Chapter 218
Chapter 218
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 218
Chapter Title: Letters to the Wind Mage (8)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
****
“The magic tower of the Leadflow School in Tobrun was truly magnificent. Not quite on the level of this place, but impressive enough to go down in history. Built around a colossal magic crystal called the ‘free mana crystal,’ whose value can’t even be measured.”
“Ah, yes....”
“Rivers converged from all directions, wrapping around the tower, passing through the top room with the magic crystal, and flowing mana-rich waters throughout every corner of the tower. It was beautiful. Truly, a paradise for water mages....”
“It must have been.... like that....”
“Do you know of the spirit spring known as Grim Mild? It’s deep in the forest, where nature spirits who like humans gather. The tower’s foundation was made from a rock embedded in the deepest part of that spring. Truly remarkable, they say. The stuff of heroic epics....”
“....”
Zap!
“Answer me. This is all about the thing you destroyed with your own hands, something that will never return.”
“Yes, sir! I’m listening! Master Ottman!”
Gulp.
Professor couldn’t help but shrink back at the chilling voice of the water archmage, whose face had always been full of kindly smiles every day.
Ottman Bodleir. A mage who could easily pass for sixth-circle based on his actions, but who always insisted he was fifth-circle. From the Leadflow Magic Tower. Professor’s magic mentor.
He was grinding his teeth at the fact that the object of his bone-deep grudge was his most cherished disciple.
“I... understand, to some extent. After that incident, I heard how the Lordric royals swarmed in under the guise of witness interviews and tore everything apart. Isaac Mandalius was a minion of the mutants, and you had no choice but to... crunch, no choice but to! ...shove a building-sized public mana crystal into the tower. Mages must always think rationally..... right....”
“H-ha.... Yeah, right? That proxy tower lord was a scumbag anyway, and seeing that precious free mana crystal being yanked out by him and his disciples for casual use... it was already hopeless....”
“So I’ll ask rationally. Why did you do that to me?”
“Huhk-”
Clunk!
Professor felt his heart drop at Ottman’s icy tone.
“Uh, um....”
“I still get scared of heights. I’ve lived as a mage, but as a noble of the Bodleir family, I’ve never once lost face! Yet there I was, in front of all the nobles and citizens of Tobrun, stripped down to my underwear! Screaming like a little girl while dangling and swinging wildly!!! At the hands of whom? That ‘Red Mutant’ bastard! The same guy who’s got me in his clutches right now in front of my eyes! You! You!”
Thud! Thud!
Professor humbly took Ottman’s furious kicks while carefully climbing the white skeletal frame with Ottman on his back.
“Ow, ugh! Master Ottman! Oof! I’m tougher than I look, but... ow!”
“Damn it! You damn brat! I treated you like my own son! And you’ve been deceiving me all this time! Fine, the tower’s gone! But where did all the tower’s treasures that you smuggled out go? I saw with my own eyes that you vanished with experts in that sort of thing!”
“Uh.... I, I used them for good....”
“I contacted my old disciples via divine communication from the temple in the Borderlands! Know what they’re doing now? Working as supply officers for the army! Like mobile canteens! Young talents who should be delving into the profound truths of magic, treated like living canteens that save every minute and second! These are the end times! Truly the end times!”
“Working for the water authority isn’t all that bad....”
“I wondered why you kept getting tangled in incidents, and this makes perfect sense! Crime deserves punishment! You vicious bastard, you rotten meat fallen in a well! May your three generations be buried in parched earth! You! You!”
“Ouch, ow! Ottman, we’re really there now, so let’s stop! Huh? I’ll compensate you later! I will!”
“With what money!”
“Uh.... Lucilla will! Probably!”
“Argh! You rotten-to-the-core bastard!”
Splat!
Professor sighed in relief with bruised blue eyes as Ottman panted, finally exhausted from flailing his frail arms.
For all his words, he hadn’t flown into a rage like back at the restaurant when Professor confessed, ‘I’m the Red Mutant-’ and unleashed water cannons. Honestly, given what he’d done, Professor was willing to take this much venting. Bruises? They’d be gone before he could even check.
Ottman knew that too, so he was venting at a reasonable level without punching holes in him.
Thud, step, step!
