Chapter 71. The 5th Prince’s Ability
“Hoo.”
Leon tilted his head back and let out a small sigh.
His head was throbbing after fighting an assassin and then fighting a large monster in succession, using magic continuously.
It was a symptom that appeared when his magic power was depleted.
‘I wasted my strength for nothing.’
Normally, his own magic power would have been enough, but it had happened because he had wasted more magic power than usual while dealing with the assassin.
Looking back, he had poured out magic power thoughtlessly.
Thanks to that, the dragon’s magic power he had sealed was stirring since a while ago.
‘There’s no need to bring this out now.’
Magic power would be replenished on its own if he just stayed still.
Leon forcefully suppressed the rising energy.
Leon’s ability, the ‘Dragon’s Blessing’.
A royal with this ability not only gains endlessly-gushing magic power but also innate magical talent.
Leon had also used magic as if he were breathing since his ability manifested in his childhood. Without anyone telling him, he had come to understand what magic was and what mana was.
He didn't need a teacher.
He was a genius who knew ten things after seeing one.
He could even cast a new magic on the spot if he came across it while reading a book.
However, a powerful ability always came with a price.
The ‘Dragon’s Blessing’ also had a price.
The day his magic power was depleted for the first time, Leon suddenly felt another magic power surging from within him.
Leon, who had instinctively sensed danger from the unfamiliar, dark-red magic power, did not know how to handle it as a child.
He just felt a desire to use this overflowing, unfamiliar magic power without realizing it.
What Leon faced after that was overwhelming strength.
The dark-red magic power swallowed him up and made him lose his reason.
If the legendary dragon had existed, would it not have had such power?
But for Leon, it was a terrifying experience he never wanted to go through again. To him, losing his reason was the same as losing himself.
Leon named the hidden magic power within him the dragon’s magic power. And just like the non-existent dragon, he wished that this magic power also did not exist.
‘I won’t let that happen again.’
A magic power sealed using all the magical knowledge Leon possessed.
He had no intention of ever bringing out that ominous thing again.
Shashashak!
It wasn’t a difficult battle anyway.
The centipede had lost several of its legs to Leon’s attacks, and one of its poisonous fangs had even broken.
- Kkieek!
But seeing it cry out, it didn’t seem like its spirit was broken.
Whoosh!
Flames poured out from the centipede’s mouth again.
“Flames!”
At the same time, a powerful pillar of fire spewed out from Leon’s staff.
Boom!
The centipede’s flame and Leon’s flame faced each other tensely in the air as if they were having a power struggle.
After clashing in the air for a while, the momentum of the pillar of fire eventually tipped to one side.
The winner was Leon.
Bang!
With a loud sound, the magic struck the centipede’s massive body.
The pillar of fire rotated with the force to pierce through the centipede’s body and dug into the gaps between its shells.
It was then.
Swish!
Taking advantage of the gap when the centipede was hit by the fire magic, a streak of blue light flew in and blew away the centipede’s antennae.
- Kkiek!
The centipede, whose antennae had been cut off, writhed its head and cried out.
Leon couldn’t help but widen his eyes. The one who had humiliated him and fled was standing there.
* * *
“I arrived just in time.”
Radel brushed off the centipede’s bodily fluids from his sword and looked back at Leon.
However, Leon just sent a cold glare.
“Why did you come back? Do you want to die?”
“You’re going to be like this after I helped you?”
Leon scoffed at Radel’s words.
“What help are you talking about? You, who ran away after dumping that thing on me.”
“I had no choice back then.”
Radel scratched the back of his head.
Although he had tried to avoid Leon, it was a choice he had to make because it was much more important to chase the assassin who was targeting him.
His goal when he participated in the hunting competition in the first place was to lure out the assassin.
He was surprised that the assassin’s identity was Tunia, but now that he knew, he could understand the previous incidents.
Somehow, he had thought that her skill in erasing her presence during mana training was not ordinary.
After getting enough answers, Radel sent Tunia back first.
The hunting ground was not a place to have a long conversation.
He had confirmed Tunia’s intention to leave the organization and even received a promise of cooperation.
He had more than achieved his initial goal of finding out the assassin’s identity.
All that was left was to finish the hunting competition.
To do that, he had to take care of the red-headed fire centipede he had lured.
Radel examined the centipede, which had lost its antennae and was in a state of alert.
But the more he looked, the more he found something strange.
“Don’t tell me you’ve only been using fire magic until now?”
There was no way that guy hadn’t noticed that the centipede had fire resistance.
Radel asked, just in case, after seeing the marks left on its outer shell. There were only scorch marks.
“Of course, I only used fire magic.”
Leon’s answer was clear.
“What? You did it on purpose even though you knew it had fire resistance?”
“Of course. Why should I exploit a weakness when I’m so much stronger?”
Radel was momentarily speechless at Leon, who spoke so confidently. The common sense of battle that exploiting an enemy’s weakness was a basic was being overturned.
“Rather, it’s an opportunity to test my fire magic. A weakling like you wouldn’t know.”
“You’re wasting too much magic power that way.”
“Me?”
Leon raised an eyebrow as if he didn’t know what the problem was.
