The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 76

76.

“This is the original Rin.”

I had been trying to provoke him with a show of composure, but my past life taught me that being careless against a black magician is a death sentence.

‘I’ll crush him with all my power from the start.’

The mudra [a symbolic hand gesture] I reverently form is Ra (羅).

The rune formed by the combination of two circles and two rhombuses has the property of ‘unfolding’… but what?

‘I can’t feel any mana from the § in my palm?’

The mental barrier isn’t forming.

A cold sweat ran down my spine for a moment. Did I form the mudra incorrectly? Is my mana insufficient?

No, everything is accurate.

“────!”

As I was looking into my palm, I saw Rivadin lower his stance and kick off the ground.

In that instant, Rain was already in a defensive posture. With the sound of metal scraping against the wind, a heavy stone staff rushed in.

Fast… I managed to raise my staff and block it for a moment. And I skillfully parried the five consecutive attacks that followed.

But the problem was that the force of the impact was far stronger than expected.

Crack─── Crack───!

Despite perfectly hardening the staff, it screamed under the immense counterattack… and shattered into countless pieces of wood the moment the sixth strike collided.

‘Not just the end, but the entire staff is metal?’

And the blade is glowing with a dark blue light. It’s shrouded in the abyss…

One hit and I’m done for.

The hairs on my body stood on end.

‘And this guy is using the Osarius style of staff fighting.’

As the shattered pieces of wood scattered, Rain kicked off the ground and spun in the air to create distance.

‘Liben was the same.’

And the moment I checked my condition, the corners of my mouth twisted involuntarily as if smiling.

‘Has the peaceful life as Rain been too long? Such a beginner’s mistake…’

One, just one, splinter had forced its way into the flesh of my left arm. I could feel something warm slowly spreading through my body.

It’s not the sensation of blood clotting. It’s the sensation of death as dark poison spreads.

“Field Deployment.”

As the magic circle shattered above Rain’s palm, a colorless, transparent field unfolded, enveloping the wound. It will temporarily stop the poison from spreading.

‘But this is only a temporary measure…’

I need to get detoxification treatment quickly. This time is different from before. Rem, Bart, and Sammy aren’t here.

“Pfft, Pwahahahaha!”

The expression on Rivadin’s face, as he suddenly burst into laughter as if he would die from amusement, was truly one of elation.

It was so similar to the one Liben had when he looked down at Rain as he was dying.

“You little rats are so honest. If I just unleash a little bit of power, you immediately get scared and think about drawing out 100% of your power. So easy to read.”

“What did you do?”

“I expected you to have a trump card. If I know about it, I just have to make it unusable.”

Clang… As Rivadin pulled his hand, a dark blue chain of mana spread out into the air with a squelching metallic sound.

A spasm ran across my lips.

That is, no, that can’t be. Countless questions crossed my mind, and my back was soaked with cold sweat.

“The Chain of Suppression…?”

That is, I can’t believe it myself, but even now I can’t believe it, it was a 5-star magic that Rin developed as a trump card when she was eighteen.

“What, you know about this too? You seem to have studied Rin quite a bit.”

300 years ago, the closer we got to the source of the abyss, the more exponentially the level of black magicians rose. It became too much of a burden to block their attacks.

That’s why I developed this chain. Rather than countering magic that has already been used, it’s a method of preventing the activation itself from the beginning.

As befits a 5-star magic, the amount of magic it requires is insanely high, so I haven’t even dared to use it since becoming Rain….

‘If I use all the mana I have now, I can use it for about 5 seconds?’

Anyway, I couldn’t believe it, so I focused mana on both eyes and opened my vision redly.

┏ 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 ┓

ㆍThe magic circle of the formula is a combination of three octagons (steel) and two pentagons (electricity).

ㆍThe rune symbols used are formulaic Lutiens:

‘制 (Je): Suppress’

‘誓 (Seo): Enforce’

‘鎖 (Swae): Lock’

‘攔 (Ran): Block’

‘鍊 (Yeon): Refine’

ㆍSize 88 Axel, Range 122 Gimite.

┗ 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 ┛

Even the inner workings I examined with Bell Sidious were exactly the same as what I had created. It’s not like someone dug through history books and imitated it poorly.

In that instant, I understood why the special task force magicians were so helpless.

