Chapter 201
Chapter 201
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 201
>Chapter Title: Yeah, It Couldn't Be Better
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Leaving Aster behind, Damian stepped forward.
[We're brave.]
[We agree.]
The Infernal flames filling the space were being held back by the spirits.
A single one would be powerless... but dozens, hundreds, thousands of spirits combining their strength to resist.
In the midst of it all, Damian stood at the forefront amid the surging flames and slowly closed his eyes.
"......"
Twitching lips.
A pulsing core.
The longer the incantation went on, the more violently the core's mana churned. The flow rampaging through his circuits like an enraged bull was nothing short of destructive.
But Damian handled it like a seasoned bullfighter taming the wild mana in his circuits.
Sometimes roughly, sometimes gently, sometimes releasing that destructive power, other times reining it in tightly and suppressing it.
With each action, the flow of mana grew even fiercer.
Fiercer still.
Faster and faster.
And when that flow reached its peak—
"......"
Damian's eyelids slowly rose.
His eyes gleamed.
The change happened right after.
It began with a faint cracking sound.
Crack—
Like thin ice breaking in winter.
White frost seemed to rise from Damian's toes, then spread out like fire across a field.
A biting cold that devoured everything around it!
But... it was feeble.
Far too weak to hold back the Infernal flames.
That was when the spirits stepped in.
[We help.]
[We help.]
The spirits lent their power to Damian's magic.
That power was neither mana nor spirit force— if it had to be named, it was the spirits' life force.
The source of power that allowed spirits to exist not as particles of nature, but as spirits themselves.
That source was nature itself, or in a way, a force infinitely close to mana.
Damian's magic had been feeble before the Infernal flames, but now it was infused with the spirits' breath.
In that instant—
Crunch, craaaack!
Pure white ice spreading in all directions.
The frigid cold overtook the space.
The roaring flames fell silent as if they'd never been, replaced only by the harsh winter's icy breath.
"Huu......"
Damian exhaled heavily and staggered.
It had taken a toll.
Even with the spirits' help, it was magic that had pushed him to his limits.
Magic built purely on talent, without the imagery honed over long years as a secret art.
Because of that, Damian wavered.
It was at that moment.
"Leave the rest to me."
Mysern patted his young disciple's shoulder and stepped into the world of pure white.
The sight before him was awe-inspiring.
In the freezing cold that could freeze even breath, five Infernals huddled and frozen solid.
Beings that could never freeze, now locked in ice.
But Mysern knew.
Deep within that ice.
The giants of terror were not yet dead.
Once the cold faded, they would spew hellfire-like flames as if nothing had happened and burn the world.
But that wouldn't happen.
Not here.
Not now.
With the Spirit Summoner of the Raging Winds present.
The one who had once stood with the Archmage Muspellun to defend the Empire.
"Friends, thank you. Thanks to you, my children found their courage."
Mysern expressed his heartfelt gratitude to Baharmut's spirits, then summoned his own trembling spirits, still gripped by fear.
The first to appear was Fury, then Aiki, and finally Madrin.
The three spirits were still terrified.
It couldn't be helped.
Compared to Baharmut's spirits, they were young and fragile.
Their minds too immature and delicate to withstand the aura of annihilation slumbering within the Infernal flames.
But.
Even so, the three spirits responded to Mysern's will.
It started with Aiki.
Ssssh—
Aiki's spirit force spreading along the ice Damian had created.
The white ice took on a blue hue from Aiki's spirit force, and then a soft pale green wind blew in from somewhere.
It was Fury.
Fury's wind swirled gently, seeping into the Infernals, and Aiki's spirit force answered in kind.
Right after...
Grind, grrrind—!
Golden waves bursting up through the frozen ground.
It was Madrin.
The deep blue of Aiki, the pale green of Fury, and Madrin's golden waves intertwined...
Crack, snap!
The bindings on the Infernals grew even tighter.
No, it wasn't just tighter.
If Damian had merely bound the Infernals, Mysern's three spirits were now burning their own essence to attack them from within.
Of course... it was still feeble.
Infernals were created to exterminate spirits, after all.
Baharmut's spirits weren't refusing to help Mysern, but even this wasn't enough to destroy the Infernals.
That was when Gaias stepped forward.
[Contractor, our turn.]
The golden-furred tiger approached Mysern alongside his new contractor.
Chenbi stood with his new spirit and nodded.
[I, we, help. Contractor, destroy Infernal.]
The words ringing in his ears were simple... but Gaias's will pierced clearly into Chenbi's mind.
Chewing on that will, Chenbi entered a state of hyper-focus once more.
Whoosh—
A world of pure white where everything else vanished.
