What if you are reborn as a demon after a funeral?

Page 124

After all, the opponent's reaction time is limited. Even if they can hastily generate a shield, it's unlikely to block the significant whip-like attack. In other words...

"—Success!" A smile appeared on Laofen's face, but Duncan, who had landed awkwardly in the distance, opened his mouth as if to remind her of something.

But before he could speak, Ash strangely grabbed the end of the light whip first, and answered on his behalf with a smile:

"—Unfortunately, I don't think so."

"Ah... thinking about it carefully, it makes sense. It could even catch a meteorite bird, it would be strange if it couldn't. But this must be very hot, right?" Raofen looked at the end of the light whip that could easily split a house in two, now easily grasped in his hand, his expression undeniably complex: "...What kind of monster are you...?"

"Because I already have a protective spell cast on me, and it's obvious that your magic... can't break through my defenses."

"But you're like this... with both your hands occupied, aren't you worried?"

"What does that mean?"

"—You lost!" A victorious smile once again appeared on Raofen's face.

Meanwhile, Lishita, who had fled far away, pressed her hands to the ground and poured all her strength into activating her magic.

The surrounding forest seemed to be turned upside down by an invisible hand, instantly making Ash feel as if he were in a deep canyon.

..............................

The two semi-circular rock walls, hundreds of meters high, stand majestically on either side, and with a series of earth-shaking tremors, they are closing in on the center at an astonishing speed, "squeezing" the sky into a line.

—Boom!! Rumble!!

Amidst the deafening roar of what seemed like an ongoing demolition project, sunlight was rapidly swallowed up by the towering rock walls, and the dust and smoke kicked up were so vast that they almost engulfed the entire barrier.

If they cannot escape in time, the two will be crushed flat by this moving "canyon".

Just then, two tornadoes rose into the air from either side of the man-made canyon, mercilessly blocking all his escape routes, and...

"—Wind and Flame Magic!" Halfway through, Duncan suddenly changed the nature of the tornado's magic.

In an instant, the wild tornado was replaced by scorching flames, transforming into two firestorms that pierced the sky.

Its overwhelming momentum is truly awe-inspiring, and this situation can be described as a desperate predicament, as well as a deadly move made by the two of them working together.

"...This layout is truly grand. Are they planning to use a fire tornado to attack from both sides, then use the rock wall as a cage to compress the fire tornado? Regardless, it's undeniably magnificent—but Laofen, she's right here with me..."

Ash had just looked at Laofen, whose wand had been grabbed and who was now not far away, when he realized that she had released her grip on the wand and disappeared from her spot in an instant, as if she had teleported.

It was obvious that this was magic that allowed her to move at high speed, because Ash clearly saw that the magical traces she left behind pointed directly to a narrow crevice in the left rock wall, just wide enough for one person to pass through.

But when he looked over, the gap was now rapidly contracting... clearly this was to allow Raofen to evacuate.

"—This time, there's no way you can break through!"

The wand emitted a dazzling light, and Duncan continuously channeled his magic, conjuring a fiery tornado that blocked out all space outside the rock walls, issuing a final warning: "If you surrender now, fire the signal flare yourself! We can stop! Otherwise... we're not responsible for what happens!"

The two poured almost all their magic into this one strike, as if they were betting all their hopes and odds on it, even hoping that the other would surrender quickly.

They were also a little worried that the Iron Meteor Bird might accidentally get killed inside, but...

"...To be honest, I don't really like standing here and getting beaten up like this."

He ignored the attempts to persuade him to surrender, and simply bent his knees slightly to gather strength before his feet suddenly shattered the ground beneath his feet.

—Boom! A loud explosion followed.

The figure, enveloped in lightning, stirred up a tsunami of air and charged head-on into the fiery tornado.

Surprisingly, the rapidly spinning tornado did not cause any obstruction.

Upon contact with Ash's lightning-streaked figure, the outer wall of the rapidly spinning, scorching fire tornado was easily torn open like paper, leaving a huge gash.

Breaking through the flames' blockade, and even carrying the purple light and shadow of the shattered dense "fire dragon," the next moment after breaking through the flames, it shot into the sky like an inverted meteor... yet with an incredible arc trajectory, it roared back to the ground—slamming towards Duncan!

"Oh no...! This...it's me again??"

Duncan, who was deeply shocked to see the tornado broken through by the lightning, was completely dumbfounded in this unfortunate situation.

He quickly retreated, simultaneously casting layers of protective magic in an attempt to withstand the sudden impact.

But it all seems to be too late...

—Bang!! Bang!! Bang!! Bang!! Bang!!

The figure, crackling with lightning, tore through the shields once more, just as before, and soon... the defensive magic could no longer be generated.

boom--! !

Accompanied by countless pale blue specks of light scattering across the sky, Ash landed on the ground, causing the ground to collapse and tremble violently.

The sudden tremor of the earth caused the elderly man, whose magic had been completely exhausted in his last defensive spell, to fall uncontrollably to the ground, losing all semblance of his former dignity.

He simply stared at the meteorite that had crashed into the ground not far away, creating a crater, yet remained completely unfazed... He was still holding the little bird the whole time, and was practically spotless. Duncan couldn't help but feel a pang of bitterness in his heart.

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All attempts to combat the virus failed to yield the desired results, and all these efforts ultimately amounted to nothing. Duncan, dejected, sighed and completely gave up the fight.

"I never knew there were such amazing people in this world... I've seen it for myself today..."

