The Return Of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 435

The Rebirth of a Mythical Archmage-436

Outside the Sacred Relic.

A fierce battle was unfolding within the labyrinth.

Two black mages had suddenly appeared, and a clash had begun.

‘How did black mages get all the way in here…’

Adela frowned, deflecting a black sphere that had come right up to her face.

To think she’d be facing off against black mages inside here.

Just where, and how, did they get in?

Considering the state of the Black Fortress, it shouldn’t have been easy to enter.

‘Stella did break the outer wall once, so it might be a bit easier to get through now, but…’

Even so, it shouldn’t have been easy to break through.

How on earth did they get inside, through that chaotic mana?

‘Does that mean they’re skilled enough to break through that easily?’

Indeed, even though they were fighting 2 against 3, the battle lines were holding steady.

They were clearly quite skilled.

‘No. No matter how powerful they are, as mages, it should be impossible to break through that outer wall.’

In fact, Shin Hayul and Adela hadn’t found any way to do it either.

That chaotic barrier of mana was not something a mage could break through.

‘Aside from skill… do they possess some special magic that can interfere with that chaotic mana?’

Just as Adela was sorting through her thoughts while facing the two mages,

“Adela!”

Ji Sunchan called out to Adela with a look of utter urgency.

“Behind you!”

“… !”

Adela was startled and looked behind her.

A bizarrely shaped wedge was piercing through space.

It was like a ballista, with space as its cannon, ready to fire at any moment.

‘Dangerous!’

She didn’t know what it was, but it was clearly dangerous.

The part where no mana was detected seemed especially dangerous.

Adela immediately extended her left hand and activated a spell.

“I’ll assist you!”

Elena’s hand overlapped hers, and a single spell manifested.

‘Windbreak Root.’

As its name suggested, it was a shield-shaped magic wood that seemed suitable for blocking wind.

It formed precisely in the position to block the wedge.

‘It’s a painful expenditure to use it now, at the beginning of the battle, but…’

Windbreak Root was a magic wood with the property of ‘repelling’ all mana.

As its name and properties suggested, it was a defensive magic that repelled magic.

The only downside was that its exceptional properties caused a significant drain on mental power.

Among the spells Elena possessed, it was easily one of the most overpowered.

Whoosh!

As soon as the Windbreak Root was completed, the black wedge was fired.

The wedge flew through space at an incredible speed, like a bullet leaving a gun.

Watching the wedge, Adela prepared her next move.

‘Even if that wedge is a spell that surpasses Windbreak Root, it’s impossible for it to break through completely.’

The overpowered nature of the repelling property was beyond imagination.

No matter how powerful the magic was, it couldn’t break through in one go.

It would definitely stop once before breaking through.

‘I’ll use the gap when the wedge stops to escape.’

She would take advantage of that moment to escape.

Adela channeled all her remaining mana into her lower body and began preparing to escape.

‘If the Windbreak Root successfully repels the wedge, then I’ll immediately transition to a counterattack.’

She prepared to escape and counterattack at the same time.

It was a response that could be called nearly perfect.

Clang!

Then, the wedge collided with the Windbreak Root.

A short, resounding boom.

It wasn’t a boom caused by the collision of physical objects.

It was a piercing, grating sound caused by the collision of mana.

The sound was very short and intense.

‘This sound…’

The short sound made Adela feel uneasy.

‘The repulsion is weak.’

The repulsion and friction generated when mana collides are incredibly intense.

There should have been a series of booms like thunder, but the sound was too short.

The repulsion was far too weak.

‘For the repulsion to be this weak, it means one of the spells was completely destroyed without putting up any resistance…’

For the repulsion of mana to be this weak, it meant that one spell had completely overwhelmed the other.

This usually only happened between spells with a difference of 5 circles or more, so considering Adela’s skill, this shouldn’t have happened.

Therefore, there was only one possibility left.

‘That wedge… does it have the property of nullifying magic?’

