Chapter 162
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 162
Chapter Title: Taming the Mana Catastrophe
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If he was that skilled, the Magic Tower side must have been in quite an uproar.
Why hadn't word of it reached them?
The two had no idea that the Magic Tower had deliberately kept the information under wraps to keep the Association in check.
Whatever the case, if this boy named Leon truly had the power to control this colossal disaster...
The value of Leon Cascadia as a being would inevitably surpass anything the two had imagined.
But by any common sense, it was impossible.
How many mages had poured their efforts into overcoming this mana catastrophe over the years?
Understanding the principle was one thing—controlling it was an entirely different matter.
In fact, right now, the mana flow inside this tunnel was surging with a chilling intensity.
It felt just like handling a bomb that could detonate if you made the slightest wrong cut.
At that moment, the sharp-instinct younger sibling shuddered as if sensing something.
"B-Big Brother... something's wrong..."
"You two."
Leon, who had been quietly sitting and crafting the magic circle, spoke up, his voice striking their ears.
"You're both skilled at barrier magic, right? From the looks of it, each of you specializes in your own field."
Leon continued without even turning his head.
"Can you cast a mana-blocking veil?"
"W-We can... but..."
"Here's a chance for you. Hold it together, both of you. The collapse is accelerating because of what you've done, so the least you can do is that much."
With those words, Raida—the older brother—widened his eyes and hurriedly drew up his mana.
"B-Big Brother?! Casting magic here?!"
"Shut up and support me, quick!"
At his shout, his younger sister Rabena reflexively bolstered his spell, shaping the magic.
A barrier enveloped the two, and within seconds, a thick fog-like haze began piling up around them, the density of mana growing oppressively heavy.
Something was wrong!
Wasn't this the phenomenon that occurred right before unstable mana veins erupted?
In a situation like this, a mere mana-blocking barrier wouldn't hold.
It was like thinking a fire suit could protect you from a massive explosion.
"Hey! Can't you see what's happening?! We need to get out of here first!"
Forgetting all decorum, Raida yelled desperately at Leon.
Controlling a mana catastrophe was impossible, after all.
But Leon didn't respond.
Raida even tried to drag him out by force.
The siblings were barely enduring the mana torrent with their barrier, but Leon stood unprotected, silently bearing it with his bare body.
A normal person would burst into a spray of blood and die in seconds amid mana of that density.
"Damn it! Rabena! Match my timing! We get out first, then evacuate everyone in the area... Gah?!"
The mana's density exceeded expectations, thickening so much they couldn't even move, forced to focus solely on maintaining the spell.
Under the horrific pressure far beyond what they'd imagined, all they could do was sweat coldly and hold on for dear life.
At five circles, their limits were clear.
Even if they grew more accustomed to the five-circle realm after breaking through once, would it truly solve the root problem?
Simply enduring was their limit, and the situation only worsened with time.
"Urgh..."
Rabena, supporting the spell, reeled from severe nausea, and Raida hastily pulled her into his arms.
"Pull yourself together! Losing consciousness here means we're done!"
"Urgh... my stomach... my stomach feels awful... ugh..."
He urged her on, but Raida was in the same boat.
Her keen senses had reacted first, that's all. Rabena's hearing seemed numbed, as she kept crying out in agony like a scream, unresponsive to his words.
Mana catastrophes warped more than expected.
Hearing gone first, perhaps.
In truth, Raida could now hear nothing but his own voice.
After hearing came smell, then sight.
With their senses shutting down one by one, panic was inevitable.
Genius or veteran mages—they knew this only in theory, utterly unfamiliar in practice.
Rabena was already on the verge of passing out, throwing the spell's flow off balance in moments.
Raida instinctively focused solely on protecting his twin sister.
Desperate.
In this extreme situation, all a mere five-circle mage like him could do was erode his own body to shield her.
Even with his ears nearly deaf, he screamed desperately.
She was the unreliable little sister he'd often gotten angry at for her poor speech.
