The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 161

161

“Your power is in perfect opposition to Tureina’s.”

Just before departing for Mythic Peak, Valenciidus, after receiving some information from me, came to this conclusion.

“The power Tureina wields is Dragon Poison, a 5-star spell created solely to fight the Dragon race, severely limiting their power.”

“Could that mist be…?”

“Correct. But to maintain it indefinitely, it needs a catalyst. That would be the pipe that the Fire Dragon’s Maiden passed down to Tureina.”

Friede’s pipe…?

Valenciidus, as if this was the key, began drawing a rough shape of the pipe on the ground with a twig.

But in truth, there was no need. I had never forgotten that shape, not even once.

“So, to face Tureina, you must take the initiative with a surprise attack. If you control the spell inscribed on this pipe with Bell Curios, your chances of victory will increase.”

“Wait, I can’t significantly interfere with spells.”

I can only slightly interfere with the structure of relatively basic 1- and 2-star spells, and some 3-star spells.

In fact, with the original Bell Curios, it would be a meaningless attempt, but the Bell Curios with the Flame Mana has the ability to burn away its abilities the moment it interferes to a certain extent, so it can barely be neutralized. In other words, I can’t steal it.

However, from 3-star spells onwards, where the structure becomes dense and solid, it was an area of non-interference for me, who doesn’t know the incantation-type Altigma [a type of spellcasting] well.

“Have you forgotten who Tureina’s teacher is?”

For a moment, I almost laughed.

Who are you asking right now?

“Don’t worry. Once cast, it’s a spell, but the spell inscribed on the pipe is a mixed spell of formulaic Rutichen, incantation-type Altigma, forbidden-type Orbios, and amplification-type Delweiser.”

“……!”

“Fix Bell Curios to the pipe and control its power. You won’t be able to use Bell Curios elsewhere, but Tureina won’t be able to deploy the Dragon Poison mist either.”

Finally, Valenciidus raised his head and looked me straight in the eye, saying.

“From here on out, it’s purely a battle of skill. You better be prepared.”

* * *

The anomaly in the ritual could be seen throughout the Red Mountains.

The unidentified mirage that writhed in a gruesome form above Mythic Peak, swallowing the heavens and the earth, was gradually losing its power and becoming faint.

Miria, pulling herself up the cliff, immediately sprang up as if rebounding and ran up the stairs of the Bellachior Temple.

“Aki!”

The temple, which had guarded the summit of the mountain range with its beautiful appearance for 1,400 years, was shaking as if about to collapse due to the successive collisions of powerful forces.

Miria, flying through the cracked gaps in the temple’s outer walls, found Aki crying on the Polantir altar.

The suffocating poison was boiling from all directions, and even setting aside the fact that her whole body was instantly soaked with sweat, the heat that made it difficult to even open her eyes, the inside of the temple was utter chaos.

In a head-to-head battle with the legendary Maiden, Rein had managed to erect a powerful flame barrier around Aki.

The barrier was protecting Aki from the large and small fragments pouring down as the temple collapsed, but Miria easily passed through it, which was bewildering.

“Aki.”

“Adu Bubu.”

As soon as she put her sword back into its sheath and hugged her, Aki buried her face in Miria’s chest, as if she didn’t want to see anything scary anymore.

“It’s dangerous here. Let’s get out.”

As Miria patted Aki’s back and turned around, she saw two strange things.

One was a bead rolling on the altar, with ominous syllables of unknown origin flowing endlessly through the cracked and scorched fissures.

And the other was what was placed on the opposite side of Aki, a frozen boy. With a peaceful and serene face, sleeping in the ice….

Why?

That’s when a chilling thrill ran through her mind.

“This is…….”

Miria herself didn’t know why, but she was staring blankly at the boy’s face, not even knowing that a tear was running down her left cheek.

At that moment, something sealed with high-level magic on the surface of the ice was released.

What is this?

A letter?

