Chapter 398 - Incomprehensible (3)
Kwagwagwagwa───!
The vortex of gravity shattered everything within range, devastating the land.
A turbulent air current, like a storm-tossed sea.
Sarokan tried to manipulate it, scattering the violet storm, but it was too fierce, his efforts meaningless.
The firepower was being overwhelmed.
"How can something not even fully ripened reach such a realm...!!"
From Sarokan's vantage point on the ground, a grotesquely distorted landscape spread before him.
A reckless magical bombardment, utterly heedless of consumption.
Naturally, Sarokan should have been driven into inferiority, yet in the long run, this was tantamount to having seized the advantage.
For a Mage without magic power, or one exhausted, becomes nothing more than prey.
Yet the situation unfolded in the complete opposite direction.
The difference of talent.
"Ahaha! They say you're the 2nd in martial strength among the magic towers, but you're nothing special!"
Unia dove sharply.
Sarokan raised portions of the earth, adding wind to hurl it, but he could not stop her. She either shattered everything or evaded by the width of a sheet of paper.
Thus, Unia succeeded in closing the distance, wielding her staff, Ultima, with menace, cleaving the air relentlessly.
Weapon techniques enhanced by magic power control.
On top of that, she cast magic at close quarters, her calculations lightning-fast.
For Sarokan, who had no confidence in close combat, there was no choice but to retreat.
Whooong! Whoong! Kwagwagwagwa!
Destruction trailed in the wake of their clash, tracing the paths they had crossed.
Members of the Society, watching their movements, swiftly took positions, attempting to block Sarokan's retreat and seize victory, when—
"Stay out of this!"
Unia shouted irritably, forbidding them.
Her first true magical battle upon stepping onto the real stage of the world, and her opponent a formidable one.
Such a moment, she could not easily relinquish. Unia, unable to hide her heightened spirit, bared her belligerence and pressed her assault.
A pursuit of advance and retreat, nothing more.
The thought occurred simultaneously to both, that this could not go on, and the balance broke.
A massive ray of frost and a blade of earth collided head-on.
Rock froze and shattered, while the skewed ice fissure twisted in trajectory. Both avoided the backlash and widened the gap.
"Ghhk...."
Sarokan's arm froze over, grazed unavoidably by
Unia, on the other side, escaped with no more than a scratch upon her skin from flying fragments.
Magic power boiled.
A magic battle that would only end when one of the two fell. Without hesitation, both unleashed their full strength and opened their Mado.
Kugugugugu...!!
Around Sarokan, the earth rose up.
The very air itself imbued into it, forming dozens of enormous stakes fused with attributes.
Whoong.
Behind Unia, silver hair streaming, a single magic power satellite body floated, tinged with violet light.
As when she had sparred with Verden in the Society, managing multiple satellites required concentrated focus, but to create only one was possible at once.
Of course, the price remained the same, that she could not use Mado for a time thereafter.
The extreme weight of pressure filled the air.
At last, their calculations complete, both aimed their weapons, about to release their magic simultaneously.
It was then.
New Moon.
A violet crescent suddenly slashed horizontally across the air.
"What...?!"
Chwaaaaak───!
Distracted, Sarokan failed to respond in time, both knees slashed at the backs, collapsing to the ground.
The magic he had labored to construct crumbled, falling apart.
Adrian, closing in at invisible speed, left afterimages as he displayed his martial art.
Ranmu, Chaotic Dance.
Razor-sharp sword energy cut not only his robe but the flesh beneath.
The main tendons at his shoulders, his spine at the waist, all severed. Immediately after, a kick to the nape smashed Sarokan's consciousness away.
For a 6th-tier lower Magus, it was pathetic, yet inevitable.
He had yielded distance to Adrian, a master, and even let him take his back.
Having successfully neutralized Sarokan, Adrian sheathed the demonic sword, Cadence.
Unia, whose battle had been interrupted, descended at once, glaring.
"Hey! What do you think you're───"
"Shut your mouth. You dare execute our lord's entrusted plan like this? Do you think we are here to play?"
A vein bulged on Adrian's brow.
"If we fail, we may face a Transcendent, an irreversible catastrophe. And you, abandoning numerical superiority for a duel? Are you out of your mind?"
"Th...!"
Unia faltered, her words failing.
For it was sound reasoning. She could find no excuse.
