Chapter 126
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 126
Chapter Title: Floor 12 - Lv. 917 Fairy Mage (1)
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"What in the world just happened? Did some ranker show up?"
The Fairy Mage had that thought, then quickly shook his head. One party had already reached this place.
That meant no other Exile party could barge in until a considerable amount of time had passed.
In a floor without Sudden Death, that was at least three months. There was no way another Exile had arrived here already, let alone launch a sudden attack.
So, was that angel an NPC?
Even back then or now, they were a race you might never glimpse even once in a lifetime.
That possibility was far too slim.
Which meant, from that party's timeline, it was a comrade from the future.
To the Fairy Mage, it was a story he'd heard an eternity ago, but he knew of the Temple of Time's existence.
He'd heard that when that party reached the kingdom's entrance, the Temple of Time had been there.
If their current power level was still pre-kingdom, it was possible.
At that moment, the Fairy Mage became convinced that the angel who burst in was a time traveler.
It was a matter of fate.
Despite the many legends surrounding that Exile party, he had never encountered them again in this era.
The Labyrinth had a way of continually linking you with NPCs you had bonds with.
From that party's perspective, meeting a Fairy Mage from the cosmic era would be a first.
Which meant that party was still pre-kingdom right now.
He was shocked by the absurd difficulty even as he nodded in understanding.
The prowess he'd witnessed five hundred years ago had been extraordinary.
If they'd farmed post-kingdom and arrived here, they wouldn't be struggling against Sharkma.
Everything fit perfectly. He had to treat it as fact.
He hadn't gotten a clear look at the angel, but with that level of power, it had to be the Girl.
He needed to report this to his employer—no, his comrade.
The Fairy Mage hurriedly began weaving a spell. Not manifesting it directly. This was a skill.
At the far end of the vastly extended Mind Map, a golden light flashed.
Sharkma had probably died once already. He wouldn't have stepped out with LFV active.
He'd be somewhere in the tower.
That angel might come charging back any second, so time was short. They needed to regroup and decide on a plan fast.
Soon, the spell completed.
All surrounding noise vanished.
Even the light element still illuminating the world came to a halt.
In the frozen time, the Fairy Mage wove another spell. He couldn't match Sharkma's mere gesture mudras, but it was fast enough.
The ashen ground reflecting around him warped dramatically, transforming into Sharkma's laboratory.
Rich stood frozen, gazing out the window.
Instead of approaching, the Fairy Mage restarted time from a short distance away.
The instant he did, Sharkma whipped around. His blazing eyes were chilling.
"I see. I figured you were hiding something more. Time magic, huh."
"A retired Exile needs at least a few hidden tricks, don't you think?"
"Damn it. Do you know how hard it is to handle time without a Mind Map?"
The Fairy Mage had survived solely thanks to the instincts honed over a century to sense death.
It had been so long since they'd screamed warnings of impending doom that he'd instinctively frozen time on reflex.
He had no idea what had triggered such a crisis.
But it wasn't just instinct—Crisis Detection and Prophecy were blaring alarms too. He couldn't brush it off as nothing.
Only after nearly exhausting Time Stop did the Fairy Mage spot the cause: an angel flying straight at them with full power.
It looked like a speck, but as an angel, it'd be here in moments.
That's why the Fairy Mage had fled without looking back.
In hindsight, it had been a very wise decision.
The Fairy Mage quickly shared what he'd realized with Sharkma.
Sharkma let out a sigh at the revelation.
"I see. So that must be the Angel of Time."
"We can't fight her. We won't win."
"I agree. Running is the right call. Head to the Exile prison? We need an Exile to parade as the nominal leader. We'll go via the stairs. I'll buy time."
The Fairy Mage shook his head.
"That's not what I mean. Isn't there a way to neutralize time travel through the Temple of Time?"
Sharkma paused for a moment, recombining knowledge from his long research in his mind.
