Chapter 163
" . . . I haven't been able to control the Dragon Vein since awhile ago . . . Is that your doing?"
The demon suddenly turned around when I was approaching him while concealing my presence .
Well, I already knew that surprise attacks wouldn't work against this level of demon, so it's not a problem .
Might be different if the opponent were defenseless, but they were in high alert after that cave in .
"And what if it is?"
I replied with a vague answer that neither deny or confirm it .
Letting your enemy keep holding their own misunderstanding is a basic of battle .
However . . .
The mana around the demon shook unnaturally before he showed a reaction .
This is . . . It's most likely a communication magic .
『Don't be fooled . Mathias Hildesheimr might be capable of obstructing our attempt to control the Dragon Vein, but not when he's moving . Assume that someone is lurking near the Dragon Vein and doing the sabotage . Judging from the magic used, the one hindering us is most likely a Glory Crest . Each of the magic is likely not of high level, but it's skilfully used . 』
『Understood . Then I will fight him while pretending to have been fooled . 』
There's probably another demon who's giving instructions to this demon here .
Judging from the content, like the things with magic and Dragon Vein, that demon knows his stuff .
I can destroy their comm here, but . . . the fight might be easier if I intercept their communication while pretending to have no idea about it .
And I can find out the enemy's skill level with this too .
" . . . I see . That means, I can manipulate the Dragon Vein as much as I like once I've killed you . "
The demon deployed a barrier as he said that .
However, unlike an ordinary barrier, the spell art is concentrated at the center .
A countermeasure against Disqualified Crest huh .
Since the spell art is located at the center, it's hard to destroy this type of barrier with Disqualified Crest .
. . . . Well, at least that's how it is for those who don't know how to make us of Disqualified Crest .
I tampered only a part of the deployed barrier magic's spell art .
Breaking down the entire barrier is difficult if you don't destroy its spell art, however . . . It's not that hard to slip in by simply breaking a part of it .
"Wha . . . "
I quickly augment my sword while the demon was shocked .
Then I attempted to stab the demon, however . . .
<TLN: If you're reading this novel at any other site than Sousetsuka . com you might be reading an unedited, uncorrected version of the novel . >
" . . . Sturdy as expected huh . "
A demon with proper strength is sturdy .
Well other demons so far were all scouts after all .
But . . . That's not all .
Judging from the mana reaction, this demon has probably used a magic to defend against melee attacks on himself .
『Looks like the countermeasures against Mathias work well . 』
『Yes . His strength is stronger than anticipated, however it doesn't seem like he can break through it . 』
『Finish it before he could break it . Long term combat is disadvantageous against a stronger opponent . 』
『 . . . Yes . 』
Just as I thought .
This demon is considerably more powerful than all other demons I've fought so far . . . And more than that, he's seemingly drawn up a plan to cope with Disqualified Crests .
However . . . This demon only know Disqualified Crest that fights with magically enhanced swords .
And in fact, that was mostly how I fought against all demons I encountered so far .
However--the Disqualified Crest wouldn't have been praised as the strongest crest if that was all there is to it .
It's true that augmenting a sword with a huge quantity of attack magic makes for a powerful weapon, however that's not the only trick a Disqualified Crest has .
『Ruli, prepare the 14th magic circle . 』
『Yes!』
I prepare to attack while giving instructions to Ruli .
At a glance, it might look like a defensive magic from the way it blocked my attack earlier . . . But it's actually not .
It's impossible to have the magic permanently active to protect against an attack magic that powerful .
There is gap you can breach here .
The question is where to create that opportunity . . . since they've prepared a nice material for it and all, allow me to use it .