Passing her, Adrian gave a warning.
"Try such foolishness again, and I'll cut you down first. Unless you mean to betray our lord, take the subdued target and gather at the sixth spider cave."
His footsteps receded into the distance.
Unia stood frozen in place.
They said he was an ally, but... to be rebuked so sharply by a stranger she had never met, it was the first time in her life.
"Tchhh...."
She felt ashamed.
Heras approached.
"Lady Unia, we will take Sarokan."
"...No, I'll carry him."
Somber, Unia slung Sarokan, bound in a magic circle, over her shoulder.
She had strengthened her body, and steadily trained her physique, so it was no burden.
Shedger, Barkent, and now Sarokan.
Thus all of Rayshen's direct escorts had been captured.
***
Elemental Mages, since they handle magic focused on firepower, are generally specialized for battle.
All the more so for one wielding the upper elemental attribute of lightning, with its devastating lethality against living beings.
But strictly speaking, Rayshen was far from the true essence of elemental magic, regardless of what tier he had reached, or how strong he was in practice.
Even if through Mado
Above all, Rayshen had a strong aversion to battlefields, teeming with countless perilous variables.
Mado was the crystallization of a Mage's enlightenment, the path he would walk, given form as a realm.
Which was to say, simply put—
'This... I can't win.'
A one-sided war of attrition.
Unfair from every angle.
Not only did Verden wield all manner of elemental magic, including high-tier and supreme, along with advanced imbue magics, but his mystic eyes with their unknown magic circles, his bottomless reservoir of magic power, all the same.
Even the difference in armaments was extreme.
The magic Rayshen prided himself on had failed to inflict any real harm upon Verden.
Even a mere graze left not a scratch.
Whatever that platinum robe was, its resistance far exceeded the norm.
At the very least, it clearly outclassed the artifact Rayshen wore, the [Immaculate Robe].
Thus, his conclusion, stripped of pride, face, humiliation, and every emotional subjectivity—
No chance of victory.
Such objective judgment, and the flexibility to accept it, were possible precisely because Rayshen's will to live was so strong.
But even so, he could not ignore circumstances that defied comprehension.
"Haaahk, huk...."
Jiiik─── Jiiik───
Blood-soaked, Rayshen crawled forward, slowly extending an arm.
A trail of crimson carpeted the ground where he dragged himself. With effort, his lips, stuck together, parted.
"Damn... Ver, den...!"
Between clenched teeth, broken and bloodied, weak hisses of air leaked.
"Nothing more, than a test subject... how, in just a few, short years... could you reach such a realm...?"
That it was possible to surpass tier limits, despite no such theory existing, he could accept.
But for a 1st-tier to reach the upper 6th-tier, and in less than three years? That could not be passed off so simply.
Even that legendary figure, the first Demon King who attained the 9th-tier, had no record of growth so meteoric.
"Cough, cough! Just, what the hell have you been doing all this time...! Did you perhaps meet Luas, receive some kind of miracle...?"
"If a god ever intended to help me, he would have done so long ago."
Once, Verden had desperately begged Luas for salvation.
Naturally, the God of Light had not so much as extended a hand.
"This is solely my own power."
"Th, that so? Had I known, cough, it would come to this, I should have disposed of you early on...."
Rayshen spoke feebly, as if lamenting, yet at the same time his eyes darted furtively.
'Begging for life has failed. Verden absolutely intends to kill me.'
By magic or by words, facing him head-on offered no way out, yet that did not mean there was no escape.
Verden's carelessness, and his own final resort.
If he used them fully, he could carve out a chance to flee.
The moment that certainty struck—
"To see you, ignoring what I've been saying all along, is unbearably frustrating."
Verden spoke.
"I won't interfere, so pour out everything you have. Before I kill you here and now."
Rayshen clenched his fist tight.
"Fine, then stay still... you arrogant lab rat bastard───!"
His eyes flashing, he suddenly raised his torso, retrieving his weapon through
"Unify, into flight!"
With the trigger word, [Extension of Bahlrkan] activated, the staff shattered into dozens of fragments, forming a ring around Rayshen's head.
An auxiliary magical calculation.
At the same time, the flow of mana accelerated severalfold, and magic power burst forth.
The tremendous strain ruptured his capillaries, sticky blood flowing from deep inside his nose.
