The Lowest-Ranked Hero Has Returned

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Chapter 104: The Ryu Family's Black Sheep (5)

The day of the showdown had arrived.

Berald and I headed towards Laios' private training grounds on time.

“Hoo…”

On the way to Laios' private training grounds, Berald repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fists, swallowing nervously.

I slowed down my steps slightly to match Berald, who was trailing behind me.

“What’s wrong, nervous?”

“Huh? Haha! Me, nervous? Th-there's no way that’s true!”

For someone saying that, he sure was stuttering a lot.

“Haha.”

Even Berald seemed aware of this, as he scratched his head with an awkward smile.

“Well, since Laios and I are about the same age, people always compared us.”

“Compared, huh…”

There was no need to ask what kind of things were said about the comparisons between Laios, who had been hailed as the genius successor of the Thunder God, Lionel Ryu, and Berald, who had been called the black sheep of the Ryu family.

“To me, he was always someone I could never hope to compete with… but now that we’re about to face off, my head’s all messed up.”

“For someone who’s confused, you sure did beat him up pretty good last time.”

“T-that time I just lost my head and got carried away!”

I chuckled as I patted Berald on the shoulder.

“Relax, man. Just do what I taught you.”

“Hrmm, I understand, brother.”

With that, Berald and I entered the building where Laios' private training grounds were located.

“Oh, by the way.”

“Hm? Did you forget something?”

“You’re still wearing your Hero Watch, right?”

“Of course.”

Berald showed me the Hero Watch on his left wrist.

“Hand it over to me for a bit.”

“You’re worried it’ll get damaged during the fight?”

“Well, something like that.”

“Hm, alright.”

I took Berald’s Hero Watch and entered Laios' private training grounds.

It was much larger and more modern compared to Berald’s training area.

Inside, Laios Ryu was already waiting for us.

“You actually showed up instead of running off like a coward?”

Laios asked, his arms crossed and a cocky grin on his face.

“You ready to get your ass kicked?”

“Hmph. It won’t be that easy.”

Berald smirked confidently as he stood in front of him.

Laios' expression twisted into an aggressive scowl.

“Well then, show me what you’ve been working on.”

He said this while glancing in my direction.

“You know how to set the duel settings, right?”

“Of course.”

“Then go and set it to ‘Magic Duel Only’ mode.”

The Magic Duel Only mode.

As the name suggests, it’s a special mode where any physical contact between the duelists is immediately detected, and the one who initiated the contact is automatically deemed the loser.

I followed Laios' instructions and activated the duel system on the wall.

[Duel mode has been changed to ‘Magic Duel Only’.]

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[The duel will start in 5 seconds.]

[4, 3, 2, 1.]

“Strike.”

Crackle!

As soon as the countdown disappeared, a flash of blue lightning shot forward, accompanied by a short incantation.

“Hup!”

Berald dodged the lightning with agile movements and extended his hand forward.

Wooooooong!

His Stigma glowed as mana surged around him.

“Hah!”

With a rough shout, he conjured a fist-sized magic missile.

“Is that all you’ve been practicing, just a magic missile?”

Laios chuckled in disbelief as he saw the translucent sphere.

“And that thing… you’ve given up on ‘control,’ haven’t you?”

It was clear why Laios had been called a prodigy in magic since childhood.

He had instantly identified the flaw in Berald’s magic missile.

“What are you gonna do with a spell that doesn’t even move?”

Laios laughed mockingly as he watched the magic missile floating motionlessly in the air.

“If your body’s strong, your brain doesn’t need to work.”

“…What?”

“Heh. Watch closely, senior.”

Berald grabbed the floating magic missile with his hand and threw it.

“This is my magic!”

Whooosh!

The missile shot forward with terrifying speed.

“What the hell…!”

Laios twisted his body in alarm, barely dodging the missile.

Shwoosh, BOOM!

The magic missile Berald had thrown narrowly missed Laios and slammed into the wall of the training grounds.

The sound of an explosion shook the entire room with heavy reverberations.

“Hah.”

Laios turned to look at Berald with an expression of disbelief.

“You’re throwing… magic?”

It wasn’t theoretically impossible.

However, it was extremely inefficient.

Who would throw a finely sharpened arrow instead of using a bow?

“It’s not over yet!”

Berald shouted as he began to conjure and throw magic missiles one after another.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whooosh!

The fist-sized magic missiles rushed towards Laios with terrifying speed.

“Tch.”

Laios gritted his teeth as he quickly gathered his magic.

“What a ridiculous tactic…!”

Crackle, crackle!

Blue lightning crackled as it shot down the incoming magic missiles.

“Call of Thunder!”

With an incantation, a tidal wave of blue lightning surged towards Berald.

“Grrrr!”

It was a high-tier magic, incomparable to basic spells like magic bullets.

Black smoke began to rise from Berald's body, swept up by the tidal wave of lightning.

“Cough, cough!”

Berald hunched over, groaning in pain.

