Chapter 240: The Bust and the Blame (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 240: The Bust and the Blame (5)
The oppressive flames spread with a ferocity unlike anything before.
‘This is disgusting.’
The bio-golems engulfed in fire had been ordinary civilians just a short while ago, and the bodies of the Pluto Tribe had been desecrated. The thoughts had been souring Jin’s mood for some time.
“Do you think I don’t know you’re using them as shields to buy time? And you call yourself a Great Mage? Show yourself, Jo! My desire to capture you alive is fading fast.”
“Stop, stop! I’ll surrender, so please, just stop for a moment!”
As Jo raised his staff high with both hands in a gesture of surrender, Chukon’s and Susan’s eyes widened.
While they were desperately blocking Murakan’s attacks, their leader had suddenly declared his surrender. It was Jo who had provoked Murakan in the first place, taunting him with, “As expected of the Dragon of Shadows.” For him to reverse his stance so completely made them doubt their own ears.
“Sir Jo, what is the meaning of this…? Are you saying you’re surrendering?”
At Susan’s question, Jo turned and rebuked her.
“Hah! You dense woman, can’t you see the Black Dragon’s power!? He’s an opponent we can’t handle. At this rate, our annihilation is only a matter of time. Surrender is the only answer!”
“But—”
“But what! You two should declare your surrender as well. Before he changes his mind!”
Setting aside dignity, pride, and reputation, Jo’s assessment of the situation wasn’t wrong. Chukon and Susan also felt it in their bones: there was no way to win against these monsters. It was a feeling they hadn’t experienced in a very long time, not since reaching the superhuman realm of 9-star.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Sir Jo! Have you lost your mind? Surrender? Is that something a leader should say? Do you think that devil will let us live if we just give up? You fool!” Chukon shouted, whipping his head around.
“Sir Chukon, what did you just say?”
“The one we can’t handle is the Black Dragon, not that greenhorn. If we capture him and take him hostage, we can force the Black Dragon to retreat. No Guardian Dragon would let their contractor die!”
Chukon was the only one among them who had met Jin before.
That was why, when Jin first appeared, only Chukon had felt a strange sense of crisis. Beyond the boy’s incredible skill for his age, Chukon had a strong, ominous intuition that he would be outmaneuvered in a battle of wits once again, and that the situation would unfold exactly as Jin intended.
When they had met on that abandoned island in the Bellado Principality, he’d thought Jin was merely a magic swordsman. He had never dreamed the boy was connected to Solderet or the Black Dragon. To think he possessed 7-star magic, 8-star swordsmanship, terrifying lightning, and even spirit energy.
Even for a 9-star mage, Jin was an opponent one would naturally want to avoid.
‘If Sir Jo surrenders now, we have no future. We have to capture that boy and make a deal with the Black Dragon…!’
Chukon had been thinking this ever since he realized Jin was the contractor. He believed that if they could just catch that fraudulent brat, victory would be theirs.
“Sir Jo, don’t give up! Capture him!”
“Sir Chukon is right, Sir Jo,” Susan added. “No matter how great he is, he’s still a monster that hasn’t fully grown. If we join forces—no, even you alone should be enough to subdue him, shouldn’t you?”
As Susan chimed in, Jo was momentarily struck speechless with shame.
They were absolutely right.
‘What a disgrace. I couldn’t even think of such a simple solution and was just planning to rely on the Leader.’
It wasn’t that Jo was stupid.
‘Just as Chukon said, he’s a dangerous one. I was just intimidated by that fledgling’s presence and got scared for no reason.’
It was merely a shameful lapse caused by him being slightly more attuned to his instinctive fear than Chukon or Susan.
“I lost my head for a moment. Yes, no matter how powerful the Black Dragon is, he can’t do a thing if we hold his contractor hostage.”
“We’ll keep the Black Dragon pinned down as best we can. We won’t be able to hold out for long, so hurry and capture him.”
Aaaargh! Screeeech!
The screams of bio-golems, beastmen, and mages blanketed the battlefield. Because of the noise, Jin and Murakan couldn’t hear what the 9-star mages were saying.
However, Jin could tell that some discussion had passed between them. As a result, Jo, who had been on the verge of surrendering, had changed his attitude once again.
Mana began to dye Jo’s staff.
Though often hidden by his cruel and eccentric personality, he was a Great Mage who had long been mentioned as a rival to Andrei Zipple.
“Get out of the way! You useless defects!”
The remaining bio-golems scattered to either side at Jo’s command.
As soon as a path opened, Tess spat a breath toward Jo. In response, Jo unleashed magic befitting his title, ‘Cold.’
Kiriririk—!
Pillars of ice erupted from the ground along the trajectory of Tess’s rushing breath. Unlike ordinary ice magic, this ice glowed with an ominous purple light.
Crack—!
They looked like pillars, but they were actually maws made of ice. The maws of another golem he had personally created. The gaping jaws bit down on Tess’s long stream of breath, and soon the ground split once more, revealing the golem’s true form.
[Gwaaaaaah—!]
It was slightly smaller than Murakan. If an elephant had ten tusks and was fashioned from purple ice, it would look exactly like this. The things that looked like tusks were the maws that had bitten Tess’s breath. After tearing the stream of fire apart like a beast devouring a snake, the creature let out a roar in a disturbing low tone.
“Hah.”
