The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 126

My gaze was drawn to the dragon called Bardoomkus, as if I were being sucked in. I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

The dragon’s scales, crawling with spiderwebs that writhed like maggots, were black with an unholy sheen. Torn from the muscle, his ribs protruded like grotesque wings from his back.

Dragging his entrails, coated in white frost, and with his eyes shining with a cursed, sickening light—

“—Alakish?”

Could my eyes be deceiving me? What am I even saying? Shar’kars smirked.

“Ah, yes. That *was* the name he used to have. But I gave the King’s servant a new name.”

Casena, gasping for breath and clutching her left chest, began to tremble.

“No, no…”

As if unable to accept this cruel reality, Casena shook her head wildly and looked back at me.

“That, that can’t be Alakish. Right? Tell me it isn’t, Rain.”

Meeting Casena’s pleading purple eyes as she sought my reassurance, I felt nauseous.

“Ha, hahaha, hahahahaha…”

Laughter mercilessly crushed Casena’s desperate hope—laughter filled with an evil aura that made my eardrums feel like they would burst.

“You filthy mongrels haven’t improved in 1,400 years. ‘That can’t be my friend, that can’t be my father’… how pathetic you are, crying while denying reality.”

“Shut up…”

“Hmm? Are you angry now? Why? It’s only been half a year since you met him.”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up──!”

“Failing to face reality and denying it is a trivial habit of you humans.”

Casena, her face contorted with rage, screamed and frantically drew runes in the air.

Like a conductor leading an orchestra, each time light formed at her fingertips, magic resonated, creating a miraculous power.

Again and again and again… fireballs flew, spitting white smoke fiercely, burning Shar’kars’ arms and turning his legs into charcoal.

It was the flame of dragon words she had learned from Alakish, the death throes of a tragic bond that had fleetingly formed in this frigid empire.

But it was useless.

It was all useless.

The burned limbs constantly regenerated from within the countless interwoven webs of the abyss. The same was true of his characteristic loose-fitting dark blue robe.

As if there was no need to block or avoid them, Shar’kars, simply walking straight ahead, tilted his head when the attacks subsided.

“Is that all?”

Was it a sense of powerlessness, or a sense of despair?

Tears welled up in Casena’s eyes as she trembled, drawing runes in the air, and then froze as they fell.

Remembering all the moments she had spent with Alakish… the warmth of the day he sheltered them under his wings on a cold night, the gentle voice of the day he taught her dragon words, and even the shy smile of the day he said he wanted to cook delicious food for his daughter.

“It’s a mystery how that troublesome bitch’s bloodline can be so insignificant.”

As Shar’kars reached out his hand, the primordial spiders, Brookdoom, wriggling disgustingly behind him, rushed forward all at once, shaking the ground.

“Frisvia, as per our contract, please take the others to the barrier to evacuate.”

“Hehe, and you?”

“I have to buy you time.”

Rain lightly placed his hand on the shoulder of the crying Casena and walked past her. His face was strangely expressionless.

“Miss, this may be the last lesson, so I will teach you the most important thing.”

*Clink*. The five glass bottles hanging from his waist faintly glowed with a blue light.

It was the magic potion he had asked Kiran Wolf Blado for.

As soon as Pipi pecked off the cork with her beak, he poured the half-frozen liquid into his mouth.

“Third lesson: a mage must never be swayed by emotions in battle.”

As the thick liquid melted into his body, he felt a pain as if a cold needle was piercing his esophagus.

Forcibly replenishing the consumed magic power. Forcibly generating impossible magic power, causing the main core [the source of a mage’s power] to pulsate powerfully.

As that series of processes took place, Rain had already thrown off the glove on his left hand, unwinding the bandages.

“Mind Construction.”

As if paint was spreading on a blank canvas, the boy’s mind began to paint over the world’s perception.

Five magic circles spread out largely on the ground. North: Flow (流), East: Quantity (量), South: World (世), West: Respect (尊), and the central circle: Alert (警).

The runes engraved in the center of the magic circle emitted light, and at the same time, countless mathematical formulas were inscribed around it, creating geometric patterns.

“Flow, Quantity, World, Respect: Alert.”

The one who showed the most surprise at the power that dominated the world’s perception, even ignoring the laws of the world, was the White Spirit Shar’kars.

‘This power is definitely Karen Den’s…?’

Before that thought could even fully form, an intense light poured out, searing his retinas. The Brookdoom leading the charge burst into flames, emitting a fierce flash.

“Rune Modification. Thread (綸), Scatter (散).”

The Mind Barrier: The magic circle of Flow (流) emitted light, and the firestorm that poured from the sky unraveled into countless threads of flame (綸), and then scattered (散).

As soon as those threads of flame wrapped around the legs of the Brookdoom that followed, they blazed fiercely.

In the raging flames, so intense that the skin on my face felt hot from the burns, the old ones struggled painfully.

“Thread, thread, scatter, scatter.”

“Pipi, I’m fine, so stay with Casena. And help Barlzane.”

Pipi rubbed her beak lovingly against Rain’s cheek, then spread her wings and flew back.

