ARPG: City of the Dead Mage (8)
“What?”
Mary stared at the uninvited guest with bewildered eyes.
“Nice to meet you, Mary. I never dreamed you’d still be alive, but it’s a relief. They say even dog shit can be useful as medicine sometimes—and I never imagined trash like you would be key to my ascension.”
“You know my name...?”
“Of course~ How could I not? I’m the one who created you—.”
“Heat Buster!!”
Kasian didn’t hesitate.
He unleashed every last drop of mana he’d been holding back, casting the 7th Circle spell Heat Buster.
Ziiing, KABOOM!!
Kasian Valerius’s specialty wasn’t area-of-effect attacks—it was the sheer penetration and raw firepower of his magic.
Even against a peak 7th Circle blue-circle mage, his insane brute-force output could punch through the highest-tier defensive spells.
A blinding white radiance, hot enough to scorch corneas just by looking at it, engulfed the intruder. The entire underground waterway shook with an earthquake.
Superheated, compressed air detonated in a massive shockwave.
KABOOOOOM!!!!
Of course, he hadn’t forgotten to shield Mary and the kids with protective spells, safeguarding their eardrums from rupture.
After all, the true measure of circle rank came down to how many spells you could cast simultaneously.
As the space heaved and the dust storm from the explosion finally settled, the woman’s body appeared—her head completely obliterated.
Astonishing firepower that had vaporized even a homunculus body, which held some resistance to magic.
“Got her!”
“Mister! Why’d you have to say something like that!!”
But Kasian lacked a proper understanding of genre clichés.
Over the obliterated body, amorphous matter writhed and squirmed, regenerating her form in an instant.
“...You’ve got some fire in you. Where’d a mage like you even pop up from?”
“Tch.”
As expected of the entity presumed to be the “most perfect homunculus.”
Regeneration like that was a given.
‘The straightforward approach is to overwhelm her regen until it can’t keep up. But if I do that...’
Kasian glanced at his trembling fingers.
He could feel his limit approaching, for real this time.
Even a 7th Circle mage teetering on the edge of grand mage status risked permanent mana burnout if they pushed beyond their limits—becoming a shell unable to cast spells ever again.
That would be fatal.
It’d mean crushing all his achievements and honors with his own hands.
...No time for distractions! Evacuate first.
Kasian bit his lip hard and shouted.
“Mary! Get the kids out of here, now!!”
“B-But, Mister!!”
“You’ll just get in the way! Hurry up and go!!”
Injuries inside this Dimension subspace didn’t carry over to reality anyway.
Though aftereffects were possible depending on the case, Yujin Feltro had insisted they wouldn’t cause real problems.
‘If that’s a lie, I won’t let you off easy!’
“...Damn it!! Mister!!! You’d better not die!!”
Mary said that as she gathered the kids and headed for the outer entrance.
Shwaaak!!
“Where do you think you’re going!”
Kasian desperately blocked the slashing magic spell hurtling toward them.
The attacks already felt heavier than before.
How much longer could he hold out?
“Hmm... This is turning out more annoying than I thought.”
The problematic homunculus gazed at Kasian with seductive eyes.
Kasian didn’t like that look at all.
It echoed Mary’s base form somewhat, but the body gave off vibes closer to Arkythia.
“Mages lugging watermelons on their chests are the same now as they’ll be 500 years from now.”
“Hahaha, that’s a fun way to put it. These aren’t watermelons—they’re massive mana condensers.”
“Shut your mouth, you cursed thing.”
“That’s harsh—I’ve got a proper name, you know? Vedas. And you, the fiery mister?”
Kasian knew that name.
The black mage who oversaw the unidentified underground facility he’d discovered yesterday—the creator of Mary and Lucy.
Grand Mage Vedas.
Only then did Kasian realize why she’d shown up here out of nowhere.
“...So you turned yourself into the test subject. Couldn’t reach ascension even after making those two? In the end, you got devoured by your own goal. How utterly foolish.”
There was no way to uncover the full truth of what happened on the “Day of Loss,” when it all began.
Did Mary and Lucy wake first and escape? Did someone else smuggle them out? Or did they slip away by sheer luck amid Vedas’s rampage?
It didn’t really matter.
But one thing was certain.
He couldn’t let her anywhere near Mary and Lucy.
As she’d admitted herself.
A perfect human, a perfect mage—neither, but a perfect homunculus. For her final ascension ritual, she’d chosen the two as sacrifices.
“Ah~ So you saw that facility? Impressive... You’d need that level to impersonate the council, after all.”
“Were you part of the council too?”
“Once upon a time. Not anymore. The council... doesn’t exist in this world anymore.”
Vedas chuckled.
“Now, the only mages left in this world are you and me. I killed those bastards first, actually. Useless trash who couldn’t do a thing without magic, obsessed only with hoarding their own achievements. Just like that one-eyed geezer over there.”
