The Brutal Earth Mage (8)
I sliced the head clean off the kneeling black mage with my sword. Clang!
The black mage, sword already buried in his chest, never got the chance to cast a single spell before his head flew. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say his head shattered. My blade was corroded black from the acidic blood soaking it.
“You bastard. How long has it been since you last bathed that your blood turned acidic?”
I flicked the blood from my sword, which was trailing dark smoke. This blade had been my partner for a long time, but worrying about it could wait. I needed to confirm the kill on that black mage fucker. The last thing I wanted was a third round—him reviving as an undead or swelling into some giant monstrosity.
Thud! Roll, roll, roll….
The black mage’s severed head spun three hundred and sixty degrees through the air before tumbling across the ground. His eyes were wide open, refusing to accept his death. Yeah, he was well and truly fucked.
As I kept my chipped sword raised and stayed on guard, Nefertiti spoke.
“Phew.”
I lowered my sword in relief. The instant golems that had been fighting the adventurers behind the giant construct collapsed as well.
Aaaaah…!!
To the skies of rest…!!
With their sorcerer dead, the souls must have been freed from the black magic. They vanished on their own without me lifting a finger.
Throb!
“Ugh.”
A sudden spike of pain made me grimace. My mana pool still felt plenty full—I hadn’t used much magic that consumed my own reserves today—yet my body was screaming.
I knew exactly why the pain had come, so I dispelled the ᚨ (Ansuz) rune I had carved into the ground.
Whoosh!
The moment the rune that let me commune with the dead was released, the souls faded from sight.
“Cough, cough.”
Nefertiti looked like standing alone was a struggle. Even so, she forced herself to my side to examine the black mage’s corpse.
Her yellow eyes stared straight into mine. The intensity of that gaze left a deep impression.
“It wasn’t thanks to me. The souls the black mage controlled lent their strength.”
“Souls?”
“You mean that explosion, right?” The speaker was Tirsi, who had already given herself emergency treatment with a potion.
“The super-sized earth golem… Khnumut, wasn’t it? Weren’t you the one who made it explode, Nord?”
“No. I only tossed a spark onto flammable material. The explosion itself came from the mana of the souls the black mage had stuffed inside the golem.”
“Ah… So that’s what he did. He put souls inside it.”
“Yes. He sealed their self-awareness and used them as fuel. Earth and souls have the best compatibility with black sorcery, after all.”
“…He poured other people’s souls into a mold called a golem and forced them to cast black magic like slaves?” Nefertiti asked.
Being Mithril class must have helped; she grasped the principle instantly. Like Gentric once said, once you reach a certain level, the labels of mage or warrior stop meaning much.
“Probably. He himself focused solely on maintaining the barrier. This method consumes less mana and avoids the side effects of black magic. Since darkness and yin mana are extremely incompatible with unicorns, it must have been a workaround he devised.”
“…When we fought before, he used it directly.” Nefertiti spoke as if recalling an old memory. So they really did know each other. A bad connection, perhaps.
“Did he polish his techniques for the sake of revenge? Such effort could have been used for something better.”
“Only those who cannot do better become black mages.”
“Well, that’s a very fair statement.”
It applied to anything in life. Effort isn’t about energy—it’s about direction. Expecting good deeds from a black mage bastard was unrealistic.
“Do you need a potion?” Tirsi asked, pulling a bottle from her bag.
I declined, but Nefertiti nodded.
“How much?”
“It’s free. You’re my lifesaver.”
“…I only fulfilled my duty.”
“Yes. So did I.”
Tirsi and Nefertiti exchanged those quiet words and fell silent.
“…I’ll drink it gratefully.” Nefertiti yielded first. She gave a small bow, accepted the potion, and drank.
Gulp.
She downed it in one go, but she didn’t look refreshed. To someone of her caliber, our party’s potions probably felt like little more than a tonic. Just like in RPGs, the stronger you are, the harder it is for weak potions to fully restore you.
If I could see a status window, would it have shown something like HP: 350/1000? Trying to top off a third-tier adventurer’s health with red potions was ridiculous.
