The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 242

242.

The Keltimute Volcanic Zone is said to resemble a wheel when viewed from above.

This is because the suspension bridges, constructed with Aein technology [ancient civilization known for advanced engineering], connect the six outer peaks with Shurigan.

Thus, quite unrealistically, Shurigan was able to serve as a pivotal point for the continent, despite being in a high-altitude region.

This was because manpower and resources could easily move to and from the small cities built on the six peaks.

“This village is also completely empty.”

Villages clustered around these small cities, but there was not a single sign of life in the villages forming the northern peaks.

“Are they all dead?”

Miria, an expert in such matters, quickly recognized the disaster that had struck.

“Uh, the smell of blood is still here. Just no bodies.”

Even more ominous was the absence of domestic animals like birds and pigs, not to mention wild animals like dogs and deer.

“How many is this now?”

“Five.”

This was a situation that Rein found impossible to understand with his common sense.

“Are they planning to devastate the area around the Holy City?”

Trying to capture the Holy City?

Even Zernique wouldn’t be able to break Shurigan’s barrier.

“No, if the goal was devastation, wouldn’t this be too noticeable? With his skills, erasing the traces themselves would be a piece of cake.”

Miria pointed that out, and Bart nodded.

“Maybe this whole situation we’re in right now is what he intended.”

This situation?

He intended this situation?

A cold sweat broke out on Rein’s face as he suddenly looked up.

“Could it be a planned mass hunt?”

If the plan was to spread confusion and fear, gather people together, and then wipe them out without much effort…

“Let’s hurry, we don’t have time.”

* * *

Overwhelmed by fear, people were running for their lives.

It was because of the swarms of bugs that were densely filling the vast Northern Latitude suspension bridge.

Abandoning their household goods, horses, cows, and carriages, people were running madly towards the north gate of Shurigan.

“Slow down!”

From the north gate, the witches rushed out with soldiers to help the refugees, but.

“Everyone can come in, please, slowly, keep order!”

“Order? Get out of the way!”

“They’re coming from behind, monsters, monster bugs!”

Unable to exert their strength, they were swept away by the tide of people who had lost their reason in the face of death.

“That’s strange.”

A playful smile appeared on Sierra’s lips as she slowly advanced, leading the swarm of bugs.

“Where has the pride of being the people protected by the Crimson Sun Shurigan gone?”

Everywhere she stepped, countless lives were dying as their bodies and souls were devoured by the bugs.

“Sun, please……”

Someone dying among the bugs muttered. Sierra snapped her fingers, and the bugs stopped moving.

“No help from the gods will come. Only I can save you.”

“Y-you heretic……”

“What should I do? Should I save you?”

“……?”

“Beg, just like you would to your god. Kneel. Then I’ll save you.”

In the sound of the bugs tearing at flesh and bones, a woman holding a baby trembled and knelt down.

“This is the current state of your faith.”

Sierra, as if finding the sight very amusing, burst into laughter and placed her hand on the woman’s shoulder.

“Go. I’ll take the bugs away.”

The bugs that had densely filled the suspension bridge behind Sierra parted to both sides, opening a path.

The woman, gasping for breath, barely managed to get up and started running down that path.

Sierra, who had been sneering at the sight, clicked her tongue as if she had just remembered something.

“Ah, of course, I didn’t say I’d save the baby too. Leave it behind.”

Then, one by one, the bugs began to target the child and climb onto the woman’s body…….

“No, no, no way.”

The woman screamed and raised the hand holding the child to the sky, but it was a meaningless struggle.

“No, please, don’t, no!”

The moment the bugs jumped from the woman’s shoulder to the child, the bugs were instantly annihilated in a flash of pure white flames without any warning.

“……?!”

Sierra’s eyes suddenly widened.

What did I just see?

‘Such powerful fire, yet it doesn’t harm that woman at all?’

It didn’t end there.

The flames, surging like a wave, swept over from beyond the suspension bridge, burning all the bugs to ashes.

A man appeared in the flames.

The old, worn-out bamboo hat, with its frayed edges, carried an indescribable dignity rather than a sense of shabbiness.

The dark red, gleaming coat formed an eerie harmony with the redly burning eyes in the shadow of the hat.

All of them added to the transcendent power emanating from the gauntlets of thunder in the man’s hands and the staff of fire woven into existence.

“Yes, this is how it should be.”

It was a voice that seemed to command the vast flames with just a few words.

“You black mages are only fit to act like this trash.”

“You are……”

“Aki is Aki!”

A red-haired girl appeared, taking the woman and the baby and retreating far away. The bamboo-hatted mage said.

“Zernique didn’t tell you who I am, did he? Is he senile or something? It’s a wonder he hasn’t gone senile after living for a thousand years.”

“How dare this brat insult him!”

In Sierra’s rage, the bugs resonated; countless bugs that had been scattered gathered together and merged into a giant mass.

Deep-sea Serpent, Paculaqua.

One of the Bug Lord’s creations.

It had a repulsive form closer to a sandworm than a serpent, but it seemed they were called by that name in the distant past.

