The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 402

The Umbra relic continued to emit light.

I held the relic in my hand, staring intently at it.

‘That stone. You said it’s the medium for the shadow magic you wield?’

‘Yes.’

‘You also said you haven’t completely subdued it yet. Is it trying to go berserk?’

Sein narrowed his eyes, glaring at the relic.

He seemed to be reading the emitted light and mana, trying to grasp the situation.

‘…Hmm. It doesn’t seem like it’s going berserk. There’s no rough feeling at all.’

‘You can even sense that?’

‘Yes. I can feel it.’

Sein’s senses seemed to have far surpassed the realm of a superhuman.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he had now entered the realm of the gods.

‘You said the goddess Umbra’s phantom resides within it?’

‘Strictly speaking, it’s not a phantom…’

To explain Umbra in detail, I would have to start by explaining the gods of the mythical era one by one.

There was no need to explain it in such detail.

‘…Um. For now, you can think of it as a phantom.’

At that moment, the light emitted from the relic intensified even more.

Was it my imagination? I felt an emotion of ‘anger’ from the light.

‘It seems like it got annoyed by what you just said.’

‘Ah.’

That’s right. It wasn’t anger, but annoyance.

The emotional fluctuations were similar, so I was mistaken for a moment.

‘It seems like it wants to say that it’s not a phantom.’

‘It seems so.’

The emitted light faded again. It seemed satisfied that its intention had been fully conveyed.

‘How fascinating. To feel the emotions of the being beyond this stone so clearly.’

‘I didn’t know the relic had such power either.’

Among the relics I possessed, Umbra was the only one with a divine avatar remaining.

The gods residing in the other relics had long since ended their contracts with my master and vanished.

Since there was no avatar within the relic to convey its will to me, such a thing as someone conveying their will to me could not happen.

Umbra wanted to kill me, so there was no reason for her to initiate a conversation like this.

I had never seen anything like this before.

‘It’s also strange that Umbra wants to talk to me.’

Umbra wanted to kill me.

She was desperate to kill me for forcibly suppressing her using Ignis and stealing her power.

Such an Umbra was suddenly asking to talk to me.

What had gotten into her?

Flash-!

At that moment, the light burst out strongly again.

‘Don’t stall, just come quickly.’

Then, it emitted light once more.

‘It says it doesn’t intend to devour you, so just come in. That’s what it’s saying.’

‘I can only feel faint emotions, how do you know what it’s saying?’

‘Well. I don’t know. I’m just saying what I think it might be.’

When I only felt the emotions detected from the light, I was puzzled, but after hearing Sein’s interpretation, I thought, ‘Ah, is that so?’

‘A woman’s heart can only be understood by a woman. I guess it’s something like that.’

A man doesn’t know a woman.

Only a woman can understand a woman’s heart.

That’s what it meant.

Flash-!

Light burst out again.

The annoyance that had reached the top of my head was clearly conveyed.

‘I can understand this one too.’

I felt like I knew what it was saying without Sein having to interpret it.

‘Stop chattering and just come quickly. Right?’

Sein chuckled.

‘Accurate.’

‘…I think I get it now.’

I focused my mana into Umbra’s relic.

I wasn’t exactly trying to move directly into the relic.

Who would enter a tiger’s den unguarded just because the tiger asked to talk?

Even if I did go, I would have to go in with safety measures.

What I was doing now was precisely that safety work.

‘Within the relic, adjust the occupancy rate to create a neutral zone.’

By receiving about 50% of the control over the temple within the relic, I was preparing for any unforeseen circumstances.

If Umbra really intended to talk to me, she would transfer the occupancy rate.

Flash-!

Light rained down again.

That cunning thing.

The light seemed to say that.

‘Seeing that it shared the occupancy rate, it seems like it really wants to talk…’

Umbra grumbled and transferred the occupancy rate to me.

With this, the control within the relic was 5:5.

Now, even if Umbra had bad intentions, I could somehow respond.

‘Hooh, the nature of the mana felt from the stone has changed. Is it mixed with your mana?’

