Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Good at Answering, Aren't You?
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"Hmm. I'm pretty pissed off right now because Lee Seong-hoon isn't in this fog. Just die quietly. Don't be a hassle."
"That, that!! You crazy bitch!! You say something that cruel with a smile? Are you out of your mind?!"
"Yeah!"
"Good at answering, aren't you?!"
Raphael spoke in disbelief, but Silvia just smiled and replied. Her mind wasn't even here to begin with. She needed to quickly kill these two and go find Lee Seong-hoon.
The deed was already done. She'd unleashed the apostles into the streets to paralyze Justitia. Her role ended there, so the job was finished.
All that was left was to take Lee Seong-hoon away, but these two women in front of her were getting in the way.
"I need to find him quick, but you're annoying! Die!"
With those words, a crimson spear of blood surged up. A chantless spell with no warning whatsoever.
"?!"
But its power was off. Isia grabbed the back of Raphael's neck and leaped away to dodge.
"That's weird. It wasn't 'Chant Disruption'."
"Yeah. It was chantless."
"Huh?"
Chantless. Exactly as it sounds—no chanting. Simply put, it was a lump of pure mana without the spell formula construction or magic chant process.
Not only had she manifested that lump into the shape of a spear, but its power was absurd.
Think of chantless magic like firing raw mana blasts. Unrefined, unprocessed mana shot straight out.
In other words, like shooting a tree branch instead of an arrow from a bow.
"She's strong. What do we do?"
And yet, with that level of power... the destructive force of her chanted spells didn't even need explaining.
"Miss Isia? Saying stuff like that makes me a little anxious─?!"
Ignoring the noisy blonde, she dashed forward. Isia had a bit of confidence now.
Fighting all day had sharpened her combat skills bit by bit. She'd lost every time, but she'd gotten the hang of it.
She charged.
And kept chanting as she went.
"Twins of light."
Verse 1. Advancing while chanting. The spell she was preparing was the 5-verse mid-tier magic, Black Corona.
"Yet inferior and frail."
Verse 2. Silvia watched in surprise. The fact that she was parallel chanting seemed to pique her interest a little.
But she had no idea. What Isia was really doing was even more amusing.
"What, you can even do 'Parallel Chant'? That's neat~ I was too busy today to watch any ranking matches, I should've checked it out─?!"
Her words cut off. What Silvia saw was that groundbreaking.
"Envy. Covet. Devour the l─"
The chant stopped midway. She'd closed the distance while charging, so Silvia could see the entire change in the magic circle.
Chant failures manifest in two ways.
One is an 'explosion' where the unfolding spell formula malfunctions and mana runs rampant.
The other is 'formula conversion,' deliberately destabilizing the mana to alter the formula.
"This is kinda fun."
The spell changed.
Magic erupted from Isia's hand as she charged. Not the chanted Black Corona, but the 3-verse spell Dark Baptism.
This was Isia's 'Parallel Chant.' She chanted a 5-verse spell to forcibly fail it into a 3-verse one. The epitome of inefficiency that no normal mage could dream up, even in death.
Only Isia, who'd rolled around all day and dropped to rank 21, could pull this off.
"Can't dodge this one~"
It perfectly caught her off guard. The spell struck Silvia square, who hadn't even raised a proper defense in her surprise.
A 3-verse spell via loophole, but still a chanted one. Its power went without saying.
However.
"Wow. This is fun! The ranking matches today must've been a blast!"
Not a scratch. The spell had definitely hit. Dust still swirled around Silvia as proof. Yet she just laughed cheerfully.
"Monster."
"Right!"
How is she unscratched? Shaking her head wildly at the thought, Isia resumed her battle stance.
This was inside the vampire's belly. The odds of Lee Seong-hoon coming to save them were near zero, and they had to take her down to escape.
Only one option.
"Huh? Again?"
She charged.
If magic failed, explosion. If explosion failed, close combat.
As she began chanting to deliberately explode her spell with that in mind─
Grab.
A sound she shouldn't have heard came with a sudden floating sensation enveloping Isia.
"Huh?"
"Boring. Annoying. Trying to explode your magic this time? Why are mages so one-dimensional?"
Her hand, mid-magic circle, was seized, leaving her dangling in the air. Isia was too stunned to speak, but Silvia kept talking.
"And loopholes like that only work on peers of similar level."
Smirk.
Her smile was chilling. Like she was leagues above, her casual demeanor sent goosebumps over Isia's skin.
"Nothing left now, huh? Even if there is, buff spells and melee? Or blind her and ambush?"
Every battle plan in Isia's head laid bare. Seeing her face drain pale, Silvia clicked her tongue.
"Lee Seong-hoon must've taught you, but this is all you've got?"
Disappointed, she tossed Isia aside. It looked casual, but the sound was wrong.
BAM─!!!!
A noise no human body should make rang out, but Silvia walked slowly without even glancing that way.