Adela’s eyes widened.

Elena, who was assisting Adela’s magic from behind, had the same expression.

They both had the exact same thought, reached the same conclusion, and were equally shocked.

‘If that wedge really has the property of nullifying magic…’

Whether the Windbreak Root repelled magic or not, if the magic itself was nullified, it was meaningless.

The Windbreak Root was helpless against magic nullification magic.

‘It’ll break through. As easily as a needle pierces a leaf.’

Adela immediately used all the mana she had gathered in her lower body to leap backward.

She had considered dodging to the side, but stopped at the thought.

If she dodged to the side, she might protect her heart, but her chest or shoulder would be pierced.

That would effectively mean leaving the front lines.

That couldn’t happen.

‘A little further back…!’

Of course, even if she retreated, nothing would change.

In fact, moving backward was a worse move.

That was because if she dodged to the side, she could at least protect her heart, but if she retreated, she couldn’t protect her heart.

The only thing she would gain was a very short amount of time.

The only thing she could gain by retreating was a fleeting moment.

After that fleeting moment, she would eventually lose her heart and her life.

Retreating was the worst possible move.

‘I need to buy time. Even a little more… then surely…’

But this was only the case if Adela was fighting alone.

Adela was not alone now.

With her comrades by her side, Adela’s backpedaling was not a bad move.

Rather, it was a brilliant move.

It was the only way out of this precarious situation.

Crack, shatter!

Just in time, Adela’s Windbreak Root shattered into pieces.

As Adela had predicted, the Windbreak Root had failed to block the wedge.

The Windbreak Root shattered into pieces, turning into mana polygons that scattered into the sky.

“Ugh!”

The black wedge was rapidly approaching.

The world seemed to slow down.

It was rushing forward as if it alone had accelerated.

The wedge was about to pierce Adela’s chest.

‘5cm… 3cm…’

Adela calculated the distance to the wedge in her mind.

‘1.5cm.’

Finally, the wedge reached the spot where Adela had been standing a moment ago.

If she had stayed still or moved to the side, she would have been pierced by the wedge at this moment, suffering serious injuries or death.

‘1cm.’

Just before the wedge reached Adela’s chest.

‘If it’s Stella, she’ll definitely…!’

Clang-!

A sharp, tearing sound echoed.

The sound of a sword striking the wedge.

It echoed right in front of Adela’s nose.

Clang, clang!

Not once, but three times.

The unique sound of metal clashing rang out almost simultaneously.

‘As expected!’

It was Stella’s support.

While fighting the man, she had seen an opportunity and used her Mind Sword in this direction.

‘Magic nullification can’t block a sword.’

Stella’s sword had momentarily stopped the wedge’s movement.

However.

“Don’t bother struggling.”

It was only a momentary pause.

“My magic can’t be stopped that easily.”

With the female black mage’s sneer, the stopped wedge began to twitch and move again.

‘Even has a homing function?’

It seemed that it couldn’t be resolved by just blocking it once.

“Ugh!”

Adela widened the distance again.

‘If even Stella’s Mind Sword can’t stop it… what should I do?’

She tried to think of a solution while creating distance.

However, nothing came to mind.

With the magic nullification property, there was nothing Adela could do.

Even Stella’s sword couldn’t completely block it.

There was no way to respond.

‘There’s no way.’

The wedge was flying faster than before.

Adela bit her lip as she watched the wedge.

“Farewell. A capable, yet incompetent, young lady.”

The female black mage gave Adela her final farewell.

“Hmph.”

Then, Ji Sunchan snorted.

No, it was Aslan, who had taken over Ji Sunchan’s body, who snorted.

Whirr-!

A small portal formed right above Ji Sunchan’s palm.

The portal opened right below Adela and the wedge.

“How foolish. Are you blind? You can’t block it with magic.”

The woman sneered again.

She genuinely laughed at Ji Sunchan for doing something so foolish.

Just as the wedge was about to touch Adela’s body again.