It was confidence that he wouldn’t run out of magic power with a battle of this level.
“Uh… um, I see.”
He had come back just in case, but maybe there was no need to.
Somehow, he had thought it was taking too long.
It was natural, as he was testing the red-headed fire centipede as an opponent against whom he could freely display his fire magic.
“I came back because I was worried you might be having a hard time. It was something I started, after all. Then, good luck with your magic practice.”
Radel left his greetings and was about to disappear.
But Leon was not one to let him go.
“…You.”
At Radel’s nonchalant words, Leon’s suppressed anger rose again.
“Are you saying you’re the one who summoned that thing?”
“Yeah. It came out when I lit a fire in front of the cave.”
Killing intent appeared in Leon’s wide-open eyes.
“Then you deliberately summoned that thing and lured it to me?”
“Wait, it’s a misunderstanding. I didn’t mean to do that from the beginning.”
“Did you know I would come looking for you?”
“How would I know that…”
Radel was just dumbfounded, but from Leon’s perspective, Radel could only be suspicious.
He had thought he was a clueless guy, but then he wondered if this whole situation had been planned.
Leon had been accustomed to the jungle-like imperial life since he was a child.
He thought he was used to the nobles’ roundabout way of speaking and reading their true intentions.
But he couldn't figure out what was going on in that guy’s head.
- Kkieeek!
Just then, the centipede that had lost one of its antennae cried out to the sky.
It was a cry as if it were calling for something.
“What’s that?”
Radel had an ominous premonition.
Shashashak!
As expected, it wasn’t long before another centipede appeared from the opposite side.
It was a red-headed fire centipede that was larger and had a darker color than the one in front of them.
- Kkiek!
- Kkiek!
The centipedes flicked their antennae and signaled to each other.
The cry of the red-headed fire centipede earlier seemed to have been a call for a companion.
The newly appeared centipede flicked its antennae towards its companion and then soon turned its body towards the humans.
Then it bared its poisonous fangs and raised its long body to threaten them.
- Kkieeeek!
It was a declaration of war to avenge its companion for anyone to see.
He had thought he just needed to finish it off… Now he was in a situation where he had to catch two.
‘Can I even catch that one?’
It seemed that even Leon would have a hard time taking down two giant monsters.
“Water.”
From behind the pondering Radel, a voice casting magic was heard.
Leon was quickly summoning water element magic.
Radel asked Leon, suppressing his leaking laughter.
“Didn’t you just say why bother attacking a weakness?”
“The situation has changed. You must have thought I didn’t have that much flexibility.”
It was an unexpected answer.
He could see a serious will to catch those things.
Seeing that, Radel’s thoughts also changed.
Right, I’m not alone.
Let’s do this together.
* * *
“Go!”
Leon’s fierce water element magic flew and struck the centipede.
Chwaaa!
- Kkieek!
The red-headed fire centipede, which had been hit by the water pillar, flailed its numerous legs.
Water element magic was certainly more effective than fire or other element magic.
As one of them was hit by the water pillar and retreated, the other one rushed at the two of them.
Shashashak!
Radel jumped into the air and brought down his sword with his weight.
‘Basic Swordsmanship!’
Chwaak!
Several of the centipede’s legs were instantly cut off and rolled on the ground.
Radel saw the centipede, enraged at losing its legs, opening its mouth and immediately threw himself.
Whoosh!
As expected, the centipede spewed flames fiercely.
Radel retreated and asked Leon, who was next to him.
“Leon, can’t you summon a bigger water element?”
“If you think it’s so easy, you do it.”
“You have a lot of magic power.”
“Then you deal with both of them at the same time and buy me time to complete the spell.”
“That’s impossible.”
Leon looked at Radel with a dumbfounded face.
It was that moment.
Rustle.
The two were surprised by the sudden presence and turned around, and someone slowly walked out from between the bushes.
“…To see two such magical beasts at the same time. I’m glad I came to the hunting competition.”
The one who appeared, pushing aside the bushes, was the 5th Prince.
He, who had participated in the hunting competition to see rare magical beasts, was looking at the red-headed fire centipedes with interest.
“It’s rare to see a red-headed fire centipede of that size.”
The 5th Prince, Venus, took out a recording stone from his pocket.
Seeing him calmly float the recording stone in the air, Radel thought of a rain cloud.
Along with that, information about the 5th Prince also came to mind.
‘The 5th Prince’s ability!’
The records written in the notebook he had taken from Armandy.
‘September 4th. The 5th Prince made it rain in the suburbs with his ability. The range is 2 hectares. Growth compared to a year ago. Confirmed to be related to the increase in the amount of magic power.’
Radel’s eyes lit up.
A way to catch those things without effort came to mind.
* * *
Rumble!
Lightning struck in the clear sky.
Inette looked around as the sky darkened in an instant.
“What’s going on all of a sudden?”
Dark clouds were gathering at an unusually fast pace.
Just a moment ago, it was a clear day without a single cloud.
“No way… this is impossible.”
Of course, it wasn’t entirely impossible.
Because the abilities of the royals sometimes made the impossible possible.
Inette, just in case, jumped under a large tree.
Swoosh!
Soon, a heavy downpour began to fall on the hunting ground.