Chapter 224
Chapter 224
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Letters to Windmage (17)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Edeorna’s assault halted, her gaze shifting backward toward where the mages stood.
It was the opportunity she’d longed for even while her body was being shredded to pieces.
‘....What the fuck is that?’
In that instant, even I couldn’t help but turn my head that way.
『Swan Song』
From the tip of the staff of that arrogant, curt workaholic kid came seven strands of wind unfurling, transforming every bit of naturally existing air in the world into the subject of magic!
‘Is this even possible? Even if magic defies logic....’
I was at a level where I could call myself a mage without shame. I could post a basic treatise on magic theory in the community, and when every other player was whining, ‘All the other jobs are fine, but mage? That shit’s unplayable,’ I could fire back with a smug, ‘Feels pretty doable to me.’
But what was happening now surpassed every shred of common sense I had.
‘They say great magic from the 7th Circle onward fundamentally changes the nature of spells....’
Up to the 6th Circle, I could grasp it without any personal enlightenment. For water magic, something like Compression meant, ‘You felt that deep-sea phobia somewhere,’ or Purification was, ‘Based on memories of being washed clean with water.’ Surface-level stuff like that.
But starting from great magic, like how Felix Draciel equated ‘The Wanderer’s Loneliness’ to home and letters, the caster’s personal conception of the element begins manifesting as the spell itself.
‘This has to be something like that. There’s no other explanation.’
It wasn’t targeted at anything specific—it changed the very nature of the entire surrounding environment. In an instant, the world I knew felt utterly alien.
Suddenly, I was hyper-aware of swallowing, blinking felt manual, and with every breath, I could feel the wind rushing through my body. Every movement was like swimming through water, vividly parting the air as I went.
And it wasn’t confined to this area—it extended to everything in my sight, from the drifting clouds in the sky to the horizon’s edge. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from whatever the hell she’d done.
Fortunately, the moment I turned, my wits snapped back.
“.....Gack, .....Guh, urgh......grah!”
A mass of black cloth dangling in midair, choking like it was being garroted.
Edeorna’s torso twisted fully backward, her thighs bulging like she was mid-leap.
The moment I saw where those eyes, blazing with clear fury, were locked, my body moved before my mind could catch up.
I’d kept thinking while taking the beating. She outclassed me in size. Power, too, by a mile. She was a speed type that rendered that size and power irrelevant, with attacks so lethal even a graze was fatal.
How do you tag an enemy faster than you, who changes direction in a blink?
Only one answer. Catch her airborne, when she can’t redirect. And that required....
‘Knowing her target the instant before she leaps!’
The slight opening born from Edeorna’s rage and panic clouding her reason.
The second her gaze turned, her coiled body launching into the jump.
Crunchhh-!
Professor, hunkered low like a beast on all fours, kicked off the cliffside and rocketed toward it.
Kwaaak!
“You bastard.....!”
“Heh heh heh....got....you!”
Kwaaak!
Crack, crack, cruuunch!
Professor’s shoulder slammed into the side of the white monster shooting forth like a laser beam, a black pillar crashing home.
Midair collisions with no footing naturally propel toward the greater momentum.
Kwa-gaga-gagak!
Edeorna’s leap-stalled body gouged a long furrow into the valley floor from Professor’s all-out body slam.
Of course, the price for halting that jump was gruesome.
Slash!
The shoulder charge half-landed, but the arm that would’ve crushed his spine was lopped off from the shoulder in a flash by the spear’s whip-around, missing its mark.
As he tumbled, leaving long scars on the valley wall, his arm was severed, eye gouged, spine and ribs shattered, white thorn-vines tangling in their place, dazing him.
Just as he’d predicted her straight-line path, the cost of charging like a mindless bull was a barrage shredding his body before regeneration could kick in. In exchange for wounds near irreparable, he’d cracked open Edeorna’s side noticeably.
‘Good....enough.’
Amid the thorns piercing his flesh and the dizzying agony, he realized the moment he’d waited for had arrived in its most perfect form.
Astrad’s unexpected super ultimate? That was unexpected by definition. Bazur was a named boss, a fixed turret that carpet-bombed with magic, especially after devouring and digesting mages.
Her first spell even carried a clear aura of holy magic, meaning she’d gained abilities beyond what I knew. Sure, the remaining comrades might pull off a near-miraculous stand against Bazur, but that was a miracle’s odds. The ragged wind mages’ output was unreliable. Without them, blocking another named was impossible.
Even if I held off Edeorna, defeat on the other front meant game over.
A commander must clutch a victory plan even in the worst scenarios, up to the moment of retreat. The instant I saw Bazur, prolonged battle was off the table.
‘Once. Just once. While she still doesn’t know.... If this hits just once!’
Excluding miracles, the sole path to victory. I beat Edeorna, then reinforce the group.
This death-defying fight was all to set up that single board.
“You’ve had....a blast so far....haven’t kept your distance once....since our first clash....right....”
Slash! Schling! Kwa-jik! Pffft!
Edeorna thrashed her spear endlessly, desperate to pulverize and shake me off. Limbs already hacked off, regenerating into blunt stumps to cling with. Even those bound by thorn-vines, stalling regen.
But thanks to that, we were close enough to share breaths, bodies grinding to bits.
.
.
.
.
My blood flowed most satisfyingly.
All over her, that is.
Showcasing attack power over her defenses from the start.
Baiting her safe-hunt tendencies into out-fighting.
Taking one-sided shredding from a distance just out of my reach
To hide it! Not! Even! Once!
My hidden ace poured down like a waterfall onto the pristine white body pinned beneath me.
Slash!
The spear-tip that severed the black beast’s throat trembled violently, its wielder’s head—caught in the geyser of blood—falling back, grinning with pearly fangs.
