The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 251

251.

“Behold, the true power of Bel Curios!”

It was impossible to fully grasp the upheaval that occurred the moment Zernique shouted that. It defied easy comprehension.

‘What is it?’

Bart’s right arm, the one holding the Dragon Bone Spear as he charged, twisted unnaturally and then vanished as if it had been sucked into another dimension.

‘What in the world…….’

As Bart lost his Dragon Bone Spear and was left momentarily defenseless, a barrage of iron lumps struck his chest with brutal force.

“Bart──!”

Rem cried out urgently to Bart, who was now covered in blood and slammed against the outer wall. Miria and Aki moved to flank Zernique, approaching from both sides.

‘If his focus is on Bart right now……!’

We can take him down before the elements fully combine, before he can cast any significant magic.

‘The only ones he can effectively defend against with magic are either Aki or me.’

As the elements began to coalesce behind Zernique, his gaze settled on Miria’s face.

A chilling dread ran down her spine.

Instinct took over. She instantly enveloped her sword with the power of spacetime.

She slammed her foot on the ground, halting her charge, and swung Schirping with all her might.

She knew immediately whether that action was the right or wrong one.

A bone-jarring impact reverberated through her wrist, and cracks spread in the air, accompanied by the sound of shattering glass.

‘The power of dimensions……?’

Iron, Lightning, Ice.

Zernique used the elemental combination of the fundamental runes to block Aki’s attack and send her flying backward.

He smirked, a hint of admiration in his expression.

“You blocked that? Hmph, you’re the best of these scraps here. Did you instinctively sense the power of Bel Curios?”

There was no time to stand around and listen to his boasting.

“Bel Curios isn’t just about nullifying abilities.”

An invisible whirlwind erupted in the spot where he had just been standing, and uniform holes were punched through the city’s buildings, creating a clear line of sight to the distant horizon.

“If you’re well-versed in spacetime magic, you can use it to interfere with reality like this.”

As if to fill the void of annihilation that had suddenly appeared, a sandstorm raged in the area where the anomaly had occurred.

“This power can even kill gods; it’s the power of omnipotence itself! Hmphahahahaha!”

He doesn’t even need to divide dimensions like the Spacetime Island; he just needs to look at something, and it’s gone?

Rem, who hadn’t fully grasped the extent of the danger, fired an arrow imbued with a one-hit kill spell.

At that moment, Rem was in Zernique’s blind spot. It was an arrow with the power to pierce the brain and take down even the most skilled warriors.

“Still don’t understand?”

But the moment Zernique turned to look, not only the arrow but also the building where Rem was standing was swallowed and disappeared by an invisible force.

“That whatever you do against me is meaningless now?”

I’m the only one who can properly stand against him. Miria took a deep breath and tightened her grip on her sword.

‘Hang in there.’

Even approaching him is nearly impossible; there has to be a limit to how much a normal human body can handle Pay Curios.

‘Hang in there, my heart.’

Her hair had long since turned completely white, and not only that, but her breathing was becoming labored, and her vision flickered with black spots due to oxygen deprivation.

‘No, I have to move quickly…….’

Bel Curios’s gaze is fixed on me. It’s already at my feet, my thighs, now touching my heart. If this goes on──

「You can breathe easy now, Rista.」

──The flames of dragon language manifested in front of Miria, and the flames countered the encroaching power of annihilation before scattering like embers.

“?!”

What is going on?

Not only did the power of Bel Curios recede, but the moment the heat of the flames touched her body, the fatigue that had been weighing her down gradually dissipated.

Her blurred consciousness cleared up refreshingly. This power, this ability that had sustained her on the old battlefield, was the wide-area healing of the Omunic Verses [ancient healing spells].

“Friede.”

That name, a comfort and blessing that had entered Rista’s life.

It was different from before. It wasn’t an illusion or a delusion heard in a dream.

The voice that made her heart tremble with excitement, coming from somewhere in the devastated city…….

「That doesn’t mean you should just stand there blankly.」

If you were to measure the degree of shock received from this reunion, the shock received by Zernique was no less.

“What is it?”

