The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 106

106

“Of course, only if you have the courage to face the severance.”

The fairy tale of miraculously meeting a comrade from 300 years ago who survived after returning 300 years later did not come true.

Lemi Elibaden.

As the dragons said, people die.

What Yoshua cautiously suggested to me at that time was Rista’s corpse. It took tremendous courage just to nod.

“If that is the case, then follow me.”

As they left the prayer room following Yoshua, Rain, who had taken a deep breath, asked.

“…How was she?”

Just asking that meaningless question made him feel choked up.

Was it to prepare for the reality he would soon face, wanting to know the fragments of reality that Rista had to endure?

Yoshua glanced back for a moment, then spoke in a voice filled with sorrow.

“If you are asking about Rista’s days taking care of you here, she acted bright and cheerful, as she always had.”

“Really…?”

“However, there was no one who did not recognize the shadow of sadness cast over that smile.”

“How so?”

“Because she smiled far too often. She must have been trying to hide her grief.”

The underground sanctuary, the ossuary [a container or room where bones are placed], had its entrance sealed with a grand barrier. When Yoshua placed his hand on it, dragon words rose majestically, and the curtain of light slowly began to recede.

“The Radiant Dragon, pitying you all, bestowed light upon that child’s body, keeping it unchanged for 300 years… but perhaps that will be a more cruel reunion for you.”

Was he saying that Rista’s body hadn’t decayed and remained as it was 300 years ago?

As Yoshua worried, I was concerned whether I could bear to face it.

At the same time, in the midst of such a bewildering reunion, something I had thought of asking her when we met belatedly came to mind.

“Yoshua, can you also tell me about the end of Toureina?”

Toureina was said to have retained her youthful beauty even in old age. Could she also have received the Radiant Dragon’s grace?

“Toureina…”

Of course, I had hoped for good news, but when Yoshua hesitated and answered like that, a sense of unease surged.

“As I, Yoshua, said earlier, I cannot answer that question.”

No, not just a sense of unease.

It was the moment when one concern that had been raising its head in a corner of my mind lately, but had been forcibly suppressed, was definitely amplified.

“Is it for the same reason you can’t reveal the identities of the black mages?”

That very moment was the turning point.

In that fleeting instant, so many things happened one by one that my head couldn’t process.

Darkness, an overwhelming darkness with no end in sight, covered the vision, no, the world.

Then, an intense tremor that made it impossible to stand properly rippled across the surface, and a chilling scream, as if tens of thousands of beasts were bursting out at once, tore apart the eardrums.

‘No way…’

The heart pounded madly, automatically entering battle mode. This familiar energy filling the air to the point of suffocation is… the Abyss.

Creak…

…Creak, creak…

…Creak… screech, creak…

…………Creak.

A high-frequency sound like fingernails scratching nervously on glass, the ears ached as if they would burst, and the whole body was drenched in cold sweat.

“Yoshua, this, this can’t be… no, right?!”

Rain had only heard that sound once before. What that sound meant was only one thing.

It was the sound that occurred during the final battle when the Lizard Lord’s seal was broken and cracks appeared in the world axis. To be precise, it was the sound of a being beyond the seal forcibly digging into the seal, causing cracks.

Yoshua, who couldn’t possibly not know the seriousness of the situation, suddenly took on the form of a dragon with a powerful burst of light, spreading his wings wide and flying out of the entrance.

“What on earth is…?”

When he barely managed to dash outside, pushing through the gust of that wing flap, madness was unfolding before his eyes.

“Ha, ha, ahahahaha…!”

“Hi, hi hihihihihi…!”

The palace guards, who were tearing at their faces until they were covered in blood, were bursting into insane laughter as if they had lost their minds.

And those eyes…

Those eyes…

Were slowly turning dark blue. It was a familiar sight. It was the process of being consumed by the madness of the Abyss and turning into the dead.

“This is insane…”

No way, this can’t be happening.

This is the Papal State.

The center of the light spreading to the world, the headquarters of the Radiant Dragon Church, and the base of the Yellow Dragon Legion…

This kind of thing shouldn’t be happening in a place like this.

“Pipi! Kasena!”

He desperately searched for his companions while panting, but the situation was hopeless.

The concentration of the Abyss was so thick that a dark blue stream flew like fog, and the vision was gradually blocked.

“Pipi───!”

How many times did he shout until his throat was about to burst?

Fortunately, he was able to find Kasena thanks to the barrier of flames that Pipi had spread out in a circle.

Inside the barrier, Kasena was panting painfully, and a moment of extreme relief made him dizzy.

If it hadn’t been for Pipi, Kasena would have met the same end as the palace guards. It wasn’t a concentration of the Abyss that an ordinary person could withstand.