“...You’re the council mage who made contact with Phaeton.”
“Bingo. Thanks to that, I’ve regained my strength. That steam golem in Sector B? I smashed the seal stone inside it myself.”
Golems had always been guardians, watchmen over something precious.
When he first found the facility, he’d assumed it was just securing the industrial complex.
But maybe it was sealing this cursed homunculus instead.
A critical mistake.
His own fault for rushing in without proper intel, just steamrolling everything.
“I don’t know where you came from. But kill you, and there’ll be no mages left on this land. I’ll absorb your mana, then hunt down those two pieces of trash and devour them.”
City of the Dead Mage.
Was that what the name truly meant?
Honestly, at this point, he wasn’t even sure.
Why had Arkythia and Yujin Feltro released a world like this?
Maybe to pressure the council, which was starting to cross lines. But the 500-year gap made it hard to pin blame hastily.
For now, though, he shoved all that aside.
Protect Mary, Lucy, and the kids.
That was all that mattered.
“Heat—— Buster——!!!!”
The two mages’ powers clashed once more.
Blazing crimson mana stood against writhing, corrupted black mana that twisted like a living thing.
His mana-spewing fingertips tore open, the magic circuits forming his spell array screamed in protest.
Yet he gritted his teeth and endured.
KABOOOOOOM!!!
But the more he held, the weaker the heat grew. The roaring flames dwindled futilely.
“...Heh!”
Vedas cried out, her mouth splitting to her ears in a grotesque grin.
“It’s over, mister—!”
Kasian sensed his end.
No strength left in his body.
No more magic.
In his final moments, the one he thought of... was his beloved daughter he’d never see again.
‘Claudia, I truly wanted to protect you.’
‘This time, I fulfilled my duty to the end. So please... forgive this worthless father.’
As encroaching darkness claimed him and he gently closed his eyes.
BANG!!
A blue bullet streaked in a straight line, piercing Vedas’s forehead dead-center.
Followed by rapid fire.
Rat-tat-tat!! A lever-action mana rifle in a marksman’s hands could be wielded like this.
Vedas collapsed in a heap, her body riddled with shots to vital points.
“Mary!?”
“Mister!!”
Mary. She’d come back.
“Why’d you come back!!”
“You think I’d just leave you!? After everything you’ve done to protect us!!”
Tears welled in Mary’s eyes.
As she supported Kasian, who could barely stand.
“Ahaha, no way. What kind of idiot walks right back into this? On their own two feet?”
Puke. A black thorn shot from the fallen Vedas’s face, impaling Mary’s shoulder.
“Guhk?!”
“Mary!!!!!”
Kasian tried to cast again in desperate fury, but another thorn slammed into him.
“Gah!!”
His body crashed against the corner wall and slid limply down.
“Ugh...!!”
“Where’s Lucy?”
“Get lost... you disgusting bitch...!!”
“Haha, Mary. You’ve gotten such a filthy mouth since we last met? You weren’t like this before. Missing your parents, maybe?”
“Don’t listen... Mary!!”
Even through his blurring, fading vision, Kasian clung to her.
With things this dire, he had to preserve at least her dignity—
“It’s fine... I already knew...”
But her response caught even Kasian off guard.
“Why look at me... like that...? How else would I have known... about steam golems wandering Sector B’s core...?”
“Oh my.”
“A sanctuary scout’s job is to go deeper than anyone else...!!”
Vedas’s eyes curved into sly arcs.
“Fun. I thought you were clueless? But you knew and still didn’t off yourself? Impressive.”
“Die...? When I’ve still got people to protect...?”
“Nice, very nice. An artificial lifeform protecting humans. Not a bad vibe. Honestly, when I woke up in the complex, I was worried weakling you might just drop dead. Anyway, here’s my offer.”
An offer?
Kasian saw Vedas’s gaze shift to him.
No way.
“Bring me Lucy, and I’ll let the mister live. The other kids too. I only need you and her.”
Kasian watched Mary’s eyes waver.
Anyone could see it was a trap. She couldn’t accept.
“I don’t lie. Unlike some who can’t keep promises. Honestly, I’m not killing you two. I’m completing you. I’ll become the flawless human-mage myself and ascend to transcendence. I couldn’t care less about this broken world.”
“Absolutely... not...!! Lucy’s your... sister...!!”
“Hey, mister. Just stay quiet. You’re barely hanging on as it is. A puny 7th Circle mage blocking me? Please. Maybe an 8th Circle, but nah.”
Mary and Kasian, each harboring different thoughts, locked eyes.
Thud. Thud.
Someone approached from the back of the waterway with quick steps.
“Enough.”
Kasian writhed in deep despair.
After Mary... now Lucy had appeared too.