Taming The Villainesses

(EP-190.1) Start #1

190 – The Start of the Festival #1

When the ferocious dragon’s rage subsided.

“Ugh-.”

The Hunter was knelt on the ground, vomiting blood, his palms torn and blood dripping profusely.

He looked terribly hurt.

I felt a bit more confident that my attack had been more effective than I thought. This should be enough even if he didn’t surrender.

No-.

No.

This was complacency. Regardless of the medium or the story, main characters could exert greater strength in moments of crisis.

In fact, the original Hunter became more dangerous, like a wounded beast, the more he suffered serious injuries. So, I suppressed my excited emotions that my magic was a success.

Soon, my talent 《Calm Thinking》 was activated and brought back some composure. In my view, the Hunter’s wounds were not that impressive.

Should I say that it was just some peeling of skin in his arms and hands? It was not anything fatal that concerned his life nor decided the outcome of the duel.

Seuk-.

The man rose to his feet. It seemed that he wouldn’t be surrendering. If he had intended to do so, he would have just pretended to fall and stayed on the ground after taking that blow.

“Hu-.”

I took a short breath and my excessive nervousness slowly subsided.

It was said that a mage’s ability to change attitude was closer to the realm of talent. In that sense, my 《Calm Thinking》 was a pretty useful talent.

Through it, I came to a conclusion:

I needed a bigger attack.

Absolute destruction!

“Good eyes. That’s the eyes of a man who’s prepared to die.”

Surreung-.

The Hunter picked up the dagger on the ground.

The blade was torn and chipped, turning it into some kind of saw blade, but that made it look even worse…

Holding it with one hand, the Hunter extended his other hand as if he was trying to measure the distance. Before he could fully catch his breath, I prepared for the next spell.

Huuuuuuu-.

The mana from the air rushed into my mouth, vividly spreading through my heart and veins.

“You are defenseless!”

Sak-.

At that moment, the Hunter hurled the dagger he held towards me. It grazed past near the left side of my neck once again.

Clink-. Fortunately, the attack was nullified by the mana shield, but it was enough to disrupt me. The problem was that his attack didn’t end there.

Ssuk.

The Hunter took advantage of my broken stance and came right under my head.

“―A mage shouldn’t close the distance!”

Thunk-.

My head spun.

This attack cannot be avoided!

“Mana Shield-.”

The distance between us was too close.

This time, I might lose all my petal shields and roll on the ground with fatal injuries-. The Hunter must have thought so as well.

“Doesn’t block all attacks.”

Chwaaak-!

The sensation of the dagger tearing through my clothes from the bottom up felt vivid.

It felt like my stomach was being scorched by fire – so I didn’t know if his attack had actually torn through my shield and ripped it open.

I felt a bit of pain, but I gripped the man’s body as hard as I could.

“What?”

Taking advantage of his brief pause due to my unexpected move, I completed the spell I had been preparing.

“Farewell!”

Hwaaaaa-.

My body was enveloped in a powerful gust of magic, a tornado twisting in all directions as it swiftly engulfed everything.

Jijijijiik-.

Amidst the sensation of everything being torn apart, my body remained glued to the Hunter’s.

After the confrontation with Kasim, I learned that a mage should at least have one card to play in tight distances.

The problem with Heavenly Whirlwind Storm was that it was a long-distance magic, which allowed the opponent some time to prepare. But doing this gave none of that time and exploded at zero range.

The problem was that the Hunter was a man with abnormal patience and determination.

Even amidst the tearing winds of the tornado blowing around him, he struggled to break free from my grasp.

“━━─.”

It even felt like he was trying to talk to me, but amidst the chaos that sounded like the roar of thousands of birds, I couldn’t make out any words.

But one thing was certain, if he managed to escape now, I might not have another chance.

With the determination to break the Hunter’s waist, I squeezed out more of my body’s magic power.

“Ugh!!!”

Since I had my eyes tightly closed, I couldn’t see anything.

Kwagwagwagagagagak-.

━Hey, it’s coming all the way here-!

━The sign flew!

━Isn’t this dangerous!?

As the sound of people murmuring and everything getting torn and distorted, my consciousness gradually began to blur.

“It’s over, Theo.”

A voice clearly echoed in my mind. It was light and gentle, which I had heard countless times before. It was Aira.

Seuk.

Thanks to this, I was able to regain consciousness and dispel the magic.

Thud.

At the same time, the man in front of me knelt down, falling face-first onto the ground. He no longer moved or spoke.

… Did I win?

However, my knees and calves were drained. They trembled so much that I could barely stand. If it weren’t for the morning stamina training with Elga, I would have collapsed right away.

Stagger-.

Someone touched my shoulders, which was swaying like a pendulum. They had fluttering long hair and a refreshing scent of mint. Was it Aira?

“That was a spectacular match, Sir Theo.”

No, it was a beard. An old man was supporting me, which was none other than Hynax… Wait, what?

“Sir Theo, this is your victory. Under the Gwangyeom Church, justice and fairness stand upright!”

With the sage’s proclamation, Waaaaa—cheers suddenly erupted. I blankly blinked as my mind spun from nausea.

Ah, this was Mana Exhaustion.

It finally hit me that all the mana in my body was drained out by the final attack. However, it was well-worth the risk.

Seeing the fallen Hunter, the main character, being carried out in a stretcher, I realized how far I had come.

Edited by: faker