The Hero King, Reincarnate to Master the Art of War ~And Thus, I Became The Strongest Knight Disciple (♀) in The World~-Novel

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「——!」

「……What will you do now?」

「Stop it! That’s a foul! You’re supposed to be fighting me, aren’t you?!」

「Yes, that’s precisely why… if I fire this at them, you, being the oh-so kind and gallant warrior that you are, will not be able to abandon them and thus take a risk to stop the bullet. As a result, you will bite the bullet for them, correct? Do you see how much faster I can hit you this way? I am not being a coward, it is merely the optimal option to take.」

「Kgh……!」

The muzzle roared so hard that it quivered, and the light bullet that was converging on its tip was several times larger than usual. It seems like that arm can also be used to build up strength and increase its firepower.

「Now… At this rate, Pullum and the extra will be in huge trouble, go and save them, please?」

Ian smiled, unleashing the light bullet toward Pullum and Luwin. Leone had already dashed out to intercept the bullet in its trajectory.

「Mr. Luwin! At least you must evade it!」

Leone roared, raising her sword as she did. Perhaps due to the time-sensitive emergency, she couldn’t feel the weight on her arm. It must be the fight-or-flight switch in her brain. Leone had no idea how to reach the best outcome in this situation. However, she knew what she had to do.

「EEEeeeeii!!!」

Putting all her strength into her arm, she struck at the light bullet. And what happened next is the light bullet cracked in half, not giving much resistance, and vanished with a loud noise.

「Eh?!?! N-, NO WAY……?!」

The words slipped out of her mouth. The one most surprised by the situation was Leone herself. The power of her artifact was sealed, and her opponent’s light bullet was much more powerful than before. With all those factors at hand, there was no way she would be able to cut it more easily than before.

Leone was fully prepared to have her sword flicked off her hand and take a direct hit to herself, but this was strange, by all accounts. It was simply impossible.

「WHAATT?!!」

Ian was just as dumbfounded. However, this wasn’t all that surprised Leone. There was a trail attached to the swing of the sword. After the swing, it left a translucent white trail in the pitch-black space, the trail swelled and multiplied and changed, forming up a dragon’s fang.

「Th-, this is……?! It’s that dragon’s… Phantom Dragon……?!」

She was utterly unable to follow the logic, but when Leone swung her sword down, a Phantom Dragon appeared. She couldn’t understand how, as that was the only way she could describe the phenomenon before her.

And the point of the sword that struck the ground… it, too, had been deformed, transforming into a complex shape that looked like a dragon’s claw. Did the change of shape on her sword give rise to a Phantom Dragon that was powerful enough to cut down that light bullet? Either way, the Phantom Dragon that Leone generated behaved exactly like the ones she had faced before. In other words, it roared, bared its fangs, and attacked her enemies.

The Phantom Dragon lunged at Ian furiously, eating half of his body from his right hand. Its figure then distorted, faded, then vanished as if it had been sated.

「Wha……?! What was that?! That was……?!」

With half of his body eaten off, Ian was unable to stand and crumbled to the ground. Most of his body was mechanized, so the wound was probably not fatal, but he wouldn’t be able to move with this much damage.

「W-, we did it! So the seal on the Artifacts was incomplete!」

「N-, no! I think the power on my Artifact itself is still sealed! This is, it’s something else, a different power……!」

The moment Leone replied, the surrounding scenery suddenly changed, and the original silvery world village scene returned. She must have succeeded in destroying Ian’s power source with that single blow.

「「「Leone!」」」

There were voices calling her name from above. Just in time for Inglis and the others to arrive. Inglis, Rafinha, and Lahti were boarding the Star Princess unit. While Liselotte was flying on the wings given by her Gift.

「Everyone! Thank god you’ve come! Pullum is injured, please treat her fast!」

「Eh……?! Pullum is?!」

「Wh-, what happened?!」

「Your Highness! Lady Pullum protected a man from that boy’s blade!」

「Ian’s……?! Wh-, what the hell!? How did that even?!」

Lahti looked at Ian, who was half-conscious on the ground, with heartbroken eyes.

「I’ll tell you the details later! We have to treat Pullum ASAP or her life will be in danger!」

「G-, got it! Leave it to me! Come on, Lahti!」

「Yeah……!」

Rafinha and Lahti quickly changed gears and jumped off the Star Princess unit and headed for Pullum. Inglis, Liselotte, and Leone followed, forming a circle.

「Ah, Lahti! I’m sorry, always being a burden……this is why you always call me clumsy, isn’t it?」

Seeing Lahti, Pullum showed an admirable smile despite her pale expression.

「This isn’t time for that, you idiot! S-, sorry……this wouldn’t have happened if I was more reliable! I should have been more forward!」

Lahti’s voice shook as he spoke, but Rafinha slapped him hard on the back.

「Don’t mope around! Don’t worry, I will save her. Come on, just hold her hand! If she feels safe, she’ll heal better!」

Rafinha activated her Gift and gathered the light of healing in her palm.

「Y-, yeah! She’s in your care!」

「Yups!」

As Inglis watched, she had her own thoughts. Rafinha must’ve gotten used to her Gift, as both the speed at which the light converged and the intensity of its brilliance seemed to be several orders of magnitude better than when she first did it.

She even mastered various techniques such as combining both Gifts as one. Her progress was remarkable. She would surely save Pullum.