Crimson veins spiderwebbed over Edeorna’s white armor.
“What the....hell....did you....”
“Grrrgh. Beats me. A trick to keep a charmer like me....from eyeing elsewhere....with my partner.”
“Insolent...!”
Kwaak!
Even weakened, Edeorna didn’t relent. Spear reach failing, she grew small branches from her fingertips to swing, her body more pulp than form, shrouded in white thorns.
Crack, crack! Cruuunch!
Against her eroding shell, softened by my blood breaking down her infection factors, I had leeway to regen one right arm.
“....Fine. You got me.”
Paaang!
Her spear surged with mana in a final spasm, grazing my ear as it flew. The flesh-regrown arm blackened again, clad in red armor, raised high. Every last drop of blood and strength poured into this all-out strike.
Woooooong-
Red mist billowed from power threatening to burst her skin, the horrific force vibrating the air.
My needle-eye victory plan. For this moment, I’d flung my body till regen bottomed out, squeezing every ounce of cunning to craft this setup, now drawing in the final scraps of power.
“Gentlemanly. I’ll return just the one.”
“....Professor. You—”
Kuuuwaaaaaaaaang!
A crimson-black pillar slammed into Edeorna’s upturned head as she gazed empty-handed, the solid granite valley crumbling like powder.
No intent to stand there blabbing, fulfilling some villain cliché. No need to give an opponent immune to repeated tricks another chance.
****
Rumble rumble rumble!
‘....Ah. Fucking hurts.’
I won.
Won, but poured everything out—couldn’t twitch a fingertip.
Fading consciousness birthed thoughts like, ‘This ain’t quite the plan,’ but whatever. An ally I hadn’t counted on soloed Bazur. Doubts lingered if Bazur would fall that easy, but results were results.
Perfect victory. Perfect goal achieved. Drifting off pleased....
Sting!
‘Thorns....? Edeorna’s....those?’
Sharpening awareness brought pain into focus.
Right. White thorn-vines. Growth stopped, but riveted into him like bolts, still coiled around his body.
‘Edeorna....lived? After that hit?’
It was a killing blow. Even a top-tier named, tank-type or not, would shatter.
Into his blurry vision swam a small claw then. Amid collapsing rocks, tumbling down with him—a gutted boulder hiding a mutant inside.
Pffuk!
The shed husk of a mutant latched onto Professor’s helpless head.
『....A reunion as striking as ever. Father.』
Stinging pain atop his skull, voice transmitting through antenna-like proboscis.
[Palkatus!]
『I trust you’re well.』
That voice hit like a sucker punch.
Three. How had he forgotten? Three. When he first sensed the mutant aura closing his eyes, he’d repeated it inwardly: three!
Bazur, Edeorna, and Palkatus.
One more named mutant on this battlefield. The very one they’d awaited from the start. The tunnel worm that bore Edeorna and Bazur—it was him!
As Professor groaned from the head-shaking pain, Palkatus continued in admiring tones.
『You once said: Learn fear. Know frailty. Sage words indeed. Thanks to the lesson you personally carved into this frail shell of mine—while I thrashed aimlessly, finally finding my purpose—it taught me caution. I’m ever in awe. Of your ocean-deep intellect, Father.』
[You little shit.... don’t tell me....]
『I’ve escorted Sister to safety. Yes, I feared losing her—Sister, for whom I’d offer my heart gladly. Feared losing my brother, tormented endlessly by unstable hunger yet fussing over meals so ridiculously. But your teachings let me endure that fear and wait. To seize this chance once more to serve Father, battered by Sister’s struggle!』
Ziiiiiing-!
[Graaaah! Urghhh, uurrgh!!!!]
With his words, potent mana flooded from the proboscis burrowing his skull. An eerie sensation like it rifling through his brain folds.
But that was it. Painful, yet merely skimming the surface.
Amid that superficial whirl of agony seeped Palkatus’s voice, laced with disappointment and resignation.
『As expected. I foresaw it from Sister’s state.... You’d prepared for this too. Blood to counter Mother’s blood.... Horrifically efficient, astonishing evolution. Meaning you knew I was here already. Impressive. Even caught off-guard, while cornering Sister, you watched what I’d do? Suspecting designs from Mother’s third son, your own blood heir, Palkatus?』
Click!
Brrr—
The crab-like thing on his head began shuddering. Soaked in my blood. It’d slurped it latching on, stabbing its proboscis.
Thud!
“Guhk!”
His endlessly plummeting body slammed into solid ground. Transformation released, ragged form tumbling between rocks.
『....I’d love to chat three winters through, but the host can’t hold.... So, farewell. The soul mage survived in the end, the fourth too, Sister gravely wounded, and I fail to take Father.... But it was a pleasure. Truly.』
[Let them go.... those bastards, let....!]
『Next time, I’ll prepare a stage befitting Father. Look forward to it. I’ve learned much in the interim.』
Plop.
The shuddering crab dropped off, silencing the voice in his head at last.
From the massive vertical shaft his strike carved, Professor gazed at the boulders crashing down above and smiled bitterly.
“....No paycheck coming for this. Shit.”
Two small nests. One medium nest. Ruined the mutant invasion prepped nearby.
In exchange: intel leaked. Joker blood akin to antibodies that briefly neutralized Edeorna exposed, my current combat power, style, traits fully observed by the enemy, most wind mages dead.
“If I’d just stayed cooler.... Known it was three from the start.... Told Aldrich to hunt that bastard down.... Could’ve wiped the damn lot.... Shit....”
Fading in and out, Professor eyed the rocks falling toward him and closed his eyes.
Thud!
Valley fragments piled atop him layer by layer.
****