"Giving up like this? You haven't even started fighting back yet!"

"...Even though I'm self-aware, continuing to struggle at this level is futile. Rather, I simply can't understand why a monster like you would even take this exam?"

Under normal circumstances, he would be willing to fight even in hand-to-hand combat, but...

Looking at the meteor bird in Ash's hand, which gradually became docile and stopped struggling, he found it hard to imagine that he could be more effective, stronger, or more resilient than the meteor bird through hand-to-hand combat.

"You too?" Standing on the ravaged ground, looking back at the two people not far away, Ash's tone was filled with boredom, even a sense of frustration, like punching cotton.

“…I’m out of magic, I can’t fight anymore…I’ll die if I keep fighting…” Lishita squatted on the ground and sighed. The two rock walls in the distance had also stopped moving.

“My magic power is no longer sufficient for High Speed ​​Movement.” Raofen silently raised her hands in surrender: “...I demand to be treated as a prisoner.”

"What? You guys are really done for? I even went out of my way to fight you on the ground."

"They actually found out?... And they've been letting us win all along?" Duncan's face showed undisguised frustration.

Duncan didn't think Ash was bluffing or anything like that, and in fact, that was the case... because when dealing with a mage like Lishita who manipulates the ground, simply taking flight would reduce their combat power by at least 8%.

Despite Ash's apparent awareness of this, he remained standing on the ground, allowing Ash to manipulate the ground and launch attacks from his most advantageous position.

“...They’re monstrous.” Knowing that the other party had already discovered this problem, Lishita’s face was filled with deep frustration.

“Don’t feel inferior. As far as I know, even a first-level mage doesn’t have such monstrous abilities.” Duncan shook his head to reassure Lichta, but his eyes remained fixed on Ash, and he asked in confusion, “But speaking of which… you said you know me?”

"It was probably forty years ago, right? You were taller and younger back then. I never imagined... you'd actually gotten shorter!"

Ash half-squatted down and casually patted his head, revealing a nostalgic expression: "But even earlier, probably fifty years ago? I met your teacher there. He was quite a troublesome opponent."

“My teacher…Mahat?! No, fifty years ago? How old were you exactly?? You encountered Mahat but weren’t killed? No, no, back then…”

"I think it's impolite to ask a gentleman's age casually." Faced with the old man's face once again showing shock, and who even forgot to push his hand away, he simply smiled without answering, took the birdcage from the man, and put the bird inside.

"This will be my spoils! And for today... um??"

Ash hadn't gone far when two intersecting golden halos appeared beside him, causing his movements to freeze for a moment.

At that moment, another small team of three emerged from the forest, their faces beaming with the smug satisfaction of being the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

But no one was surprised by this scene. After all, they had made such a big commotion, which could be said to be the biggest battle in the entire examination room. It would be really strange if no one noticed and observed this place, or didn't want to take advantage of the chaos.

However... these three were clearly hiding quite far away to avoid being discovered, and didn't witness the actual battle. They only came over after things calmed down here, which led them to seem to have underestimated Ash's strength.

Duncan, Lichta, and Laoffen looked at them as if they were idiots courting death.

"...How naive! To think you could defeat this monster. Anyone else would have been better than him..." Duncan murmured, then couldn't help but smile bitterly, because he suddenly remembered—he had just thought he had a chance of winning.

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The three who suddenly appeared were led by Viabel, a young second-level mage in his thirties who was a mercenary who initially fought against the Demon King's remnants. However, due to the demons' retreat, he had been involved in exterminating demons and fighting human civil wars for many years.

There's also El, the granddaughter of Lylene, the most senior first-level mage whom Ash is familiar with, a brown-haired girl in a purple-red cloak, and a second-level mage who graduated first in her class from the magic academy.

There's also the tall, level-three mage Sharuf, who specializes in self-developed magic that transforms flower petals into steel-like weapons. He's not particularly remarkable otherwise, hence the limited records about him.

"Am I being treated like prey?... How interesting."

Suddenly captured by an extremely powerful binding magic, Ash understood without even turning around—this was Viabel's unique gaze-binding magic.

It can bind any creature completely covered by its gaze, and also seal the magical control of the bound.

Since the warriors here also rely on magic to strengthen their bodies, although their physical strength is already higher, the restraining effect will not be weakened. Therefore, in a one-on-one situation, it can be described as a magic that can kill. Even if the meteorite bird is captured, it will be in a predicament where it cannot move.

"What an amazing old man! He caused such a commotion, but... in the end, he still lost." The team leader, a fierce-looking silver-haired man named Viabel, grinned smugly. "Just like the exam, luck is also a part of strength!"

"...Do you really think you're very lucky?" Duncan looked at the expression on his face and even felt a little sorry for him...it was like looking at his own foolish self.

"Isn't that good enough? In this situation, there's absolutely no way for humans to break free." Viabel assumed he was just being sarcastic out of spite, but his gaze remained fixed on Ash. He gestured for his companion Sharuf to go up behind him, and confidently stated:

"Once captured, no one has ever escaped my sight... although it can only be used on one target at a time."

"But the premise... the target still has to be within the human realm, right?"

"What do you want to say?"

"There's nothing strange about it. No magic is without flaws, and if there are no flaws, then there must be limits."

"Magic is a world of imagination, where nothing is impossible. So, once I set my sights on something, I cannot let it slip away. In principle, no human or living being can possibly gain anything when magic is completely suppressed... What?!"