

I even asked Ghraktar to reteach me how to fight, and I’d preemptively devised a few countermeasures using magic.

‘I need to close the distance…now!’

I bolted towards the Durahan, who was aiming his bow. I gritted my teeth, poured all my strength into my legs, and launched myself into the air.

“…Did you forget that there’s nowhere to run when you’re in the air?”

Kreeeak─, upon seeing this, the Durahan immediately adjusted his stance, now aiming at me suspended in mid-air.

A calm and calculating judgment. He didn’t waver, even with something like this happening in the middle of combat, and his ability to find the right solution proved that he had traversed countless battlefields.

But,

‘When it comes to magic, I’ve got him beat.’

There was one thing he didn’t have, that I did.

A lifetime of magical research, the fruits of my labor to save as many people as possible, lay within my hands.

This wasn’t a spell crafted to avenge my parents, nor was it created to bring peace to the world.

I just wanted to protect everyone.

On this journey to defeat the Demon King, I wanted to bring everyone home without a single casualty.

That small hope, that personal desire, was contained within this humble spell, and it was now ascending into the air.

And,

“Kyle, Victoria! This distance is close enough for you to reach!”

Now, my companions sitting in the stands only had to reach out, and their hands would touch the magic circle.

* * *

Victoria and Kyle had no choice but to leap to their feet, faced with the idea unfolding before their eyes.

“Astal, seriously, how much better would it have been if you’d told us about this ace in the hole sooner?”

Contrary to the words leaving his mouth, a satisfied smile played on the lips of the hero, Kyle.

Astal was always like this.

Saving people with ingenious methods no one else thought of, then laughing it off like it was nothing. A good guy.

“Don’t you find even that endearing? He spends every waking moment thinking of ways to save people, but doesn’t say anything because he’s afraid someone will worry.”

“Well, I think couples shouldn’t have secrets. At least he could’ve told you, Victoria?”

Kyle, transferring the power by weaving flames from his holy sword into a thread, and Victoria, sending divine power with a prayer.

They followed Astal’s suggestion without a shred of doubt. This was the trust forged from countless battles and incidents they’d overcome together.

“I think Astal is cuter with all his secrets. Makes it easier to tease him later.”

“You guys are seriously love-struck…”

“Love is supposed to be deep and intense.”

Kyle couldn’t help but grin as he listened to Victoria.

How had their relationship, which looked like they were itching to fight each other a month ago, turned into this?

It seemed like they were just pretending to be dating at first, putting on an act, but now it was obvious to anyone that they genuinely liked each other.

He probably shouldn’t say anything about noticing.

Kyle, always quick to read the atmosphere, was happy to have a secret he’d take to his grave.

“…Alright! We’re ready! Astal, give that idiot who calls himself a hero a good walloping!”

“Astal, I expect another splendid victory.”

They poured every ounce of strength they possessed into the Idea, then, signaling Astal, roared at the approaching Dullahan to obliterate it.

* * *

Seeing an unfamiliar light ignite in their eyes for the first time, the Dullahan momentarily ceased to breathe.

The instant a magic circle began to gleam with rainbow hues, an ominous sensation crawled like insects across its skin.

“…I, am I going to be annihilated by this? Me, with an immortal body that can never die, the one who rules this Forsaken Hollow?”

The Dullahan almost burst into incredulous laughter.

It wasn’t a conclusion reached through logical reasoning or judgment.

Its body’s survival instinct screamed, ‘That is dangerous.’

For the undead creature who had lived for eons, unkillable as long as its Life Vessel remained intact, this was a completely new sensation.

“Ha, ha, UHAHAHAHAHA!!! Fine, let’s see what you’ve got! If I didn’t want a fight like this, there’d be no reason to keep you alive!”

Floating into the air, watching the Idea descend upon it, now in a vastly enlarged form, the Dullahan bellowed.

It had to conceal the trembling in its fingertips. It had to banish the feeling that it was afraid of that thing.

“…Vanish, be still, fade away.”

KoooNG—!

The Dullahan first attempted to block the Idea using its own Words of Power, but they only pulsed once, leaving the magic circle unchanged.

There were still ways to respond.

There were ten mythical armaments passed down through legends.

Clinging to a sliver of hope, the Dullahan didn’t draw its holy sword, but instead reached for a different weapon.

But,

“Damn it, what the hell did they make this out of that none of my weapons are working… Could it be that they actually put the holy sword into that magic circle?!”

The holy sword’s flame, sent by hero Kyle to Idea, was blocking attacks from other weapons from reaching it.

“…Ha, you crazy b*stard. Do you really think you can kill the Demon Lord with magic?!”

The Dullahan spat out curses while looking at Idea. Just how could they create magic like this?

Should he really draw the holy sword?

But if he uses it and fails, that terrible memory will resurface.

The memory of killing the person he loved and the child they bore together, all to surrender to Demon Lord Ergosum.

Not using the holy sword was the Dullahan’s last shred of pride.

A pathetic struggle to still believe he wasn’t wrong, and because he didn’t want to publicly admit his surrender to the Demon Lord.

“This magic is still incomplete. It’s lacking, too many crude parts… It will never reach the Demon Lord’s neck!”

The Dullahan finally drew his holy sword, stained black, from its sheath, and a dark energy erupted, momentarily plunging everything into darkness.

*Shwck─!*

Drawing the holy sword, the Dullahan slashed at the focal point where the three-dimensional magic circles overlapped the most. No matter how strong and elaborate the magic, it wasn’t without weaknesses.

However,

“…Sorry, but you’re already way too late.”

“……!!!”

Astal had factored even that into his calculations from the start. From the moment he knew the Dullahan was the first hero, he never imagined he wouldn’t use the holy sword.

*Shalalalalack─!*

Idea, disrupted by the Dullahan’s holy sword, reformed around the Dullahan, once again creating the sphere.

“And from the beginning, this… wasn’t magic made to attack anyone. It’s magic made to seal the Demon Lord. So me and my companions can all safely return home.”

Bearing the burns from the magic’s backlash, and the pain of his mana core burning away as if consuming his final life, Astal grinned.

A magic impossible without eyes that could see mana, and the genius-level mana control I’d honed since childhood.

“–Infinite source of wisdom,

The essence of countless failures, oh magic.

Humble Astal Kaisaros beseeches you,

Grant the primordial light into my hand.

If you’re breathless, straighten your shoulders first.”

Astal finished the incantation, remembering Victoria’s touch as she patted his ever-slouching back.

“Idea.”

*Pwang─!* At the fist he clenched, the magic circle blazed with light, pouring all its energy toward the trapped Dullahan, as if purifying something unclean.

*Kwaaa─!*

Amidst the light, Astal was flung far away, the growing explosion and noise swallowing the entire arena.