《The Power to Control Time (And Various Others)》6: Double Trouble
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A/N: Good day everyone! I'm here to just say this one thing: Most of the time, the chapter titles are somewhat random. Most of the time, I just make them up on the spot once I'm about to upload the chapter. I try to relate them to the chapter's contents but that always doesn't work out.
Again, thank you for reading and enjoy!
=====
My body did not move.
No, it wasn’t that it couldn’t move.
It just didn’t want to.
From the words the Dragon exclaimed in anger, the reason she came at me with fury was because I disturbed her sleep.
Looking at it from any angle, it was a reason no ordinary person would use to attack someone.
Furthermore, a Dragon should not even be this far from their homeland.
And judging from the voice that has been shouting at me since earlier, this one’s age is comparable to that of a 12-year old girl at most.
Which means………..
“You’re just throwing a tantrum at me for waking you up, right? Even though you should have already been awake since earlier.”
I bluntly stated the fact at her.
“Shu-“
“Shu?”
She began saying something. Curious as to what it was, I asked her so that she would continue it.
“SHUT UUUUUUUUUUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
“Woah?!”
I jumped away in time to avoid the wind blades that she casted which were heading for me.
“Hey, calm down!”
“Shut up, you idiot!!!!”
“Now its fireballs?!”
With my inhuman speed, I’m able to escape from the range of her fireballs.
But the time it takes for her chant spells is too short. I haven’t even heard her say a spell’s name either.
“Not spells………so could it be inherent abilities?”
Thinking about it carefully, it’s also a possible reason. Spells, from a simplistic point of view, were created with magic to achieve the goal of replicating various abilities animals and miasmic creatures could do naturally.
“Who knew wind blade could be an ability as well. !”
Casting the transparent wall, her attacks were being blocked consecutively.
“Alright, now that that’s out of the way for now.”
My intention was to stop her movements and escape without worry. But,
“!!!”
EH?!?!?!?!?!?! There was such a spell as that?!?!?! Wait, doesn’t that mean as long as a mage knew of my skill and when I would use it on them, my skill would be practically useless then?!?!
“Eh?”
I let out a dumb voice.
Yes, that’s right. That logic only applied to if the enemy knew the moment I would use it on them. So how did this Dragon know I was going to use it on her?
She notices my wondering look, as her face seemed to be showing a smug look.
“Oh my, oh my. Is it safe to say that you don’t know what I just did? Or maybe it’s because you don’t know how I figured out the timing of your skill? Such a shame, such a shame. Hahahahaha!!!”
For a young girl, she sure is confident.
“Well, since you seem like a strong guy, I’ll tell you if, and it’s a big if, you beat me.”
Saying those words with a face that was underestimating me,
“Very well. I’ll make sure not to leave a scar on your body.”
I replied with those foreboding words.
“Eh? Scar? Eh?”
Ignoring her, I jumped at her. Thanks to my peerless strength and the various effects of my skill, the distance between us was closed in an instant.
“Eeeeeeeh?!?!?! How did you---”
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Raising my right fist, since I left my sword on the ground to avoid injuring her too much, it impacted with her body. The sensation of punching a steel wall was sent throughout my body, but I didn’t mind it too much since there was no sense of pain whatsoever from the action.
The Dragon’s body went crashing down into the forest below. Trees and other objects were sent flying as she skidded to a halt.
“.”
As the name implied, this spell created small platforms made out of air from the user’s surroundings. It is usually used as steps to smoothly go up or down into the air.
Casting the spell for its intended use, I hurried down to where the Dragon’s body lay.
===
BOOM!!!!!!!!
A large gust of winds sweeps through the entire town of Gramsfer as I was walking back from the marketplace.
Taking care not to damage any of the purchased goods, I look around for the source of the unnatural occurrence.
There.
In the distance, a large mushroom cloud was forming somewhere deep in the forest.
“Hey, could it be?”
“You mean the ‘Forest’s Killer’?”
“No doubt about it. It’s got to be that!”
“Did some idiot try to take it on all by himself?”
“No way would that ever happen!!!”
“But, what if someone does then that thing goes for the town?!”
