Chapter 342: Surprisingly Clumsy (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 342: Surprisingly Clumsy (4)
Unfamiliarity.
Things that deviated from the norm, things not easily imagined, things never faced before.
When confronting the unfamiliar, most people showed one of two reactions: curiosity or fear.
When she first felt an unfamiliar energy scanning her body, Adelia had felt a distinct curiosity toward the one who had sent that light. She found it audacious of him to peer inside an archmage and fascinating that he had recognized the stone in her heart at a single glance. Adelia had openly displayed her interest, wondering how he could perform such a feat.
On the other hand…
Clang! Clang! Clang, clang!
Whenever she caught sight of those crimson trajectories, daggers were already flying toward her heart and throat. This, too, was an unfamiliar power Adelia had never encountered before.
Whoosh!
Screeech!
Her feelings now, having faced that power head-on, were undeniably fear. Of course, it was not as intense as the terror she had felt before Sispanian, but Sispanian was an absolute being beyond humanity. The person standing before her was merely human—a human who had lived far fewer years than she and whose mana was not particularly vast.
The emotion she felt before such a person was foreign to her.
A power she did not wish to face for long. A fear of the unfamiliar.
"What on earth is he?"
Whether she damaged the roots of the Mother Tree or not, whether she drew the wrath of Sispanian or not…
Should she shatter the forest floor again, leaving him no place to plant his swift feet? Could he still charge endlessly as pillars of fire erupted and the ground collapsed? Should she use the power of the stone to warp the gravity of this entire forest? Should she strike him with torrents of water drawn from the earth and hurl lightning from the heavens?
Should she just attack? Perhaps then, this dreadful feeling would fade.
"You seem to have plenty of time on your hands. I don't."
Crimson eyes, suddenly right before her face, glinted with amusement. She couldn't tell if he was acting this way because he knew she couldn't use her full power here, or if he truly found this fight enjoyable, devoid of any such calculations.
As the goosebumps on her arms faded, Adelia quickly channeled her mana, barely managing to pull away from the daggers rushing toward her. Just before warping, she didn't have the time to glance at her shirt collar, which had been sliced off instead of her neck.
Hummmmm!
The red sword in Calian's hand glowed briefly.
As if the largest stained-glass window of the Serenti Temple had been ruthlessly shattered, or like the iron swords of knights unable to withstand a Sword Master's aura, the longsword split into countless fragments.
The aura fragments, transformed into innumerable blades, floated in the air, casting a chilling light.
Calian had heard about it from Alan, so he was careful not to tear up the ground. He touched nothing beneath the earth, not wanting Sispanian to intervene because he had disturbed the roots of the Mother Tree.
If she intervened, the fight would end—and so would the fun of truly running wild for the first time in a long while.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
The air vibrated.
The fragmented auras were sucked into a swirling vortex that swept up all the surrounding branches and leaves. The foliage was shredded by the fiercely spinning blades, vanishing into unrecognizable pulp.
Rumbleeee…!
The earth vibrated.
It was not a pleasant experience, watching a mere 4th Circle wind vortex suck in and pulverize everything in its path right before her eyes.
"Do I look like I have free time?"
"If you're not free, then are you afraid?" Calian asked with a smile, having once again read her expression perfectly.
Whether the person before him was lying.
Where and how to stab to cause the most pain.
When a person felt the greatest fear.
Yes. Calian knew it all too well.
"No matter how many Circles you have… you're so slow."
He had experienced it so many times himself.
And somehow, it was all thanks to the snake that was now gone.
Snap!
Goosebumps erupted across her skin—from the cold gaze that swept down her spine, and from the vortex splitting in all directions and flying toward her.
Because of it, Adelia had almost forgotten. She had almost forgotten that the person before her was a mage with a mere four Circles, and that her own Circles far outnumbered his. She had almost failed to realize that she had never been this shaken, not even when facing an 8th Circle archmage.
Fwoosh!
Adelia's fire seeped into Calian's rapidly approaching vortex. Within the four-pronged whirlwind, flames as red as Calian's aura fragments swirled violently.
Confirming her own magic had infused his, Adelia moved her hands. Immediately, dense, heavy mana encroached upon Calian's power. She altered the attribute of the mana that had created the flames, turning it into the exact same wind attribute Calian had used.
Hummmmm!
Having infused her own power into his creation, Adelia gestured. The wind vortex, which had been flying toward her, now became a host for her power and shot back toward Calian.
Without even needing to wave a hand, Calian dispersed the aura fragments inside the vortex and kicked off the ground.
Boom!
Crash! Crash!
The vortex slammed into the spot where he had been just a moment ago. The ground was deeply gouged as dirt and stones flew in all directions. Of course, Calian was already gone.
