The Villainous Noble Who Kept Rewinding After Death: The Story Somehow Changed When I Committed Suicide

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The Villainous Noble Who Kept Rewinding After Death: The Story Somehow Changed When I Committed Suicide

Episode 28: Fierce Battle

Arriving in front of the door leading to the boss room on the 40th floor, we gazed at the ornate door, realizing this was the final level.

“That door looks ridiculously extravagant.”

“Yeah, it’s obvious.”

Indeed. The door in front of us was unlike any we’d seen before, intricately adorned with ice, creating a totally different atmosphere.

“This is the final stretch. Are you okay?”

“Not a problem.”

“Alright. Let’s go!”

We opened the door and cautiously stepped inside.

The interior was vast, seemingly designed for a group battle.

However, as we scanned the area, we couldn’t spot the boss, causing Fiera and me to exchange puzzled glances.

“Where’s the boss?”

As Fiera muttered that, I felt something stir above us and looked up.

“Fiera! Up there!”

What hovered above was a dragon-like sculpture made of ice, which scrutinized us for a moment before it slowly descended to the ground.

“A replica of a dragon.”

The real dragon would typically have S-rank upper-tier strength, but this one, being an imitation made of ice, likely fell just below S-rank in strength.

(This is bad. I’m not sure we can win against it with the current strength we have.)

We had certainly grown stronger, but we still weren’t strong enough to guarantee victory against even a replica dragon.

Moreover, it was just the two of us, both combat types in a battle.

In the worst-case scenario, I could heal us, but my magic power wasn’t infinite.

The likelihood of us running out of magic power before we could defeat it was probably higher.

“Fiera. Go all out from the start. I’ll keep up with you.”

“Understood.”

Following my instructions, Fiera activated her bodily enhancement at full strength and lunged toward the dragon, landing a hit in a split second.

“Ah!”

However, the dragon barely flinched from her attack, and Fiera couldn’t help but let out a sound at its unexpected hardness.

The dragon glared at Fiera, freezing her in place, and launched an attack with its arm to crush her, but I deflected its strike with my sword from the side.

“Don’t let your guard down!”

“I’m sorry!”

We continued to focus on attacking with Fiera as the centerpiece, but the dragon’s toughness was overwhelming compared to the monsters we’d faced before, and it felt like our attacks were having no effect.

(This is bad. If this continues…)

“Fiera! Transform into beast form!”

“But if I do that, El will—!”

“Just buy us some time! Hurry!”

“…Got it.”

I thought we wouldn’t get anywhere in this state, so I decided to bet on Fiera’s transformation.

Facing this beast alone would be tough, but she could at least divert its attention for a while.

For the next minute, I held back on attacks and avoided the monster’s strikes, focusing on gathering its hate toward me.

“El.”

After surviving that minute, I stepped back at Fiera’s call, and she took my place, moving closer to the dragon and striking.

This time, there was a slight crack that appeared on the dragon’s body.

“Gyahhhhh!!”

Being struck and feeling the crack on its body seemed to infuriate the dragon, which then directed all its attacks solely toward Fiera.

It unleashed an array of diverse attacks, including ice shards and tail sweeps, but its massive size meant it couldn’t keep up with Fiera’s nimble beast movements and ended up taking hit after hit.

However, Fiera seemed to struggle to put enough force into each of her swings due to her constant movement, and her attacks lacked decisive power.

Meanwhile, I provided magical support, but the spells I had preserved couldn’t deal any real damage to it.

Yet if I unleashed all my magic, I risked dragging Fiera into it, and if we couldn’t defeat it, we wouldn’t be able to escape.

Our battle bogged down in a deadlock for about ten minutes, but finally, the balance was broken.

“Ugh! Hah… hah…”

Fiera, who had been ready for a counterattack, suddenly collapsed when she tried to push off the ground with her legs.

(Could it be? Time’s up!?)

Transforming required more stamina than usual, so she couldn’t maintain it for too long.

Since ten minutes had passed since she transformed, her stamina must’ve run out.

Fiera desperately tried to stand up, but her legs wouldn’t cooperate, and she reverted back from her beast form.

Seeing Fiera vulnerable, the dragon took that opportunity to conjure nearly a hundred ice pillars to deliver the finishing blow.

“Damn! Make it in time!”

I fueled my legs with full-body enhancement and dashed over to Fiera, casting multiple protective barriers with light magic.

The dragon launched its ice pillars at my barriers, which collided and disintegrated in rapid succession.

When the last barrier was shattered, the final ice pillar shot directly at me.

