Chapter 26
Chapter 26
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: Bastia Mountains (9)
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“I was really curious about what you look like under that mask...”
I never imagined you'd be such a delicate-looking girl.
“You have quite a wicked hobby, Lady Sion.”
‘Ah, I've been found out.’
I hadn't planned on deceiving him for long, but I didn't expect to get caught this quickly.
“W-what are you talking about? I have no idea...”
“No use hiding it now. The act is already over after what you just showed me.”
“Ah, no, that's not...”
Double casting—simultaneously deploying two spells—is a technique that's practically Sion's signature.
Since she hadn't held back her power to end it quickly, her true identity was exposed in an instant.
‘She's not someone I can beat.’
The moment he realized his opponent was Sion, Erverbert abandoned any thought of subduing her.
Even if all Seven Stars rushed in, victory against Sion wasn't guaranteed.
But time wasn't on her side.
Dragging things out would only benefit him anyway, so all he had to do was hold on.
-Zzzt!
-Boom!
“Guh...!”
The problem was that even holding on wasn't easy.
‘Not particularly powerful attack spells. But...’
Basic spells like lightning bolt, fireball, and ice shard.
Sion was overwhelming him with magic that even a complete novice fresh off grabbing a staff could use.
‘The speed and volume... she's overwhelmingly superior in every way...’
All mages in this world draw on the mana core implanted in their bodies to cast spells.
If the mana core is the gun, then spells are the bullets.
They go through a series of actions called casting to fire those bullets (spells).
That's why mages can't cast two or more spells at once.
Just like you can't fire two bullets at the same time from a single gun.
-Zzzt!
-Clang!
And yet, right before his eyes was a being who mocked that natural law and overturned it with ease.
She possessed not one, but two mana cores—something humans naturally only have one of.
Loading each core with different bullets (spells) and firing them off.
And she had the talent to complete even the entire casting process in a single instant.
‘A monster...’
Mages with vast mana see light gather in their eyes when they activate spells.
But in that girl's pupils, it wasn't mere light—it was clusters of light rippling like stars.
Twinkling brilliantly across a night sky as black as pitch.
The owner of talent envied by every mage in the world.
That was Sion, the Grand Archmage called the reincarnation of Ortega.
‘At this rate, I'll be the one to fall first...’
He'd thought playing defense would let him endure, but that was a huge miscalculation.
No matter how many defensive spells he deployed, she unleashed two attacks at once.
If he tried using attack spells himself, she countered with both offense and defense simultaneously.
He was dodging for now somehow, but as this war of attrition dragged on, he was steadily losing the advantage.
‘...This won't do.’
Erverbert frantically calculated in his head.
His limited time to survive against Sion, the time until the demon beasts overran them—everything.
‘The demon beasts... way too few.’
Far too many hadn't made it through the gate yet.
But stalling any longer would require staking his life on it.
Sion was here, the Hero tied up with Liriana.
The purple-haired Hero's aide was injured, and Cloe still hadn't broken free of his hypnosis.
‘Failure. That woman's too big a variable.’
The plan had failed. Prioritize survival for now.
Having decided, Erverbert immediately turned his back on Sion and fled.
“H-hey, wait—”
Naturally, Sion was caught off guard.
She'd assumed Erverbert would try to stall her from reaching the gate.
So she'd used light attacks to lure him into lowering his guard, planning to finish him in one go—
‘He's... running away?’
She never expected him to just bolt like that.
The traitor Erverbert.
In the original Rilteia story, he was a troublemaker who wrought the greatest harm on the continent alongside the Demon King, and the central main villain driving the plot.
He took up no small share of the achievements, and with the story derailed, he had high potential to rack up “new achievements.” Erverbert was that kind of man.
She really wanted to catch him here.
‘...Can't be helped.’
Letting Erverbert escape was regrettable, but putting out the fire right in front of her took priority.
Even now, demon beasts were crossing through the gate and heading to the front lines.
“Haa.”
-Boom!
Of course, that was only true up until a moment ago.
The gate shattered in the explosion, ensuring no more demon beasts would come through.
