The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 193

The battle between the Thunder Bird and Charles intensified. The Thunder Bird relentlessly unleashed lightning, its currents a furious assault. Charles, however, effortlessly blocked each attack. It was a clash of an unstoppable spear against an impenetrable shield. The battle’s intensity was such that even I, at a distance, felt its aftereffects.

Fzzzzzt!

A stray bolt of lightning ricocheted towards me. I quickly deployed a barrier, the massive impact slamming into it. The power was immense, making my hands tingle as I supported the barrier.

‘Still, it’s nothing I can’t handle.’

Fortunately, the lightning was just a fragment. I could easily block attacks of this level.

Crack, crackle…

The remnants of the lightning danced on my barrier. I changed its shape, guiding the residual power to the ground, letting it dissipate. The current was absorbed into the earth through the tree connected to the barrier. Only then did I release it.

‘As expected, lightning magic is tricky to deal with.’

If I had to choose the most difficult magic to face, it would be lightning. There are more powerful spells, but dealing with the residual damage is just too troublesome. Even if you block it well, residual power remains, inevitably slowing you down. Ignoring it would lead to paralysis from electric shock. There are countless other tricky aspects as well.

‘To block such tricky magic so perfectly…’

I released the barrier and looked up at Charles. He was effortlessly blocking the Thunder Bird’s lightning barrage, a confident smile on his face, as if this level of lightning couldn’t harm him at all. He seemed more than confident; he was relaxed. It was the first time I had seen a mage block electric magic so easily.

‘And that too, the lightning of a Disaster-Class monster, the Thunder Bird, so easily…’

How could he block the Thunder Bird’s lightning, said to surpass the power of 8th Circle magic, so effortlessly? He didn’t seem to be using any special magic.

‘It’s hard to see from this position.’

The distance was too great to discern much with my Mind’s Eye [Skill to see the flow of mana]. I couldn’t tell how Charles was using magic to perfectly block the attacks.

‘It’s certainly not like the Blue Magic Tower Lord using 100% pure water…’

Electricity doesn’t flow through 100% pure water. Therefore, lightning magic doesn’t work on mages who have mastered water magic to its limits. Of course, the only person in this world who can use water magic with 100% pure water is the Blue Magic Tower Lord.

‘Just how…’

I observed Charles’s battle with my naked eyes, continuously, endlessly. I focused my mind, determined to absorb all of Charles’s combat sense. I didn’t miss a single one of his actions.

‘He’s counterattacking.’

And then, at some point, Charles, who had been focused on defense, began to counterattack. He broke through the gaps in the lightning barrage and flew straight towards the Thunder Bird.

20 meters, 10 meters. He was already close, but he didn’t slow down. It looked as if he was going to ram into it. Anyone else would have thought he was crazy, recklessly approaching the Thunder Bird, which was constantly emitting electricity. They would have shouted that he had a death wish. That’s how far Charles’s actions were from common sense.

‘What is he trying to do?’

Since Charles had planned to fight the Thunder Bird from the start, he wouldn’t be charging in without a plan. This charge must be part of it. I narrowed my eyes, observing his actions.

3 meters, 1 meter. Charles stopped exactly one meter in front of the Thunder Bird. He made eye contact with it, smiled, and slowly raised his right hand.

At that moment.

Kuuuuuuuuuung-!

The sky seemed to fall. It wasn’t a metaphor. It was as if a god had pressed down on the sky in that area, causing it to collapse. Charles’s telekinesis was unleashed at full power, and everything in the area began to fall to the ground.

‘This is the power of an 8th Circle Archmage whose main magic is telekinesis…’

The power was so strong that the trees were crushed like iron plates. If I had been inside, I would have been turned into minced jerky. Even the gravity magic of the Gravity family wouldn’t have this much power. The power that defied common sense made me laugh in disbelief.

‘What’s even more absurd…’

Is the Thunder Bird, which was floating in the air without any problem even after being hit by that incredible magic. It was flapping its wings leisurely, as if it didn’t feel the telekinesis at all. No, it probably didn’t feel anything at all.

Crack, fzzzzzzzzzt!

