Chapter 213: All Sorts of Branches (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 213: All Sorts of Branches (5)
Boradori ran.
He ran, and then he ran some more.
“I’m gonna freaking die!”
“You’re not even the one fighting. It’s fine if you die, so just keep running.”
“You demon!”
I’m the only one doing any actual fighting here, so he’s really being unfair.
Seeing as Uncle Aeryun hasn’t said a word, it means he respects my judgment.
“...Uncle?”
I looked back, but Uncle Aeryun was nowhere to be seen.
He’s supposed to be one of the top agents in the Empire—is he so good that even I can’t sense his presence?!
“That old man fell behind ages ago?!”
“Uncle...”
I guess I just overestimated him.
Even our dear Uncle Aeryun can’t escape the weight of time.
“So if we just rest for a bit and wait—!”
“Don’t insult my uncle. He’ll find his own way here. Now move.”
“Aaargh! Why are you only strict with me?!”
It’s not about being strict; it’s about doing what needs to be done.
Having spent every drop of mana she wasn’t even going to use anyway on sprinting, Boradori finally became one with the ground.
“Haa... ha... wheeze... ha...”
Sprawled out on the dirt and gasping for air, Boradori muttered, “You could beat me to death right now and I wouldn’t move.”
“Fine. Then stay still even if you die.”
It didn’t matter. Boradori had fulfilled her mission.
Before my eyes were nine enemies and one hostage.
Six of them had undergone body modification. The remaining three were either followers or dark mages. In the worst-case scenario, they could be demons in human form.
“So, when are we fighting?”
“Them?”
“...Isn’t that why we came here?”
“Do I look crazy to you?”
I was the one who ran here at full tilt, too.
I only chose to run because I couldn’t use mana anyway, but I wasn’t stupid enough to charge at a crowd of enemies while not at full strength.
“You’re not? But you’re a swordsman!”
“We can debate what ‘swordsman’ means to you later.”
Of course, I had considered taking a risk to save the Magic Spammer if things got dire.
But looking at the Magic Spammer from a distance, he was packaged a bit too neatly for a hostage.
Being a typical Magic Spammer, he probably couldn't resist the moment he was unable to use magic, but...
As a RoFan male lead, he shouldn't have been caught so easily.
Indeed, despite being "neatly packaged," he was covered in various restraints.
Seeing how pristine he looked despite that, it seemed they had no intention of actually harming him.
No, to be more precise...
“It looks like they went out of their way to capture him gently without a single scratch.”
“Looks like they’re planning to use him as a sacrifice. Silence used to do that a lot.”
“And what do they get out of that?”
“I told you, I don’t know!”
“Is there anything you do know...?”
“You’ve already squeezed everything out of me, and now you’re asking what I know...”
Boradori looked utterly wronged while still glued to the ground, but that’s just the life of an informant.
Once you’ve been sucked dry of information, you’re discarded. If you want to stay relevant, you either have to leak it sparingly or dig up something new.
“Anyway, if the hostage’s safety is guaranteed, there’s no need for us to step in first.”
The reason we busted our asses running all the way here was to arrive before the Fire Spammer.
In the worst-case scenario, if the enemies saw the Fire Spammer and decided to kill the Magic Spammer and themselves, it would be a problem.
However, seeing the state of things, it seemed the Magic Spammer was important to them as well.
In that case...
“We’ll let someone else do the dirty work.”
“Is this really the right move?”
Unlike me, who has to beat them half to death with a sword one by one, the Fire Spammer has now awakened. She can ignore magic nullification curses and deal fixed damage.
She even had such great fire control that she could burn only the soul evenly.
According to Boradori, the current Fire Spammer would be difficult for even Prince Ellen or the Sword Emperor to stop.
To bring the Fire Spammer back to her senses...
“When they start fighting, we kidnap the Prince.”
“...You lunatic, what if we get roasted too?”
“...Didn’t you say she won’t attack if the Prince is there?”
“That’s how it went in the original work, but no matter how I think about it, I feel like she’d definitely hit you.”
“...And why is that?”
“You’re not seriously asking why, are you? There are just too many reasons to count.”
...He had a point.
An hour—no, not even thirty minutes had passed before the Fire Spammer made her entrance.
“Wait, she really turned into a Fire Spammer...”
I was speechless at the sight of a walking human torch, flames fluttering with every step she took.
“She’s literally a Fire Angel. We are so screwed, aren’t we...?”
“Does that look like an angel to you? Looks more like a demon.”
“The author titled the chapter ‘Angel,’ so she’s an angel. Anyway, even though she’s walking around like that, it doesn’t look like she’s starting any fires behind her... She must have perfect control over the Hellfire...”
Mediocre mages, trapped in the peak of stupidity, think they handle basic magic perfectly.
But mages who have reached the true heights say there isn't a single spell they handle perfectly.
To handle even one spell perfectly...
People usually call such a mage an Archmage.
In other words, the Fire Spammer over there was currently a match for any Archmage.
No, since she had mastered the secret magic of Hellfire, she was a monster that even a typical Archmage couldn't handle...
“Well, to be precise, it’s more like she’s been consumed by the magic.”
Just as Boradori said, she had simply been consumed.
Among swordsmen, there were occasionally those whose minds were controlled by a magic sword.
Even without a magic sword, there were those who went berserk while recklessly trying to reach a higher realm—what’s commonly known in martial arts as Qi Deviation.