On the other hand, another suspicion amplified uncontrollably. Liben had the appearance I had when Rista and Friede forcibly cross-dressed me.

‘And this guy has my ultimate move. Both of them even used my staff techniques.’

How is this even possible? Is there a book that records such things? If not, are there enemies among my old comrades?

‘Impossible. There’s no way they would do this, and it’s been 300 years…’

In that moment, as if a cold blade pierced through my head, the face of my disciple, who had lived for 300 years and was now undergoing heresy trials, flashed through my mind.

I immediately shook off that ominous and absurd delusion.

There’s no way Toureina would do that. Yeah, there’s no way. She was such an innocent, even if she was playful… and she’s already dead.

“…How are you using Rin’s techniques?”

Rivadin grinned.

Then, his smile twisted bitterly, and the next moment, he lowered his staff and took a charging stance.

“If you want to hear the answer, you’ll have to entertain me a little more!”

I immediately raised my palm to conjure a magic circle.

But clang…

A cold chain of light wrapped around my body, or rather, the main points of my shoulder blades, and the magical light that was blooming on my palm disappeared powerlessly.

‘He’s binding me right away…!’

The ‘Chain of Suppression’ can block a total of three spells. Right now, that guy sealed the magic I was about to use with his second power.

Whoosh!

At that moment, I dodged the staff that had reached right in front of my eyes with a tearing sound, and then created a crack in the ground.

“It’s no use trying to be clever!”

Is he thinking of using the last one more carefully? First, I need to drain all the power from the chain… Getting rid of it with Bell Curios is out of the question. I’ll have to use it in a different way.

“Rune Inscription Modification.”

As Rivadin tried to add another strike, only the spot where I was standing among the collapsing ground shook violently and suddenly rose up massively.

“This must be your last struggle!”

1-star triangular magic circles being rapidly calculated, fireballs pour out along his expected path, blocking his approach. Or, it should have blocked him.

Clang…!

Once again, with the feeling of absolute helplessness as an absolute blade wrapped around my body, the magic circle that had been forming on my palm scattered into a flurry of light.

“Crap…!”

I was going to intercept him with a 1-star magic that wasn’t even worth sealing, but was this the moment of killing intent he had in mind?

Rivadin, who was experienced in battle, sealed the magic half a beat late, causing Rain’s response to be fatally delayed.

Rivadin, who had already climbed up the slope, was thrusting his staff. This is an attack that cannot be dealt with by magic or magic eyes.

“Form 4, Elephant!”

I take a stance with the broken staff. I inject mana into the staff to achieve hardening, confronting him at the moment of ultimate crisis.

Crack───!

The staff shattered with a single clash and flew into the air, the shattered fragments piercing deep into my arm, causing a sharp pain, while the staff aimed straight at my neck─

“…?!”

─At that moment, Rivadin, sensing an immense killing intent, no, heat, hurriedly rolled to the side as if throwing himself away.

────Whoosh!

And flames flew to the coordinates where he had been standing until now.

As a being with the majesty of flames sharply cut through the air, a tremendous heatwave swept through, shaking the forest and showing off its presence.

Rivadin narrowed his eyes at the appearance of an unexpected enemy, while Rain muttered in an unavoidable delight.

“You always come just in time, Pipi.”

Pipi, who had retracted the flames she had spread out greatly and returned to her petite state, landed on Rain’s shoulder and suddenly began pecking at his cheek with her beak.

“Ack! Sorry, sorry! It’s not that I didn’t trust Pipi, but I just came alone because I thought it would be dangerous!”

Um, if that’s the case….

Pipi nodded as if she understood and glared at Rivadin. More precisely, at the chain floating around him.

“신기, 신기, 저거 린 기술이다. 피피 안다, 린 기술이다.(Amazing, amazing, that’s Rin’s technique. Pipi knows, it’s Rin’s technique.)”

“You remember?”

“So Pipi thinks that’s the real Rin. This is the fake Rin.”

I had to be startled for a moment.

I immediately started a hasty defense.

“No, no! I’m the real one! Think about it, do you think I would have grown up so unsightly?”

Pipi narrowed her eyes.

Rain immediately lowered his head and spoke in a voice of repentance.