A long string of characters unfolded in the air, and she unknowingly read a few sentences here and there, but she didn’t have the time to read the entire long text.

The next moment, a clash of immense power blew away two or three of the temple’s pillars, and the Bellachior Temple began to collapse with a roar.

* * *

“What, what are you doing now…!”

Tureina felt like she was wandering through a nightmare.

Every time she recklessly manifested magic and spells, the fog in her head only grew thicker.

The last memories that allow the girl to exist as Tureina become blurred. Fragments of the last world where she could walk with Rin, by Rin’s side.

Even if she barely grasps a handful, like grains of sand that slip uselessly through her fingers. There’s really not much left now, neither my life nor my memories.

“……”

The boy bit his lip painfully as the power of destruction surged, collapsing the pillars of the Bellachior Temple, collapsing the ceiling in the dust, and making the paving stones tremble.

Expressions in memory.

Numerous expressions flashing through my mind.

A crying face, a happy face, a surprised face, an embarrassed face, a peacefully sleeping face, a sullenly puffed-up face… but I’ve never seen such a terrified face before, I thought.

‘So, it was real….’

One step forward.

My vision was strangely distorted, and I felt a shattering pain all over my body. But it didn’t hurt at all.

Because my heart hurt more.

‘Since the Dragon Poison mist is being controlled by Bell Curios, I can definitely tell….’

Taking another step while clutching my chest.

Somewhere in my internal organs, which had not yet been restored by the power of the Creation Epic, ruptured, and a lump of blood surged up.

– Master.

Am I crazy? Two images overlap on my retina at the same time.

In one image, I see Tureina freely using 4- and 5-star magic and spells towards me… and in the other, I see a young Tureina barely, struggling to conjure 1- and 2-star magic.

Are the past and present intertwined in a chaotic manner, transcending time and space?

– You idiot, you can’t use that magic individually like that. It gets blocked like this.

From across the memory where I lightly scattered the young Tureina’s wind magic, I countered the fiercely rushing wind spell with fire.

– Why am I so weak?

– It’s not that you’re weak. It’s that I’m strong.

When the past, when I shrugged and lightly tapped her forehead with 1-star fire magic, scattered from my mind, the transcendent flame was fiercely engulfing Tureina before my eyes.

– Still, it’s not bad for someone who’s only learned for a year.

Tureina hastily deployed a water barrier, vaporizing it into a fierce amount of steam, and the direct hit to the caster caused Tureina to kneel on one knee and spit out blood.

‘The way she combines and utilizes attributes when using magic is exactly the same as me….’

Ah, it’s too similar after all. So similar that it’s incredibly easy to counter.

It’s not just déjà vu.

The way I used magic 300 years ago, the way I combined attributes… everything is surprisingly and admirably the same. It has to be. It has to be.

‘The way she uses spells is exactly like Friede….’

Just a little bit.

Just a little bit earlier.

I should have realized it. I should have admitted it.

“That tiny, pathetic kid has really grown up so much….”

I should have suspected and tracked down the discomfort I felt when I met Ribeni and Ribadin, instead of unconditionally defending her just because she was my disciple.

“Okay, that’s all good, but why aren’t you protecting the most important thing…?”

Fragments falling from the collapsing ceiling shook the temple and stirred up a fierce dust storm, and through the gaps, raindrops poured down violently. Tears of the Abyss.

“I told you…….”

Perhaps she judged that she couldn’t afford to use the Creation Epic to maintain this large-scale spell, and that a battle of abilities wouldn’t lead to victory.

“No matter what happens…….”

The first disciple rushed into the dust storm that was sinking heavily in the rain… and soon the staff and scepter crossed, scattering sparks.

“──Black magic is──!”

Just like 300 years ago, when we exchanged blows with each other’s immature skills, and if someone’s attack succeeded first, the winner would laugh and run away.

“──Absolutely not allowed!”

At the same time as twisting the trajectory of the staff aimed at my heart, I spun my body and struck her abdomen with the bottom of the scepter, sending her flying to the outer wall.