“Guh…”

The ice pillar pierced my abdomen, staining my back with blood.

“El!”

As the ice pillar struck me and vanished, blood gushed forth from the wound.

“El! El…!”

Fiera shouted my name from behind, but her voice began to fade.

(Ah. This feeling… so nostalgic. The approach of death… the fading sounds…)

I had experienced this feeling of dying many times. My body was going cold while the wound burned with intense heat. My consciousness and vision were hazy, and sounds dulled in the distance.

(Am I going to die again? Without defeating my enemy…? No way. I’ve always challenged overwhelming foes and triumphed. Dying without doing anything is unthinkable!)

Desperately forcing my fading consciousness to wake up, I pressed a hand against the wound.

“High-Class Healing.”

Using recovery magic for first aid, I swept my blood-soaked hair out of my eyes.

“I’m in peak condition, huh? To think I would even consider fleeing from someone who provides this much entertainment. What a fool I am.”

I had always been the type to charge right at strong foes.

Yet here I was, thinking of conserving strength or fleeing in front of that very same might. How foolish could I be?

“That’s right. I’ve always been a challenger.”

“…El? Are you okay?”

“Not a problem. More importantly, can you move?”

“Only a bit.”

“Then head toward the wall.”

“Why? Let’s escape together.”

Realizing she couldn’t possibly fight against it anymore, Fiera weakly suggested we flee.

“If you’re going to run, do it by yourself. Just hurry up already!”

However, running away from this was no longer an option for me.

I gave her a fierce glare, infused with killing intent, and told her so. She managed to stand and stagger toward the wall.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. From here on, it’s my turn to face you. Now, can you kill me? ‘Black Flame Spear!'”

With a smirk, I conjured ten black flame spears and hurled them at the dragon.

Sensing the danger from my black flames, the dragon countered with ice pillars crafted from its magic.

None of my black flames were extinguished by a single ice pillar, but when hit by multiple, they were finally snuffed out.

“Smart one. But black flames might still be effective. Then, ‘Black Flame Storm!'”

This time, I created a whirlpool of black flames near the dragon, and it attempted to evade by flying.

“Not so fast! ‘Gravity!'”

Amplifying the gravity on the dragon a hundredfold with dark magic, it could no longer fly and crashed to the ground.

“Gyahhhhh!”

The dragon spewed ice breath in a desperate attempt to combat the whirlpool of black flames, a much more powerful attack than I had witnessed from the Snow Wyvern, clashing with my black flame storm.

“Hah! So wide open! ‘Black Flame Slash!'”

I erased my presence, closing in on the dragon, and imbued my ki with black flames to launch a slice that struck its wing, severing it.

“Gahhhhh!”

“Now you can’t fly anymore!”

After managing to dispel the black flame storm with its breath, the dragon glared at me, its eyes filled with fury.

From there on, realizing my black flames were effective, I infused my sword and slashed at it while unleashing magic at point-blank range, dealing continuous damage.

However, perhaps out of sheer pride, the dragon retaliated with a desperate ice magic attack, gradually increasing my wounds.

Even so, I refused to halt my movement, creating footholds in the air with wind magic, leaping around the dragon while landing cuts.

Minutes later, we were both on the brink, the dragon having lost a wing, an arm, and its tail, while I was battered with cuts and frostbite.

“Cough cough… Tch. This wound is reopening.”

The first aid I’d applied couldn’t handle the strain from our movements, blood beginning to seep out once more.

The dragon now stood immobile, merely staring at me.

“It seems we are both at our limits. Let’s end this here.”

Whether it understood my words or not, the dragon gathered its final strength, preparing to unleash its most powerful breath.

I infused all my magic power into my sword with the black flames, raising it overhead.

For a brief moment, silence hung in the air. And then…

“Gahhhhh!”

“‘Black Flame Flashblade!'”

The dragon’s breath collided with my downward swing of black flames at the center.

For a fleeting moment, breath and slash were at a stalemate, but since my black flames had the advantage, the slash cleaved through the breath, piercing through and splitting the dragon vertically in half.

“Hah, hah…”

As the waiting blade shattered from the strain of the black flames, the dragon’s body gradually disintegrated, leaving only a large magic stone in its place.

“I… won…”

Upon seeing the dragon vanish, I understood I had emerged victorious in the battle and collapsed weakly to the ground.

(I’m so drained. My magic and energy are completely spent…)

Lying on the ground, I watched as Fiera rushed toward me in a panic, filled with satisfaction as I let my consciousness slip away.