Chapter 247
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 247
Chapter Title: The Magician Killing
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After that, no conversation passed between them for a while.
Ashuria closed her eyes, seemingly to catch her breath and rest briefly, while Basara sank into meditation to minimize his aura consumption and maximize his natural recovery rate.
And in Rubas's case, though faint, he was gradually recovering.
Rubas might have seemed the most useless in this situation, but Basara didn't see it that way.
If Rubas hadn't held back and refrained from overexerting his magic at the start, Basara would already be dead by now.
Though they bickered, fought, and competed as if they were rivals, to Basara Crevad, Rubas Hontail was his one and only friend in a similar plight.
The monsters here weren't particularly dangerous when taken one by one, but their vast numbers and the fact that they could pop out from anywhere were the real problem.
This wasn't just true for Basara—it was the same for Ashuria and Rubas, leaving them able only to react belatedly.
"Let's move... Any more rest will backfire."
Finally finishing his aura circulation, Basara picked up his spear and slung Rubas over his remaining shoulder with one arm.
"The monsters don't seem to target Rubas. When combat breaks out, set him down, I'll take the front line, and you focus your firepower."
The three pressed on once more.
But something was off. It was strangely quiet.
By the time they realized something was wrong, the three had already entered a massive cavern that bore no resemblance to the previous tunnel structure.
"Hey, Ashuria Abelgard. I've gained some real combat experience, and in dangerous situations, I've often felt this chilling sensation."
"......"
"Feels like that's now."
In an instant, the entire surrounding terrain twisted as something enormous burst forth.
Dozens of mouths filled with fangs shrouded in endless darkness sprouted across the floor, their teeth clacking together, while on the walls, hundreds or thousands of pale, human-like hands wriggled into existence.
And then.
At the center of this space, a massive black sphere formed, only for its core to rrrip! open, revealing a horrific eyeball.
Eight pupils. Like a single eye holding eight fields of vision, the eight pupils within it darted about chaotically in all directions, sending chills down everyone's spines.
In the midst of this gruesome, overwhelming sight, Basara felt his strength drain from his entire body.
Thud...
His will to fight evaporated in an instant. A terror so profound it completely shattered any desire to battle washed over him.
As the eight pupils fixed on them all at once, Basara began trembling like a leaf in the wind.
Genius? Disciple of the Spear Star? Those were just backgrounds that let him run faster than others—they didn't make him the continent's top powerhouse overnight.
It was a fear like his very soul was being torn from his flesh.
Basara realized just how insignificant he truly was.
I've worked this hard—shouldn't that be enough? I've gotten stronger, haven't I? So why does it still feel so far away?
The thoughts he always harbored inwardly vanished without a trace.
That human talent wasn't the measure of the world.
That even the most honed genius could crumble before a momentary calamity.
"Ah... Aah..."
In contrast, Ashuria stared blankly at the monster before raising her hand.
A bolt of lightning shot from her fingertips, devouring everything in its path.
But compared to the massive thunderbolts she'd unleashed in the forest, it was pathetically weak.
Fzzzt!!!
The lightning bolt that flew toward the massive eyeball collided in an instant—but it was Ashuria who took the damage.
"Cough!"
With a hollow expression, she vomited a mouthful of blood and collapsed.
"Why... is this..."
Having seen just how powerful Ashuria was on the way here, Basara couldn't believe his eyes as she crumbled so helplessly.
She propped herself up on her staff, knees buckling, and began casting another spell.
Cough!!!
But once more, her magic inflicted no damage whatsoever and only wrecked her condition further.
Red blood streamed from the corners of her eyes like tears.
"N-No... It's Magician Killing..."
Magician Killing...
He'd heard of it before.
It was the phenomenon where, if a mage's mana flow was disrupted or their total mana reserves were destroyed while casting, the mage themselves suffered severe internal injuries.
But to induce it deliberately?
Only the worst of monsters could do that—the likes of the Demon Realm's Demon Beast Kings.
The massive eyeball silently gazed down at her before writhing again, and the pale arms sprouting from the walls began to elongate slowly, inching closer.
Was this how he'd die? So utterly powerless?
He hadn't realized how much his youth and lack of experience would haunt him like this.
If I just keep training, I'll eventually reach Grandpa's level. He'd pushed himself with that thought, but the world was unfair.
"So unfair..."
He let out a hollow laugh and closed his eyes. Ashuria and Rubas were in no state to fight anymore.
The opponent was just too bad.
In the moment he accepted death—
The hands lunging first for Ashuria were shredded by blades of lightning in an instant.
