Chapter 50
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Cancel
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Jun had no good memories of fire.
Whether back in his days as 'Lee Jung-jun' or during the time he'd lived as Jun, getting close to flames had always been difficult.
'No wonder my condition felt off today.'
Jun missed Adrian unleashing [Fire Strike] and [Volcanic Tornado].
That meant Adrian was a skilled mage at concealing his spell patterns, but for Jun—who possessed [Demon God Body], a skill that let him control all the mana in the world—it was something that shouldn't happen unless there was a massive gap in skill.
Fortunately, though, he had [Unyielding Will] and [Steadfast Heart].
The two skills bolstering his mental fortitude powerfully suppressed the trauma buried within him.
'Get it together.'
[Shield]
He blocked the incoming fireball with [Shield].
He avoided a direct hit, but the following heat wave merged with the [Volcanic Tornado], making it feel like his entire body was about to cook.
The scorching heat invaded his body in an instant.
Even the slightest lapse in concentration would turn him into a roast.
In that excruciating pain, Jun trusted his two mental defenses and calmly began casting his spell.
"[Enhancement: Elemental Body]"
"[Attribute Granted: Fire (火)]"
⟨ Elemental Body ⟩
Just as he'd done for Aiden in the past, Jun transformed his own body into a fire-attribute one.
It was a temporary measure, but an effective way to gain some resistance.
Thanks to that, breathing became just a little easier.
'Still, I can't hold out long. I need to destroy this damned space.'
The most effective way to extinguish flames was to eliminate the ignition source.
So where was the ignition source for this magic-born fire?
Right in the spell patterns.
Fire-attribute spell patterns served as fuel themselves, burning with the caster's mana.
And Jun's [Demon God Body] eyes were reading all the countless spell patterns enveloping them in real time.
All of those patterns were targets for destruction.
'No water-attribute magic.'
Manifesting water-attribute magic in this fire-dominated space would take time.
So he sought an alternative attribute.
Earth-attribute. One of the most common attributes, easy to find anywhere except the ocean.
The image he conjured was a landmine.
A weapon humanity on Earth had used in countless wars.
[Earth Burst]
Ku-ku-ku-ku-ku!
The earth exploded.
The blazing building shattered entirely.
Fragments from the crumbled structure—and even more piles of dirt and gravel—tore through the [Volcanic Tornado].
Pu-pu-pu-pu-pu-pu-bebek—!!
If a master-class mage had witnessed this, they would have felt like they were beholding a grand masterpiece.
They would have seen a massive wall—a divine, insurmountable wall of talent that made one unable to even lift their head.
Jun's [Earth Burst] didn't simply pierce the [Volcanic Tornado].
Every fragment of the exploded earth carried his will, hurtling in a precise direction.
Following the ceaselessly swirling spell patterns within the [Volcanic Tornado].
It was a beauty like a perfectly calculated equation given form.
Adrian stared at the flame vortex torn apart by the erupting earth fragments, plunged into bewilderment.
And he was shocked once more by the fact that he was flustered.
Over a little more than ten years.
He had survived countless battlefields and endured a full decade in this unpredictable Blackout.
Yet he had never imagined witnessing such beautiful magic in actual combat.
Something he'd thought possible only in theory was unfolding before him in reality.
And for a mere novice barely into 4th circle to unleash magic of this caliber?
'How...?'
But what shocked him most was that this kid had gained some freedom from the Demian Tower Lord's command speech.
'Has he escaped the command speech?'
The opponent was barely at early 4th circle, no less.
Word was he'd entered Blackout just a few months ago.
For such a guy to possess the magical prowess to pierce and destroy his spell patterns?
He'd never heard or seen anything like it!
Adrian ground his teeth.
"I don't know what kind of monstrous talent you have, but that just makes me want you even more!!"
Reframing his thoughts, the unpleasant emotion quickly faded.
His master had simply told him to scout this mage named Jun, but Adrian was certain now.
This bastard harbored the legendary constitution, [Demon God Body].
What had been mere suspicion until now had solidified into conviction.
In that moment, he felt like he'd regressed to his childhood days when his innocence still burned bright.
Imagining what he could do with a toy he hadn't even gotten his hands on yet.
—What if he coveted that guy's heart?
—Could he shatter the 6th circle wall that's blocked him for six years already?
—Or maybe even surpass his master and reach 7th circle?
No, that couldn't be the limit.
If he could claim that constitution, there was no way he'd stop at mere 7th circle.
