The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 421

Veil’s gaze was fixed directly on me.

“Show yourself, you rat.”

My heart sank at those words.

‘…He found me? How?’

I was using Umbra to conceal my presence.

There was no way the current Veil could sense my existence.

How did he pinpoint my location?

‘Has he recovered enough power to see through Umbra?’

No. That wasn’t it.

Veil wasn’t much different from when we met in the East Sea.

He hadn’t recovered enough power to see through Umbra.

‘And even if he had recovered his power, it’s impossible for him to pinpoint my location so quickly.’

Even if Veil had somehow managed to recover his power rapidly, it was impossible for him to see through my location.

‘My concealment has become even stronger since I directly contracted with Umbra. There’s no way I could be detected so quickly.’

My concealment had grown even stronger than before.

It wasn’t at a level that the current Veil could detect.

‘But how…’

I couldn’t understand the current situation.

How was Veil pinpointing my location?

“Are you going to keep hiding like that? Then…”

Veil’s mana began to condense at a single point.

A mass of corrupted mana.

Soon, that mass of mana would become a spell and fly towards me.

“I’ll force you out.”

The mass of mana began to take shape.

The aura of death.

A black magic that Veil Stollman, the originator of black magic, could wield.

A death attribute magic.

Death gathered in the form of a sphere on Veil’s palm.

‘I have to avoid it.’

It was a spell I couldn’t block in my current state.

All I could do was avoid it.

I immediately went into an evasive maneuver.

Or, I was about to.

‘…Stay still.’

I would have if a male voice hadn’t suddenly echoed in my head.

‘Just stay there. Don’t move.’

A familiar low voice.

A flat tone devoid of emotion.

‘Persona-nim?’

Persona.

‘I’m warning you again. Absolutely do not move.’

He was warning me.

Absolutely do not move.

Stay put.

‘But if I don’t avoid it…’

It was an incomprehensible order.

If I were hit directly by that magic, I would at least be severely injured.

I had to go into an evasive maneuver.

‘Enough. Just stay still.’

Persona’s voice wavered for a moment.

It was a very slight tremor, but perhaps because his voice was usually so shallow and apathetic, it felt like a significant tremor.

‘Staying still is the best option. Not a second best, not a lesser evil, but the best. Everything except staying still is the worst.’

Persona’s voice was trembling with heat.

Heat in the name of frustration.

“You still won’t come out? Then…”

Then, a dark red light poured out of Veil’s eyes.

“Die where you are.”

The death crystal formed on Veil’s palm began to fly towards me.

There was no time left.

If I didn’t avoid it, I would die.

A 0.1-second hesitation would bring death.

If I were to avoid it, I had to do it now.

Logically, avoiding it was the right thing to do.

I had to avoid it.

‘…But.’

I couldn’t avoid it.

Persona was going out of his way to warn me directly.

That Persona, of all people.

This was no ordinary matter.

There must be a reason why he told me not to avoid it. A very important reason.

Thinking that way, not avoiding it was the right thing to do.

‘What should I do…’

Should I avoid it?

Should I stay still?

A dilemma where neither option felt right.

I wanted to contemplate it a little longer, but there was no time.

I had to make a decision right now.

‘I…’

I decided to trust my gut and my instantaneous judgment.

‘I’ll stay still.’

I’ll trust Persona.

I’ll trust Persona and not move.

“Successor! What are you doing…!”

Mimir, who hadn’t heard Persona’s voice, was shocked.

Why wasn’t I avoiding it?

She was glaring at me with eyes that seemed to ask that question.

I made brief eye contact with Mimir and then turned my gaze back to Veil.

Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that I turned my gaze towards the magic Veil had shot at me.

‘It’s coming.’

The death crystal was growing larger and larger.

It would reach me soon.

Since I hadn’t taken any precautions, I would die the moment it touched me.

“Successor!!”

Mimir’s piercing scream was heard.

And immediately after that.

‘…Direct hit.’

The death crystal touched my body.

In that instant, an image of my body turning to dust and scattering filled my head.

I could clearly see myself turning into dust and scattering in the air.

‘Good job.’

But that was just a delusion born from my anxiety and fear.

‘…I’m fine?’

My body was fine.

“S-Successor? Are you… are you okay?”

Mimir looked at me with a surprised expression, examining my body.

She was flustered and stammering.

“…”

I stared blankly at my hands, lost in thought.

Why was I so fine?

Veil’s magic had clearly touched my body.

“Hmm.”

Then, Veil’s voice was heard.

A voice full of displeasure.

“…Did I misjudge?”

He was frowning as if he was the most displeased person in the world.

And the next moment, an unbelievable sight unfolded.

“H-He changed?”

Veil’s appearance changed.

No, rather than Veil’s appearance changing, the direction Veil was looking changed.

‘…He wasn’t looking at me?’

It wasn’t that he slowly turned his gaze.

Veil’s gaze suddenly twisted in a different direction.

As if rewinding a video.

Suddenly, Veil’s gaze turned from my direction to another direction.

“Successor? What is that…”

Mimir asked, looking confused.

I looked at Mimir and shook my head slightly.

I was just as confused about the current situation.

‘It’s an illusion magic.’

Then, Persona spoke again.

‘He cast an illusion magic over this entire area. It’s a very basic illusion magic using reflection. With that, he created an illusion that made it seem like he was looking at every direction.’

‘An illusion that makes it seem like he’s looking at every direction…?’

