Chapter 25
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: The Tower Genius Descends into the Labyrinth
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There was no time to think.
The moment Sylbian saw Cherentia create a crack in the golem's right leg first, he too began channeling mana at full power.
Saaaaah...!
Fierce currents of blue mana swirled violently, enveloping his entire body in an instant.
Within his eyes, now dyed deep blue, he focused his consciousness intensely.
I need to cast a spell perfectly suited to that crack.
Blindly unleashing Esitil Chante and slamming a mana spear into it would just waste mana needlessly.
He had to completely disable both of the golem's legs.
That meant he needed to refine his mana, restructuring the size and intensity of Esitil Chante from the ground up.
"I trust you!"
Cherentia shouted as she watched Sylbian manifest his mana, kicking off the ground once more.
It was to draw the golem's attention.
Kwaang!!
The golem's frame slammed into the spot she'd just vacated, sending even more violent vibrations through the earth.
It was enough to throw even the mercenaries on the opposite side off balance all at once.
"Urk!"
"Hold your balance somehow!"
Camel bellowed even louder, his eyes locking onto Cherentia in that instant.
Her agile movements were so fast it was hard for the eye to follow.
And yet, he could clearly see her body drenched in sweat, her breaths coming in heavy gasps.
Just how strong is she?
Even so, Camel couldn't hide his awe at Cherentia's prowess.
His mercenaries and he himself were barely managing to check one leg, and it came with this much danger.
Yet this beastkin had not only cracked the golem's leg single-handedly but hadn't taken any real damage either.
In other words, she alone possessed power surpassing his entire mercenary corps.
Boooung...!!
In that moment, a sudden change occurred.
The golem's left arm, which had been swinging toward the mercenaries to threaten them, suddenly turned toward Cherentia.
"Chen!"
Whirlic!
Cherentia swallowed a sharp breath and spun her body in a massive rotation, unleashing a second Chen in an instant.
Bwoong!
Her tail swelled massively, whipping through the air with enough force to rupture it entirely.
With acrobatic precision, she twisted her body at an impossible angle.
Saaak!
"...!"
Cherentia's amber eyes widened to their limit as the golem's arm grazed her cheek by a hair's breadth.
But her form was swept up in the gale-force wind stirred by the golem's arm.
Shyuuuung! Thud!
Cherentia landed unsteadily but managed to minimize the damage.
In that instant, she felt a massive surge of mana currents.
Flinch!
The wind from the golem had nearly engulfed Sylbian completely.
But what surprised her even more was...
"Ah..."
The fierce blast had surely been directed at Sylbian too.
Yet the figure wrapped in immense mana didn't so much as twitch.
Chwarak...!
His silver hair scattered wildly in the mana currents, his pure white robe billowing fiercely—the sight was utterly mystical.
Sylbian was in a state of utmost concentration that even made Cherentia hold her breath.
"..."
Sylbian's eyes were fixed solely on the cracked golem leg.
It was concentration at its absolute limit, excluding all else, and the blazing mana currents were forming a perfect shape, scattering brilliant light.
The moment she realized this, Cherentia urgently kicked off the ground and launched herself forward.
I need to create the decisive opening.
The longer she kept the golem tied up, the less pressure it would put on the others.
Above all, the spell Sylbian was about to unleash would surely deal even more certain damage to the golem.
Seeing him in such total focus filled her with even greater trust.
The great mystery of magic that only mages could wield.
If he could handle that mystery to its extreme, they could survive against this golem.
Kuung!
As Cherentia charged in again, the golem began moving unnaturally due to the crack.
Right then, the moment she dodged its arm once more...
"Esitil Chante."
⟨ Esitil Chante ⟩
Saaah...!
Fierce mana currents rose like a blue wave, completely dyeing the air around them.
The condensed mana within them soon took the form of a massive spear and began spinning violently.
Quaaaang...!
The spear, scattering fierce mana as it spun, shot forward without the slightest warning.
Shuuuuk―――!
The blue trajectory tore through the air like a single line, at a speed no being in the space could react to.
Kwaaaang―――!!
The mana spear struck the golem's right leg with explosive force, shattering into pieces as the golem's form shook unstably.