Jin found it hard to hide his disbelief as the golem shot up from the ground. It had appeared while chewing on Tess’s flames, making even him hesitate for a moment.
‘What in the world is that? Something that ridiculous was underground?’
Not only Jin, but even Murakan seemed surprised.
“Pollux, catch Tess’s flames and protect me!”
Unlike the unfinished bio-golems, this was one of the ‘Artisan’s Masterpieces’ he had recently begun producing using the Leader’s wisdom and memories. The golem named Pollux was a completed work.
An ice golem with resistance to fire.
To create Pollux, he had scoured ancient glaciers to find white elephants, kidnapped young demons, and used the hearts and wings of five phoenixes. From the time he held the vain dream of surpassing Andrei and defeating Kelliark, it had taken him nearly twenty years to complete.
In other words, it was the magnum opus of the Great Mage, Cold Jo. It was the reason why Chukon and Susan regarded him as a cut above them, despite all being 9-star mages.
The moment Pollux appeared, the blue flames spreading across the battlefield began to dwindle.
At the same time, Jo began chanting for his exclusive spell, which he had devised himself and named ‘Cold Realm.’ The purple ice shards that spread from his staff instantly surrounded Jin.
It felt as if hundreds of archers were aiming at him from all sides.
‘I suppose he wasn’t called Andrei Zipple’s rival for nothing.’
Jin calmly took a stance, preparing to deflect the ice. He also glanced toward Chukon and Susan without Jo noticing. If Tess’s flames didn’t work, facing such a beast alone was too much of a gamble.
Furthermore, while Jo had conserved most of his mana by using the bio-golems as shields, Jin was under much greater physical strain from using the Fighting God techniques and summoning Tess.
‘Ultimate Defense… he didn’t give it that name for nothing. His defensive capability is shocking.’
With two 9-star mages, one of whom was a renowned master of defense, even a Murakan who had regained 40% of his power couldn’t easily break through their barrier. It was also because Murakan couldn’t recklessly pour his full power into the area where Jin was.
‘I should play it safe until Murakan cleans them up. I know almost nothing about how Jo’s exclusive magic works.’
Just as he decided he needed to fight a bit more intelligently, a voice thundered across the battlefield.
[Tsk, you’ve truly lost your minds. I suppose you did this out of ignorance, but you are absolute vermin.]
Murakan shook his head, his eyes wide with fury. Everyone on the battlefield could clearly hear that majestic voice, unique to dragons.
[You bring out a golem made by desecrating the bodies of phoenixes in front of the Master of the Fire Realm? Between this and trying to restore the Pluto Tribe, you lot certainly have a talent for inviting calamity…]
Swish!
Murakan stopped his attack and descended toward Jin. He then transformed into his human form and wrapped Jin and himself in a barrier of spirit energy.
‘He’s snapped,’ Murakan whispered urgently into Jin’s ear. ‘The atmosphere says I shouldn’t try to stop him. For a moment, he’s going to ignore his contract with you and forcibly use your power. No matter how much he treasures you, this is something he can’t tolerate.’
“Huh?”
Thud.
Jin stumbled and fell to one knee. The moment Murakan’s explanation ended, all strength drained from his body.
‘He treasures you immensely, so he won’t go as far as using your lifespan… ah, he won’t use your lifespan, right? He won’t. Damn it, I’ll explain in detail later.’
His eyes slid shut. An overwhelming drowsiness he couldn’t possibly resist was consuming him.
Murakan pressed a hand to his forehead as if annoyed.
The next moment, as Tess began to roar, the battlefield became a blue hell.
Gaaaaaaaah—!
The Azure Fire spread at the exact same speed as the roar.
It took less than thirty seconds for the hundreds of remaining bio-golems to vanish into ash. The beastmen and the mid-to-low-ranking mages met the same end.
Leaving only the three 9-star mages, every member of the Dark Magic Association was dead.
“W-What on earth is this…”
Jo, having narrowly avoided the flames, ran toward Chukon’s barrier and looked back.
He saw Pollux, his masterpiece, being swallowed by Tess’s flames.
It wasn’t catching fire or being engulfed; it was literally being ‘swallowed.’ Just as Pollux had first chewed and swallowed Tess’s breath.
Jo, Chukon, and Susan could only recoil in horror. They knew Tess was one of the greatest phoenixes, but this was a phenomenon that defied everything they understood.
Meanwhile, Murakan breathed a sigh of relief at the sight.
‘Managed to keep its temper in check, I see. I was worried it might pull every bit of the kid’s lifespan and completely annihilate this entire region. It’s being quite rational, isn’t it?’
Pollux vanished without a trace. Not even a footprint remained; it simply turned into blue-glowing ash that scattered on the wind.
As if that wasn’t enough to satisfy it, Tess glared at the 9-star mages. Murakan worried it might lose control of its anger and cause an accident.
“Hey, shouldn’t you head back now? Look here, the kid fainted. This could turn into a big problem, a really big one. I’ll make sure that guy suffers properly, so take a deep breath and… hm? Wait a minute, what is that…?”
Murakan pointed toward the collapsed outer castle wall.
A faint, ghost-like figure resembling a person was standing atop the ruins.
“Before you go, check that out for me. Do you know what it is? I’ve got a really bad feeling about it. You don’t know? You’re leaving? Take good care of the kid? Ah, right, right. Good thinking. Trust me and get back in there quickly.”