Chapter 31
Chapter 31
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Rookie Adventurer Bern (28) - Intrusion
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At some point...
Blanca had once harbored such thoughts about Bern.
'Could he have learned magic from somewhere?'
Swordsmen typically knew little about magic.
No, in truth, it was hard to say that even mages truly understood magic all that well.
Unless they had received systematic training from a specialized academy or a major faction, there were plenty of adventurers among them who called themselves mages after self-studying from a single spell scroll.
Especially when many could only cast one spell to begin with—how could anyone claim to truly 'know' magic?
Blanca, at least, was relatively well-educated among adventurers since she had learned directly from her mother, but even she found Bern's knowledge of magic strangely extensive.
"This is something I heard by chance from a mage acquaintance of mine."
She doubted any mage would casually share such advanced knowledge with a mere acquaintance, but Blanca didn't press the issue.
They had agreed from the start, when forming the party, not to question the origins of his power or knowledge.
Besides, there was something oddly endearing about Bern—who seemed capable at everything—showing a bit of vulnerability here.
"Mana is actually deeply intertwined with a person's life."
...Still, even so, she couldn't help worrying at that moment whether Bern had been duped by some shady fortune-teller.
What he was saying sounded exactly like the spiel from those kinds of charlatans.
She felt fondness for Bern, but she wasn't blindly credulous (which was actually one reason he liked her more), so the mage responded as gently as possible.
"Is that some kind of metaphor?"
"No, it's literal. Do you remember what I mentioned before? The story about how a mage who only uses ice-attribute spells ends up with mana specialized for ice spells?"
"Yes."
"Then you must also recall that a mage who gains those ice-related properties sees a sharp drop in effectiveness with other attributes' spells. And that using other attributes can even degrade the efficiency of their primary one."
"Of course. That's why they generally avoid learning spells outside their chosen primary attribute altogether. No point if they can't use them properly."
"But isn't that a bit strange?"
"Strange how?"
Bern rolled up his sleeve and explained, tilting his head at Blanca's puzzled look.
"Let's use the human body as an analogy. A hulking brute who's bulked up with muscle and weight for power struggles would struggle with long-distance running. Sure, their training might make them better than an average person even in unfamiliar territory, but it wouldn't be efficient."
"Well, yeah, because they've trained in a completely different direction from the start."
"So, would that brute's muscles and weight visibly shrink just from running a couple of long distances?"
"That..."
Of course not.
Unless they ignored their main discipline for an extended period and focused solely on something else, the body wouldn't change that easily from just a couple tries.
Only then did Blanca grasp what Bern was getting at.
"You're saying it's odd for the efficiency of their specialized attribute to drop after just casting a couple of spells from another attribute? But that's actually what happens among mages."
"Yes, the issue is the cause. To be blunt, using a few spells outside your primary attribute doesn't meaningfully affect your mana itself. The real problem is the mage's own perception."
Just as no one questions an apple falling downward, Bern logically unpacked and explained the principles Blanca had always taken for granted.
"Mana influences the material world, but it's also heavily shaped by the mind. Mages who endlessly spam a single attribute climb to the 4th Circle easily because they've come to see themselves as 'that kind of mage.' Their conscious thoughts, subconscious, daily habits, combat choices—all skewed toward one attribute, so their mana follows suit."
Thus, those who reach heights in attribute magic often resemble the 'image' and personality of that attribute.
Fire mages tend to be explosive and fierce, ice mages cool and intellectual, earth mages stoic and steadfast.
"Karina, was it? The old comrade of yours we met last time hasn't been at the 4th Circle long enough for much influence, but given time, she'll probably grow more like her attribute. Breaking through to higher circles shatters personal limits and biases, but even then, fully shaking off the influence takes considerable effort and time."
Blanca's mouth hung open in a daze.
She had never even imagined a correlation between attribute magic and a mage's personality.
If this was true, then if she had abandoned other magic and delved solely into fire, she might have ascended circles easily—but her personality would have turned fiery too.
With a trembling voice, she asked,
"So, the reason learning other attributes degrades your primary one's efficiency is...?"
"Simply put, it breaks your immersion. Like a thief getting cold feet, you subconsciously think using another attribute will affect your main one. In severe cases, it happens just from remembering other spells in your head."
Bern explained that mages who properly reached the 4th Circle without shortcuts experienced the opposite.
They weren't dragged by their mana's properties; rather, their thoughts, personality, abilities, and fighting style manifested as mana's properties.
"So, be cautious around anyone with nasty mana properties. It usually means their personality or methods are problematic too."
***
Right after the Guild Master transformed into a Death Knight, the adventurers attempted to flee en masse.
They judged there was no chance of victory in continuing the fight and planned to regroup after retreating.
It was a strategically sound option in itself, but the problem was the purple mist the lich had spread.
At first, they thought it was just mist laced with paralyzing poison and tried to push through while holding their breath, only to soon realize its true effect—and tremble in horror.
Even after just a tiny gap of less than a meter opened up, their nearby comrades vanished from sight.
No, not just sight—their voices too.
"Anyone there!? Answer me!!"
In the dead silence with no echo returning, Blanca gritted her teeth.
'It's not ordinary mist. This purple fog itself is that lich's mana!'
If it had a name: Mist of Endless Labyrinth.
The layered purple mist restricted the enemy's five senses while carrying the lich's myriad spells in particle form.
Magic to numb the body, magic to induce hallucinations, magic to steal body heat.
