Chapter 190
Chapter 190
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 190
>Chapter Title: I'm Sleepy. Hurry Up and Go
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Chenbi ran and ran and ran some more.
Whoosh—!
When Infernal's monstrous fist cleaved through the empty air, he flattened himself to the ground.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Whenever those feet slammed into the earth, he rolled with every ounce of strength he had just to avoid being crushed.
And whenever he finally caught a moment to breathe, instead of resting, he chanted spells to unleash his magic.
But.
Chenbi's magic was feeble. Or more precisely, Infernal was so overwhelmingly powerful that Chenbi's spells simply couldn't touch him.
Kwaaaang!
Even after taking a direct hit from an Earth Spear straight to the chest, Infernal merely staggered for a moment.
Crack!
He casually swung his fist, shattering the Earth Spear to pieces, then advanced once more to seize Chenbi.
In this moment.
Infernal was a giant from legend, and Chenbi was nothing more than an insignificant insect challenging him.
The magic Chenbi poured his soul into was merely an annoying obstacle to Infernal, while the punches Infernal threw without a care were apocalyptic disasters to Chenbi.
It was a hopeless situation, and any ordinary mage would surely have been overwhelmed and lost the will to fight.
Especially for Chenbi, who knew he had just crossed 'a certain wall,' it was all the more despairing.
But.
"Huff... haa...!"
Chenbi kept running.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"......!"
He rolled when he had to.
Even knowing it was pointless, he stubbornly kept casting spells, vomiting blood all the while.
The desperate struggle of a mage without talent.
But as I said, reality was cruel.
He might have crossed his own 'wall,' but Chenbi wasn't a genius—he had merely grasped what geniuses did as effortlessly as breathing.
......Five minutes?
Holding out for five minutes?
It wasn't a long time.
Aster or Damian probably could have managed it without much trouble.
But not Chenbi.
His only decent spell was the Earth Spear, and even that strained his mana reserves.
Let alone deploying it perfectly with a body this exhausted? It was impossible for Chenbi.
But Chenbi didn't give up.
Nor did he despair.
Even if it was a time someone else could endure lightly, a time that demanded he stake his life to survive...
'......I will.'
He simply steeled his resolve with pure willpower.
But misfortune, as always, strikes suddenly.
The first misfortune to befall Chenbi was his exhausted body.
Plop.
'......Huh?'
His legs suddenly gave out. Chenbi panicked. This couldn't be happening? Why... won't they move?
......With just over a minute until Damian finished his spell.
Whoosh—!
Chenbi collapsed limply, taking in the sight of Infernal's oncoming fist. That brutish fist, trailing flames like a banner, was terrifyingly beautiful.
In that instant, Chenbi thought.
Mediocrity is mediocrity.
It might blaze brilliantly for a fleeting moment, but in the end, even that flame paled in comparison to a genius's.
And so...
'......I should have burned brighter.'
A faint regret flashed through his mind.
But just as misfortune comes suddenly, so too does fortune.
Boom!
A low explosion rang in his ears—the omen.
Swish!
The gentle wind enveloping his body was salvation.
And...
Right before Infernal's fist could crush him.
As he was drawn by the wind into someone's arms, Chenbi realized who was supporting him: an elderly spiritist.
"Are you alright?"
"......Lord Mysellern."
He was the sacrifice.
* * *
Mysellern, having absorbed spirit force into his body, glanced palely at Damian. He was in a state of extreme focus, not casting ordinary magic.
"Looks like... it would be too much to move with Damian in tow. So, what was the plan?"
"Five minutes... no, just one more minute ahead."
"One minute."
Mysellern murmured softly, then stepped forward, placing Chenbi behind him.
The magic would likely complete in one minute.
Was he analyzing the one who had intruded on the battle? Mysellern gazed up at the unmoving Infernal.
Could he hold out against Infernal for one minute?
'It'll be close.'
He had the confidence that he wouldn't yield to anyone. But Infernal was the exception.
The searing heat was fearsome, but the real problem wasn't the physical blaze. Rather...
Crackle, hiss—
His spirit force wavered just from exposure to that heat. He'd vaguely anticipated it, but the matchup was poor.
'I'd heard it was a flame that burned spirits, but I didn't expect it to be this bad.'
Mysellern gauged the spirit force scattering in real time, calculated the power needed for escape in one minute, then took a step forward.
That was when Infernal moved as well.
Thud, thud.
Mysellern shook his head at the sight of that massive frame.
"This old man... truly suffering in his later years. Exactly one minute. I'll tie him down. After that, you run no matter what."
"......Yes, understood."
Mysellern nodded at Chenbi's reply and drew up his spirit force.
Had he sensed it wasn't an easy opponent? This time, Infernal cautiously sized him up.
But that caution only bought Mysellern more time.
"Originally... this body was called a gale spiritist, but I don't handle only wind."
A low voice. The air rippled.
Spirit force poured from Mysellern, enveloping the space.
Of course, that spirit force burned away powerlessly before Infernal's flames, but Mysellern left only the bare minimum and unleashed everything else.
Thus, in that ominous atmosphere.
Chenbi sensed something was about to happen.
Mysellern's voice continued right then.
"What this body wields is wind, earth, and water. Originally, the child of fire was with me too, but our bond has ended. So, it's lacking compared to my prime, but still..."
Snap!
A crisp sound echoed through the space.
Having signaled himself with a finger snap, Mysellern smiled faintly.
"This should be enough to claim I wield 'nature' itself."
The change happened right after.
Whoooosh—
A gentle whirlwind swept through the space. The earth responded in kind, churning. Dark clouds formed at the high ceiling, raindrops pattering down.
