Chapter 55
Chapter 55
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: Rampage (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
◆
“-What the hell?!”
Letty looked around in alarm.
It was only a mere touch of mana created by Vespa against the magic circle, yet it caused a massive vibration echoing through the entire Mage Tower—that was reason enough for her reaction.
The mana was so vast it filled the entire exchange arena, thick enough to create the illusion of something visible floating densely in the air.
And then.
The pressure felt by the person right in front of it would be even greater than what was visible.
“⋯⋯.”
Caleb stared at Vespa across from him in a half-dazed state.
‘What the hell is this.’
It didn’t make sense.
When mages talked about incomprehensible scales of power, the first thing that came up was the mana of dragons—pure mana lifeforms.
One of the few strategic weapon-level beings capable of standing against nations and armies single-handedly.
The power they wielded was evaluated as having transcended human limits in both capacity and output.
Walking mana power plants. Bottomless vessels that showed no end no matter how much you used.
But the mana he was facing now.
It was irrationality itself, something that couldn’t even be expressed in those terms.
Not a matter of capacity or output.
It felt so alien that the thought of opposing it didn’t even cross his mind.
It was like.
An ant facing an elephant.
At least dragon mana was comprehensible as ‘impressive,’ but this.
⋯⋯Just looking into it felt like his brain would explode.
He couldn’t even gauge where the ceiling was⋯⋯!
‘What the hell is that⋯⋯!’
As Caleb fixated on that thought, something dripped onto the back of his hand.
A bead of sweat from his forehead.
⋯⋯Unbeknownst to himself, his entire body was drenched in sweat, his bangs soaked through.
The exchange hadn’t even properly begun, yet he was overwhelmed just by looking.
He, a first-rate mage, with a family heirloom relic activated.
The problem was.
The opponent didn’t seem particularly interested in his state.
“Since you said rock-paper-scissors⋯⋯”
Vespa calmly, steadily moved her mana.
Compared to Caleb, who felt crushed by the pressure, she was utterly serene.
Serene to the point of seeming awkward.
“⋯⋯.”
Caleb stared at Vespa in utter bewilderment.
At this point, the obvious conclusion dawned on him.
‘⋯⋯Monster—’
From the start.
She was someone he shouldn’t have challenged.
And the moment that mana touched Caleb.
“-!”
Caleb’s vision flickered out in an instant.
◆
“What the hell is that.”
Letty stared at Vespa’s writhing mana inside the exchange arena, half out of her mind.
There was no meaning to the exchange. Vespa’s mana had shattered Caleb’s like waves crumbling a sandcastle, reaching him in an instant.
And that sight alone shattered Letty’s sense of reality.
‘⋯⋯It’s moving? That?’
She was manipulating mana on a level incomprehensible just to look at—like her head would split—as if it were nothing.
One basic fact about abilities.
The greater the total amount of power, the proportionally higher the concentration and computational power required to wield it.
Handling mana on that scale would probably demand the focus to solve thousands of equations simultaneously.
In that regard, the way Vespa handled her mana bordered on cognitive dissonance.
Crude. Ungrasped by technique or orthodoxy, moving as her hand guided on instinct.
⋯⋯Yet every motion was ‘right.’ The mana responded like her limbs.
It was as if.
A novice mage who’d never had proper training was wielding that immense mana purely through ‘talent.’
“Your friend’s even more of a monster than she looks.”
Carlyle nodded coolly, fiddling with his hand.
A ring adorned it.
The Holy Sword transformed into ring form.
In his other hand, he held the Tears of the Star, supplying mana.
“There are a lot of monsters around me to begin with.”
Gray inside here went without saying—Vespa, Panhima, Drexler⋯⋯ all monsters in human form.
And hanging around people like that made you get used to certain things.
“So I always end up handling the cleanup.”
“What?”
Letty asked in confusion, but.
Fortunately, Carlyle didn’t need to explain further.
Right before their eyes, Caleb collapsed unconscious on the spot.
“⋯⋯Huh?”
As Letty and Vespa blankly uttered that.
The relic wrapped around Caleb’s arm—Quilia’s Eye—began emitting a brilliant glow like an explosion into the surroundings.
