Kanna no Kanna Chapter 28

TL : sairennohebi

It was four seconds before that I felt a human presence.

three seconds, that I sensed a great amount of magic power.

two seconds, that I caught sight of the magic power's source.

one second, that the magic was unleashed.

and, less than one second, that I poured every drop of spirit force into the spirit magic.

around a tenth of a second, that the ice cliff was produced.

a blaze hot enough to melt steel exploded. a joke like amount of explosive flames raged across the ice wall.

an aggressive  use of spirit magic that can't be expressed just as forceful.

the additional amount of spirit force that I used to stop the flame.

due to these two absurdities my consciousness was barely hanging in there. once I lose consciousness the ice I made with spirit magic will fall down to just some normal ice, at that time the flame will easily Break through it, reducing us to ashes.

dragging my last bit of sanity, I managed to keep myself awake

while bearing with enough mental damage to feel a mortifying pain, I made my move.

this was neither a flash nor a revelation. it was but a conclusion drawn from experience.

when do you think it is that a surprise attack is going to succeed?  that's when you are sure that the target won't attack back. 

in other words it is precisely for opponents that don't doubt the success of their surprise attacks that a surprise attack shows the most effect. therefore I absolutely couldn't miss this chance.

the iron rule for the weak to win against the strong. that is grabbing the golden opportunity that came your way.

adding to the burden of my brain that felt like it's boiling, I made ten great ice  spears and shot them with great momentum just as I felt the fireball's heat subside

those spears that I put all my spirit force into without holding back easily penetrate the ice wall as they head towards the magician.

though the enemy was not at a distance where my eyes can clearly catch his form for better or worse I remembered this guy's presence. there was no way I can forget.

it was the strange magic power that appeared when Faima was attacked in town

without an inch of error I set him as the target for the spirit magic. I confirmed the hit, not, just like last time a pillar of fire rose and blocked the spears. thought they managed to sustain their shape for a few seconds, that's all. the projectiles quickly lost their form and turned into water

the enemy's magic power was still there. it didn't feel like it's decreased. but thanks to it being so enormous I could easily read his confusion. this guy still hadn't grasped the situation. as proof of that, although the spears were neutralized there was no sign of the flame pillar disappearing.

in short he was strengthening his defenses in order to understand the situation.

pashiri, I could feel my skin bursting open due to the pain running through my head.

the feedback of having something created using spirit magic destroyed, the wounds inflicted on my body.the flowing blood covered my left eye as a part of the skin of my head was torn apart.

I endure the external pain and the internal stress with guts.

I have to make my next move before that pillar disappears.                                                        I didn't know whether that's going to be a second or a minute away but the time I can spend thinking  certainly wasn't long, the moment that pillar vanishes my chance vanishes with it.

no matter what I must prevent the owner of that miscellaneous magic power from getting serious, hence there was a need to crush him before he regained his calm.

I started collapsing as my knees give in, but I managed to get myself together. I  lower the blackhair on the ground while at it. (TN: remember he was carrying the black haired girl since last chapter). except I no longer had the strength to stand.

at this distance, I can't fire a powerful attack.

the biggest advantage yet worst draw back of spirit magic is that it greatly depends on the psyche of the user. close range is one thing but long range attacks are quite unstable and the firepower lowers too

“Rea………l”

the reason my tongue tangled up is that the connection between my mind and body is getting hazy.I mustered more guts is I opened my mouth

“what should I do?”

dependably, my partner answered my call. while the other four were lost for words and in a daze only she responded to my words. regardless of the enemy and the situation she just asked me what matters. my mouth naturally turned into smile

“carry me……….and dive right in”

“Accepted”

as soon as she finished saying so, without a hint of hesitation, Real throws her sword which flies a little far away before piercing the ground. with a speed that made you doubt whether she really was carrying a human, she fetched me and started running

and then Real chanted

“come forth, my wings”

in sync with the short words, a magic formation appeared around the great sword.

along with the light of the formation a single beast with strong looking wings made it's appearance. it was the same dragon we rode on  when we crossed Reizan.                            (TN : Reizan is the mountain where they met the great ice spirit)

right before Real's arrival the dragon spread it's wings and started running.

“we're jumping, careful not to bite your tongue”

after running for a while and retrieving her sword Real did a big leap.just what kind of muscles do you got to have to be able to do such stunts.

just as Real jumped while carrying me, the dragon, without being told by anyone accelerated into the sky. just when I think it's fluttering it's wings and floating, the dragon cut the wind with a speed much superior to Real's run.

by the point we shortened the distance to a half, the flame pillar faded away. what came into view was a single man wearing a gorgeous robe, the man's raised hand was clearly aimed at us.

the man's magic power swelled up and the magic activated. leaving a trail behind, a ma.s.sive bullet of fire came our way

(he's fast)

as you start building the magic formula, magic power becomes easier to perceive

the more magic power you have and the more complicated the formula the longer it takes to invoke the magic

yet the magic this man fired had almost no time lag between the start and invocation of the spell                                                                                                                                                my hunch is telling me that getting hit by that means death

“don't worry, I'll open the path”

before I could even say anything Real answered me.there wasn't a fragment of impatience in that answer, rather her few words carried a sense of  confidence.

girari, the great sword in her hand glittered, the symbol of violent might glowed in silver

the flame was already in front of us,  it will be a direct hit as it is

“kyuaaaaaaaaa!”

the dragon roared and, it was kind of late at this point but is it male or female? folded it's wings and rubbed it's neck into it's torso. if you do such a thing you can't avoid crashing. not to mention the speed we were flying at, it's the same as causing a big accident willingly.

my astonishment didn't end there? the instant it folded it's wings the dragon changeed it's posture, built up momentum and rotated with slight deviation from the horizontal axis.

ki………….

