Chapter 81
Chapter 81
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: In the Name of Glory (17)
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***
"Playing the same petty tricks over and over? How arrogant!"
No one knew what method he'd used, but Aldrich had wiped out the undead swarming the plaza in an instant. The black mage, who had remained stone-faced throughout the battle, now wore an expression of clear fury.
"How many did I send? Dozens? Hundreds? Fine, have at it! The spirits bound here outnumber them by dozens of times. Go on, play your little ferryman role until your soul wears out completely!"
Rumble rumble rumble—
As the black mage chanted his spell, the ground began to shake once more.
The Professor was already moving before he could even think.
'We've already surpassed the population of an entire village. This town's on the route from Pellas to Tobrun. That bastard must've grabbed every refugee from Pellas he could find and absorbed them!'
The moment Aldrich finished his incantation, the Professor had instinctively sensed it. The driving force behind the undead filling the plaza—the souls bound within them—had departed this place. But as the black mage said, he still had souls aplenty at his disposal. Giving him time here would just repeat the earlier scenario.
"Borka. Think you can breach that barrier just once?"
". . . I'll try, but it's too far. Can't make any promises."
Just as the werewolf and the Professor braced themselves on the heaving ground for a mighty leap,
"I'll handle that."
Otman's hands, preparing his spell, finally formed the seals.
Crack, snap, pop!
The plaza lay silent now, the undead's snarls and screams gone. Amid the quiet came the now-familiar sound of fingers cracking. Water mages specialized in chaining spells, after all—Otman wouldn't miss this chance.
As the Professor and Borka hesitated, a smug smile returned to the black mage's briefly twisted face.
"Fools! A moment's hesitation, and you've lost your only shot! Come forth! Army of the dead! Rise! Patchwork of despair, awaken! [Undead Rise]! [Summon Patchwork Giant]!"
Crack, craaack!
Just before Otman's spell completed, the black mage's incantation activated in a flash. Vast quantities of black ash seeped into the earth. The ground heaved violently, to the point where standing was nearly impossible. Anyone could see something massive was about to emerge.
"Otman!"
"Don't worry. Just watch."
"But... giving him more time will waste the opening Aldrich created!"
"No, it won't."
Otman flashed a triumphant grin at the bulging ground.
"Time, you say... Yes, a mage's danger scales with the time he's given."
Rumble craaash—!
.
.
.
.
.
With Otman's confident declaration, all vibrations and noise vanished in an instant.
Thud, crack—
A rotten arm burst through the ground.
It flailed weakly as if barely escaping, then slipped powerless back into the hole.
". . . You bastard... what have you... done?!"
"Nothing much. You just... gave me too much time."
Groooan—
A massive collapse echoed, and the swollen earth began sinking. Down, down, crumbling completely, endlessly down.
"Tell me, Professor. Know the first rule of magical combat?"
"If you're on your enemy's prepared battlefield, change the battlefield?"
"You do know it."
Realizing what Otman had done, the Professor couldn't help but let out a hollow laugh.
"This is ridiculous..."
"Aren't mages supposed to do the impossible?"
Crack!
Fifth-circle water magic
"[Otman Bodler's Sinkhole]"
Roooar!
Below the collapsed surface yawned a vast cavern. At its bottom, save for glowing white roots, lay emptiness—swirling waters swept countless undead into a frenzy.
"I'm a research mage, so analyzing situations is second nature. I don't know much about black magic, but at least ninety percent of the undead he commands are bipeds—dolls useless without footing. The water from the entrance had soaked deep underground, so I carved from the inside out. Originally to topple that foul tree... but it wasn't quite enough power."
"You mean... you dragged the entire wave from the entrance here?"
"What? Of course. Would a water mage enter battle without his water? I channeled it all through the groundwater paths. The land's tainted by black magic, so it took time, but..."
Otman beamed at the black mage's contorted face.
"Looks like it worked."
"Agreed. An enemy's grimacing face always means success."
The Professor could see the boy's face twist, revealing the wizened elder beneath.
***
"Insolent worms... daring to interfere with my ritual!"
The plaza now held only the white tree and the sunken pit. The black mage's voice boomed with rage—or so it seemed. The Professor could tell he was quite rattled. The tide had turned. Most of his undead guardians were down below, a water mage his equal targeted him, and two powerful warriors protected that mage.
Dread of defeat began creeping into the black mage's mind.
"""No. That can't be."""
He couldn't bear it. Pushed here by mere mutants—his creations—and now to lose, to die to these fake heroes? Him?
