I Became the Villain of a Romance Fantasy

174 – Rival (3)

Ertuwen, the master of one of only seven magic towers on the continent and a long-standing magic family in the empire, mainly practices magic that deals with boundaries.

If elemental magic based on the five elements of nature is considered universal, then Ertuwen’s boundary magic, along with Edelweiss’ constellation magic, can be considered special magic.

The path of magic (魔道) is different from the path of martial arts (武道) that anyone can try at least once, and only those with the talent for it can begin. And among the few who enter the path of magic, only a few with the talent can use boundary magic and holy magic.

It’s not that basic elemental magic doesn’t have any qualities, but it doesn’t discriminate as much as boundary magic and astral magic. If elemental magic is basic, any magician can use it, but these two magics can’t.

This is truly magic for the main characters of the story.

There’s a reason Richard and Elena specialize in these instead of elemental magic. Nothing makes a character more special than having mastered a magic that only those with rare qualities can master.

Orcus is a wizard who mainly deals with the fire element, but let’s make an exception for him since he has divine powers.

Anyway, even if we set aside the fact that it is an element that highlights the genius and specialness of the characters, it is an undeniable fact that boundary magic is a ‘special’ magic. If we look at the power of the astral magic that Elena and Joachim use, we can indirectly see the greatness of boundary magic that has been on par with it for a long time.

The concept of boundary is quite comprehensive, so it may be hard to get a feel for what kind of magic it is, but to put it simply, it is a magic that deals with space. It is a characteristic of boundary magic that it manipulates space to the extent that it can be called space magic rather than boundary magic, but the reason it is called boundary is because the essence of this magic is to deal with boundaries between dimensions.

If you recall the duel between Elena and Richard at the Faculty of Magic, Richard mainly summoned spirits and used them for attacks, and this spirit magic itself is derived from boundary magic. Summoning spirits, who are from other dimensions, is a type of boundary magic.

There are endless things you can do with boundary magic, as it is magic that manipulates space, but if you look at the way Richard Ertuwen uses it, you can think of an elementalist from a game or comic.

Considering that in the original, Richard was a gentle and soft nobleman compared to other characters, this usage is somewhat understandable. Usually, characters who use techniques such as spirit magic or breeding are generally considered to have kind hearts.

But even now, Richard will not be able to feel the same as usual. Unlike the smile on his lips, Richard’s eyes are sharp. The end of the guy’s gaze, who is concentrating, is directed at Reinhard.

Looking at Richard’s serious face, it seems like he’s going to take it seriously this time, unlike the other kids. Or maybe he’s just nervous? Well, it’s understandable if the opponent is Reinhard.

“Is it a barrier?”

With the declaration of start, a strange magical wave spread around Richard, and Richard’s presence became blurred. When I looked closely, I felt a spherical magical force surrounding the chairman. It seemed to be the effect of a barrier, but I don’t know much about magic, so I don’t know exactly what the effect is. I think I know that the speed of creating the barrier was very fast.

“It’s spatial glass. Richard’s appearance is still visible in reality, but his body has actually moved to the other world. It’s a high-level magic, but the base speed is very fast.”

Thank you, Elenawiki.

As I looked at Richard with a curious expression, Elena explained in detail what magic was. Since my knowledge of magic is only superficial, as it is found in books, Elena’s explanation is essential for things that cannot be judged intuitively.

Fortunately, Richard’s next spell didn’t require any explanation from Elena. It was obvious just by looking at it.

At the same time as the barrier, five magic circles formed in the air, each with its own set of five energies: fire, water, wood, metal, and wind. These energies soon took on certain shapes. Where the fire energies came from, a giant covered in lava emerged, where the water energies came from, the head of a sea dragon emerged, where the wood energies came from, a deer, where the iron energies came from, a turtle, and lastly, where the wind energies came from, a bird with huge wings.

Each spirit has a presence that can fill a hall.

Their enormous presence tells us how high the rank of these spirits is.

‘That’s amazing.’

A high-ranking spirit like me would be great if he could handle just one, but Richard showed off his prowess by summoning five at the same time. I don’t think I overdid it by overestimating my abilities. The fact that their powerful presence was being restrained under Richard was proof of that.

‘Then Reinhardt is… leisurely.’

In the midst of all this, Reinhardt was watching this with a calm and composed expression.

Richard’s base speed was fast, but I know from having fought Reinhard many times. He was waiting. So that Richard could unleash his power. After confirming that the summoning of the spirits was finished, Reinhardt only then put his hand on his sword.

“Go.”

With those words, Reinhardt flew up like a bolt of lightning.

