Chapter 405
Chapter 405
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 405
Chapter Title: The Ancient Magic Scholar, Skeval
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The ancient magic scholar, Skeval.
This mage, who had lived for hundreds of years, took pride in the realm he had achieved—and who could blame him? Skeval had mastered spells of every elemental attribute, an objectively remarkable height of mastery.
To command all attributes meant he had few weaknesses as a mage, a sign that he had stepped into the realm where he could boldly claim the title of grand mage.
Layered atop that were centuries of accumulated experience, leaving only a handful of beings capable of rivaling him. Even flocks of soaring heroes and superhumans charging in were toyed with by Skeval as he savored leisurely victories.
Those who had faced Skeval or crossed paths with him all agreed on one thing.
"The nightmare of the battlefield."
"The natural enemy of mages."
"The mage closest to truth."
When he learned of the infamous titles clinging to him through the screams of humans, Skeval laughed more joyfully than ever. Back in his human days, he had always been overshadowed by that cursed gray haze, unable to shine.
But "the mage closest to truth"?
What a beautiful ring to it.
After all, he was the only one who had survived this long, so the title suited him perfectly. Amid the humans' screams, Skeval spent truly fulfilling years.
Thus, hundreds of years passed.
Then, rumors of a different sort began reaching the ears of Skeval, who had loomed as a wall over humanity. Humans no longer called him "the mage closest to truth." Someone more fitting had appeared.
Who dared?
He would teach that arrogant human her place. With that thought, Skeval eagerly stepped onto the battlefield and encountered the mage he had once subdued—the one with ashen hair.
...This human was the closest to truth?
Someone I had already overwhelmed.
Skeval scoffed and charged at the human, only to taste bitter defeat. It took him a long time to accept that loss. Why had he lost? Carelessness, nothing more. I couldn't possibly lose...
Skeval suffered a second defeat.
No, this time it was just a bit...
The third.
No.
The fourth.
......
When the count finally reached double digits, Skeval had to admit it. He had lost to a human who hadn't even lived a fraction of his life. That human had become his natural enemy.
Of course, Skeval was still a powerhouse.
Objectively speaking.
The problem was that relatively, he no longer was.
Just as centuries ago, his benchmark remained the ashen mage. Placed on the same line, Skeval became the relative inferior. He felt that humiliation from long ago all over again.
...Fine.
Wait long enough, and he would be the survivor.
To survive was to be strong. Wait long enough, and his era would come. Chewing over the humiliation, he waited years for his day in the sun.
And Skeval finally met the light.
That is, he faced Raniel, cloaked in starlight.
That day, Skeval screamed.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ With a thunderous boom, Skeval was slammed into the ground. Half his skull embedded in the earth, he reacted with astonishing speed—a insight born of repeated experience.
He warped the terrain to free his body, then accelerated himself, executing evasive maneuvers in midair.
Bzzt-bzzt-bzzt-bzzt-bzzt!
Dozens of lightning bolts immediately stabbed into the spot where Skeval had been buried. Had he been a fraction slower, it wouldn't have been the dirt pierced, but his skull.
"Whoa, you dodged that."
As Raniel clicked her tongue in admiration, fury shook Skeval's gaze. He raked his nails across his own skull with a scratch and raised his voice.
『You bastard, ashen one...!』
Skeval spread his arms wide.
Normally, he would have shattered his own skull here for an honorable death, but even now, he couldn't. He had to fulfill his subordinate's dying wish.
Circuits blazed brilliantly behind Skeval's back.
Nearly a hundred circuits floated up, and Raniel snorted, rolling up her sleeves.
"Bullshit."
Hundreds of circuits gleaming pretentiously.
Just flashy displays—most were auxiliary spells reinforcing and enhancing the main ones. Not like Kelrhalim's splits, each with distinct attack vectors.
At the core of those hundreds, barely twenty or so. Impressive still, enough to make any mage groan before such ostentation...
Snap.
Not for Raniel.
With a snap of her fingers, her forearm ignited ghostly white. Stocked circuits pulsed fiercely, manifesting spells in an instant.
Smite.
Spell-bunch.
The lightning bolt speared the heart of Skeval's circuits. Piercing the core in a flash, the circuits collapsed entirely. Raniel tapped the ground lightly with her toes.
Then—
Whoosh.
Raniel's form vanished in an instant.
Though her location was unknown, Skeval looked up. Another insight from repetition. The moment he did, he locked eyes with Raniel reaching down from above.
『I... hate... you.』
Grip. Raniel seized Skeval's skull.
"Yeah. Hate away."
Acceleration.
Accel.
Starlight and mana intertwined in a heartbeat.
Raniel—and the Skeval she clutched—vanished from the air like evaporating mist. In felt time, less than a second. Then a colossal boom! followed by grinding scraaaape, and dust billowed violently.
When the dust settled.
