The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 222

222. The Reincarnated Archmage of the Hero Party-Episode 222 (222/280)

Watching Valensidice and Obin grow closer during our journey to Solondro, I can’t help but be reminded of the distant past.

Obin reminds me of Tureina.

He was always the first to wake up and check the campfire, helping with the watch (Rain, Miria, and Valensidice took turns) prepare the food.

– Ah, morning.

After that, he would stick close to Valensidice, diligently learning magic. Although he didn’t have a genius-level talent, his enthusiasm was infectious.

– Use the quadratic function to find the answer.

Isn’t the most rewarding moment for a teacher seeing their student’s enthusiasm?

There were more and more moments when a comfortable smile appeared on Valensidice’s face, who always seemed to be wearing a mask.

Just like I used to be.

– Look at that, Nen. Isn’t the atmosphere nice?

– Aruu.

As Setsnen and I watched them, Miria, who had approached me unnoticed, asked.

– Why do you have that look on your face again?

Miria bit her lip hesitantly, took a light breath, and looked straight at me.

– I think I should tell you about the letter Rista left behind.

What tore apart that memory was an ominous wave.

A dark blue ripple swept low over the city, and a pillar of thought soared into the sky from the palace.

It’s the same as 300 years ago, Neigalas’s power is awakening… Cold sweat formed on my forehead.

‘Has Rigwind’s barrier disappeared?’

The ground heaving as if it would collapse.

Misaligned strata.

Structures collapsing from both sides, covering the avenue, and increasing the chaos as they intertwined.

“The Great Formation is about to activate.”

“No time to talk, run!”

It could be called a disaster situation, but the reactions of the citizens and soldiers of Bara were strange.

Staring blankly at something with unfocused eyes, they were moving their lips and humming a certain melody.

Exactly the same as the melody flowing from Neigalas’s pillar of light, which held primitive evil.

“If that’s activated, then Obin’s younger sister is…”

At Miria’s murmur, Obin gripped Chunpashikjuk [likely a unique weapon] tightly and trembled.

I didn’t know exactly what was happening in the inner palace, but it was clear that we had to hurry.

If that power fully awakens, the one at the center of the magic circle will be the first to be eroded by the abyss.

‘I wish I could hurry….’

The structure in front of me shimmered like a mirage, and the next moment, it was cut off at the waist with the sound of shattering glass.

‘Yeah, she’s here after all.’

The instant I clenched my right hand, dozens of chains of Jesoseoran [likely a type of magical chain] were deployed.

The chains became the steel frame of the collapsing structure, preventing its collapse. Protecting the dazed citizens from being covered by falling objects.

At the same time, I took out Shalesarum’s dragon scale from Seresia’s subspace pocket and threw it to Valensidice.

“I’m counting on you, Valensidice.”

If Rista attacked first, we had decided to do this in advance.

– So, let’s block each other.

I was the only one among the three of us who could face Rista.

– Let’s help her not to do evil.

I am the only one who can and must keep the promise with Rista.

– Let’s give her soul rest. So that the soul can reach the embrace of the gods.

Valensidice is good at infiltration.

He should be able to transport Shalesarum’s dragon scale to the center of the magic circle without having to engage in a battle with Elamas.

In the first place, it was Valensidice who proposed the plan first. It was a proposal that I could only describe as grateful from my point of view.

“Go now!”

I yelled at Obin, who hesitated for a moment. Now is the time to control your pounding heart.

You too, and me too.

The enemy we have to face is not the real Rista. Rista is already dead, and that’s just a manipulated shell.

“You’ve come, Rista.”

It was impossible to think so resolutely.

The moment I saw the swordsman walking out of the dust, waving her white hair, the smile of the old Rista overlapped on her cold face.

Even if I didn’t want it.

No.

Maybe, no, maybe I had unconsciously wished to meet again like this all my life.

– I am Rista Alter Shirpang! A Feyquerier [likely a religious order] belonging to the Gwangryong Orthodox Church [likely a religious organization].

So.

So now.

I have to change the way I deal with it. I have to renew my mindset.

“Let’s put an end to it now.”

A smile that was both happy and sad, welcome and bitter, formed on my lips.

“That has continued for 300 years.”

I took a slow breath to capture all that joy, sadness, welcome, and bitterness.

As I gently drew in the air with my fingertips, the dragon’s flames were shaped into three sheets and comfortably gripped in my hand.

So I aimed at Rista with the staff technique that Rista had taught me, and said to the long-dead Rista, and to myself.