“I’m sorry for sacrificing you yesterday. I’ll repay you with a hundred corns.”

Only then did Pipi wag her head and butt as if she was satisfied.

“I’ll let it slide once, Pipi will let it slide once.”

That moment of laughter and playfulness was just a fleeting moment, as both Rain and Pipi were professionals in battle, and soon regained their tension.

“To see you chatting so excitedly with a beast, you really were born a rat?”

Therefore, as soon as Rivadin finished his probing and jumped back in, the two switched to battle stances and unfolded an excellent coordination.

Flames bloomed from various parts of the forest in the wake of Pipi’s erratic scattering of flames, and the swirling heat shook the forest.

Because he also had to deal with Pipi’s interception, Rivadin’s offensive aimed at Rain was suppressed endlessly, to the point of losing its sharpness.

‘Tch, just when I think I’ve caught a chance for a hit, that bird keeps getting in the way….’

Rivadin frowned.

It’s really annoying.

His skills aren’t those of someone who has only fought a few one-on-one battles… Fortunately, the owner is quite pathetic in comparison.

‘He’s only using low-level magic because he’s wary of another magic being bound by the Chain of Suppression.’

The Chain of Suppression can be activated a total of three times. After that, it enters a standby state and recharges the power of the runes on its own.

‘But there’s no way that brat would know that. So that’s why he’s being so cautious.’

Rivadin judged so, but even that naive judgment was flowing according to Rain’s intentions.

‘Now, the runes engraved on the chain have lost all their light, but they are slowly regaining it.’

While dodging Rivadin’s staff techniques by a hair’s breadth, I glance at the Chain of Suppression to obtain information.

‘The number of uses is recharged when the light returns, so the moment the light is recharged would be the right time to end it.’

As I dodged the staff that had been swung greatly by flying my body to the side, Rivadin spat on the ground.

“Tch, you really are as nimble as a rat.”

It was an annoyed tone, but his face was full of composure. He must be thinking that I’m a prey he’s already cornered.

“Tell me how you killed Liben. I’ll kill you in the same way.”

Composure is originally a double-edged sword.

It certainly has the aspect of becoming complacent, but it also allows for calm judgment, making it a considerably troublesome opponent.

So, I need to turn that composure upside down first.

“I feel so bad that a pathetic guy like you is claiming to be my reincarnation that I can’t even speak.”

“?”

“Even if you sealed my magic and then poured high-level magic over a wide area, I would have died, but you didn’t do that? Doesn’t that mean you’re not confident in long-range magic combat?”

I raised my index and ring fingers to the sky. It was a hand signal to Pipi to stop attacking and maintain standby.

“You pathetic guy, you should have joined the Ilseongchilgeom [Seven Swords of Ilseong] instead of becoming a magician. Ah, you wouldn’t have been accepted there with those skills.”

In that moment, it sounded like a blood vessel was bursting somewhere on his face.

“I’ll tear that mouth apart!”

And the moment his body rushed out with all his might, leaving footprints on the ground.

“Bell Curios.”

鮮血(Seonhyeol/Scarlet Blood).

In an instant, the entire world felt like it was covered in 鮮血 by the wave of mana that spread out from Rain.

And it pierced Rivadin’s body.

An overwhelming insight of unknown origin, a silver-white flower that bloomed beautifully from eyes burning red with terror.

I knew what it was.

‘Bell Sidious.’

The absolute power that gave the Ludwig clan the nickname ‘stealing magicians’ because they could steal all the magic of others with their bloodline limit.

But that’s the story of Bell Curios, and Bell Sidious, the inferior version, is all about reading the structure of other people’s magic. That’s all it is.

But aren’t those eyes a bit strange? When I saw it in the Dragon Blood Arena, it was clearly a death star, so why is it a Seven Woe Star…?

Clatter───!

In that fleeting moment of confusion, the chain of mana that had been spread out in the air and sealed the boy’s power pierced Rivadin’s chest.

“What… did you say…?”

The five powers engraved on the chain took away all the abilities from Rivadin’s body.

“I told you, I’m the original Rin.”

The 術(sull/art) that dramatically increased physical abilities, the magic that made the weight of the 70kg staff light, and the power of human transmutation that maintained that body.

“If you use my magic in front of me, wouldn’t it be too easy to steal?”