The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 418

The intangible boundary, seemingly created by Phinis, was absorbing the shadows indiscriminately.

“…So that’s why there was no poison around here.”

The reason there was no poison here wasn’t because some device had purified it all.

Phinis had sucked all the poison into the gaps of the boundary.

‘But why did you come to find Phinis when you were supposed to look for Mora?’

Umbra asked.

“Because there were no clues about Mora, even if I wanted to find her.”

‘Hmm. You came to find Phinis first to get a clue about finding Mora?’

Was it a delusion? Umbra’s voice, which had been faint, seemed to be getting clearer.

“Yes.”

“Not a bad method. Phinis is practically Mora’s disciple.”

No, it wasn’t a delusion.

It was definitely becoming clearer.

“He’s likely to have one or two clues about Mora.”

It wasn’t just her voice.

Umbra’s body was gradually materializing.

“Why are you staring like that?”

The materialization was complete in an instant, and Umbra had a complete body.

I stared blankly at Umbra.

‘How did she materialize her body?’

Umbra was already dead.

The Umbra within the relic was just a mental entity.

She shouldn’t be able to materialize a body in reality like this.

How on earth did she create a body?

“Hey. I’m asking you why you’re looking at me like that.”

Umbra came closer and leaned her face towards me.

She was tall for a woman, but shorter than me, so she inevitably had to look up at me.

“Aha.”

Umbra smiled slyly.

“I thought you were a kid. You’re a man?”

Umbra struck a pose with a seductive smile.

“Well, the clothes I’m wearing now are a bit revealing. It’s understandable that you’d look at me like that.”

Umbra’s attire was different from when we had met before.

If her previous clothes had felt like a somewhat formal dress,

her current clothes were like everyday wear that had thrown away all formality.

No, it was more like indoor wear that focused on her own convenience rather than everyday wear.

The area of skin was larger than the area of fabric.

“Get used to it. You’ll be seeing it often from now on. I don’t want to wear that stuffy battle dress every time.”

So that was a battle dress.

It felt like a formal ceremonial dress, but I didn’t know it was for combat.

‘……Come to think of it, it seems like the perfect outfit for using shadows.’

A dress made of shadow-like fabric. If shadows were to pop out of that dress, it would be hard to deal with.

“Still, you’re quite manly. You haven’t even blinked an eye even after I’ve said all this.”

Umbra smiled with her eyes.

“Yeah, look. It’s much better than sneaking glances.”

Was she interpreting my silence as she pleased?

Umbra struck an even more seductive pose. It was an action and expression that seemed to say, ‘Look as much as you want.’

“…How did you materialize?”

I ignored Umbra’s delusion and asked.

“Hmm? Oh. Was that what you were curious about? I thought it was something else.”

Umbra shrugged slightly and relaxed her pose.

“First, let’s clear up a misunderstanding. I didn’t actually materialize.”

Umbra held out her hand to me.

Then she smiled with her eyes.

It was an action that seemed to say, ‘Take my hand.’

I took Umbra’s hand.

“…Huh?”

But I couldn’t hold her hand. My hand passed right through Umbra’s hand.

“I didn’t really materialize. I just created a form that’s visible to your eyes.”

Shadows flickered around Umbra.

“Using the shadows I emitted earlier.”

The shadows instantly transformed into the shape of a ‘Persona’ [a manifestation of one’s inner self or personality].

Unlike Umbra, it didn’t move, but in terms of appearance, it was the Persona itself.

“Like this.”

“An illusion created using light and darkness… is that it?”

“That’s right. After all, vision is just data transmitted by light. If you use light and darkness, something like this is possible. How about it? Pretty convincing, right?”

I looked at Umbra’s body again.

No matter how I looked at it, it seemed real.

I didn’t think it was an illusion at all.

“Hmm. You really don’t have any thoughts, do you?”

Umbra narrowed her eyes and looked at me.

“This is a bit of a blow to my pride.”

She seemed to be offended that I didn’t react to her body.

“Is there something wrong with that area?”

Umbra subtly lowered her gaze.

“…Hmm. I guess not.”

Umbra nodded with a strange expression.

It was a gaze that made my spine tingle.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. There’s no reason for me to worry about your descendants.”

A proverb suddenly came to mind.

‘Playing both the drum and the flute by oneself…’ [A Korean proverb meaning doing everything alone, often implying someone is acting out a scene by themselves].

I had just been standing still.

But she seemed to have had strange delusions and come to strange conclusions on her own.

“Anyway. I didn’t exactly succeed in materializing. Okay?”

“Yes. I understand.”

An illusion that was infinitely close to real.

I didn’t know that shadows could do something like that.

Umbra. The more I looked at her, the more I realized how powerful her abilities were.

“Good.”

Umbra smiled as if satisfied.

“By the way…”

Then she slowly turned her head to the side.

“Is that the young lady you mentioned as your partner back then?”

Umbra’s gaze was fixed on Mimir.

“… !”

Mimir was shocked.

‘Can she see me? How?’ The question was clearly visible in her eyes.

“Hmm. Just from first impressions, she doesn’t seem like the amazing person you praised so much.”

Umbra scanned Mimir with a sharp look.

“She looks kind of dumb.”