In Chenbi's perception.
The five Infernals radiated presence.
Amid it all, a single thought flitted through Chenbi's mind.
'Can I... really do this?'
When Gaias first proposed the contract, it had felt like a dream.
- I am the first and last spirit of the great spirit summoner, the supreme mind revered by all spirits.
Spirits had ranks.
A summoner's capability was key in the end, but if capabilities were equal, a spirit's rank decided everything.
By that measure, Gaias was a heavenly opportunity for any spirit summoner.
To contract with such a being?
It was like luck falling into a talentless life.
But when Gaias's will pierced his mind again, Chenbi thought.
- You must become my contractor, unite the spirits' wills, and destroy the Infernals.
Could he really handle such a grave mission...?
Why not Lord Mysern? Or Damian?
Chenbi knew himself well.
He was just an ordinary boy, nothing special, his talent and will barely above average.
So, could he really...?
A sudden surge of self-doubt.
That was when Gaias's will pierced his mind.
[Contractor, do not doubt.]
In the imagery, Gaias rebuked Chenbi in a stern voice.
[Only you can do this. Why doubt? What I saw was not your talent or will. I saw you yourself...]
Why...
[...do you doubt yourself?]
Gaias was saying.
It was okay not to be special.
No need for Mysern-like exceptional spirit affinity or years of experience.
No need for Damian-like genius or incomprehensible insight.
Just...
[Do your utmost, as only you can. That's all.]
Chenbi questioned Gaias's voice.
'Why... me?'
Gaias fell silent in the connected imagery for a moment. Then, an old memory flitted through his mind.
When the great spirit summoner was not yet great.
Their first meeting.
When the great spirit summoner was corrupted by power.
Their last.
Gaias had been his first contracted spirit, and the last to remain even as he fell and the other spirits left.
Why had he stayed with the great spirit summoner...?
The answer was...
[......]
In Chenbi's hyper-focus world.
Sharing the space as his contracted spirit, Gaias raised his eyes to take in Chenbi.
A small boy reflected in his golden eyes.
Gaias spoke then.
[Simply... because it's you.]
No other reason.
He had stayed with the great spirit summoner simply because it was him.
This time, Gaias had chosen Chenbi over Damian and Mysern simply because it was Chenbi.
If there had to be a reason...
- Alright, then from now on, we're friends? So, your name is...
Because Chenbi resembled that day's great spirit summoner so much.
In a way, it was an illusion of the past.
Nostalgia for the friend he couldn't save, lingering regret for the irretrievable past, or something like that.
But it wasn't solely for that reason.
Simply... because it was Chenbi.
But.
Gaias wondered.
Could such words really comfort his new contractor?
Humans were doubting creatures by nature. Could this dispel his self-doubt?
As Gaias thought that.
Chenbi's imagery brushed his mind.
'...Because it's me.'
[......?]
Gaias tilted his head at the strangely relieved voice.
But before Gaias could voice his doubt, the change came.
Boom—
Hyper-focus deepening further.
In the world of pure white, Chenbi's eyes fixed on the five Infernals.
An incantation flowed from his lips, mana drawn from his heart's core racing through his body, accelerating.
And soon...
"...Earth Spears."
Chenbi's low voice echoed.
Rumble!
Five spears erupted from the ground.
The spears shot skyward as if to pierce the heavens, stabbing precisely into the chests of the five Infernals.
Gaias snapped to attention then.
[......Us too.]
At Gaias's signal, the spirits' power converged.
Gaias took it into his body as a conduit, channeling it through Chenbi into the magic.
Right after...
Crack—
The Infernals pierced through.
The explosion followed.
Boom!
The Infernals' bodies shattered into fragments scattering through the air, and Chenbi, emerging from hyper-focus, let out a soft "...Ah" of a sigh.
For a moment.
Then he looked at Gaias and smiled.
"Thanks."
It was sincere.
...Simply because it's me.
That one phrase.
It had unknowingly shattered the chains binding Chenbi.
Jenion Academy freshman Chenbi, average Chenbi, Blandoga ward Chenbi, someone's friend—all the shackles confining him vanished, and finally...
He saw it.
Himself.
Thus, Chenbi crossed a certain wall.
...Of course, that didn't mean he could catch up to geniuses.
Chenbi was still just average, and even after crossing the wall, his steps were endlessly slower than theirs.
But now... he had set foot on a new path.
Like Dalia de Dinai in her past life, who after countless efforts carved her own way forward.
A path no genius could walk. No, the one and only path in the world that only Chenbi could tread.
Amid the scattering fragments of the Infernals, Chenbi smiled brightly.
'...Good.'
Yeah, it couldn't be better.