The cliff bore gouges from something embedded and dragged. The ground was pocked with craters from repeated slams.
At the end of those trails stood Raniel.
And Skeval lay shattered on the ground, a wretched mess. Both arms mangled and rolling away, his vaunted executioner's robe riddled with lightning holes, frayed to tatters.
『Th...is way... no... chance...』
Skeval's eyes dimmed, then went dark.
A crunch echoed from within his skull as something shattered, pus oozing from the sockets.
Grip.
Raniel yanked the skull free while crushing Skeval's ribs under her boot. Twirling it by jamming fingers into the eye sockets, she turned back.
"Belnoa, and the entire search party."
To the two staring wide-eyed, and the knights beside them, Raniel flashed a faint smile.
"Good work. Let's head back."
With the situation resolved in a flash, Belnoa let out a hollow laugh. Tension released, she collapsed as if fainting, and Chloe buried her face in Belnoa's chest.
Thank goodness... really, really...
Chloe's murmur echoed softly.
The knights gave wry smiles, while Raniel turned away and wiped her mouth with her sleeve.
'...Gotta research better ways to cut down on minions.'
Dark red blood trickled out.
Her left side felt numb, left eye blind. Skipping through space, twisted bone shards tumbled inside her body.
'Fucking hurts.'
She spat blood and sighed. Lucky it was Skeval—if another calamity, it would've been dire.
Still, the risk paid off.
"......"
Raniel glanced back wordlessly.
Seeing Chloe sobbing in Belnoa's arms brought relief. Yeah, saved her. Nothing lost.
And...
Raniel's eyes narrowed.
'Condition met.'
The fragment of the Holy Grail blooming in Belnoa's core.
Confirming it, Raniel murmured inwardly.
Finally, on to the next stage.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 2.
Belnoa and Chloe returned to base without major incident. Upon arrival, they got a few days' leave, and during that time, Chloe stuck to Belnoa like glue...
"Promise me."
"A-alright."
"Promise. Now."
"I said okay? Never again. I'm sorry."
"Words only?"
"...Huh?"
"Sign here. Hurry."
"Wait, Chloe... this is a subordination contract."
Belnoa broke into a cold sweat fending off Chloe, who shook her collar while bedridden and insisted on engraving a subordination contract.
[All's well that ends well, right?]
The goddess watched their bickering with amusement, chuckling as if at a fun show. Then she pointed at the dessert Chloe brought...
[That big lollipop I gave you in the demon realm? Haven't forgotten. Time to pay up.]
Her serious gaze made Belnoa offer up a few desserts as tribute. After days of recuperation, Belnoa could finally rise.
"Belnoa van Dragonic."
Someone came for her.
Belnoa widened her eyes at the visitor—her other mentor stood there.
"...Master Kalt?"
"Yes, it's been a while. Belnoa."
Tracker Kalt.
The one who stepped down as Royal Guard captain to return to the front lines... and taught Belnoa hand-to-hand combat. He beckoned from outside the tent.
"The senior's calling."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Senior."
"Yeah, come in."
As Belnoa and Kalt entered the tent, Raniel was wiping something with a wet cloth. Polishing it to a shine. Kalt frowned, trying to identify it, then paled.
It was a skull. Skeval's skull.
"No, senior, what the...?"
"What? Polishing Skeval's skull."
"That's why—why are you...?"
"Why? Collecting these is my new hobby."
Raniel grinned contentedly, twirling the skull under the tent's glowing orb. As Kalt grumbled, Belnoa felt a complex mix of emotions.
That's definitely the dragon slayer's skull.
The confident smile the dragon slayer flashed at the end flashed in her mind. There might be a lions' world, but if he saw this, he'd feel just like Belnoa now.
Or maybe curse the world.
What effect a dead one's curse might have on the living was unknown, but the woman before her seemed like she'd chew it up with a straight face.
"Hm, nice."
Raniel placed the polished skull on the table's edge and exhaled shortly.
"Congrats on becoming a superhuman, Belnoa."
"...How did you know?"
"Ways exist."
Dodging casually, Raniel beckoned.
Belnoa perched on the chair opposite, and Raniel reached over, patting her head.
"Good job. Survived ten days in the demon realm, huh? Saw the report... sounded impossible."
"Only you could, Professor."
"Everyone calls me Professor. Been years since I quit."
Still, doesn't sound bad.
She murmured and smiled.
"Reason I called you... you get it, roughly?"
She tapped Belnoa's report.
"You went to Alkaya."
The land for the faithless, Alkaya.
Belnoa nodded slowly.
Raniel narrowed her eyes and spoke.
"Tell me about it. In detail."
Kalt, standing behind her, silently placed a document before Belnoa. Layers of security spells. Tap. Raniel tapped it, and they unlocked sequentially, revealing the first page.
Apostate Subjugation Plan Alkaya Extermination Operation