Chapter 262
Chapter 262
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 262
>Chapter Title: How to Catch a Monster
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Aster's form shot forward toward the two old mages like a predator lunging at its prey. The two old mages unleashed their spells with shrill cries, without a moment's hesitation.
Pew-pew, pew-pew-pew-pew!
In moments of crisis, any mage instinctively casts their most familiar spell. And such spells were usually underwhelming in power—but the magic from these two Seven Mages defied that common wisdom, striking with devastating force.
Kwoooo—!
A storm of flames swept through the space. Terrifying heat that incinerated everything engulfed the Tower Lord. Meanwhile, Coxen scanned the surroundings with his sharply honed senses.
An opponent who could appear from anywhere, anytime, was truly tricky. Having already witnessed the Tower Lord's spatial movement, this was only natural caution on Coxen's part.
But.
Boom!
"......!"
The Tower Lord burst straight through the flame storm. His speed hadn't diminished in the slightest. Seeing that charging figure, a chilling thought flashed through Coxen's mind.
Death.
Once so familiar, but at some point it had felt distant. Though it drew closer with each passing day, he'd thought it wasn't for now...
'...I'm going to die.'
Incredibly, Coxen sensed his own death. Like a child frozen before an oncoming carriage, all thought ground to a halt.
That was the moment.
"Get a grip, you fool!"
Thwack!
Zaipo shoved Coxen aside with a brute-force push, then swung his other hand, drawing out mana and arranging it. A spell that would require dozens of incantations from an ordinary mage manifested in less than a second.
A thin wall rose from the ground. But its strength was incomparably tougher and more solid than the city wall he'd conjured earlier.
Zaipo was confident this magic could block anything. Even a transcendent mage couldn't punch through it in one go.
But.
Swish!
The Tower Lord passed through the wall. He didn't break it. Like a ghost without physical form, he slipped right through and positioned himself before the two. Of course, he hadn't actually passed through. Just like when he'd scaled the city wall in an instant, he'd leaped through space.
"......!"
Before the oncoming grasp, Zaipo glanced at Coxen. But his comrade, with whom he'd synced countless times on the battlefield, was too old to react to the sudden turn.
After a brief assessment, Zaipo accepted he had to handle this alone and tried to kick off from the spot. Or rather, he tried to.
Crunch, cruuunch!
Left, right, rear. Walls surged up on three sides.
His escape routes blocked in an instant, Zaipo twisted his body in dismay.
Crash!
The Tower Lord's fist grazed his hair by a hair's breadth.
'Wha... what the hell.'
The mere wind pressure made his head spin. What if that fist had landed squarely? Shaking off the chill down his spine, Zaipo collected himself.
This wasn't the time to be shocked. Left, right, rear—escape blocked. Dodging through the Tower Lord was...
That was when the thought reached there.
Grab.
"...Guh!"
The Tower Lord's hands clamped around Zaipo's nape. His vision tilted wildly, and then a knee came hurtling toward his face!
Crack!
He crossed his arms in an X to block, but the monstrous impact rattled his skull.
Was this the end?
His core mana spun furiously to manifest a spell, but no matter how he calculated, it wouldn't be faster than the Tower Lord's fist.
But what saved him from the brink of death was Coxen.
Boom!
The Tower Lord staggered from the explosion at his back and pitched forward. Zaipo would have been pinned beneath him, but Coxen grabbed his collar and leaped back, putting distance between them.
"You..."
"Sorry. I'm dead weight now."
Zaipo shook his head at Coxen's apology. They'd nearly died because Coxen's composure had cracked, but the momentary lapse wasn't what mattered now.
"You felt it too, right?"
"...Yeah, doesn't seem like an opponent we can't handle. But..."
Coxen trailed off. At the end of his gaze stood the Tower Lord, staggering to his feet. In that instant, he vomited a gush of blood.
As crimson blood soaked the ground, Coxen calmly voiced what he'd sensed.
"He mimicked your spell."
"...Yeah, amazingly so."
The walls that had blocked his retreat were eerily similar to Zaipo's magic. From the mana arrangement to the properties of the rock composing the walls.
This revelation carried heavy implications for the two.
It meant the spells they demonstrated could become the blade that ensnared them.
"Heh heh... where did this monster even come from?"
"We have to kill him here. No choice."
"Best we do."
Their original goal had been capture. But the Tower Lord's realm was beyond what they could handle, so they'd focused on survival.
Now, having confirmed his danger, they felt they had to kill him somehow.
Their own lives didn't matter, but letting the Tower Lord live would become a massive obstacle for the Decullan Family later.