Felix Home was a dome formed by overlapping white curves, making it relatively easy to climb. As the building’s outer curve began to flatten, Ottman asked in a slightly anxious voice.
“One last review. The people still inside the building will provoke the mages as much as possible. You smash this building to direct their rage at the ‘Red Mutant,’ then hide somewhere in that rocky area and make them comb every inch of that vast expanse in their boiling fury?”
“Yes. It’s not just any place—it’s the homeland of all wind mages, irreplaceable in history. It’ll provoke more than enough rage, overflowing even. They’ll easily find the Chamber Maid hiding nearby. And they’ll join the nest raid too, so it’ll help with our forces.”
“I get that far. But how do you plan to escape from those furious wind mages? I’m just playing hostage, so I won’t be harmed, but you don’t think holding me alone will stop them, do you?”
“Uh.... You’re not just a hostage.”
“Hm? Not just?”
“There’s, uh, something about that! Anyway. Just stay caught by me, and if needed, be ready to cast defensive spells full-force.”
“Defensive spells? What do you....”
“Ah, we’re here.”
Thud!
He glossed it over and yanked his outstretched arm hard.
The top of the building was much like the other walls. A gentle cluster of intertwined white curved pillars.
Professor set Ottman down from his back, nodded to Ottman who’d stepped back a couple paces, then took a deep breath.
Huuuuuh-
Air filling his lungs deep. Holding his breath, he imagined the air filling his body pushing outward from within.
“Grraaaaaah!”
Pop, drip-
Veins bulged on his muscular body, cracks slowly forming on his skin—
Fwooooosh!
Crack, snap, craaaack-!
Flesh split, blood seeped out, and in an instant, it began shifting into monster form.
After the Borderlands incident. He could instinctively feel the mutant infection factor was now fully under his control.
‘Easy. No, beyond easy—natural.’
His outer body and this one’s essence were now much closer to monster.
Just let go of the tightly held string—
『GRRAAAAAAAARRRRRRHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!』
—perfectly natural.
The storm, its fury waning as the drug wore off.
The roar with the transformation shattered Ottman’s concealing spell around them, and he sensed the robes flying on the storm winds halting one by one to look their way.
“Fuuuuh, hfff....”
“....Professor. Answer if you hear me. Professor!”
“Grrraaah.... No need.... to worry....”
Slink-
The monster exhaled, thumbs-upped firmly, then extended a hand to Ottman. Seeing him retain reason unlike before, Ottman relaxed and leaned his back on the palm. The monster carefully cupped and lifted him.
Splash!
[Whoa, did muscles fill my vocal cords too? What a voice.... This is way more comfy.]
[Hm? You can use magic in ‘that’ state?]
[This body itself is my magic fused. Those red parts in the joints? All Blood Armor. My Origin Magic.]
[Hmm.... Reliable. I’m ready.]
[Then.... let’s begin?]
[....May the great flow bless you.]
“GRRAAAAH-!”
Under the stormy sky. Mages flying around suddenly converged on the massive monster atop the dome.
Ruuuumble-
A giant arm rose, immense power condensed, scales like armor on it parting blade-like.
“Monster. A monster on the dome....”
“Roof, monster on the roof, what the....!”
“Uh. N-no.... Uh, uhhh!”
The storm-drunk mages gradually sobered with dread.
Flash-!
Lightning amid the storm as signal—the monster’s raised fist hurtled toward the mages’ homeland.
KABOOOOOOM!!!!!
The mages saw it all in slow motion.
Shattering raindrops, plummeting downward. Toward their home—the monster’s giant arm.
Mountain-crashing roar, red mist bursting from air vaporized by the immense force.
Raindrops repelled so hard they’d sting—amid them, the monster’s massive form wreathed in red mist looked more dynamic in the lightning’s backlight.
Thud-
But something seized the mages’ eyes more.
Thump. Thump- clong-
Slowly, surely, tumbling down the cliff: a large, smooth, pure white curve.
The mages, pale as ghosts as if a parent’s corpse fell, began wailing.
“Uh, uhhh. UHHHH!!!”
“The pillar! One of Felix’s remains wrapping the homeeee!!!”
The curve was one of the many curved pillars forming Felix Home. True to the great mage’s legacy, it dispersed the horrific physical force that vacuumed the surroundings, but overload snapped several outer curves.