But in danger, his mind filled only with her safety.
This wouldn't do. He needed another way.
He overtaxed his brain to the limit, devising a formula.
Even as maintaining consciousness grew impossible, he fought on.
Organs malfunctioning, muscles failing—still, reflexively, he hugged her tight and unleashed the spell.
Was it that desperate effort? Or superhuman strength born of extremity?
A change began in his magic formula.
The wall stagnant for years seemed to crack open in an instant.
But something was missing.
Like this, it wouldn't...
"Don't you know how to adjust the speed in mana circulation?"
Why? His hearing was gone, yet a voice rang clear.
A slightly mocking tone.
"Too scared to do anything, huh. Ah, does your side not have 'moderate' for mana speed control? It's either too fast or explodes slow—nothing in between."
Reflexively applying brakes to the naturally flowing mana circulation and gradually adjusting the speed yielded entirely different results.
Not just controlling speed, but maintaining specific conditions while doing so produced this effect.
Raida desperately clung to consciousness and focused.
"Tch, you don't even know how to handle mana. Never learned about 'mana density'?"
The ongoing mockery and sarcasm—yet with it, Raida's magic grew more refined.
The grating tone pinpointed his exact issues.
Fixing them boosted the spell's stability absurdly.
Ah.
Raida finally realized whose voice it was.
Unlike their desperation, Leon sat calmly manipulating mana, his back in view.
His sight returned? No—why was enduring suddenly so much easier?
Not because his skill improved. Something was enveloping the area.
Not complex magic, but supreme technique in mana control.
That alone began securing their safety.
How could he perform such intricate, massive work so casually, remaining unfazed in this ultra-dense mana torrent?
Ah, from the start, he was a mage so advanced he wouldn't lose composure in this.
How pathetic must he and his sister have looked in his eyes?
Woooong...
Finally, the magic circles rippling around him contracted all at once, converging in one spot.
Like a star on the verge of supernova, they shrank at tremendous speed—and Raida watched the sight he might never see again with his restored eyes.
A colossal magic circle filling not just the plane but every direction—chills ran down his spine.
The pinnacle of magic circles, complete in every aspect.
For the twin mage siblings who studied them, merely beholding it offered immense insight.
He'd already achieved the extraordinary by advising them amid this dense mana torrent.
This wasn't a dream, was it?
Raida gathered mana in his palm, forming a sphere, and let out a shaky breath.
What he'd failed to grasp despite endless practice now formed effortlessly in his hand.
As if entranced, still hugging his sister, Raida asked,
"How... did this happen?"
"I've stabilized it. Once the mana stones are installed as the core, the magic circle will maintain itself semi-permanently without me."
Leon pointed to the magic circle seeping into this domain.
Could he reverse-engineer and dismantle that?
Honestly, he had no confidence.
Even deciphering its contents, dispelling it would probably be impossible.
With mana stones in play, this circle wasn't the end.
He didn't say he couldn't believe it now.
The vibrations shaking the entire mine, mana on the brink of explosion everywhere—it was now flowing in one direction.
Stabilizing a mana torrent took immense energy.
But he redirected that from the torrent itself, the disaster's source.
Like creating a massive self-sustaining engine.
Harmonizing the incoming torrent and powering the circle with its energy...
An idea anyone could conceive, but deemed impossible in practice—now unfolding before their eyes.
They could only gape in awe at the magic circle's beauty.
'Who was the frog in the well, really...'
At first, he'd thought Leon just some profit-blinded, immature noble young master.
Turned out, that was Raida himself.
How laughable he must have seemed.
Which was exactly why he had to ask.
"Young Master Leon Cascadia."
At Raida's call, Leon's sky-blue eyes met his.
"This world is full of mana catastrophes like this."
"..."
No reply came, but Raida pressed on.
"Won't you join us? With your skills, we wouldn't need to evacuate people or suffer massive material losses. If it's compensation you want—wealth, fame, special privileges, all of it..."