Testing Immortality Without Mana
Shall we test if that immortality of yours works even without mana? Once I confirmed Heros was still alive, I immediately shaped the surrounding smoke into a fist and smashed it straight into the mage.
BOOM.
The fist of smoke slammed into where the mage stood, and the entire building shuddered.
If this space hadn't been his reinforced workshop—dampening the impact—it would've collapsed outright.
"Ahh, this is a problem."
But as expected—or rather, as it should be—Heros was alive.
Is that even something you can call 'alive'?
Half-dead from my smoke, and now the remnants of his face pulverized by the massive blow. No one would think he was still kicking.
"I couldn't reinforce the building itself, so an attack like that might bring it down?"
Yet the voice emerging from his mangled face—only his mouth intact—was utterly calm.
Gurgle.
His body, scattered like slime everywhere.
With my smoke filling the space, I had eyes on every detail. Those chunks of flesh were slowly gathering toward where Heros had been.
"Ooh, you really grasped all the info with your ability! Impressive!"
Had he noticed me rolling my eyes to scan around?
Heros shouted in ecstatic glee.
"Even knowing the info doesn't mean you can handle it—that's up to the user! And you make it look so easy!"
In an instant, the scattered flesh converged, reforming his complete body.
I watched silently, then tilted my head back and exhaled a long trail of cigar smoke toward the ceiling.
"..."
Getting praise from an enemy sucked, and this whole situation grated on me.
Tromping through that dusty lounge bar just to get into this damn workshop? Not an experience I'd repeat.
And now enduring this obsessive stare from a middle-aged mage?
"..."
Calm down.
I massaged my stiff neck from the stress and just stared up at the ceiling.
"!@%^@!"
I ignored the mage's ravings right in front of me. Not my thing to listen to a madman's babble.
Ariel mentioned undead, right?
I savored the amplified cashew and almond notes from this cigar, mind drifting.
My brain kicked back into gear amid the smoke's aroma.
Is this guy undead?
No, not that. When I first hit him, his heart had definitely been beating.
The trigger kicked in after I sliced him in half, killing him outright.
Slash!
Even as my thoughts churned, the attacks kept coming.
All of Heros's spells were blocked by the smoke swirling around me.
My strikes demolished his body in a one-sided beatdown.
But no matter how I sliced, smashed, or wrecked him, his body regenerated like slime.
Not undead, then.
This workshop had long been under my smoke's dominion.
Every scrap of info—even on Heros himself—flowed into my head.
So I knew.
This revival was too weird for undead.
Even minced to bits and pulverized, the pieces rejoined and lived again.
...A slime?
That regen matched the legendary monster from tales: a slime. Destroy the core or nucleus, or it bounces right back.
Is that even possible?
Turning a human body into slime?
In my back-alley days, I'd seen all sorts, but body-morphing like this? First time.
Right as I pondered Heros's immortality—
The magic circles I'd sensed via smoke suddenly froze.
Magic circles benefiting this workshop's creator, halting?
"Hm?" "Haha! Finally looking this way."
I lowered my gaze from the ceiling, and Heros grinned with gleaming eyes, already deploying circles around himself.
Probably cast by sacrificing the workshop's arrays.
"But too late!"
Whummm.
Dozens of magic circles resonated with his shout.
Clank, whirrr.
Gears meshing like dozens of cogwheels, and something materialized in midair.
A giant forged of steel, twice the size of an average man.
I'd seen its type countless times in my past life's media.
A golem.
"Hoo..." "Not yet!"
Apparently not enough; Heros whipped up more mana, swinging his hand.
Dozens of light threads shot from it, fusing into the golem's back.
Whummm.
The golem's core pulsed wildly.
Just powering up shook the air.
"Now this golem rivals an expert-level knight!!"
Heros stared at it, spouting lines straight out of a cliché villain playbook.
Wait. Cliché villain?
"I'll capture you alive and savor every bit..."
I tuned out his drivel, stroking my chin thoughtfully.
Undead, and now this drug mess.