"Get ready."
"...Right."
The two pulled recovery potions from their pockets, downed them, and fixed their eyes on the Tower Lord. He was still unsteady, barely holding himself up—yet they couldn't risk a rash attack, knowing he wasn't one to fall for crude tricks.
As the two steadied their resolve.
"Cough, ptui."
The Tower Lord rose, shoulders slumped, and spat thick blood onto the ground. Between his drooping head and fallen hair, only his eyes gleamed ferociously.
At that gaze, Zaipo and Coxen involuntarily swallowed.
Was this how prey felt facing its natural predator? They wanted to flee if possible. But they couldn't. And they shouldn't.
As the two faced this being they couldn't resist.
Step, rustle...
A group emerged from below the hillside.
They were the Decullan mages.
"Heh, heh heh. Looks like this isn't where we die after all."
"Indeed. Thought they'd crawl in after we were already dead, being so slow. Guess not."
Two Seven Mages.
Two mage corps.
A force that could topple most noble houses overnight. ...But why?
Despite their words, tension thicker than before settled on Zaipo and Coxen's faces.
It was only natural.
No human could stay composed before a monster.
* * *
The moment the Decullan mages joined, the battle shifted to a new phase.
"As you see, the situation's different from planned. Deploy anti-mage tactics."
At Zaipo's command, the captains directed their subordinates.
"All hands, maintain formation."
"Protect the two masters."
As the two mage corps formed up and activated collective spells, the mana in the air twisted strangely. Mana Field. Only the Decullan mages, trained over long years to adapt, could move freely in this bizarre flow.
Far more effective than clumsy direct combat, the first to act was Coxen.
Whoooosh...
A gale howled through the air. The battlefield, ravaged by combat, rippled in the fierce winds. Dust billowed, trees uprooted and flew—yet the Tower Lord merely swayed in the gale, vomiting blood.
He looked on the verge of collapse, but Coxen didn't let his guard down and cast the next spell.
Pop! Pop-pop!
It began with small sparks. Tiny like flint strikes. But their number exploded exponentially.
Fwoosh! Pop! Crackle, fwoosh-pop-fwoosh!
Hundreds of sparks danced through the air like a swarm of fireflies... The change came when they filled every direction.
Roooar—
Monstrous heat engulfed everything like a flooding tidal wave.
"Grk."
"Focus!"
Even the Decullan mages groaned under the terrifying heat as the flames swirled with the wind, building momentum.
Then, at one point.
Tsssh!
The gale suddenly compressed toward a single point. Naturally, that point was... the Tower Lord.
"Grooo, ugh."
Coxen clenched his fists, eyes bloodshot, pouring his concentration. Fully manifesting spells in the Mana Field wasn't easy, even for him.
'Now... end it.'
He intended to seize the chance and cut off his breath for good. Adapting to the Mana Field in short order was nearly impossible—but the Tower Lord was an outlier monster.
As the flame storm around the Tower Lord formed into a sphere and compressed, Zaipo stepped forward right then.
"Too greedy."
He said that, but Zaipo didn't want to miss this chance either. Focusing his mind, he arranged the air's mana. Particles of earth etched clearly in his mind. Pebbles and stones swirling with the flame storm felt vivid. And when the mana arrangement completed.
Fwoosh, crackle-crackle...!
The drifting gravel absorbed mana and sharpened into blades. Each became a tiny knife shredding flesh. But Zaipo didn't stop there—he detonated the glass-shard-like blades in an instant.
Pew-pew-pew-pew-pew!
Microscopic shards, invisible to the eye, surged toward the Tower Lord through the gale.
It probably wouldn't kill him. But it could deal meaningful damage. A chance because the Tower Lord hadn't adapted to the Mana Field.
The real hunt would come after this spell.
It wasn't as fierce as the previous clash. Not urgent, not grim. But Zaipo and Coxen focused more cautiously than ever.
This was how humans caught monsters.
......Amid it all.
"......"
Aster protected his body with a flickering barrier, swaying with the wind's flow. He couldn't suppress the surging blood and spat it out repeatedly.
He knew it too.
How he overcame this magic would decide the battle's course.
So, even amid the barrier-shaking impacts, his eyes burned fiercely as he bided his time.
It was a battle of endurance.
Both the two Seven Mages and Aster were squeezing every ounce of their capabilities to the limit.
And the wyvern circled weakly beside Aster, flapping feebly. Its eyes held the two Seven Mages and Decullan mages beyond the flame storm.
[Human, human......]
......Why humans.
Tears streamed from the wyvern's eyes at its own powerlessness, unable to do anything.