Clack.
I sheathed my sword, now riddled with holes like some unreleased, corroded chain-blade. Among the adventurers rushing toward us while avoiding the giant golem’s corpse were Franc and Larilura. It had been one hell of an eventful battle, but every member of my party had survived intact.
With the black mage dead, the barrier over Sarport Forest had lifted as well. That was why the guild leaders and their lackeys came running to the golem’s birthplace with their eyebrows raised in alarm.
Nefertiti, who had recovered a little HP through healing, explained the sequence of events to them. The surviving adventurers then collected the bodies and investigated the site.
The golem subjugation force had suffered surprisingly few casualties. Thirty percent had escaped through the virgin-detecting barrier, and those who remained hadn’t been actively targeted.
Because the Skull Team did the main tanking.
The black mage’s leisurely attitude until Nefertiti showed up had also helped. He had probably planned to use the trapped adventurers as hostages, just like how he had lured the guild leaders with the Silver-class adventurers he let escape from the forest.
His miscalculation was that I—who could counter his golem tactics—was present. If he had prepared a proper counter, killed Nefertiti one-on-one, and then marched on Sargadis, it would have been his complete victory.
Thinking that, I rejoined my party.
“Thanks, Franc. I survived this time thanks to you and Tirsi.”
“Hehe. I’m glad I could help.”
Franc smiled as she took back the mask she had lent to Tirsi. Without those two’s help, I never would have slipped past the black mage’s shield to claim victory.
Poke, poke.
While I was hugging Franc, a sulky Larilura jabbed my back. Ringling No. 3 stood beside her, absolutely covered in dirt.
“Um, senior? Don’t I get a thank-you too? I’m the one who created the opening for that mage sister to exploit, you know? And I stopped Sister Franc when she tried to rush out wearing the mask by herself?”
“What?”
Franc had tried to go out alone?
Flinch!
Franc trembled in my arms. I crouched down to meet her eyes.
“…Franc?”
“W-well… I thought you were fighting alone, so I just… without thinking…”
“Even so…”
I wanted to scold her, but the words wouldn’t come. I was in no position to criticize her recklessness. Hadn’t I broken away from the party by myself, turned the fight against the golem into a Michael Bay movie, and gone toe-to-toe with a Mithril-class black mage? If I hadn’t, Nefertiti would have died and we all would have perished. Scolding Franc for the same thing felt hypocritical.
“Sigh. Yeah. Thank you too, Larilura. For stopping Franc.”
“That’s it? Just words? I’d be completely fine if you patted my head, you know? I’ve been on standby for that since earlier~?”
“Yeah, yeah. There, there, our Larilura. You did well~.”
She took off her hat and offered her head, so I stroked it as requested. It felt a little strange for a grown woman to want her head patted by a man who wasn’t family, but oh well.
“Ahaha♡! See? It’s me, right? Praise me more~?”
Larilura looked overjoyed at even my half-hearted compliment. Did this girl have some kind of affection deficiency? Well, without a flair for attention, she couldn’t have been the ace of a circus troupe.
“Um… Excuse me, but what exactly is your relationship?” Tirsi asked, clearly lost after watching our exchange. A perfectly normal reaction.
“Ah, Franc is the lover I’ve promised my future to, and… Hey. Larilura. What should I call our relationship? Friends?”
“Weren’t we close senior and junior?”
“What senior and junior?”
“…Right?”
Larilura began pondering as if I had dropped a philosophical bomb about the fundamental nature of human existence. Hey, you were the one who started the whole senior-junior thing. How can you not know?
“Well, let’s just say I’m a senior in life.”
Larilura tossed her worries aside and reached a conclusion. Is that really enough for you? There’s a kid who took me as her life motto. I might need to watch my behavior more carefully from now on.
I told Tirsi, “Anyway, as you can see, we’re a very tight-knit party. Though Larilura here isn’t an adventurer.”
“Not an adventurer☆!”
“I-I see.”
Tirsi looked as confused as someone staring at a math formula that gave different answers every time she solved it. Our party’s members really were a bunch of characters.
