Chapter 250: Red Meteor
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 250: Red Meteor
The screams of two nameless men echoed from the depths of a bottomless abyss.
"I must... I must complete her Great Plan as soon as possible...!"
Ratashia obsessively repeated the words to herself. She had cast brainwashing magic on the two men who had come to dispose of the corpses before pushing them into the pit herself.
Ratashia was a high-ranking mage who hadn't seen a shred of growth in years. In explorer terms, she was a mage of exceptional skill, equivalent to the Titanium Grade, but she had eventually hit a wall at the limit of her potential.
However.
There was one person who had cleared that blocked path to growth in a single stroke.
"Hmm, try using the 21st Magic Formula there."
"...Mind your own business and keep moving, will you?"
Back when she was a member of the Page of Arcana, a woman had approached her like a passing breeze as she stood in despair before an unsolvable problem.
Who is this person...?
At the time, Ratashia hadn't known the woman was a guest of her direct superior, Mad Popenes, so she hadn't been particularly friendly. Yet, a single piece of advice from that woman had stuck in her mind, leading Ratashia to a grand realization.
The woman had solved a horrific conundrum that Ratashia hadn't been able to crack for months with just a casual glance as she walked by.
"Y-You! How did you figure it out?!"
"Hmm? Whatever do you mean?"
"The 21st Formula! How?!"
The next time they met, Mystery Antoinette had simply offered a beaming smile to the Ratashia who was shaking her by the shoulders.
"Perhaps it was just a coincidence?"
"A coincidence...?"
Ratashia found it hard to believe that this woman was the head of an illegal cartel called the Antonio Brotherhood. She knew she couldn't stay with the Page of Arcana forever.
Above all, Ratashia still hungered for magical improvement.
"Are you curious? About how to catch a coincidence?"
Mystery Antoinette had pierced right through to that desire.
* * *
Shortly after, Ratashia left the Page of Arcana.
Leaving behind the books filled with the brilliant magical knowledge of Roanmarie’s history, she joined the Antonio Brotherhood—a group she had once dismissed as nothing more than foolish city thugs.
There was only one reason.
The magical knowledge possessed by the leader, Mystery Antoinette. It was impossible to know how she had obtained it. It was impossible to even guess its source.
A genius.
A genius comparable even to the true head of the Page of Arcana, the 'Mother of Magic' herself, who had lived for five hundred years.
"Oh my, Ratashia."
"T-Terry!"
A young girl who didn't fit the gloomy atmosphere of the body disposal site approached. Ratashia jumped in surprise as the petite girl with pale pink hair drew near.
"Hehe, why are you so startled?"
Mystery Antoinette approached with a bright smile. Looking at her, Ratashia steadied her trembling lips, clasped her hands together, and spoke.
"To... to bring the Great Plan to fruition even a moment sooner...!"
"Hmm... I believe I told you it's best not to do anything that might give outsiders a reason to criticize us...."
"Gasp...!!"
There were more than enough corpses in the Southeast anyway. Though their mana capacity was pathetic and a vast number of bodies were needed for the 'Great Plan.'
With Ratashia's abilities, she could have filled the pit with dozens of times more lives possessing higher quality mana. The only reason she hadn't was that the optics from outside the Southeast were poor.
If unexplained disappearances continued to occur, outsiders would inevitably view the Southeast with suspicion. Even now, people still came to spend money on entertainment and pleasure, but that could change.
"I am sorry!! I never intended to disobey your words, Terry...!"
"Pfft, stand up, Ratashia. I know your heart well."
"A-Ah...!"
Every time she held Mystery Antoinette's hand like this, Ratashia felt as if fragments of the knowledge the woman possessed were rummaging through her mind. It felt as if her head was being filled with knowledge in real-time, awakening her to things she had never understood before.
As the ecstasy faded and Ratashia's blurred vision returned, she saw Mystery Antoinette's radiant smile, looking at her as if comforting a small child.
"Ratashia, you were truly sincere about speeding up the completion of my plan."
"Yes...!! My thoughts are always filled with you, Terry...!"
"As it happens, there is a situation where you can help. Will you do me a favor?"
"If it's something I can do...! I'll do anything! Truly...!!"
Ratashia, her face smeared with tears, went as far as to kneel and cling to Mystery Antoinette's hand. Mystery Antoinette looked down at her with a gentle, crinkling smile.
"It seems my plan is finally reaching its final stages. This is likely... thanks to your devotion, Ratashia."
"Yes...! I worked hard! Really—"
"That's why, Ratashia."
Mystery Antoinette's hand gave a slight tug. Ratashia gripped her hand and stood up from where she had been kneeling, facing her leader.
"It seems I only need a little more mana."
"Completion...! Is it finally complete?!"
"Yes, of course."
"That's wonderful! Truly!"
Ratashia was overjoyed. What exactly was the grand plan of this genius mage, Mystery Antoinette? Collecting corpses? That was fine. Geniuses always had their eccentricities.
By collecting and disposing of the filthy corpses of the Southeast, wasn't she actually doing a good deed? When she realized the ultimate goal was mana, she had even pushed a few perfectly healthy people into the pit without realizing it. She could do at least that much for the sake of the Great Plan.
"Ratashia. For the completion of the magic... could you step into the pit for me?"
"Pardon...?"
