Chapter 64
Chapter 64
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Ruins (3)
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The two stepped through the open door.
And no sooner had they entered than they halted in their tracks.
Vena called out to Jamie, her lips twitching.
"Ma, Master?"
"I see it too."
Jamie groaned as he eyed the object standing at the center of the vast space.
It was clad in massive full-body armor, though thoroughly rusted. A red tassel swayed atop the helmet with its face guard fully lowered.
In its left hand, a gigantic shield. In its right, a greatsword over five meters long. It stood motionless, like a doll.
"Just a decoration?"
No presence emanated from the armor towering over three meters tall.
It wasn't alive.
It was most likely just a decoration.
Yet considering the ruins weren't ordinary, it could be a trap.
"Stay here."
"Ma, Master!"
Jamie left Vena behind and approached the armor.
He stayed on high alert, ready to respond instantly to any contingency.
Standing before the armor, Jamie looked up.
His small stature made it hard to see the helmet clearly. He prodded it with his fingers.
Clang- clang-
It was hollow inside.
Really just a decoration?
Jamie channeled mana into it. The mana filled the empty space, permeating the entire suit.
He'd thought there might be a core or something, but he felt nothing.
Only then did he relax.
Jamie turned to Vena.
"It's just a decoration..."
"Master!"
In that instant, Jamie reflexively ducked from the ferocious aura surging from behind.
Kwarrrgh-!!
The greatsword brutally gouged the ground.
Jamie’s eyes widened at the flying stone shards.
There had been absolutely nothing. How had it activated?
"You damn bastard!"
Corrosion
The cracked, ancient floor rapidly turned to sand upon contact with Jamie's mana.
Thud!
As the ground slightly collapsed, the giant armor lost its balance and dropped to one knee.
Vena seized the opening, leaping up to smash a kick into the armor's head.
The massive frame tilted backward and toppled.
Jamie vaulted into the air, clutching fireballs in both hands.
Rotation, compression, expansion, fission, injection attributes gathered in the flames.
Spin Bomber
Two high-speed spinning fireballs plummeted onto the armor.
The rotating orbs of flame crashed down onto the armor, erupting in a blinding light and massive explosion. The aftershock swept over the two.
"Kyaaak!"
Vena couldn't withstand the storm from the blast and was flung upward.
Jamie swiftly caught her and rapidly escaped the explosion's radius. In the process, he conjured two more fireballs and launched them at the armor.
"Melt away!"
The same explosion rang out again.
Vena trembled, clinging to Jamie's waist.
"That's an insanely massive explosion."
"It must've melted."
"Whew... That really startled me."
Having taken four blasts of ultra-hot flames reaching thousands of degrees, even steel would melt.
Jamie landed and pried Vena off, then summoned wind to blow away the smoke.
Boom!!
Suddenly, the greatsword dropped from above.
"What the!"
"Kyaaak!"
The ground bulged upward.
The armor reappeared overhead.
Jamie stared in disbelief at the cleared smoke.
Amid the devastation from the merciless explosions, there was no trace of the armor melting.
'Magic?'
But he hadn't sensed any mana flow.
The armor slammed its massive shield down toward him.
A heavy vibration shook the chamber.
Jamie, who had leaped far away, searched for Vena. Fortunately, she emerged through the dust cloud.
Her whole body was filthy, but she didn't seem injured.
"Master, what do we do?!"
Looking at the armor, Jamie saw it rising with yellow glows emanating from within the face guard.
'If only I could use black magic.'
The black mana still wouldn't rise.
His divine powers, based on black mana, were unusable too.
"This is pissing me off."
Jamie's left hand turned yellow.
It soon bubbled, spewing red foam.
His arm began to melt. The yellow liquid dripped stickily, hissing ominously on the floor and belching black smoke.
Charred debris cracked and crumbled atop the yellow liquid.
Immense heat invaded the space.
Jamie bared his teeth against the scorching gust that burned even his own skin.
"Really pissing me off."
Mana depleted at an alarming rate.
The Full Body Breathing Method couldn't keep up with the massive consumption.
Thud- Thud-
The armor took a step, then another, toward Jamie.
Vena screamed for him to run, but he ignored her.
The closer he got, the angrier he became.
He didn't know what was doing this to him, but at least he felt like smashing that armor's head.
"Dodge this if you can."
Gurgle-
The dripping yellow liquid returned to Jamie's arm.
It swirled, forming a sharp shape atop his hand.
The supreme flame sword that could melt anything in the world.
Magma Blade
Extreme heat distorted the space around the brilliant yellow blade.
Kraaaaaah!!
The armor roared, swinging its greatsword down at Jamie's head.
Just the swing whipped up a gale.
And Jamie leaped forward.
He, who had never trained with a sword, swung the molten blade clumsily.
But the ensuing clash rendered swordsmanship meaningless.
――――――――――――――――――――――!!
At the moment of impact, radiant flames exploded.
Vena gasped and turned away.
The superheated storm enveloped her. She cast a feeble ice spell against the face-warping heat.
Fortunately, it was indirect, so she endured.
Vena slowly turned back.
The first sight was the over-five-meter greatsword, neatly severed, plummeting downward.
Then, emerald hair fluttered in the wind.
The small figure dropped onto the helmet, the yellow sword in his hand falling straight down.