“Good job, Pipi. Keep protecting Kasena.”

The Yellow Dragon Legion, led by Yoshua and the cardinals, flew up in countless numbers, covering the sky, circling around one point.

A voice that was not of this world flowed out, around the tear in the dimension that was gradually being torn apart.

There wasn’t even time to look up at it for a moment. The next moment, a dark blue light spread like sparks from his feet, covering the ground.

“──?!”

On the ground that was being instantly invaded by the Abyss, countless letters and mathematical formulas wriggled like snakes.

A magic circle…?

And each time that light flickered, the tumor of the Abyss that sprouted in the sky pulsed as if resonating. He realized it at once. If so, this is a dimensional gate.

“Bell Curios.”

The vision was stained with blood, and a pure white flower with seven petals bloomed in his eyes, rotating beautifully.

Before the bloodline’s secret art of deciphering all things in the universe with mathematical formulas, everything in the world was shattered into numbers, conveying information to the point where the mind burned white.

Kneeling on one knee, he carefully examined the structure of the magic circle, and his pupils trembled.

‘What is this…?’

Magic, spells, and black magic were intricately intertwined, and the level of combination was so overwhelming that it could be called art.

┏ 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 ┓

ㆍ The rune symbols used are a combination of formulaic Rutischen, incantation-type Altigma, forbidden-type Orbios, and amplification-type Delbeischerz, with a ratio of 2.2:2.1:3.7:2.0.

┗ 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 ┛

Moreover, the rune symbols used were mixed in an maliciously complex way, as if they were taking out insurance to prevent someone from reverse-engineering and 解解 [deciphering] it.

This combination of runes was saying.

If you touch even a single number wrong, your brain will be devoured by the Abyss. So don’t dare to step forward.

“Ha…”

Tension like walking on thin ice and childish fighting spirit mixed together and burst out as a hollow laugh.

‘Okay… I’ll accept this challenge.’

Solve the vector equation of the vertical line that makes up the 293rd mathematical formula first.

Reverse-engineer the equation, expand it into basic elements, and then begin recombination.

Pop, the blood vessels in the eyes burst one by one, and blood stung the pupils, blurring the vision.

It’s okay.

Not yet, it’s okay.

Unlike the existing mathematical formulas, the key to this game is to change the real roots into imaginary roots so as to adversely affect the effect of the magic circle.

Trickle, blood flowed down both cheeks, met at the chin, dripped and fell to the ground.

It’s okay.

I can still do more.

It is difficult to solve what is based on spells or black magic, but even twisting the magic formulas based on Rutischen and Delbeischerz can cause considerable damage to such sophisticated high-order magic circles.

‘It is impossible to modify the coordinates of the crack in the world axis at this point, so modify the power. To minimize the damage.’

It was a task that required delicate concentration, which could only be described as threading a needle through a thousand needle holes without a single mistake.

213, 269, 351, 421.

Separate, reverse-engineer, and recombine the mathematical formulas from the puzzle-like magic circle, and then reassemble them. This completes the 67th mathematical formula.

Now, is the remaining amount of magic power about 2,000? I can still do about two more… It was then, as he gasped for breath and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

“Hmm?”

From beyond the fog of the Abyss, it was as if he heard a voice that was so welcome that it made his heart ache.

“There is still foreign matter left.”

Along with the sound of high heels sharply hitting the marble, the outline of a familiar yet unfamiliar bamboo hat wriggled faintly from beyond the fog.

No, this is not clear.

His vision had been blurred for a moment due to the overuse reaction of Bell Curios. Maybe he saw something that wasn’t there.

But the hearing was clear. He had definitely heard that voice before.

It seemed a little more seductive than the one in his memory, but it was like he had heard it so often that he was sick of it… Whose voice was it?

“I’ll take care of it.”

The error in the memory that was circling in his head and the overwhelming magic power that made his hair stand on end caused him to lose focus for a moment, and that was the cause.

Chwaak, the sound of a steel fan unfolding.

At that moment, along with the sound of flames rising, an indescribably powerful storm of the Abyss covered Rain.

“What…?”

A two-star barrier can’t last even a second?

As soon as he threw himself towards Kasena and Pipi and unfolded a new barrier, the steel fan cut through the air sharply like a scythe.

Then, the storm first wrapped around Rain and Kasena in a circle, then blew them far away. Grinding the ground of the orbit, smashing all the marble paving stones.

“…”

Valensidice, covering his mouth with the unfolded fan, stared at the situation as if gauging it, and told Toureina, the woman in the bamboo hat.

“The sense of unfolding a barrier in that instant… It seems that we missed it.”

Toureina stared at such Valensidice with distrust for a moment, then briefly ordered, putting a pipe with a dragon-shaped mouthpiece in her mouth.