“You’re the foolish one. Who said we were going to block your wedge?”

Adela’s body was sucked into the portal.

The wedge stopped moving again.

It had lost its target and seemed completely frozen.

“…Space movement?”

The woman narrowed her eyes.

“A nostalgic magic. I never thought I’d see that magic again here.”

Then, she glared at Ji Sunchan with murderous intent.

“You. What’s your relationship with Aslan Polohamruin?”

A name that couldn’t be ignored came out of the woman’s mouth.

Aslan Polohamruin.

This woman knew Aslan.

“Didn’t you hear it from your master?”

“From Veil? No. Not really?”

The only instruction these two had received from Veil was to find Mora’s Sacred Relic.

They hadn’t heard any other information.

“Hmm. He didn’t even convey such basic information.”

Aslan sneered with genuine sarcasm.

“I can roughly guess your position within the organization.”

The woman frowned.

“…That annoying way of speaking. You’re Aslan, aren’t you?”

“Did you only realize that now? Jenarin.”

“…Tch.”

The woman clicked her tongue with a look of utter displeasure.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you too. Hoderiam.”

“…Ha.”

The man who was fighting Stella 1 on 1 on the other side.

The man called Hoderiam chuckled and let out a sigh of admiration.

“No wonder it felt so shitty. It was that damn Aslan?”

He gritted his teeth and glared at Aslan.

“Then, are you Elena Lo Greenwood?”

“You know Elena?”

Those two had joined the Four Nations after Elena had retired.

It was normal for them not to know her since they had never fought together or against each other.

“I know the name. The forest mage who wielded magic wood. Elena Lo Greenwood. She’s famous, you know.”

Hoderiam looked at Adela.

“So, you’re the forest mage that Veil was so keen to get rid of…”

He stroked his chin and smiled as if amused.

“But… your face is different? Did you reincarnate or something?”

“Something like that.”

Aslan answered with a mocking, sarcastic expression.

“…I see. Reincarnation, huh? Interesting.”

Hoderiam chuckled.

Sparks flew between the eyes of the two.

“But you two have the same face. Did Veil resurrect you?”

Hoderiam replied with a triumphant smile.

“Yes. Veil-nim resurrected us. We’re the first ones. The other executives will be resurrected one by one from now on.”

“…Hoderiam. Shut your mouth.”

The woman, Jenarin, glared at Hoderiam. She was scolding him for revealing too much.

“What does it matter what I say? They won’t survive here anyway.”

The man smiled leisurely.

“He’s a man who knows all the characteristics of our magic. Don’t be so sure you’ll win.”

“So what if he knows? His level is so pathetic, whether it’s reincarnation or whatever. Do you think he can even respond properly?”

Hoderiam laughed as if it was ridiculous.

“…That’s true. It wasn’t a bad match-up from the start.”

Jenarin stared intently at Aslan, then turned her gaze to Adela.

“By the way, it seems the esteemed forest mage wasn’t interested in the magic of us, her juniors? You don’t seem to know the characteristics of my magic at all.”

“…”

Elena frowned.

“I understand. I heard you were on your last legs for quite a long time after your retirement. You wouldn’t have had the time to pay attention to newcomers like us.”

Elena had seen Jenarin and Hoderiam for the first time today.

She had never heard their names before, and she had never seen their magic before.

The reason was simple.

They were elite soldiers of the Four Nations who had started participating in the war after Adela had left the front lines.

Since their paths had never crossed, there was no way she could have known them.

“The only problems are that nameless swordsman’s skill… and Aslan’s knowledge. Well, considering the difference in skill, there’s no way we’ll lose.”

Jenarin smiled brightly and prepared her magic.

After that, silence fell.

Sparks flew between Aslan and Stella, and Jenarin and Hoderiam.

“…Adela.”

Looking at the four of them, Elena called out to Adela.

“Let’s be careful. I don’t want to admit it, but we’re just baggage right now.”