The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 155

155

A mirage shimmered in the night sky with a bewitching glow. Deep blue light, a curtain of the abyss, beneath which the Crimson Mountains trembled as if weeping.

The head of the Aurelinople Witch Association watched the scene from the terrace, feeling the fierce wind, before turning around as a guest entered.

Her pure white hair was long enough to touch the ground, and her wrinkled, sagging face was covered with age spots and moles. She supported herself with a crooked broom.

“Welcome. I am Alene. Though I am inadequate, I lead the Aurelinople Witch Association.”

The Aurelinople Witch Association was a five-story building located in the city’s central district. The head of the association used the top floor.

The sense of unease that I had felt when meeting the witches at Friede’s birthplace, and the ominous anxiety that had been lingering since entering this building, became a reality.

As the guiding witch closed the door and left, Rain sighed and looked at the head of the association.

“The disappointment is endless. How could the head of the noble Witch Association become so corrupt?”

It wasn’t a loud voice, but the contemptuous intent was clearly conveyed. Miria’s eyes widened in bewilderment.

“No way…”

Alene chuckled, a benevolent smile on her face, and raised her head.

“I simply saw new possibilities from black magic, young man.”

“The power of the abyss holds no possibilities. Only deception and death. The Crimson Mountains are in chaos because of black magic.”

“We are sending as many witches and soldiers as possible to stop it.”

“So, this is what it means to create a problem and then offer a solution. What kind of possibility is this?”

In the head of the association’s office, there was a large, intricately carved model map of the Aurelinople region and the Crimson Mountains. The head of the association pointed to it with her broom.

“I have lived for 120 years. Although much is forgotten, I still remember what my teacher and grandmother used to say.”

“…?”

“She said that the Republic was truly beautiful when Friede and Toureina led the Republic from the front lines. Everyone was equal under one order, and they knew how to trust each other.”

Looking at the map, Alene had a soft gaze, as if reminiscing about the distant past.

I felt Pipi, hidden in my clothes, flinch at the mention of Toureina. Perhaps my body was trembling too.

“I have worked for 100 years to create such an era once again. But it has all failed, and the country is in this state. I am sharing the same sentiments as you.”

“So, you need black magic. To dominate with power. The black mages—”

“—You’re wrong, all wrong, young man. It’s not I who needs black magic. It’s Toureina, the disciple of the greatest shaman this land has ever known.”

The moment I heard those words, I could feel the blood draining from my face.

“What the Republic needs now, what can unite the Republic again, is not an old woman like me. It’s a hero like her.”

“That’s… that’s impossible. Toureina is dead. About 10 years ago.”

“The Papal State had no choice but to announce that to control the panic that would plague the era. She is alive.”

“Impossible.”

“She is only focused on awakening the frozen archmage… I believe that if her wish is fulfilled, she will take care of this land again.”

It can’t be true.

My head was spinning.

Even if it’s Toureina, it must be an imposter like Zernyx. It has to be.

“The ritual is already in its final stages. All that’s needed now is one thing, a core with infinite power, the juvenile dragon you are protecting.”

“…!”

“If we concentrate all the divine power flowing through the Crimson Mountains into one place with that power, melting the ice will be no problem.”

I could feel my breathing becoming rapid.

So, the one who attacked the Papal State and took Lin’s body from there was that fake Toureina? And this idiot was deceived by that fake Toureina?

What are they going to use it for after waking it up? There’s no soul left in that body.

“So, what happens to this baby dragon when the ritual begins?”

“The dragon will understand. Just as it has sacrificed for us until now.”

“How much more sacrifice do you want? It has sacrificed for humanity for over 1,400 years?”

Alakish’s last smile flashed through my mind. The true dragon who has illuminated this land alone since the Age of Origin… Akirea, whom he entrusted to me.

“Sacrifice is inevitable for the greater good. We have no more room to spare.”

“Who is this ‘we’ you speak of?”