Whoosh!
Another wind rose. The moment she felt it, Adelia warped. Leaving behind the ravaged ground, she appeared atop a distant boulder.
"Over here."
As expected, a voice sounded from right behind her neck.
She knew no one would be there if she turned, so Adelia simply channeled her mana without any other reaction.
He was in front.
Fwoosh!
The moment she confirmed Calian's position, a massive fireball shot out from her side.
Alan had used the same trick before. Having already evaded to another spot the moment he finished speaking, Calian raised his red sword again and lunged forward without hesitation.
As if an illusion, Adelia's distant shadow vanished in an instant, only to reappear in all directions. The simultaneously created illusions all unleashed blades of wind toward Calian.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
A red shield infused with aura enveloped Calian. The wind blades struck it and vanished.
Clang-clang-clang!
Clang, clang!
This time, the energy of blazing fire gathered in the hands of the numerous mages. Though they were illusions, each fireball was bound to contain powerful force, just like the blades moments ago.
Taking a short breath, Calian channeled his mana and kicked off the ground.
Hummm!
Over a dozen red blade fragments floated into the air and flew in a single direction—toward the mages with white hair and blackish-red eyes preparing to hurl fireballs. Toward the single real mage hidden among them.
Whoosh!
Seeing Calian instantly distinguish the real one from the illusions, Adelia's expression hardened as she warped. She deployed a shield to block the fragments, which immediately changed direction to pursue her.
"This is why I don't like people who are good with swords," she muttered.
The numerous illusions vanished all at once, dispersing into nothingness.
Taking another breath, Calian extended a deep red light from his hand—his way of saying he would keep fighting instead of replying.
Adelia's head turned toward Serjein.
To be precise, her gaze fell upon Franz and Arsen, who were with him. She reached out a hand toward the two of them and moved her mana.
Serjein, who hadn't expected Adelia to target Calian's companions with him right there, stiffened. Another layer was added to Arsen's shield.
Calian vanished into the darkness.
A heavy pressure swelled.
Franz furrowed his brow.
Calian now stood just outside the shield enveloping the three of them. Franz had seen him step in front of them many times before, so it shouldn't have been strange or unpleasant. Yet, for some reason, it was.
Nothing happened.
No spear of mana pierced Calian, nor did he sustain any scratches. No wind raged, and gravity did not shift. Nevertheless, the feeling of unease remained.
"...Black magic."
Having figured out the reason, Franz muttered quietly to himself. His scowl deepened as he realized what Adelia had tried to use against him and Arsen.
Calian had been hit by Adelia's black magic.
He had blocked it for them, taking the hit himself.
Yet, nothing happened.
"...Ha."
He had taken a direct hit from the black magic said to have conjured a black butterfly before Alan Manasil, yet nothing appeared beside Calian.
Absolutely nothing.
Calian, who had briefly closed his eyes while facing them, let out a short sigh and slowly opened them. A long smile spread across his face. Seeing this, Serjein spoke in a hurry.
"Go back, Adelia."
Adelia’s mouth snapped shut.
Though she must have heard him, she merely stared at Serjein's face, Calian's back, and the other two.
When she didn't move, Serjein spoke again.
"Go back."
With a face that looked as if she had seen something impossible, Adelia opened her mouth to say something.
But at that moment…
Swoosh!
Calian’s sword, though he had been facing away, lunged for Adelia's neck. Without a word, he had turned and swung.
Struck by the full brunt of the killing intent he had suppressed until now, the archmage's pupils dilated.
She couldn't avoid it.
She couldn't possibly avoid it.
Her eyes locked with Calian's. The thought of deploying a shield vanished. She forgot how to warp, how to escape. She could only watch as the sword flew toward her neck, drawing closer by the millisecond.
And then, finally—
Slash!
The red sword passed through Adelia’s neck, sliced clean through the tree beside her, and dispersed into nothingness.
It felt as though the longsword had sliced through her neck.
Silence fell.
Blink.
A stinging sensation registered.
Her eyelids, tinged with red over her black eyes, blinked once. The head she thought would be severed and rolling on the ground was still firmly attached to her neck.
Slowly, very slowly, Adelia’s hand moved. She brought the arm she had stretched toward Franz up to her neck. She felt thick blood smearing from a somewhat deep cut, but that was all. Her neck was not severed, nor was it rolling on the ground.
"That is what fear is," came the slender, beautiful voice of the one who had feigned the killing blow—just as he had once pierced Devlan's heart. "If you want to scare someone, this is how you do it, Adelia."
He finished, "Not with childish pranks like that."
She wasn't dead.
The sensation of the cold blade passing through her neck remained with chilling clarity. Feeling as though her neck might be sliced again at any moment, Adelia looked at Calian and finally smiled.