“Hoo. Now do you understand? This is what real magic—”

Before Laios could finish his sentence, Berald, who had been hunched over, threw a magic bullet he had been holding in his hand.

“Gah!”

A broken scream escaped from Laios’ mouth as the magic bullet hit him.

“You little bastard...!”

Laios' face twisted savagely as he spread his arms wide.

Crackle! Snap! Crackle!

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Blue lightning sparked around his body, swirling with power.

“Thunder, come forth!”

Rumbleeeee!

With a deafening roar, a massive wall of lightning enveloped Laios.

Watching the sparring match from a distance, I frowned as I saw the wall of lightning form.

'Thunder Wall.'

A spell that earned Laios the title of "Thunder Emperor."

'The Thunder Emperor was more renowned for his defensive spells than his offensive ones.'

Among them, the "Thunder Wall," a barrier formed by lightning to protect the caster, was a signature move, the crowning technique of the Thunder Emperor.

'Though it's smaller and thinner than what I saw in my past life.'

Pop! Pop! Bang!

Berald’s magic bullets burst helplessly in front of the wall of lightning.

'It's a spell Berald can't break through at his current strength.'

I watched Berald, who was throwing magic bullets while panting heavily, with a furrowed brow.

There was nothing I could do to help him in this situation.

All I could do was trust in Berald and watch.

“Hah, hah!”

“Still don’t get it?”

Laios, looking at Berald panting heavily, snapped his fingers casually.

Crackle!

A streak of blue lightning shot out from the wall protecting Laios.

“Urgh!”

Berald grunted and staggered backward.

'This can't go on.'

Berald wouldn’t be able to break through that Thunder Wall with small, weak magic bullets.

“Urrrrgh!”

Berald clenched every ounce of magic within him, stretching his arms forward.

Vrrrroooom!

An even larger amount of mana swirled than when Laios had first created the Thunder Wall.

“Haaaaaaah!”

What he created was a massive magic bullet, as big as a human torso.

It was the largest magic bullet he could muster.

“After all that fuss, it’s still just a magic bullet?”

Laios glared coldly at Berald’s creation.

“After studying magic for over a decade, is this all you’ve got? Magic bullets?”

“Laios, senior… While my magic may not compare to yours, I’ve given everything I have to make this.”

“‘Everything you have,’ my ass.”

Laios smirked with a twisted grin.

“Well, alright. I’m sure you did put in effort. You’ve always trained magic like a lunatic.”

Laios had known Berald since they were young, and he was well aware of how much effort Berald had put into learning magic.

He even knew that the Thunder God, Lionel Ryu, had a particular fondness for Berald because of his diligence.

But still.

“No matter how hard you try, if there’s no result, it’s all worthless, isn’t it?”

“...”

“Do you know what they call it when you try and try but get nowhere? Huh?”

Laios clicked his tongue with disdain as he continued.

“They call it a waste of time. A waste.”

With a single word, he trampled on Berald's decade-long effort as if it were nothing, laughing mockingly.

“Waste of time, huh...”

Berald smiled faintly at Laios’ words.

“You're right, senior. After all that time and still, all I can make is a magic bullet.”

And even that bullet wouldn’t move unless he threw it manually—a half-baked magic bullet.

Laios had mastered the magic in three days, while even after over ten years, Berald couldn’t cast it properly.

Not just the magic bullet—other spells were the same.

What Laios had learned in mere days was, for Berald, an unreachable fruit hanging far beyond his grasp.

His efforts were nothing but a futile waste of time.

The sweat he shed, just unpleasant residue.

But even so.

“I don’t regret it.”

Even though it yielded nothing.

Even though there was no reward.

He didn’t regret it.

“Because someone believed in me, someone who never gave up on me.”

Berald turned toward me and gave a wide grin.

Laios chuckled in disbelief.

“So what? What can you do about it? Huh? What’s the point if you don’t regret it?”

“I’ll show you.”

Berald looked at the massive magic bullet he had created.

“I’ll show you that my efforts weren’t in vain.”

It was too large to simply throw.

He could grasp and hurl it with both hands, but that would make it too weak.

In that case...

He summoned more mana.

He clenched his fist and pulled it back as if drawing a bow.

His stance lowered, elbows raised slightly.

“Haa.”

A strange sense of exhilaration spread through his entire body.

An electrifying thrill, beyond description.

Suddenly, the memory of when he first learned martial arts from Dale flashed through his mind.

—Hmm. So what’s the name of this martial art, anyway?

—It doesn’t really have a name.

—Huh, and yet a martial art of this level has no name?

When Berald showed disappointment, Dale had smiled and made a suggestion.

—How about this?

—What are you talking about?

—If you ever fully master this martial art… put your own name on it.

He never understood why Dale had suggested putting his name on it rather than Dale’s own, but...

‘If that was your wish, I’ll follow it.’

With a fierce step forward, Berald thrust the fist he had drawn back.

“Berald’s Martial Art.”

Mountain Breaker.

BOOOOOM!

With a thunderous roar, the magic bullet blasted through the Thunder Wall and slammed into Laios.

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