"Right. If the current Exiles make the future Exile aware of them, she'll be forcibly returned."
Back to the moment right before victory.
"Do you know that the Exile in the darkness was less formidable than expected?"
"A diversion? Fine. Go capture her alive. And drop the formal talk. Aren't we comrades?"
The Fairy Mage chuckled. A proposal he never would've made without showing Time Stop.
Only after laying all his cards on the table did equality emerge.
"Sure."
The Hunter, the Girl, the Youngest, and the little mage had already escaped the range where the explosion could be lethal.
Speed had been paramount, so they'd run without rest.
Breaking out of the encirclement hadn't been hard to begin with. The dense, thick darkness restricted all senses and made detection a struggle.
The enemies were in the same boat.
In a situation where distinguishing friend from foe was already tough, a pinpoint breakthrough was easy.
The Fairies responded to the sudden encounter as if they'd anticipated it. It felt like every fiber of their being was geared toward killing you.
But they couldn't touch the Girl, who dodged bullets on two feet.
No physical magic or gunfire could reach her.
The Girl wasn't breaking the sound barrier. But she could outpace the aim of any sniper or caster.
An environment where precise shooting was already difficult was heaven for assassin-types like her.
The Girl kicked off walls to drop from above, using Dash for erratic, almost bizarre movements.
A few powerful Fairies stood out.
But under the Hunter and Youngest's covering fire, the Girl went utterly berserk.
Spirit callers and mages were never a match for her to begin with. They were prey for power assassins, born killers.
Even dual-wielders and other front-line Fairy fighters weren't advantaged.
The Girl simply crushed them with raw specs, embodying the teachings perfectly and unleashing the might of the nonexistent Power Assassin class.
An assassin and a warrior in one.
She suppressed them swiftly and kept running. The little mage squeezed out every last drop of mana to maintain mobility buffs.
A mage's weakness was sustainability.
Unlike Uncle, who wielded magic with freakish efficiency, the little mage still relied heavily on skills and was nearly tapped out.
They hadn't had ample time to recover anyway.
To fully restore mana, she needed at least three days of rest.
From Floor 10 on, it had been less rest and more catching their breath while pushing forward.
It was right around when the mages' reserves would bottom out.
Mages weren't physically strong by nature, and the little mage's int-dump build made it worse.
As she started lagging from exhaustion, the Girl scooped her up.
Awkward position. Princess carry was mortifyingly embarrassing. She spun in midair and piggybacked her instead.
She whispered to the screaming little mage.
"Manas almost gone, right? You did great. Rest now."
"I can still shoot!"
"No, you'd hit me."
"Okay..."
She'd given her a rifle as a bare-minimum self-defense tool, but after test-firing, no one could bear to comment.
A mana-less mage was little more than an empty tin can—but sometimes being just a can was better.
More than that, the height difference made piggybacking uncomfortable.
'Her legs are dangling.'
Something felt off.
Would I be taller in the future?
Of course, the Girl would never see that version of herself.
They reached the central sector and arrived at what seemed to be the prison holding the Exiles.
At that exact moment, an explosion like a tactical nuke hit from behind, bringing daylight.
Gulping at the light flooding everywhere, the little mage swallowed hard.
The Hunter outright rolled on the ground. The blast wave was strong enough to fling people away easily. No casualties was a miracle.
They'd braced for something big, but this exceeded imagination.
In the midst of it, the Girl roughly pieced together what happened.
The future her had done something, turning the city into total wreckage.
Worry overtook admiration. Even from this distance, structures visibly swayed.
The ground shook mercilessly, announcing the physical impact.
The Girl prayed to the Goddess.
'Uncle's alive, right? Please say he is.'
[He's alive. More importantly, seems like a new problem just cropped up. Be careful.]
The instant the Goddess spoke, the problem appeared before them.
"Oh? Senior. Long time no see."
The Fairy Mage appeared abruptly. The Girl drew her sword. Not the beam dagger akin to a firearm.