‘You caught that right away too.’

Sein smiled as if this was nothing.

‘…He’s like a ghost.’

I thought Adela’s senses were quite outstanding, but compared to Sein, she was still just a firefly in front of the sun.

In some ways, he was more outstanding than me.

‘I see. So, by infusing your mana like that, you’ve prepared a safety measure. Excellent preparedness.’

…It was almost scary at this point.

Based on his outstanding senses, his brain processing speed was also fast.

It felt like I was completely naked.

‘Are you going right away?’

‘Yes. That’s what I’m planning to do.’

Anyway, until Adela or Soonchan woke up, I had nothing to do.

I was thinking of going now to make use of the free time.

‘I’m also curious about what Umbra wants to talk about.’

Well, to be honest, I would have gone even if I didn’t have time.

I was very curious as to why the goddess Umbra, who had been silent all along, suddenly wanted to talk to me.

‘Ah, should I tell Mimir before I go?’

The thought was brief.

‘No. There’s no need for that.’

With this level of safety measures, there was a 0% chance of any danger to my body.

There was no need to tell Mimir before going.

‘Then, I’ll be back.’

I bowed slightly towards Sein and infused mana into the relic.

Immediately, my vision went dark.

I could feel my consciousness moving to Umbra’s temple.

‘You came quickly.’

The goddess Umbra greeted me as I arrived at the temple.

* * *

‘So, how are you using my power?’

Umbra rose from her throne and walked towards me.

Unlike before, there was no violent or coercive atmosphere at all.

‘Even though you didn’t take much, I think it’s useful enough.’

Everything from her gait to her expression, gestures, and tone was gentle.

The previous evil god-like appearance had melted away like snow, and she had become like an ordinary god.

‘…I’m using it effectively. Although there are many restrictions, it’s a very versatile power.’

‘Good. You’re using it well.’

Umbra stopped about 3 meters away from me.

‘Then, that’s a relief.’

Shadows began to creep up around Umbra.

For a moment, I thought it was an attack, but I soon realized that it wasn’t.

Umbra showed no intention of attacking me at all.

‘First, sit down.’

The shadows transformed into a table and chairs.

Umbra sat down on a chair first and pointed to the opposite chair, saying.

‘…Yes.’

I sat down on the opposite chair.

‘There’s no tea or snacks. I could make them if I wanted to, but it’s forbidden to eat anything in here, so it’s meaningless.’

Umbra smiled faintly.

It wasn’t a smile that showed any ulterior motives.

Or rather, I didn’t know if she had any ulterior motives, but it was more accurate to say that she showed no signs of harming me at all.

‘What has gotten into you?’

I couldn’t understand her behavior at all.

‘What do you mean, what has gotten into me?’

‘Weren’t you trying to kill me?’

She should have been desperate to kill me.

Why did she suddenly change her attitude like this?

‘Ah, that?’

Umbra smiled brightly.

At first glance, it looked like a gentle smile, but the emotions it held were as sharp as a blade.

‘Well, to be honest, I still want to kill you.’

The emotion hidden beneath that gentleness was ‘murderous intent.’

The goddess still wanted to kill me.

‘You’re a thief, a scoundrel who used Ignis to steal my power. It’s natural that I want to kill you, right?’

But that murderous intent was very faint.

‘I don’t know how many times I’ve vowed to kill you no matter what when we meet again.’

Even though she used the rather strong expression ‘scoundrel,’ the murderous intent towards me wasn’t that great.

‘But why…’

‘Why did I suddenly change my attitude like this?’

What was the reason for that change?

What on earth had gotten into her to change her response to me?

‘It’s simple.’

Black light poured out from Umbra’s eyes.

‘Someone I want to kill more than you has appeared.’

The whites of her eyes turned black, and her pupils turned red.

Just by changing the color of her eyes, she had become an appearance worthy of being called an ‘evil god.’

‘…No, should I call them a ‘god’ instead of a person?’

Umbra’s eyes gleamed with murderous intent.