“Go and take care of it for sure.”

“Yes.”

And Toureina moved her steps into the Papal State as if she were going to her own backyard. There was no human who could stop her.

Those who were trying to escape from the swamp of madness and respond with their feeble strength had their bodies wrapped in the smoke that Toureina emitted, and their limbs were torn apart and scattered on the floor of the Papal State.

Toureina, who stepped into the precinct, expressionlessly trampling on the scattered lumps of blood, turned her gaze to the entrance leading to the underground ossuary.

‘I thought it would take quite a while to 解除 [deactivate] the barrier…’

Perhaps because all the cardinals were away, or because the world axis was cracked, the barrier had disappeared without a trace.

Whatever the reason, it was good.

If she could just get inside, if she could just meet him, that would be enough. The cigarette smoke permeating Toureina’s lungs felt more stuffy than usual.

“I’ll save you now, Master.”

* * *

The global upheaval recorded as the Black Spot’s rampage was so clear that it could be seen even from 圣都 [Holy Capital].

“That’s…”

Madelia saw the earth and sky covered with evil clouds and agitated, and hurriedly put on her robe and called the soldiers.

“Go to the Papal State immediately. Summon all available troops.”

Not only 圣都 [Holy Capital], but the sound of dimensions tearing was echoing throughout the continent, so it was only natural that everyone’s attention was focused at once.

“What is that?”

Leoren, the Bow Star, who was lying on the roof trying to take a nap, or Doran Slade, who was leading the special task force subordinates to 边境 [Borderlands].

“…”

And even to the heroine who had just overthrown the ‘old one’ and was covered in its blood, that dark spot was clearly visible.

Her name, who was equipped with ultra-high-tech mechanical equipment all over her body, was Frisvia.

She was the number one of the eleven platinum ranks, the strongest among adventurers, and as you can see from her small body like a girl, she was a Dwarf.

Inside the optical helmet, Frisvia’s mouth twisted slightly.

“Hmph, has it finally started south of the barrier as well.”

And that day, an emergency letter was delivered to all available forces.

Starting with the four martial stars under the Emperor, who were recognized as the strongest in the Empire by the Emperor, to the platinum adventurers, the strongest among adventurers…

It was the proclamation of martial law.

* * *

When he came to his senses, or when he opened his eyes, there was a stench of rotting greenery all around.

The magic power that had been circling around his body slowly faded. He had definitely cast a defensive spell… What is it? There is no damage to the barrier.

How on earth did this happen? There were two answers. It was either a threatening illusion magic, or the opponent had no intention of harming him in the first place…

“He flew me far away…”

And Rain knew the answer.

He awkwardly composed himself and carried Kasena on his back. He flew to the forest zone north of the city, so he could see the disaster that had struck the Papal State at a glance.

Everything alive… was a hellish scene sobbing in pain.

“Emergency, emergency, emergency!”

At that time, Pipi, who was flying in the sky and guarding the surroundings, came down urgently. At the same time, a powerful magic power approached, constricting his lungs.

‘Damn it… As expected, he wasn’t drawing out even half of his power usually.’

With an overwhelming poison that rotted everything around him, what appeared before him was none other than the student council president, Valensidice.

It is questionable whether he needs such a title now.

In the midst of his breath trembling rapidly, a huge wave of black magic comparable to a 5-star was being condensed in Valensidice’s hand.

“You’ve finally revealed your true colors, you bastard.”

He wondered if he should put Kasena down because he had to fight with all his might, but that guy is a greater expert than me when it comes to ‘fighting’.

To be precise, should I call him vicious?

At that moment, he would immediately grab Kasena as a weakness and easily cook me. It’s the worst situation where mobility is halved, but I can’t put Kasena down.

‘Moreover, I can’t form hand seals, so I can’t even unfold a mental barrier…’

No, in the first place, I don’t even have the magic power to unfold an image because I consumed most of my magic power with Bell Curios. I have to find a way to live somehow.

“Hey, why aren’t you saying anything?”

But he didn’t answer.

The gap between that action and attitude was unbearably annoying.

“Say something.”

“Answer me, you son of a bitch! Why! Why the hell?! You could have killed me just now, but you saved me? Why did you blow me here!”

Before he knew it, a ferocious darkness that would swallow everything in the area was rising above Valensidice’s palm.

Bell Curios.

Just as he was hurriedly unfolding his vision in blood, Valensidice suddenly looked up at the sky.

“Neither you nor I can defy the great flow called providence, not now.”

“…?”

“But we can judge what is right and wrong. And we can also make choices. With our free will.”

And the moment Valensidice reached out his hand this way, a wave of darkness exploded from his hand.