Meeting that romance-fantasy protagonist Ariel had made me forget, but it hit me again.
Come to think of it, academy elements are mixed in too?
I'd already hypothesized this world blended romance fantasy and academy tropes.
No solid proof yet, just a hunch.
Romance fantasy.
Think about it: would a romance fantasy feature a villain like that?
Mid-50s, madness-driven mage. Human guinea pigs, drug-making villainy?
Too gritty for romance, honestly.
Sure, maybe some dark romance fantasies have it.
I never read them, so who knows villain vibes there.
But if he's an academy-story villain?
Fits right in, doesn't it?
"Again... you're ignoring me again!!!!"
Heros raged at my lost-in-thought stare.
As if reacting to his fury, the golem revved violently.
It raised its massive arms and swung them down at me, deep in reverie.
Titan.
The masterpiece he'd crafted as mage and alchemist.
This golem could take on an imperial knight order vice-captain.
"How..."
But, but!!!
Why! Was his golem's attack blocked so effortlessly.
"Did you block it!!!"
Heros gasped at the scene before him.
A smoke giant matching Titan's size.
It caught the blow with one hand.
What the hell is that thing?!
Deflecting a golem born from sacrificing his own workshop—so easily?!
I can't accept it. No way!
He got blocking normal attacks. He'd acknowledged Abel's strength.
But Titan—amped by offering his entire workshop—blocked casually? Unforgivable.
Whummm.
Heros poured more mana into Titan.
Now the exhaust alone warped the air visibly.
Ignoring stability for max destruction.
"Ah, seriously noisy."
Next, Heros witnessed:
Titan shattering in one hit from the smoke giant.
"...Ha?"
Titan exploded into scattering parts—an incomprehensible sight.
Heros stiffly turned, staring blankly at his golem's wreckage.
Even overclocked and unstable, it was a golem.
A mage's shield for his frail body.
Neutralized in one shot?
"Hey..." "..."
Abel's low voice reached the dazed Heros's ears.
But he couldn't react.
His masterpiece—workshop sacrificed—destroyed in a single blow? Sanity questionable.
"You're not fleeing because of that damn immortality, right?" "..."
Mages are fragile.
All mages Abel fought prioritized distance.
Building spells needs time for formulas.
(Abel didn't know, but mages learn blink first for short-range jumps.)
"..." "Whatever, fine."
Abel spoke, pulling another cigar alongside the lit one.
"If you survive this, I'll think of something else."
A tech born from hating fleeing mages.
Massive smoke cost—needs two cigars. Poor cost-performance.
Abel inhaled both, exhaling enough to shroud his face.
"Hey." "..." "Notice the surrounding smoke's gone?"
He pointed at the wall.
The smoke dominating the workshop throughout the fight—vanished without trace.
Only smoke from Abel's mouth remained in Heros's view.
Chill.
"...What?"
Smirk.
By info provision
Confirming the message on his retina from revealing info, Abel flashed a creepy smile and pointed at the ceiling.
"And what's that?"
Instinct screamed not to look, but Heros couldn't resist, glancing up.
That...? A sphere?
"Where'd the smoke dominating this workshop—the building—go?"
And again.
"Where's the smoke from the cigar I just lit heading?"
The sphere descended slowly.
Human-head-sized. Smooth surface.
But he felt it: immense power impossible to ignore.
Danger!
His immortality—from awakening and body mods.
Never threatened once.
Now instinct blared warning for the first time.
Heros tried to blink out of the building.
——!!!!
Before he could.
The sphere settled fully on the ground, blinding light erupting.
"Gah!!!"
....
"...?"
Heros reflexively threw up every mana barrier.
But he was fine.
No limbs lost, no body wrecked.
This!
Then he sensed the anomaly.
Any mage—or mana-awakened—would detect it.
"Cough!"
Air like a parched desert.
First time feeling it since awakening.
As Heros hacked dryly, Abel mocked with amused tone.
"Well then, shall we test if that damn immortality holds without mana?"