Chapter 173
Chapter 173
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 173
Chapter Title: 60: Perish (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Demon noble?”
The one who asked was Simon.
He was staring at the ugly giant with four arms that was roaring madly toward Siegfried.
Ferocious demonic energy was indeed raging wildly around the giant.
And Siegfried was blocking the giant's movements with all his power.
“I'll hear exactly what happened after we finish everything off.”
“Elder! We're teleporting the space right now!”
“As far away as possible, please!”
Siegfried gritted his teeth and pressed down harder on what he presumed to be a demon noble.
He wanted to flatten it into a pancake right there, but the giant's strength far exceeded expectations, making it impossible.
Jamie locked eyes with Simon Count once before extending both arms forward.
Fortunately, the Magic Realm was surrounded by a vast forest in the remote wilderness. As long as they escaped it, they could fight without restraint.
“Warp!”
The entire space they occupied was engulfed in mana.
Warp was a spatial transfer spell, a superior version of Teleport.
It was treated as a 7th-class spell, demanding an enormous amount of mana even from a grand mage for a single use.
Yet someone who had just stepped into 7th class was casting Warp without incantation.
Not only Simon beside him, but even Siegfried turned to Jamie with a shocked face while blocking the giant.
The mana covering the space evaporated upward.
At the same time, the location they stood vanished entirely.
Everyone had been transferred elsewhere.
“You all seem surprised, but now's not the time.”
Jamie moved first.
He didn't know why a ferocious four-armed demon giant was where Javelin should be, but it was actually for the best.
Jamie inhaled deeply, palm facing downward, and lifted his hand upward.
Then, slamming it down like a hammer, he chanted the spell.
The supreme fire spell modeled after the burning hand of Ifrit, the Spirit King who ruled over fire among the five elements!
A massive burning palm descended over the giant's head.
Kwaaaaaang!!!!
The flaming hand swept through the entire forest, unleashing tremendous energy in an explosion.
Witnessing it, Simon couldn't help but be stunned.
“Spirit magic!”
True to his moniker 'Crimson Lotus,' Simon was an expert in fire magic and naturally knew the 'Ifrit Hand' Jamie had used well.
Spirit magic, known as the highest form among elemental magics.
Ifrit Hand was an advanced spell that could only be deployed upon reaching 7th class.
“You keep surprising me.”
Not content with becoming a grand mage at age eight, he had even mastered spirit magic, which required understanding spirits themselves.
Simon stuck out his tongue and spread his arms wide.
Though he was a grand mage, he couldn't lose to a child.
An incantation began pouring from his mouth at tremendous speed.
His eyes glowed yellow like sunlight.
The flames spreading across the entire forest from the aftermath of Ifrit Hand gathered in one spot at his will.
Jamie widened his eyes at the sight and turned to Simon.
'He turned my created flames into his own.'
'Fire Emperor' was a spell granting authority over fire.
The magic that Simon wielded, the origin of his Crimson Lotus title.
“Burn to death.”
He brought his widely spread hands together in front of his chest.
The flames split into countless lines, intertwining chaotically.
Beautifully scattered fire seeds dyed the world red, finally blooming petals into a massive flame flower.
Everything within the stamens oxidized the surroundings while emitting dazzling fervor.
“Incredible……”
Jamie couldn't even look properly at the massive flame flower in the sky.
Not even close, yet his whole body felt like it would melt in the superhigh heat.
Blinding white light bursting from the stamens, rivaling the sun.
All of it held destructive power proportional to its beauty.
Truly, Crimson Lotus.
“Hoo-”
As Simon released his hands, the Crimson Lotus petals fluttered in the air, fading with faint flames.
The ground where the flower had bloomed was charred black, boasting a massive crater as if proclaiming its presence.
Siegfried stopped compressing the space and marveled at the outrageous sight.
“Still a monstrous destructive power.”
“I don't want to hear that from you. Anyway……”
“Yes. Anyway.”
The two grand mages turned their heads toward Jamie.
“You've reached 7th class?”
Siegfried rubbed his eyes repeatedly with his hands, as if unable to believe even seeing it.
Simon chided him.
“You can see it, can't you?”
“It's hard to believe even seeing it.”
“……Well, true.”
Simon had glossed over it briefly due to the urgent situation, but becoming a grand mage at just eight was unprecedented.
In fact, nearly all of Jamie's feats were firsts, but becoming a grand mage was on another level.
A 3rd-class mage ascending to grand mage in less than a year.
“That's how it is.”
Jamie replied casually, too lazy to explain.
However, the two grand mages weren't ones to let such an unprecedented event slide.
“First, as temporary guardian, I'll send a letter to the Welton family.”