He'd forge legends and myths with his own hands.
He could reach the 9th circle realm no one in history had ever attained, couldn't he?
Just imagining it made his heart pound fiercely.
Riding that momentum, he began chanting his spell.
He infused his image. If even the unreachable sun could be grasped with that talent, then surely...
His magic manifested faster than ever before.
Yet it still wasn't satisfying.
"Not enough, not enough! It's not enough!!"
His own spells, which he usually paid no mind to, now looked unstable.
Like a novice artist beholding a flawless masterpiece.
He felt an endless thirst for his own creations.
But he had ten years on the battlefield and nearly thirty as a mage.
Mages never knew satisfaction.
They always pursued novelty.
They analyzed.
And they found answers.
"Aha, ahahaha!"
He couldn't surpass the beauty of the magic Jun had unleashed. That was a realm beyond his current reach.
He was used to that.
He hadn't always faced only the weak.
On the battlefield, he'd seen plenty of mages stronger than himself.
But.
"Slow! Way too slow! A slug could yawn and pass by!!"
Even the barrage of [Fire Ball]s he prided himself on felt sluggish.
Stronger, faster!
To seize that legendary talent, he had to transcend his limits.
And he knew he could master the method easily.
Click—
A palm-sized case from his pocket.
He grabbed the pill inside and swallowed it in one gulp.
No, not enough.
One more. Two more.
The Mage Tower researchers who'd given him the pills had warned about dosage, but who cared? Those desk-bound nerds had never felt even a tenth of the emotion surging through him now.
Gulp!
Three pills down in one go.
The reaction came swiftly.
"Kuhihihik!!"
His heartbeat accelerated unlike before.
Thump-thump-thump-thump!
His ears rang, his vision blurred.
But his mind was clearer than ever.
Mana surged forth.
Or rather, it felt like it did. Precisely, the circulation speed of mana through his circles had quickened.
His brain spun at a speed incomparable to normal.
"Hahaha!! If I take your heart, I won't even need these damn pills?!"
[Fire Ball]
Rapid-fire barrage / Enhanced power from rotational mana
He snapped his fingers, summoning five fireballs at once that hurtled toward Jun.
Even as they flew, more [Fire Ball]s from his other hand chased after them.
The speed was faster than before, and the power amplified further by the rotational mana within the patterns.
This unfinished brat had no right to block it.
Adrian was certain of that.
A merciless carpet bombing of [Fire Ball]s with no room to breathe.
It happened while he was shaking off the aftermath of escaping the [Volcanic Tornado] and couldn't counter.
'That looks just like...'
It resembled the casting speed of that mage user from his 'Lee Jung-jun' days who had despaired countless mage players.
Just without high-tier spells mixed in like in the game.
[Fire Ball] alone.
But with that firing rate, it held an advantage stronger than any 5th circle spell.
The long casting delay every mage inevitably suffered— it simply didn't exist.
'Blocking it is suicide.'
Trusting [Shield] would vaporize him without a trace.
He had to dodge immediately. Curl up against that bombardment.
But.
Strangely, his body wouldn't move.
Instead.
—Why should I dodge something like that?
An utterly arrogant thought crossed his mind.
It was bizarre.
The opponent was clearly a formidable foe.
No matter the [Demon God Body], most of its power was sealed by [Odyssey of the Lazy Pilgrim], and above all, Jun had no experience fighting a mage of this level head-on.
'So why?'
Why did that magic look so pathetic?
Even in this desperate crisis, that's how it felt.
[Fire Strike] and [Volcanic Tornado] had felt far more threatening.
What was the reason?
Jun analyzed it from a thoroughly mage-like perspective.
And he understood.
"Ah."
That wasn't magic at all.
More precisely.
'A shoddy byproduct squeezed out by a machine lacking even basic precision.'
It seemed like it would shatter at the slightest impact.
The reason was simple.
"A 5th circle mage like you..."
Hadn't infused any imagery into his spells.
It looked powerful enough to incinerate anything, but the structure was crudely made.
[Interpreting Command Speech...]
[Interpretation complete.]
[Command Speech: Reducing influence of 'Odyssey of the Lazy Pilgrim' by 15%.]
Mana swirled like a storm.
He expanded his domain. But he chanted no spell.
Against something so crudely made it was hard to believe a 5th circle mage had cast it.
It posed absolutely no threat—just something utterly worthless.
His will stirred.
