The Second Strongest Has Returned

Chapter 7

Reinhardt

Ariasphil spoke while countering the punch.

“Can you get up?”

“…What?”

“When can you get up?!”

At her shout, Leo flinched involuntarily and replied.

“Just 8 more seconds!”

His aura was almost fully gathered. With just 8 more seconds, he could manage to stand up.

“Got it.”

“Uwoooah!!”

But could it be possible? With her skills, against Balrog?

[Believe in it now.]

“Yes…?”

[The woman you aspire to isn’t that weak.]

In those fleeting 8 seconds, the Sage said this.

<…That’s true.>

Ariasphil, the peak she aimed for. There was no way that peak would break here.

‘…I can’t just stay still either.’

To reach that peak, her. He couldn’t sit idly by.

“…Huff…huff…!”

But it was true that it was hard to endure. The heat exuded by Balrog made it difficult to even breathe.

“Kruoaaah!!”

In the midst of the ongoing fierce battle, a punch came flying again.

‘Compared to Leonardo…!’

He deflected the punch by tilting his sword to the side. But that was only for immediate defense.

Whoosh!

He couldn’t block the ensuing tail attack.

‘…I can’t avoid this…!’

It hadn’t been 8 seconds yet. It would hit. It would graze. It would strike.

He would die.

Slash!!

“…I’ve repaid my debt.”

With that notification, the boy severed the tail with his sword. Balrog, taken aback, jumped back a bit.

“…Leonardo…?”

“So, I have one request.”

Leonardo had already stood up. In just 4 seconds.

“Let’s decapitate that monster together. I can’t do it alone.”

“…Balrog…?”

Defeating Balrog was by no means an easy task. She had defeated the wyvern not because it was a hatchling, but because it was a newly awakened baby.

‘…Why?’

But even now, his heart pounded.

“Is it too much? Then…”

The fear of death was nothing compared to his pounding heart.

“…No.”

Ariasphil smiled and raised her sword.

“I can do it.”

“…Thanks.”

Leonardo, too, was somehow smiling.

“I’ll only explain the strategy once, so listen carefully.”

Balrog charged. To respond, Ariasphil quickly nodded.

“I’ve broken that guy’s right wrist. Same with the tail. I’ll draw its attention…”

“You want me to cut off its left hand, right?”

As expected of a genius, she understood quickly.

“Then I’ll take care of the rest.”

“…Got it.”

Balrog had already approached within 100 meters.

“Let’s win.”

“Yeah.”

With those two words, the battle resumed. The two knights split in different directions according to their assigned roles.

“Kruoaaah!!”

Balrog roared to crush the two knights. Expressing its anger, Balrog swung its remaining left fist down.

“Over here, half-baked orc.”

This aggressive approach was different from usual, causing Balrog’s attention to focus on Leonardo.

“Come on, try me! I’ll crush your ugly face completely!”

[But does Balrog understand provocation? Normally, they don’t have that level of intelligence.]

Hey, read the room. In situations like this, saying anything can boost courage…

“Uwoooah!!”

Could it be just a feeling that it understood the provocation?

[Oh, it understood.]

It understood, huh. This was bad.

Boom!! Bang!!

Consecutive attacks created craters on the ground. If he got hit even once, he’d be flattened like that.

But

‘As usual. I guide the trajectory of the attack.’

Leo was an expert in such fierce battles. He had fought and won even with a broken arm and ribs.

“Now!!”

When the movement of the left arm grew larger, Leo shouted.

Srrung

With a quick draw, her sword swung. The left arm was cut off, starting from the draw.

“Uwoooah!!”

A roar of pain, flames erupted from its mouth.

‘Too late…! The breath…!’

“Uwoooah!!”

A roar like Balrog’s, but this was Leo’s voice.

A rush enveloped his throat. With his sword thrust out, Leo pierced Balrog’s chest.

[Stop!! That won’t kill it!!]

As he said, such a thrust wouldn’t kill Balrog instantly.

If the breath came out now, Leo would turn to ash immediately.

Mana erupted from Leo’s sword.