“Did you think a lowly human could insult a pillar of the Black Church and get away with it!”

Paculaqua, which had swelled up like a mountain in an instant, charged forward.

In fact, the suspension bridges of Shurigan were greatly damaged during the turmoil 300 years ago.

So they were haphazardly reinforced with the technology of the Aein. The technology of the gods is something even the Aein cannot match.

The copper and iron plates that filled the gaps of the past were grinding away, and ominous metallic sounds erupted from the red chains supporting the bridge.

“Brat?”

The moment Rein reached out towards Paculaqua, which was gaping its mouth wide.

“Watch your mouth.”

Light flickered from within the bug’s body, and flames that seemed to burn out the retina instantly covered its massive form.

“The one before your eyes is a great mage who has lived for three hundred years.”

Before Sierra could even be astonished, an intense heat haze began to rise above the explosion of flames.

No, perhaps that’s why she didn’t notice.

Wavering dimensions, a prelude to the power that severs space-time. Extreme killing intent is emitted from the Extreme Divinity Sword Shir팽 [Shirapenko].

“Space-Time Severance(時空殲)!”

Restricting the range of the slash locally.

Performing a concise slash with a short trajectory so as not to harm the suspension bridge or the people beyond.

“T-this is……!”

At that moment, the hairpin that Sierra had stuck in her long, tied-up hair emitted a chilling poison.

“Hee, heehee! No, no!”

It was a talisman, a guardian talisman bestowed by the Second Pillar, Zernique. A powerful barrier that even Frede’s disciples could not penetrate.

“He is with me!”

As before, the barrier of poison enveloped Sierra in a circle.

And it seemed that it would easily remove the threat of death that had befallen the wearer, but…….

Crackle, clang! The moment space-time was severed, the barrier of poison was also scattered into countless pieces of dark blue.

‘His power is broken──?’

Before that thought could settle in her mind.

An arrow that had emerged from the gaps in the bug’s body, which was crumbling into charcoal, the heat of the flames, and the fragments of dimensions, pierced her heart.

The ability of the White Sky Bow Serwebon was activated, and the arrowhead split into countless strands, tightly coiling around and bursting the target’s heart.

“……”

Blood trickled down from Sierra’s mouth.

She couldn’t even say anything more because of the ceaseless flow of blood.

Gazing at Rein and Miria with eyes that were gradually losing their light, she collapsed as she was.

As the bugs that had lost their host were sucked back into the old abyss…… Rein’s one eye narrowed.

‘That power just now, it was definitely Zernique’s.’

I thought I needed to find Zernique’s spirit to use ‘that method,’ but can I use it on the leaders of the Black Church too?

This is an unexpected gain.

Zernique is quick to notice. He’ll have more experience in the Magic War than I do.

If I did that to a spirit, he might notice something strange and run away, but…….

“Rein!”

Clang, suddenly a deafening roar like tearing metal ripped through the ears.

At the same time, a huge shadow loomed menacingly overhead and then disappeared like an arrow. The speed and power were so absurd that Rein, who had lifted his head, saw a nightmare he had already faced 300 years ago.

“Puladdon……!”

Bart, who had taken the impact of the dive with the Dragonbone Spear, was staggering and regaining his balance.

‘If it hadn’t been for Bart, I would have died just now…….’

As cold sweat ran down the bridge of his nose, Puladdon let out a thin, tearing scream.

[Ah, Daddy…….]

Setznen let out a soft scream at the ancient roar that tore through the eardrums.

The cries of the Tuaki [Puladdon’s species] that covered the battlefield 300 years ago are still terrifying even after the passage of time.

At that moment, clear lights embroidered the sky in succession.

Serwebon’s arrows, but Puladdon dodged all of those interceptions with acrobatic movements that made one doubt their eyes.

“Too fast.”

Miria, who was panting from the backlash of using Space-Time Severance, muttered blankly.

“Pipi, Pipi, Pipi.”

Pipi spread her wings of fire and soared.

Puladdon moved several times faster, as if to mock the firebird chasing him, then swung his tail as if he was now bored.

“Pi, Pipi!”

Confusion and anger forced Miria to pull herself together.

But even if she tried to use Space-Time Severance again…….

It was impossible to push Puladdon into the trajectory of the slash. It was just too fast.

“Hehehe, avoiding your slow attacks is nothing.”

Aki kicked off the pillar of the suspension bridge and leaped, and a voice was heard from Puladdon’s back as he caught the falling Pipi.

“I thank you for appearing here. I, Butem, will become a new pillar of the Black Church by offering your heads!”

Soon after, Puladdon fell with a terrifying speed, and Rein said to Miria, who had rolled away to avoid being hit.

“Are you ready?”

“What?”

“I’m going to drag Zernique out of him now.”

Without waiting for Miria’s answer, the pure white flower awakened in red in Rein’s eyes, who had taken off Seresia [his eyepatch].

“Bart, fix him so I can see with Vel Querious [Rein’s special eye]! Just for a moment!”

Butem, sensing the abnormality, pierced his palm with a cursed awl.

Evil Death Pillar Body(邪死柱體) [a technique].