The sensation he'd felt only twice before.
The first was when subjugating the Goblin Lord.
The second was using the curse shaman's trap in the Witch's Forest.
That same sensation, now more refined, flowed through his fingertips.
Intent was imprinted on the ownerless mana.
The mana instantly sought its master and moved.
The target: the haphazardly clumped fire-attribute mana.
The fire mana, loosely under control, touched Jun's mana infused with powerful intent.
Shiiik—
And extinguished like a candle in the wind.
"Wha...?"
Adrian blinked, unable to grasp what had just happened before his eyes.
No, he understood the process and result, but not why it was possible.
"Uh, ah...!"
The bewilderment he'd felt moments ago reared its head again.
Was it the backlash, or the result unfolding before him?
Either way, the bewilderment ballooned instantly, morphing into a monster called fear.
"You... what are you? How did you just—?!"
The link between caster and spell was severed.
Magic cancel.
But that was something the caster decided—not something another could do.
A mage's mana erupted from the heart. That connection was inherently sticky.
For someone else to sever it at will?
He'd never even heard of such a thing.
"Then... Dispel?!"
But there was no time for such thoughts.
The backlash hit.
The mana gathered by his will lost its path.
Lost mana had a tendency to return to where it had last resided—without any control, indiscriminately.
That place was none other than Adrian's heart.
"Urk...!"
His heart began racing.
A massive blood flow rampaged through his body.
Normally, he'd overcome such backlash easily.
It was just 3rd circle magic. [Fire Ball], which he'd cast as naturally as breathing.
But not now.
The drugs had made his heart go berserk, sucking in the incoming mana wildly.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
His heart was broken. Blood flowed where it shouldn't, and didn't where it must.
Instinctively sensing it, Adrian wanted to scream, but he couldn't.
"Wheeeeeek!!!"
The moment he felt the anomaly, blood poured from all seven orifices.
And that wasn't all.
The mana rampaged.
The [Fire Ball] mana he'd unleashed thoughtlessly roamed his body freely, beyond his heart's control.
"Urk-weeek!"
The sun receded.
The sun he'd thought within reach slipped far away.
No, forget the sun—red blood obscured even a foot ahead.
Only the primal urge to survive stimulated his brain, but soon even that failed as his mind broke down...
"..."
Thud—
Adrian collapsed, blood gushing from every hole.
Jun pondered the phenomenon he'd just caused.
Normally, magic carried the mage's imagery.
To boost efficiency and reinforce spell pattern durability, but above all, to easily expel external mana in brief moments.
Of course, a skilled enough mage could cast without it.
Though efficiency would drop sharply...
The fallen Adrian had infused faint imagery into each spell.
That alone revealed the life he'd lived wielding magic and his unyielding strength as a mage.
Jun had forcibly canceled that mage's spells.
Was it because the imagery was faint?
'That played a part, but...'
It wasn't the only reason.
Jun recalled the omnipotence he'd felt when canceling the guy's magic.
For a brief instant, it was as if all the world's mana was in his grasp.
This made the third time.
Yet it was more intense than ever, and...
"No backlash."
His mind was fine. No issues with his mana circuits either.
Recalling past experiences, there should have been side effects, but none appeared.
For a moment, his own power felt alien. Yet familiar.
Demon God Body.
He felt like he'd grasped—just a tiny bit—the true nature of that force, which had been mere a skill in the game.
"An unexpected gain."
The enemy he should have merely subdued had broken completely.
Dead, perhaps?
No movement suggested his breath had stopped.
"Well... Taking on a higher circle from the start might've been greedy."
At least his corpse was intact—
"...!"
Whoosh—!!
Before Jun could react, flames engulfed Adrian's body.
He tried to extinguish it immediately, but the blaze burned fiercer than ever, charring Adrian's entire body to unrecognizable black coal.
"..."
Backlash from the magic cancel.
The manifested mana returned to his heart, and as its master died, it reverted to the last attribute it'd taken.
Thus, the mana he'd wielded turned fire-attribute and manifested on his body, incinerating even the corpse beyond recognition.
The end for one who couldn't control mana rampage.
"Damn... Didn't think of that."
What to tell Cloi?
As the guy fully breathed his last, the fog shroud hiding the surroundings vanished.
Right after.
Kwaaaaang—!!!
An explosion echoed from the heart of Black Forest Fortress.
A massive blast audible even from the outskirts.
"Huh?"
That direction... was where Cloi's merchant guild was.