Chapter 25:
The Female Leads Have Eyes For Only Me
I clawed through the dark and heavy smoke, trying to find any to escape from this damn thing.
“Ack!”
My heart sank.
That was Mia!
“Mia!” Frank yelled. “What did you do to my daughter?!”
“You shut up!” King screamed.
Frank groaned. The sound of his body crashing to the ground was like hearing someone trying to break through the front door.
It terrified me.
“Nooooo!” Maya screamed.
Soon, she too groaned and fell to the floor.
I coughed. I tried to breathe in, but struggled.
Running through this terrifying smoke, I heard Bertram’s body drop to the floor.
King cackled. It seemed as if he was enjoying this.
No, no, no!
I need to get out!
I need to!
Did he have a weapon? Was he slashing at them?
I got my answer firsthand.
A swift chop at the back of my neck sent me hurling towards the ground.
Once I did, I sensed mana from beside me.
“Shooting Boulder!”
A giant boulder flew over me and through the dark cloud of smoke.
Soon, the spell faded.
And King cackled from above as he stood on the nearest building.
“Missed me, mage.”
I turned and got a good glimpse of him. His eyes were bloodshot, and his teeth pressed against each other so hard it seemed as if they were going to shatter.
“Is that the spell you used to kill all of my friends?”
Ophelia trembled.
“What? Unable to speak, are we? Or are you unable to understand me?”
“Don’t answer him!” Arnold said.
Ophelia stayed silent as I got to my feet.
“Fine then,” King said. “Stay quiet. It doesn’t matter.”
He glared down at all of us.
“Either way, we’ll get our revenge.”
King clapped his hands together and cackled.
No, he can’t be doing what I think he’s going to, right?
“Kakaka! Resurrect!”
With those words, the violent and piercing stabs of dark mana hit me all at once.
“Agh!”
Ophelia and Bertram screamed along with me.
I lowered my head. The pain was too much. But I needed to raise my head. The monsters were going to be revived, and King would…
“Huh…”
The sharp pain persisted, but I kept my eyes fixed on the floor.
The answer to King’s tremendous power was right under my nose.
Literally.
The ground glowed as marks that were completely foreign to me stitched together in a curving motion.
This was art. Art that I recognized from various light novels.
It’s a magic circle!
And it already had chunks taken out of it from Ophelia’s Earth magic.
My eyes lit up.
This must be the key to his defeat!
As King laughed his lungs out, I grabbed Ophelia’s hand.
She was shaking.
“T-Tai?” she said weakly.
Her fearful eyes met my reassuring and confident gaze.
“Ophelia. You see it too, don’t you? The magic circle.”
Her eyes widened as she looked below.
I went on.
“If it breaks, will it stop boosting his spell power?” I whispered.
Ophelia nodded.
I squeezed her hand.
“Can you break the magic circle?”
“M-me. But…”
She lowered her head.
“I don’t know if I can…”
“Can you at least try?” I asked gently.
Ophelia raised her head, staring right at me. But not with her usual timid, shy eyes. No, this time, her eyes were filled with determination.
“I will,” she said.
Bertram stared over at us. He pointed towards the magic circle, then Ophelia.
We nodded. With just that gesture, Bertram seemed to get what we wanted to do.
The creature that we had slain just moments ago started rising once more.
They screeched and roared as they got up.
King cackled and glared at our group. He wanted us dead. His eyes made that crystal clear.
But King stared at us as if we were entertainment to him. It seemed like he had already won.
Good. Let him think that way.
Let him underestimate us. Let the guy get greedy. And let it blind him. Just enough so that we can destroy this magic circle of his.
And beat him once and for all…
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