The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 197

197.

“Link won’t get married?”

Link, who inherited the blood of the ancient giants, felt his mind was too simple for such matters.

Even if he were to fall in love with a woman, how would he guide and raise his children? How would he support them when problems arose?

Lynn, overhearing Link’s worries, chimed in:

“Don’t worry about that. If Link’s children ever need help, I’ll be there for them.”

Of course, she immediately waved her hand, adding awkwardly and hastily: “Just a few times! I’m not offering to be a full-time babysitter.”

0101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101, Bell Curias [a technique or ability related to interpreting and potentially nullifying magic].

Hurry.

Hurry.

He had to make the most of the time Rem and Bart had bought him.

“Damn it!”

The Dragon Slayer, who effortlessly deflected Bart’s axe blade and intercepted Rem’s two arrows mid-air, roared.

“Block him!”

But roots erupted from the ground around the embedded arrows, ensnaring his ankles and giving Bart, despite being weaker, an opening to attack.

“Don’t let that bastard do anything!”

After the blood-colored waves emanated from Rain’s eyes, he felt a surge of alarm as he saw Millea enveloped in a storm of mana.

‘Wait, where did they go?’

Where had Herman and Lucia disappeared to? Had they already been defeated? And by whom?

“As you command.”

The Demon Slayer broke free from Baek Chang-gung’s restraints with renewed speed and charged towards Rain.

‘Quickly.’

He focused on dismantling each rune and mathematical formula consuming Millea’s body, reducing them to a meaningless sequence of numbers.

‘Even faster.’

He entered a state of extreme concentration, bordering on madness.

He had to maintain the delicate mana control required to thread a needle through thousands of eyes without a single mistake until the very end.

As if resisting the spell’s interference, grotesque red tentacles erupted from Zernique’s magic circle.

“A backlash from the spell…?”

Valensidis, soaked in blood, barely managed to speak.

“Are you thinking of saving him in this situation…?”

“What are you talking about? Saving him?”

Kora, helping Valensidis to his feet, asked in confusion.

“That guy’s eyes are Bell Curias… If he can decipher any magic, he can nullify it…”

“What…?”

“But the target is so fast and reckless, there’s no way he can…”

Dodge the Demon Slayer’s chain, which flew towards him with a deafening boom, by rolling away.

Jesuseoran Yeon [likely a type of binding or sealing magic]: Revised.

The ground cratered from the impact as chains of fire erupted, piercing Millea’s body.

“…!”

However, the chains of Jesuseoran Yeon, meant to seal all the mana in her body, corroded and melted.

Zzzzzzzzzzz!

Zernique’s tentacles, reacting against Bell Curias, also corroded and dissolved.

“Sister, stop it!”

Milia drew her sword and blocked his path, but she couldn’t hope to stop someone wielding Link’s power.

If she possessed not only Rista’s appearance but also her strength, it wouldn’t be a problem…

After blocking the chain once, her sword shattered. The chain in his right hand rose to crush Milia.

“Seojin Style, 12th Form.”

The flow of power twisted, reversing direction and engulfing the Dragon Slayer instead.

“…?!”

Rain, severing the framework of the magic circle with Bell Curias, couldn’t believe his eyes.

‘Doran Slade, how can that human…’

He stood on the ground, using his long sword as a makeshift leg, impaling it into the severed stump.

“I will buy you 5 seconds.”

Catching his ragged breath, Doran recalled memories of his eighth spring.

“Unlike me, the gods have blessed Doran with immense talent and a healthy body, so Doran can become like Lynn.”

A wizard who can 멋지게 [admirably, splendidly] reach out to those in need…

“Like Lynn, who selflessly journeyed to the ends of the earth at a young age for the sake of those who suffer.”

Questions of whether he could, couldn’t, or even should, were buried with the ashes of his sister, who died that year.

He simply acted.

Then and now.

Because he promised to live that way when his sister placed a bowler hat on his head.

“Doran, will you become such a wizard?”

He didn’t become a great wizard like Lynn, but he tried to live such a life.

‘Now that one of my legs has been cut off, I’ll have to retire from the front lines.’

So this was the last fight of that life.

The magic circle of snowflakes flashed around Doran’s remaining foot in an instant.

The chains and arms crossed dozens of times at speeds invisible to the naked eye, creating ripples on the ground.

0101010101010101010010001

Rutry = 7.22.

0101000101010101010101011

The moment he located the data on body possession and mental erosion, Doran’s defenses crumbled, and the Demon Slayer’s fingertips aimed for his heart.

‘Start reverse verification.’

Just before he could correct the formula binding the Demon Slayer’s power to his body, just before the fingertips pierced his heart.

Zzzzzzzzz!

Suddenly, a dimension tore open, and an arm reached out, dragging Doran into the rift.

Valensidis.

He collapsed after pulling Doran to safety, spitting blood.

“Finish it… Rain Ludwig!”

You mustn’t harm Millea’s body.

Body possession, mental erosion, memory manipulation… Just eliminate the spell forcibly binding Link’s power to that body.

Cut it off.

‘Sever only the connection to the barbaric spell that seeks superhuman power and regeneration at the cost of reason…!’

So that the result converges to 0, becoming a meaningless mathematical formula.

‘It’s late, but.’