I understood what he meant.

‘So, Veil didn’t actually sense my presence, but was just testing the waters?’

I thought he was looking at me, but in reality, he wasn’t looking at me.

He just gave me the illusion that he was looking at me.

‘That’s right. He thought you couldn’t have escaped far yet, so he was just testing the waters. He didn’t sense your concealment.’

It was a situation that showed Veil’s meticulousness.

To come up with such a method.

How fast was his brain working?

‘No, it’s not that his brain is working fast, but rather that he’s experienced.’

It was more accurate to say that it was the experience that came from actual combat.

The strategy from just now was one that only someone who had dealt with concealment a lot could come up with.

‘…He’s a clever one. Concealment magic usually doesn’t work unless the caster erases their own mana. So, they’re easily caught by such basic illusion magic.’

To conceal mana, concealment magic even cancels out the basic mana surrounding the body.

When concealed, one is no different from an ordinary person.

In that state, it’s impossible to even detect, let alone respond to, illusion magic.

Veil knew that and devised a strategy to test his opponent through illusion magic.

‘If I had moved to avoid it…’

Then Veil would have known of my existence.

Then he would have known that I was the true successor of the Bytener style [a unique fighting style].

All the smoke screen operations we had prepared would have gone down the drain in an instant.

‘…That was dangerous.’

Cold sweat ran down my back.

I applauded myself for suppressing my reason in that situation and making the decision not to move.

‘Thank you. I owe you my life.’

And I thanked Persona for coming out to give me advice at this timing.

‘The thanks are unnecessary. I did it for my own purpose. It would be troublesome if you died here.’

Persona replied in his usual apathetic voice.

‘Then I’ll get some rest. I’ve been overdoing it lately, so I’m a bit sleepy.’

With those words, Persona disappeared.

It seemed that intervening in the outside world like this was very tiring.

The fact that Umbra [a powerful entity] didn’t bother to show itself in this crisis was also evidence of that.

‘Umbra. The gods within the sacred relics, including Persona, can intervene in outside matters through their contract with me, but they consume a considerable amount of power as a result.’

It was something like that.

Ziiiiiiiiik-!

While I was thinking that.

A strange noise echoed around Veil.

A sound like a radio with the wrong frequency.

Or a walkie-talkie with poor reception.

‘It’s a walkie-talkie.’

The answer was the latter.

Veil took out a small walkie-talkie from his pocket and put it to his mouth.

“…The rat got away.”

Perhaps because the call was connected.

The noise was a little better.

—Is that so. Hmm.

A voice was heard from the walkie-talkie. It wasn’t clear because of the noise, but it was definitely a male voice.

—Well, it can’t be helped. The distance was quite far….

“…Tsk.”

Veil clicked his tongue with all the annoyance in the world.

“Things are going badly in many ways. If the distance was a little closer… or if I had detected it a little earlier, I could have caught it.”

There were two pieces of information in those words.

One. Veil’s current base was quite far from here.

Two. Judging by the fact that he said he was late in detecting it, it didn’t seem like he had installed any devices here.

If he had installed a device here, he wouldn’t have said that he was late in detecting it.

‘It’s unlikely that Veil would be late in discovering the changes in the device’s readings, especially since he’s accompanied by his subordinates.’

I guessed that he had detected the changes in the wind in the atmosphere as the poison was being purified.

The wind that was formed would have had some mana in it, so it wouldn’t have been difficult to realize that something was wrong.

‘So, if Veil detected the situation here through the wind…’

It was a location quite far from here, but a place where the wind from here could reach.

‘Using these two pieces of information, I can pinpoint Veil’s current base.’

With Mimir’s help, I could 100% figure out which direction the wind that blew here today had moved.

If I used that information to track him, I could pinpoint Veil’s location.

—Then are you going to return for now?

“No. I’ll return in two days.”

—Are you going to look for that again?

“Yes.”

A keyword that was hard to just listen to and pass by popped out.

That.

‘What is he looking for?’

What was Veil looking for?

—We wish we could help….

“There’s nothing you can do in this matter. Just focus on preparing the food.”

—…Haha. Yes. It’s sad, but we will.

One more piece of information.

The item Veil was looking for was something that no one else could help him with.

This meant that Veil was the only one who had the means to find the item.

‘Then I can narrow it down to some extent.’

It was highly likely that it was related to Veil’s special power.

If I looked through all the books on black magic in the Dante Roa’s Book and the Halamanium’s site [likely locations of magical texts], there was a high chance that I would find the answer.

—Then we’ll stay here and focus on adjusting the dragon’s soul.

“Mistakes are not allowed. Absolutely do not make any mistakes.”

—Of course. I’m different from my predecessor. It’s a soul that Lord Veil will consume, not just anyone’s. There’s no way I would make a mistake.

Predecessor.

Was he talking about the man who clashed with Veil when we first met?

Veil had warned him not to look at him like a test subject.

Was that man dead?

—Don’t worry. We’ll have it well prepared by the time Lord Veil returns in two days.

Finally, another important keyword came out.

Two days.

‘Veil will be away for two days.’

In other words, the place where Veil was currently staying would be practically defenseless for two days.

‘Then…’

Using the information I had just obtained, I could pinpoint his base to some extent.

And Veil wouldn’t be at his base for two days.

That meant.

‘…It’s an opportunity.’

A unique chance to check Veil had arrived.