Chapter 125
Chapter 125
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 125
Chapter Title: Corpse Retriever (4)
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Jack, who had been carrying the corpse, was already gone.
As long as Regin kept Paig pinned down here, smuggling out the body would be a success.
‘But I can’t settle for that.’
The reason he’d gone after Ferma’s corpse in the first place?
To extract information from it, then use that to climb the tower.
‘More precisely, to uncover the secrets hidden in black magic.’
In other words, he’d never even considered a scenario where he’d hand over the body as a sacrifice.
“Are you a royal mage?”
Paig glared at Regin, gathering mana.
It was a fierce expression unlike his usual demeanor.
‘He’s one of the Three Great Demon Hounds, infamous for being a total pain in the ass.’
Regin remembered him as the type who treated everything like a joke until it happened to him, then got dead serious.
A severe hothead and mood swinger.
Anyone who rubbed him the wrong way had to be hacked to pieces until his anger subsided.
‘...I never wanted to know his personality in such detail.’
It was all knowledge gained the hard way.
How many times had he provoked him by mistake and ended up chased down?
Countless characters had been torn apart by his magic.
‘Does going to Velante and playing change anything? Nah, not really.’
Even as allies, he picked fights and suspected Regin at every turn.
Enemy or ally, he was the top player at wearing people out.
“I hear all the royal spellcrafters are hacks.”
“......”
“Glad I get to see just how pathetic you are.”
Paig began deploying the gathered mana.
“Fire Lance.”
Roar!!
He unleashed the same attack as before toward Regin.
“I saw you firing three in a row earlier.”
Not one shot, but a barrage of three Fire Lances.
“Like this?”
Paig mimicked the rapid-fire Regin had used in his ambush.
Thanks to the brief intervals between the follow-up strikes, Regin had to dodge frantically.
Crack!!
Dodging all of them was nearly impossible.
He evaded two spears, blocking the third with a mana shield.
“Fire Lance.”
And that was the biggest problem.
The attacks kept coming without pause.
The relentless assault left no room to catch his breath or think straight.
‘Is this how it felt for everyone?’
Fast casting was one of a spellcrafter’s key strengths.
Pre-stored skills were perfect for spamming.
That’s why Regin had held the advantage in casting speed throughout every battle so far.
But Paig was a demon with overwhelming casting speed even among the demonkin.
Crack!!
“Not sure if you have enough mana shield scrolls.”
He kept ripping new scrolls to reform the shield each time it shattered.
But opportunities for Regin to counterattack didn’t come easily.
“Fire......”
That was when it happened.
A spark flew from Paig’s hand, which had been unleashing spells nonstop.
For a split second, irritation flashed in Paig’s eyes.
‘No matter how fast the casting, you can’t cast infinitely.’
Sizzle—
Regin seized the opening and ripped a scroll immediately.
An advanced scroll casting a three-stage high-tier spell.
“Lightning Spear.”
Rrrumble!!
Electricity formed into a spear and shot toward Paig.
It was the same tier of magic Paig had used—and the spell Regin had blasted the 8th-floor demon with.
Paig panicked and hastily deployed a mana shield.
But after the barrage, his mana needed time to recover fully.
Crack!!
The shield was paper-thin.
Paig’s mana shield shattered instantly, the Lightning Spear hurtling right to her face.
Flash!
Paig abandoned the spell and blocked the lightning with one hand.
“......Hngh!”
It hurt, but she endured the Lightning Spear by pooling her remaining mana.
‘......They really are a crazy race.’
No room for carelessness with them.
Why do mages always avoid depleting their mana?
Because their physical abilities tanked without it.
They’d be no better than a commoner.
“It stings.”
But demons were different by default.
Their bizarre physical prowess let them tank spells with their bodies.
“I thought I’d die if that hit. Good thing it wasn’t that strong.”
Their bodies could shrug off all but the heaviest hits.
She didn’t need to ration mana—just blast away. That demonic nonchalance shone through.
Paig’s scowl eased as she smirked faintly.
She judged the situation swinging back in her favor.
“You try taking one.”
Lightning Spear.
Electricity gathered at her fingertips.
She unleashed the exact same spell Regin had just fired.
‘......Mana’s already recovered.’
Regin was more concerned with that than the mimicry.
Her mana regeneration was unmatched.
And the spear of electricity she formed rivaled Regin’s in power.
Rrrumble!!
‘Mana shield......!’
He barely ripped a scroll to form a shield in time.
It hurt to see it shatter in one hit.
“Lightning Spear.”
But the real issue was that she had enough mana for another barrage.
‘......5 minutes.’
Sizzle—!
He kept ripping scrolls.
At first, he’d ignored her cocky question about how many he had.
But now the dwindling stack was getting to him.
‘......3 minutes.’
Sizzle—!
She must have noticed too.
A spellcrafter became nothing without scrolls.
She’d probably planned the barrage to exhaust them from the start.
‘......1 minute.’
Sizzle—!!
One side forcing scroll depletion.
The other waiting for a counter window.
The ripping and smashing dragged on for over ten minutes.
“Lightning Shield.”
Crack!!
Regin, counting down, pulled a different scroll—not a mana shield.
‘Waiting for the cloak’s cooldown.’
