Chapter 107
Chapter 107
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 107
Chapter Title: The Black Meteor's Shadow
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“We called it the Black Meteor. The spirits around where that meteor fell began to get corrupted right away.”
Eina spoke in a somber voice.
“Are those corrupted spirits the ones we just saw?”
“No. You can’t even compare them. The spirits around the Black Meteor—the origin point—were in a far more serious state than these.”
“How serious exactly...”
It was beyond imagination. Raymond shot her a look demanding an explanation, and Eina opened her mouth with a relatively composed expression.
“They’re no longer spirits. They’ve become something entirely different.”
“Something different... Then how did you manage to stay unscathed?”
It was a sharp question.
“There are still spirits unaffected by the corruption. Mostly water spirits, since they have high recovery power for both mind and body.”
Raymond slowly nodded at Eina’s response. Water spirits having superior recovery aligned perfectly with the world’s lore.
“To sum it up, the corruption started after the ‘Black Cloud’ appeared, and it spiraled out of control right after the ‘Black Meteor’ fell, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then destroying the ‘Black Meteor’ should restore the spirit realm with a high chance of success.”
Raymond spoke with firm conviction, exchanging a glance with Sylvia. She nodded slowly, clearly sharing his thoughts.
“Eina. Do you remember the location of the ‘Black Meteor’?”
“You seem to be thinking of destroying the Black Meteor, but that’s impossible. There are too many corrupted entities guarding the area.”
“But we can’t just leave this corrupted spirit realm as it is, can we?”
From the flow of events, it seemed the spirit realm needed to return to normal to get back to their original dimension.
But by boldly skipping any mention of returning home, Raymond had positioned himself as a savior acting for the spirit realm.
“My benefactor...”
The high water spirit Eina wore a deeply moved expression. She bowed her head politely, as if in the presence of nobility.
“Save the thanks for later, Eina. First, can you gather the uncorrupted spirits?”
At Raymond’s question, the short-haired high spirit slowly lifted her head.
“I am a member of the 12 Spirit Council that serves the Water Spirit King. Even within the areas affected by the ‘Black Meteor,’ there are plenty of water spirits who evaded corruption. If I issue the call to assemble, they will surely come.”
It was no exaggeration. Members of the 12 Spirit Council could invoke the name of their Spirit King. In other words, Eina held the authority to summon the spirit forces in the Water Spirit King’s name.
The Water Spirit King had once raised an army from the north to subjugate the ‘Black Meteor’ and failed, but there were still many loyal to him—and no small number within the corrupted zones.
Hunted relentlessly, they would rally eagerly if Eina raised the banner.
“Gather as many as you can.”
Raymond’s voice cut sharp.
“This won’t be an easy fight by any stretch.”
That night, Eina departed to rally the spirit forces. Sylvia assigned a few wind spirits to her as messengers for ongoing communication.
Meanwhile, Raymond headed toward the ‘Black Meteor,’ the source of the corruption. He had the approximate location from Eina, and as usual, Sylvia took point for navigation.
“Is this black magic...?”
He had suspected it from the term “Black Meteor,” but as they delved deeper toward the dormant corruption source, it edged toward certainty.
This is black magic mana.
Is the Apocalypse Society involved again?
Groups that wielded black magic included the Black Magic Academy and the Fallen Research Society, but for a sin on the scale of corrupting an entire spirit realm, the Apocalypse Society was the only culprit that fit.
Considering their size, the Black Magic Academy had once been infamous but was now a shadow of itself, while the Fallen Research Society had always been weak.
Neither had the forces to target the spirit realm. For now, their scale was unknown, but the Apocalypse Society—with its overwhelming might—topped the list of suspects.
“Your Majesty. They’ve noticed our approach. Starting a short while ago, they’ve been moving to encircle us.”
Sylvia reported. Thanks to her, they had dodged seven encounters with corrupted spirit packs so far, but it seemed the enemy commanders had detected the alien mana entering the corrupted zone. From some point on, the corrupted spirits had begun organized encirclement maneuvers.
“How tight is it?”
“All retreat paths are cut off. They’re gradually closing a flawless net formed from far away.”
“A heavenly dragnet...”
Raymond bit his lip.
“Sketch their formation here.”
“One moment.”
He pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket, handed Sylvia a quill, and requested a more precise breakdown.
She gathered additional intel from the wind spirits and sketched a rough outline of the corrupted spirits’ encirclement on the paper.
Raymond’s expression hardened further upon seeing Sylvia’s diagram of the formation.
“Your Majesty...?”
Meeting Sylvia’s anxious gaze, Raymond spoke while masking his inner turmoil.
“We can’t slip out. It’s a perfect encirclement.”
Raymond had learned the basics of strategy and tactics from Count Reinitz, giving him an eye for encirclement annihilation formations.
Even to his novice level, it was flawless—no way out.
While they had evaded multiple clashes with Sylvia’s aid, the corrupted spirits hadn’t been idle. Their net had tightened bit by bit, and by the time they noticed, it was too late.
“What do we do?”
Sylvia’s voice trembled with anxiety. She fidgeted, blaming herself for not detecting the encirclement’s onset sooner, but Raymond had no intention of faulting her.
The enemy formation sketch showed the encirclement had begun with extreme subtlety. Compared to that, Sylvia’s tactical knowledge wasn’t deep enough to spot it early.
“Don’t blame yourself, Sylvia. It’s not hopeless yet.”