Only now did she feel curiosity.
Genuine curiosity toward this arrogant prince who had shown her what true terror was.
Adelia, who had never been hindered by anything in the world, stared at the tree trunk rolling on the ground instead of her own head. Then she turned to look at Calian, and at the empty space around him where nothing had appeared.
Just as she opened her mouth to share her thoughts on the matter—
Flash!
A blinding light erupted.
Countless beams shot up from beneath their feet toward the sky. It was a light so bright that even Adelia and Calian, let alone the others, had to squeeze their eyes shut for a moment.
After a fleeting instant, the light engulfing the forest vanished. Calian, quickly opening his eyes, narrowed them.
Serjein and Adelia, who had been standing right in front of him just moments ago, were gone without a trace.
* * *
Crackle, crackle…
He was used to the smell of burning wood by now.
He was also used to tracing the sparks with his eyes as they briefly lit up the darkness before fading away.
"Since Prince Calian cut down so many trees, we won't have to worry about firewood."
Whether he was just dense or trying to lighten the mood for the angry Vice-Commander, Franz ignored the words of the blue-haired, crazy mage.
"What are you thinking about so deeply?"
Because the man kept talking, Franz, who had been staring silently into the campfire, finally spoke in a low voice.
"Whether it was Danu. Or Adelia."
"What do you mean?"
"Their disappearance. Whether it was Danu's interference or Adelia's own power."
The golden hair, tinged red by the firelight, nodded.
"I don't know if harboring that stone in her heart only allows her to use multiple attributes, like that mage Jina who fought the Association President, or if it enables her to exert power beyond her own Circle. If it's the latter, she might have warped elsewhere, taking Serjein with her. Still, considering that light rose from the ground, I suspect Danu might have summoned them back."
Nodding once more, Franz looked around. The sight of the forest, devastated yet again despite their efforts to restore it, was desolate.
The various foods Yan and Relic had packed were already tucked away in Arsen's pocket. Even so, Calian had insisted he suddenly wanted freshly caught meat, leaving the two of them behind as he disappeared. He hadn't returned for a long while.
"The Prince is late. I wonder how far he went to catch whatever it is he's after."
"Leave him be."
Franz replied curtly and leaned his back against a tree trunk.
Thanks to the missing branches that should have obscured the sky, the heavens were perfectly visible. Watching a shooting star streak down, he let out a deep sigh.
He had told him not to deploy a shield, and he hadn't.
But since he hadn't told him not to block it with his body, Franz couldn't say much. That was what made it even more irritating. What on earth was he thinking, blocking Adelia's magic with his bare body?
"If I had been hit by that magic, we probably would have seen you, Prince, reading my apology letter in front of the Crown Prince, who is the Vice-Commander," Arsen mused, shivering slightly at the thought of other terrifying scenarios, like a giant Coco grown to the edge of the sky, or Euria holding some cliché flower from a random guy instead of a blue ice flower.
"I blocked Commander Manasil's magic once, too," Arsen continued, as if reading Franz's thoughts. "And you, Prince, already know that. So you must have blocked it knowing exactly what kind of magic Adelia was using. If you hadn't, you would have either left it alone or deployed more shields."
If it had been normal offensive magic, Arsen's shields would have blocked it. But black magic that drags out a person's inner fears couldn't be stopped by a shield, so Calian had taken the hit instead.
"I didn't say anything."
"Yes, I was just talking to myself. But shouldn't you tell the Prince what Serjein said?"
"Not today."
"Understood."
Silence fell once more.
Arsen, tending to the campfire, spoke again.
"For nothing at all to appear as his greatest fear… As expected, the Prince is truly amazing, isn't he?"
The blue-haired, crazy mage was exceptionally talkative today.
Instead of answering, another long sigh escaped Franz's lips.
He still hadn't sorted out what to do about the words Calian had heard from Serjein during the fight. And now, he had witnessed something else that only complicated his thoughts further.
"It did appear," Franz said quietly. "That was it."
Not the snake that had vanished, nor the ship that no longer mattered.
Franz knew that what had been shown was the only thing Calian truly feared. Of course, Calian knew it too. That was why he couldn't even bring himself to catch a measly wild chicken or boar…
"The forest is completely empty, Brother. I guess we'll just have to eat what Yan prepared."
…and had trudged back empty-handed.
Staring at Calian for a moment, Franz stood up. He grabbed the bow and quiver strapped to Estina's saddle.
"What are you doing?"
"Hunting."
"I told you, it's completely empty."
"I'll catch something. Let's eat some meat."
With heavy steps, Franz walked away.
Staring after him for a moment, Calian grinned sheepishly.
"Okay."