I will…
Definitely…
Bring you back…
It won’t end like this.
This isn’t the ending we deserve.
So I will rewrite it.
I’ll do it all over again.
And once more, my dear flower shall bloom once again.
If my rationality and common sense shall be in the way of that…
If my position and the laws shall be shackles to that…
If my pride and dignity as a human shall fetter me, then…
I will abandon it all! All of it!
─────What a predictable and foolish man. But just a little, I find that foolishness of yours enviable─────
“Great Grandfather? That thing!?”
The first one to be surprised when that name was dropped was none other than the great-granddaughter.
She had somehow managed to drag her listless body to where the maids had been safely released, but just when she was at an arm’s reach, Shinichi dropped that bomb.
It was such an unbelievable story that despite how much she trusted Shinichi she found herself in disbelief.
But the person in question appeared completely unperturbed.
Not a hint of annoyance or anguish or irritation could be seen on him. No, he didn’t have the leisure to.
The enemy standing before him was an irrational monster with the power of Skill S.
Moreover, someone who possessed the power to destroy the advantage of those that could transfer their souls.
One step wrong, and he could be instantly destroyed.
But of course, Shinichi couldn’t actually kill him because of his circumstances. That’s why he was still alive, but that was a reality the alchemist could never even dream of.
‘Don’t look down on me,’ the alchemist said to himself. There wasn’t enough time to administer medicine to himself, so he created medicine from right within his body, and the dangerous medicinal effects circulated throughout his body all at once.
Before Shinichi’s arm could hit him, his childlike body transformed to become muscular.
It was a simple punch with his full weight amplified by the momentum of a jump.
And yet…
“Guooaaaa!!? D-Damn you! I’ve amplified my abilities to this extent, and yet it’s still not enough!?”
The alchemist had covered his face with both of his now muscular arms, and yet they still broke under the might of that fist, forcing his body to sink 10 meters into the ground.
He had forcefully elevated his Resistance to AAA through medicine, and his Skill rank was also just one step short of the first-class C+, and yet he still lost in that exchange.
──If this body won’t do, then I’ll just have to use that!
Having resolved himself, he abandoned his current body, and it immediately rushed toward the boy with lifeless eyes.
It leaped at him in an attempt to grapple despite its broken arms, but with a finger snap, it was swallowed up in flames and burned up in an instant.
Not a bone, not even any ashes were left in the wake of that hell-fire, but in the next moment, countless armored dolls appeared before the boy.
Behind them were three giant snake golems.
It was obvious that the alchemist was buying time, but the boy just beckoned them with his hand.
The girls still couldn’t move, so if he didn’t deal with them, they were sure to attack them.
Besides, enemies on this level couldn’t even buy the alchemist time.
“You really must have gone senile. Have you still not realized the situation outside?”
The armored dolls poured toward Shinichi, and the snakes sought to devour him, but something like this was just a repetition of earlier, and he defeated them all in a single blow.
“…I don’t know why you’re forcing yourself so hard when your body can’t even last half an hour.”
With a swing of his arm, all the complex machineries were turned into scrap.
As for that evaluation, it was evidently aimed at the youth that appeared before him once again dressed in an armor unlike any until now.
Forged form silverganth and with defensive magic spells all over, it was clearly a national treasure level armor, and inside it was a high-performance body produced by advanced magic alchemy.
Shinichi could tell that his Status had already been elevated forcefully through the application of dangerous medicines.
That’s why his body won’t even last 30 minutes.
Though it was not to the extent as when he tormented Kite, the alchemist was once again covered in an armor of muscles.
Moreover, unlike before, his face was no longer as childlike, instead being that of a young man.
“That face… So he really is great grandfather!?”
Upon seeing that, Lilisha was finally convinced.
She had seen many portraits of the Sorcerer King in the course of studying history, and the face the alchemist wore now was a splitting image of the Sorcerer King in his youth.
There was no reason for him to go out of his way to make himself look like her great grandfather when he was fighting someone as dangerous as Shinichi.
If anything, he had maintained a childish face this whole time, so him aging must be a sign that he was finally in a predicament and was starting to panic.
Perhaps this was even the true objective behind the boy’s provocations.
“Gulp, mn, haa… 30 minutes is enough! I, the Sorcerer King, have not gone senile enough to lose to a child like you!”
It was curious if he didn’t hear the princess, but he threw a large number of suspiciously-colored pills into his mouth, then he declared himself as the Sorcerer King and bravely kicked off against the ground.
“Does the word ‘forbidden’ even exist in your dictionary, you junkie?”
The old alchemist strengthened himself even more through doping, transforming his body to specialize in Strength and Agility, then as though to reenact what he’d experienced, launched a simple but powerful fist at the boy.
It was a simple fist, but it lacked any superfluous parts to it, a true demonstration of the benefits of his high-performing body, and yet the boy merely crossed his arms in front of him – perhaps to annoy him by showing him up where he couldn’t succeed – and with a sigh easily blocked his attack.
The boy didn’t budge. Nay, his clothes didn’t even flutter.
The ground beneath might have cracked, but the boy’s laughter and the alchemist’s bitter expression said everything.
“I’ve got more in store for you, Boy!”
Then the alchemist launched a flurry of fists and kicks.
They might have been the crude movements of an amateur, but every blow was heavy and fast. Just a graze from the pressure released by his fists would hollow the ground, and his kicks would cut the sky and make tremble the air.
He released such powerful blows one after another without pause, a feat achievable thanks to his body being specialized for speed and power.
But at the end of the day, the man’s occupation was that of an alchemist. In other words, physical combat was just something he did in his spare time; hence from every direction, so did the earth rise, and swords danced, and slimes leaped, and arms of stone fell.
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