"""No, absolutely not, never! I won't lose! I, master of curses and necromancy! To you pathetic worms!!"""
Shiiiing!
With his resolve, the black mage's nails sharpened. He could do this. He wasn't some weakling doomed to die here! He was qualitatively different from the souls he'd burned over decades! He could win! No chance of failure!
"You think these cheap tricks can best me? If you truly believed that, let me show you how arrogant you are!"
Riding black ash currents to the flesh-tree's top, the black mage plunged all ten fingers into his chest and ripped it open.
"Behold! The pinnacle of great black magic! A realm of supremacy no hypocritical path can reach!"
Blood spewed as he reached for his heart. Human bones formed branches gathering around him.
"Sins pile into karma, and karma forms the mold that testifies to the sinner's life!"
Crunch!
Without hesitation, he tore out his heart and raised it high. Black ash scattered across the village converged on the plaza, surging toward the heart.
An ill wind blew. Anyone could sense the harbinger of horror.
"Throw me! Before he finishes chanting!"
Sensing the ominous aura, the Professor prepared to leap the pit. Borka rushed up, frantic.
"Throw me? Right into the middle?"
"No time! Before I lose control completely!"
Only then did the Professor notice Borka's state. Black energy swirled in his eyes; his silver aura fur had dulled to sickly gray. The black magic's power had infiltrated him unnoticed.
"Just once! Full power—it'll shatter his defenses briefly."
Borka said no more, growling as drool dripped from his maw.
The Professor needed no words to guess the rest.
He cupped his hands like a volleyball setter. Borka's bare foot stepped onto them. The werewolf's feverish heat felt like fire against the chill black-magic air.
"Trusting your toughness—full power launch."
"Don't lag behind."
Rooooar—!
The Professor looked up at the black mage. The heart sucked in air so fiercely breathing grew hard.
'No time. Whatever that is, letting it finish will be more than a headache!'
"Huuuup!"
Grip!
The Professor's arms tensed.
"Legs locked—here we go!"
Confirming Borka's readiness, he poured his full strength into hurling the foot upward.
"Uryaaaah!!"
"Raaargh!!"
Borka kicked off with the launch, streaking like lightning toward the black mage.
Thump-thump—
The heart, now absorbing all black ash, pulsed black as night.
The black mage's fading eyes gazed on it with satisfaction.
"I pile my sins. Form steps of karma to drag down those heavenly hypocrites."
Crunch!
"Grraaagh!"
Borka's claws pierced the bone wall around the black mage, slashing his throat and bursting through the opposite side.
The Professor mid-leap, Aldrich and supporting Otman—all saw it. The severed head flew skyward; the massive flesh-tree froze.
"Success...?"
The white bone wall crumbled. The small boy's body and black heart in his hand plummeted.
Victory flickered in their minds when—
"""Last... spell..."""
The black mage's head, frozen in a grin, opened its mouth as it fell.
[Rise, Dead One]
Crack!
A massive white arm burst through the tree, snatching the black heart. The pulsing heart's energy flowed along the arm into the tree—
"Damn! Too late! The spell's complete!"
"""KAAAAA-AAAAAAAAA!!!!!"""
Amid Aldrich's scream, a white demon shed its husk and stirred.
***
It was a colossal bone demon.
Vast wings of black ash.
Three goat skulls for a head.
One hand gripped a black mace, the other black chains.
Its single roar blew roofs away. Slowly, it turned toward the group.
"What... is that?"
"A demon. Not fully, though. He used demon summoning and lich transformation simultaneously. Used that white tree—his soul vessel—to summon the demon, then transferred before the ritual crossed over."
"So that's the black mage?"
"Part of him. Even a pure lich spell succeeds six times out of ten with utmost care. In battle, using a demon's body as the frame—by someone barely fifth-circle. And he died before completion. Bet he's lost most of his soul. Power's incomplete too. See the body crumbling? Leave it be, it'll die on its own—"
"""KAAAA!!! DUUU! RAKA!!!!!"""
Screeech!
Boom!
The Professor yanked the two mages from the black mace's swing, scowling.
"...At least his hatred for us is fully intact."
"Hmm. No time to wait for it to die."
"Weak point?"
Aldrich answered instantly.
"Form changed, but still a black mage at core. Find the soul vessel. Destroy it, and it's just a weird bone pile."
"No need to hunt for it."
The Professor's eyes locked on the demon's chest. Amid crumbling bones, the black heart the mage created last beat, channeling power through the body.