Her destination was obvious: the blonde.
But─
"Gone?"
She looked around in confusion, but no. The blonde was gone from where she should be.
Now that she thought about it, it'd been quiet for a bit. She'd vanished.
How? Disappearing in the vampire's fog?
As if answering her bewilderment, a voice rang out.
A man's voice. Playful yet masculine.
"Damn. I'm late."
"Why are you so late!! Isia almost turned into a flat pancake!!"
"She won't die from that. Just heal her."
"You're late and that's what you say!!!"
Can't say that, huh? Calming her pounding heart at the voices, Silvia turned.
One thought dominated her mind.
No way?
"You came to see me."
The red thread of fate really exists.
A black-haired man in a black robe arguing with Raphael.
Seeing him, Silvia thought.
"If Seong-hoon hadn't gotten separated from us, this wouldn't have happened. Why'd you go off alone─"
This girl was causing a fuss even after I came to rescue her. Ignoring the chattering blonde, I faced forward.
A redhead was twisting her hair, which matched her own color, around her fingers like crazy.
What the hell is that?
"That's Silvia."
"Who's Silvia?"
I don't know any woman like that. No memories of getting close to any woman over 17 since coming here.
"You don't know? The little kid who got lost last night."
"Huh?"
Oh, that Silvia? I even took her to the lost child center.
"Eung~?!"
As I stared intently at her now-twisting body too, I could see the kid's face from yesterday.
More like an adult version with defined contours.
"Wait. Hold on. So the one I escorted yesterday was─"
"Yeah. Exactly what you're thinking."
Goosebumps all over. What the hell? What'd I do to deserve her twisting like that?
"You came to see me."
What nonsense is that? Every action she took baffled me, question marks popping up over my head.
"Did you understand a single word she said?"
"I've been here the whole time before you arrived and didn't get it once."
Really? Then we're the same. My instincts screamed: bad matchup. She's gotta be a psycho.
"Hehe. Coming to see me. We must be fated to love each other."
"Sorry, but we just properly met now?"
Clack. Clack.
Hearing the sound, I shoved Raphael behind me and spoke.
"Hey. Go take care of Isia."
"You gonna run?"
"Nah. Not running."
Eh? Then what? Ignoring her voice, I eyed the approaching redhead.
I'd originally planned to flee. Using the [Reaper's Robe] to slip into the darkness. But on the way here, I ran into someone, so plans changed.
"We hold out."
"Hold out against what? Isia couldn't last three minutes and got flattened!!"
"The phrasing's kinda off."
I gestured for Raphael to hurry and opened my [Inventory].
Then equipped the [Mana-Infused Skull Mask] in my hand.
It worked perfectly. I checked and looked at Silvia. She was approaching, saying crap like 'Even with the skull mask, you're cute~' or whatever. No idea how she knew.
Why approach as a kid anyway? No clue.
Unknown character from the start. The novel only mentioned about five progenitors exist in the world.
Only two actually appeared, including Sophia, so the other three weren't even detailed. Unlucky me, an unknown one attacked.
The reason wasn't Sophia, but something else. No idea where it went wrong.
But one thing was clear. Capture her, and everything resolves—the rampaging apostles outside, the attack's motive, all of it.
And capturing her isn't my job. Mine is─
"Shall we chat for ten minutes?"
"Oh? Date invite? Let's do it at my place then."
That's a problem. I leaped back to evade the approaching Silvia, but she instantly closed in.
"Uwak?!"
Physical gap was unavoidable. If I had time for Raphael's blessing, maybe. But no.
Silvia snickered at my pathetic yelp, grabbed my face. Forced eye contact with her flushed cheeks, and then.
Her eyes glowed. Eyes redder than blood pierced through the mask into mine.
"Don't resist."
Like I'd listen. Sorry, but this isn't my will.
"Hm? Something zapped just now."
Silvia tilted her head, muttered 'Whatever' and beamed at me. Like gazing at a lover. Kinda creepy.
"First, take off that mask. Can't see your face."
She said, hands behind her back, slowly backing away. Like a girlfriend playing tag, but zero thrill.
Thankful she'd given space, I spoke.
"Sorry. If I do, I can't see you."
"What?"
Shocked, huh. Progenitors are all like this. Think their evil eye is invincible. Sophia fell for it too.
"Saying that makes me... a bit embarrassed... We really do like each other!!"
"What?"
That's what shocks her? Normally you'd freak out that the eye didn't work!!
"You overcame my evil eye with the power of love! Of course! Already smitten, how could I fall again!!"
Crazy bitch. Definitely. Before this first-time psycho could lunge again, I reached for my trump card [Holy Water Touched by Raphael's Hand] in [Inventory].
But a voice came first.
"Seong-hoon! Something's wrong with Isia!! She's muttering weird stuff! Is it a brain hemorrhage!?"
What the hell is that?