Chapter 273
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 273
Chapter Title: Part 2 Chapter 27: Farewell, and Encounter (4)
Catarina's reaction was swift.
People called him a puppeteer, thinking his magical subject was related to creating something.
They were wrong.
The magical subject he had established was 'Revenge Linkage Information Establishment Adjustment Manipulation'.
It was a complicated term, but simply put, it was a magical subject that allowed him to manipulate many things at once.
In other words, if he wished, he could issue simultaneous commands to all 300 magical artificial lifeforms—Homunculi—in the Terigian army this time.
"Mana Burn Spell Formula 4, Defect!"
The magical legion composed of Homunculi all opened their blue eyes wide and reached toward the light.
Mana Burn was a spell that literally burned away mana, and Defect manipulated the flow of mana to prevent spells from being maintained as intended.
With 300 Homunculi deploying them simultaneously, even "Let There Be Light" began to waver as if afflicted by noise.
Catarina did not miss that opening.
"Maximum deployment."
He threw off his robe.
His right arm was wrapped tightly in bandages covered with all sorts of runes, but flames of mana erupted, burning them away in an instant.
Then, the tattoo hidden beneath was revealed.
The red tattoo was a code only Catarina could decipher, his secret weapon.
"Grrrrrrgh!"
In the situation where "Let There Be Light" could not advance due to the large-scale Defect magic,
light began to slowly emanate from the red tattoo engraved on his right arm.
Bloodshot veins bulged in Catarina's eyes.
Gritting his teeth, he slammed his right hand to the ground and shouted.
"Summoning Ritual! Gate of the Firmament!"
⟨ Gate of the Firmament ⟩
The tattoo peeled away from his arm like skin and seeped into the ground.
Then, an enormous array of characters expanded in the form of a magic circle, swelling to dozens of meters in scale.
Catarina drew a scroll from his waist, untied it with his thumb, and spread it on the ground.
He soon placed his left hand on it and infused mana.
"Come forth! Sir Peros! Sir Draksar!"
The scroll seeped under the massive character-based magic circle drawn on the ground, and simultaneously, two pillars of light shot up.
Two middle-aged men stepped out from there.
Both were fully armored; the man on the left had blond curly hair and distinctive forked whiskers, while the one on the right had short copper-colored hair and a scar over his left eye.
The left man, Peros, fiddled with his whiskers and said,
"Calling us both at once means the crisis is already upon us?"
"This is why I said I'd go."
In response to Peros's words, Draksar glared at Catarina with a dissatisfied look.
Catarina, panting, said to him,
"This is no time for complaints! I'm granting command authority to both of you. Lead the entire army. I'll prepare my puppets and magic."
Peros and Draksar were Terigian Masters.
Catarina had engraved a summoning circle on his right arm so he could call them anytime.
He hadn't planned to summon them this quickly, but without them, the 50,000-strong army would vanish without a trace.
He absolutely could not suffer such a humiliating defeat.
"What could be so urgent that..."
Peros was about to speak with a puzzled expression when mana surged violently.
The light, temporarily halted by the Defect magic in midair, began moving again.
"What is that mass of light?"
"No time to explain!!"
Catarina felt like his eyes would pop out.
Not only had an absurd monster appeared on the enemy side, but these reinforcements kept asking questions.
Normally, he would explain, but there was no time now.
"I'll go first. Peros, I'm handing all command to you."
Grasping the severity, Draksar leaped toward the light.
His weapon was a spear.
Not just any spear, but the infamous magic spear Gae Bolg.
A divine weapon that killed the opponent with a single thrust.
And it wasn't limited to living beings.
As long as the light was made of mana, one thrust would disperse it.
'The Homunculus magic legion is using Mana Burn too... One hit should suffice.'
Crimson-black lightning crackled from the magic spear.
Lance Master Draksar clenched his teeth and hurled Gae Bolg.
"Master-level reinforcements, huh."
The voice was crystal clear, as if spoken right beside him despite the considerable distance.
Draksar's eyes widened.
"I've seen your level well enough."
He felt a massive purple eye staring at him.
"I'm bored to death."
