Story of a Cannon Fodder who Firmly Believed He was the Protagonist, Misunderstood the Actual Protagonist as the Cannon Fodder, and Ended up Victorious
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Derpy
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 57 – The Identity of the Elder Brother [B]
Molgan raised his hand while wielding a large amount of art. Ultra-high temperature heat rays radiated from his hands.
Even though it was night time, the output was so great that it gave the illusion it was daytime.
Fay also fought back by cutting down that conjured daylight. It was the normal katana he had with him. Though an ordinary katana it might be, it was something forged seriously by a blacksmith.
In addition to that, Fay had trained himself beyond the limits of his human vessel. With these two combined, the false day returned to night again.
“Heeh, I didn’t think that there was someone who could actually cut magic down these days…”
“There’s no need to play around.”
“You’re right, sorry about that. It seems that you’re more capable than I thought. But that’s all there is to it. You won’t be able to talk big for long.”
Molgan placed his hands on the ground.
An ominous sound rang along with the crack.
■■
Molgan POV
Oi oi, he actually cut down Sun Laser (Pseudo Nightbreaker). Though it certainly was not my trump card, he still surprised me to some extent.
The simple act of cutting down magic was enough to make me impressed. No, that doesn’t portray my surprise enough.
What kind of divine act was that even? I couldn’t see any sort of special effects attached to that katana. It didn’t seem to be a magic sword either.
I thought he was just a small fry without art… but I see, he possesses enough power to boast.
“I’ll get a little more serious, see if you can still talk big then.”
That’s why I couldn’t help but think it was a pity that he only had a miniscule amount of art. Well, it could be said that mine was simply just too great in comparison though.
If only he had a decent amount of art, then he would have been able to climb higher. He would have been able to grow into one of the strongest people in the world.
Indeed, it was really a pity. He could have been worthy enough to become my subordinate.
In this world, art was everything. Therefore, he was inferior to me. I put my hand on the ground then…
“━━Northern Brain (Sudden Permafrost).”
Chills spread out rapidly from the center. The conjured ice would follow the opponent as far as it could go until it froze them.
That black haired man had a strong body, but with ice chasing him from all directions, there was no way he could escape.
“…So it chases after me.”
“You’re quick to notice. But what will you do about it?”
There was no way he could cut such ice. Even if he could, there was no way he could cut them all down.
“It seems to be an annoying spell but…”
Don’t tell me, does he really intend to try? There was no way he could stop the ice that was as persistent as a snake.
But he actually did.
“Hou, your skill with a sword… It’s perhaps comparable to the sword skill created by the Cage of a Hundred Children.”
I couldn’t help but be surprised that someone with this amount of skill wasn’t well known. But if I had known beforehand, he would have been long dead, so I guess it couldn’t be helped.
He just met the wrong opponent.
“If only you were facing someone else, or at least had a decent amount of art… you would have been able to land a hit.”
No matter how much I think about it, there was no way he would be able to dodge all the ice chasing him with pure physical ability alone.
“There’s no need for this kind of sideshow.”
He smiled with composure while dodging them nimbly. He must be bluffing. This magic would freeze its target no matter what. Not only that, his physical strength would be quickly consumed since the ice would chase after him all the time.
Eventually… he will freeze. No, this was taking too much time. It seems his physical strength was greater than I expected.
It can’t be helped. I guess I should aim for Aliceia and Morgol as well. I was told to steal Aliceia’s art, so freezing her should make it convenient.
The ice was aiming at those two now.
“He’s targeting us! Let’s escape!”
“I-I can fight too.”
“You idiot, run away!”
Aliceia’s art was supposed to be different compared to normal. That old fart told me it just hadn’t awakened yet.
I couldn’t feel a glimpse of the abnormality or its supposed strength from Aliceia at all.
That was supposed to happen, but before it could, the man named Fay ran to block the ice intended for Aliceia and Morgol, just as I thought he would.
He could have avoided it on his own, but to block he would have to jump directly in front of the target.
It was an easy hit. All the ice flew at him and it was over. He managed to cut down most of the ice, but I guess it was impossible for him to cut them all.
“If you didn’t try to protect them, your arm and leg wouldn’t have been frozen, what a fool.”
One of Fay’s arms and legs were frozen by my ice magic. He should be right-handed so now that his right arm was frozen, I could easily handle…
“Ugh, move it.”
He forcefully tore off the ice. What absurd physical strength, was he really human?! When he peeled it off, his own skin also peeled off, transforming into an ugly wound.
He also forcefully peeled off the ice on his foot. What… the heck was he? What’s with his absurd physical ability? There were certainly people with amazing physiques.
But he didn’t use any magic.
“Did your body get modified by the Eternal Foundation or Cage of a Hundred Children?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He either had no memory of it, or he just played a fool.
“Then how did you get such physical ability?”
“I just continued to train myself.”
That must be a lie. There was no way that was possible. His physical state wasn’t something in a realm where humans could reach through simple training.
In other words, he has received some modification just like me, or he was injected with some kind of cell.
That must be the answer. The fact that he didn’t bring it up would either be because he didn’t want to mention it or he didn’t want the truth to be revealed.
Either way, his body must have been remodeled like mine.
“Well well, to think you’re capable of this much.”
“What of it?”
“I’m a little bit interested in you. I’ll give you a wonderful suggestion, Fay, become a hero together with me.”
“I refuse.”
“Well, just listen. It seems I will eventually become the hero someday. I was told that as I was raised. Therefore, I stole art from everyone else for the sake of filling my vessel as the hero.”
“I don’t give a damn about that.”
“But I feel it now. You have an overwhelmingly sturdy body, enough to become my subordinate.”