It wasn't strange for magic to have something similar...
“Usually, even if you’re consumed by magic, it doesn’t look like that, right?”
“It doesn’t. There’s a reason it’s the secret magic of Dale. It had so much foreshadowing, too. The problem was that it never got resolved...”
“What kind of novel has so many unresolved plot points? What were they doing for hundreds of chapters?”
“Flirting.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s a RoFan...”
“No, not a single one of them even confessed, so what kind of flirting were they doing...?”
“Because it’s a RoFan...!”
It was an utterly absurd answer, yet it was a statement that captured the very essence of the genre.
“But, are you sure the Magic Spammer won’t die?”
“Of course. That mode exists solely to protect the royalty of Dale—Arwen. In the original work, she was about to wreck the Academy but was stopped by Arwen.”
Well, that’s a relief, but...
“The Magic Spammer who’s supposed to stop her is in that pathetic state. So who’s going to stop her?”
“No one can. That’s why you said we’d throw her at the enemies and then go get the Magic Spammer—I mean, Arwen.”
I did say that. But I didn't expect her to look like that.
“You scared?”
“Obviously.”
I thought it would just be some minor transformation, like her hair catching fire or something.
I’ve always called her the Fire Spammer, but I didn't think she’d actually become a Fire Spammer.
Well, still.
“Even if she’s changed like that...”
I have a job to do.
Just as I was about to say that, two enemies spotted the Fire Spammer and lunged at her.
In an instant, they became pillars of fire, frozen in place as if they were being taxidermied.
“What’s up with them? Normally, if you’re on fire, you’d roll on the ground to put it out. Why are they just standing there screaming?”
“Oh, that? It’s a technique called Eternity. It instantaneously incinerates all the muscles, causing the person to freeze in place. The name comes from Dale’s secret magic, and it’s a poetic resonance with the Eternity that Arwen learned—her own interpretation of her beloved’s technique...”
Another geeky explanation followed, but I stopped listening halfway through.
Contrary to the grand name and setting, the process was far too simple.
“She just tapped them and that happened?”
“Yeah. In Fire Angel mode, just touching a tiny spark is enough to trap the opponent in Eternity.”
“Oh...”
It was an answer that made me really not want to work.
But the silver lining was...
“They’ve made their choice... their final destination.”
The Fire Spammer’s enemies, for now, weren't me.
Watching the figures charging toward the Fire Spammer and the two people moving away with the Magic Spammer, we stood up from our spot...
“What are you doing?”
“Wait, wasn't I supposed to rest?”
That was the plan, but seeing the Fire Spammer changed my mind.
“Nope.”
“You just have that ‘I’m not going down alone’ look on your face, don't you?”
As expected of Boradori. She’s quick on the uptake.
Marie Ekid - What is this?
Following the pull of her soul, she walked and walked.
In the process, she inflicted the pain of Eternity upon those who blocked her path and burned them away.
‘I have to protect the Prince.’
I have to.
Because I am the Guardian.
No, before that...
‘What was it?’
She hesitated for a moment, but it didn't last long.
Because before her were more people blocking her way.
“Hellfire! The Original Sin of Dale’s magic itself! As expected, Dale is corrupt! Do you even know what sacrifice allows that magic to exist?!”
Compared to him, the nonsense spewing from the mouth of the insignificant creature before her didn't matter.
“It is none other than—! GYAAAAAAKH!”
She simply trudged forward, and with a slight brush, he would suffer until everything was burned to nothingness.
“You’re telling me the curse really doesn't work? As expected of the Go—GYAAAAKH!”
One by one, she incinerated those who babbled.
But the humans who had something to say kept appearing.
“To think you learned the Eternity that was meant for the royalty. Then you must be the Guardian, Marie Ekid. I, too, as a direct descendant of the Ekid family, shall take that magic...”
Some tried to appeal to her.
“If curses don't work, then you, who have discarded all magic, won't last a second. But my conviction shall—!”
Some spouted cumbersome words about their beliefs.
“Save me! I don't want to die like this!”
And some, who initially blustered about conviction, fled upon seeing their comrades go up in flames.
“......”
And Marie moved forward, burning them all.
She knew that if she continued like this, she would eventually consume herself in the flames.
‘It doesn't matter.’
The moment Arwen was kidnapped due to her negligence...
This was merely a small price she had to pay.
The fact that Arwen was kidnapped in the heart of the Empire? It didn't matter.
The fact that Arwen had sought out the enemies himself? That didn't matter either.
No matter the reason, if Arwen was in danger, it was her fault.
Because that was the reason for the existence of the Guardian of Dale... no, for Marie Ekid.
Kill the enemies of Dale. No, the enemies of Arwen.
Burn, burn, and burn them again.
Even if she had to turn this entire world to ash.
Solely for one person.
If it was for that...
Even if she had to burn her everything...
“......?”
Having incinerated everything, she could finally see.
“She really is a Super Fire Spammer.”
“Hey, you bastard! Stop provoking her!”
Familiar voices reached her ears.
She didn't need to remember who they were.
What was more important right now...
“...Lord Arwen.”
Was that one person.
And that person...
“He’s a hostage, Fire Spammer! Don't try anything funny!”
“Mmph mmph?!”
“I don't know anything! I’m out of here! If you’re gonna die, die alone! Aaaargh! Save me! I’m not with this guy, so please deactivate the barrier?!”
Was currently being threatened by the being before her.