It wasn’t aura. A delicate and complex form of energy, Jin, was drawn with mana.

[That’s impossible!! With current ice magic!!]

Leo’s magic talent had not yet blossomed. In a week, he had barely managed to use 1-circle magic, which was like pouring a cup of water on a fire.

[Red…?]

But Leo didn’t intend to use ice magic. Instead, he was deploying fire magic, which was the opposite.

‘Balrog has a specific weakness as a baby.’

Through the gap in the sword blade, heat burst out.

The weakness of a baby Balrog, it was…

‘Baby Balrogs don’t yet have fire resistance throughout their body. At this stage, fire only comes from the respiratory system, the throat.’

An adult Balrog could spew fire from all over its body, but the one in front of him couldn’t.

The evidence was that so far, Balrog had only spewed fire from its mouth.

‘So if I force fire into the flame pouch in its chest…!’

The explanation led to the answer. When fire was forced into the flame pouch located near the lungs, fire erupted all over Balrog’s body.

‘It becomes a special bomb…!!’

Blood and black smoke poured from Balrog’s mouth.

“Wuook!?”

“Disgustingly hot, right? It’s going to be hot enough to burst.”

The magic was fully deployed.

[Fireball]

A fireball swallowed the flame pouch inside its body. It was like a torch thrown into a barrel of gunpowder.

“Wu…?!”

Boom!!

A grand explosion occurred. Balrog’s flesh burst out in all directions.

“Kyaaak!!”

Leo was also thrown by the shock of the explosion.

Since Balrog’s body enveloped the explosion, he wasn’t hit by the flames, but Leo wasn’t in a healthy enough state to withstand the shock perfectly.

“Leonardo…!!”

Watching the explosion from up close, Ariasphil ran towards the fallen Leo.

“Are you okay?! Are you not dead?!”

A dead person can’t answer. That was an unchanging fact.

“…”

Her pounding heart calmed down. Seeing the boy lying silently, her heart trembled. Neither lethargy nor excitement was present.

There was only anxiety.

“Please…! Please don’t die!! Wake up!!”

The girl slapped the boy to wake him up.

Smack!!

“Wuaaah!!”

But Leo wasn’t dead. So he screamed.

“Are you okay!?”

“You… you slapped me across the face and then asked if I’m okay!?”

“Thank goodness… you are okay…”

“No, I’m not okay! I wasn’t dead to begin with! I didn’t even faint!”

It was just that the response had been delayed due to fatigue.

[You shouldn’t have done anything that could be misunderstood. Tsk tsk!]

“Shut up!! These people have no limits to what they do to a dying man!”

“…S-sorry. I’ll shut up.”

Ariasphil lowered her head and cast her eyes downward, perhaps feeling guilty from the rebuke.

“Ah… no… that’s not what I meant…”

[There’s no limit to what you say to a worried woman. Back in my day, to a woman…!]

[What did you say?!]

Now, he couldn’t even speak through aura. His mana had already been depleted from the earlier fire magic and the aura he used to defend against the explosion.

“…Sorry, and thank you.”

He had to say this before he collapsed.

“…Huh?”

“…Thanks to you, I was able to win. So, you don’t need to apologize.”

“I… thank you too.”

While the sentiment was nice, his chest felt like it was burning up.

“…If you’re grateful, call a doctor. I’m barely holding on here, and I think three of my ribs are broken.”

“Oh, right!”

She looked around, trying to find a doctor.

At that moment,

‘…What is this? This mana…’

A deep and dense mana spread through the air, reaching his lungs. He had felt this presence before.

“Could it be…”

Was she here? In this place?

‘But if she came, she would normally help.’

No, on second thought, that person wouldn’t necessarily help. She was someone who often disregarded common sense.

“…Aunt?”

Why did ominous premonitions always come true…

“…I told you not to call me aunt. It seems we need to clarify titles.”

It didn’t miss.

A woman in black clothes, so dark they could be mistaken for shadows, walked in front of him.

[Who is that? The grim reaper?]

Unable to use aura, he answered in the smallest voice possible.

