431 Chapter 431: Knight versus Dragon (1/2)

Charles's eyes narrowed when he caught sight of my newly conceptualized Draco.

”Goodness,” he remarked. ”Just how many Soul Beasts can you summon?”

”Well…” I pushed my glasses up my nose and shrugged. ”88 Constellation spirits that are recognized by the International Astronomical Union, and the five Celestial Guardians of Chinese astrology. The good news is that I can't summon all of them at once – I don't have the mana to pull such a ridiculous feat off.”

”Really?” Charles barked out a laugh and then shrugged helplessly. ”Man, I was planning on cutting them down one by one, but even if you can only summon a fraction of close to a hundred Soul Beasts, even I won't have the stamina to fight all of them all night.”

He then pointed his sword at me again.

”Let's not dally around any further. Is that dragon your strongest Soul Beast? Bring out your most powerful summons. I've given you ample time to do that. Let's finish this once and for all.”

”My, pretty confident, aren't you?” I remarked. Inwardly, I fought to suppress a surge of panic. Charles was unruffled even after seeing Draco, and even asked me to bring out my strongest summons. That meant he was sure he could defeat my trump card. Considering his superlative skills, and how he so easily dispatched so many of my Constellation spirits so far, I had no doubt that he was perfectly capable of that.

So this was the champion of last year's tournament. A very formidable foe indeed.

Feeling a bead of perspiration drip down my face despite the sudden chill that my summoning of Draco brought, I kept a smile frozen on my face. I couldn't let his confidence get to me. Even if he believed himself stronger, I just had to do my own thing and prove him wrong. That was all.

”Draco!”

My dragon moved immediately, lunging forward to slash at Charles. Amazingly enough, the puny human stood his ground and bravely parried the titanic claws. To my surprise, Charles merely skidded a few meters backward, his teeth gritted as he dug his feet in, but he held.

Then Draco sent a blast of freezing mana washing over him. The holy sword wielder vanished in a white fog, but he stumbled out a few moments later, his body half entombed in ice. His holy magic kicked in and he shattered the ice instantly. He then swung his sword in a wide arc, deflecting Draco's next swipe, and then displayed remarkable agility to leap up and avoid the next few slashes.

Almost as if he was flying through the air, Charles leaped high up to strike Draco's head. However, an icy tail whipped out and caught him by the side, sending him flying several dozen meters across the air. He then crashed into a wall and disappeared under an avalanche of rubble.

”Phew…” I exhaled. At least Charles wasn't decimating my dragon like he did my other Constellation spirits. That meant I still had a chance.

Boom!

A massive slab of rock was sent flying through the air, in Draco's direction, but the colossal dragon merely ripped it apart with his claws, grounding the debris into powder. At the opposite end, Charles trudged out, looking worse for the wear but otherwise still raring to go. He grinned, and then kicked off the ground and crossed the distance in a single bound. Swinging his sword down, he made to decapitate Draco.

Whirling around, Draco lowered his head while whipping his tail forward. Charles almost couldn't defend himself in time. While he was still sailing across the arena, he was unable to dodge in midair. Therefore he could only defend himself with his sword.

The spiked, icy tail caught him and tossed him back, but he flipped himself in midair and landed with his feet against the wall. The reinforced concrete caved in from the impact, debris and stone shaking loose, but he then propelled himself forward again.

This time, holy lightning crackled around him. Charles swung his sword outward and launched tremendous webs of deadly, jagged electricity across the arena, catching Draco almost unawares. However, Draco wasn't such a wimp to fall for that, and with a determined bellow, he countered with a blast of freezing mana that trapped the approaching bolts of lightning in ice. The two elemental mana clashed and exploded, clouding the entire space in dense fog.

”Phew…”

I couldn't help but shiver from the sudden cold. Despite me learning ice magic, I could never get used to the extreme temperatures that my own Constellation spirits or my own spells generated.

”You shouldn't let your guard down.”

”!!!”

I didn't, exactly, and was able to parry a blow from Charles. Making use of the fog as cover, he had gone straight for me, striking at my jugular. Needless to say, he failed, and would have failed even if he had kept his mouth shut. I could detect his presence, thanks to my glasses.

Even with the thick fog obscuring vision, there were infrared signatures outlined in my lenses, the sensors picking up thermal and mana readings. That gave me one advantage that my enemy didn't possess.

”As long as I eliminate the summoner, the summoned Soul Beasts will disappear along with his consciousness. So you can't afford to let your guard down and let your Soul Beast do all the fighting!”

”Thank you for your advice,” I replied dryly as I exchanged several more blows with him, my lenses detecting the hint of silver flashes and outlining them clearly in my field of vision so that I could parry accordingly. I was already aware of that, and was prepared accordingly.

In fact, that very same weakness could be used as a strategy – since I knew my own vulnerability as well as my enemies, I could exploit that knowledge and use that against them. In other words, their tactics would be obvious and predictable, and I could set a trap of my own.

”!!!”

And Charles was about to learn that the hard way. While he was engaged in furious combat with me, Draco swung down and slashed him from behind, almost tearing open his rear armor. There was a slight spray of blood, but because of the holy sword wielder's unworldly combat sense, he had moved on instinct to avoid a fatal blow.

This guy was really frustrating to fight against.

Charles staggered away and withdrew to escape yet another swipe from Draco. His eyes widened, and he was clearly wondering how Draco was able to see him, even amidst such a thick fog.

The answer was simple. Draco shared senses with me, whether it was visual, aural or even olfactory. He could see whatever I could see, hear whatever I could hear, even smell or feel whatever I was in contact with. Additionally, we were linked telepathically, so I could mentally direct him to attack wherever I needed him to, without speaking a single word out loud.

Draco continued to pursue him, and Charles unleashed another thunderbolt that keept the enormous Constellation spirit back. Draco conjured a glacial wall to block the devastating spell, which obliterated the ice screen under a few seconds. Skidding backward, Charles assessed his situation grimly, and then he decided not to dwell on it for too long and charged forward again.