Volume 2 Chapter 45 The Blossoming Of Madness - Clay
Toxy, who had completely entered a madness state, laughed as she watched the Wyvern struggle against her attacks. Her laughter echoed, then crumbled.
"Ugh..."
"―――Huh? Thunder Speed!"
Sandra hurried to retrieve Toxy. She picked her up and swiftly moved away with Thunder Speed, watching the scene unfold.
Toxy was crying uncontrollably. In a small voice, she murmured, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
"Side effects of the medicine? ...Surprisingly, it's ten times more dangerously insane than I thought. But, it was a nice kind of madness. Rest slowly for now."
She laid Toxy down in a distant place. Then, she glanced at the Wyvern.
The Wyvern, weakened visibly by the massive amount of poison Toxy had poured, was bleeding from every hole in its body, standing on the brink of collapse.
"But, one more push is needed."
Sandra is thinking. She wonders if she can deal a fatal blow to the Wyvern here. The answer is no. To deal a fatal blow to the Wyvern, Sandra needs to expose its flesh. The Wyvern is weakened, but its iron-clad scales are still intact.
Then, a voice spoke up.
"I got it. This is what I should have done from the beginning."
It was Clay who spoke. He had his usual relaxed smile—more relaxed than usual, almost twisted.
And he said,
"Ice-san, I want you to freeze the Wyvern again. From both the outside and inside. Then, I will destroy the scales. After that, it's up to Sandra."
"But, Clay-kun, with the attack power of yours from earlier..."
Ice had recovered enough to stand up during Toxy's rampage. However, she was not completely healed.
Clay nodded at Ice's suggestion.
"I understand. It's the result of my thoughts, including that. I want you to feel at ease. ...It seems like my time to break out of my shell has come too."
Although the words were the usual, there was something that felt like a breakthrough somewhere. Believing in that, Ice nodded and sent out snowmen.
"Both inside and outside...!"
The snowmen, surprisingly agile for their size, clung to various parts of the body, each hopping into the open mouths of the Wyverns and moving around the body.
And then, Ice chanted.
"Ice, Blow...!"
Due to a large amount of poison causing a decrease in immunity and combined with energy loss, the Wyverns clearly froze smoothly. It would be great if they died like this, but dragons as a species are not like that.
And then, Clay started to move.
"I've thought about it a bit. In my own way."
Clay's sledgehammer he carried. Wrapped around it was a cloth that Sandra hadn't been noticed until now.
"I'm just an ordinary guy. It was clear compared to Wade-kun. Still, I want to be a hero. But heroes don't open their doors to ordinary people."
Clay smoothly unravels the cloth.
"However, I haven't led a simple enough life to give up on that. It's like fate, like destiny, like a curse, I have to become a hero."
So, as he says that, under the unraveled cloth, there are runic symbols written.
But, that was breaking the law.
"So, I thought I would break down the closed doors with a sledgehammer and invade like an enemy."
"...Clay? Um, you know, you're only supposed to put up to three runes..."
The runes written there were densely engraved from the handle of the sledgehammer to the head.
Even Sandra, who has only barely heard of rune magic, knows that this is bad. Breaking the laws of magic. In other words, it's magic (mahou) that goes against the rules. A sorcery (majutsu). It's an act of betrayal similar to that of the demon race.
And divine punishment easily destroys cities.
However, Clay said, "That's not it."
"It's not an accurate understanding. Rune magic is the 'divine script.' If you can't read the script, it's meaningless. Even if the inscribed script is not in line with the law, as long as it's not visible, it's not a problem."
But, Clay continued.
"This is just the beginning. I've already discussed this with Alex-san, and it's been deemed acceptable. It was one of my secret weapons, but it's probably not enough to crush a wyvern."
Clay called Sandra "So, Sandra-san."
"I understand your intentions. It's madness, right? You seek madness. Doing things that normal people wouldn't. You believe that's where unique strength lies, in defying conventions, and that's why you pushed us into this."
"...Clay, you often observe people."
Clay smiled and waved his hand in response to my applause.