Individually, they were minor debilitation and curse spells of little consequence.
But when mixed chaotically and infiltrating the body as mist, their combined effect was devastatingly dramatic.
The victims fled in terror from enemies that could pop out anywhere, only to collapse when overwhelmed by the accumulating mist's power.
And the lich reborn those fallen like harvesting wheat into undead.
Of little use against a few elites, but horrifically efficient against masses of the weak.
"Cough, hack!"
Feeling something toxic seeping relentlessly into her body, Blanca shuddered.
She was maintaining combat viability amid the mist through concurrent body reinforcement and healing magic, but even she didn't know how long she could hold out.
Resolving herself, she conjured a massive fireball in her hand.
Boom!
Rock Burning Magic struck the ground she'd just passed over, its heat and shockwave scattering the mist.
Enduring the searing heat on her skin through sheer grit, she fired additional fireballs into the cleared space.
The mist receded further, visibility expanding a bit more.
It was an excruciatingly mana-inefficient method, but with minimizing friendly fire risk while securing sightlines, there was no other way.
And finally, it bore fruit.
"Stay back! I said stay back!!"
"Agh! Aaagh! Sis! Bro! Save me!!"
Karina, her usual feigned elegance discarded, face twisted with venom as she unleashed indiscriminate blizzards to block the undead.
Renya, caught in her magic, cowering on the ground while white sleet pelted his head, screaming.
At the desperate yet somehow deflating sight, Blanca's eyes twitched involuntarily.
Where was the Bern she'd been searching for? Why only these people?
Harboring fresh resentment, but unable to abandon allies she'd finally found, Blanca incinerated the undead with fireballs and approached them.
"Karina! Renya! Snap out of it!!"
"Stay back!! ...Huh?"
"S-Sis! Where have you been? I thought you'd met with misfortune and was on the verge of falling ill from worry!"
Securing the dazed Karina and babbling Renya, Blanca pressed on, clearing visibility with the same tactic.
Karina urgently asked,
"Do you even know where the exit is!?"
"No point looking for it anyway."
Blanca replied coolly.
"Experienced dungeon delvers with plenty of stamina tried retreating and still got lost in this mist. We're deep inside already—odds of reaching the exit safely are near zero. Worst case, it's blocked or ambushed."
Karina shot back anxiously,
"Then what do we do?"
"Take down the lich."
Karina recoiled in horror.
"Don't be ridiculous! We couldn't even when everyone rushed together—now scattered, with this group!?"
"Precisely because we're scattered."
Blanca stated firmly.
"We took a painful counter at the end, but our progress before that wasn't meaningless. The lich's forces are greatly reduced, and what's left is tied up chasing adventurers. Plus, it's already died once. Can't have come without cost."
The Guild Master hadn't died pointlessly in vain.
Odd to phrase it that way for undead, but he had undeniably killed the lich once.
It revived using a spare life and turned the tables, but if those were easy to make, the lich wouldn't have raged so against him.
"When it thinks it's the hunter. When it believes all adventurers have lost the will to fight and are fleeing. That's when we strike. Better survival odds that way. Any flaws in my reasoning?"
"...Can't say there are, but no better ideas come to mind."
"I-I'll follow Sis's lead!"
Karina pouted but agreed, while Renya looked eager to bolt yet stuck close, sensing highest survival next to Blanca, fidgeting as he trailed.
Throughout the dungeon, like Karina, surviving adventurers fought undead, their faces uniformly pallid from the mist.
After rescuing two more to bolster their group, they spotted the third shadow.
Blanca unleashed max firepower without hesitation.
Boom!
The lich blocked through a bone wall, a smile-like expression creeping across its skeletal face as it spoke.
"—Oh ho, I was looking for you anyway. You've saved me the trouble. Such a good child."
"Shut up and die!!"
Blanca didn't bandy words, charging with sword raised.
As expected, only one Death Knight guarded the lich.
The knight moved to intercept, but before it could swing, Karina's massive icicle speared toward it.
The knight parried with its sword, but Blanca exploited the opening.
Ignoring the knight, she barreled straight for the lich.
Behind her, Renya and the rescued adventurers clashed with the knight.
The lich fired black mana blades to block, but Blanca—sharpened from repeated spars with Bern—dodged or deflected them, closing to point-blank.
The instant her blade neared the lich.
Seeing the lich's eyes gazing down with inexplicable glee, Blanca sensed something wrong.
Clang!
A sudden blade from the side knocked her sword from her hand.
Her worn knight's sword clattered to the ground.
The pitch-black sword piercing toward her heart appeared in slow motion to Blanca's eyes.
Ah, why had she erred?
Mana's nature reflected one's life.
Someone who toyed with prey wouldn't ignore its final struggle.
In the end, she'd just been making excuses to avoid fleeing, desperate to catch the lich somehow. Blanca finally realized.
No time for last words.
So, in her mind, she repeated soundless words.
'Sorry, Mom. And Bern.'
"—I trust you didn't utter something like 'sorry' while giving up on life, Ms. Blanca."
Thud!
The Death Knight about to impale her heart flew back like struck by a carriage.
Blanca stared wide-eyed at the man before her.
Red hair swaying in the breeze.
His usually pristine leather armor was ragged as rags, body caked in dust and soot from who-knows-what.
Yet his face remained as ever—serene, composed.
Irritation and doubt flickered in the lich's hitherto leisurely eyes.
It demanded,
"...What are you? How is the one caught in the teleport trap here?"
Bern answered,
"Fine."