"Huh?"
At the same time, Basara saw it.
In the spot where nothing had been moments ago, Professor Leon had appeared out of nowhere, catching Ashuria as if to support her.
"Magician Killing, huh. Is she insane? How many times did she cast in Killing state without even resetting? Heal her, will you?"
Leon handed Ashuria to the girl behind him.
That girl too... I've seen her at the training grounds.
The beautiful girl who had harshly criticized him back then, making him angry.
Why were these two here?
As Basara Crevad harbored that question—
Behind Luna's back, an unexpected afterimage began to appear.
Two pairs of wings made of light.
Wings that evoked the image of what an angel might look like if they existed fluttered once, scattering rainbow hues, and in an instant, Ashuria's expression eased.
After gathering rainbow power at her fingertips and spreading it out, she approached Basara.
"You were just taking exams, and now what the hell are you doing here?"
"Who... the hell are you...?"
"Does that matter?"
Basara had no retort to that.
Come to think of it, the girl before him had always been like this.
She looked about the same age as Basara or Ashuria outwardly, but it was impossible to see her as the same kind of being.
With a gesture from her hand that emitted light, Basara felt his pains and injuries everywhere vanish in an instant.
He swallowed his inner shock at the absurd healing power.
He'd seen plenty of high-ranking priests with advanced healing, but restoring even such tricky ailments in mere seconds was a first.
It was then.
A bizarre screech echoed, startling Basara into turning toward the monster.
The monster had suddenly unleashed a freakish roar and begun moving grotesquely.
"Professor Leon! Right now! We need to retreat!!"
It was more a shout to a peer-aged boy than deference to a professor.
"While we fight these things, they keep draining our aura and mana! You two are still in good shape—you can escape without issue..."
"Basara Crevad."
Leon, who had been silently observing the monster, let his chilling voice ring out.
A reflexive chill prickled across Basara's skin, sealing his lips.
"He's around your age and just a temporary instructor, but shouldn't you show some respect to your professor?"
Basara couldn't comprehend why he'd frozen up like this.
What just...?
"Leon. Thanks to that fruit, there's really nothing holding me back."
"I know. That's why I'm handling it."
Berga's staple food was heterogeneous energies like mana or aura.
And as living beings, there were limits to how much they could consume in one sitting.
"If it feels off while devouring it, it'll try to flee or resist."
"Exactly, so lop off all its limbs first to make sure it can't."
At the same time, something rippled around Leon.
From the boy, who hadn't emanated any mana or aura before, an ominous aura surged, widening Basara's eyes.
Like a sports car gradually revving up, the mana churning around him became visible to the naked eye.
Ashuria's eyes began to widen as well.
"Ashuria Abelgard. Your specialty is lightning magic, right?"
"...Yes. Professor."
"Not sure if you can pull it off. But I'll give you a target."
With those words—
The faint mana rippling around Leon exploded outward in an instant.
Basara's eyes nearly popped out.
Though handling aura made fine mana analysis difficult for him, even the prickling on his skin made it crystal clear.
An amount of mana so horrific it made Ashuria's immense, wall-like power feel like a bucket before the sea.
The tangible, surging flow of massive mana around Leon gave the dizzying illusion that it was alive, gazing down upon the entire world.
Feeling cold sweat turn to goosebumps erupting across his body, Basara's hands trembled.
Leon not sensing mana wasn't because he lacked it.
The gap was simply too vast for detection.
A good example: his grandfather, the Spear Star, had aura so refined it was hard to sense.
[Overload]
[Realm Transcendence]
Massive bolts of lightning began surging around Leon, drawing all eight pupils of the giant eyeball monster toward him.
"Don't cast magic on that thing..."
Then, something astonishing happened.
All the eye's pupils staring at Leon burst in an instant.
The massive eyeball went berserk, emitting blinding light as it shook violently.
"What the...?"
[8th Circle Thunderbolt System]
[Keravnos]
The lightning gathered in Leon's hand formed into a spear of bizarre shape, undulating softly.
Could you even call that electricity? Not rough and swift like normal lightning, but smooth and slow. An unheard-of form.
Fzzzt...
As Leon's hand moved slightly, it felt like a brief static spark.
Krrrack!!
In a flash, the thunderbolts streaked forth, melting all the chattering mouths on the floor and the pale, grotesque arms on the walls before anyone could react.
There was no sight of the spell launching or the targets igniting.
Just a flash, and it was over.
Basara, a layman in magic, was merely stunned by the result, but Ashuria gaped wide-eyed, staring in a daze.
"Ah... Aah... Wow..."