“For the palace, I should send one as representative. As a fellow eastern noble.”
“There'll be a huge uproar.”
“Unprecedented……”
“The other elders will scream it's a lie. Thinking of their faces already makes me laugh. Puahaha!”
“Don't laugh so lightly. Be mindful of your position.”
“What does a former slave care about that?”
“Hm. Fair point?”
Siegfried aside, was Simon Count always like this?
Jamie shook his head with a hollow laugh.
7th class was just a stepping stone for him, but others would see it as an unbelievable achievement. It would become a global issue.
'Building fame isn't bad.'
High fame made life convenient.
Unlike infamy, the higher the fame, the more people treated you well, whether genuine or pretense.
“Let's head back quickly.”
“No corpse check?”
“Hmph. Doubting my magic?”
“Well, no.”
Simon Count's flame magic was destructively powerful enough for even Siegfried to acknowledge.
The massive black crater there was proof. Whether a demon noble or powerful magic beast, once hit by the Crimson Lotus mage's signature, it was over.
“Anything below count rank can't survive.”
Demon nobility mirrored human nobility but was ranked by power.
Thus, all nobles possessed master-class strength, with little gap between lower barons and viscounts.
But counts were different.
Their power rivaled dragons, the strongest race in the mortal realm.
However, count-rank demons descending to the mortal realm was impossible. If one did, an incarnation of the 12 Gods would intercept it.
“Puha~”
That was how it should have been.
Pajijit-!!
An immense presence surged.
Jamie, Simon, and Siegfried turned back simultaneously.
Crimson-black demonic energy crackled like lightning.
Storm clouds slowly blanketed the clear sky, and demonic energy concentration in the air rose.
A crushing pressure made breathing difficult, squeezing their lungs.
The three instinctively realized.
“Attack!”
Simon summoned his staff and shouted at Jamie and Siegfried.
Flames enveloped him.
He began reconstituting his body in flames to bloom Crimson Lotus once more.
Siegfried manipulated space.
He isolated the emerging presence in a cubic enclosure.
He ramped up the air pressure to extremes. No matter how sturdy, it would burst under pressure.
And Jamie?
'……'
Unlike the two, Jamie prepared no magic.
No need.
Too late already.
“Nothing's ever easy.”
He infused mana into Beyond Avalon.
Space inverted, trapping the three in its reverse side.
Simon and Siegfried glared at Jamie in protest at the sudden move.
But they soon understood.
Kwagagak!!
Inconceivably savage force swept through where they had stood.
Javelin thought.
'Ah. At this rate, I'm done for?'
His body had been torn apart alongside space several times.
Since space itself damaged his flesh, regeneration was difficult.
The best defense is a good offense. Unable to block, he fought with resolve to topple the foe.
But Siegfried was one of the world's top battle mages, strong enough to pulverize even demon knights.
'Just a bit more, and I'd have received power from the Demon King……'
Even baron rank would let him live lavishly in the Demon Realm.
That was Javelin's modest dream.
Escape the mortal realm for a small fief in the power-based Demon Realm, living like a king.
To that end, he followed the Demon King's orders diligently.
'But…… why does the Demon King obsess over the mortal realm so much?'
The Apophis Plan was solely to summon the 'Demon King of Vengeance' to the mortal realm.
They added various meanings to ease the process, and it worked well.
Fun days. They begged for drugs like slaves, unaware of aiding the Demon King's summoning.
Some had already crossed the irreversible river. They'd hate him forever, but demons grew stronger on malice.
'Can't do that anymore.'
Siegfried approached.
His body was long shredded to pieces.
Compressed space gripped in both hands. Bursting it on his body would leave no scraps.
'Ending like this is regrettable.'
But as a demon, he had to bow to power.
Siegfried was stronger; he was weaker.
'If I'd made baron, could I have won?'
Doubt crept first.
Siegfried's strength wasn't bound by 7th class.
His spatial magic prowess and overwhelming combat sense required viscount rank for a fun fight.
Meaning Javelin never had a chance from the start.
Regrettable.
'If only I'd joined the grand plan five years earlier……'
What use in lingering regrets?
Everything was already over.
He tried to accept it.
-If you're to die, surrender your body first.
His heart pounded.
The sound of a heart that should have been shredded beating.
Javelin's eyes lost focus.
'Ah! It's not over yet.'
Pitch-black space.
Someone stood there.
Javelin reached out toward him.
The figure grinned, baring sharp fangs.
-You've done well so far, pawn.
Darkness swallowed Javelin.
In fading consciousness, Javelin cheered.
He hadn't ended here; not everything was finished.
Reaching toward the narrowing black hole, he murmured.
“Long live His Majesty the Demon King.”