Chapter 163

Chapter 163 Strongest Sage, Intercepts

" . . . 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 .

With that in mind, I see what the content is about by reading the surrounding mana .

『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 . . .

" . . . 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 .