The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 38

The Reincarnated Archmage of the Hero Party – Episode 38 (38/280)

38

300 years ago, the 4th summer.

Dirbeta Front.

“Your magic is pathetic.”

The mages of Magic Squad 1 bristled at Rin, the archmage of the Hero Party’s words, and stood up.

“Of course, we know you’re an Aquizard (5-Star) mage, but calling us pathetic?”

“We’re also battlemages recognized as the best in the Empire!”

“Please retract that insulting remark.”

However, Rin expressionlessly looked at their faces, shook his head, and turned away.

“Just don’t follow me. You’ll only be a hindrance.”

Watching Rin leave, the mages were dumbfounded and exchanged glances. ‘That orphan with no background…’ Some harbored such thoughts.

‘Hmph, what makes him so great…’

Having graduated at the top of her class from Dellaiten and just turned twenty, Yusrina went beyond just disliking Rin.

She secretly followed the Hero Party using her specialty, ‘Aura Concealment’ magic.

“…This is.”

And the reality she witnessed was… truly a nightmare.

The abyssal forces spread out, blackening the horizon. ‘The Old Ones’ instilled a primal fear etched into human instincts since ancient times, making it impossible to even twitch.

Faced with that vast and terrifying wave of death, Rin did not back down even slightly, endlessly intercepting with magic, steadily reducing the enemy’s numbers.

‘How many mana potions is he drinking…?’

Mana potions were a means of forcibly recovering mana, but the burden placed on the spell circuits was enormous, so mages didn’t take them unless it was absolutely necessary.

Among mages, there was even a saying that it was ‘selling the future to fill the present,’ which said it all.

‘He’s already taken dozens of those potions… His whole body is covered in cold sweat, yet he wears such a pained expression.’

“He probably drinks an average of over thirty per battle, you know?”

Just then, a voice answered her question.

Startled, she turned around to see a beauty with a witch’s robe embroidered with golden dragons on a pure white background, holding a long pipe and looking at her.

“P, Friede-nim…!”

Yusrina immediately knelt on one knee to show respect. Even if their nationalities were different, the status of a shaman was far higher.

“Hmm, doesn’t seem like you came with bad intentions?”

Then, from behind Friede’s legs, a girl with sky-blue hair peeked out. Her expression was full of wariness.

Above the girl’s head, Pipi, Friede’s famous companion sun parakeet, tilted its head.

“Bad, bad, bad.”

Yusrina cautiously asked.

“Bad intentions, you say?”

“Bad intentions are bad intentions. If you came for that, I would have blown you away immediately.”

“…You seem to cherish Rin-nim a lot.”

Friede smiled brightly and nodded.

“Of course, he’s our youngest. This one here is our daughter.”

It was a smile filled with an indescribably deep and broad affection, so much so that she was momentarily lost in thought. Yusrina snapped out of it and said.

“Shouldn’t we stop him? If he keeps drinking potions like that, he might suffer mana overload and never be able to work as a mage again!”

“I know. Me and Rin both.”

“Then why are you leaving him be? No, if he’s going to push himself that hard, why did he say those things to us? If we lend him our strength, he’d be a little more comfortable, wouldn’t he?!”

Friede blew out a puff of cigarette smoke and looked up at the starry sky with a wistful smile.

“There are two reasons why he said that. First, all the guys who came to help ended up dying, so he doesn’t want you guys to die.”

“…!”

“And the other reason is… he doesn’t have the courage yet—the courage to be honest with himself and others.”

With a bitter look, Friede gazed at Rin’s back as he repeatedly wove magic circles.

‘It’s okay, Rin. You’re still young. You can grow from now on. There’s no need to force yourself to change that much already. Your life starts now.’

“Master isn’t lacking courage!”

At that moment, the sky-blue-haired girl, Toureina, shouted, and the parakeet shook its head mockingly.

“Chicken, chicken, chicken, Rin is a chicken.”

“Pipi, you!”

Watching their cute squabble, Friede burst into laughter.

“That’s not the kind of courage I’m talking about.”

“Then what is it?”

“Well, maybe Toureina and Rin will know when they grow up.”

And a year later, the young archmage protected his comrades in the final battle and died in the line of duty.

At the age of eighteen, without even becoming an adult.

In the tears of those left behind, the war ended.

* * *

“Goodness, I never imagined it would be this level…”

Professor Caroline seemed speechless. No, everyone who was watching the situation was.

‘Truly an amazing talent.’

Elin Ludwig squinted her beady eyes and thought.

‘Yeomang, the best of the Four Divine Beasts of Flame that the Rivendell School boasts about.’

Imoogi [a mythical Korean serpent], Fox, Hawk, Fire Toad.

Among them, the Imoogi, Yeomang, which was mainly used by the founder of the Rivendell School, Archmage Orbos Karain, was famous for being picky about its master.

In the long history of the Rivendell School, only five people have been able to handle Yeomang.

‘It’s still immature, so it’s not a perfect summoning, and it’s probably only about 30% of its power… but still, a chick who’s barely sixteen years old has Yeomang?’

Christa Warden was naturally aware of Yeomang’s reputation.

“Is there even a way to win against that…?”

Christa tried to think of a way for Gertrude to win, but… nothing came to mind.

The Hawk, focused on attack.

The Fire Toad, focused on defense.

The Fox, focused on illusion.

Unlike those three, the Imoogi was a technique that combined both offense and defense. It was truly an absolutely flawless summoning beast.

‘Are you kidding me?’

The fact that she’s using Yeomang already puts her far beyond the student level. It’s at a level where even most professional mages would struggle.

Kwarurururururu─────!

