As I closed in on the Black Dragon, the purple mist—now increased to its maximum of ten clusters—shifted into various forms to launch an assault.
I maneuvered desperately through the mist’s onslaught, refusing to let up. When I found an opening in close quarters, I struck with my sword; when the beast pulled away, I channeled mana into the spell formulas I had previously scattered across the area to trigger further magic.
Now that the battlefield had shifted to the air, the primary weakness of 【Raise Repeat】 was becoming painfully clear.
While 【Raise Repeat】 allowed me to fire spells with several times their usual potency, the trajectory of the amplified magic was locked to the path of the original spell. It couldn't be redirected. Furthermore, since the activation timing was fixed in advance, landing a hit against a Black Dragon’s aerial mobility was an immense challenge.
If that was the case—
"【Reflective Wall!】"
The dragon easily dodged a spell I had amplified by two stages, but I forcibly altered its course by bouncing it off a 【Reflective Wall】.
【Reflective Wall】 wasn't a spell that could be deployed instantly, so I was only barely able to land a single hit. However, that strike—bolstered by 【Impact】—dealt significant damage. A section of the dragon's back was gouged out.
Immediately after, I dispelled the 【Mana Convergence】 foothold beneath me, allowing gravity to take hold. Once I had put enough distance between myself and the dragon, I manifested a new foothold and stuck the landing.
I extended my left hand toward the beast.
"【Thunder Shock】!"
I unleashed a massive swarm of 【Thunder Shock】 spells, enough to saturate the entire ceiling.
A sharp pain lanced through my head. I was overusing my magic. But I couldn't afford to care about that now!
As long as we were in this enclosed space, the Black Dragon had nowhere to run.
The 【Thunder Shock】 barrage scored direct hits. Normally, as beginner-tier magic, it would have dealt no damage—at least, not without 【Raise Repeat】.
As the lightning passed through the runes, its power climbed through two stages of amplification, dealing heavy damage to the dragon. Its movements grew sluggish. The moment I finished the incantation, I closed the gap, shrouding my blade in the jet-black aura I had been concentrating since the start of the cast.
With my body the way it is now, I can endure this!
I lunged into point-blank range and unleashed a jet-black slash at the dragon’s underbelly. This time, there was no defense. The strike was perfectly timed with 【Impact】.
The sheer backwash of the Heavenly Flash's power slammed into me at such close range, blowing me backward. I fought for balance in mid-air and somehow managed to land safely on a new 【Mana Convergence】 foothold.
I snapped my gaze back to the dragon. Its abdomen had been torn open. As I expected, the body wasn't going to be severed as easily as the wings or the tail, but that blow had been massive.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Is this Orun’s true strength? Was everything he showed us until now nothing more than a fraction of his power?"
Before my eyes, a single boy was locked in a struggle against a Black Dragon—a monster that the entire First Unit of the Silver Rabbit of the Night Sky hadn't been able to defeat even with our combined strength. Not only was he holding his own, he was winning.
The sight filled me with a sense of awe that bordered on terror.
That physical prowess, the sheer number of spells he maintained through parallel construction, that jet-black slash... everything happening before me defied my common sense.
If I felt this way, I could only imagine what the other instructors and the rookies were thinking as they watched.
Inviting Orun to this guided exploration had been a stroke of genius. If he weren't here, we would all be dead by now.
But at the same time, a part of me felt that the rookies should never have seen this. This display vividly illustrated the staggering difference in caliber between us and him. I wondered how many of the rookies here would lose their heart and quit being explorers after witnessing this.
As if to mock the desperate efforts of we explorers of the Silver Rabbit of the Night Sky, Orun continued to overwhelm the Black Dragon.
" 'My support magic isn't needed,' huh..."
I already knew. I knew that the world Orun saw was different from mine.
Even so, I had spent the last month training myself to the bone, using the glimpse of his power I saw then as my goal. Yet now, he was showing me an even greater chasm between us.
A gap so wide that my support magic was utterly unnecessary.
I had hoped that one day, I could become an explorer who could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him. But would such a day ever come?
For someone like me, who had left home in a way that was no different from running away, I had no path left but to succeed as an explorer.
My goal felt so very far away.