The gentle atmosphere had completely disappeared, and she had returned to her previous harsh atmosphere.

Umbra smiled brightly.

‘I can do anything to kill that guy. I can even join hands with that bastard Ignis, and I can even give up my power.’

A smile with a hint of goodwill.

It was a smile that seemed to want to say that she had no intention of opposing me.

‘Joining hands with a scoundrel like you is nothing.’

Umbra smiled and fell silent.

She seemed to be waiting for my reaction.

‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Is that what you’re saying?’

‘Similar.’

‘I see.’

I understood clearly why Umbra was suddenly showing a favorable reaction to me.

‘The person you want to kill at any cost, is it Veil Stoll?’

‘It’s a little different.’

Umbra replied with cold eyes.

‘To be precise, I want to kill Veil Stoll. I want to kill the origin of that guy.’

The origin of Veil Stoll.

The god who destroyed the dragons.

Umbra seemed to harbor a desire for revenge against that god.

‘A traitor of the divine realm. The god of the end. If I could erase that bastard from this world, I would give up my soul.’

My eyes widened in surprise.

Even my master did not fully possess the memories of his time as a god.

Therefore, I did not have any information about that god.

I was learning for the first time what that god was called.

My surprise was natural.

‘The god of the end? A traitor of the divine realm?’

Moreover, it wasn’t even insignificant information.

Everything from the title to the modifiers was extraordinary.

‘Now you understand? Why I’m being so favorable to you.’

As if she didn’t care whether my head was complicated or not, Umbra continued to speak.

‘If it’s necessary to defeat that guy, I can give you all of my power…’

‘Wait, just wait a moment.’

I held my throbbing forehead with one hand and gestured for Umbra to stop with the other.

‘First… could you explain what the god of the end and the traitor of the divine realm are?’

Umbra frowned.

‘You’re fighting that guy and you don’t even know that?’

‘I don’t. If you’ve been observing me from beyond the relic, you would know. All I know is that Veil was a god before.’

Umbra knowing about Veil meant that she had been observing me from beyond the relic.

In other words, it meant that she had also watched what I had said to Mimir and my companions.

She should know that I didn’t know about the god of the end.

‘I don’t know what kind of misunderstanding you have, but I’ve only been able to see you for the past hour. I don’t know about anything before that.’

‘…An hour ago?’

An hour ago was when I completed the eighth Infinity Circle.

It meant that Umbra was able to see beyond the relic because I had woven the loop of nothingness.

‘Right. Now that I think about it, that makes sense. If she could see outside the relic before, she should have reacted when I met Veil last time.’

I roughly understood the situation.

‘I thought you were showing me on purpose to let me know about his existence.’

‘I had no such intention at all. In the first place, I didn’t even know that you harbored a desire for revenge against that god.’

‘…You didn’t know? Why? There’s no way you wouldn’t know.’

Umbra said with an incomprehensible expression.

‘Among the gods who lived in the same era as me, there is no god who doesn’t hate that guy. Even if there was no mention of him in my legends, you could have guessed it, right?’

‘A god that all gods hate?’

Umbra frowned.

‘You don’t even know that?’

‘…Yes. I don’t know. There’s absolutely no record of him.’

Umbra’s expression turned grim.

‘That bastard… did he even erase the records?’

‘…I think that’s likely. There really wasn’t a single document left about him.’

From Mimir’s book to Dante Roa’s book, and even the ruins of Halamanium.

There was not a single piece of information about him.

‘That bastard is capable of doing that…’

Umbra clicked her tongue.

She had an expression that showed that she didn’t like anything in the world.

‘Hoo. Okay. I roughly understand. If that’s the case, it’s natural that you don’t know.’

Umbra sighed softly and focused her gaze on me.

‘…Okay. Then, before I make a proposal, it’s right to tell you about that guy first.’

She closed her eyes and slowly opened her mouth with an expression that seemed to be forcibly suppressing her anger.

‘A piece of trash who was blinded by a pathetic desire and killed all the other gods. A traitor. That’s the god of the end.’