The light exploded.
Its power was more than enough to swallow the 50,000-strong army in one go.
Draksar reached for Gae Bolg as it was caught in the explosion, but the blast expanded at tremendous speed, easily engulfing even him.
Catarina watched the spreading explosion with incredulous eyes.
As an archmage who could divide time into seconds, grasping the current situation wasn't difficult.
'Damage close to total annihilation.'
The light had engulfed the 50,000 army before they could do anything.
Peros drew his twin swords and unleashed his Authority 'Dividing Slash,' sending out hundreds of strikes, but stopping that light was impossible.
Everything simply turned blindingly white.
————————————————————————————————!!!
There was only light.
"......"
"......"
The two archmages from Seldam could not close their mouths at the scene unfolding before them.
Beryl landed lightly beside them.
Gazing at the swirling spectacle of light, he spoke.
"The power seems even greater than before."
He had watched from afar during the fight with Hawks, and it had been impressive then too.
But now, the firepower appeared at least double.
He didn't know how he'd acquired the spell, but given light's nature, its expansion speed was beyond imagination, making it the ultimate area-of-effect magic.
And as a 9th-class spell, its power had only been momentarily halted, as they'd seen.
Simon looked at Beryl with lingering disbelief.
"......Jamie?"
"As you see."
"I don't know why he appeared with you, but what on earth happened in these two months......"
As Jamie's closest confidant, Simon knew he had reached the 9th-class realm.
But Jamie himself had said he had only barely crossed the threshold, yet now he seemed fully in the 9th class.
Knowing how hard each step forward became at higher realms, it was hard to believe this was just two months' change.
Linmel felt the same.
"Heh heh. This old man's years feel wasted."
"I wonder if Jamie cleaned up the east on his own."
It was that absurd an impact.
Wiping out 50,000 troops.
And a fully prepared army at that.
When the last Bunker Breaker activated, cold sweat had run down his back.
If the barrier had broken, the ant-swarm Terigian army would have overrun the walls and fallen Egeneu.
That was when it happened.
Wooong-
Kwaaaang!!
With the sound of energy condensing, a beam pierced through the light.
The beam that appeared in an instant reached the barrier in one shot.
Simon, Linmel, Beryl—everyone leaped toward it, but Jamie, who appeared first, reached out toward the beam.
Enchanting Reflection—a reflection spell—onto his hand, the beam split in all directions, scattering chaotically.
Some hit the barrier, but the divided power wasn't strong enough to pierce it.
"Ho. Not bad?"
"Jamie!"
"What is this?!"
Simon and Linmel, now right behind him, called out almost in unison.
Jamie smiled and waved at them before flying up again.
Reunion talk could wait until later.
"That mage?"
He didn't know the name, but he was the only one to react directly to "Let There Be Light."
Even halting a 9th-class spell of holy light temporarily—impressive, even as an enemy.
And surviving that explosion to counterattack.
Experienced in battlefields and highly skilled in magic combat, a true veteran.
Jamie swung his hand, clearing away all the smoke.
Nearly half of the 50,000 army had vanished.
'They blocked it.'
Originally, it should have been total annihilation.
Saving half—his pre-growth self would have struggled.
But not now.
"Graaaaaaaaah!"
A scream-like shout came from afar.
Jamie leaped through space toward the source.
A man with soot-covered skin and dirt caked all over stood there.
Spotting Jamie's sudden appearance, he yelled,
"It's you!"
Jamie landed amid the near-feral shout.
He scanned the surroundings quickly, preparing attack magic.
Even with half surviving, their state was far from fine.
Especially the 300 or so in the magic legion that used burnout-type spells—most were in ruins.
In this state, no need to subdue every soldier.
Just one.
The leader right in front of him, spewing rage.
Subduing him would end it.
Thus, Catarina was furious.
"Youuuu bastard!!"
He thrust his left arm toward Jamie.
His left arm also bore a special tattoo, a mana amplification formula.
Because of that one guy, all plans had gone up in smoke.
Even surviving, he'd pay with his life for this invasion's failure.
Better to stake it all here.