“Then we’ll just have to---”
I travel back down the road to the inn.
Considering the circumstances, yes. It is indeed this ‘Forest’s Killer’ that is the cause of the sudden gust of wind and the mushroom cloud.
It is also correct that someone was taking it on by himself.
HOWEVER!
That person is no idiot. And there is also no chance of that thing going after this town.
Subordination Magic. Aside from being able to transform into a form belonging to the master’s race, the subordinate can also sense if they’re master is in danger ignoring the distance between the two.
One of the reasons it was considered a somewhat superior version to slavery magic.
“Now then, before I continue……is there something that person hiding behind the corner would like to say?”
Announcing in a loud voice after reaching a part of the road with few people, a figure walks out of a building’s shadow.
“Oh my. To have seen through my stealth magic, mister butler must have extraordinary magic perception!”
The waitress from the bar says calmly.
“I accept your praise. However, isn’t it uncomfortable to confront me in that form………’Explosive Magician’.”
“Tsk.”
She clicks her tongue but I ignore it.
Until now, I still do not know the strength of normal people in this age and neither does master. So in the case of someone to be acknowledged as a powerful existence such as the person in front of me, I couldn’t help but be cautious.
The figure of the waitress is enveloped in light. Seconds pass and it slowly disappears.
‘Explosive Magician’. This person was now standing in front of me. Her characteristics were vastly different from the waitress who was working in the bar a few hours ago. Although she looked to still be a young girl around 15 or 16 years of age, she now had long brown hair tied into a ponytail at her back, analytical brown eyes which were watching my every movement and a mature face that showed just how serious she was in her line of work.
But none of these could compete with what could be her most outstanding features. Her body could be said to belong to only the upper echelons of beauty in this world. Further proving this claim was the most noticeable difference between her disguise and her true self.
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Whereas her disguise only had a moderate chest at most, her real self’s chest was......
To describe it accurately, most mage’s wore robes instead of armor to help with the emphasis of movement. Normally, these robes fitted perfectly to the mage’s body. However, this was only true to mages with the usual body proportions. For people like the ‘Explosive Magician’ whose bodies were ‘extravagant’ and ‘abundant in health’, the robe would be visibly tight around the chest area.
But for the person in front of him, her chest looked as if it would explode out of her robe any moment now. Even the slightest movement and it would do the most beautiful dance any man could witness in his life.
As master’s subordinate, I must not be defeated by such lowly temptations…….
As a man however, my eyes could do nothing but to be attracted to the marvelous treat laid out in front of me.
“Mhm! I see. I see now!!!”
“Eh? What is it? What do you see? You’ve been strangely quiet for a while now mister butler!”
Sensing something wrong, the girl slightly backed away from me.
“Oh. Nothing. Nothing important. I was just thinking that the title of ‘Explosive Magician’ suited someone by the likes of you!”
I told her straightforwardly.
“Eh? Eh?!?!?! Pl-please stop! I hate that title! I HATE IT!!!”
As if on reflex, her arms moved to hold her chest as she backed away slowly with a red face. Consequently though, this only emphasized the size of her chest even more.
Feeling sorry for her and having had my fill for the day,
“Now, now, calm down. I was merely wasting time. And so, what business do you have with this lowly butler?”
“Huh? Eh? Ah, yes!”
Having remembered her original objective, she regained her calm and dignified appearance.
She took hold of the staff on her back and pointed it at me.
“Kuroga, self-proclaimed butler and companion of Helgas’ hero, Sir Kinji Shirokawa! Under the order of her majesty, Princess Stephaly Helgas, you will be captured and brought back to the royal capital, Dravint, by me, Haylee Drind, a royal mage under the personal command of the princess herself!!!”
Saying a long string of words meant to be a capture order, I stood in silence.
“He-hey! Say something!!!”
Oh, she’s blushing. Is she embarrassed from saying all those things earlier?
Well, I don’t know how things have changed in this country but if you’re not able to shout all those without getting embarrassed afterwards, please don’t say them at all.
Just having a similar style of combat made me pity her.
“Does that mean it is safe to assume that you will use any means to capture me, even force?”