A power similar to that of the priestess from 300 years ago?

It’s hard to deny the similarities. But to say they are the same person…….

The characters of light floating at his feet are the sealing formation of the verses. But what makes up the characters of those verses was not human language but dragon language.

“Verses in dragon language……?!”

The characters that are now rising one by one are clearly Manifestation, the ultimate verses known to be especially noble among the Seven Verses of Genesis [powerful, ancient spells].

“Don’t mess with me!”

The moment he tried to blow the characters of the verses away with Bel Curios’s dimensional interference.

“!”

Friede, who had been hiding in the city, raised the corners of her mouth.

「From the beginning, Manifestation was just a smokescreen.」

The ability of the Verses of Declaration, the power to forcibly slow down the movement of beings that contradict the providence of Genesis, clung to Zernique’s body like chains.

‘Who is it?’

To be able to use the verses at such high speed, and in dragon language?

‘Three verses in a row?’

The illusion that flashed before her eyes for a moment was a cheeky priestess girl with red hair fluttering in the wind.

‘It can’t be that priestess girl.’

That’s right.

That girl died 200 years ago.

Zernique moved to find the source of the power, but firebirds flew around him, obscuring his vision.

“This bastard…….”

He tried to annihilate him from this world with Bel Curios, but he’s fast. Too fast. How can he be so fast?

‘No, it’s not just this guy who’s fast.’

The world that is visible to the eye is too fast.

It’s not that the world has become faster; it’s that I have become slower.

Was the slowing ability of the Verses of Declaration this strong?

‘I can still fight.’

On the other hand, Bart, who had retreated from the battle line, stood up, gripping the Dragon Bone Spear with his one arm amidst the vitality that was settling into his body.

‘The tangled veins have been straightened out at once.’

Rem also pulled himself from the pile of rocks.

This power far surpasses Serwebon’s healing ability…… It’s as if the vitality of the whole body has been regenerated at an ultra-high speed, like the beings of the abyss.

Serwebon [Rem’s bow] is flickering dazzlingly, as if he is so happy to see me.

‘Please lend me your strength, ancestors.’

The most I can draw the bowstring is two or three more times. If I miss this opportunity, there’s no answer.

‘Now is the chance.’

‘We have to end it now.’

‘If it’s right now.’

At that moment, the will that everyone held in their hearts was the determination to end it all here. It was also the impatience that it had to be ended here.

“Celestial Extremity!”

The extreme point of the sword energy that rose long and sharply from the Dragon Bone Spear deprived the world of light and darkness and exploded.

“Spacetime Annihilation!”

The dimension split along the trajectory of Schirping’s slash, and the crack in providence sucked the enemy placed in that trajectory to the other side of providence.

“Drunken Master’s Secret Technique, Thousand Oriole Kill!”

The ultimate magic condensed on the bow of the White Creation Bow was woven into a blue and gigantic arrow, and the sound of a thousand birds crying shook the sky.

‘I’ve never succeeded even once before.’

It was as clean and perfect a posture as if Keyes’s will had momentarily possessed him. Serwebon had guided the way.

“Aki’s Serious Punch.”

And the baby dragon, with its horns and tail of fire burning more fiercely than before, instantly burrowed into his back and threw a punch.

‘Don’t be ridiculous.’

All of this happened at the same time, and the threats were approaching every moment.

‘These ghosts from 300 years ago.’

What chilled Zernique’s spine was fear, the panic that whitened his mind, felt at the moment when his life was threatened.

That feeling he had felt a thousand years ago.

The realization of death he felt in the moment when his master blew away his magic and body at once.

Coincidentally, that memory that flashed through his mind presented the next stage of the milestone of how to use this power.

In a world where he alone had slowed down, he let out a scream that could not become a language.

The top and bottom of both eyes were torn long, and new eyeballs sprouted from there.

Waves spread out in 360 degrees from the six Bel Curios, instantly dyeing the world and providence red…….

Rumble.

Scream.

Silence.

Silence.

Silence.

Silence.

In that place where the feast of abilities had ended, only one person was standing alone on the street where the dust clouds were passing.

