77
Chapter 77
As the old woman instructed, I carefully placed my hand on the outer edge of the magic circle.
As mana spread from my fingertips, the entire magic circle emitted a tingling vibration and began to radiate a dark red light.
The light was much darker and deeper than before.
It was a color that looked like blood boiling in the dark.
"Huuup..."
The old woman took a short breath and raised her staff.
As mana poured out from her fingertips like an explosion, the center of the magic circle fluctuated wildly.
The complex patterns twisted all at once, then realigned into precise orbits, returning to a refined shape.
I slowly flowed my mana through my fingertips, following that current.
The surrounding air fell into a momentary silence before the old woman spoke again.
"Don't slow down. If the mana is cut off, the formation will collapse."
"Yes!"
I bit my lip and concentrated.
Every time the old woman's staff moved, cutting through the air, the magic circle gradually changed its shape and expanded into a new structure.
Her mana was rough but precise.
As if handling a familiar weapon, she drew complex trajectories without a single inch of error.
"...Done. The connection is complete. Now we have to open the grid."
"...The grid?"
I asked back, wondering what that meant.
I had never heard of or seen the structure of a magic circle.
"In the center of the magic circle, there's a grid that controls the energy. Simply put, it's like a bottle stopper holding back poison. I have to open it carefully and suppress the energy trying to overflow from inside. If I can't do that... this kid's heart will burst first, and we'll get hurt too."
"...Really?"
"Do you think I'm lying!"
She slammed her staff into the ground and spoke with irritation.
"The moment I open the grid, the mana trapped inside will burst out. Block that gap with your mana. You have to build a wall. If you fail, the entire magic circle will blow up. So shut your mouth and just focus!"
Before I could even open my mouth, she raised her staff, as if she had already finished her preparations.
Her eyes shone fiercely, unlike before, and the flow of mana felt over her shoulder was even heavier and sharper.
"Here we go."
Thud.
The moment the staff pierced the floor, the center of the magic circle began to shake.
Inside it, a dark red energy rippled and tried to rise up like boiling mud.
I suppressed my trembling fingertips and focused my mana again.
I couldn't afford to make a mistake now.
A single moment of distraction could take Bill's life.
As she had said, there was a clear flow of mana inside the circular magic circle.
It was like a giant circular maze.
And the mana wriggling inside it looked like people trapped in the maze searching for an exit.
I didn't know the exact mechanism.
But it was clear that the moment that current tried to escape out of the maze, I had to block the gap.
Whether she noticed I was focusing, she immediately began to open the 'grid'.
The flow of mana inside the magic circle suddenly began to lean towards one direction.
As if the stopper of a full water tank had been pulled out, the mana looked ready to forcefully rush out.
I could tell without needing an explanation that I had to block the end of it.
"Hup."
I drew up my mana and spread it out, feeling like I was building an invisible wall.
Although it produced no physical results, it seemed the rules of this world allowed mana to interfere with itself.
The surging flow of mana crashed into my own and came to a halt.
Like placing a stone on top of a rattling pot, the flow temporarily calmed down.
But that calmness was not a peace without a price.
It felt like I was blocking a bursting dam with my entire body.
From the moment I built that wall, I could feel my mind and mana being rapidly consumed.
My breath grew short, and my head felt dizzy.
Even though I had only blocked it for a moment, it felt like all the strength was draining from my entire body.
Amidst the agonizing tug-of-war, she suddenly caught my eye.
A fleeting suspicion crossed my mind that she had dumped all the hard work on me and taken the easy way out, but I quickly shook my head.
"...."
Judging by her expression, it was clear she was also giving it her all.
Gripping her staff tightly toward the magic circle, her lips moved without rest.
Her pronunciation was fast and sharp.
At the very least, it wasn't a language I knew.
No, perhaps I was foolish to expect it to be the same language in the first place.
With a look of intense concentration, she spat out the spell while breathing heavily.
Sweat poured down her forehead, and tension reached all the way to her fingertips.
...I wasn't fighting alone.
