Magicians were precious and good magicians were even more precious.
Of course, good magicians were a rare breed but since most magicians who had reached a high position have stayed close to the Runtel Kingdom, witnessing real ‘high class’ magic must have been difficult for normal people.
So, most people didn’t understand it.
Magic was a mythical power. Unlike swordsmanship which required a strong body, magic was a skill which was difficult to understand.
But that wasn’t all.
Yprene Slick, who had been in the world of magic all his life, thought that magic was the most transparent of all abilities.
It was because of the so-called ‘calculation approach’ that he had towards the subject.
‘Sensing the mana spread around the world, collecting it into the core of the body, converting it into a desired form, then processing it into the desired form and then expressing it out in the world in an appropriate way.’
Accurate and hassle-free calculations are required to do all of that. An error-free procedure along with careful inspection was needed.
Simultaneously they could receive the help of the magic tools and magic circles along with calculation formulas which have been verified beforehand.
It was just like substituting an already proven formula.
‘But, why…’
Gulp
Yprene Slick gulped.
He saw the figure of Jia Runtel in the sky.
He analyzed not only the visual information, but also the technique she would have used and the various conditions that supported it.
And he, originally a genius, had accepted the darkness and broke through the limit. With that power he could guess how strong the lightning of the Queen would be.
It was impossible to follow, but he assumed that it was possible to calculate and predict.
That was what he thought a while ago.
“Die. Dark magician.”
It was a sentence so simple that it seemed like an order. The moment it was said, something incomprehensible happened.
An ability that transcended magic.
Mana beyond understanding.
An amplification of power which completely denied the world of magic that he had learned… something that seemed to destroy common sense and history!
‘Sorcery? No. Magic? It’s not that either.’
‘Wait… Both of them together? Is that possible?’
‘It cannot be. No, it cannot be.’
‘Ancient texts and tools.’
‘Intuition which transcended the realm of calculation and understanding. A level that allowed you to reach places which couldn’t even be touched through magic alone in an instant.’
“Speech power! No…”
“Dragon’s language…”
––!
Yprene Slick couldn’t speak anymore.
He couldn’t run away, nor could he resist it.
The lighting which fell across the sky struck him and annihilated him. His body and the dark energy within him disappeared at the same time.
It was as if he didn’t exist in the first place.
Like that was natural order.
“…”
“…”
“…”
The devils couldn’t even move as they saw that.
The devils that were going against the Masters, felt strange and prepared to hide. There were those who were fearlessly focused on the magic. None of them could move.
Silence.
Stillness.
Through it, Jia Runel’s voice resounded out again.
“Disappear, darkness.”
She calmly declared, as if it was a command which couldn’t be disobeyed. And the lightning bolt, which was even more intense than the previous one, spread out in all directions, burning down the inside of the earth wall that had been previously created.
Kwakwang!
Kwakwang!
Kwakwakwakwang!
No one could escape. No matter how powerful and terrible the darkness was, no one could escape from this magic.
A blue lightning which couldn’t be prevented or avoided fell upon them, and one after another the devils were erased from existences.
Even their accursed bodies.
Their filthy malice.
The curse from their deaths.
Nothing was an exception.
Avilius’s high priest who saw it mumbled.
“We don’t even need to purify it.”
“It really is…”
Darin Horton, the high priest who had spoken first nodded at it.
He couldn’t understand how it had happened. But this was from the point of view of a priest. What Jia Runtel saw wasn’t a simple force to defeat the devils. It was something more than that.
As proof of that, the lighting destroyed not just the devils but purified the darkness as well. As if it wanted to send back the entire hell which spread out into the Human world back into Devildom, the mysterious magic continued to sweep through the slums of Godara.
“…”
“…”
“…”
No one raised their swords anymore.
The Magicians, healers and priests. The same held true for the sorcerers who had joined them late. Without taking any action they looked at Jia Runtel who was descending to the ground.
All their eyes were looking for an explanation. But even Jia Runel couldn’t anothing. Even she didn’t fully understand it.
‘What just happened?’
She just couldn’t forgive Yprene Slick.
She just wanted to direct her anger at the demon who abandoned the pride of a magician. And such will was poured into the magic she had used. It happened unconsciously and was a mistake.
She accepted that it was a force that she couldn’t understand, and regardless of it being good or bad, if she couldn’t control it, it would have been a failure.
‘But, it didn’t stop.’
Rather, it was the opposite. Expanding her intent to destroy Yprene Slick, she directed it to the darkness.
She didn’t even have the time to process the situation and just did it. With words, she transcended hundreds of steps and arrived at the answer. It was something like a transcended spell.
… and then she remembered the existence she had met before.
The ancient text she had read in Avilius must have caused this.
To understand this better, she had to meet the black cat. She had to meet and ask questions to get answers.
The Queen of Runtel who had thought this far, turned her head and looked around. She was so exhausted that she could collapse and sleep right away, but she had to look for the blonde young man. He was the key to reach Lulu.
“… where is he?”
“Who are you talk…”
“Airn Pareira.”
“Ah!”
“Um.”
