Chapter 57
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: Volcanic Mage Tower (4)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The carriage shook roughly.
Yet the interior remained perfectly still and silent, not a hint of movement thanks to numerous spells.
"Hmm..."
The carriage's owner, Sergei, coldly stared at the long-distance communication device fading from view.
"Adolf. You fool."
Word was, he'd gone to the Mage Tower elders to demand accountability for this mess.
Of course, the elders stonewalled him, only stoking his rage.
There was nothing Adolf could do.
"Tsk tsk... To think that sharp mind of yours knew it all and still..."
Sergei had known Adolf for quite some time.
Yet he'd betrayed him in an instant, pinning the blame for this incident squarely on him.
Guilt?
He wouldn't cling to a mere few decades of friendship.
To him, the Demon God Body—a legend whispered only in tales—was far more precious than that.
"I thought he'd perished alongside Demian for sure..."
A being with that fabled constitution had survived. And in utter secrecy, no less.
Sergei had stumbled upon its existence purely by chance.
—Maybe I've brought along a talent too great for even me to handle.
A conversation with his close friend and rival, Demian.
It was during a mages' association meeting.
Sergei had said that while watching a white-haired boy blankly stare at a butterfly floating in the garden.
He hadn't realized it then, but a choker infused with Demian's verbal command was already wrapped around the boy's neck.
A face he'd seen only once, long ago in his childhood.
Seeing it again recently was pure coincidence.
'Nearly missed it.'
While gathering intel on the hidden field discovered in the Black Forest's Forest Guardian, he'd spotted a photo.
A moment's less attention, and he'd have glossed right over it.
'Didn't expect such a transformation.'
His white hair had turned black, and those dull, undead-like eyes now gleamed sharply.
Had he killed his master, razed the Mage Tower that was like his hometown, and survived?
"Demian, you idiot. You left this treasure behind and went off like that?"
He said it casually, but Sergei was genuinely grateful to Demian.
After all, that treasure had ended up in his hands.
His prior plans had twisted a bit, but in the end, he alone knew its true value.
"Demon God Body..."
Even now, the lingering mana echoes from Demian's Mage Tower collapse haunted him.
The 7th circle insight he'd gained from mere echoes.
If he claimed it directly, what heights could he reach?
His heart, long cooled by the chill of a mage's life, pounded like fervent youth.
All he needed was to slip out safely from the distant city of flying birds ahead.
Not difficult at all.
No earl could detain him without solid proof, rank or no.
'Adrian failed, so I'll have to visit myself.'
Since he was out, detouring through the Black Forest on the way back sounded fine.
The anomaly hit as he relaxed, eyes closed, lost in those thoughts.
"...!"
A scene flashed through his mind.
The landscape of his [Mental Image Realm].
It wasn't clear.
Something was wrong with the gem forming the realm.
'Already half-destroyed.'
It looked intact on the surface, but on the verge of shattering.
"Thieves in my Mage Tower... Adolf, you didn't just come to visit."
Sergei, veteran lord of his tower, instantly sensed Adolf had brought someone.
"Tsk tsk. If he'd just fled, he might've scraped by with his life."
Whatever gave him the guts to send thieves into his sanctum, it was futile.
He focused on the gem embedded with his mana.
His mind drifted far, vision snapping from the carriage.
The world stretched long—then his [Mental Image Realm] sharpened into view.
[......Haha. The treasure walked right into my lap.]
He'd assumed the treasure trapped in the Black Forest, yet here it was, strolling into his Mage Tower.
This wasn't even a trap sprung—it was like keeping bait at home and the beast wandering in to get caught.
His mind nearly fully shifted into the chimera's body.
Now even the realm's sounds reached him.
He raised a hand.
Not perfect control yet, but the Demon God Body he'd craved was right there.
The treasure spoke.
"You're here?"
"...Hm?"
With that, a massive energy blast shot from its fingertip.
Sergei hadn't anticipated the timing.
Most people turn innocently pure before greed.
Even a 7th-circle mage.
And the pure-hearted make grave mistakes.
Sergei's sole error?
Not suspecting a thing.
Why had Jun walked into this Mage Tower?
Why activate [Mental Image Realm] in his sanctuary?
Why was the sustaining gem half-shattered?
One more thought, and he wouldn't have rashly shifted his mind into the chimera.
But he didn't notice until the crimson flash loomed before him.
Simply...
[How...?]
Reports said only 3rd circle.
Even grown, maybe 4th at best.