The cracked section had burst open completely, unable to support its own weight.
"Incredible, Sylbian!"
Cherentia couldn't help but cry out in admiration amid the scattering remnants of mana.
The crack hadn't been that big.
It had taken dozens of strikes from iron armor and even Chen to make one the size of a thumb.
Yet the spell Sylbian cast had turned that tiny crack into an unbelievable result.
Enough destructive power to completely blow off part of the golem's massive body!
"Waaaaaaah...!"
"It's almost down! Everyone, push hard and make another crack!"
Camel and the mercenaries alike felt the immense aftermath of the magic, their faces lighting up one by one.
Afterward, even Cherentia joined the mercenaries to try cracking the left leg.
Then, an entirely different scene unfolded.
"Haa..."
Sylbian exhaled heavily, his entire body soaked in sweat before he knew it.
Even so, he summoned mana currents once more, his eyes filled with resolute will.
Soon.
It was almost time.
The mercenaries were accumulating damage too.
With Cherentia joining them, it wouldn't take long for a crack to appear in the golem's left leg.
Then he'd unleash Esitil Chante again to fully disable the golem.
Just once more.
That was the sole purpose of his mana allocation.
So he could cast the spell again.
No,
he had to demonstrate it.
Thud!
Sweat trickled down his cheek, staining his robe, but he began tuning the mana flow once more.
At the same time, he recalled his trait.
Mana Interference.
The power granted to him in this world.
With that unique trait, even the smallest amount of mana could form complete magic.
What other mages built gradually with ocean-like mana reserves,
he reconstructed by gathering grains of sand-like mana into a perfect magical structure.
To instill himself with conviction-like faith, Sylbian even summoned his status window trait.
Mana Interference (S-Grade)
- Can interfere with mana flows to distort or reconstruct them.
Seeing the trait appear clearly in his vision, his consciousness began to boil over.
The mana he could use was pitifully low.
Barely half of what he'd used for the previous Esitil Chante.
Normally, impossible.
But.
If he restructured every flow of mana from the ground up, it wouldn't be impossible.
Make the magical structure of the existing Esitil Chante even more precise...
And more efficient.
"Sylbian!"
"Mage! We've made a crack!!"
Just then, Cherentia and Camel called out to him simultaneously, announcing the crack in the left leg.
Flick!
His violet eyes, lacking the previous mana intensity, turned to the golem's left leg.
Perhaps because Cherentia had joined the mercenaries.
The crack in the left leg was even clearer than the one on the right.
Nearly the size of a palm.
Boooung...!
In that instant, as the golem's two arms swung to crush them, the focus in Sylbian's violet eyes vanished.
His consciousness, entering a trance, merged with the mana flows he'd restructured himself.
To think I'd feel this sensation again.
A bizarre sense of time flowing unevenly—fast, then slow.
The golem's swinging arms, the mercenaries' and Cherentia's movements—all speeding up and slowing down in repetition.
This immersion into mana flows was a sensation impossible to intentionally recreate.
Yet now, he felt it.
That fantastical sensation he'd thought he'd never feel again...
"Esitil Chante."
⟨ Esitil Chante ⟩
The tone of Sylbian's voice echoing through the air was noticeably lighter than before.
Moreover, following the path of his hand slicing through the air, the mana flows dyed the atmosphere even more intensely.
Quaaaang...!
The moment the spear form completed, it carved a massive blue trajectory, dyeing everything around in blue.
All that mysticism captivated Sylbian's consciousness hazily.
What in the world is happening...?
He thought in that fleeting instant where reality seemed frozen.
Yet Esitil Chante had definitely manifested with far more mana than he'd intended.
Kwaaaaang!!
The golem's lower body shattered completely—unlike the previous direct hit from Esitil Chante.
It was destructive power enough to utterly collapse the golem's form.
"Waaaaaaah!!"
"We're alive!"
Amid the mercenaries' roars, Sylbian merely blinked in a daze.
He still couldn't comprehend it.
He'd only intended to topple the golem's balance.
But,
the result before his eyes was different.
Utterly different.
A miracle bordering on the impossible for any mage.
And yet, it was unfolding right before him as stark reality...