“Thinking back…”
Those who realized it looked around. But they couldn’t find him.
He was nowhere to be found and Ilya’s expression began to get worried.
“Let’s search for him together.”
Quincy Myers quickly gathered his thoughts and gave out orders. There was danger probably still lurking around. The clown, Carl Lindsay and the greater evil were still alive and yet to appear.
It wasn’t a good idea to let people scatter in such a situation.
“…”
In the middle of the battlefield where they still couldn’t let go of the tension of the battle even though it was mostly over, Ilya Lindsay closed her eyes.
The devil.
The demon.
All of it made her heart heavy.
‘Airn.’
But it was nothing compared to her feelings for Airn. And she whispered.
“Airn.”
She clearly felt it after saying it out loud. Nothing else mattered to her, not even her brother.
A wind ruffled her hair.
When the heroes of the continent came from the portal and went against the devils, Airn Pareira left the place and moved towards Godara.
It wasn’t known whether it was the signal from the sorcery greatsword, or the feeling of something foreboding he felt, or whether something else was happening.
He just knew that he couldn’t hesitate.
If he didn’t move, he was going to miss it. Forever. And so, the hero moved his exhausted body with the thought of getting closer to that ‘something’ and stood in front of a magnificent building.
This place couldn’t be compared to the tower but it was splendid as well. And he could feel the disgusting stench. It was unlike anything he had encountered.
“…”
Airn Pareira took a step ahead and went inside. He could see the banquet hall light up with colorful lights. Various kinds of food were prepared on the table.
As he passed that, the kitchen appeared and the scene in the kitchen caught his eye. It was a sight that went beyond common sense.
If it was his normal self he would have stopped, but Airn didn’t do that now.
Going down the open basement, Airn fell into agony.
‘You took the lives of others lightly in order to save those dear to you. You looked yet didn’t act on the same standards as usual. Relying on your impatient selfishness to compromise yourself for your goal, you backed off from your justice.’
Yprene Slick wasn’t wrong. Airn no longer hesitated to kill.
He could no longer find himself as he struggled to solve a problem which didn’t have an answer. Relying only on the flames, he was following the clown with a burning heart.
He had thrown away all the good intentions which supported him and was fueled only by hatred and anger.
It was because of that reason that he didn’t stop despite the horrible scene in the kitchen, and the reason he ignored everything inside this place.
It wasn’t bad.
And he didn’t think of it as a problem.
At least, for now. By surrendering himself to the flame, he was able to defeat that giant devil and arrive here without delay.
Right.
He wasn’t late yet.
Airn, who was constantly going down the steps, turned to the right. It was a place with nothing but darkness.
But he didn’t miss it.
Far away, a terrible hateful existence was looking at himself in front of a dimensional gate which was vibrating like it could disappear any moment.
“Clown!”
Paah!
Looking at the clown waving at him, Airn summoned his sword and manifested the aura and light.
It wasn’t golden but red. However, the force of it was much stronger than before. He was stronger than when he defeated the giant devil.
Amidst so much exhaustion, it wasn’t known from where he was able to bring in such strength. To be honest, even Airn didn’t want to know.
Tung!
He stomped his feet hard.
Whup!
He swung his sword vigorously. Due to that, his balance shifted forwards but he didn’t care.
The fact that his body was being dragged by the sword meant that his movement was wrong, but also meant that the power was tremendous.
The light from his sword went for the evil.
The gaze of the clown who was watching it lowered. It was the moment when he was about to put on a smile to show the hero that he was falling into darkness.
Whup!
“Ugh…?”
Airn Pareira, who was struck by an unexpected blow, was pushed back.
In the meantime, the gate was narrowing, and now it had been reduced to a size where a human couldn’t enter it.
It wasn’t the clown.
It wasn’t the demon which was next to it either, and it wasn’t even someone with evil.
Ignet Crescentia.
She said with a smile as the gate closed.
“Get stronger and come back.”
“…”
“I will wait. This is bearable, so come back slowly.”
Shhh…
And that was it.
The portal shrunk and then vanished slowly. In between, the sound of the clown’s laugh could be heard.
It would have died if Airn wasn’t pushed back.
As he was now, Airn would have collapsed the moment he entered the dimensional gate. In other words, Ignet was protecting him.
But he couldn’t protect Ignet.
And this didn’t give him faith.
“Airn!”
“Airn, are you here?”
“This place… phew, I don’t think he is here.”
“But, um…”
How long was it?
Two lights came down tearing down the darkness. Ian and Julius Hul. After checking Airn’s expression they didn’t speak.
They wanted to ask what happened here, but it didn’t seem like he was in a good condition. At that moment, a question came from Airn’s mouth.
“To be strong, what do I have to do?”
“…”
“…”
“A lot more, a lot faster… to get stronger. What should I do?”
Ian was silent.
Julius Hul was speechless too. He couldn’t speak as he heard the gloomy voice that came from his young hero.
“….”
Airn didn’t speak anymore. He closed his eyes and remembered what Ignet said.
Get strong.
Before the sun sets in this darkness.
Somehow, he had to break through his current limit.
