「This is my newly developed trump card」

Mordred turned his item bag, which he had removed from his waist, upside down and shook it lightly up and down. Then, metal balls the size of tennis balls fell from inside. A total of ten metal balls came tumbling out of it.

According to my appraisal, it was a magical alloy ball.

Mordred then holds up his spear as he lightly rolls the metal ball under his foot with his foot.

「Magic Armor」

Mordred muttered the name of the unique skill. Then, a reddish-black light surged from his entire body. It must be his molten iron magic power.

Is it a full-body version of the Attribute Sword? Or was it something completely different? As I was wondering, I soon found out what it could do.

「Vulcanus Order!」

「!!」

Before our eyes, the spell was activated. We were familiar with this technique. He had manipulated a huge anchor to restrain a Kraken and a water dragon with it. It is a high-level molten iron magic that allows him to manipulate metal within his range.

It would have required a long chant before, but now he’s able to use it with just saying its name? I had appraised him before and he did not possess Chanting Abbreviation or No Chanting skill.

So, was it the effect of his magic armor?

As we watched, the metal balls began to dance wildly in front of us. It may not look like anything special yet, but it’s pretty fast. Even at this speed, a hit would probably fracture a bone or two.

「Haaah!」

「I have prepared countermeasures against your thunderbolt magic!」

At the same time, five metal balls formed a shield to protect Mordred. Then, Fran’s thunderbolt magic was repelled by an invisible wall and disappeared.

It seems that the swirling magical power around the metal balls had acted as a barrier.

「I’ll crush it!」

「I won’t let you!」

The one on offense has changed again now. Mordred moved his hand lightly, and all the metal balls began to attack Fran at once.

Their movements were varied, some went straight and some went in an arc. And yet, they were able to corner Fran with a great deal of precision.

It seems that he has perfect control over the ten metal balls.

Fran quickly tried to deflect the metal balls, but even that seemed to be within Mordred’s prediction. The moment she hit the balls, it deformed into a squishy shape. I couldn’t feel myself cutting anything, it felt as if it was made of gelatin.

This must be the same as his spear from earlier. The metal balls then got entangled around my blade and wouldn’t come off. The weight of the ball is nothing to Fran, but she won’t be able to use that part of the blade.

And that wasn’t the only problem.

「Eh?」

Fran shouts in surprise at my sudden, independent movement.

『That wasn’t my doing!』

Yes, it was not my doing. It was the metal wrapped around my blade that was pulled in the unexpected direction by Mordred’s manipulation.

This causes the metal balls to collide with my blade again and increases my weight.

Moreover, I felt a tremendous sense of discomfort like I was being forced to use transformations against my will. It was probably Mordred’s molten iron magic working on me through the metal balls.

He doesn’t seem to be able to control me directly, but he managed to disrupt Fran’s concentration by doing this. It looks like we’ll have to be more careful when dealing with molten iron magic users in the future.

Fran had managed to control the situation by forcing me to move with her strength alone, but her room for escape has gotten smaller and smaller.

Although she had been hit several times by the metal balls, it was still in the category of a scratch, but she judged that it was dangerous if things continue like this.

Fran then lowered herself and stepped forward.

She dodged the metal balls that tried to block her way with minimal movement while putting up a barrier. But just when it seemed that she would be able to pass through the metal ball’s encirclement――.

「Ghaa!」

『Fran!』

Fran suddenly lost her stance and almost fell. When she checked the ground, her right foot has sunk into the ground as if it were buried.

Fran immediately got on her hands to avoid falling, but her right leg had become severely injured.

It was burned and charred in places. It seemed that Mordred had calculated this and had turned the ground into lava beforehand.

If she had been a weaker magic beast or an ordinary person, her legs would have been burned off and it would have been gone.

「Kuh」

She quickly recovers with recovery magic, but in the meantime, Mordred moves on to his next attack.

「Magma Field!」

Mordred then put his hands on the stage and let his magic flow into it. The ground then began to glow red with him at the center.

The heat radiated from the ground was so great that forced Fran to flee into the air.

The range of his skill continued to expand, and eventually turned all the ground in the arena into a sea of lava.

In the middle of it, thanks to his molten iron magic, Mordred stood calmly as if enjoying the coolness of the situation.

「Lightning Bolt!」

「Block it!」

「Muh」

Fran’s magic is again blocked by the metal balls. Although the metal ball’s offensive capabilities were remarkable, its defensive capabilities were also troublesome.

The metal balls continued to circle around Mordred. It looked like it would take a lot of force to break that thing.

Mordred looks up at Fran. Had he been trying to drive Fran into the air to take away her mobility? If so, that was very naive.

「Brilliant Lighting Rush!」

Fran decided to use one of her trump cards.

With Aerial Jump and Brilliant Lighting Rush, she can fight at the same speed as on the ground, or rather, she can move even faster than on the ground.

Fran then moves around in the air of the arena while readying me to counter Mordred’s attack. If she can find an opening, she’ll be able to go from this state to extreme speed in an instant.

But even this seemed to be within Mordred’s expectations.

「I knew your speed was something I couldn’t handle, but…」

「!?」

「That’s why I’m going to attack you with everything I’ve got」

He must have thought that it’s impossible for him to capture Fran in her current state, so he decided to go all out.

I just realized that the magma field he set up earlier was not meant to drive Fran into the air, but to create the conditions for his next attack.

「Volcanic――」

Mordred lifted both of his hands, which had been lowered limply, slightly, and rotated only his wrists. If you’re a fan of special effects, you’ll probably recognize it as the pose of Shin Godzilla.

As if in response to his palms facing the sky, the lava around him began to billow and swell.

「――Gazer!」

Then, due to Mordred’s magic, the lava that had covered the ground exploded, filling the whole arena with lava.