Level 1 Strongest Sage 1-Chapter 13Vol. 15 - - Ultimate Clan Battle – Qualification Rounds (/22)

"And the winner is Cain from Clan Silveray!"

Johann, the referee, announced Cain’s victory. Ryuushin had transformed into a semi-dragon when he fought, but even that wasn’t enough. Cain read all his movements with his Extreme Intuition and his mastery of the anti-dragon weapon, Dragon Killer, sealed the deal. Ryuushin never stood a chance.

Oh, and by the way, the clan name "Silveray" was taken from Anna’s family name.

"Dammit, I lost! Are you sure you're even human?"

"Well, my family’s got a few freakishly strong people, but compared to them, I’m just a normal human."

He reached down, offering a hand to Ryuushin, who grabbed it and pulled himself back onto the battlefield.

"That was a good fight. Haven’t gone all out like that in a while."

"Same here. It’s annoying that I lost, but I gotta admit, I’ve got a new goal now thanks to you."

"A goal?"

"I always wanted to beat Halt someday, but before that, I've gotta take you, the strongest human, down first.”

Ryuushin never really considered Halt a human. The same went for Anna and Akari.

"There are probably stronger humans out there, y’know. Besides my mom and Halt, of course."

"As far as I know, you’re definitely the strongest non-reincarnated human I’ve ever seen. So yeah, you’re my new target."

"Cool. Then work hard, I’ll spar with you every now and then." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"For real!?"

Losing was frustrating, but Ryuushin had a blast fighting Cain. He learned a lot of things from their fight against each other. It was a whole different kind of experience from training with Halt.

"Hit me up beforehand, I’ll make time. Just don’t go ambushing me outta nowhere, alright?"

"Like sneaking up on you would even work, when you’ve been blocking me in all your blind spots."

Cain had dodged every single one of Ryuushin’s attacks—attacks that were nearly impossible to see coming. His rare skill, "Extreme Intuition," and his natural battle intuition had made it possible. There were a few people in this world who also possessed Extreme Intuition, but that ability in itself wasn’t enough to fight against Ryuushin at par.

"You’d be surprised. People still try, thinking they can catch me off guard. It’s just a pain when I have to rearrange my plans to deal with them."

"So even with a future-sight-like ability, life’s not that easy, huh?"

"I can see a little bit ahead and react to it, sure. But it’s not like I can fully control what’s gonna happen. Some things are just out of my hands."

"Ooooh. That sounds like a weakness I can exploit!"

They chatted for a bit more before stepping off the arena.

──＊＊＊──

"Sorry, guys. I couldn’t pull through."

Ryuushin returned to the Familia camp, bowing his head in apology.

"Nah, don’t worry about it. That was an insane fight."

"That was an amazing match, Ryuushin-san."

"You did great out there."

Halt, Tina, and Leaffa welcomed him back with warm words of encouragement.

"Ryuushin-sama, you’ve evolved. Congratulations!"

"Thanks, Hinata. I just wish I could’ve won and looked cool for you. Sorry about that."

"It’s not your fault, he had a weapon that was literally made to counter you. Next time you fight, I’ll cast a Light Armor on you. Then you’ll definitely win, Ryuushin-sama!"

Hinata, once just a regular village girl, had awakened her talent for light magic after becoming Ryuushin’s wife and moving in with the Ernol family, and she became a mage specializing in that attribute. Dragon Killer is a weapon heavily aligned with dark energy. Even though she wasn’t an expert on magic tools, Hinata could sense it. Just as she said, if Ryuushin had Light Armor on, Cain’s attacks wouldn’t be nearly as effective.

"Yeah. That’s actually a solid plan, it’s possible for me to win a round with that."

Ryuushin had wanted to get stronger through training and beat Cain fair and square someday.

However, he began to consider how proving his wife’s support could turn the tide of battle would be a victory worth achieving, too.

"Hinata, next month, I wanna rematch him. Will you help me?"

"Of course! Let’s win this together!!"

Meanwhile, in a completely different part of the battlefield…

"Mother, I’ve got a favor to ask. Can you please change this sword’s attribute to light?"

Cain had no way of hearing what Ryuushin and Hinata were planning, but his Extreme Intuition was telling him that this was the right move.

Dragon Killer is a god-tier weapon.

Changing its attribute was basically impossible.

Well… for normal people, that is.

“I can do that, but that’s a waste. Keep it the way it is."

She casually opened a hole in space, reached inside, and pulled out a different weapon.

"Here. A Light-element Dragon Killer."