“Obviously, there’s no worth in accepting such a thing.”
“Fumu, too bad. Then I have no choice but to kill you.”
Well, I had no intention of making him my subordinate to begin with. I just thought I could find out a little more about him through conversation.
Come to think of it, I seem to recall seeing this man from somewhere else now that I took a closer look at him.
“What?”
The skin of his arm is peeling off, but he doesn’t even show any sign of pain, huh?
Seriously, what the heck was he? Was he some sort of puppet, just like what that old fart told me when he made that sort of thing that felt no pain?
“I think you’ve spouted enough nonsense.”
As that man said that, he removed his weights. When he dropped the weights from under his clothes and on his arms, a heavy noise resounded.
“Does that mean your body can still reach even higher!?”
“I’ve already reached you.”
“Gahah.”
T-to think I was punched without me even noticing. I evaluated him only as agile when I first saw him avoiding the earlier attacks but that was no longer the case.
This guy was frighteningly fast.
“Are you saying that a mere human could reach this realm of power?!”
He didn’t seem to be reinforcing his body with magic. It didn’t seem like he was using magic secretly either.
Could something like this really be made through bodily modification and injecting the cells of the hero…? If that old fart made something like this, he would definitely have told me about it.
There was no way we couldn’t have known about something abnormal like this.
It was hard to believe, but he might really be a naturally-occurring unexpected factor. If so, shouldn’t he be erased?
I have to do it thoroughly. This unexpected factor would definitely hinder the plan. Removing him here and now would be the best course of action.
“Full Metal Build (High-Dimensional Physique).”
It was magic to make my body harder than steel. Not only that, it applied multiple layers of physical reinforcement magic. It was an overwhelming power I culminated to perfection by completely filling the vessel with power.
“Fufu, you are the second person to make me use this.”
“I see. That’s unfortunate for you since it means you only got to reveal that to two people.”
Fay hit me while saying that. But as expected of my body strengthened with steel magic, physical reinforcement, modification surgery, and cell activation, his attack was ineffective on me.
The metallic sound echoed pleasantly in my ears.
“It’s my turn now.”
“…”
I was the overwhelmingly strong one here and as I hit his face, I heard a creaking sound.
“Carve the memory of the strongest power into your soul!”
“…”
I kept hitting his arms, legs, and abdomen until the bones became broken and smashed. His fingers were also twisted in the opposite direction.
However, I couldn’t let my guard down.
I kept on hitting him. I didn’t want him to have any physical power remaining.
I thought the result of the battle was practically decided, but he hit me back. His tattered arm against my steel one collided against each other.
The sound of crunching and crumbling bones echoed. This should be the end.
Yet why does he still resist?
“Fuha.”
He also smiled happily. His bloodied face seemed to be smiling like a child.
“Not yet, it’s not over yet, no, there’s no such thing as an end. But now I’m convinced. I will devour and surpass you.”
I could feel a sense of intimidation from the words alone despite him vomiting blood.
“You have already been eaten by me.”
“Nonsense, you’re already dying.”
It wasn’t like his words contained the effect of a magic chant. Even so, I could feel its power. There was no doubt contained in his eyes.
“It will happen.”
As he took a breath, I began to see a shimmering transparency around him. It made me realize he was using physical reinforcement magic.
However, why did he use it at this time?
Moreover, his magic was awful. I’ve never seen a caster and art as unsynchronized as this before.
“Either way, all I need to do is to kill you.”
“That won’t happen. I will survive no matter what happens, and win no matter who I fight against.”
“I see. I’ll consider that as your last will.”
The man named Fay and I began to hit each other. His power, strengthened only with physical reinforcement magic, and me, strengthened with all sorts of factors combined, was way too different.
━━That’s right, I feel a little bit of fear, but there’s no way I could lose.
I hit him, and he hit me back. This repeated a dozen times.
━━No matter how amazing you might be.
I kept on hitting him. He must be strengthening himself forcefully with art. His blood flowed as if his blood vessels were bursting.
━━There’s no way you can win.
That’s right, I can win with just a little more, there’s no way I can lose. That’s why, I just need to hit him another dozen times and it should be over.
Another 7 hits, no, 70 hits, or maybe, 700 hits?!
“He is… insane!”
He stood up over and over like a zombie. Not only that, he kept using his reinforcement magic like a fool!
Now that it has come to this, I will steal his miniscule art so that he won’t be able to…
No, what the hell was this?! I couldn’t steal it! His art was so miniscule that I couldn’t steal it.
A thing like this has never happe━
━━No, it did happen a single time.
There was a rule that I couldn’t steal art from the same person over and over. In other words, I’ve already stolen his art before. When did I do that?!
When did I ever steal his art!
“D-don’t tell me, are you Morga-“
“I am me.”
My steel body was broken by a mere fist.
“Your body is just steel plating. That’s not true power, and the power you stole from other people won’t become your own either. That’s why I win.”
He hit me with a rush of punches to peel off the plating. His feet became dirty as if they were shaken by the rain of blood.
T-t-this bastard. Like hell I would lose against this monster. It’s impossible. To think I would lose against this failure.
There’s no way I would lose to Morgan.
“You, monster.”
“Even that is but a lukewarm evaluation of me.”
No good, I was definitely unable to steal his power. What made this man go so far?!
As the plating peeled off, a fist slammed into me, forcing my consciousness into darkness.
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Makes sense his name is Morgan. Like the sister of King Arthur, Morgan le Fay
This is so fuckin cool and cathartic. The one nerfing him all along and he goes up and shows him an absolute world of resolution and might.
THE LORE!
Day Sama soo cool!
Fay