"Well, I just want to prove my own madness and gain strength. In other words,"
Clay rolled up his sleeve.
"Slipping through the holes in the law. Even the laws set by the gods. That's my madness."
His right hand. There is an extending magic seal. Clay exposed it, but it's still an immature magic seal. It probably hadn't grown as much as anyone else present.
But then, Clay shaded his left hand. In his grip was a sculpting knife. Sandra gasped.
"No way."
"That's right. Don't worry. With Toxy-san's poison and Ice-san's ice, we have time."
Clay looked at Sandra. Her pupils were already dilated.
"If I get all the tattoos of the god, I'll break the law and get taken over. So, if I decipher the myths my way and dig deep, I'm sure I won't break the law."
Then the sculpting knife cut into Clay's arm.
Blood spurted out. The skin was being scraped off. But Clay kept talking calmly.
"I'm said to resemble the god Poseidon. I was surprised to learn that since I was taught about them as a sea god in my childhood, they also govern the earth."
Even as he spoke, Clay's hand didn't stop. Perhaps he was trying to endure the pain by talking.
"I was told that the aspect of the earth god became strong over time. It's an honor. When I heard that story from the magic evangelist, I believed I was a genius."
Sandra couldn't bear to watch, so she looked away. It wasn't just painful, it was simply pitiful. She couldn't believe he could talk so calmly.
"But in the end, it doesn't matter if a god blesses someone with a magic seal. It all comes down to the person's talent and effort. I can no longer think of myself as a genius. But geniuses joyfully put in effort. They don't realize the effort they're putting in, so they don't feel the pain."
That's why.
"That's why, as an ordinary person, I will endure the pain of chasing after the genius, Wade-kun. I will catch up to him. Even if I'm just an ordinary person and he's a genius, I won't lose to him."
Clay wielded his sculpting knife. Blood stained the plain. The magic seal even grew in areas untouched by the knife due to its ominous presence.
"Wyvern."
Clay stood at the wyvern's feet and called out.
"You will be the stepping stone for me to reach Wade-kun."
Clay is holding a big hammer called a sledgehammer. He adjusts the cloth, changes the way it's wrapped, quickly rewraps it each time he traces a rune, layering various runes on top of each other.
"The 'crush' rune will shatter you completely.' The 'weaken' rune will make your defense fragile.' The 'penetrate' rune will drive the impact deep, deep inside you.' The 'curse' rune will declare an inescapable fate of death upon you."
Then Clay covers the entire handle with cloth and swings it high.
"Rock Hammer!"
The swung sledgehammer quickly envelops a huge rock. And crushes the wyvern.
"GRROOOOOARRR!"
Sandra's eyes widened. The wyvern finally let out a dying scream. The power of Clay's blow was as if Wade himself had struck. The sledgehammer crushes the wyvern's leg.
At that moment, as if Clay had exhausted all his energy, he collapsed on the spot. And he screams.
"Sandra-san! ...I'm counting on you for the rest."
Sandra nodded.
"I got this. It's my time to shine now."
The Wyvern was already on its last legs. But since it had been given the finishing blow, there was no choice but to take it on.
"Thunder Speed!"
Sandra swiftly closed in on the Wyvern at lightning speed and delivered a powerful kick without losing momentum.
The Wyvern, battered by poison, ice, and rocks, easily dodged Sandra's less powerful martial arts moves and flipped over.
"This is the end."
The Wyvern, now lying on its side, revealed a gaping wound at its feet. In other words, flesh. The pathway for Sandra's electricity.
Sandra raised her hand.
"Thunderbolt!"
Crackling with electricity, her arm released a surge of lightning behind her, gathering an electric current there. All Sandra had to do was guide her arm like a lightning rod.
"Wyvern,"
Sandra said.
"A dragon without scales is just like a big bird. But I can't eat you because it's poisonous, so I'll burn you to a crisp."
A loud thunder splits the air. Sandra, covering her eyes and ears, smells the burnt, unique scent of the air.
After the flash of light and the roar had passed, a charred wyvern remained.
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