No time to conserve strength. Death here meant permanent character deletion—losing his chance to separate from Hyde forever.
Eyes closed, the Professor called to the tenant in his mind.
'Hyde. If you surface and go berserk like last time, how many seconds?'
[No mutant blood, so pure shell blood. Can't make big mass... Regen only? 15 seconds?]
'15 seconds... Can you time it perfectly, get me to that heart in that window?'
[Possible, but... no margin for error. Arrive, and it's over. No more after. Even returned, you'd have average adult male strength.]
'Just that much. I'll handle the rest.'
Crack, crackle!
Permission granted, the Professor's consciousness sank into darkness. Hyde rose.
"Hmmm—! Refreshing. Wish I could surface leisurely sometimes, not just crises."
[Finish this, I'll give you a full day next.]
"Ooh! For real? Promise, shell! No lies between us! Deal!"
As Hyde monologued, Aldrich beside him gaped like he'd seen another demon.
"Impossible... The soul completely swapped? How is this possible?"
"Ahaha! Nice to meet ya, Aldrich! Pretty cool for an old guy! Saw it all from inside!"
"Inside? Two souls coexisting? What are you?"
"Hehe. Exactly what you're thinking. Mon-ster."
Hyde bewildered Aldrich, then yanked up Otman, toppled by the birth shock.
"No time—quick answer. Can you make stepping stones up there?"
"Uh... yes. But you seem different—"
"Then do it!"
Hyde leaped into the pit without looking back.
"H-Hey! Wait—argh! [Floating Water]!"
As Hyde faltered mid-fall, Otman's flat water disc bounced him upward. A light kick sent him far— no ordinary water.
"Water imbued with repulsion insight! First-circle volume, plenty to maneuver—use it!"
"Sorry! Can't do magic! That's Professor! Keep summoning to match me, gramps!"
"W-What?"
Splash!
Kicking the water plate, Hyde dove into the demon's embrace, igniting his whole body with infectious factors.
"Mutation Berserk"
Screeech—
Claaang!
The massive incoming mace clashed with Hyde's fist. The demon's arm reeled; Hyde rocketed back like a cannonball from the impact.
"Argh! [Floating Water]!"
Splash!
"Whoa—nice catch! Water wizard grandpa!"
Using the momentum, Hyde sprang faster toward the opposite chain hand.
'Fail now, we're all dead. One shot, clean!'
"8 seconds!"
Crunch!
Hyde hugged the curse-laden chain. His arm and chest blackened and burned, but he ignored it, landing at the pit's edge and yanking the chain like uprooting a mountain.
Craaackle!
"""KAAAAA!!!!!"""
The already crumbling skeleton shattered under the force. The right shoulder exploded; the black wing scattered.
"""KUUU!!! DU KAA! TESAAAAA!!!!"""
"Yeah yeah! I get it! Crumbling body's a pain! 5 seconds!"
Splash!
Hyde, body crumbling like the demon's from the curse, leaped onto Otman's spell at its feet, hammering both arms down at the falling chest.
Smaaash!
Craaunch!
"""KAAAAAA!!!!"""
The demon, clawing up the sinkhole wall, couldn't hold against the chest impact. It gouged a long scar sliding down.
"Bones belong buried! 3 seconds left! One more shot!"
Fwoosh!
With Hyde's words, the Professor's consciousness resurfaced.
"Thanks, Hyde."
He ripped off the necklace relic and gripped its core.
Oval-shaped, pointed ends, hollow center relic.
[Item: Light of Nelphia / Indestructible until holy power depleted (4500/4500) / Holy Power Amplification / Slowly recovers holy power in light / Locked / Locked / Locked]
Useless amplification for the holy-powerless Professor.
'A cleric could've unlocked those behind the locks. Even a sliver of holy power to activate it would gather in the hole, eye-like, granting abilities!'
"Saw this and knew just the trick!"
He jammed four fingers into the holy power-gathering hole, gripping it tight—like knuckles. Sacrilege to any priest.
The Professor wore Nelphia's Light as brass knuckles.
Ziiing—!
Reacting to black magic, the relic blazed radiant light. He slammed his right fist full-force into the demon's heart.
"""KAAAA!!!! KU DEKA!!!! ALSEKRA!!! MAHELA!!!!"""
"Shut up and die!! Demons always croak to the hero's fist—tradition!!!"
Crunch—
The relic-clad fist shattered the encasing bone, plunging into the black heart—
Fwooooosh—!
"""KAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"""
Blinding holy light filled the vast pupil, erupting skyward in a pillar of brilliance.
***
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