The linchpin of any party battle was the Defender.
Their job was to draw the enemy’s attention, allowing their allies to focus entirely on their respective roles. Currently, the Black Dragon seemed to have eyes for no one but me. At this stage, more than half of a Defender’s duties were already complete.
Ideally, I would have been blocking its attacks as well, but doing so would mean I couldn't dedicate enough resources to my own offense. That wasn't an option.
Therefore, I had to become an evasion-type.
I would draw every attack toward me and dodge them all. That way, I could funnel my energy into attacking and looking for openings to counter. I’d told Caroline her style was impossible, yet here I was, forced to mimic it.
The next most vital role in a party was the Supporter.
They provided utility, whether it was treating the injured or applying situational buffs. Luna, the Hero Party’s other Supporter, relied entirely on her unique Ability, making her maneuvers impossible for me to replicate. However, since she functioned primarily as a healer, I excluded her from my simulation. There was no need for healing if I didn't get hit.
As for being an Enchanter—a Buffer—the role was so deeply ingrained in me that I could do it in my sleep. No problem there.
Finally, there was the star of the show: the Attacker.
The role was self-explanatory—attack and defeat the enemy. The Hero Party had Oliver as the front-line attacker and Anneri as the rearguard attacker. Both were elite, capable of unleashing high-firepower strikes in rapid succession.
Regarding Oliver’s role, my current physical capabilities exceeded what he’d brought to the table when he originally defeated the Black Dragon. That wouldn't be an issue. As for Anneri’s role, while I couldn't fire off attack magic with her machine-gun frequency, I could use my original magic to activate multiple high-output spells simultaneously. That, too, was reproducible.
(Alright! I can do this!)
Finishing the mental simulation in a heartbeat, I cast 【Fire Bullet】 again. I used the resulting explosion to shroud the Black Dragon’s vision before closing the distance.
I created footholds with 【Mana Convergence】, adding verticality to my movements. I circled the dragon in three dimensions, maintaining top speed as I delivered slashes every time we crossed paths. I refrained from using 【Impact】 for these strikes.
The dragon and its purple mist lashed out, the mist morphing into various shapes to intercept me, but I evaded every blow. I landed dozens of cuts, though I knew none of them were decisive.
But that was fine. I knew that better than anyone.
The slashes were a mere distraction. My frantic flight around the beast served a different purpose entirely.
I landed on the dragon’s right flank, deliberately turning my back to it. Seizing the opening, the dragon transformed its mist into a volley of long, thin spears and thrust them toward me.
"You always go for that move when you think you’ve got a clear shot. But I've seen it enough to grow tired of it!"
I had baited the attack. Moving with surgical precision, I dodged the entire volley.
"Now, it’s my turn!"
I shouted at the beast as I flooded the area with mana.
Suddenly, over forty magic circles materialized, surrounding the Black Dragon. This was the true reason I had been darting around it. Every time I changed direction in mid-air, I had been planting the formulas for attack magic. Now that I had infused them all with mana, the spells roared to life.
Fire, water, wind, earth, lightning, and ice—attack magic of every attribute converged on the dragon from every angle. A thunderous roar filled the room as the beast was swallowed by smoke.
Within the haze, I saw the dragon’s silhouette fold its wings before snapping them open with immense force. The resulting gale blew the smoke away in an instant. The Black Dragon turned an irritated gaze toward me.
The barrage had dealt no visible damage.
I flashed a provocative smirk. "Thinking the power was lacking for such a high count? Well, yeah. I can't use anything above Advanced-rank. Besides, those were all Beginner-level spells to save on mana. But... are you sure you should be relaxing?"
As I spoke, another set of magic circles manifested around the dragon.
This time, however, I hadn't infused any mana.
This was my original magic: 【Raise Repeat】.
【Raise Repeat】 was a placement-type spell used in tandem with 【Mana Convergence】. When an attack spell passed through its coordinates, the magic would copy that spell. It then automatically drew mana from the environment to fire an amplified version of the same spell.
Spells several times more powerful than the first wave slammed into the dragon. This time, they drew blood. The Black Dragon let out a sound that was less a roar and more a scream of pain.