Dual swords used by the Floor 10 Fairy dual-wielder. Barely qualifying as daggers in length.
Dagger Mastery judged daggers more leniently than other masteries.
The Girl infused mana, forming a thin membrane along the blade.
Against a mage, physical substance was better. Better mana conductivity, no extraneous variables beyond the overlay.
For now, with the party in combat stance, the Hunter cautiously stepped forward. Just in case this "senior" was friendly.
The Goddess warned sharply.
[Magic! Watch the hand signs. Or his lips!]
The Girl thrust her sword. Lightning shot out.
It wasn't faster than the bolt itself. All lightning struck at near-light speed, but there was a precursor.
The moment the mana line connected and sparks flew, the Girl's sword sliced the magic.
The burgeoning lightning fizzled weakly. She spun the mana-infused blade to cool it.
The instant lightning touched the sword, electricity surged, heating it.
Insanely powerful bolt. If this weapon weren't an ancient Hero Unit's gear, worse would've happened.
"Hmm. You've learned to counter lightning."
From his perspective, the Fairy Mage recalled a battle from five hundred years ago. For the Girl, not much time had passed since then, yet her growth was terrifyingly swift.
Such Exiles popped up occasionally.
Seemed like random-gen NPC Exiles, but with freakishly high starting stats.
Treat them as fixed named Exiles.
"How about this?"
The Fairy Mage's mana stirred.
The Hunter's shot flew. To interrupt before completion.
Trusting his marksmanship, the Girl charged too.
If the magic canceled and he raised a barrier, she'd reach him then.
A Heavy Strike-enhanced blow would shatter even the sturdiest magic barrier.
The physical force in her current swing—doubled—was enough to pulverize rock.
And the Fairy Mage vanished.
In stopped time, the Fairy Mage felt a chill down his spine.
He'd sensed it before, but this party had an eerily solid system.
He'd shrugged it off since they weren't enemies then, but facing them now sent shivers.
If his old party had been like this, would he have ended up here?
His bitter disappointment in comrades had steered him toward living as an NPC.
The Fairy Mage sighed and walked.
Everyone was frozen anyway. First, deal with the others in the back.
The Girl was best one-on-one.
Starting with the biggest headache: the Hunter.
Time Stop was insanely overpowered, but came with heavy restrictions.
For instance, mana didn't flow while time was halted.
Magic wasn't just from mana floating in the caster's body.
Over half came from ambient mana in the air.
You could finish casting during the stop. But manifestation waited until time resumed.
Even so, it was undeniably potent magic.
The spells he prepared now would engulf the enemies the moment time flowed again.
The Fairy Mage pondered briefly.
Capture them all? No reason to.
The Hunter was a pain—kill him for sure here.
Cast Explosion right into his mouth.
To do so, he pried open the bearded middle-aged man's jaws by hand. Saw him holding a Healing Potion in his mouth.
"Whether you die or live is up to chance now."
If the potion was already working, he might survive a head explosion.
Combat incapacity guaranteed either way.
"You've learned well. Really well."
The man didn't hesitate to pass on veteran tricks to juniors.
As if betrayal never crossed his mind.
Once he resolved to turn enemy, all the grating parts surfaced.
He did the same to the burly giant.
Finally, the tall female mage he'd never seen.
Didn't look powerful at a glance. Mana depleted too.
This would suffice.
The Fairy Mage kicked the little mage's head hard, twisting it.
Grabbed debris nearby and slammed her solar plexus.
Time Stop guzzled mana. Save it where possible.
And the Girl.
The Fairy Mage set several more spells.
Especially her—capture alive to make her see her future self.
Lightning-focused array, tuned just shy of lethal.
Spamming so many spells burned mana fast.
Already down thirty percent.
But it'd end here—no issue.
He stepped back and snapped his fingers.
Time flowed again.
Myriad spells bloomed.