The others were frozen in suspense. That meant the only one left who could possibly turn things around was Suimei.
Clicking his tongue, Suimei activated a magic and pulled the frozen Lefille away from the incoming punch.
“Wha—?!”
“Eh—?”
Both the one who had just narrowly avoided the attack and the one whose attack had just missed cried out in surprise.
Right before the moment of impact, Suimei had darted out. Because his magic had been so hastily enacted, he hadn’t been able to create much distance between her and Rajas. That meant that Lefille was still well within Rajas’ attack range.
Accordingly, he could only advance and use his own body to defend against the incoming attack.
“Suimei-kun! You can’t! Get back!”
“A nobody like you dares to challenge me?!”
The shockwave created by Rajas’ savage attack pounded into Suimei’s body. Suimei endured the pressure as he raced toward the Mazoku at the greatest speed he was capable of mustering.
At the same time, his eyes never left his opponent’s fist. The Mazoku’s shoulder moved. The Mazoku had unleashed another punch, one that could surely smash him to bits.
Can I do what I did last time and seize the opportunity to throw him? No, that’s far too dangerous. Given the tremendous energy emanating from that fist, even the slightest contact would have disastrous consequences. Yes, that was a very bad idea indeed.
Suimei leapt upward, dodging the incoming blow, and raced up the length of the Mazoku’s arm, his speed never dropping. By the time the arm had fully extended, he’d already reached the top of its body.
“Fu—”
Suimei released an earth-shattering kick on the Mazoku’s shoulder with the entirety of what mana he had been able to gather in these few instants.
From his foot a strong sense of feedback came: it’d been a good hit. Nevertheless, Rajas was completely unharmed.
All Suimei had managed to accomplish had been to force Rajas’ legs deeper into the ground.
—Shit. Even a solid hit like that is useless, huh.
The adventurers’ swords had been decidedly effective against the Mazoku, but this was all he had been able to do. How annoying. Was there something he was missing? Usually an attack like that would have split his victim wide open from the shoulders on down. Something was strange here.
Such rude thoughts ran through Suimei’s mind even as his body fluttered through the air.
“You little punk!”
A roar accompanied Rajas’ massive fist. Even if it wasn’t completely aimed, it nevertheless still had enough power, or rather, more than enough, to kill him five times over.
Lefille faced off directly against this kind of power? That’s a spirit for you. I’m in awe.
“—Via gravitas” (—Gravity road, take shape.)
Via gravitas. Faced with an incoming attack, he activated his magic with a single phrase, forcing his body to the ground with utmost haste. His peripheral vision caught hold of Rajas’ leg kicking straight toward him.
“—?!”