“Hmph, ha, ha, ha, ha, hahahahaha.”

The others were either slammed into collapsing buildings by the impact or collapsed onto the paving stones on the street, covered in blood and dirt.

“Hahahaha! Surpassed! My own limits at this moment! With this, I am invincible! I won’t lose whether the opponent is a god or an old king!”

What had happened?

Friede was the only one who clearly witnessed and understood the event from afar.

‘That crazy bastard, how many dimensions did he open?’

It wasn’t just about blowing them into another dimension; it was more complex. It should be explained as opening a passage to another dimension.

‘Even in the moment when the senses of the whole body slowed down.’

Bart’s attack continued along the passage and attacked Miria, Miria’s attack attacked Aki, Aki’s attack attacked Rem, and Rem’s attack attacked Bart.

“Even our priestess, who is still sexy after 300 years, was not enough to stop the power of this newly born Zernique.”

She had been carefully hiding her position earlier, but now that was impossible.

Because she had to protect the entire group from fatal injuries with the Verses of Divine Love, which surrounded the wide-area barrier. Perhaps because she had put too much strain on her dragon’s soul and body, blood flowed out of her mouth.

“Friede, Friede, Friede.”

As Pipi chattered worriedly, Zernique licked his lips while looking at Friede.

“Originally, it’s this Zernique’s principle not to force women.”

Friede is proficient in all kinds of magic and has talent in combat, but the ability she handles best is still the power of the healing system.

“You are a very special case who can maintain youth for the rest of your life by becoming a dragon, so I will specially make you this Zernique’s woman.”

Also, in the first place, witches are more specialized in combat support than one-on-one combat…… And even more so now that she can’t use other verses to maintain the Verses of Divine Love.

“I even have horns now.”

It means that she has the lowest combat power among the members of the hero party, and Zernique knows that very well, so he is being so relaxed.

“Perfect, very perfect, the conditions are perfect to satisfy my unique tastes, right?”

Friede was just watching Zernique approaching with a leisurely movement.

“Let’s roll around on the bed of eternity together.”

Implemented in dragon language, the power ten times greater than the normal power was poured out…….

“Yes, women have a feisty taste to them.”

It was vainly swallowed by the dimensional barrier rippling around Zernique’s body. It was just a meaningless resistance.

‘Is it that 300 years is not enough to beat that thousand-year-old serpent?’

I can’t move.

I shouldn’t move rashly either.

‘Otherwise, the power of the Verses of Divine Love that I unfolded four times at the same time will be scattered.’

Then what do I fight with?

Think, think, Friede.

It was the moment when the distance between them was reduced to about five steps. The moment Pipi blocked his way.

「No, Pipi!」

The moment Zernique’s Bel Curios was about to blow that body into another dimension.

‘I can’t see. Darkness? Hallucination? What kind of verses is this? I didn’t see any ability reaction with Bel Curios.’

It took an absolutely long time to realize that it was because his retina had been cut by the wind blade.

‘The dimensional barrier? Bel Curios’s magic detection?’

How could the magic of the wind fly through these two insurances?

Zernique, who regenerated his eyeballs at ultra-high speed, soon saw a bizarre sight.

It was the shadow of a ghost that could not exist in this time.

‘Am I really under some kind of hallucination spell?’

Dull brown curly hair with freckles scattered around his nose, he had the same physical characteristics as the 11th Archmage that he had seen when he killed him 300 years ago and when he was trapped in ice.

But it was different. He was clearly a boy back then, but the opponent in front of him now was a young man in his late 20s.

‘No, there’s no ability being detected by Bel Curios right now.’

If that boy hadn’t died on the expedition and had returned, grown up, and aged normally, wouldn’t he have looked like that?

“What’s with that ugly appearance? Are you trying to emphasize that you are a ghost of the past?”

Lin’s expression did not change at Zernique’s provocation.

「Friede, take Pipi and move away.」

A quiet eye without anger, fighting spirit, or murderous intent.

「Zernique.」

Even a natural tranquility like a lake that sprouted somewhere on a mountainside in spring could be felt.

「Let’s really end it all now.」