He couldn’t undo the sadness and pain Link’s descendants had endured for eleven years.

‘It’s too late, but.’

He couldn’t completely alleviate the resentment Miria had harbored since childhood.

“Don’t worry about that.”

He knew.

He knew it well.

“If anything happens to Link’s descendants.”

You can’t touch the past that has flowed away. The flawed past shapes the present and continues to flow.

“I’ll go help you.”

But.

You can alter the course of that flawed present and reshape the future. You can forge a new future.

1001010101001010100101010010101010101111111001101110100111110111.

Examine it, decipher it, comprehend it, and then shatter it. The barrier obstructing the path to the future.

“It’s a promise, Link.”

So that the river of the present can flow freely.

“Link, Link, Link.”

The moment he believed he had broken Zernique’s formula, his vision exploded in white.

“Where is this…?”

For a moment, reality vanished, replaced by a space where blood soaked up to his ankles.

‘The eye level has lowered.’

This body and outfit… Could his spirit have manifested as Lynn?

As he examined his transformed body, he heard suppressed sobbing nearby.

In the center of a space where blood stretched endlessly like a vast ocean, a girl, no older than ten, was huddled, hugging her knees.

The child trapped in this terrible space for eleven years. Always waiting for someone…

“Stop crying and come here.”

The girl looked up, her eyes swollen and red with tears, her voice hoarse.

“Who… Who are you…?”

How could he explain who he was?

As he tried to formulate an answer, memories flooded his mind like strokes of ink on a canvas.

Link’s laughter, carrying him on his broad shoulders, laughing like a fool.

“I’m Link’s friend.”

As he spoke, he probably wore a very sad smile. With that smile, he knelt before Millea.

“You look a lot like Link.”

“Me…?”

“Yeah, there’s something about you that feels nostalgic.”

Whether it was the words or the smile, Millea, after hesitating, reached out and took his offered hand.

“Now, shall we go outside?”

The instant their hands clasped, cracks spread through the illusory space, shattering it into countless fragments.

‘Back to reality…’

The red tentacles shrieked in agony, then burst from Millea’s convulsing body and soared into the sky.

“Correction complete.”

At that moment, the pillar of light scattered into tens of thousands of particles, fluttering like snow across the night sky.

It was a dreamlike sight, so beautiful that someone muttered in awe.

Then the particles coalesced again into a pillar of light and plunged towards Miria, or rather, towards Gin’s sword.

Puh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh────!

With a roar that deafened, a shockwave carrying a dust storm spread in all directions.

‘What.’

Silence.

And more silence.

‘What the hell happened?’

From Gin’s Shaman Sword, which had clearly been broken, a crimson sword 강(釗) [most likely a type of powerful sword or technique] was constructed to form the blade, but it soon vanished.

‘That is…’

Rain, recognizing the source of that power, stared in disbelief.

‘Why did Link’s power move there?’

At that moment, Millea’s convulsions ceased.

“Miria! Millea, sister!”

Miria, regaining her senses at Kora’s call, rushed to Millea’s side and cradled her head.

Her eyes, which had been rolled back, showing only the whites, closed and then opened weakly…

The light of reason flickered faintly in those eyes.

A hoarse voice escaped Millea’s lips as she gazed at Miria for a moment.

“Miria…?”

She had no time to see the expression on Miria’s face as she questioned her own ears.

“Not bad for small fries!”

A sharp roar. The Dragonbone Spear shattered Bart’s black iron helmet, sending him crashing to the ground.

Then, the 심검(心劍) [Mind Sword, a technique using mental focus to enhance a sword] formed in his left hand emitted a powerful current.

He bisected the surrounding space at a speed the eye couldn’t follow, completely neutralizing the arrows flying from afar.

‘Is this guy really the same human as me?’

Simultaneously, he swung the Dragonbone Spear with just his right hand, striking Bart’s black iron axe seven times in rapid succession (난격 [rapid strikes]).

“But!”

The moment the axe was finally forced back by the Dragonbone Spear’s pressure and his posture faltered, Arthur’s foot slammed into Bart’s abdomen.

“You’ve met the wrong opponent!”

The amplified leg strength crushed Bart’s breastplate, sending his heavily armored body flying.

“This is what it’s all about!”

While still airborne, the Dragonbone Spear unleashed a lightning strike towards Bart, who was unable to recover.

He would have been incinerated by that transcendent lightning.

If the dragon’s fire hadn’t engulfed the battlefield at that critical moment.

“…!”

A release-type magic that mimicked a dragon’s breath, channeling only pure destructive power.

Seomhwacheon Gyeokpo [likely a specific dragon breath technique].

The Dragon Slayer raised his eyebrows in annoyance at the fiery breath that scorched the area and charged in fiercely.

‘Is that guy keeping me in check? What about that useless Demon Slayer bitch?’

It seemed he had a hidden card; had he finally played it?

It was useless anyway.

If he killed those guys here and asked his teacher or Zernique again, everything would be fine. Including reviving his dead brothers.

“You did really well, Bart.”

Bart was panting heavily, looking back at Rain.

The battle with the Dragon Slayer had lasted only ten seconds, but his body was already at its limit.

Rain gave Bart a thumbs up and spun his staff, assuming a battle stance.

“I’ll finish it in thirty seconds. Cover me.”