Chapter 688: The Eraser in the Regressor's Mind
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 688: The Eraser in the Regressor's Mind
The scroll lost its light. At the same time, the world seemed to creak. A great axis was twisting, and Oman was falling to pass judgment on humanity's arrogance.
“I didn’t expect you to be so quick on the uptake. Then again, now that you're on the Ark, it's the perfect time. Better for Oman to fall now than after you've disembarked, wouldn't you agree?”
It was a rational decision. If Oman was something that could be dropped as easily as eating a piece of cake, it was better for me to be the one to drop it and then board the Ark.
“I suppose I should prepare to launch the Ark again. Since I've descended, I might as well take a few of Celsius's domain residents with us. The Mage Federation will be relatively safe from Oman's impact, but we'll need some common folk for menial labor anyway. No need to do the job twice.”
“You’re going to be busy.”
“Not at all! I'll have much more free time than before. I no longer have to worry about Oman!”
As the chuckling Mage King began to leave, I called out to him.
“While you're at it, could you bring my companions into this space?”
“They'll appear once I'm gone!”
With those words, the Mage King departed. The space he had split reconnected, and Shei and Lankart appeared. Lankart spotted me and acknowledged my presence.
“Oh? Huey. Did you see this scroll too? The contents are fascinating. Gravity magic is grouped with spatial magic, as if their origins are one and the same.”
“I saw it.”
“According to the principles on this scroll, wherever a spatial anomaly occurs, a gravitational one must also occur.”
“Like the Floating Castle.”
“Exactly. But I didn't feel any particular gravitational anomaly when the Mage King was moving around.”
“That's probably because it's his Unique Magic.”
Unique Magic is the manifestation of one's own Spiritual World as law. Being deeply personal, Unique Magic often deviates far from general principles. The Mage King's spatial distortion must be of that kind.
But that's all it is. Unique Magic that fails to reach the principles of the world vanishes like mist or leaves behind only a trace as a relic. Only the Divine can be inscribed upon the world itself. Magic truly begins when one reaches the seat of the Divine, and the Arcane is interpreted and relegated to the realm of academia.
The Divine is the horizon of knowledge. A banner that shows how far humanity has advanced.
Therefore.
“A scroll cannot contain Unique Magic. Is the knowledge in this scroll… that of a Divine?”
It becomes academia, technology, and magic. The knowledge in this scroll is that of a Divine.
The Divine must have been someone who had grasped the secrets of space.
“It's no wonder the Red Tower Master is searching for relics of the Divine. Looking at what's written here, spatial magic might be incredibly easy if you have a geometric understanding. The concept is difficult, but a 7th-floor level mage could probably drop a meteor without much trouble.”
“What?”
Shei, who had been staring blankly at the scroll, reacted. She didn't have the knowledge to understand it, but she had been listening intently to our conversation.
“You can easily drop a meteor? Who can?”
Lankart shook the scroll as he answered.
“Anyone, as long as they have the knowledge. According to this scroll, anyone who knows a meteor's coordinates and can handle gravity magic can summon one. Though calculating where to drop it would require some pretty detailed work. Just as the White Tower Master said, this really could be a switch to end humanity.”
“What…! Quick, give me the scroll! I'll destroy it!”
“Hey, don't touch it. If this thing tears by accident, a meteor will fall.”
“It's just like Ruel said! A scroll like this shouldn't exist! Magic to drop Oman… This is for the best. The Mage King must have given scrolls to all of us. Now that we're up here, we have to get rid of them all! Hughes…!”
Shei was urging me with her eyes to help. Just then, her gaze fell upon my scroll, torn in two. She suddenly fell silent, stammering.
“Huh? Hughes. Your scroll is…?”
That's right. I tore it. I tore the scroll in two. How about that?
Faced with the end of the world, will your thoughts change? Or will you remember?
'There's no way Hughes would do that… He's not the type of person who'd want to destroy the surface with Oman. Why? Why would he?'
Is this not enough? How strange.
If Shei really knows more than what I've read with my mind-reading, and if she even knows that I can read minds… there's no way she wouldn't know the truth of this scroll.
How can she think such a blatant lie? You helped me see this scroll too, didn't you?
“Don't be mistaken, girl. The magic on this scroll isn't 'magic to drop a meteor.' There's no way you can drop a meteor with a single sheet of paper.”
Because this scroll is…
“…it's magic 'to hold a meteor so it doesn't fall.'”
“Magic to hold a meteor so it doesn't fall…?”
“Right. This scroll has a formula written on it that prevents Oman from falling to the surface. Tearing it stops the formula from working. And Oman starts to fall.”
Just as Lankart said, there's no way a single scroll could drop a meteor. It wouldn't have nearly enough mana. But interfering with or disrupting an existing spell is certainly possible.