As if to counter, Infernal puffed out his chest, amplifying his flames. Intent on incinerating every trace of the irritating spirit force.
And the attempt was effective.
Crackle, zap!
Mysellern's phenomena shook under the terrifying heat.
The whirlwind lost strength and dispersed, the churning earth grew docile as a lamb. The rain clouds split apart helplessly, exposing the ceiling.
But.
"Not yet."
As those words ended.
Thud—!
A sudden pressure from the atmosphere bore down.
"......!"
Chenbi unwittingly gaped in awe.
The wind, the earth, the airborne water droplets... all swirled as if with a single will, binding Infernal.
The wind scattered his blaze haphazardly, the rising earth gripped his massive body tight. The formed droplets smothered the flames cloaking him.
A wondrous sight.
And as Chenbi lost himself gazing at it.
"Cough."
"......Lord Mysellern!"
"I'm... fine."
Mysellern waved off the approaching Chenbi and refocused.
It was impossible for his aged body to draw out his prime strength. But in this moment, Mysellern concentrated every nerve to bind Infernal.
How much time passed like that.
Crunch, cruuunch, crunch.
A strange sound from somewhere.
Chenbi shifted his entranced eyes to Damian.
Damian had his eyes closed. The incantation continued. His face was drenched in sweat, but what caught Chenbi's eye was above his head.
Floating there was...
A single spear.
A giant spear of pure white ice.
Its inspiration was obvious without asking. Earth Spear.
But...
Crrunch, crrunch.
The roughly four-meter spear emitted odd noises as it crumpled. Maintaining its form perfectly... the frigid ice compressed, shrinking in size.
Chenbi felt the dizzying gap once more from that sight.
'......Ah, this is.'
Talent.
Just by seeing it, he grasped the essence, combining it with his own knowledge to produce results.
Puzzles that would take a mortal a lifetime to solve, answered in an instant.
Of course, as Chenbi guessed, Damian's process wasn't that simple.
For this strike, Damian had finalized his core's attribute as ice—discarding all potential across every element.
But.
With all that potential converged into one attribute.
"......Done."
When Damian stopped chanting and opened his eyes.
The spear blade was now just over a meter long.
The perfect, flawless blade of glacial ice aimed at the blaze spirit.
And soon—
Fwoosh!
Cleaving space... no, spewing frigid energy as it shot forth, the spear of extreme cold.
When that blade pierced Infernal's chest.
Thuum...!
Infernal stiffened, halting in place.
Chenbi took in the sight, entranced.
Fwoosh, fwoom!
Infernal's flames flickered unstably. Mysellern's bindings had vanished by now... but he didn't move.
At last...
Boom!
Infernal, who had seemed unyielding, toppled backward.
"It's... over."
Chenbi let out an unconscious sigh. Even Mysellern momentarily lost himself at the unbelievable scene.
But only for a moment.
"Damian!"
Chenbi cried out as Damian collapsed. He wanted to rush over and support him, but his body wouldn't obey.
Mysellern moved right then.
"I'll go—."
But then.
Flutterflutter—
The sound of a flag from somewhere.
No, not a flag.
Following the sound with his eyes, Chenbi murmured blankly.
"It wasn't... over?"
But unlike the dazed Chenbi, Mysellern's judgment was swift.
"Let's withdraw for now."
But.
Roooaar—
Kwaaaaaang...!
"Urgh—!"
Infernal exploding with malevolent flames. Mysellern groaned under the horrifying heat.
But fortunately, his split-second decision let him grab Chenbi and shield Damian too.
Moving at high speed, Mysellern unleashed spirit force to block the raging blaze.
'What a mess.'
This was unforeseen.
With his scant remaining spirit force, blocking the immediate flames was the best he could do. He couldn't hold out much longer.
'How to...'
As Mysellern sought a way.
Then, Chenbi stepped up.
"I'll... I'll do something."
"What are you—?"
"If it's just a moment, I think I can hold. Just a very brief moment."
Even if only for an instant, with what he'd just seen of Mysellern's movements, he wouldn't miss the opening.
"Impossible. At your level..."
"No. It might be possible. Worth a try."
"Instead, you..."
Mysellern trailed off there.
Chenbi smiled as if to say, you know better.
"My body won't move. I'm worn out, I guess."
Mysellern realized from looking at him.
That in this moment, Chenbi intended to burn every last ember of his life force. To pour all his vitality into a single spell.
Of course, ordinarily impossible.
But... Chenbi, who had burned once before, believed he could.
Chenbi staggered forward, steeling his heart.
'Still, it was fun.'
Before entering the ruins, the shared scenery they had all seen flashed in his mind. Glittering glowstones. Schools of fish swimming leisurely beyond that light.
Would he ever gather such precious glowstones himself one day? He'd thought that.
"Lord Mysellern, I'm sleepy. Hurry up and go."
"How can I..."
"I told you, didn't I?"
......Everyone dies someday.
And so, Chenbi gathered his final ounce of strength for his last spell, one that would burn his life.
To save one life more precious than dozens of glowstones.
But then.
Boom!
A roar from somewhere. A wall collapsing? As he thought that, something pierced the fierce flames and rapidly burrowed into Mysellern's spirit force barrier.
And—
Paaang...!
A terrifying force swept away the flames in an instant.
The entire sequence happened before a single breath could be taken.
As Chenbi faltered at the sudden change.
A back—not all that broad—entered his view. That hair was a dull, murky gray that somehow looked obnoxious.
A strange sense of familiarity made Chenbi's eyes tremble faintly... and that voice was unmistakably familiar.
"Somehow, this setup feels familiar. Right?"