Sizzzzzzz-!!
The metal boiled.
Starting from the yellow line, violent flames began melting the entire armor.
Flames spread everywhere.
They engulfed the armor and burst outward like an explosion.
Vena thought the sight was truly beautiful.
Right after, Jamie landed softly.
"Hoo-"
His massively depleted mana was rapidly refilling.
Jamie looked at his left arm.
The charred black skin twitched uncontrollably.
A side effect from overextending the 'Magma Blade'.
Among 6th-class fire spells, the top-tier in power, it could corner even the caster.
Only upon reaching a higher realm could it be handled perfectly.
"Still, 6th class is now mastered."
At 5th-class level, he couldn't have sustained it.
"Master! Are you okay?"
Vena rushed over, face full of worry.
Seeing Jamie's arm burned like charcoal, she covered her mouth.
"Y-your arm..."
"Mm."
"Why use a spell like that?!"
"I was pissed off."
"Even so! Wh-what about your arm?!"
"It's fine."
He'd lost his temper, but he hadn't used Magma Blade recklessly.
'It's healing fast.'
Just moments ago, no sensation in the arm, but now it was returning rapidly.
The charred skin flaked off like dead cells, new skin sprouting beneath.
"How?"
"Trade secret."
Jamie shook his left arm up and down.
A bit uncomfortable, but it moved well. In a few more minutes, it'd be perfect.
'The Orb of Life's effect is incredible.'
He recalled the fight with the doctor.
Even pulverized to mush, that guy kept regenerating and attacking endlessly.
'Regeneration has limits eventually.'
This level was still comfortable.
Jamie held up his now pristine arm.
"See?"
"...Master, are you a monster?"
"Shut up. Let's go."
With the giant armor defeated, the stone pillar before the opposite door began glowing like before.
"The trials continue."
Thud-
Rumble-
The door opened.
Jamie and Vena entered.
And-
"Arrows!"
"This is making me curse for real!"
This time, a field of traps unfolded.
Pouring-
It was a night of heavy rain.
Due to a murder earlier that day, orders from above had tightened security.
Thus, the sentries stood guard in the downpour.
"Captain Libos?"
Then, he spotted Libos staggering from afar.
Libos was assisting Inspector Sable, but he'd been missing for hours, leaving everyone puzzled.
"Where've you been?"
"Just... some business... here, at the... post."
"Pardon?"
The soldier tilted his head at the halting speech.
He eyed Libos passing by with suspicion.
That blank, dumb expression.
The ever-energetic Captain Libos had never looked like that.
'Overworked?'
But his gait was off too...
The soldier thought something was wrong with Libos's shambling steps, but he wasn't high-ranked enough to point it out.
He shrugged and turned back outward.
His job was guarding this entrance.
Captain Libos was a man who excelled at everything with passion—no need to worry.
'Just off his game.'
That's what the soldier concluded.
"Kuhuhu."
And atop a tall building, a freak chuckled sinisterly.
"I made it perfectly."
Libos had died, heart pierced.
By the freak's hand.
A dead human couldn't move. Yet it walked like a person—albeit awkwardly—and even spoke.
The freak couldn't hold back laughter at the comical sight.
"God's power never ceases to amaze every time. Huh?!"
"Shut up."
Boom!
A bolt of lightning struck.
The rainy night sky flashed, illuminating the face of someone behind the freak.
"Sable. Why so angry?"
The freak grinned mockingly at the hooded man, Sable.
Sable, always smiling before Jamie, now wore a chilling expression.
"Didn't I say not to touch soldiers?"
"No need to be so stiff~ We're partners, right?"
"Partners."
"Heh heh heh. For our cute child to awaken even more splendidly, it needs a sturdy heart too."
The freak chuckled vaguely at Sable.
"Right? Knight of Zenith."
Sable closed his eyes.
A floral scent lingered at the freak's nose.
"...!"
A sword was at the freak's throat.
He hadn't seen or sensed it.
As if the act of drawing and swinging had been omitted from causality.
The freak sweated coldly but kept smiling.
Sable spoke to him.
"Partners, you said?"
"Yeah."
Sable's lip curled slightly.
"Watch your words. You're just a tool. Don't get cocky."
He sheathed the sword.
The freak exhaled held breath and slumped.
Tremendous killing intent.
No strength left in his body.
Sable turned away after holstering his blade.
"When I toss you food, take it like a dog and say thanks."
Glancing back, his usual smile returned.
"That's your job. Got it?"
"......"
"No second chances. Next time, as proxy of Zenith God, I'll punish you and cleave that cute egg of yours."
Sable vanished after the warning.
Alone, the freak cackled.
"Thought I was dead."
The blade's chill still lingered on his neck.
And that floral scent.
"Vicious bastard. But it's almost time."
The egg's hatching was near.
Thanks to the Zenith Church's full support.
'The day my beloved child awakens.'
No need to watch anyone's mood.
The freak grinned wickedly.
At that moment.
"Thought I was gonna die for real."
Vena slumped to the floor, panting.
Jamie, drenched in sweat, leaned against the wall.
They'd finally reached the last door.
"Where something slumbers."
Whatever it was.
"Ready?"
"Yes."
Jamie cautiously opened the door.
And what appeared was-
"Wh-what's this."
"Fur?"
An enormous beast's rear greeted them.