As if the mana circulating through Caleb’s body was ‘leaking’ into it.
Seeing that, Letty’s face drained of color.
There was only one scenario where uncontrolled mana leaked through a relic.
“⋯⋯Mana backlash?”
If asked the most dangerous situation for a mage, mana backlash would rank in the top three.
It was when circuits, overwhelmed dozens or hundreds of times beyond capacity, shattered entirely.
And that uncontrolled mana often used the human body as a medium for a massive explosion.
An accident that could happen to a first-rate mage using a relic only if they touched a mana plant powering an entire city.
Not something that should occur during a mage ‘exchange’!
‘How monstrous is that Vespa’s mana capacity⋯⋯!’
The dizzying question flashed through her mind, but leaving it like this would definitely kill Caleb.
The silver lining.
Someone even more vigilant about such states was present.
The moment Caleb collapsed unconscious, Carlyle bolted toward him.
“Hey, that’s dangerous—!”
Letty cried out in alarm to stop him.
Touching a mage undergoing mana backlash meant direct exposure to the mana raging wildly in their circuits. It was no different from thrusting oneself into a bomb.
⋯⋯Carlyle’s thoughts were a bit different.
‘It’s been a while.’
Almost nostalgic.
How many times had he done this in his previous life?
He activated the Tears of the Star as he ran, opening his own circuits to receive mana.
Then.
Carlyle reached Caleb’s body in an instant and began sucking in the mana. Letty’s face went blank watching.
He thrust the ring on his finger toward it, expertly drawing the massive mana inside and circulating it.
Even as the mana destroying Caleb’s circuits flowed straight into his own body, his expression didn’t change, his focus unwavering.
It was proficient emergency treatment, like he’d done it dozens of times.
“⋯⋯.”
What to say.
With a disaster that could wipe out everyone here writhing before them, he handled it like a seasoned beast tamer, face impassive.
Even now, his body must be racked with tearing pain.
‘⋯⋯That guy.’
Exactly.
What kind of people did he hang around with normally to maintain that casual stroll-in-the-back-mountain vibe in this situation?
He fussed and panicked over trivial things, yet exuded an aura in major incidents like he didn’t even grasp the danger.
He carried an eerie atmosphere similar to—or perhaps surpassing—that monster mage Vespa.
The unfolding events proved it.
Having circulated all the mana from Caleb’s body into the ring, Carlyle stood and looked around.
This was just extracted from Caleb’s body—it was still uncontrolled mana. Left alone, it would explode.
So he had to deal with it somehow.
And conveniently, the perfect person was here.
“-Panhima!”
Panhima, who’d been watching bored from afar, looked at him lazily.
“I’ll cover your meals for a week if you cut this!”
⋯⋯A resolve that could slice the heavens gleamed in Panhima’s eyes.
Carlyle chuckled and held out the ring. Mana shot from it immediately.
“You crazy bastard—!”
Letty unwittingly let out a piercing scream upon seeing it.
Not an odd reaction. Anyone would flip out at this madness.
He’d barely contained it to prevent immediate explosion, only to casually unleash it outward.
Something that needed a truckload of senior mages to carefully stabilize inside the Mage Tower—and he just fired it off like that? Everyone here dies!
“I’ll gladly take that meal money—!”
⋯⋯So.
-Slice.
With an incomprehensible guttural shout, Panhima drew and cleaved it in one motion.
It was the punctuation mark on the surreal scenes up to now.
“⋯⋯.”
Hah.
Hahaha.
Letty let out a near-maniacal chuckle as she scanned her surroundings.
Right now, the person she could most empathize with here was Caleb, lying unconscious over there.
She wanted to end up the same way.
‘⋯⋯What the hell are these guys?’
People who could trigger mana backlash just by touching a relic-using first-rate mage.
People who just sliced it like cardboard.
And even stranger.
‘Why does that guy act like it’s all familiar?’
The man who’d orchestrated and resolved it all as smoothly as flowing water, like he’d expected exactly this.
Carlyle Bellfast.
“⋯⋯.”
She had to get close to this guy no matter what from now on.
Such a resolution flashed through Letty’s mind.
◆