“I’ve said it dozens, hundreds of times…….”

I know.

The reason why this idiot disciple, who was so smart every moment and never disappointed me, had no choice but to touch the Abyss.

Because of an impossible wish, because of a wish that hadn’t been fulfilled even after 300 years.

“Hey, you pathetic brat…….”

Because she couldn’t let go of that wish, because she didn’t want to let go, she must have been embracing that wish and living alone for 300 years, even dipping her feet into the Abyss.

A true teacher would have flushed and lashed out. If she truly cared for her disciple, she would have had to express her rage to correct her mistakes.

But what I was doing at that time was painfully squeezing out my voice in tears, where everything visible was blurred with numerous light sources.

“I, Friede, taught you with what heart, how can you use that power like this…….”

Fifi, whom I had told not to come out until the battle was over because she might get hurt again in her heart rather than her body, flew up from Seresia’s arms.

“Tureina, Tureina, Tureina.”

As she hovered in front of my eyes and desperately called my name, the eyes of the girl from the past, who was coughing up blood, trembled.

What is this parrot?

It must have been something precious that I couldn’t trade for anything. But I can’t remember. Neither that memory, nor that memory, nor the emotions of that day.

But as I looked at the boy looking down at me with a face that seemed like he was about to burst into tears, I felt a thrill in my heart for some reason.

No, it’s not just for some reason. I can finally see it vaguely now. The texture of the soul that I had been searching for so desperately… although it had changed as it was mixed with the Dragon’s soul.

Truly, truly after a long time, after 300 years, this emotion that I feel again… what was its name?

So, although the details of this matter were still incomprehensible, I blankly pulled out the language that I had cherished in my heart like a broken treasure for my whole life.

“……Master?”

That was the last moment when the master and disciple, who had been torn apart for 300 years of eternity, could exchange their voices with each other.

The magic circle, deeply engraved with dozens of circles, runes, and characters on the floor of the temple, began to burn so dazzlingly that it felt like my retina was melting.

The owner of that incomprehensible power, that unrealistic momentum, was the Beltar Divine Stone, whose cracks were gradually growing larger.

「Ha shi ke bal drudem, I will fulfill His will…… lifting the veil of fate…… the path to His throne through the fall of light……!」

In the midst of the pressure that shook the heavens and the earth as if I would collapse to the ground at any moment, in the storm where my clothes fluttered madly, the thick Abyss that flowed out like tentacles from the magic circle grabbed Tureina.

“Tureina!”

Tureina’s life force, who had collapsed while spitting blood, began to be sucked into the magic circle through the connected tentacles.

Is it trying to take over her body?

The boy felt the blood in his veins flowing backwards.

Don’t make me laugh.

Bell Curios, the seven-leafed pure white divine spear, flashed coldly.

As if hundreds of books were unfolding in my field of vision at the same time, a vast amount of knowledge unfolded in my brain. This must be what the saturation of information is.

In the pain that felt like my brain was burning white, I desperately interpreted the magic circle that Tureina had created over her lifetime at a crazy speed, and blood flowed from my eyes. A nosebleed gushed from my nose.

「Gu hu de, it is meaningless…… that human will be torn to pieces in the storm of fate and become one…… with the long-cherished wish…….」

The darkness that the Beltar Divine Stone spewed out in all directions swirled into a vortex of overwhelming destruction.

No, it can’t be.

I can’t release the casting of Bell Curios here right now… that’s when Valenciidus ran out in front of the boy and deployed a barrier.

“……!”

Valenciidus was also a powerful magician, but if the opponent was a former noble, the story would be different.

“Hurry, Rein Ludwig!”

As cracks began to spread across the translucent barrier with a desperate cracking sound, the boy’s eyes desperately searched through the explosion of information.

Where is it.

Hurry, hurry, faster.

Where is it, where is it…?!

The word I was looking for in the midst of the torrent of pain caught my eye, or rather, was stepped on by my consciousness, at the moment of desperation just before the barrier broke.