Only then did I find the strength to hold on, even if just a little.
After holding out for a long time, the magic circle began to spew dark red smoke, as if something had changed.
Bill's body, lying at its center, twitched.
"Ugh... Hah...."
As if in pain, Bill opened his mouth and let out shallow breaths.
A sound that could have been a groan or a scream escaped his throat, and cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
A bizarre sensation rippled from somewhere deep inside his body, as if something was trying to claw its way out.
In the middle of the magic circle, where a chill lingered, she finished the spell in a low, thick voice.
"...Sigrel mana aeternum, et occulm ordo."
The magic circle wavered irregularly.
The shapes carved into the floor quivered, and an ominous energy began to rise.
The dark red light slowly spread, and the presence of something boiling within could be felt.
"Befanir Style. Suppression Formula."
For a moment, all sound vanished.
In the silence, her eyes flashed.
[Static Flow]
And like a declaration, she spat out her final words.
Slam!
The staff struck the floor hard.
In an instant, the magic circle began to pulsate and ripple as if it had gained a heart.
Green and dark red waves flashed alternately, and the surrounding air vibrated in time with the shockwaves.
The scattered wooden boxes clattered and rang, and my hair stood on end like a flash of static electricity.
Whir, whir, whir, whir.
Within it, a torrent of magic power swirled and began to extend outward in the form of a seal.
The mana writhed madly as if resisting fiercely, but its movements were stuffed inside the grid like an insect specimen.
Zzzing—
The lines of the grid slowly narrowed, beginning to strangle the flow of mana.
Along with a howling vibration, a thick, sticky energy spread through the air.
Splat.
"Gasp! Cough!"
Bill vomited blood and flinched.
As the blood flowing from his mouth dripped onto the magic circle, the pattern briefly flared dark red.
"Bill!"
From behind, Baldic's groan-like shout rang out.
But I couldn't turn my head.
Even at this very moment, the magic circle was swelling irregularly like a deflating balloon,
and the only thing stopping that precarious expansion from bursting its outer edges was.......
"Urgh-"
the mana I was pouring into it.
Exhaustion crashed down on me.
I felt like my mind would wear away and vanish before my mana even did.
I could feel my consciousness fading and my breathing growing rough.
It was the sensation of my mana slowly drying up from deep within my body.
My limit was already staring me in the face.
Whir....
At that moment, the rampaging mana slowly began to lose its light, changed color, and stopped all at once.
It was a complete silence, as if someone had covered it with their hand.
"...Phew. It's done."
I heard her low sigh from the side.
That was it.
We had succeeded.
Only then did I take my hands off the magic circle and collapse backward.
My entire body felt so heavy that the coldness of the floor touching my face was actually a welcome feeling.
Looking to the side, I saw her leaning against her staff to catch her breath.
She didn't say much, but her eyes were still as sharp as ever.
Just then, I heard Baldic approaching.
Still looking tense, he looked back and forth between us and spoke.
"Is it over?"
"......Yes."
That was the only word I managed to squeeze out of my mouth.
Even my voice came out dry and cracked.
Baldic nodded as if that was all he needed to hear, casting a wary sideways glance at the old woman before cautiously approaching Bill.
"Bill! Are you okay?"
"Haaa... Haaa...."
Bill still hadn't opened his eyes, but his condition was noticeably better than before.
His chest rose and fell evenly, and his skin color had returned.
Without a doubt, the magic was a success.
Anyway.
It was my first time seeing real magic in action from this close.
The complex and precarious flows that had unfolded right before my eyes.
A true magician was definitely on another level.
I still couldn't even grasp the principles of how magic worked,
but there was at least one thing I knew for sure.
It was by no means an easy task.
And this old woman who pulled it off was not someone to be taken lightly.
If someone like her had to expend this much effort just to suppress a single, dreadful demon stone....
It made me realize all over again just how dangerous that thing really was.
At that moment, the old woman leaning on her staff glared at me out of the corner of her eye and spoke.
