The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 420

The Rebirth of a Mythical Archmage-421

A moderately sized, uninhabited island somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.

Veil was consuming the soul of a dragon.

“…Now it’s somewhat palatable.”

There was still a lingering foul smell and taste, but it was bearable enough.

Considering the taste of rotten raw eggs he had been enduring until now, this was nothing.

“What’s the recovery rate of this soul?”

Veil asked the researcher next to him, who was focused on adjusting the soul.

“It’s 30%.”

“…30%, huh.”

Veil clicked his tongue softly.

“Do I need to reach 50% to be free from this disgustingness?”

Based on his experience from 0% to 30%, he figured that the disgusting taste wouldn’t disappear until he reached at least 50%.

“You don’t have to be so annoyed. We’re not far from 50%.”

An old man approached Veil. A man in his seventies with greed written all over his face. He stood right next to Veil.

“Today, Veil’s power has entered a complete recovery phase. From now on, you will regain your strength day by day.”

It’s easier to treat a patient with a minor illness than a critically ill one. Similarly, recovering power from 0% is different from recovering it from 30%. Once he had recovered this much, the recovery would accelerate from then on.

“How long do you expect it will take for me to fully recover my power?”

“Hmm. Well, 100%…”

The old gentleman narrowed his eyes and pondered for a moment.

“Whether the recovery speed will accelerate further or be hindered, we’ll have to see. It’s hard to say for sure…”

As if he had finished thinking, the old gentleman slowly spoke.

“At most, a month. Within that time, you should be able to recover your power to its prime.”

“…A month.”

A strange light flickered in Veil’s eyes.

“That’s reasonable. Not bad.”

A month was just the right amount of time.

“I’ll give you praise. You managed to shorten the recovery time.”

If it weren’t for this old man, it would have taken at least two months. If this old man hadn’t developed the technology to adjust the dragon’s soul to a level suitable for consumption, he wouldn’t be able to be so relaxed right now.

“Haha. Praise from Veil. I guess the sun will rise in the west tomorrow.”

The old man laughed as if he was in a good mood.

“Hmm. The sun rising in the west, huh.”

Veil looked towards the west with a meaningful expression.

“Well, unless the world turns upside down, the sun won’t rise in the west.”

He didn’t understand the old man’s words and took them literally.

“That’s not what I meant…”

Just as the old man was about to explain the implied meaning of the sun rising in the west to Veil.

“The sun might not rise soon.”

Veil’s meaningful words made him shut his mouth for a moment.

“The sun not rising, you mean…?”

The sun not rising. What could that mean?

“Are you saying there will be a solar eclipse?”

Veil turned his gaze towards the old man.

“No.”

Veil rested his chin on his hand and raised one corner of his mouth.

“Literally. It means the sun will disappear from this world.”

“The, the sun…?”

Could he really eliminate the sun?

‘There’s no way that’s possible…’

The old man shook his head inwardly.

Eliminating the sun. That was impossible. It was beyond the realm of what humans could do.

“I’m not saying I’ll eliminate the sun.”

Veil chuckled.

“What I mean is not that I’m erasing the sun…”

Veil looked up at the sky.

“I meant that the sun will become unobservable in this world.”

“The sun will become unobservable…”

The old man was lost in thought again. He pondered Veil’s words, trying to grasp their true meaning.

“Ah.”

The answer came quickly.

“I understand. If the miasma and turbidity of western Africa fill the atmosphere, we won’t see the sun for eons.”

The device installed in the miasma zone of western Africa was not far from being activated. In five days, this world would be filled with turbidity and miasma.

“Haha. I didn’t know you had such poetic sense. To express the world being filled with miasma as the sun disappearing.”

Veil smiled faintly at the old man.

“You call this poetic sense? You’re quite twisted as well.”

“Yes. I am twisted. That’s why I’m obeying you like this, Veil.”

“That’s true too.”

Veil turned his gaze back to the dragon’s soul. The soul was disappearing. The devouring was almost over.

“When is the next devouring?”

“In two days.”

The old man replied, checking the schedule.

“The soul you will consume this time is a mid-lower grade soul that has filled 35% of its mana. It will be somewhat better than what you consumed today.”

“…35%, huh. Well, I don’t think it will be much different from what I ate today.”

Veil slowly rose from his seat. He approached the soul that was about to disappear after losing all its power and opened his mouth. The absorption speed was as fast as the distance had closed. The dragon’s soul was quickly absorbed into Veil’s stomach.

“…Still disgusting.”

This last moment. This was the worst. It felt like licking the shell of a rotten raw egg.

“You’ve worked hard today.”

The old man bowed his head towards Veil.

“Then, let’s move right away. I’ve prepared a place where you can exercise lightly to help with digestion.”

The old man pointed north.

“There’s a small country nearby. Or rather, it should be called a tribe.”

“A nation of natives?”

“Yes.”

“…It seems like a bland exercise.”

“Haha. Stomping on ants won’t be much of an exercise, but it might help relieve stress. Think of it as a light stroll.”

“…Indeed. If I think of it as a stroll, it’s not so bad.”

Veil turned his body towards the direction the old man was pointing.

“Please go ahead.”

The old man bowed his head to Veil again.

Whoooosh-!

At that moment, a wind blew, enveloping the old man and Veil’s bodies.