I  picked such a sound at the tips of my ears

different from the confused me Real was already swinging her sword, though I didn't see the beginning of it, I could guess the slashing line from her posture

the explosive sounds from behind. the dragon's body made a rotation and with it my field of vision. what spontaneously entered my sight from behind was the scene of some parts of the two sides of the valley blowing up.

my body that was sound and safe.

the two explosions behind me.

she cut the flame, the magic, that's the only way to explain the phenomenon that took place.

that's why the dragon was doing such acrobatics eh.

had she swung her sword as it is the dragon's body would be in the way

in short she did such unreasonableness to secure a place to swing her sword

(incidentally, these details are something Real taught me afterwards)

just like a car in full acceleration revives from a slip the dragon once again spread out it's wings and flew ahead.

sending my eyes to the robe man again, he seemed to be confused, so much that I could tell even from this distance.

the gap separating us had shrank. the man's expression warps, exposing his face painted in anger and  humiliation.

this time he made a magic formula with both hands. there wasn't enough time to cut the magic once we came this close.

Real tried to make the dragon raise it's alt.i.tude but much faster than her the man's magic was completed

the flame bullet flew, landed in front of the flying dragon and burst

I managed to create an ice wall just before the attack hit                                                      deploying it between the right abdomen of the dragon that rose a little above land and the ground.

though I intended to have poured all the spirit force that I could muster in a moment, it was easily turned to dust by the blast.

influenced by the shock we were thrown in the air along with the dragon

a great crater was left in the ground

had I not used the ice wall to decrease the shock wave I would have been dead in an instant.

since the dragon and the wall both worked as a barrier, almost none of the shock wave reached me. despite that the blast's power was so tremendous that I lost to the momentum and was thrown far from the dragon

though my sense of direction was messed up as I danced in the air, something like averting my focus from that guy, I didn't

although we were lunched in the air and I got tossed from the dragon's back the fact that we've reached the goal remained

even without wings to fly in the air I will keep pushing forward

the gap with the robe is almost nothing

this time I even pour my soul into the spirit magic as I command the spirits, ignoring the small details I make an ice shape

……………………

“gu……………….!”

due to such an overbearing use of spirit magic the ‘price' trampled my body.a a sense of collapse spread through it.just keeping my eyes open made me feel worn out.even breathing took quite the effort, I didn't even have the will to think.

I was attacked by a cold sensation as if I was thrown with nothing on me into an intensely cold land. the feed back from losing the ice wall  burned my nerves.

inside my hazy consciousness, I remembered the thousand years old great spirit. she taught me that in spirit magic the image is originally secondary and what really matters is the strength of the will. an unshakable spirit. as long as you have that spirit magic can be used.

it's only a sense of collapse, a difficulty in breathing and extreme pain. nothing to make a fuss about.

not matter how much I'm despised as an incompetent capable of accomplishing  nothing. when it comes to a contest of willpower I won't lose to anyone. tolerance is by far my forte. I have a reputation for not knowing when to give up.

“ga………..aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!”

a scream leaked out from my mouth.

I regained my consciousness as I felt vitality returning to my body.

the spirits rejoiced as they answered to the excitement of my soul

three meters in diameter

five meters in thickness

with a length of more than six meters

a great ice hammer was there.

the face of the robe who had been a.s.sured of his victory freezes

he started making a new magic to pulverize me before I land but it was already late

I grab the handle with both hands and swing the great hammer with my whole body

the man's hand was directed at the hammer rather than me, what was fired was the same annihilation magic that destroyed my ice twice before. maybe because the situation was quite extreme for him, there was practically no time lag between the magic power acc.u.mulation and the activation of the magic

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!”

a temperature enough to melt the earth was released however, the instant it touched the hammer it was all dispersed. it wasn't a misfire the magic had certainly activated. it was merely that the ultra cold leaking from my hammer had sucked all the heat.

right at the end it felt like my eyes met with the robe's. what his eyes showed was undoubtedly the color of despair

as for me

(drop dead already)

I had unleashed a full swing of anger

the annihilation hammer literally trampled the ‘small resistance' pulverizing the ground along it. a shock big enough to produce small-scale changes in the topography shakes the earth. the land had split with the impact point as a center and an uplift occurred.

the moment I felt the end of a life , I let go of my consciousness as it is.