“Of course! In the first place, I was sure that there would be no other way after all! And I’m also sure that the cause of that huge spectacle over at the forest is due to your master, the hero, am I right?”
What a sharp mind. Though it is truly disheartening for her to have such conflicting traits.
“Then, with all due respect, please come at me.”
Gently placing the recently bought goods on the ground, I release half of my magic power that I have been keeping in check.
“This---such a huge amount of magic power!!!”
“Oh my, please don’t be intimidated by this much. Now, will you make the first move, or I?”
“Hmph! I will accept that offer then!”
I could sense magic power within her being transferred to the staff. Her lips were moving in accordance with the chant of the spell she was preparing.
“Now! !”
Wha?! To use such a spell in a populated area?!
“!!!”
Two spells were casted at almost the same time. In an almost deserted area of the town, a grand battle between two exceedingly powerful mages went unnoticed.
===
“Here, here, here!!!”
My fists were getting faster and faster in attacking the grounded Dragon who could nothing but use her tail to block against my attacks.
“Guh!!! Don’t get full of yourself!!!”
“!!!”
The spikes on her tail flew out, heading towards me. I was able to dodge the first 4, but one hit the ground in front of me, knocking me back with the last one hitting me square in the chest.
“Bgah!!!!!”
Iron. My mouth tasted iron from that one attack.
“It hurts!!!!!!!! !”
A golden glow covered the area where blood was gushing out.
To think I’d have this much hard of a time so early. This is only for those overpowered protagonists, you know?! But, in a sense, I am sort of overpowered. My skill is, but I thought my power would be much higher than anyone else in this world.
What’s the point of the ‘peerless’ in my peerless strength?!
…...
Wait a minute!
Thinking that I might have figured out something, I tried running into the forest to buy myself time to think.
“Yeah…..nope……not happening!”
Shouting as I jumped into the air to avoid a massive fireball, the Dragon chased after me.
“You’re not getting away!!!”
She grabbed me with her forelegs!
Without realizing that she was using too much strength in holding me, she threw me down to the ground.
“I’m not dying yet! !!!”
Just before hitting the ground, I land on a soft pack of air.
She was just hovering above me.
Probably waiting for my next move.
But what she just did proved my hypothesis.
Comparing my fight with Stephaly and this Dragon, I figured out what the purpose of the ‘peerless’ was in my strength and magic power.
They were both truly worlds apart from most people in this world. But like how I learned of people being able to bridge the gap between others with high stats by levelling. That was the same for this Dragon.
Though it wasn’t really at the same level, it was close enough that she’s able to deal me damage and even kill me. Also, unlike magic power which could only increase through meditation and the like, strength was something gained by training the body and going through harsh experiences.
The strength I had now was gained due to Libreria’s, a god’s, gift. So although my attacks did have extraordinary power in them, it was not the same with my body. Which is why my peerless strength could do only so much for my introvert-conditioned body.
“So I’ll also have to train in this world, huh. Who knew even I would need to put some effort.”
I was too reliant on Libreria’s gifts. I thought I could live life here without putting so much effort like how it was back on Earth. But no, even the summoned heroes, I’m sure they had to put lots of effort to be able to put up a fight with the Demons in the frontlines.
Yes, this isn’t some light novel or anime where I can solve everything with a snap of my fingers. Even my skill which has the potential to stop time can be countered. Nothing in this world was truly overpowered nor unbeatable. Sooner or later, even Stephaly will be able to catch up to me. And then………and then……..
“With speed comes greater power, is what I remember from my days in school, I think.”
Then so, even if it will put too much burden on my body, if I don’t do this then I won’t be able to beat her.
“Since you don’t seem to be too keen on moving!!!”
She dived down from the air. But, if I were to say this, it was already too late.
Even I’m not sure if we’ll both get out of this unscathed but I have already made up my mind.
“DIE!!!!!!!”
“!!!”
A huge tremor resulted from that attack. It was so strong, that even towns farther away felt it.
No one at that time thought that anything more powerful than that could occur.
But in contrast to those thoughts, this tremor could only be called the curtain rising on the two’s real battle.
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