How could it cast 5th-circle magic?
That doubt alone lingered.
Wind back a bit.
Jun realized his plan was fraying as changes rippled through the chimera.
"Hoo..."
He steeled himself.
To overcome this, he'd need to embrace death.
Arms limp, thumbs and index fingers touching on each hand.
A common deep-breath pose.
He canceled the augmentation spell aiding his breaths.
—Then inhaled deeply.
"Huuuuuup—!"
Hot air scorched down his throat, pricking nerves into his lungs.
"...!!!"
He nearly hacked it all out.
Unlike the shallow sip before, this deep pull felt like melting his mouth, throat, and lungs.
This deep? His lungs were likely ruined already.
His brain screamed madness.
The urge to crumple pathetically surged.
The two skills barely held him. Or he'd truly die.
"Hoooooo...!!"
He endured the agony, exhaling slowly.
And.
"Huuuuuup!!"
Deeper than before.
'Ah.'
Dangerous.
Blackout loomed.
His body flushed red.
Blood boiled toward vapor.
Yet Jun smirked faintly.
'Held. That's enough.'
But no relief yet.
"Hooooooo!!"
The crux started now.
"Huuuuuuup——!!"
Bigger. Far bigger than before.
Some brain part broke. No pain. But his body was honest.
Knees buckled.
Not fatigue. Real-time decay.
Mana circuits charred black.
And? Four circles spun madly, melting under invading fire mana.
His face blackened beyond red.
"Hooooooo——!"
But.
'Crux... passed.'
Exhaling, no grimace twisted his face.
A faint thrill glowed instead.
Charred circuits stabilized.
Four-ringed circles bathed in fine crimson.
'Done.'
[Mental Image Realm].
A miracle for advanced mages.
But mana-made nonetheless.
'If Sergei came personally.'
No chance to try this.
But he'd left his mana to a mere artifact gem.
No authority to hold dominance.
He wasn't here, and Jun's [Demon God Body] arrogantly declared from earlier.
Demanding it teach this defiant mana its master.
Mana is me. I am mana.
The [Demon God Body] proclaimed loftily.
Possible?
Doubt flickered.
Rationally, as a mage? Impossible.
But.
His master had said:
—Such arrogant, insolent, boundless talent.
Yes.
He'd seen the [Demon God Body]'s true form and hid his revulsion.
It was every mage's despair, a calamity.
Inevitably.
Mages wield world's scattered mana.
But [Demon God Body] holds sway over all mana.
Thus.
All mages become meek sheep before it.
Without its leave, even magic fails.
And now.
Jun seized dominance over the mana forming Sergei's [Mental Image Realm].
'Not mine to wield freely.'
Precisely: He hadn't made Sergei's mana his. He'd approached it.
Semantic, but the gap was vast.
The mana filling him now raged viciously.
Slack, and he'd burn like Adrian.
But the payoff satisfied.
'Madness, but pulled it off.'
He chanted the spell.
Wove mana patterns.
Shaped imagery.
—Fired.
His strongest 5th-circle spell from 'Lee Jung-jun' days.
5th Circle Magic
A single flame pierced the chimera's chest like a laser.
As a child, his house had burned.
He hated recalling it in detail, but Jun infused this [Flare] with those flames' impression.
'Imagery doesn't always need fresh takes.'
During the Forest Guardian raid, he'd cast [Fireball] to draw the Fairy Queen's gaze.
A mere 3rd-circle spell that instilled crisis, forcing her flight.
What made the difference?
What amplified that [Fireball]?
He'd pondered long, no mage to advise.
Only that imagery from then could land a hit on this monster.
"..."
Unlike [Ice Spear], [Flare] punched straight through the chimera's chest and out the other side.
The light faded quickly; the pierced chimera stood blankly, staring at Jun.
Its abyss-deep face and eyes met his.
Time froze.
But post-anomaly, the halted flow resumed.
Drip—
Something scarlet trickled from the chimera's chest.
Its innards?
Unrecognizable, it melted from the core outward.
[Ahh, no......! No......!!]
Not the chimera's voice—a stranger's.
Sergei.
Greed-blinded, mind-shifted into the chimera, he wailed in despair.
But it cut short.
The chimera crumbled too fast.
"..."
Jun watched silently still.
Even now, his body felt like melting.
Payback for nearing the realm's mana, daring a mismatched 5th-circle.
Yet strangely.
"...Ah."
Insight visited even in this drama.