Rayshen wildly waved his left hand, while with his right he hurled magic stones from his dimensional pouch, writing multiple magic circles nearly at once.
The supreme sealing magic circle devised by the tower master, Balrog Bessias.
And, using Mado
"Uaaaaaahp!"
In an instant, a colossal magic circle enveloped the area around Verden, sealing it tightly.
***
A complete seal that restricted the opponent's range of action for about 30 minutes. Its power sufficient even against an upper 6th-tier Magus.
Rayshen curled up one corner of his lips.
"Arrogant, just because your realm has risen. That's why you're a mere test subject, you know?"
Anyway, he had bought time.
If he stayed here, the Black Hour, or perhaps others, would soon chase him.
Escaping and shaking pursuit was now the top priority.
Rayshen immediately made his bid for flight.
His whole body ached as if torn apart.
In his heart he longed to heal himself with a pseudo-elixir, but taking it twice in one day would multiply the side effects beyond measure, so he dared not.
Rather than risk the ceiling and possible encirclement, he desperately flew toward the complex fissures where Isabella lay.
But───
Thud!
Rayshen was flung aside, rolling across the floor.
He had smashed face-first, his neck aching, yet he had no time to mind it.
Eyes wide, his jaw dropped in disbelief.
An intangible barrier dominated the cavern, spread along its perimeter.
At the point of collision, ripples formed, gradually absorbed.
It mattered little when it had been set.
More important was the fact that its nature was unmistakably familiar, absurdly so.
No way.
"...
One of Balrog's signature magic circles, a supreme composite requiring multiple top-grade mana stones,
So-called inviolate demonic domain.
A massive shield sealing both in and out completely.
"What the... why, why? Why in the world is this here...?"
"What's so shocking? It was one of the things you people forcibly crammed into my head with that memory expand."
Verden tapped his forehead, watching Rayshen.
He had prepared much.
The meaning of Verden's first words dawned upon Rayshen anew.
'In that case.'
Instantly, Rayshen tore off a necklace, pulling out a gem glowing yellow within.
The first-generation Dexar's Gem, inscribed with a teleportation array. Exact time to activate and reset coordinates: four minutes!
So long as he was not interrupted, it was a guaranteed escape.
Then, Verden laid his hand upon
At once the circle rippled, concentric waves spreading.
His mastery of dismantling magic circles had reached the pinnacle years ago, and with the applications of
"Un, unbelievable."
Creak, crackle.
In mere seconds, the foundation of
"───Gkkhk!"
Verden, turned to lightning, shattered Rayshen's knee with Orient, then stomped his head, prying the Dexar's Gem from his grasp.
Its light reflected off the cavern walls.
"Truly a flashy lifeline."
Crackkk!
Under his brutal grip, the gem was crushed, along with the teleportation array within, gone to shards.
Verden chuckled low.
"Your last desperate resort, painstakingly enacted, ends in vain, and even your means of escape from my hand is no more...."
He pressed down harder on Rayshen's skull with his foot.
"Rayshen, how do you feel right now?"
"Ghhhk, nghhh...!"
Rayshen trembled, groaning.
Verden, relishing the sight, turned his gaze to Isabella. She had sensed something, staring upward.
There could be only one implication.
"Just the right timing."
Verden spread his mana waves, releasing
Moments later, dozens marched in ordered ranks into the subterranean cavern.
Adrian approached, bowing his head.
"As you commanded, my lord, we captured Barkent and Sarokan alive. Their lives remain intact."
"Well done."
Verden commended him.
With Rayshen subdued as well, only the conclusion remained.
At that moment, Adrian and Rayshen's eyes met.
Rayshen's complexion drained pale, beholding that distinct deep navy hair and sky-blue eyes.
It was impossible not to recognize—the very man he himself had delivered to the Eastern Continent mere months ago.
"Ad, Adrian, Chambers...?"
"It's been a while, Rayshen Tailroad."
Clink.
The Heavenly Sword, Adrian, briefly lowered his metal mask, twisting his lips. A test subject he had confirmed dead through a compulsory magic circle now stood alive before him, smiling.
"How...."
Rayshen cried out in anguish.
"How is Number 89 still aliveeeeeeeee!"
Magical logic collapsed.
Things utterly incomprehensible kept repeating. His reason wavered. He could no longer feign composure.
Rayshen felt he would go mad.
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