Chapter 86
Chapter 86
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 86
Chapter Title: Living Flames (2)
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If magic weapons were things that circulated so freely, Galen before getting tangled up with the church wouldn't have regarded them as legendary artifacts.
But the Vantis they were chasing now was the bastard who had casually handed over that 'legendary artifact' and egged on the pirates.
He must have had some ulterior motive, but if he truly valued the magic weapon so highly, would he have given it away so easily?
And if he didn't value it that much, maybe the reason was that he had so many of them he could afford to hand out a couple without a second thought?
The last bit felt like a stretch, but even so, there was no rule saying only one magic weapon could show up while they were pursuing the guy who'd scattered them around.
"Damn it, why didn't I consider that possibility?"
"W-Well, because there've never been two magic weapons showing up at once...?"
Galen gritted his teeth, while Lilia murmured in distress.
If it had just been the two of them, they wouldn't have been thrown off even if two or three magic weapons appeared—they'd have been surprised, sure, but not panicked.
They'd already been through the ruins of Oclane. Compared to those special mud golems that kept crawling out endlessly no matter how many times they smashed them—golems that could even withstand slashes from a golden warrior—two or three magic weapons were practically a joke.
But the problem was they weren't alone here.
If Verlon got taken out, that would be a disaster.
And in the worst case, if there were three magic weapons?
The villagers they'd just barely rescued would be massacred. What could a pair of silver-rank guards do?
The flames and smoke made it impossible to get a clear read on the surroundings, which only complicated their judgment further.
"......"
But they couldn't just ignore the enemy right in front of them either.
Putting off what needed to be done now would just make things worse.
Verlon was a golden warrior, after all. Surely he could hold out against a magic weapon.
And the villagers didn't seem to be under immediate attack.
"......We'll have to wrap this up as fast as possible."
In the end, the answer was the obvious one. Take out this guy first.
But with utmost seriousness and haste. There was no time to leisurely farm experience.
Galen summoned his spirit.
A lump of water dropped in front of them and rapidly grew, transforming into a giant of water.
"Can you manage it?"
"No problem!"
"Then I'm counting on you."
Galen quickly whispered something to Lilia, who nodded with a resolute expression.
By then, the water giant had reappeared and thrust its arm forward.
It looked similar to when it had fired a water cannon from the open space at the village entrance—and indeed, it served a similar purpose this time.
Except it was being used a bit more 'aggressively.'
'Assuming the magic weapon user is nearby.'
The magic weapon they'd encountered in the Dawn Archipelago had been able to mix ghosts into seawater and operate from quite a distance.
If it was something akin to Spirit Creation, that wouldn't be unusual. Galen's spirits could operate at a fair distance from him too.
But Galen figured this magic weapon wasn't that type.
If it could cover a wide area from afar, it wouldn't have just sat there watching the villagers flee. It probably would have targeted him first when he was in the open space.
Having firepower that could smack around even a decent fire mage, plus that kind of utility? Way too overpowered.
So, assuming it had the range of a typical mage and was hiding somewhere nearby, targeting Galen and Lilia...
'Just blow it all away.'
Galen's eyes gleamed darkly.
As he awakened the mana of Phantom Inferno, the visible landscape shifted slightly, almost like a new interface popping up on a monitor.
Even if its unique senses were distorted from contact with the magic weapon's flames.
That didn't mean he couldn't use magic at all. Control was just a bit unstable.
There was only Lilia around anyway. Who cared if control slipped a little.
Swoosh—
The illusory shadow, visible only to Galen's eyes, quivered faintly as it settled atop a nearby building.
The moment the area was designated, mana heavily invested in explosion over mere flame flashed brightly.
Phantom Inferno
Area explosion / Distortion field active / Mana drain high
BOOOOM!
The shockwave erupted, crumbling the entire building.
If it were modern reinforced concrete on Earth, maybe it'd hold, but these were mining village structures nestled in the mountainside—mostly wooden.
Already weakened by the flames, there was no way they could withstand that blast.
SPLOOOSH!
The explosion was so intense it momentarily snuffed out the raging fires, only for the giant's water cannon to come crashing in right after.
With the fuel itself blasted away and swept up in the torrent, the flames devouring the building shrank in an instant.
Sssshhh!
Thick steam clouded one side of their vision for a moment, but Galen ignored it and turned to the next building.
BOOOOM! SPLOOOSH!
Another explosion, another collapse, another dousing.
The blasts drew so much attention that he'd mostly been limited to flames during training.
But unleashing them without restraint, the explosions' power was phenomenal. Specialized purely for obliterating enemies, without even self-protection features.
BOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOOOM!
Wherever Galen—a bomber in warrior's clothing—laid eyes, ruins turned to ash in seconds.
To an outsider, it might look like Galen was the one destroying the village, the pace was so relentless.
He'd roughly scorched the forward 180 degrees of his field of view when...
ROOOAR!
A wave of flames surged from a narrow alley on his right rear, incinerating the whole path.
Galen's gaze flicked that way—and at the same instant.
Splash!
The water giant, which had only been firing cannons until then, hunched forward. Its body formed a wall, shielding Galen and Lilia.
Sssshhhh!
It had good momentum, but the flame wave couldn't overcome the real wave. Chunks of the spirit's body evaporated away, but it regenerated far faster.
"......"
Galen's eyes narrowed slightly.
He hadn't been blasting buildings at random. He'd started from the direction the flames targeting Lilia had come from.
Yet a flame wave bursting from the rear out of nowhere meant...
The flames' generation point didn't match the opponent's position.
And if that was the case again this time...
"Is it over there?"
Galen murmured lowly, suddenly shifting his gaze to the opposite side—his left rear.
BOOOOM!
