Chapter 92
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: Aftermath of the Blast
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A violent storm began to rage across the golden desert. The sand and gold dust that formed the dunes scattered in every direction.
The immense wind, laden with sand, swept outward as if to swallow everything. The one responsible for this sudden storm in the tranquil desert, the Sword Saint, clicked his tongue as he looked at the sword in his hand.
“Tsk. How filthy.”
The Mazoku, Mikael, had offered no resistance.
His foul face held no will to live, nor despair at his impending death. He had simply burned away his life to hold the Sword Saint’s feet in place, erecting dozens of defensive barriers and reinforcing them with spells.
The Sword Saint found the sight utterly repulsive.
Efficiency, rationality, reason.
It was a composure unbelievable for a creature on the verge of death.
‘Things like that aren’t alive.’
A living being, when faced with death, should rightfully cast everything aside and struggle. Grand causes and justice only have meaning to the survivors. But the Mazoku were not like that.
Could a creature that did not fear death be called alive? They had flesh and bone, blood flowed through their veins, and they could think, but the Sword Saint did not recognize them as living beings.
That was why the Sword Saint despised the Mazoku from the depths of his soul. To him, the attitude Mikael had shown in the face of death today was, to put it mildly, the absolute worst.
An expression and attitude that showed no attempt to survive, not a shred of lingering attachment to life.
The Sword Saint was enraged by Mikael’s demeanor.
And because of that, his blade had carried more force than usual.
“……”
The result was the massive storm now unfolding before the Sword Saint’s eyes. Watching the sandstorm, not even knowing himself when it would cease or how large it would grow, the Sword Saint let out a soft sigh.
The sword he gripped tightly in both hands now had no blade, and its crossguard was melting.
Swinging the sword at dozens of times the speed of sound had generated enough frictional heat to vaporize the blade.
The Sword Saint tossed the useless hilt to the ground.
* * *
My head feels like it’s about to split open. The blackness that had colored my vision began to reclaim its various colors.
As my numb senses returned, the pain in my fingertips and toes grew sharper.
I’m not even sure if I’m breathing properly.
…No, forget breathing. Am I even alive?
“Sleeping soundly, are we?”
“Gasp…!”
As if a storm were raging inside me, a massive amount of air suddenly rushed into my lungs. My ribs creaked. The pain that had wracked my hands and feet now began to register an icy chill.
“Especially with such a foul stench filling the air.”
Dajin’s voice, laced with venom, pierced through the ringing in my ears and echoed in my head.
I’m dizzy. I feel like I’m going to throw up. Amidst it all, if there was one positive, it was that I was, for now, still alive.
“My blessing should have blocked all the heat and wind from the explosion. I can’t even begin to fathom how fragile a body you possess.”
The brown ground came into faint view. It was strange. Just moments ago, I thought I was in a dense mountain forest, but now there was nothing but piles of dirt and rock.
I slowly turned my head, my blurry vision scanning the surroundings.
The lush greenery was gone without a trace. The giant, ancient trees, the fiercely burning leaves—all of it had vaporized.
“…Huh?”
In its place, a crater large enough to swallow a whole mountain stretched out before my eyes. It was like looking down from the stands of the Colosseum.
“……”
At the very center of that Colosseum stood Maltiel. His pitch-black skin, crimson eyes, and disgustingly long fingernails were easy to make out, even with my unfocused eyes.
Next to me was Dajin, a deer made of blue lightning. It seemed the damn deer had decided to pop out of my body on his own, even though I hadn’t taken out my staff.
…Though it seems I owe him my life.
Maltiel looked up at us, his gaze annoyed by Dajin, who was enveloping me in a gentle blanket of lightning.
It was clear that Dajin had been protecting me while I was unconscious.
“Don’t stare so fiercely. I won’t do a thing.”
Dajin spoke, looking down leisurely at Maltiel, who was staring up at me from the bottom of the crater.
“You seem quite frightened. I heard the Mazoku have eyes that can roughly gauge an opponent’s mana, so shouldn’t you be able to tell that I am not the main body?”
“…Indeed, your mana capacity is that of a 7th-circle mage. But mana capacity isn’t the true measure of skill. I have seen far too many mages who can create spells of immense power with but a fingernail’s worth of mana.”
Maltiel seemed well aware that Dajin was a clone and incomparably weaker than his true self. Nevertheless, he remained wary of the transcendent being protecting me.
No matter how weakened, Dajin’s essence was that of a spirit, the very source of magic. There was a fundamental gap between them that couldn’t be bridged simply by a reduction in mana.
“In short, you lack confidence. How pitiful. Those born with ambiguous talent are bound to have lukewarm goals.”
Dajin looked at Maltiel and sighed, genuinely bored.
“It seems you lot need to be a little more reckless and foolish.”
As he said this, Dajin gently stroked my head with warm lightning.
…My head’s a mess right now, so I might be mistaken, but did this bastard just call me foolish?
