Chapter 388
Chapter 388
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 388
>Chapter Title: Very... Very Satisfying
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Right after the light from the explosion faded.
Otto writhed in agony.
“Gaaahhhh!”
Flames searing his flesh. No, it wasn’t just his flesh.
The malicious blaze burned on relentlessly and viciously, as if determined to consume his very soul through his body.
“How dare you! How dare you...!”
He would kill him. Kill him dead.
Even as Otto rolled across the ground in torment, he radiated murderous intent. It poured out as thick and unrelenting as the unquenchable flames.
But unfortunately, Otto’s killing intent never manifested as magic.
He had drawn in every last drop of mana from the earth for that single spell. The ground’s mana had dried up completely, as if stricken by drought. The fragments were gone as well. Otto tried to suppress the flames and cast a spell, but they only devoured his mana and roared even higher.
All he could do was hold back the flames from advancing any further.
“You... fucking bastard—!”
Otto clawed at his own body in his suffering, groping blindly around him. Soon enough, his fingertips snagged on a fist-sized rock.
“You bastard... I’ll... definitely...”
Clutching the rock in one hand, Otto dragged himself across the ground. It was a pitiful sight for the patriarch of the Urbuna family—a transcendent archmage laden with all manner of glorious titles—but Otto paid it no mind.
There was only one thing that mattered to him now.
Killing his enemy.
“Pa-Patriarch—!”
“W-what is this?!”
From a distant ridge, the Black Stone mages watched the scene in horror.
It was unbelievable.
The Urbuna patriarch was crawling along the ground. He writhed in desperation, howling like a beast driven mad with rage.
The Black Stone mages were stunned by the sight, and soon rage took hold. That rage twisted into killing intent. Naturally, the target of their bloodlust was the mysterious archmage who dared oppose their patriarch.
“Support the patriarch! Hurry!”
At Galt’s command, the Black Stone mages kicked off the ground and leaped forward. It was quite a distance, but not far for Black Stone mages.
That was when it happened.
Roar—!
Flames suddenly surged up before them.
“...!”
“What...!”
The Black Stone mages recoiled at the abrupt blaze. Yongyong looked down on them and beat its wings.
Soon the flames rode a gale and spread outward.
“Ugh!”
“Eek!”
The Black Stone mages groaned amid the inferno while raising barriers to fend off the flames. Galt’s shout soon echoed out.
“Cover me!”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
Galt’s judgment was swift. They couldn’t afford to proceed as before. Breaking through that monster would require sacrifice.
The Black Stone mages accepted this truth and charged ahead to clear a path for Galt.
Rumble!
Crack!
Rocks erupted from the ground and shot toward the sky. Like waves cresting into a tsunami of stone, they crashed down on Yongyong. Galt dashed forward, using the rocks as footholds.
[Where do you think you’re going...!]
Yongyong drew breath to unleash a roar of intimidation. At that moment, crunch. A bizarre rupturing sound came from right beneath its jaw. Pop! Its head jolted immediately after.
[...Kek!]
The Black Stone mage who had rocketed into the sky and struck Yongyong with magic moved to prepare his next spell. Or tried to.
[How dare you!]
An enraged cry.
Crunch.
A gruesome snap.
“Guh... Hek.”
The Black Stone mage breathed his last, mangled by hideous claws. A truly pathetic end.
But his death was not without meaning.
All Galt needed was an instant to shake off Yongyong, and that mage’s sacrifice bought him that instant.
Thanks to him, Galt evaded Yongyong and raced across the rocky slopes.
“Zaar...!”
“We’ll keep covering you!”
Galt ignored the voices of the Black Stone mages at his back and pressed on. His chest felt like it was being torn apart, but he suppressed his humanity.
What mattered now wasn’t the deaths of his comrades—it was the patriarch’s life. His sole mission was to aid the patriarch and extinguish those flames.
And so.
‘Even if you see...’
He hadn’t seen.
‘Even if you hear...’
He hadn’t heard.
‘Even a thousand-year rock is worn down by the biting wind—so what is there to say of a human life, a mere hundred years?’
Life was fleeting. Finite. An instant.
‘Yet as wind-eroded rock becomes sand and forms the earth, so too shall our brief lives.’
...A poem passed down among the northern folk. Galt repeated it endlessly to himself as he ran across the rocky slopes. Just as thousand-year rocks were worn down to form the earth, the deaths of the Black Stone mages would build the Urbuna legacy. He repeated it without end.
But there was one thing Galt hadn’t considered.
“N-no... Guh.”
“We have to block...!”
Three Black Stone mages, plus Elder Galt. That was the balance they’d maintained. Or more precisely, it was Galt who had enabled that balance.
And so.
Without him, the remaining Black Stone mages couldn’t hold back Yongyong.
Thus...
“For Urbuna...”
Even the last Black Stone mage was torn to shreds by Yongyong’s claws—just as Galt reached the base of the rocky slopes.