A building that had been relatively intact compared to the others exploded.
At that moment.
Near the crumbling structure, something like a silhouette briefly flitted past Galen's vision.
It could have been a trick of Phantom Inferno's shadow field, so he wasn't certain.
But in the end, Galen had seen right.
"Urghhh......"
The silhouette's owner—a hooded robed man—ducked behind a nearby wall, groaning in pain.
He hadn't been right up against the exploded building, but he couldn't fully escape the shockwave. His whole body throbbed.
"That bastard...... What the hell is he......?"
He'd been moving in a panic after sensing the encirclement of flames he'd carefully set around the village suddenly breached.
And how startled he'd been seeing that giant made of water from afar.
Whether it was a spirit or just conjured water, he didn't know.
But as a fire user, any water mage was a tricky matchup by common sense.
So he'd been watching closely, and then...
"What the—explosions......?"
Was that woman he'd been tormenting actually a mage? But her agile movements screamed warrior.
And a water mage pulling off that level of feats in these mountains with no water source, while also being proficient enough in explosion magic to level houses? That didn't add up.
Maybe those guys had magic weapons too? The thought crossed his mind.
Honestly, he didn't think he could hold out much longer. His flames weren't doing jack, while they were bombing away. Bad matchup.
But if he could just hang on a bit more—
Pffft!
The man heard an odd sound as his thoughts reached there.
And saw something he shouldn't.
A spear of light had pierced straight through his torso, protruding out the front.
"Kghhh—"
His questioning voice gurgled. His punctured lung let out only weird wheezes.
In his fading consciousness, he barely made out the sight.
The woman lightly vaulting over the wall he'd hidden behind, retrieving her spear of light—enveloped in a soft glow.
Isn't it cheating for a priestess not to wear her robes? With that fleeting thought, the man's breath stopped.
"Heave-ho."
Lilia casually hoisted the man's corpse and returned to Galen's side.
"Well done."
"Brother did all the work."
Lilia beamed at Galen's praise.
What he'd asked of her was simple: Kill on sight if she spotted the enemy.
Galen had only glimpsed the silhouette, but Lilia—with all her senses heightened—had confirmed the human shape moving.
She'd charged at full speed with her miracle of blessing active, stabbing him dead before he could react or even notice her approach.
"The magic weapon's this bracelet."
Lilia pointed to the cylindrical bracelet on the man's wrist. No way she'd miss something reeking of suspicion, especially when Galen spotted it too.
"Destroy it now."
"Got it!"
Now they could destroy them on their own. Lilia thrust her Radiant Spear in and applied her blessing.
Fwssh!
Platinum light flickered like flames around the bracelet.
The unholy artifact made by demons violently rebelled against the forced holy power.
Shattering unholy artifact
Demonic resistance overwhelmed
"Kiiiiieeek!"
A nails-on-chalkboard screech assaulted their eardrums. Galen and Lilia grimaced in unison.
Thankfully, it didn't last. The scream cut off as the bracelet half-shattered.
At that instant.
Spirit Creation had leveled up.
Phantom Inferno had been fluctuating wildly, so who knew, but probably not.
'Yeah, it went up a little.'
Galen smacked his lips, a touch disappointed.
Back then, his levels were much lower, the fight had dragged on long enough to deplete most of his mana, and above all, that magic weapon's performance had been insanely strong.
Strong enough that even another golden-rank water mage might not have won.
By contrast, this one was easy, even factoring in fire-versus-water disadvantage. The low experience made sense.
At this rate...... Well, Verlon could probably hold his own. The environment was already ablaze, so somewhat unfavorable, but still.
'Of course, no guarantee the other side's in the same boat.'
So they needed to hurry.
Before leaving, Galen pocketed a shard of the shattered bracelet as evidence, scrutinizing the man's face.
Lilia, peering at the face too, spoke first.
"Doesn't look like him, right?"
"Doesn't."
They'd heard Vantis's description from the black market overseer.
With Shane's help, they'd even sketched a rough portrait. Not photo quality—more like a composite sketch—but enough to recognize him roughly.
The dead man didn't resemble Vantis at all.
"A subordinate?"
"Close aide, at least? Power you can wield just by offering a sacrifice—he wouldn't hand those out to just anyone."
"Secrecy too, right? Ugh, nothing's straightforward."
This made Verlon's side relatively more dangerous.
"Lilia, head to Lord Verlon first and help him. I'll pursue this guy's backup."
"Be careful!"
Fortunately, Verlon was holding firm.
Lilia's arrival split the flames in two, weakening the assault.
Then Galen showed up, and it was over soon after.
He hadn't used Phantom Inferno this time, but while dousing nearby flames with Water Flow Manipulation and Spirit Creation, Verlon and Lilia had combed the area and found the enemy.
"Gahk!"
This one they even captured alive.
But peeling back to check the face? Not Vantis either.
Now their expressions turned subtle.
"No way the guy's operating separately from his underlings?"
"We'll interrogate. If he's handing out magic weapons, he probably knows more than the black market overseer......"
"Or since his close aides got nabbed, he might go even more into hiding."
"Ugh."
"Put out the fires first! We can't interrogate or anything till we clean up."
"Right."
The nearby flames were out, but the village as a whole still had plenty burning.
Especially the opposite side from the entrance, where the mine was—Galen hadn't gone there.
They'd just wrapped up a quick discussion and were about to move again when.
ROOOAR!
From debris they'd fully extinguished, not even leaving embers, crimson flames erupted anew.
Blazing fiercer than before, the fire blocked every path around.
"Where are you lot off to in such a hurry?"
A middle-aged man strode out, casually passing through the new wall of flame in front, a smile on his face.
"Still a long way to go before cleanup's done."