Chapter 116

But Hector asked shamelessly.

“What do you think? Isn’t it a really good plan?”

His eyes sparkled, suggesting he truly believed it.

“Sigh…”

Sion let out a sigh and offered her opinion.

“Since Banjjak-ie has good defense, let’s have it start a probing battle in the very front. Then, I’ll look for an opening and have Noeul-ie attack.”

Hector was astounded upon hearing Sion’s plan.

“Sion! When did you study such professional-level tactics? Is your goal to be my rival too?”

Sion left her mouth slightly agape, lost for words.

Far from professional-level, it was a plan that anyone with a brain could have come up with.

In fact, to Sion, it had so many flaws that she was worried whether they should even proceed with it.

Sion quickly excluded Hector from their combat power, following Demona.

“Wow, Sion, you’re amazing~ You really like Holy Wars, don’t you?”

‘I guess I have to do this alone.’

Although there were three people, somehow only Sion was left.

“By the way, Hector. What kind of skills can Eongeong-ie use?”

“I don’t know.”

“?”

Unable to hold back any longer at such a confident response, Sion’s mouth fell open.

No matter what, this was going too far!

‘Who caused this mess in the first place…!’

As Sion seemed to hesitate whether to get angry, Hector replied as if it were only natural.

“It hatched today, so how could I know?”

“No, usually you get a feeling at first glance…”

Sion spoke in frustration before trailing off.

Indeed, even Sion had absolutely no idea what kind of abilities the Purgatory Penitence Beast possessed.

“But looking at it earlier, it seemed like it could use black magic.”

“Hmph! As if my divine beast would use something like black magic!”

Sion tightly closed her eyes and shook her head.

‘No, if that’s the case, why did you ask for a Holy War?’

Shouldn’t you fight by any means necessary if you want to win?

Moreover, their opponent was that Roan, who was glaring at them terribly in his anger.

They were the ones who provoked all the anger, yet she had to clean up the mess!

The more she interacted with these two, the more her respect for Roan grew.

“……Then just have Eongeong-ie do a body slam or something at the end.”

“Leave it to me!”

Hector thumped his chest and bragged confidently.

……Sion could slightly understand why the rumors regarding the Pavilto family in the Holy War had arisen.

No, it was not a rumor, but a clear fact.

It was obvious that having three hundred Hectors wouldn’t be very useful.

“Okay. Let’s try that for now.”

“”Oh!””

Demona and Hector shouted in unison to gear up.

It was clearly a 1-versus-3 fight, but Sion kept feeling like she was the ‘1’.

Could these two be sandbags rather than Roan’s right and left arms?

Miyaooong—

Just then, the Sunset Shadow let out a tiny cry on Sion’s shoulder.

She had not expected a newborn divine beast to be more reassuring than her friends.

‘Yes, let’s do well together.’

Sion patted the Sunset Shadow with warm eyes.

The four faced each other like that.

“Is the strategy meeting over?”

“……Yes.”

Sion reluctantly nodded at Roan’s cold question.

“No doubt Sion did it all.”

“What is that supposed to mean!”

“Yeah, Roan! Don’t look down on us! You don’t know how much a fanatic loves the Holy War!”

Demona and Hector flared up.

Roan clicked his tongue.

Sion couldn’t lift her head out of embarrassment.

‘Can’t I really be on Darc’s side…?’

Even the numbers match perfectly at two-on-two…

Joy, acting as the referee, spoke.

“Is everyone ready?”

“The assistant referee is ready!”

For the record, the assistant referee was Seary.

Seary hopped up and down, waving a hand flag she had obtained from who-knows-where.

“We will now begin the Holy War. The Purgatory Penitence Beast is a banned divine beast, but since this is an unofficial match, it is specially permitted. Do both sides agree?”

“Of course!”

Roan instead gave a light nod of his head.

“Now then, start!”

With Joy’s command, the four-person Holy War began.

“Just like the plan!”

“Banjjak-ie!”

Boooong—!

First, the Diamond Beetle flew toward the Abyssal Dragon.