“It’s hopeless, utterly hopeless.”
Dajin turned his hooves with an annoyed flick and looked at me.
“I think I’ll just watch.”
“…What?”
I just came to, so what the hell is this bastard talking about?
“You have to help, what do you mean you’ll just watch…”
“If you and I were to join forces, that Overlord would be crushed in an instant. Where’s the fun in that? Aren’t fights supposed to be exciting when they’re down to the wire? Be grateful I saved your life.”
His tone was arrogant and insolent, as if all things and principles of the world rested in the palm of his hand.
My expression soured with the sincere desire to rip the horns off this arrogant deer.
“Don’t look at me like that. I’ll be sure to cheer for you from the inside.”
With those final words, the lightning that formed the damn deer’s body began to disperse into the air. At the same time, tiny particles began to flow from my right hand, coalescing on their own.
Soon, a small staff was in my grasp, and the scattered lightning was instantly sucked into it.
“…Unbelievable bastard.”
Furious, I slammed the staff in my hand onto the ground. But as if to say I couldn’t escape it, the staff instantly dissolved into tiny particles and pierced through the skin of my right hand.
“Sigh, haa.”
To shake off the mounting irritation, I took a deep breath and looked up at the sky.
‘Let’s assess the situation calmly. Dajin has already made up his mind. Getting angry at that damn deer won’t change anything.’
With a single deep breath, my heated head cooled in an instant.
It couldn’t be said enough. Being born a street urchin to gain the [Calm] trait was the right call.
The sky was filled with gloomy, dark clouds. I was sure the sun had been shining brightly right before I lost consciousness.
‘Is it really that strange, though?’
A massive explosion had suddenly occurred in that dense forest. The surrounding air had heated up, and all the moisture in the foliage had evaporated. A tremendous shockwave must have also rushed toward the epicenter, and the resulting updraft could very well have formed these dark clouds.
‘…For now, the weather is on my side.’
Storm clouds are a lightning wielder’s best friend. I could feel the bolts behind those black clouds, my future swords and shields, clashing and grinding against each other, screaming to be used.
“General!”
Just then, a powerful voice echoed from beyond the crater. I lowered my head, searching for the familiar voice.
Not far from Maltiel stood Rex. Judging by his awkward stance, his body wasn't in good shape.
Rex’s survival was confirmed.
…What about Alter and the other soldiers?
“……”
The belated question began to churn in my mind, which was just starting to regain its composure.
Alter was dead.
‘No, that’s not right. This is Alter Haindel we’re talking about. The man renowned as the most exceptional lightning mage alive.’
Aside from perhaps three mages of other schools who had reached the 9th circle, he was considered the strongest of all mages.
‘What are the chances he survived that explosion?’
The vast landscape spread before me answered that question for me.
A massive crater, over thirty kilometers in radius. Besides that, nothing remained.
‘At best, believing Alter survived was a matter of prayer, not prediction.’
The moments I had spent with Alter over the past three months flashed through my mind.
‘…Is he really dead?’
The first thing that came to mind was the moment in the rattling carriage when he first taught me how to use the grimoire.
The moment his eyes, once filled with suspicion, had transformed with elation and expectation…
“Reporting damage assessment for the strike team!”
A loud shout cut through my mind, where complex emotions had begun to spread like a thick fog.
I lifted my head, which had been facing the ground for some time.
At the edge of my vision stood Rex, the orc whose legs seemed unsteady.
“Aside from you, General, and myself, the status of all other strike team members is unknown! It is highly probable they were all killed in the blast!”
Rex recapped the current situation for me. His expression held no trace of pity or anxiety.
It was strange.
How could he stand there so bravely?
“However, their deaths are not yet confirmed! Do not forget what a great mage Sir Alter is! His status is ‘unconfirmed’! I repeat! His status is ‘unconfirmed’!”
He didn’t offer clumsy words of comfort. He didn’t try to deceive me with a foolish lie like, ‘Alter is definitely alive.’
He simply reminded me of the situation unfolding before his eyes.
“…You’re right.”
That was enough.
Alter is a great mage. So great that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call him the closest to the 9th circle.
Was I in any position to be worrying about Alter’s safety right now?
He must have dealt with Maltiel’s explosion in his own way. This was the man who had offered himself as a decoy against an Overlord and started the fight while I was out of my mind.
That brilliant mind, that deep experience… and those burning red eyes were not those of a man who would die today.
“So focus, General! Maltiel is standing right before us!”
I’ll trust.
Nothing has been resolved yet.
Maltiel is alive before my very eyes, and if he chose to, he could spread those wings and fly away at any moment.
So I’ll trust that Alter is a great enough mage to survive a sudden explosion, and think no more of it.
“Let’s go.”
I slowly took a step down the steep slope.
The cumulonimbus clouds, as if they had been waiting for this very moment, let out a loud clap of thunder.