The Thunder Bird was constantly surrounded by electricity, like an electric barrier. As long as that barrier was there, no attack would work on it.

Whoooooooosh-!

At that moment, the area around the Thunder Bird distorted. To emit electricity, it temporarily concentrated all its mana around it.

Fzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt-!

As soon as I thought that, the electricity exploded. Lightning rained down in a 10-meter radius around the Thunder Bird, instantly enveloping Charles’s entire body.

“…!”

Charles disappeared into the electricity in an instant. For a moment, I wondered if something had gone wrong.

But.

“It doesn’t work. You punk.”

It was just an unnecessary worry. Charles was still relaxed in the storm of electricity. It was as if an invisible barrier surrounded him, preventing the Thunder Bird’s electricity from even approaching.

‘What did he do?’

I opened my eyes wide, observing the area around Charles. It was as if an invisible force was pushing the electricity away, like an invisible lightning rod guiding the current in a certain direction, causing it to rotate around him. That’s what it looked like.

‘Could it be.’

My pupils slowly widened. A hypothesis flashed through my mind.

‘Commander Charles’s magic is telekinesis. And telekinesis is a magic that exerts force on an object without any action…’

Most mages think of telekinesis as a simple magic that only applies force from a distance. But that’s not true. Telekinesis is a much more complex and difficult magic with a complicated process.

‘Because it’s a magic that exerts an invisible force without any action, it doesn’t matter if the target doesn’t have a clear form.’

You can create wind by striking the invisible air. You can make a waterfall flow backward by applying force to the water. And you can guide electricity by applying force to electrons.

‘Palatia’s theory of telekinesis as all-powerful.’

A theory proposed by a mage named Palatia, who argued that telekinesis was the best magic in the world. If you can apply force to everything in the world, no magic can beat telekinesis. That was definitely the theory.

‘Using telekinesis to guide electrons, to guide electricity. It’s theoretically possible, but…’

That’s just a magic that’s only possible in theory. It’s impossible to control countless electrons one by one. No, it should be impossible.

‘Is there really someone who can do that?’

But, Commander Charles is currently making it a reality. He’s making the impossible possible. It was so absurd that I was speechless.

‘If you have that kind of skill… it’s natural to block a lightning barrage without any problem.’

The free guidance of electrons. It’s understandable to say that you can easily defeat a Thunder Bird.

“Haha…”

I couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief. The world is indeed vast. I couldn’t help but think that.

* * *

About 28 minutes passed since then. The battle between Charles and the Thunder Bird had ended.

“Hooah. I had a good workout for the first time in a while!”

The Thunder Bird’s massive body had fallen to the ground, sprawled out. Charles stood on top of it, stretching.

“That was close, wasn’t it?”

The Thunder Bird’s half-open eyes had already lost their light. Even though Charles was jumping up and down on it, the Thunder Bird didn’t move an inch. It had stopped breathing.

“How was this big sister’s skill?”

“Is there even a need to say it?”

“There is, so tell me quickly. How was it?”

“It was amazing. I couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration the whole time.”

“Hehehe. Right?”

Charles stood on top of the Thunder Bird and made a V sign.

“This is this big sister’s skill~ I’m telling you.”

Charles laughed heartily and sat down on the Thunder Bird. Then, he took out the dagger hanging from his waist and stabbed it into the Thunder Bird’s body.

“Are you going to skin it?”

It goes without saying, but the Thunder Bird’s hide is expensive. Its lightning resistance is almost 100%, and its mana conductivity is excellent. A hide of this size could fetch at least billions.

“No. There’s no way to take it, so why bother skinning it?”

Whistling happily, he skinned the hide and cut off pieces of flesh.

“You know the cloth I brought? Put it in there.”

Then, he threw it to me. I caught the lump of meat.

“It was a food stockpile.”

“Yeah. I brought emergency rations, but they taste bad. You have to stock up on food when you can.”

Charles licked his lips, smacking them.

“And… they say the meat of a Disaster-Class monster is delicious? You haven’t tried it yet, have you? You’ll be surprised when you eat it.”

The meat of monsters is delicious. To be precise, the more mana they contain, the more delicious they are.

“Okay. I guess this is enough.”