A druid with a doctorate, a half-dwarf thief, and a former star of a famous circus troupe. We looked less like an adventurer party and more like a circus that somehow made a living by taking requests.
“Over here!! There’s a small room-like space inside the dirt mound!!”
The Skull guy who had led the golem subjugation force shouted. Something had been discovered in the hole where the black mage had emerged.
Step, step.
Nefertiti, having finished briefing the guild leaders, approached. She skipped any preamble and went straight to the point.
“Huh? Me?”
Was she telling me to crawl in there with her? I didn’t understand why the guild leaders behind her were preparing to go and staring at me.
“Uh, unless it’s a special situation like before, I don’t think I can be of much help…”
“No combat expected.”
Nefertiti shook her head.
“Oh, if that’s the case.”
Even if there were traps, the guild leaders would clear them. I could just watch from the back and make sure no one skimmed anything. Nefertiti must have rated my contributions highly enough to include me so I wouldn’t miss out on loot later. After all, taking items from a defeated enemy was an adventurer’s right.
“I’ll be back soon.”
I told my party members that and headed into the black mage’s true hideout.
Slide.
While moving toward the pit, the Gilpy Guild leader auntie slid up beside me. What the fuck. This lady’s sense of personal space was way too close.
“Nord. I heard you defeated the black mage’s super-sized golem?”
“Yes? Ah, yes. I got lucky.”
“How impressive. There were two golems similar to it hidden in Sarport Forest, though they were only half the size.”
Lick.
The red tongue of the Gilpy Guild leader—whose name I had already forgotten—slid across her lips. It was a chilling sight.
“It sounds like a wonderful tale of heroism… If you’re free afterward, would you like to have a meal together? My treat.”
Oh shit.
I realized what she was thinking and froze. So this was the otherworld version of hitting on someone. Or maybe not hitting on—maybe going straight for the back door. This auntie looked like the type who’d talk about Happy International Women’s Day while wearing vibrating panties and aiming for my ass.
“Hahaha. That’s a fine suggestion. Please let me join as well.”
At that exact moment, the relief pitcher arrived. It was Cromwell.
“Our Mage Guild sponsors a restaurant that does an excellent Romania-style dinner course. How about it, Edlyn?”
“Hehehehe… Cromwell? You really do get in my way at every single turn.”
Edlyn laughed with cold amusement. She was way scarier than the black mage. I could completely understand why the Audumla Guild leader was keeping several steps away, clearly wanting nothing to do with her.
Carlyle, you son of a bitch. Get in here too, damn it.
Cough, cough.
I cleared my throat loudly to change the subject.
“Anyway, I’m glad you all are safe. How was Sarport Forest?”
“By the time we realized it was a trap, it was already too late. There was no escape. If it had been a barrier activated by a magic circle, we would have noticed beforehand. But the spell activated with the golem as its core, so our response was delayed.”
Cromwell smoothly followed my awkward topic shift.
“We handled the golem army, including the large one, ourselves. However, most of our main forces besides Miss Nefertiti couldn’t break through the barrier.”
“Ah, that’s right. Mr. Nord, do you happen to know what that strange barrier was? Miss Nefertiti wouldn’t explain.”
“…I’m not sure. I couldn’t pass through it either.”
I gave a vague answer. If Nefertiti had hidden it, I couldn’t reveal the truth. The barrier magic activated by that virgin-obsessed unicorn bastard—Maiden’s Boundary.
Among my acquaintances, only three had been able to pass: Larilura, Tirsi, and Nefertiti. Those who couldn’t were the guild leaders here, me, and Franc.
Thinking that far, I became certain.
This is one hundred percent something that should never be spoken.
The people who could pass and those who couldn’t—for the sake of both sides, this was a secret Nefertiti and I had to take to our graves. A full investigation of everyone who participated in the battle might give people a rough idea, but it would be bad if the words came from my mouth.
“Well, it doesn’t matter. We might find information about that barrier if we search in there.”
Cromwell pointed at the pit.
“After all, mages always organize their research into documents.”