Since it was effectively the oldest, and had trained (?) by hitting the easygoing Demona every day, the beetle’s movements were spirited.

But.

Flutter—

“””???”””

The Abyssal Dragon, which had been coiled at Roan’s feet leisurely watching the situation, spread its Black Wings and flew up much higher than the Diamond Beetle.

“W-What do we do now, Sion!”

Hector called out to Sion like a scream.

However, Sion was equally flustered.

Sion, who didn’t know much about the Holy War, had made the mistake of not predicting the opponent’s actions.

……Who would have known that a newborn divine beast would fly up with magic, but in any case, dragons were bound to fly.

“But why is Yongyong-ie flying like that when it has wings?”

“……Is that important right now?”

Demona’s sudden question almost drained Sion of her energy.

To be honest, Sion was also curious, but now was not the time to ask.

‘Sure enough, Sion did it all.’

Roan watched them and thought that his expectations had not deviated in the slightest.

While those three were having their strategy meeting, Roan hadn’t idled either and had conversed with the Abyssal Dragon.

Surprisingly, he was able to find out that the Abyssal Dragon could use most of the magic Roan knew.

“Nothing changes! Diamond Beetle, fly and charge! I will…”

A beat late, Sion grasped the situation.

“Banjjak-ie!”

It felt as though Demona merely called out the name after Sion gave the command.

Boooong—

The Diamond Beetle charged at the Abyssal Dragon with its horn raised.

But it was already too late.

Kuwaang──!!!

“””???!?!!?!?!”””

The next moment, the Diamond Beetle was embedded upside down in the ground, squirming.

A massive, elongated black holy power shot from the Abyssal Dragon’s mouth had directly hit the Diamond Beetle.

No matter how defense-specialized the Diamond Beetle was, it was still a young individual.

It hadn’t learned any special skills, so there was no way it could withstand such an absurd attack.

‘Skeleton Soldier’s Club. The effect is good for a simple magic.’

Roan looked at that sight with satisfaction.

He did not realize that his black mana, combined with the effect of the Rally of Sworn Allies, the power of authority, and so on, had given it a tremendous buff.

—B-Breath?

In any case, because it happened in an instant, the watching students were startled.

A skill that could be called the trademark of dragon divine beasts, Breath.

Was it actually using it on its very first day?

—……Then shouldn’t dragons be banned instead of the Purgatory Penitence Beast?

—Th-that’s true.

The students harbored doubts about the Association for not banning such a broken divine beast beforehand.

But Joy soon cleared up the students’ misunderstanding.

“That is not Breath, but a holy spell. ‘Shepherd’s Club’.”

Not that dragons were broken divine beasts, but that Roan’s Abyssal Dragon was broken.

In truth, the Association had merely refrained from banning it on paper because they didn’t know what kind of riot would break out if a legendary dragon appeared and was designated as a banned divine beast.

At any rate, the Shepherd’s Club was a basic striking holy spell.

The students grew puzzled upon hearing Joy’s words.

The Shepherd’s Club was a basic holy spell they all knew well.

—That’s the Shepherd’s Club?

—Does the Shepherd’s Club normally send a Diamond Beetle flying like that?

—I feel like the club would break if I did it…

Meaning it was not such an absurdly broken skill.

Joy also could not properly answer the students’ questions.

‘This is the first time I’ve ever heard of a divine beast using a holy spell!’

She could yield a hundred times and assume the suppression holy spell earlier was an instinctive application overlapping with the characteristics of a dragon divine beast.

But using even a basic holy spell properly like that was a different story.

……Joy began to slightly ponder if she should have taken Timothy’s side earlier.

Anyway, back to the Holy War.

“Eongeong-ie! Go!”

As Hector shouted, this time the Purgatory Penitence Beast flew toward the Abyssal Dragon.

The sight of the severed head floating all on its own was truly like a scene from a horror movie.

Thud—

“?”

However, the Purgatory Penitence Beast fell to the ground before it could fly very far.

The muscles of its entire face convulsed, and tears of blood gushed intermittently from its eyes.