“To our story.”

We.

To our destiny.

Maybe there was no other way to meet again except in this form.

“Mind Construction, Yuryang Sejon: Changmyeong Roehwa (Flowing Worldly One: Manifesting Thunder and Fire).”

* * *

‘Demon Sword is…….’

Miria felt the broken sword at her waist pulsating continuously.

‘Does the Demon Slayer want me to fight Rista now……?’

No, he wants me to give her rest. And maybe he wants me to help Rin.

As an old colleague who was like family.

But I have my mission. Rain would have told me to do this too.

– Miria.

Is it because a fragment of Rista is really left in my soul that I’m so worried about her?

No, it’s not because of that.

In the first place, unlike her, I don’t even have the memories of Rista. The reason why I care about her is…….

– You don’t have to cry anymore.

As Miria bit her lip tightly to calm her mind, Valensidice, who was running ahead, said.

“Go.”

“What?”

“Even if you deceive Elamas and release the magic circle, that’s the end. We can’t beat the apostle with our strength.”

“We won’t know until we try…….”

“I know without trying. This is a realistic judgment. It would be better for that guy to finish the hero quickly and join us. And you smell like goblin, so you’re just getting in the way of infiltration.”

“Is this real…….”

Perhaps that moment was the first and last time the two smiled at each other as colleagues.

“Obin, go ahead and wait! I’ll bring that idiot over here soon!”

He must be in a more urgent situation than anyone else right now, but Obin smiled brightly and nodded.

Miria immediately slammed the ground with her heel to brake her run.

As the paving stones of the road were scorched and smoke rose from under her feet, she turned around and ran back.

‘I’m going now, Rain.’

I’m not going because I’m Rista and you’re Rin. This choice is only…….

“Fake, fake, fake.”

Then a warm…… and for some reason, a heartbreakingly familiar voice fell over Miria’s head.

“Pipi?”

Pipi flapped its wings and responded to Miria’s question. Had it flown with all its might? It was clear that it was exhausted.

“Rin, Rin, must help Rin.”

“It’s Rain, not Rin.”

Miria drew the Demon Sword from her sword belt.

The feeling of cold thread flowing into the hand holding the hilt and spreading throughout the body.

Muscle strength and reflexes are abnormally amplified. At the same time, the broken blade is wrapped in red and the sword aura rises sharply.

“That’s right, Pipi?”

Miria winked her left eye at Pipi, who had landed on her shoulder. Just like Rista used to do.

Miria had never gotten close to Pipi since their first meeting. She didn’t even try to get close. She felt a strange and disturbing sense of incongruity.

Pipi probably felt a similar sense of incongruity and kept its distance from Miria…… but now.

“Genuine, genuine, genuine.”

Pipi rubbed its beak against Miria’s cheek. It was an act of affection that it only showed to Rain.

“By the way, Pipi, the fact that you came means……!”

* * *

‘Was it a misjudgment?’

No, it’s better this way.

Valensidice swung Kashasur [likely a unique weapon] repeatedly, transcending dimensions.

Avoiding the road blocked by the collapse and the remnants of the Dawn Brigade, but that was also reaching its limit.

“The one I threw this time came up…… heads. Hah, shall I make a prediction? From now on, every arrow I shoot will hit.”

Katpirim’s number 1 and 2 [likely a ranking system].

The spirits of the elves appeared, blocking the way to the palace.

Only two warriors were standing on the wide road, but the pressure was as if a huge mountain was towering over them.

‘Pel, who was called the heretic of the elven warriors.’

Elven warriors, who considered spears and shields as the virtues of warriors, despised ranged weapons such as bows, considering them cowardly weapons.

“Hold on tight, Obin.”

Pel gained tremendous fame on the continent as a marksman, but he was despised by the elves, although he was respected by humans.

“This is the first hurdle.”

Pel is great, but he was nothing compared to the existence next to him. A fear that made my breath stop without me realizing it.

‘Elamas’s Paladin, Snire…….’

The arrows that were bending erratically in an unnatural trajectory continued to chase me even when I was transcending dimensions with Obin in my arms.

“This archery is really…….”

Is it more than the drunken archery of mankind?

And the moment I was distracted by avoiding that interception, Snire’s spear, which had moved behind me at some point, flew in.

Saying a final greeting in the language of the elves.

“You can resent me, prince of the ruined nation.”

Was that the end?

The spear would have pierced Valensidice’s shoulder and penetrated Obin’s neck beyond that.