"Hmph. I thought you were just an idiot, but you've got some tenacity at least."
"...."
...Even though the job was done, her cranky tone remained the same.
"It's really over, right?"
"Tsk. Yes, we barely managed to wrap it up. Normally, I would have had to draw several more layers of magic circles... but your sudden intrusion actually made things a bit easier."
Then she should be happy about it.
So why is she just acting annoyed?
Of course, considering the attitude she'd shown so far, it wasn't exactly surprising.
This person... no, this old woman wasn't someone you could reason with using common sense to begin with.
"But why did you go out of your way to bring him here? If you wanted to treat him... you could have just told the kid's father and brought him over."
She has a nasty temper, but judging by her actions earlier, she doesn't seem like a bad person.
So why did she have to handle things in such a suspicious way?
She shot a glance in my direction and snorted in disbelief.
"Hm? Why should I?"
"...Excuse me?"
"Why should I need anyone's permission? I simply did what 'needed to be done'. Whether that man knows about it or not, whether he permits it or not, it's none of my business."
...Just as I thought. She's not a normal person.
I hadn't expected much to begin with, but I felt weirdly dumbfounded.
Maybe this is what a real magician is like.
After a moment of silence, I carefully opened my mouth.
"Could I perhaps ask for your name?"
Even against someone being blatantly rude, I decided to use polite language for now.
She was an old woman whose very appearance triggered my ingrained respect for elders, and her magic skills were clearly above mine.
If I provoked her for no reason, I might get struck on the crown of my head with her staff.
"Why are you curious about that?"
"...Any normal person would naturally be curious."
The old woman clicked her tongue in disapproval.
"Tsk. What a bother."
Then she opened her mouth as if speaking reluctantly.
"Marley Befanir. That is my name."
Marley Befanir.
The word she said earlier when activating her magic was definitely 'Befanir' too.
If so... is that not a name, but a faction?
Or perhaps magic passed down through a family, something like that?
Whatever it was, this person was definitely an uncommon type who used her own unique magic.
...How fascinating.
I asked cautiously.
"Um... You are a magician, right?"
Marley furrowed her brows deeply and spat out her words.
"Magician? How incredibly noble. Don't attach a cheap title that only the Magic Tower bastards would like."
She waved her finger in the air and snorted derisively.
"Magic is inherently ruined by those who love attaching names to it. Empty-headed fools like you are exactly like that."
...I only asked one question, but words came flying at me like a bombardment.
At this point, it felt like if I asked her age, she would curse out my ancestors.
"Then, what are you?"
Since she kept acting like that, a blunt tone slipped out without me realizing.
However, she didn't bat an eye at that reaction.
Rather, she firmly spat it out as if she had been waiting for it.
"Warlock."
...A warlock?
The warlock I knew was something like the male version of a witch.
Does it have a different meaning here?
No matter how I look at it, the person in front of my eyes doesn't seem to be a 'man', does she?
"...Are you, by any chance, a man?"
At that moment, Marley's eyebrows shot up.
As if she was genuinely dumbfounded, she took a step closer, tilted her head, and asked back.
"...What kind of bullshit is that?"
Until now, she had only shown expressions mixed with annoyance, cynicism, and mockery, but this time it was different.
There wasn't even anger in her eyes, just profound disappointment.
A look that seemed to say, why is a guy like this still breathing in this world?
...Even if an eccentric person made such an expression, it didn't really leave a scar on my heart.
I was just a little dumbfounded.
"No, the word warlock as I know it means a man...."
When I carefully explained myself, she glared at me for a moment before letting out a smirk.
"...You're not wrong. Yes, that word is correct."
Then she slightly lowered her gaze and muttered.
"But I am a warlock. This fact does not change...."
The end of her sentence trailed off slightly.
A strangely subtle emotion flickered past her eyes.
An expression that seemed to hold a suppressed backstory beneath her stubborn and eccentric personality.
...What is this.
I thought she was just a lunatic, but maybe she was a lunatic who had lived a more complicated life than I thought.