While the 【Raise Repeat】 barrage pinned the dragon down, I used 【Mana Convergence】 to gather the surrounding mana into my blade. A jet-black aura—darker even than the dragon's mist—wrapped around the steel.
(No matter how many times I see this, it looks like something a villain would use. I wish mine was a pale gold like Oliver's.)
The mana Oliver gathered was a warm light, like a sunrise illuminating the world. Mine was a cold darkness, a symbol of a lightless night. The effect was identical, but the appearance was the polar opposite.
As the second wave of spells faded, the dragon once again cleared the smoke. This time, it was visibly wounded, its scales cracked and charred. It radiated a murderous intent far beyond anything it had shown before, yet it remained eerily composed. It stared warily at the mana pooling in my sword, its guard heightening.
"You’ve still got some fight in you? Fine. No breaks. Here comes the third wave!"
For the third time, the magic circles appeared. These attacks carried even more weight than the second, their power amplified further still. Even starting from weak Beginner magic, repeated amplification had brought the output to a level just shy of Special-grade magic.
The dragon’s screams echoed through the Boss Floor.
As the bombardment ceased, I leveled my black-shrouded blade. The dragon didn't try to blow the smoke away this time. As the haze thinned, its silhouette became visible. I unleashed a pitch-black slash, aiming straight for its wings.
"Heavenly Flash...!"
The blade of darkness streaked toward the target. I prepared to trigger 【Impact】 the micro-second before contact to obliterate the wing entirely.
—Or so I intended.
The Black Dragon swatted the slash away with its tail.
The tail was vaporized by the mana diffusion, but the overall impact was far lower than I’d planned. 【Impact】 could only boost power for a fraction of a second. Because the mana had diffused against the tail earlier than my intended target, the attack ended before I could even trigger the boost.
(How did it know I was aiming for the wings?!)
It shouldn't have been able to see the slash through the smoke. It hadn't reacted to the sight of the attack; it had anticipated the target. It couldn't have made that move unless it knew exactly where I was aiming beforehand.
(This individual should be seeing Heavenly Flash for the first time. So how...?)
While I was momentary stunned, the Black Dragon beat its remaining wing and ascended. The Boss Area was a dome with a ceiling, and the dragon hovered near the apex, roughly fifty meters up, looking down at me.
"...Damn it, I couldn't ground it."
If I’d taken the wings, it never would have reached that height. Fighting an aerial opponent was a massive headache. While 【Mana Convergence】 allowed for some aerial combat, I was significantly more effective on the ground. I didn't want to fight on its turf, but staying down here meant being a sitting duck for Fireballs and mist attacks.
Just as I prepared to launch myself upward, I felt a familiar flow of mana. The members of the Silver Rabbit of the Night Sky were preparing to cast magic.
Most people couldn't sense mana in the air, but perhaps because of my Ability, I could feel it quite clearly.
(Please don't mess up the aggro or hit me with friendly fire...)
Then I realized the one molding the mana was Selma-san.
(I saw what she could do during the joint subjugation. She doesn't have any attack magic that can punch through that dragon’s hide. Which means—she’s trying to buff me?!)
I had already pushed my physical stats beyond what her support magic could offer. More importantly, my 【Stacking】 was a delicate balance, like walking on a razor-thin sheet of ice. If a third party’s mana interfered with my current state, the whole structure would collapse. In a fight like this, that opening would be fatal.
Reaching that conclusion instantly, I acted.
Using an application of 【Mana Convergence】, I disrupted the mana in Selma-san’s vicinity, physically blocking her from infusing mana into a spell.
She stumbled, her casting interrupted.
"I don't need support magic! It’ll throw off my senses! Focus on protecting yourselves first!!"
I barked the order at them just as a Fireball rained down from above.
I lunged to the side, narrowly evading the blast. Keeping my momentum, I used 【Mana Convergence】 to create footholds, zig-zagging through the air to prevent the dragon from lead-aiming its shots. Every time I changed direction, I planted more Beginner magic and two more 【Raise Repeat】 circles.
I triggered half of them immediately to provide cover fire, while leaving the rest on standby for a manual mana dump. Amidst a chaotic storm of spells, I surged upward toward the Black Dragon, fifty meters above the floor.
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