The One and Only

“One… meaning, the first of the Three Warriors?” asked Saga, immediately holding her blade aloft.

I was honestly surprised she hadn’t simply lunged at him for an attack right from the get-go.

But I could understand her.

The fact this man was sitting so calmly and casually over there after inviting his enemies here, seemed to imply he was prepared for us. It was probably prudent to think a little before rushing in blindly.

“That is my designation,” the man said almost disinterestedly.

“Where’s Mana?” asked Kai. Oh, right. I actually completely forgot about her, but she’d been possibly kidnapped—or worse—by this man before.

“I have no interest in her. I handed her over to Two,” replied One.

Two… the next one in line from the Three Warriors. So our princess was already in another castle, then. At least that seemed to confirm her safety for the time being.

“But never mind that,” said the man. “You have defeated Squads A, B and C… as well as Squeaky.”

Were those so-called “Squads” all those swarms of animals? The number seemed to fit.

“Sure did,” said Kai, slightly grimacing. “Caused us a lot of trouble, all ‘em.”

Were we really ready to face One right now? Kai had a single arrow, Saga was still injured… It could really be that I was our only current hope, but that depended a lot on what One was going to do.

Based on his theming so far… would he just summon more beasts to fight us? Or maybe he’d transform like a werewolf?

“I did not wish to see my poor underlings so unjustly massacred,” said One in a voice that was free from any inflection and in fact quite robotic in tone, “but that is the result we have all been expecting.”

He opened his eyes.

They were like spheres made of ice—their cold, unfeeling gaze could rival even Saga’s, no, perhaps overtake it by leaps and bounds.

“I will defeat all of you without taking even a single step,” One announced next.

And remained unmoving.

We did, too. All of us expected some sort of opening attack. Even Saga just stood there with her sword, as if afraid of some trap.

“He’s just… sitting there,” mumbled Kai. “From this range, I could possibly just snipe him…”

And yet Kai did nothing.

A tense minute or so passed. One said nothing at all, and did not move a muscle—it almost looked like he wasn’t even breathing, either. He just kept looking at us.

I’ve had enough.

I always lacked patience, anyway.

“Fine, I’ll take the first shot! Eat this!”

I swung my hand—unleashing my light shot cantrip. Despite my words I was still a bit apprehensive, so I decided to just test the waters for now.

To my surprise One actually moved at this attempt. He raised his hand, and… slapped the ball of light.

Upon touching his skin, it completely dissipated.

What the hell?

Was that some sort of anti-magic technique or what?

…No, I bet he just tanked it with his layers of fat or something. I could try something better and stronger next.

Meanwhile, however, my action seemed to have spurned Saga as well, because she finally took action. Kicking the ground, she entered into the barren territory.

I suddenly had a very bad feeling, although I couldn’t articulate why. I didn’t get a chance to warn her, either.

The moment she stepped inside, moving as quickly as the squirrel we saw before, One raised a lone finger.

An explosive roar resounded, erupting from the ground itself.

“W-what?!” spat Kai, and even I felt my heart skip a beat.

A small column of smoke was parted as Saga was thrown away by a powerful shockwave, rolling on the ground. She looked shocked, but still leapt away again as One raised the finger of his other hand, causing another such explosion.

“Saga!” I shouted.

Clicking her tongue loudly, she rose to her legs, avoided another explosion and vanished to the side, entering the forest again.

One lowered all his fingers and resumed looking at us.

As the columns of smoke gradually dissipated, what remained behind was just holes in the ground, a couple of feet deep each.

What the hell was that?

I recalled One’s earlier words. I will defeat all of you without taking even a single step. This was probably what he meant.

Had he used some sort of magic to blow the ground? Or some kind of magical mines, perhaps…? Whatever it was, this spelled trouble for us.

However, as Saga—her body clearly bearing some burns now—circled around him through the trees, one thing became clear.

He could not, or at least would not, attack us here. He said he wasn’t going to take a single step, and he wasn’t going to attack anyone outside his territory. In other words, he couldn’t blow up the ground beneath our legs where we stood. That seemed to support my magical mine hypothesis.

Saga was at a disadvantage here, then. However, that was fine for me.

“I’ll try again!” I shouted, swinging my hand for another round of light shots.

Unfortunately, the same phenomenon repeated. He simply flicked my shots away. In fact, although I managed to hit his body with some of them it didn’t seem to have any effect, either. Was he completely impervious regardless of whether he parried the spell or not?

Saga clicked her tongue again, seemingly anxious. “If only I could get close enough…”

“Maybe if we attack from different sides, he can’t handle us at once…?” suggested Kai.

“Hah, are you feeling confident enough in your speed?” Saga side-eyed him.

“Not really…”

“Don’t worry, guys, I got this!” I assured them. There was no need to waste any more time on small-time attacks.

Since One was a sitting duck, I could simply aim my most powerful attack.

“Let’s see how you handle… this!” I shouted, pointing at him. A purple streak of lightning shot from my fingers, closing the distance to him in a split second.

It struck him directly. He couldn’t have evaded it no matter what he did.

All he did was raise a finger.

But that was enough. With just that single action, it was all over—without any result. One took my lightning strike head on and did not even twitch. Not even a single burn appeared on his skin.

He was completely invulnerable.