Charles, who had cut out about five pieces, got up from his seat.

“Is this enough?”

“Yeah. There’s no point in taking more, we won’t be able to eat it all anyway. …Tsk. Monster meat is good, but the downside is that it spoils too quickly.”

Charles clicked his tongue in disappointment. The shelf life of monster meat is short. It’s not because there’s no refrigeration equipment on site. In the first place, it doesn’t matter whether monster meat is refrigerated or stored at room temperature. The important thing in preserving monster meat is mana. As long as the mana contained in the meat doesn’t disappear, it will never spoil. But this also means that if all the mana is leaked, the meat becomes completely waste. That’s why it’s hard to preserve monster meat. To prevent the meat from spoiling, you have to keep supplying mana, which is not an easy task.

“The other byproducts… I’ll have to give up on most of them. What a waste.”

This rule applies not only to the flesh of monsters. The hide, the eyeballs, the heart, all become trash when the residual mana disappears. That’s why Charles is saying that. There’s no way to safely take the byproducts unless we’re going back right now. …Even if we take them back, it’s a problem. What we’ve done is illegal hunting, so there will be 100% problems. And the fact that we entered a restricted area will also be a big problem.

“If we could move this corpse very safely and secretly…”

But there’s a way. I have a way.

“Can you give me half of the sales proceeds?”

“…Huh?”

Charles tilted his head, looking like he had heard something absurd.

“Do you have a way?”

“Yes.”

“It won’t interfere with the schedule, will it?”

“No. It won’t interfere with the schedule at all.”

“…How are you going to move it?”

“Um…”

I paused for a moment.

“Before that, can you promise to keep what you see now a secret?”

“What is it?”

“…”

I silently urged him to promise. Charles tilted his head again and answered.

“Can’t I even tell Madam?”

“If it’s Sophia… I think it’ll be okay.”

“Ah, is that so? Then there’s no problem. Okay. I’ll keep it a secret.”

Charles made an OK sign with his index finger and thumb.

“And if that’s possible, I’ll give you 70% of the sales proceeds, not half. No, on top of that, I’ll grant you one request. For free.”

“Okay. Then, in addition to 70% of the profit, please tell me the trick of guiding electrons that you used when fighting the Thunder Bird just now.”

Charles’s shoulders twitched.

“…How did you know about the guidance of electrons?”

“I just happened to find out.”

“You figured that out from that distance. You’re a scary one.”

Charles looked at me with eyes as if he was looking at a monster.

“But even if I tell you, you won’t be able to use it. It’s hard to say this, but it’s a method that only someone like me can use.”

“I’ll listen, and if I can’t do it, I’ll give up then.”

“…I guess so. There’s no harm in trying. Okay. I’ll tell you.”

“Thank you.”

I then brought my right hand to my shoulder. Charles looked at me as if to ask what I was doing.

“Why are you suddenly doing that? Is your shoulder itchy?”

“You’ll see when you look.”

I grabbed the air and moved my hand as if I was putting on a robe. It was a familiar motion now. The motion of taking out and wearing Aeth.

“…You, you, what is that?”

The red robe that instantly covered my body. Aeth. Charles’s eyes widened at the sudden appearance of the robe.

“Do you know about subspace magic?”

“Sub, subspace? The subspace I know?”

“Yes.”

“That robe is a subspace robe? That can’t, that can’t be… Subspace magic, as well as space magic, are called products of fantasy…”

“I fully understand your disbelief.”

I then brought my hand to the Thunder Bird.

“I won’t tell you to believe me just by words. I’ll show you solid proof.”

I’ll put this corpse into Aeth. Thinking that, I moved my hand.

Then.

“This is insane…”

The next moment, the Thunder Bird’s corpse disappeared. It had moved to the subspace inside Aeth.

“Did you see it?”

“…Ha, haha. Hehehehe.”

Charles’s eyes lost focus. He had an expression that he couldn’t believe his eyes. He pinched his cheek.

“…It’s real.”

It seems he was wondering if it was a dream.

“Don’t forget the conditions I proposed earlier?”

“Yeah. I won’t forget that… I can’t believe it, really.”

Charles still hadn’t come to his senses, and he kept laughing in a daze.