"Die!!"
Veins bulged on his left hand, turning purple as if blood flow had stopped.
His qi and blood twisted.
Yet Catarina did not stop.
The mana amplification formula on his left arm maximized spell power using the arm's vitality as collateral.
The strongest 8th-class single-target attack spell.
Soul Destruction: Doom Eternal
8th Class Single-Target Attack
Pfbt!
His left arm exploded.
He nearly blacked out from the horrific pain but endured with superhuman willpower.
A spell using limbs as collateral rivaled 9th-class magic in power.
The force of destruction engulfed Jamie.
"Hiding such a trump card until the end. Impressive, even as an enemy."
But.
Jamie's eyes turned purple, the holy light reverting to black mana.
At the sudden emergence of darkness, Catarina's eyes bulged.
"Black Sorcerer?!"
"Devour it."
The gluttonous darkness slumbering in the abyss swallowed the destructive force whole.
At that absurd sight, Catarina even forgot the pain in his left arm.
Instead, realizing he could not survive this irrational being, he commanded all soldiers.
"Survivors, charge to your deaths! Die here for the rear guard!"
Defeat was certain.
He couldn't believe 50,000 had fallen to one man, but denying reality was foolish.
Catarina ordered a suicidal advance, prepared for total annihilation.
However, the soldiers who had directly endured that horror did not respond.
Instead, terrified at the sight of Jamie shrouded in darkness, they fled in panic.
Like a mere rabble.
Those with limbs intact could flee, but the severely wounded could only tremble in place.
At that pathetic sight, Catarina frowned.
Where had all the valiant soldiers gone?
"You idiots......"
The answer was clear.
With no choice, Catarina clicked his tongue and declared,
"We surrender."
"General Catarina is an excellent commander who has achieved great feats in numerous wars. With all that support and the ability to summon two Masters instantly if in danger, conquering Chesan Kingdom will be easy."
"The Zenith Church's War Spiral has also concluded that this war will proceed smoothly. They assembled an army with Welton Count as commander from Seldam, but it'll take at least five days to arrive."
"By the time they arrive, all paths north will be open."
The eastern kings deeply involved in this Chesan invasion chuckled as if it were a trifling matter.
Indeed, analyzing countless scenarios with the Zenith Church's ultimate war divination tool, the War Spiral, showed victory in most battles.
They didn't blindly follow it as faith, but the first city, Gerin, had fallen without resistance.
In the next, Egeneu, unexpected reinforcements had stalled them briefly, but with the Terigian army fully prepared, it would fall before dawn ended.
Everything felt leisurely.
"The north, that fertile land occupied by cattle-like scum for too long. Now it's time for us to rule it."
"Well said. Especially those in Seldam, acting like the center of the world. So arrogant. Don't you think, Emperor Drake?"
The man at the head seat, Emperor Drake of the Drakiron Empire—the hegemon of the east—spoke.
"Make sure those vermin don't stand shoulder-to-shoulder with me."
His calm face revealed the demeanor of a tyrant.
The king of Quatacha, who had addressed him, bowed his head in fear.
"S-sorry."
The Drakiron Empire was the strongest and absolute power in the east.
The other nations were essentially vassal states.
It wasn't for no reason that all eastern nations except Ainstel waged war on the north without justification.
It was fear of the Drakiron Empire.
"Regardless, the north will become my land again."
"Y-yes, it will."
"Don't worry, Emperor. General Catarina will deliver the northern territories to you in short order. When that happens, keep your promise."
"No need for concern, King of Terigia. The entire eastern coast of the north will be yours."
Despite being a monarch, Emperor Drake didn't know the Terigian king's name.
However, King Aboke of Terigia showed no displeasure.
He simply expressed gratitude.
"Thank you."
Emperor Drake nodded.
That was when it happened.
"B-big trouble!"
Someone burst through the door in panic.
Daring to intrude on a gathering of eastern lords warranted death, but now wasn't the time for such trifles.
"What is it?"
At King Aboke's command to speak, he reported to the monarchs in a trembling voice.
"Th-the Terigian army... has suffered a crushing defeat."