“Is there a way to break the encirclement?”
“Breaking out’s impossible, but punching through is doable.”
Raymond’s eyes gleamed sharply as he answered her question.
“Destroy the ‘Black Meteor’ before the encirclement fully locks and their masses swarm us. Sound simple?”
“C-can we make it?”
“I’ll be right there with you. Relax.”
He had planned to link up with Eina’s summoned water spirits to assault the Meteor, but getting snared in the encirclement had thrown a wrench in it.
Still, there’s hope.
Such an unimaginably vast encirclement meant a huge force had been committed. Naturally, the numbers guarding the Black Meteor itself would thin out to some degree.
“Your Majesty...”
“Have you pinpointed the Black Meteor’s location?”
“Yes. I nailed down the exact spot while scouting the encirclement.”
Raymond nodded in satisfaction at Sylvia’s reply.
“Lead on.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Sylvia took the lead, stepping forward.
“Aigoo! Your Majesty!”
“The dimensional gate closed?”
The dimensional gate had vanished. The rift that had held the spirit realm’s scenery sealed shut completely.
In the sudden crisis, Azure Tower Lord Risefield Dior panicked so badly he abandoned all hope and slumped to the ground. But Crimson Tower Lord Berenus was different. Even in this despair, he racked his brain for a way to reopen the gate.
“Azure Tower Lord! Enough wailing—gather any residual mana from the gate at least!”
“T-this... I’ve made a fool of myself. I’ll start right now.”
Risefield wasn’t an idiot. As one of the Mage Tower Alliance leaders upholding the empire’s magitech, he was an exceptional mage who had reached the high mage realm.
Snapped back by Berenus’s sharp rebuke, he summoned his mana.
Gestain silently approached Desia, who had been watching the two tower lords’ commotion.
“Lady Desia, you must share what you discussed with His Majesty.”
Under Gestain’s pressure, Desia had no choice but to recount her entire conversation with Raymond.
Right now, everyone needed to unite to find him.
“Join the two tower lords, Lady Desia.”
“Thank you.”
Though she had only recently ascended to high mage, Desia was still one. Gestain had more questions, but he figured aiding Risefield and Berenus was the better path to retrieving their sworn sovereign than holding her back.
“This is a problem.”
“What is it?”
Gestain reacted to the Azure Tower Lord’s mutter as he analyzed the gate’s lingering mana.
“Looks like something’s gone wrong in the spirit realm.”
“What do you mean...?”
“A sinister black magic aura is blocking the gate from reopening.”
“Eina?”
“No word yet.”
“We rest here for now.”
Asking more would just pressure Sylvia needlessly with no change, so Raymond halted their march for a mana recovery break.
“Your Majesty. A corrupted spirit pack will reach us in about two hours.”
The rest was brief, and the recovered mana minimal, but they had no choice but to move again.
Sylvia’s mana and mental strength were hitting rock bottom from constant wind spirit deployment.
Her obsessive fear of mistakes chained her spirit, which teetered on collapse.
“We keep going.”
He had hoped Eina and her spirit army would arrive first, but no such luck—the encirclement only tightened.
“Is this it...?”
Despair reared its head. Prolonged battles had drained his mana dry, and stamina hit its limit.
Corrupted spirits closed in from all four cardinal directions. Their momentum screamed intent to finish the job for good, and their numbers were overwhelming.
The corrupted spirits bore down. Raymond swung the Soul Sword without pause and wrung every drop from his empty mana pool to unleash spells, but more than half the enemy remained unscathed.
In the end, Raymond’s fierce momentum crumbled.
“Your Majesty... It was my honor to fight at your side. The grace you showed my kin—I’ll never forget it, even in death.”
Through his blurring vision, he saw Sylvia’s face. Tears streamed down, yet she smiled radiantly, overjoyed to aid him until the very last moment.
The wind spirit she summoned cradled Raymond and soared skyward.
“S-Sylvia Platier!”
Before his voice could reach, Sylvia etched her sacrificial resolve and drew her dagger, channeling mana.
Forced Awakening.
A technique usable only by high elves or their bloodlines, granting overwhelming combat power for a brief span—at the cost of massive life force. A double-edged blade.
Wind spirits swarmed around her as she poured out mana in a frenzy. A tempest erupted.
Her swordsmanship unfolded like a beautiful dance. But it was a brutal dirge carving away her own vitality. Raymond reached out in anguish, but couldn’t touch her.
“S-Sylvia...”
“I’ll clear the path! Your Majesty!”
The storm impaled the corrupted spirits. A way opened, and Raymond’s cradling wind spirit surged forward—but blockers stood in their path.
“Grraaah.”
Five corrupted high spirits.
“Aah...”
Not even the storm fueled by Sylvia’s life force could fell them. Yet she refused to yield. She sacrificed more vitality to summon greater gales.
Finally, two corrupted high spirits toppled.
But three more stood firm, shields raised.
“N-no...”
Forced Awakening wasn’t endless. The storm’s flames, kindled by her life, began to flicker out.
“Your Majesty... I’m sorry...”
It’s not your fault, Sylvia. He wanted to say it, but blood welled in his mouth, choking the words.
All seemed lost. Sylvia had blocked the high spirits to the end, shielding Raymond. As he mustered his final mana, a clear pillar of water erupted through the blackened earth.
“The Water 12 Spirit Council answers our benefactor’s call. Forgive our tardiness.”