With a scream close to an explosion, the Imoogi’s huge maw covered the rock, which was engulfed in dazzling flames and burned away.

It was truly terrifying power; the rock melted away and turned to ashes, scattering into the air.

‘What is this…?!’

Barely rolling aside, Gertrude gasped for breath and looked back at the source of the surreal heat.

Krrr… krrr…

As Lillian aimed a talisman at Gertrude, the Imoogi immediately dissolved into flames. Then, it reformed into the shape of a snake and lunged at her.

‘I can’t dodge, I can’t dodge…!’

At that point, the professors were even telling the head professor that the test should be stopped.

“Even if she doesn’t actually die, the pain will be unimaginable! It will leave her traumatized!”

“Head Professor!”

The purpose of this test is not to make the students die and kill each other… Amidst such cries, Head Professor Marchena closed her eyes.

‘Is there nothing, is there nothing this time either?’

Just as she was hesitating and raising her staff to release the barrier and return all illusions to nothingness, a remnant of the past flashed across her eyes.

No, it wasn’t just a remnant.

The window that appeared in the lower right corner of Clairvoyance, the boy’s eyes looking at Yeomang from there burned crimson, then began to rotate into a silver-white Seven-Star. Just like Scalge Ludwig did before.

“Bell Curios.”

Thump, a pain that felt like her heart would burst surged for a moment, and Rein’s vision was dyed blood red. In this red-black world, everything slows down.

┏ 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 ┓

ㆍThe magic circle of the formula is 5 triangles.

ㆍThe rune symbols used are a combination of the formulaic Rutischen and the amplifying Delbeischerz, in a 5:5 ratio.

ㆍSize 1,144 Axel, range 1,556 Gimite.

┗ 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 ┛

The vision imprinted on the brain through the eyes is not a landscape, but only the constitutive equation that makes up the ability. There is no formula that those eyes cannot decipher.

“Analysis complete, correction initiated.”

Twisting the constitutive equation.

So that the conclusion converges to 0.

Verifying by inverse calculation to satisfy other constitutive equations. Injecting a new progression to remove the real roots from the magic formula and transform it into only imaginary roots.

– Three times.

Scalge Ludwig warned that way.

– As a result of testing, three times is the maximum with your current mana. Of course, the higher the rank of the magic you try to interfere with, the shorter the limit becomes.

This is the last of my mana.

I had already used most of my mana hunting monsters…

– If you reach the limit of your mana, never use it again. You will become incapacitated. So only use it when it is really important.

The blood vessels that had expanded like spiderwebs around his eyes all burst, and blood dripped down.

It hurts.

It really hurts.

Slowly, the light of the Seven-Star in Rein’s eyes faded, turning into a Death Star, and then disappeared altogether.

‘I did something stupid…’

I had just finished the monster hunt as planned and returned to the last safe zone, Zone F. All that was left was to set up a nest in a suitable place and defend our rank.

‘…’

If Listana, Friede, or Kies were in the same situation, would they have turned away from Gertrude here? That endless question grabbed Rein’s ankle.

‘No, that’s not it.’

I knew for sure from the fight with Logan and the Rat-Spider Queen. The more I continue to fight strong enemies, the faster I can reach 6-Star.

‘This isn’t helping Gertrude. It’s all for my combat experience…’

The moment Rein closed his eyes.

Kwarururururu, the Imoogi of Flame, whose constitutive equation was denied from the root──

That absolute flame that had surged to Gertrude’s eyes with a murderous amount of heat──

Scattered countless sparks across the horizon and vanished. Returned to nothingness.

“Oh…?!!”

“Oooooooo…?!!”

“Eeeeeee…?!!”

As a hot wind swirled and scorched Gertrude’s skin, everyone was momentarily speechless. They couldn’t believe the reality that had unfolded before their eyes.

‘Did Lillian just threaten me?’

‘Yeah, it’s impossible to cover someone with Yeomang.’

However, Lillian herself, who was on the scene, had the most bewildered look, her pupils widening.

‘Yeomang… disappeared…?’

It is common for Yeomang to be damaged by the opponent’s magic, and it also hides its appearance when the magical damage accumulates.

But this was not it.

The emptiness where the connection with mana was suddenly and forcibly severed… How can this bizarre phenomenon be explained?

“…”

And there was a mage who was watching the situation with even more violently shaking eyes than her. It was Head Professor Marchena.

‘In this Battle Royale test method, there is one rule that all students clearly know, even if it is not specifically explained.’

That is, ‘there is no merit in helping others.’

As the saying goes, ‘I can’t even take care of my own business, how can I afford to take care of others?’

‘And is that only a problem for middle and lower-ranked students?’

Even the relatively well-off upper-ranked students do not have the luxury of taking care of others because of the S grade competition.

This test was designed to find out whether there is a sincere sense of chivalry to help others in such a situation, under the special circumstances of limited time, resources, and competitive testing.

‘There is no need to explain why Rin’s story has touched so many people for so long.’

That’s because it’s a story of growth.

Because the story of how a ‘mage’ approaches the realm of a ‘sage’ is contained in his life.

‘Emitsa Page, Riot Warden… The commonality of the previous sages is that they were all righteous people.’

And the Archmage Rin also became someone who could sacrifice himself for his comrades at the last moment.

‘Perhaps the answer to the path to becoming a sage lies in that righteous nature…’

None of the professors noticed the real intention behind creating this test. It’s only natural since there are no guys who have reached the same realization as me yet.

‘From that evaluation standard…’

Marchena smiled contentedly as she looked at Rein Ludwig’s face reflected in the window, the smile of Scalge Ludwig from his student days overlapping with it.

“Scalge, your grandson is 200 out of 100 points.”