A brief silence. An unwavering, radiant smile. A tangle of countless thoughts.
"It's something only you can do. It's not difficult. Just... turn around, close your eyes, and walk... slowly... slowly."
"Ah, uh... ugh...."
Just in case, Ratashia looked behind her. Naturally, this was the body disposal site. Behind her was the deep, abyssal pit where she had pushed the corpses.
"Ratashia?"
"T-That is...."
"Is it something you cannot do...?"
A hint of worry and disappointment touched Mystery Antoinette's expression. Ratashia's hands trembled violently, her eyes blinked incessantly, and her lips stopped moving.
"I-I can do it."
Ratashia carefully let go of Mystery Antoinette's hand, squeezed her eyes shut, and slowly turned around.
"Haa... whew... whew...."
After a few deep breaths, Ratashia opened her eyes to a new sight.
A surging river of honey. Grass overflowing with vitality. Trees laden with blooming flowers and ripe fruit.
"Paradise...!"
Ratashia took a slow step forward. Her hand reached out as if trying to grasp something. Her mouth hung open, and she began to drool.
"Terry...."
"Yes, Ratashia. I am right here."
Finally, her foot stepped into empty air.
"A-Ah...!"
With the rich mana of the first-rate mage Ratashia as the final touch, the Succubus Queen's Treasure manifested upon the surface world.
* * *
"Two weeks and it's over. Still, it was a comfortable success."
This was immediately after the sparring match with Iris. The 'fifty percent' she had claimed was actually her full power; realizing this, Yoo Eon let out a sigh of relief, looking forward to the rest ahead.
However, a bolt from the blue struck.
"There's one more thing left."
"No, what now? Can't we just stop here...?"
Iris shook her head as if the real work was only just beginning.
"This is the main point."
"The main point?"
"Yes."
His throbbing headache was easily cured by a few of Iris's magical manipulations. While it didn't resolve Yoo Eon's mental fatigue, it had made the bizarre feat of continuous day-and-night combat for two weeks possible.
"Do you remember what I said before?"
"What are you referring to? It's not like we've only talked once or twice."
There was something Iris had said to Yoo Eon previously.
"About having to eat the Legion Commanders, you mean?"
"Exactly."
He remembered. The first target would likely be Mystery Antoinette.
The Succubus Lord and the Succubus Queen. Currently, as the head of the Antonio Brotherhood, she was waiting in Calax to kill the successor of the Emperor of Sinew.
"You remember it well, right?"
"Remember what? Please use a subject."
"My fight."
"Tsk, of course. I've been watching it to death for two weeks."
He remembered every stage vividly—how to react when things got dangerous, which attacks were fatal, how to counter them, and so on.
"Can you use it?"
"...What?"
Yoo Eon, who had been lying on the floor, lifted his head and looked at Iris as she approached him.
"The power of a Legion Commander of the Demon King. The Vampire Lord. The power of Iris Albresto."
* * *
"Fortunately, it seems everyone has already crossed over."
"Phew! That took ten years off my life! My heart was shrinking from worry... Ah, is that because of the skill?"
After discovering the long-range curved bombardment magic flying toward the North, Yoo Eon had soared straight into the sky. Not long after, Roland, who had also confirmed the bombardment, arrived in the Northwest.
"Where is my son-in-law?"
"He just soared into the sky... I'm not sure what he's planning."
Roland and Renart each spoke as they recalled the combat forms they had seen Yoo Eon use.
"I wonder if he'll be alright...."
"He'll be fine! After he took on that deep blue form, he even took down the Horus Irregular in one go."
"Hmm?"
However, there was a discrepancy in their memories of Yoo Eon's combat form. The last time Renart Lymain had seen Yoo Eon's combat form was on the video screen during the Calax Birth Festival.
Back then, he hadn't been able to properly control the Knight Lord's mana, so his entire body had been purple.
And above all, the image burned into her memory was the one she saw at Roanmarie's Arena. At that time, too, he had been in a state of purple mana.
"Was it not purple?"
"Eh? No? It was blue."
Since then, Yoo Eon had gained firm control over the Knight Lord's mana, and his body's mana had changed to blue. Since that was the color he was when Roland entered the Labyrinth with him, Roland's memory wasn't wrong either.
"I remember it clearly. It was purple."
"No, no, I'm telling you it was blue. What are you talking about?"
The short, elementary-schooler-sized Roland and the adult beastkin woman of indeterminate age, Renart, locked eyes, sparks flying between them.
"Shall we see for ourselves?"
"Fine! Let's look! I know I'm right!"
At that moment, high in the sky near the center of Calax. Yoo Eon, who had soared upward, was ready to begin a high-speed descent toward the Southeast central district.
Cr-crack...!!!
His entire body twisted as black armor tore through his flesh, and his skeletal structure shattered only for new bones to grow in a gruesome display.
In just a few seconds, he transformed from human to non-human. He double-checked the trajectory he had calculated to ensure he would land exactly in the heart of the Southeast.
Then, Yoo Eon nodded and lifted his head.
"Alright. Let's go."
— — !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
With a roar that defied language, Yoo Eon was launched at supersonic speed.
Watching the red meteor streak across the dark, cloud-covered sky of Calax, Roland and Renart spoke from below.
"It's red...?"
"It's red."
It was a draw.