Turemibesta 1.

Gushy = bix, ⅱ/ziy^ 1.98224.

The word referring to Tureina and the symbols and numbers assigned to it. Remove that phrase from the ability equation. Fill the removed equation with imaginary numbers.

Correction is like this.

Because it was too powerful, I couldn’t invalidate the magic circle itself. The best I could do was exclude Tureina from this equation and change the target to something else.

「Um, uh, uhm……?」

The Beltar Divine Stone’s unknown voice let out a low groan.

The formula of the magic circle, which was a precise combination of spells, magic, and black magic, twisted. The tentacles that were stealing Tureina’s life force suddenly let her go as if being sucked into something.

Instead, it changed direction and rushed straight ahead. Towards the frozen boy placed at the exit of the magic circle. The Abyss began to wrap around that ice stone like tentacles.

“It’s going to be a little cold in there.”

The Great Prohibition of the Lord is a sealing technique rather than a healing technique, which even Tureina couldn’t undo on her own.

If I trap that guy in there…….

As a part of the mathematical formula, which was more precisely woven than gears, was negated, the power of the magic circle began to rage fiercely as the meshed gears broke due to each other’s friction.

“Tureina, wake up! Tureina!”

“Tureina, Tureina, Tureina.”

As black, red, and yellow tentacles sprang up from various parts of the magic circle, I desperately shouted while holding the face of the fallen Tureina…….

Kugugugugu……!

That violent reversing power was so strong that my bones would be crushed. If I hadn’t protected my body with magic, I would have been torn to pieces already.

The problem was that the temple’s framework, which had no magic, had no way to withstand that power.

Cracks like spider webs began to spread across the temple, which still had its shape.

“It’s a rebound! We have to get out of here…… Rein Ludwig!”

It was already too late when Valenciidus turned around and shouted urgently.

As the pillars collapsed with a cracking sound, the three-story ceiling that the pillars supported collapsed in succession, and a giant rock poured down on the boy’s head, who was holding Tureina’s head, causing a fierce dust storm.

It was not at a level that could be protected by a barrier. When Valenciidus barely escaped from that fierce collapse, the temple had completely collapsed, leaving only the foundation.

“What, why are you alone, where is that guy? Didn’t that guy come out?”

Miria, who was comforting Aki outside the temple, asked in a dazed voice, but there was no way to answer.

“Ah, Abe, Abu Abat!”

Aki sobbed and reached out towards that side… and the void where the silence of the collapse had disappeared began to be filled with signs of people.

“Valenciidus! Explain, why didn’t that guy come out! Where is he!”

There was no need to explain it, and there was no time to explain it.

Because the situation was not over yet.

Just as a primal fear ran through the two people’s minds, the ruins of the collapsed temple and the earth were torn apart and melted away with a roar. And something huge rose from within.

“······?!”

“······?!”

It was an aggregate of poison.

Dark blue feathers fluttered in all directions, and the sight of the trees and the ground that the feathers touched rotting away in an instant was terrifying in itself.

Valenciidus, who recognized the identity of the being that gracefully flapped its wings once and landed smoothly on the ground, felt his mind go blank.

「Ah…… Baal pe gyu tagus, a body truly worthy of serving my will.」

Plain brown hair and features with no particular characteristics, and freckles scattered around the bridge of his nose.

He was said to be eighteen years old when he was alive, but his physique, wearing a black monk’s robe and a blue robe, was as small as a thirteen-year-old boy.

But the identity is the 11th Great Magician who was a hero 300 years ago, pacified the turbulent period, and died in battle…….

“……Rin?”

The difference from 300 years ago is that a grotesque crow’s eyeball wriggles in the long torn gap in the middle of his forehead, and three pairs of crow wings have grown grotesquely on his back.

「Pedankeris, the time has finally come for all eyes to witness the truth of darkness. Kneel before Nariaduke, the true king’s confidant.」