A shadow fell over Galt’s head. Soon a fierce gust followed, and a massive body slammed into the ground, kicking up clouds of dust.
[Human, where are you rushing off to in such haste.]
“...Monster.”
[Monster is not my name. But since it was bestowed by the great one, I’ve no desire to hear it from the likes of you.]
Galt glared at Yongyong with bloodshot eyes. His disheveled hair made him look every bit the madman, yet he was more rational than ever.
“Out of my way. It’s urgent for both of us.”
[Huh? This body is in a hurry? I haven’t the faintest idea what you mean.]
“...Don’t you need to save your master too?”
Even at this moment, Patriarch Otto was crawling along the ground. He occasionally rolled and screamed from the unrelenting flames, but he inched ever closer to Aster with dogged persistence. Urgency wasn’t exclusive to Galt.
Yet why.
[Hahaha!]
Galt frowned at the sudden laughter. Yongyong laughed on regardless.
[Master? Maaaster? I need to save my master? You mean that human is this body’s master? Surely you’re not serious.]
“What...”
Galt couldn’t hide his bewilderment at the unexpected response. Yongyong looked down on him with genuine amusement, its eyes curving into creepy crescents—grotesque rather than beautiful.
[Human, you lot were nothing more than a single meal to me from the start. True, I submitted to him, but tell me—which human in this world would serve a mere pig as master? I’m no different.]
Yongyong flicked its tail as it spoke. Each smack of its black-scaled tail against the ground sent dust billowing up.
Galt narrowed his eyes at the sight. An instinctive revulsion welled up. Fear born of the unknown. A torrent of negative emotions left his head spinning.
“Then why...”
[Why did I help that human? It was all the will of the great one. Inevitable. To be honest... what does it matter if a pathetic human like that lives or dies? It might even serve the great one better if he perished.]
“...”
Galt fell silent. A non-human possessing humanity—and one utterly unlike a human’s at that. The realization plunged him into despair.
What was there to discuss with a monster beyond reason?
He had hoped to awaken mutual interests for a temporary truce, but it had all come to nothing.
Yet Galt steeled his resolve once more.
‘Even unto death.’
He had to save the patriarch.
With his mind set, he clenched his fist tight. Mana from his core boiled up in response.
...But that was when.
[However...]
“...?”
[...It would be troublesome if that human died like this. Seeing the great one weep in sorrow pains even me. So let’s make a deal.]
“What...”
Yongyong glanced back. Otto, writhing in agony, had somehow reached Aster’s side. The flames had visibly weakened too. It was tenacity worthy of a superhuman.
[You save your master. I’ll save that human. But there’s a condition.]
“...A condition?”
[Yes. Show me your magic. I know it. The magic your master used shares the same roots as yours.]
“That means...”
Galt started to ask for confirmation, but Yongyong spoke first.
[Show me a spell infused with everything you have. If you do...]
...Then he could reach it.
That was what Yongyong sincerely believed.
Even Yongyong, who could replicate any magic it witnessed along with its imagery, had areas beyond its grasp.
Aster’s deep blue flames were one such example, as were a few others.
What was lacking? The answer was simple.
‘The steps that humans tread.’
Step-by-step growth.
But the vicious human’s deep blue flames had no such ‘steps’ from the start. Or rather, they did—but they were a mishmash synthesized from imagery scattered across too many visions, making them impossible for Yongyong to replicate.
It had been shown the foundational visions several times with encouragement to try, but replication remained utterly out of reach.
But now. A feeling had come.
‘The vicious human’s is impossible, but...’
These humans’ magic just might be.
[What say you.]
Galt’s eyes twitched at Yongyong’s question. The patriarch’s life versus the Urbuna family’s secrets. Which held greater weight?
...Truth be told, the answer was already clear.
“I accept.”
What he had learned was but a fragment of the Urbuna visions anyway. Even reaching their pinnacle, he could never match Patriarch Otto’s magic.
There was an inherent limit to the visions themselves.
No need to hesitate.
[Then show me.]
“The promise...”
[I swear it upon the great one.]
Galt nodded at those words.
And then...
“...Is that enough?”
[Very... very satisfying.]
With the deal sealed, Yongyong spoke its parting words and flapped into the sky. Moments later, Aster’s body floated lightly upward and trailed after it.
Galt watched the sight before hurling himself toward Patriarch Otto.
“Patriarch...!”
Galt could never have dreamed it. That the desire to avoid battle wasn’t his alone.
Just as he had staked his life against Yongyong, so too had Yongyong staked its life against him.
And also...
‘...Vicious human!’
That Yongyong’s wingbeats were far more frantic than usual.
...Thus did the ominous black wyvern soar through the skies. Biting winds raced across the northern lands.
And in the tightly clenched fist of the unconscious Aster.
Hum—
The Fragment of Reverse Heaven lay dormant.