Swooooosh-
Swooo-
....
..
.
.
.
Wind dying. The waning storm vanished traceless, silence so deep breaths were audible—only debris clattering down the cliff quietly.
Flutter- flutter-
Whiiiiiir-
Eerie wind howled around the monster.
No wind in the sky, yet mages’ robes billowed. Young mages or apprentices still sane flew to retrieve shattered debris; mad ones prepared to unleash flood-like rage.
“Ooooh.... How could this.... Great Felix of the winds.... Truly, how. Ooooh....”
Among mages streaming from the building, one stood out.
Worn green robe like others, white-haired archmage. But dark blue winds around him spewed terrifying mana unlike his ordinary look.
A familiar face. Hours ago, when they’d visited, the hunched old mage giggling ‘Hehehe~ We meet again~’ and lunging at Ottman. Wrinkled face full of innocent charm.
Flutter-
Now stone-cold, he strode air, swung hand—blue wind erupted under monster’s feet, stilling the vibrating building.
The archmage’s icy gaze fixed on the monster.
“Filthy beast.... Not a bandit, but a wild animal.... Red Mutant, eh. Do you even grasp the crime you’ve committed?”
Each word laced with dark blue wind. Like wind forcibly drawing breath from lungs—the monster grinned savagely, facing the mage.
『I know.... well enough.... Advising wanderers by birth.... to live true to their nature.... A bit forcefully.』
Crunch! Crackle!
“Arrogant, foolish beast.... Daring, DARING to scar irrecoverably our sole sanctuary! Daring, DARING to the legacy of Father Felix-!!!!”
Screeeee-!
Hummm- hummm!
Mages encircling the dome swung staves—round wind rings atop spun faster, growing. Now vivid green, self-spinning without support, sucking all nearby valley winds.
Splat.
At peak rotation, a staff brimming yellow sparks amid six glowing holes pointed at the monster.
“Die, beast. No wind in the world will ever brush you again.”
『If you can. Mage.』
“Ahh, I can. I can indeed....”
Crackle, snap, zzzzap!
Tiny sparks at staff tip surged skyward.
Passing the mages’ round, it ballooned instantly into a massive lightning spear aimed at the glowing bullseye.
“Felix Drixiel’s great magic. [Call - Giga Lightning.] More than enough.... excessively so....”
Professor eyed the endless sky-high lightning pillar, giving up evasion. He’d provoked expecting a big hit, sure.
‘These lunatics.... Fifteen fifth-circles, one sixth, backed by great magic architecture casting inherited spell?’
He wanted to bolt, but needed to wait more. Just a bit, if these selective madmen snapped out of it, maybe, just maybe....
Slash-!
‘Got it!’
They wouldn’t let a hostage get caught in that insane spell.
Chilling tale with it—a wind cutter sliced stealthily. Speed suggesting late sixth-circle slashed his arm; area around arm holding Ottman shrouded in deep green veil.
[Got it! Shield up, Ottman! Hurry!]
[Y-you, what about you! Even for you, taking that—]
[I’m right here, so HURRY!!!!!]
He’d planned to break encirclement roughly, but their moves changed his mind.
Wind magic’s strength: fast casting. But slow, visibly deliberate chanting? More than killing him—they had ulterior motives.
One reason they’d hesitate to attack now.
‘Ottman. Good call bringing you.’
They planned to save him too.
Where they stood: auxiliary organ for lightning spell plunging on his head.
If finely controlled, wouldn’t reach him but scatter enough aftermath.
‘Can’t hide from wind-based 3D area radar, or dodge humans flying frictionless?’
So, deceive.
Roar, bulk up despite disadvantage in many-vs-one, bait ultimate strike. Precisely atop Felix Home’s center—the hole that sucked the letter morning.
Slaaash-
“Such.... [Water Shield]! [Ottman Bodleir’s Counterflow Field]!”
Severed arm and Ottman inside wrapped in water-wind barriers, plummeting into curved building.
Excessive blood from the cut chased, barely entering green veil with arm and Ottman.
Crackle- zzzt-
.
.
.
.
.
.
KABOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!
Old mage’s staff slashed down confirming hostage safe—massive lightning pillar struck atop the monster.
****