If the spear that flew in with enormous mass, I don’t know if I can even call it a spear, hadn’t deflected it.

“……!”

Snire’s eyebrows, which never changed expression in ordinary situations, curled up.

The spear that had perfectly parried his spear was…… a huge weapon that I wondered if it was even possible to wield.

The spearman who appeared wearing black armor all over his body, dully reflecting the faint sunlight, was Bart.

“Go, Valensidice!”

Next, Pel’s arrow, which was about to pierce Valensidice’s chest, was shot down by another arrow that suddenly flew in.

“Hmm?”

Did you intercept my arrow?

Pel tilted his head with a look of disbelief, as if his pride was hurt.

Three consecutive flashes of Sooncheong [likely a type of weapon or attack] flew at Pel, who was like that.

“Go quickly in this gap!”

Rain’s voice was awakening in Valensidice’s heart, who had returned from the brink of death.

– He’s not just my colleague. He’s our colleague, right?

He said it with a knowing look, did he know this would happen?

Interesting.

Expressing my feelings about the sudden situation is only for a moment, it’s time to return to my realistic self.

‘It’s realistically impossible.’

The two of them must have skills beyond Snire and Pel to be able to hold onto those spirits and open the way.

It’s just buying time, and eventually they’ll be caught from behind…… should I fight together here if that’s the case?

Then suddenly Obin jumped forward. Grabbing a stick that had fallen on the ground.

“……?!”

Putting that stick between his legs, and chanting a spell with his mouth.

Awkward pronunciation and stuttering, but the spell was embodying exactly what Valensidice had taught him.

Soon the staff was filled with power, and it soared his body into the sky. Obin looked down at Valensidice and shouted.

“Sky, it’s the sky, Teacher!”

The thrill of emotion that pierced Valensidice’s head the moment he saw that, the moment he heard those words.

“Obin…….”

Pel immediately shot ten arrows into the sky and clicked his tongue.

“No, how is that guy flying like a witch? A guy who can’t even speak?”

Six were shot down by Rem, but four began to chase after them…….

Before that, Valensidice, who had risen into the sky, opened a dimension and blew them into another space.

Valensidice and Obin exchanged glances for a moment, just for a moment. Valensidice shouted.

“Let’s go, Obin!”

The choice to pass through the sky is not suitable for infiltration because it attracts attention, but it is the most appropriate choice to escape this space now.

Looking at the side of his disciple who had reached that conclusion even before him.

Watching the back of his disciple, who is still unskilled and lacking in flight, but still moving forward without falling behind or getting disorganized.

– Take a disciple, Valensidice.

I realized that I was smiling.

The extravagant emotion that I had never shed and should not have shed after killing my teacher 14 years ago, and that I thought I would never shed in my life.

It was coming back to life in the middle of my heart.

– It will definitely be an experience that you can’t trade for anything in your life.

Obin and Valensidice passed through the sky above the city as it was, heading to the inner palace where the pillar of the abyss was gradually intensifying.

To the Asahat tomb where Princess Obira was playing the ocarina.

The young princess was playing the ocarina without rest, and now only the last movement was left. Sweat and saliva were flowing down like rain.

Without even knowing that Predal, the regent who had been deceived by the sweet talk of handing over the throne and was acting as a follower of Elamas, was turning into a primitive.

While all the humans in that place were singing bizarre songs and turning strangely, Elamas was the only one smiling contentedly.

“Obiraaaaaaaa!”

Obin pounced on Obira as if jumping from the sky, cutting off the performance that was about to be finished.

He hugged his younger sister, whom he had reunited with after several years, with both hands and rolled on the grass of the tomb.

After the rotational inertia stopped, Obira blinked blankly.

Recognizing the voice and smell of the only family member left, she began to sob.

The smile disappeared from Elamas’s lips.

‘How is that possible──?’

What are those incompetent things doing? They sent the mute prince here?

‘To break Rigwind’s barrier, the voluntary will of the royal family is needed, but if this happens…….’

It was Valensidice’s plan that gave him a moment of confusion.

From the blind spot of Elamas’s perception, Valensidice, who had landed in the center of the Great Formation, took out Shalesarum’s dragon scale from his arms.

At that moment, the dragon scale of the red dragon began to burn more fiercely than any flame in this world.

“It’s all over.”

The transcendent flame spread throughout the magic circle, burning away the ominous and evil inscriptions engraved within.

“The mute human prince you so despised has won.”