The scroll the Mage King handed out was a switch for humanity's extinction. But a switch is just a switch. The explosion is caused not by the switch, but by the powder keg it's connected to. What's the use in blaming the switch while ignoring the powder keg?
Oman was already falling. Its impact had just been delayed for a very long time.
“Huh? Who on earth would cast a spell like that…?”
“For crying out loud. Do I have to spell this out for you too? Does this woman not think for herself?”
“Whoa, whoa. Lankart, calm down.”
She might genuinely not be thinking for herself. I'm not being sarcastic, I mean it literally.
“A being who knew of Oman's existence, was well-versed in spatial and gravitational magic, and could wield immense mana… It was probably the Mage King.”
“The Mage King was holding back Oman…? Why?”
“I don't know. Maybe he was saving it to use at a better time. Or maybe…”
Maybe the Mage King was protecting the world from Oman. That would make him a savior, not a Mage King, wouldn't it?
I don't know. I can't read the Mage King's mind. This is all just speculation. But what's important is…
“What's important is that the Mage King had already decided to let Oman go. That's why he openly distributed the scrolls.”
“We can just hurry and collect them!”
“It's already too late. The scroll has been torn, and Oman is falling. We have to stop it somehow.”
“How are we supposed to stop it?! Oman is a massive meteor over two kilometers in diameter! It's incredibly fast and infused with mana! Ugh. Is this because we came up here? Should we not have come, just like Ruel said?”
“To stop it, I need your help, Shei.”
“Stop Oman…? How? I can help however I can, but there's no way I can do it with my power.”
Seemingly in a panic, Shei was restless, running through countermeasures in her head. I calmly read her thoughts. But among them, I couldn't find a single fragment of a thought about 'Saint Rene's relic.'
Right now, there's no link in Shei's mind between Chun-aeng and Saint Rene's relic. Even though it's the perfect time to recall it.
Alright, then. How about this?
“The Chun-aeng you have, Shei. It's Saint Rene's relic, isn't it? I need that power, the power to control space.”
My eyes met Shei's. Her pupils didn't widen, she didn't panic, and she didn't look away. She just replied as if she had forgotten and was suddenly reminded by my words.
“Yeah. That's right. You mean the holy relic, right? Saint Rene was a great figure in the Mage Federation, so of course she'd be connected to Oman…”
Her reaction is similar to someone remembering something they'd forgotten. She's intentionally blocking the memory. Only when I mention it does the thought process connect. I don't know if that memory is in this body or beyond time.
She's hiding her memories in a strange way. Was the foolishness she's shown until now a side effect of intentionally blocking her memories? No. That can't be right. If she were deliberately blocking them, I should have felt a sense of incongruity, but there was none.
On the contrary, it was probably because she was foolish that she could block her memories and still function normally.
“Hey, wait a minute.”
Now it was Lankart who was dumbfounded. He let out a hollow laugh and said.
“Saint Rene? That person is a spatial mage as famous as the Mage King in the Mage Federation. They said she surpassed the Mage King in creating pocket dimensions. And you're telling me you have a relic from such a historical mage?”
Shei didn't even think she'd been caught. She nonchalantly presented Chun-aeng as if pulling something from her pocket.
“Yep. This.”
“I thought it was a sword inhabited by a wind spirit, but it was Saint Rene's relic? What the hell. Why are you only telling us this now?”
“Do I have to?”
“Well, no, but…”
Lankart scratched his head roughly and asked me accusingly.
“Huey. What's this woman's deal?”
I don't know. She probably doesn't know either. Who she is right now.
“Shei. Please open Chun-aeng. I need to see Saint Rene's relic.”
Chun-aeng is Shei's most powerful weapon, a beloved sword she has never let go of, even through repeated regressions. It would be human nature for her to be a little wary if I saw through its identity and asked to see it.
“Okay. Here. I'll open Chun-aeng. I'll suppress it as much as I can, but be careful.”
However, Shei didn't hesitate at my request, gripping Chun-aeng with both hands. Her fingertips grabbed the compressed space in the air and pulled it apart.
Crrk, crrk. A sound like a scream came from the distorted space. The invisible sword, Chun-aeng, opened, creating a long scar in the air. What I could see inside was a strange pocket dimension that held a sense of mystery.
“Rene will be inside. Holy relics preserve thoughts perfectly, so be careful. There's no telling what she might do.”
Of all the sides of Shei I've seen, this was the most like a Regressor. To think she could do something like this and hide it so well.
I guess I can't use my mind-reading anymore. The higher the level, the fewer opponents it works on.
Well, an invincible skill would be no fun. There has to be some challenge to overcome, right?
“I'll be back.”
First, the Mage King. I squeezed through the rift Shei had opened.