“…”

Mimir’s expression hardened.

A flustered expression.

She was surprised, but she couldn’t stand those words.

Mimir’s expression was saying just that.

“Yo…”

Just as Mimir was about to burst into anger.

“Ah. But don’t misunderstand. I don’t really think you’re dumb.”

Umbra interjected.

“There must be a reason why the contractor is praising you. I was just talking about my first impression, so don’t misunderstand. You look a bit cute being all blank. I was just teasing you a bit.”

“…”

Mimir closed her mouth with a strange expression.

She didn’t know how to respond to those words.

‘If I get angry here, I’ll look petty, but if I stay still, I’ll be angry.’

She was probably caught in that dilemma.

“Since we’re on the same boat, let’s get along well in the future.”

Umbra smiled and held out her hand to Mimir.

Mimir took Umbra’s hand with a very uncomfortable expression.

Since neither of them had a physical body, they didn’t actually hold hands, but it looked somewhat like a handshake.

“…But why did you come out here like this?”

“Ah. This?”

Umbra spun around in place.

“Just because.”

“…Just because?”

She suddenly came out here for no reason?

“…Just kidding.”

Umbra smiled playfully.

“I thought I might need my power to meet Phinis.”

“…Your power?”

“Yeah.”

…Why would Umbra’s power be needed to meet Phinis?

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be my power, but I’m the only god who can cooperate with you right now, right? Persona can’t move freely outside like this with his power.”

It didn’t necessarily have to be her power. She was the only god who could help.

That meant.

“…Does that mean that divine power is needed to meet Phinis?”

“Hmm… It’s a little different.”

Umbra continued immediately.

“If Phinis was in the same state as me, you could have met him even without me.”

The same state as Umbra?

What state was she talking about?

“I mean the state where he hasn’t transferred his power to your predecessor… the state where he’s just waiting within the relic.”

“Ah.”

That’s what she meant.

“Right now, Phinis has transferred his power to your predecessor… Ray Bell Bytenner, and is completely asleep. The other relics you have… Ignis is in the same state.”

“…So that’s why the other relics didn’t react.”

“That’s right. Persona was able to meet you because he only transferred half of his power in a half-hearted way.”

…So that was why.

“To meet Phinis, you need to use some method to forcibly wake him up from his sleep.”

“And divine power is needed to use that method?”

“Correct.”

Umbra added, ‘Well done~’ and pretended to clap.

“That’s why I came to help you.”

“I see.”

I understood.

She had come to give me real help.

“Well, I also wanted to see the outside world once. I wanted to see how the times have changed.”

Umbra looked around.

“…I don’t think that’s going to be possible. Anyway.”

She smiled bitterly with an expression that seemed to say she was sad that she couldn’t see the outside world.

“The chatter has gotten long. Maybe it’s because I came out of that boring relic. I think my tension has gone up a bit.”

Umbra smiled at me and then turned her gaze to the gap in the boundary.

“Watch from there. It’ll be over soon.”

Umbra held out her hand towards the gap in the boundary.

Whoooom-!

The stigmata engraved on my collarbone shone even darker.

“Don’t resist. I can’t do anything without your power.”

Mana began to flow out from me, centered on the stigmata.

The mana that passed through the stigmata was all transformed into ‘shadows’ and flowed into Umbra’s hand.

‘So this stigmata was for this purpose.’

I understood what Umbra meant by insurance.

Using this stigmata, Umbra could directly help me.

“Seriously. The more I look at it, the more disgusting this power is…”

The shadows condensed in Umbra’s hand formed a snake-like shape.

“Maybe it’s because Phinis isn’t handling it directly. It’s just disgusting.”

The completed black snake flew into the sky like an arrow.

It flew into the gap in the boundary, forming an S-shape like a real snake.

“It’s disgusting, but it’s not dirty.”

The snake thrust its mouth into the gap in the boundary.

And after a while.

Crunch!

A sound of the snake biting something was heard.

“Got it.”

Umbra’s eyes flashed.

“Come out.”

Umbra pulled the snake.

The snake’s body stretched out as if a pulled whip was returning.

But even though its body stretched, the snake’s head showed no sign of coming out of the gap.

“…It’s really disgusting. Even though it’s unconscious.”

Umbra shuddered.

“Contractor. You’ll feel a little dizzy.”

“Huh?”

Umbra’s eyes shone.

And at that moment, a shock hit my body.

It felt like a pain that spread throughout my body, as if I had been hit with a hammer.

The rapid outflow of mana caused a reflex pain.

“Stop resisting…”

Whether I was in pain or not, Umbra was sucking in mana as if it was none of her concern.

“Come out! You disgusting thing!”

The next moment.

Kaaaaaang-!

The gap in the boundary emitted a bright light.

And then.

“That’s right! You should come out. Why are you resisting?”

The head of the black snake appeared from beyond the gap in the boundary.

The snake was biting something.

“…A hexagonal red gem! Successor! That’s it!”

Mimir shouted, seeing the gem the snake was biting.

“That’s right. It’s Phinis’s relic.”

Phinis’s relic.

It had emerged from the gap in the boundary.

‘This shadow…’

A voice was heard from the red gem.

‘Umbra?’

It was Phinis’s voice.