The first to be struck by lightning was the bird of wind. Perhaps it was the fastest because it was the wind. The first to react to Reinhardt’s attack was also the wind. Reinhardt’s attack wasn’t targeted at one person from the beginning. The guy’s sword was aimed at all of them, and the wind was the fastest to counter it.

The bird of wind created a gust of wind to block the incoming lightning, but it was torn to pieces by the guy’s sword.

It only took a moment for the giant wings that seemed to cover the entire chairman to fall away.

A whirlwind rose up to protect my body along with an ear-piercing scream, but Reinhard rode the wind as if he were surfing the waves and went inside. As the scream stopped, the wind died down and the bird disappeared.

From then on it was a chaotic battle.

As the bird disappeared, other spirits simultaneously attacked Reinhardt. The ground shook, lava gushed out, and tidal waves swept in. All the elements went berserk, and it was like watching a scene of a natural disaster that no human could dare resist.

Reinhardt, floating in the air, calmly watched the wrath of nature and then struck down all the attacks flying towards him with one sword. All elements were equal before his sword. The moment they entered the area of ​​Reinhardt’s sword, everything was cut down.

Reinhardt slid down to the giant’s shoulder, slashing at it from its fingertips to its arms as it reached out to him. He then cut off its head, knocking its teeth out, and flew up again to plunge his sword into the sea dragon’s skull and twist it.

The thunder god energy that reached its peak rode the sword and struck the sea dragon, and the sea dragon soon lost its form and burst, spreading water in all directions. As the sea dragon disappeared, the sword that had been retrieved swung towards the ground and cut down the turtle with one stroke. After that, Reinhardt returned to the ground and cut down the deer along with the tree that was extending its branches towards him.

I have no words.

The power of the spirits summoned by Richard was certainly great, but Reinhard was even greater.

Of course, that wasn’t all the spirits had, but looking at the current results, I think that whatever happened, Reinhard would have defeated them in the end. And that’s exactly what happened.

As all the spirits were summoned back, blood spurted from Richard’s mouth, indicating that he was a master of spirit magic.

Richard wiped the blood away, looked at Reinhard, shrugged, and split his body into several parts as if he had used the clone technique. Just because the spirit was hit, it wasn’t the end for Richard. His presence was felt in all of the dozens of Richards that had been split. Richard’s presence was already blurred by the barrier, but with the clone technique, it was hard to tell what was real.

As the Richards split into clones and started to spit out flames, Reinhardt cut them all down like he had done before.

It seems that everything that is not a welcome has the same physical power as the real thing. Reinhardt slashed at Richards who were blasting him with flames, and he slashed at them with the same sword energy, but Richard was fine, as if cutting through fog, but his form was only blurred for a moment.

I had a feeling that this was one of the effects of the space glass barrier that Elena had mentioned earlier.

Richard’s true body is in the other world, so Reinhard’s sword aura cannot reach it. His clones are probably a kaleidoscope-like effect. They don’t actually stretch, but Richard’s appearance reflected from another space is projected onto the present world like a clone technique.

Since Richard is a barrier wizard, it seems that he can only send his attacks to the present world, but if this happens, Reinhardt will not be able to land a valid hit on Richard unless he breaks the barrier.

I was able to infer this because I heard Elena’s explanation, but unless Reinhard had detailed knowledge of magic, it would be difficult for him to think this far. However, since I was a swordsman and a warrior, I could predict how Reinhard would act now.

Reinhardt, seeing that his attack was not working, twisted his body while turning the hand holding the sword behind his body. Then, he awakened the brain energy that had been dormant in his body and began to expand the surrounding space into his own area. When the entire barrier surrounding the chairman entered his own area, he swung his sword.

“Thunder fills the sky”

Then, with the sound of lightning, the chairman’s barrier collapsed.

Richard appeared in the space that was shattered like a broken mirror. As if it wasn’t over yet, Richard gathered his magical power in his hand again, but Reinhard arrived first. Before Richard’s hand, which had gathered magical power, could come out, Reinhard’s sword struck it first, and then the sword was aimed at Richard’s neck.

“Ahahahaha….I surrender.”

As Reinhardt’s sword reached his throat, Richard raised his hand, indicating that he had lost.

It was quite a tense duel, but as expected, Reinhardt won as expected.

When Richard summoned the spirits, I thought the battle would take a long time, but I was wrong. Still, I did get something out of it, since I saw Reinhardt’s movements differently than before.

While I was trying to replay the duel between the two in my own way, I felt eyes on me from the hall. When I looked at who it was, it was Reinhard. He was looking straight at me from the hall. It seemed like his gaze was urging me to come down quickly.

I raised my hand towards the guy.