“She’s Ariasphil’s aunt. And… never mind, it’s better if you hear it yourself.”

If he tried to explain further, his fingers, already on the verge of fracture, might twist completely.

“It was an excellent battle, boy. As a fellow warrior, I pay my respects.”

There was only one person who would insist on calling him ‘boy’ instead of something simpler like ‘kid’.

“…”

“I haven’t introduced myself yet. I am Chris Reinhardt, the knight who supports the family from within the shadows of Reinhardt. My moniker is ‘Darkness’.”

The blood loss had already made him dizzy, and now his mind started to blur.

The Sage also had a bewildered expression, as if he had been hit in the back of the head with a hammer.

“What is your name? If you have a moniker, I would like to hear it as a fellow warrior.”

Ah, he needed to respond, but he really didn’t want to. Both physically and mentally.

[Are you hallucinating because you’ve gone mad? Or is she just crazy?]

…I don’t know. Just let me faint from the slap.

Leo collapsed onto the floor.

He hoped he was just confused and seeing things due to mental turmoil.

***

[Hey…]

[Leonardo…]

[Wake up… please…]

The voice of an old man without children echoed in his ears. Today, it sounded so desperate that ignoring it felt cruel.

“…What’s the matter…”

[That woman, it’s been 3 hours. 3 hours.]

The Sage pointed his finger at Chris.

He had a rough idea but asked, hoping for a different answer.

[She’s been asking about you to your rival for 3 hours, and the questions are otherworldly.]

It was strange for someone from the other world to say that, but somehow, if it was Chris, it made sense.

[At first, she asked about your name and age, then whether you had any nicknames or if you felt destined or something like that.]

“Sigh…”

Waking up to hear such absurdity, a heavy and deep sigh escaped his lips.

“Are you awake, boy?”

Chris swung her cumbersome black cloak indoors as she looked at Leo.

“…Yes, I’m awake.”

Though he really didn’t want to be.

“You have a strong body. To wake up on the same day after suffering a fatal injury against the monster of calamity.”

Just call it a Balrog, please.

“…I’ve trained hard.”

“Hmm, you adhered to the basics. Even a large tombstone is built on a solid foundation.”

Though what she said was correct, he didn’t feel like agreeing.

“…Did you treat me? Thank you.”

He had to express gratitude since she had helped.

“Since I helped the bloodline of our family. It’s only natural. Though it was also to honor an excellent warrior.”

Uh… suddenly, he wanted to go home, even though he didn’t have one.

Looking around the hospital room, he saw Ariasphil beside him, holding a wet towel and sleeping soundly on the bed.

“Ariasphil has been taking care of you. Even though the doctor and priest offered to do it themselves, she insisted on doing it personally.”

Honestly, that was touching. Did she feel so guilty about him collapsing from fighting the Balrog?

“…Umm…? Leonardo…?”

Her eyes slowly opened.

“Did you sleep well? How are you feeling?”

“Leonardo!”

Her eyes sparkled as she looked at Leo.

“Thank goodness…”

“It was luck. It was fortunate that I was a youngster.”

As they shared a moment of relief, the door suddenly burst open.

“Lady!! I’m so sorry for being late!!”

It was Jehad. Even though Leo didn’t want to think about what he’d been doing all this time, he had a pretty good idea but chose not to speak.

“Jehad.”

“…Ugh…! Dark Lady!”

He managed to call her that, though when Leo tried, his tongue would cramp.

“You’re very late. Aren’t you, ‘Bodyguard Knight’?”

“S-sorry! I was helping civilians evacuate…!”

Thwack!!

Jehad’s face took a punch. He flew across the room from the hit.

The person who threw the punch was the knight who protected Reinhardt from the shadows.

“Shut up. You are no longer a knight of Reinhardt. You have fallen too low to even mention our family.”

“What… What does that…! Mean…!”

Too difficult to understand? Let’s simplify it, shall we?

“You’re fired.”

[But the welfare seems good. They even fire you in such a classy manner.]

That’s why Leo had been serving as a squire for over five years.

Or not.

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