Now all that remained were Liriana and the demon beasts already headed to the front...
Liriana's side would have to be left to the Hero.
Karl and Sion had headed into the mountain to destroy the gate before the demon beasts fully crossed.
But Karl had been grabbed by Liriana and forcibly dragged into her garden.
“This is...”
When Karl came to, the barren mountain landscape was gone from his sight.
Instead, an endless field of flowers filled his vision.
In the center of the flower field sat a tidy tea table and chairs, quietly waiting.
‘This is a hassle...’
A unique domain—a technique usable only by a rare few among demonkin, forcing the opponent into their own realm.
If the user didn't release it or specific conditions weren't met, escaping from inside was impossible. A truly vicious ability.
Of course, if the gap in power between the user and the trapped party was vast, breaking out could be easy.
But this domain's master was Liriana. Breaking free easily was next to impossible.
‘My body's... not responding properly.’
Karl tried forcing his way out of the garden, but strength wouldn't enter his body right.
More precisely, the moment he tried to leave, a vague thought of “I don't want to go” brushed his mind.
‘...Why would I think that?’
He'd heard that unique domains could seal or grant specific abilities, manifesting special effects.
But a power directly manipulating someone else's thoughts and emotions like this? He'd never heard of such a thing.
As Karl floundered amid his hijacked thoughts and feelings—
“Oh dear, trying to leave already?”
A woman calmly sipped her tea, her gaze fixed on him.
“I've invited you as a guest. Shouldn't you at least have a cup before going?”
“...You!”
Karl wanted to draw his sword and charge right then, but the blade at his waist had long vanished.
And the moment he saw her, the urge to fight faded like a mirage.
“This is insidious. Stop messing with my head.”
“Don't look at me so frighteningly. I just... want to have a simple conversation with you, that's all.”
“Conversation? Fine, then get to the point. Let me out of this domain and stay away from the Empire. Do that, and I'll spare your life.”
“That's not a conversation, you impudent child.”
Despite Karl's sharp words and attitude, Liriana remained unshaken.
Even facing the Empire's strongest Hero alone, control of this space stayed firmly in her hands.
“A proper exchange where we each get what we want on equal terms... that's what a conversation is.”
“You trap me here and call it equal terms? Ridiculous.”
Time wasn't on Karl's side.
He worried about Rion left alone outside the garden, and how long the front lines could hold without him.
So he needed to kill the demonkin before him and break out of the domain—but the domain endlessly manipulated his thoughts, tormenting him.
If the demonkin tried to kill him first, he might snap out of this mental prison... but she showed no intent to fight.
Truly, a sense of helplessness like having his limbs bound.
“Let's make a deal.”
“A deal?”
To Karl in that state, the demonkin dangled an offer he couldn't refuse.
“I'll ask you three questions from now on. You just answer them.”
Karl didn't know it, but Liriana was pouring all her effort into shaking the Hero's mind.
Even for her, she couldn't predict when he might shatter the domain and sever her neck.
Instead of provoking him with needless risks, she figured it wiser to exchange what each wanted and end it.
“But only speak the truth in your answers.”
“What if I lie?”
“No need to worry. We can seal it with the ‘Oath of Covenant.’”
An Oath of Covenant, with each other's souls as collateral, would make even this unbelievable deal trustworthy.
Dealing with a demonkin was repulsive, but it was the only way out of this situation.
“Still feels a bit unfair, though.”
“Hm?”
“You just ask questions, and I just answer... that's not balanced, is it?”
“True... you really are impudent.”
She already held the initiative.
But if the Hero sensed the deal's unfairness and refused, that would be troublesome too.
“Fine, then. I'll give you one chance to lie in answer to my questions. Fair enough?”
“...Deal.”
With that, the deal was struck.
“Then... my first question...”
The moment Karl accepted, Liriana wasted no time with her first question.
Whether Prifre burned or not meant nothing to her.
Falling for the petty schemes of that worthless black mage was all for this question.
“The mage named Sion who stole the Demon King's core... where is that child right now?”