We closed the distance, and the "Hero" struck first.
He lashed out with a slash of his sword. I evaded it by a hair's breadth. Targeting his chest—left wide open in the wake of his swing—I counterattacked.
With the [Sharpness Zero] support magic still active on my blade, there was no risk of cleaving him in two. My blade bore down on him, only to be halted by an invisible barrier before it could make contact.
(Again. It felt as if an equal force was pushing back against me from the other side. But what is this lingering sense of wrongness...?)
I immediately eased the pressure on Schwarzhase and backed away, moving with the force rather than fighting it. As I leapt back, I triggered an [Aero Shock] near his face, but that failed to reach him as well.
However, the cloud of dust kicked up by the [Aero Shock] allowed me to see it clearly: an invisible, spherical force field enveloped him. It was safe to assume this field was the reason my steel and magic were being deflected.
Slowly but surely, I was beginning to grasp the nature of his ability.
Having gained sufficient distance, I followed up by firing several [Thunder Arrows]. The bolts of lightning streaked toward the "Hero," but he remained perfectly still, making no move to dodge. The moment they touched the spherical barrier, they curved along its surface as if actively avoiding him, harmlessly bypassing their target.
As the bolts passed, the "Hero’s" form blurred.
In the next instant, he had materialized to my left, his sword already mid-swing in a horizontal arc. I triggered a [Reflective Wall] I had kept on standby directly beneath his feet. His lead foot struck the barrier just as he committed to the swing, and he was launched straight into the air like a rebounding ball. At the exact moment he reached the apex of his flight, I activated [Thunder Shock]. A dense cluster of magic circles erupted around him.
Lightning converged on the "Hero"—whose face finally showed a flicker of confusion at being suddenly airborne—from every conceivable angle. Yet, his ability held firm, and the electricity failed to penetrate the field.
(He can defend every direction simultaneously? Then next—)
"[Alteration]...!"
I invoked [Alteration], reshaping Schwarzhase into its magic sword form, and let fly. I unleashed the converged mana as a concentrated slash toward the "Hero."
If area-of-effect attacks were useless, I’d have to try raw power. Yet even after weathering the concentrated mana diffusion at point-blank range, the "Hero" remained unscathed, hovering in mid-air and looking down at me.
The moment I saw his lips curl into a faint smile, a visceral, indescribable chill raced down my spine.
"—!? [Fifth Form: Mont Fünf]!"
I went with my gut, reflexively shifting Schwarzhase into its shield form. Just as I turned the face of the shield toward him, the "Hero" casually swung his sword downward.
Physical distance still separated us. A normal swing should never have reached me, and he didn't appear to be launching a projectile slash. And yet—
"Guh—!?"
Something monstrously heavy—an invisible, crushing mass of air—slammed into me from above. I desperately braced my shield, fighting to keep from being flattened under the weight.
The pressure was relentless. I managed to hold my ground, but the earth beneath me could not. The ground within several meters of me imploded. My footing vanished, and I was slammed into the dirt as the terrain collapsed.
"...Ugh... gh..."
Barely maintaining consciousness, I immediately cast recovery magic on myself and scrambled to my feet, keeping the "Hero" in my sight as he continued to loom above.
"...You took that and only sustained that much damage?"
My hearing, sharpened by Ki Activation, caught his low mutter.
(He can change the landscape just by casually swinging his sword...? I'm sure it's a combination of his raw power and his ability, but even so, this is insane...)
I searched for a way to buy more time. I concluded that I couldn't survive a prolonged head-on clash, so I activated [Space Leap], flickering into a dense patch of the grove to hide.
The "Hero" scanned the surrounding forest from his vantage point in the sky.
"...Did he run?"
If I could, I’d have fled right then and there. But I couldn't. Retreating now would be a disastrous move for the future of the Silver Rabbit of the Night Sky. I had no intention of dying, but I couldn't bring myself to abandon the field yet.
(Initiating spells from a distance is a drain on my stamina, but I have no choice.)
I constructed several spell formulas in my mind, manifesting magic circles in the distance and infusing them with mana. A barrage of attack magic launched toward the "Hero" from various points in the woods.
They were all beginner-tier spells with negligible power. The "Hero" didn't seem to care in the slightest; just as before, his spherical force field simply diverted the magic's path.
But that was the point. I needed to keep him focused on the fact that I was still in the area, buying seconds with irregular attacks while I racked my brain for a way to defeat him.
I knew I wouldn't be able to stay hidden for long. If the "Hero" kept cratering the forest like he had before, he’d eventually smoke me out. I had to devise a plan before—
A loud creak erupted from the tree I was using for cover. It wasn't just that tree, though. The same groaning sound was echoing from every trunk in the vicinity.
A cold dread filled me. I scrambled away just as the trunk began to rise, slowly floating upward as if plucked from the earth by an invisible hand.
"............What?"
The trees across the entire area rose until they reached the "Hero's" height, then stopped. With my cover literally lifted away, I was left standing in the open.
Naturally, our eyes met.
"...There you are."