“Captain, that is…”

Everyone was amazed by the powerful display, but as expected, the ones who were even more shocked were Frisvia’s subordinates, who had spent years as adventurers.

“Hehe, that kid, so that *wasn’t* a fluke earlier?”

A Mind Barrier… I don’t know much about magic, but I know very well what level you have to reach to be able to use that.

Not bad, not bad at all.

Was there a reason for Alakish entrusting his dragon egg to such a young boy—not only because of his personality but also because of his abilities?

‘Rain, are you planning to stop all of that by yourself?’

Barlzane clenched his fist, watching the old ones that Shar’kars sent out being engulfed in flames.

“Let’s save the admiration for later and move to a more advantageous position now, hehe.”

As Casena, kneeling and staring blankly at Rain’s back, was lifted onto the shoulder of Frisvia’s subordinate, she blinked.

“Wa, wait… where, where are you going?”

“You’re in the way. So you have to move.”

“Move… I’m going to fight with Rain too! Let me down, let me down!”

Frisvia stopped walking for a moment, as if dumbfounded, and then laughed coldly, “Pfft.”

“Fight, hehe, how are you going to fight? All you can do is cry. With dreams and hope? Hehehe, there’s no such miracle in this world.”

“But still, leaving him alone…!”

“Right now, you’re not helping at all; you’re just a burden that needs help. If you stay here, you’ll either become a corpse or scatter into bloodstains.”

Again, a pillar of fire soared from behind, and a fierce heatwave swept through, causing Casena’s fur cloak to flutter violently.

“But that guy isn’t, is he.”

“…?”

“With that skill, he must have something to believe in, right? Hehe, go back to the base and warm yourself by the fire.”

Frisvia suddenly turned around, and in that instant, she grabbed the head of a dead man who was rushing at her.

The moment steam spewed out fiercely from the device attached to her wrist, an iron stake was extruded, shattering the head into countless pieces.

That way of fighting—skillfully trampling even the old ones and then driving a wedge into their heads to finish them off—was truly a masterly art in itself.

“Wow…”

Casena admired the combat skills but bit her lip tightly in powerlessness.

*I, I…*

The next moment, Casena roughly broke free from the adventurer’s shoulder and threw a fireball, burning the dead man who was approaching Frisvia from behind.

“Warm yourself by the fire? Here’s some fire!”

Frisvia smirked at her confident appearance.

“Hehehe, if you die like this, will that black sheep scale [a valuable dragon scale] become mine forever? It might not be a bad idea to just let you die here.”

Meanwhile, Rain, hastily catching his breath, felt a stinging pain in his main core, as if he was being pricked with needles.

*Is the magic power already depleted…?* He took out the second glass bottle from his waist and tore off the cork.

As a reaction to the act of artificially pouring fuel and forcibly activating it, a tearing pain occurred in the main core, and his back was soaked with cold sweat.

‘Protect, I have to protect.’

*At that time, I should have fought like this. With Alakish…*

With that thought, he hastily crossed his hands, and the bodies of the old spiders that had rushed to within a short distance were engulfed in flames, emitting the stench of burning flesh.

As he gasped for breath in the heat of the explosion, he drank the third potion. *Now there are seven potions left…*

“Indeed, I’m starting to understand now.”

Along with a pain that felt like it was directly hitting his brain, Shar’kars’ voice was suddenly heard from the side.

“The reason why Her Majesty the Queen looked for you as soon as she woke up, and the reason why Karen Den saved you with the little power she had left.”

The flames scattering the explosion smoke and burning the Brookdoom, Shar’kars put his hand on the flames with an interested expression.

The flames swallowed the small hand as well, but as if mocking it, a spider web sprang out from the cut surface and intricately weaved a new hand.

Was it the余裕 [composure] characteristic of the old rulers, or was it the fear deeply imprinted in the genes of the ruled that made the hair on his body stand on end?

“You look quite similar to Karen Den.”

“…?”

“I can tell by looking at your eyes. You pretend to be quite calm, but your personality is captured by passion, and the way you use your power… are you like Karen Den’s alter ego?”

The image of Karen Den, building a similar power by clasping her hands together at this very distance, this very interval, 1,400 years ago, was superimposed on the boy’s face.

“You are an existence that should not exist in this era, an existence that goes against causality.”

“If so, then I will eliminate you right here and now.” Shar’kars raised his chin towards the back.

“You take care of the rest of the mongrels. Don’t touch Emitsa’s bloodline. There is something I need to read from her soul’s memories.”

I watched with bated breath as Alakish leaped high with his massive body, creasing the strata [layers of rock].

‘Spiderwebs are sticking to his ribs… are they acting as wings?’

I could tell that he couldn’t fly, but he certainly had the equivalent of that leaping ability. I had no choice but to watch Alakish block the group’s retreat.

No, it would be more accurate to say that I didn’t have the 余裕 [ability] to stop him.

Because at the same time as Alakish leaped, Shar’kars fluttered his sleeves and started walking straight towards me.

“Well, let’s test how far you can go.”