It was Roan’s special paralysis spell.

Kyat— kyat—

The Abyssal Dragon let out a brief cry as if ridiculing it.

‘Who does it take after to have a personality like that?’

Roan thought he should give the Abyssal Dragon some character education once the Holy War was over.

To survive in Akerandir as a black mage, he had to keep as low a profile as possible and avoid getting on people’s bad side.

……At least, that was what Roan thought.

Now, only Sion’s Sunset Shadow remained.

Sion felt somehow familiar with this situation.

‘It’s like last week’s Holy War class.’

Sion had lost miserably to Roan in the informal Holy War with the Wind Terrier.

Even now, there seemed to be no way to win against the Abyssal Dragon with its overwhelming presence.

At that moment, Sion bit her lip.

‘Still, I’ll try!’

Although her grand plan to win against Roan and then get close to him had fallen through.

She couldn’t just follow him around forever.

She had to do her best to not feel ashamed before Roan.

Sion absolutely did not want to fall to the same state as Demona and Hector.

Combining this competitive spirit and Sion’s exceptional affinity with divine/spirit beasts, a miracle occurred.

The attack skill of the Sunset Shadow, which she had not known, popped into Sion’s head!

‘So it feels like this!’

At that moment, Sion felt the joy of catching a glimpse of the secret behind Roan’s mysterious ability.

Did he live his life always feeling this sensation?

……Although in reality, it was completely different.

“Noeul-ie! You felt it too, right? You can do it!”

Myaong—!

The Sunset Shadow cried out vigorously.

At the same time, the Sunset Shadow’s form seemed to grow hazy, and before long, it vanished completely.

Kyao—?

The Abyssal Dragon also looked around, seemingly not having anticipated this situation.

Just then, Roan’s voice rang out.

“Bell, the sky!”

The Sunset Shadow’s skill was clear in Roan’s mind.

‘I didn’t expect it to be usable right now.’

Even if it was unexpected, considering Sion’s abilities, it was not impossible.

As Roan said, the Sunset Shadow reappeared above the Abyssal Dragon’s head.

But it was not just one.

‘Sunset Clone.’

Three Sunset Shadows simultaneously swung their hazy but sharp claws at the Abyssal Dragon.

‘Calm down. If I can see it, you can see it too.’

The Sunset Clone was a high-level skill, but it had weaknesses.

And due to her still unrefined skill, the weakness stood out even more to Roan.

In an instant, the three front paws reached right in front of the Abyssal Dragon’s nose.

Joy and the students swallowed hard at the critical moment.

‘It worked!’

Sion also instinctively felt the success of the attack.

Chomp—!

The next moment, the duel was decided.

Miyaaoooong───!

The Sunset Shadow’s pitiful cry was heard.

The Sunset Shadow was trapped, its neck bitten by the Abyssal Dragon.

“Noeul-ie!”

Before the Sunset Clone could be completed and the claws could reach, the Abyssal Dragon had utilized its long neck to bite it by a narrow margin.

Flapping— flapping—

The Abyssal Dragon released the Sunset Shadow gently after landing on the ground.

Kuooooo───!

Then, it roared while activating the Pupil of Alberg once again.

*Did I do well?*

The triumphant boasting to Roan was a bonus.

‘Yeah, but you need to learn how to behave.’

*Gasp!*

Shoooo…

Shocked by Roan’s calm response, it immediately cancelled the magic.

Meanwhile, Sion held the Sunset Shadow preciously in her arms and stroked it.

Fortunately, the bite wound was not deep.

Roan approached Sion and said.

“Excellent. To think you can already use the Sunset Clone.”

Sion wanted to say, ‘Your Abyssal Dragon was casting holy spells, though?’ but held back.

Demona and Hector, who were tending to their own divine and spirit beasts nearby, laughed heartily.

“Did you hear? Roan said we are excellent.”

“Hahaha! I agree, it was a wonderful match. Next time, we will definitely win.”

Roan and Sion simultaneously looked at the two of them with contemptuous eyes.