“Humanity. I am simply looking at the current state of the world realistically. You are too young to see it.”

No sooner had those words been spoken than I felt an ominous energy, and the office door burst open, and about thirty witches and territorial soldiers rushed in.

They quickly lined up against the four walls, forming a large encirclement around us. Miria couldn’t believe what was happening and couldn’t even think of reaching for her sword.

Witches in large cities wield great influence not only in religion but also in politics… It was hard to believe that such beings were advocating black magic and threatening the baby dragon. This must be reality.

“Miria, stay by my side.”

The witches all stretched out their hands and chanted the language of runes, and the power of the spell spread with a long tail.

The widely spread power of the otherworld became a prison of light forming layers upon layers, covering the enemy in a square binding formation… but it failed.

The formation that was about to be completed stopped in mid-air as if time had stopped, and the next moment it was torn apart by a fierce vortex of flames.

“What…?!”

The witches, experienced in battle, immediately began chanting the next spell… but the tremor of power that resonated in their throats suddenly exploded in their mouths with a terrifying heat.

“────?!”

Since it was a language not yet equipped with ‘power’, even if I interfered with Vel Curios [a type of magic], it would only be a weak flame, but the pain was enough to turn the language into a scream.

However, chant-type Altigmas [a type of spell] are not my specialty, so interference takes a considerable amount of time.

The spells that had been activated before being neutralized by Vel Curios belatedly evaporated with a flash that seemed to burn the cornea.

While I was dealing with the witches, Miria avoided the spears of a dozen soldiers, cut the spear shafts with her sword, and kicked their legs to disarm them, and shouted.

“We have to get out of here.”

By then, there was a commotion all over the building… and countless footsteps were increasingly converging towards us.

There’s no time.

Wiping the cold sweat from my forehead, I ran and grabbed Alene by the collar.

“What the hell are you guys planning? What are you trying to do, being deceived by those bastards impersonating Toureina!”

At that moment, the old witch didn’t even chant a spell, but simply let out a soft sigh.

“Nothing I told you was a lie. I’m just trying to light a beacon of hope. If I die here, it can’t be helped.”

“Please listen to me! You’re being deceived. Completely deceived—”

“—And the order I received was to keep you here as long as possible. You will soon meet her.”

I could tell in that short moment.

Based on my experience dealing with several black mages in my past and present lives, I knew that no matter how much I grabbed and interrogated this old woman, I wouldn’t get the answer I wanted.

Just as I was about to clench my fist and punch her face, which was missing teeth and had sagging skin, a strange smell stimulated my nose and my whole body stiffened.

The stinging eyes and nose, the unpleasantly irritating skin… that I had experienced in Landkiph… a faint spasm occurred in my fingertips.

“You’ve arrived.”

I was going to punch her before running out, but I stopped because Aki was wriggling and waking up.

Fog that was already rising to my ankles was writhing in the hallway, and witches and soldiers in shackles were running into the fog.

Are we trapped? This situation is the worst… If only I could combine multiple attributes of magic, I could easily escape.

“Hold on tight!”

Then, Miria suddenly grabbed my waist tightly and charged straight through the window with leaded glass.

Is she, is she crazy…?!

Before I could even think that, a sense of floating had already overwhelmed my body, and the next moment gravity was pulling my body to the ground. My clothes fluttered violently in the wind, and Aki let out a cry.

“Awoo-!”

At that moment, Miria threw a grappling hook through the 4th-floor window, causing chaos in the mechanics.

Thanks to the power of the rope that penetrated the leaded glass and was fixed to the window frame, I barely avoided being slammed into the ground. As a result, I had to roll several times on the lawn.

Seresia [a magical artifact] turned soft and fluffy like a cushion, mostly offsetting the impact of the fall that had struck me and Aki. Miria quickly reached out her hand to me.

“The fog has already spread throughout the city.”

“Fog, fog, fog.”