The one chance to tank a hit without a scroll.
“Blind.”
He quickly shelved any hope of killing her with his current spells.
Time for an effective approach.
A spell that would work on her.
“Blind again, you bastard.”
“Urk!”
A black spell shot toward Paig’s vision in an instant.
It began blocking her sight temporarily.
Regin spun and bolted.
‘I get it—superior physical abilities.’
But who said he’d face her head-on?
Whoosh!!
He sprinted at full speed.
He needed time to lure her into a trap.
‘Not handling her with my magic......’
He needed a trap tailored just for her.
* * *
His head burned like it might explode.
He double-checked his path, ensuring he wasn’t lost.
While calculating how far she’d pursued.
‘......And how to shake her off again.’
He thought nonstop.
He needed a way to nullify that vaunted physical prowess.
Swoosh.
He pulled out what he’d kept in his pocket since the fight began.
A cylinder sloshing with glowing liquid.
The moment he checked it—
“Fire Lance.”
Roar!!
Paig, who’d closed in from behind, spoke in a cold voice.
A flaming spear came flying from the rear.
Whish!
Regin ducked to dodge the Fire Lance.
Boom!!
“Quit screwing around already.”
“......”
“Just flop around or cry. Don’t try anything.”
Paig pursued with an agitated shout.
Regin, who’d lost speed from ducking, slowly stood.
“Who’s talking to who?”
Regin was dumbfounded.
He’d died to Paig countless times. She’d deleted endless characters of his.
But that wasn’t the whole story.
“Beg for your life, you dog bastard.”
In the end, by the time he cleared the game, Regin had killed her more times.
An ever-present nuisance and threat?
To Regin, she was just another target to strategize and study.
Roar.
“What?”
Paig’s gaze finally dropped to the floor.
The shattered cylinder caught her eye.
Bright liquid glowing with light.
‘Tough to drop it at the perfect timing.’
Honestly, he had no idea how potent it would be raw.
You couldn’t even obtain raw glow液 in the game.
He’d only used it processed.
‘But I know it’s the key ingredient.’
Freton didn’t become the kingdom’s richest after securing the mine for nothing.
That’s when everyone learned it was the demons’ ultimate counter.
‘Pure mana, like light itself.’
Unmixed with anything.
Free of any interference.
Liquid light made purely of mana—the weapon against demons incarnate.
‘Usually refined into elixirs or holy water by the church.’
But what about the raw stuff’s firepower?
Roar!!
Paig’s face twisted the instant it touched her pure light.
Light rose from her feet to her head.
White light soon enveloped her body like flames.
‘Holy water has two uses. One: splash it directly on them.’
The other: spread it on the ground as a trap.
Ironically, traps were most effective.
‘Probably tied to the reflex effect.’
Regin’s guess: demons instinctively suppress their mana when they see holy water openly splashed—like vampires retreating into shadows.
An ingrained instinct hides their mana, reducing the burn.
“......Grraaah!!”
But stepping into a trap was different.
Before their senses registered, the glow液 reacted with demonic mana.
“Grrraaack!!”
Her body’s mana ignited.
Like a Mana Burn spell.
Paig screamed in agony as white flames consumed her.
Regin showed no mercy and prepped his next attack.
‘Mana Burn.’
The flames were dying down.
Half the effect of holy water.
He planned to chain Mana Burn before it faded.
‘Burn all her mana.’
To demons, mana was life itself.
It regenerated fast, but they needed it to sustain their bodies.
‘Drain every drop from her heart at once......!’
He’d end Paig here.
Three Great Demon Hound or whatever—better to send her ahead like Kaluan.
“Disappear.”
Just as you deleted my characters.
And in revenge, I killed you.
Once more, one of us had to vanish from this world.
Sizzle—!
Regin tore the Mana Burn scroll toward Paig.
“Grrrk!”
Paig became that eerie in-between of dog and man again.
Her final spasm.
Abandoning thought for pure instinct—her last attack.
Baring her fangs, Paig lunged at Regin.
Her sharp teeth aimed straight for his throat.
‘Sorry, but I’m used to dog-form monsters.’
Hell Hounds, Lycanthropes.
Recalling the countless mutts, Regin wrapped scrolls around his arm.
A technique he hadn’t used in ages.
‘Le Hyung-wook’s Bad Dog Fixation Jutsu.’
Crunch!!
He blocked her fangs with his arm and held.
“Grrrk!!”
Until her mana fully burned out.
“Flail all you want.”
“......Grrrk!!”
“Try something.”
“Grk......”
Unlike me, you’ll fail.
Regin glared at her with a resolute expression.
Paig drooled and gnawed at the scrolls on his arm.
She thrashed in pain, screaming with her whole body to break free.
Rip, flop—
But soon her mana fully burned away, and her body slumped.
No demonic mana left.
Her heartbeat stopped, and the mana vanished with it.
“Haa......!!”
Regin’s tension finally released.
He collapsed to the floor, staring at the ceiling.
‘Filthy as hell.’
The environment was too gross to savor the victory.
Sewage splashing past his head, the stench of rot assaulting his nose.
But it all felt welcoming.
‘Filthy or not, gotta live.’
All that filth told Regin he’d survived.