Veil’s eyes sharpened.

“…Veil? Why suddenly…”

The old man asked with an uneasy expression. He had become anxious seeing Veil’s suddenly grim expression.

“…This wind.”

Veil said, feeling the wind that was still blowing. At first glance, it seemed like an ordinary wind, but it had a strangely unpleasant feeling.

“Is there… something wrong with the wind?”

“This is a wind caused by the aftermath of magic.”

The old man, who was not a mage, wouldn’t know, but this wind was not natural. This wind had a faint trace of mana within it.

“The aftermath of magic, you mean… Are you saying they are coming here?”

“No.”

The wind blowing now was just an aftershock. Veil closed his eyes and sharpened his senses. Based on the mana lingering in the wind, he predicted the wind’s movement in reverse. He was finding the place where the wind had started.

‘Found it.’

The destination was quickly found.

“…Western Africa.”

This wind had originated in western Africa.

“Western Africa… Could it be that the miasma has already exploded?”

“No.”

Veil frowned with his eyes closed.

“It’s the opposite.”

This wind did not contain any miasma at all. This wind was not that kind of wind.

“The miasma has disappeared.”

“What? What do you mean…”

The storm of miasma and turbidity that had formed around western Africa had vanished. This wind contained that meaning.

“…Is it Sein Vinosh?”

Veil’s expression turned cold.

* * *

The gap in the boundary created using Phinis began to absorb the miasma that filled western Africa at a frantic pace.

“It’s like a black hole.”

Mimir commented. The way the miasma and turbidity swirled and were sucked in looked just like a black hole.

“Successor. Is your mental strength okay?”

“It’s a bit tough, but I’m okay. It’s not to the point where I can’t handle it.”

Given the scale, the consumption of mental strength was no joke. If things went wrong, the magic might go out of control.

“If it’s too hard, should I take a bit more control?”

Currently, Mimir was controlling about 30% of the magic formula as my assistant. Thanks to that, I was able to endure like this.

“No. It’s okay. Leave it as it is.”

If I gave Mimir a little more control, it would be easier. But I shouldn’t.

“If I give any more, there’s a possibility that an imbalance will occur. It’s better to endure.”

No matter what anyone said, I was the subject of this magic. If I gave Mimir more control, the subject might change. If that happened, the magic would lose its center and go out of control. That wouldn’t do.

“That’s something I can be careful about…”

Mimir trailed off, looking a little dissatisfied.

“…Okay. It’s better not to do things that could be dangerous.”

Mimir looked at me with a helpless expression.

“Hang in there.”

“…I have to.”

Mimir turned his gaze away from me and looked at the center of Phinis. I also turned my gaze in that direction.

“It’ll be all sucked in within about 5 minutes.”

“At this rate, it won’t even take 5 minutes. It’ll be over in 3 minutes.”

3 minutes. A time that was no problem to endure. I continued to focus on controlling Phinis.

And so, 3 minutes passed.

“…Phew.”

Phinis had sucked in all the miasma and turbidity.

“You’ve worked hard.”

The crisis of world collapse had disappeared with this. It was quite an anticlimactic ending for such a dangerous situation.

“Then let’s go back to the site of Halamanium right away. After recovering our strength, we’ll use Phinis to find Mora…”

That’s when it happened.

“…! Successor!”

Mimir shouted with an urgent expression.

“Hide!”

“Umbra!”

At the same time as Mimir told me to hide, I deployed Umbra. The ‘de’ in ‘hide’ and the ‘bra’ in ‘Umbra’ were almost simultaneous. I sensed what Mimir had sensed, and immediately went into hiding. And as I hid myself in the shadows.

“…Hmm.”

A man appeared.

“Did they already escape?”

A man who seemed to embody blackness.

‘…Veil Stoll.’

The self-proclaimed Veil Stoll. He was looking down at the ground with a displeased expression.

‘So, it was true that Veil had set up something.’

Mimir frowned.

‘Coward. He can’t win with skill, so he resorts to such tricks.’

He seemed to be angry at Veil’s cowardly actions.

‘Calm down. It’s not like it’s the first time black mages have acted cowardly.’

‘That’s true, but…’

Mimir glared at Veil with sharp eyes.

‘More importantly. How did Veil know to come here?’

Veil slowly descended and landed on the ground. Then, he slowly walked towards the center of Phinis.

‘He must have installed some kind of alarm device. Or maybe he installed a device that can measure the concentration of miasma in real time.’

He must have checked that the concentration of miasma was decreasing and immediately moved here. It was a plausible scenario.

“…Sein Vinosh’s space tear?”

Veil muttered, looking at the devastation that Phinis had created. He seemed to have thought of Sein’s space tear when he saw the gap in space that Phinis had created.

‘It would be great if he mistook it for something Sein did.’

I cheered inwardly. With this, the formula of Sein Vinosh = the successor of the Bytener style would become even more solidified in Veil’s mind.

“No.”

However.

“…This isn’t Sein.”

The joy was fleeting.

“Someone used Phinis.”

Black light emanated from Veil’s eyes.

“Someone other than Sein. Used Phinis. Used mythical magic.”

Veil’s head slowly began to turn.

“And.”

And where Veil’s gaze stopped.

“…That guy is still here.”

I was there.