No sooner had he done so than a huge hand and awl suddenly appeared on the suspension bridge and mimicked the sorcerer’s movements, but…….

“Aki Punch.”

With a terrifying explosion of flames, he was bounced back without being able to pierce his palm.

“Aki is angry……!”

That’s quite something…….

But even so, this attack is just a simple feint. The real attack is done by Puladdon.

“Bart!”

The moment Rein formed the ninth hand seal, Bart, who had collided head-on with Puladdon, was pushed away by the force and fell off the suspension bridge.

Pow, pow, pow!

At that moment, Serwebon’s arrows were successively embedded in the suspension bridge, and the vines that sprouted from them were firmly intertwined, grabbing Bart’s ankles.

“What the hell is that monster?”

In the shrubbery forest at the entrance of the suspension bridge, Rem wiped away his cold sweat as he watched the vines pull Bart up onto the suspension bridge.

‘Strength is not the problem.’

Bart, who was regaining his composure on the suspension bridge, coldly reviewed the situation.

‘The problem is speed. The attack ends before I can even get into position to send power.’

If only I could slow down that speed even a little bit.

Puladdon circled in the air and began to descend again with a howl, and the sound of a noble prayer was heard almost simultaneously.

“May the Holy Light Grant Blessings(聖光許之以福).”

This is, no, no way.

Miria felt a thrill that stirred her mind and looked back at the source of the voice.

“He Said(謂之曰) Be Fertile and Multiply(生育衆多) Fill the Earth(充盈於地) Govern It(地爲爾所治) Rule Over the Fish of the Sea and the Birds of the Air(並治海魚飛鳥) and Every Living Creature That Moves on the Ground(及地上諸生物).”

This is the echo of the Psalms.

The phrase from the Bright World Psalm(明世詩篇) [a type of magic] that the Fire Dragon’s Maiden Frede used most often during the turmoil.

‘No way.’

Although it did not have the powerful control of the Creation Psalm, its strength was that its length was the shortest among the Psalms.

‘No way, no, still.’

Its ability is wide-area deceleration, slowing down the movements of beings that contradict the Psalms, that is, those who oppose the providence of creation.

“Frede……?!”

Unfortunately, or perhaps it was too obvious…… the owner of that voice that appeared in Shurigan was not Frede.

“The Maiden of Justice, Sazeline, appears.”

Still, for a moment, I couldn’t help but be immersed in that illusion. For a moment, I couldn’t help but dream that dream.

The witch’s robes fluttering in the breeze passing over the suspension bridge were the ones Frede wore 300 years ago.

But the woman wearing it was not a beauty blessed by fire. She was a middle-aged woman who was resentful of the passage of time.

“It’s slower──?!”

But the power of the Psalms certainly worked, slowing Puladdon’s speed by nearly two times.

Even so, it was still a great speed, but it was encouraging enough to make the light flash in Bart’s eyes.

Without even holding the Dragonbone Spear, Bart threw himself into Puladdon’s falling trajectory with both hands…… and grabbed its mouth and body with both hands.

“!”

This crazy bastard…….

Butem’s eyes shook blankly.

This guy, he caught Puladdon with human strength? Is he even human?

“Rein!”

Without Bart needing to shout, Rein was already fixing his eyes on the target.

I’ve captured it properly.

This short amount of time is enough.

As expected, this guy also has Zernique’s power in his chest, just like that bug woman from before.

‘I’ll drag it out of there.’

Originally, space-time interference magic is not my specialty.

It was banned by the Papal State a thousand years ago, after the era of Ryuken and Zernique, because it was easily affected by the abyss.

I can’t suddenly awaken its essence now, but if I combine the power of this Seresia and Vel Querious, I can somehow use it.

Dor/fix 8.723 obert.

The ability to send the attack to another dimension when Seresia is damaged, I modify that dimension coordinate to this place now.

‘You’ll be waiting for me?’

And I reverse-track the source of the power resonating with Zernique, find out its location, and write it down.

‘Don’t be ridiculous.’

The calculation formula that is manifested when Seresia is damaged, that is, the unknown in the equation that sends it to another dimension.

‘I’ll settle it here and now.’

In short, I modified the mathematical formula ‘send the attack away’ to the mathematical formula ‘bring Zernique here’.

“Start correction!”

Puladdon, who was barely flying back into the sky after struggling with Bart, but it was already too late.

“Kuh…… Kuhaaaaaaa!”

Butem’s chest began to tear. To be exact, the space-time where that chest was located was torn.

Before he could even scream, the increasingly long tear in space-time tore Butem’s upper body and swallowed even Puladdon’s wings that were hitting the air.

As the ancient monster bird fell below the cliff, a presence that turned the area into a scene of fear and madness appeared from within the wound in the dimension.

“Huh?”

A young man with hair tied back long, tinged with the light of the abyss.

He was wearing an Albrazam-style robe with wide sleeves, but his tall stature made the ornament stand out even more.

From the eyepatch covering his eyes, countless eyeballs blinked in confusion, examining the drastically changed situation.

“Isn’t this Shurigan? What happened?”