When I took her hand and stood up, the alarm of magic was ringing throughout the city, and torches and spears flashed in the fog.

“Were those witches who commissioned you those guys?”

“No, they said they were directly under the shaman.”

In that case…

Should I go to other major cities like Aristapho or Terbenople to find the shaman?

“Let’s go upstream. We have to go back up to Oltaris. We have to ask those witches, we have to wake them up somehow.”

I don’t know if I can wake them up somehow…

It’s hard to believe, but with the witches of Aurelinople all being seduced by black magic, that’s the only best option.

I came down to Aurelinople in a hurry without waiting, but that turned out to be the worst choice.

“We have to get Aki out of the city no matter what. Got it? Miria, no matter what happens, don’t let those guys—”

That moment when I entrusted Aki to Miria to make it easier to use magic may have been the fork in the road of fate. I remember seeing a dark blue light flashing from beyond the fog.

Huh?

Then, in the next instant, my body was flying through the air. In a consciousness that turned yellowish with pain, I bounced off the main street several times and crashed into a roadside tree with my back, vomiting blood.

‘I instantly deployed a defensive magic, even a 3-star one, but it just broke through it?’

Cough, in a flickering black vision, I saw a fragment of a miracle.

The flames of the abyss that fiercely flickered on the surface of Seresia soon twisted and turned as Seresia coldly flashed with the light of dawn, and were sucked into an intangible vortex and disappeared.

At the same time, Seresia’s magical fabric gradually thinned. Could it be that Seresia’s legendary power to blow away the otherworld power that had struck the caster into subspace had been activated?

‘A 4-star magic that concentrates all its power on one point like an archer… If Seresia hadn’t reduced the damage, I would have been 100% dead just now…’

As I tried to get up, blood gushed up from my ruptured internal organs again, and my body sat down on the floor on its own. Ribs, it seemed like several ribs were broken.

“Hey!”

“Ah-boo!”

To Miria’s ears, who was urgently calling out to the boy who had flown away beyond the fog, the ominous sound of high heels scraping against the marble floor rang out.

Clack…

…Clack… Clack…

Clack… Clack… Clack…

No, the sound of the footsteps wasn’t ominous. It’s just that the overwhelming presence that made my spine tingle was inexplicably ominous.

How long has it been since I felt this sense of powerlessness, where my whole body is stiff and only my fingertips are twitching, like prey cornered?

My breath is involuntarily stopping. My head is turning white. My spine is drenched in cold sweat.

“Hold on tight, Aki!”

But I had overcome these crises many times. Forcibly moving my frozen body, I firmly grabbed Aki with my left hand and started running north.

“Ah, ah, ah-bah!”

After that, the flames and tendrils of otherworld power from the witches who had been chasing me from the main building came crashing down, but Miria avoided being hit by turning the course left and right.

The witches’ spells were somehow avoidable… The problem was when something that had blown Rain away came flying without any warning.

The roadside trees were crushed and tumbled down by the flames, covering the citizens who were lying asleep on the ground and blocking the way. Miria gave up the main street and jumped down under the underpass.

“Pipi, tell him! I’ll be waiting in Oltaris!”

“Olta, Olta, Olta.”

Pipi nodded and changed course, flying in the direction Rain had flown earlier.

And not long after, the shape of a conical hat stood out in the fog, and soon a woman with a pipe in her mouth walked out with a bewitchingly superb movement.

The red witches of Aurelinople immediately prostrated themselves before her and paid their respects with utmost courtesy.

“Lady Toureina.”

At that time, Toureina’s eyes were fixed on Miria’s back, running through the forcibly subdued city center, or rather, on the baby dragon crying in her arms. As she exhaled a long stream of cigarette smoke in that direction, the fog of dragon poison became even thicker.

“I will secure the juvenile dragon. You guys take care of the protector for sure. He must be dying after being directly hit by a 4-star spell.”