Chapter 20
Chapter 20
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: The Indefinite Contractor Battles the Barbarian Elites (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Mad imps surged into the sky with roars of fury.
"Keeaaieek!!!"
"Ugh!!!"
The soldiers of Kazan trembled in unison.
The screams of the lesser demons cloaked in blue flames were as horrific as a banshee's wail.
Even knowing they weren't targeting this side, an instinctive revulsion sent chills crawling up their spines.
It was the polar opposite for the barbarians.
"Ha! They think those pathetic pests can take us on?"
"Hmph! Bunch of idiots."
"Kyaaaooo!!!"
Kudan and his wyvern riders sneered.
A wyvern of equal class might be one thing, but these were mere goblin-tier beasts.
Eyes rolled back? Gone berserk? So what?
There was zero reason to fear them.
Dodging them would be a disgrace.
They decided to teach these reckless pups a harsh lesson about real dragons.
"Smash right through them!!!"
-Boom! -Boom! Boom!
"Krek!?"
An imp colliding with a wyvern in midair exploded.
Blue flames burst repeatedly across the sky.
Cleaving through the fire and black smoke, the wyverns roared.
"Kyaaaaah!!!"
Not a single one of the twelve wyverns was shot down.
The imps' self-destructs were nothing but pointless sacrifices.
Despair washed over the soldiers' faces, while ecstasy lit up the wyvern riders'.
"Damn it! All units, defensive formation!"
"Yeah! Squirm for us! That's what makes the hunt fun!!!"
Kudan's eyes locked onto his target: Rainer, and the soldiers forming ranks to protect him.
As the thrilling battle loomed closer, excitement surged through his veins.
"Wipe them all out! Take the noble alive if you can! Hack off a limb or two if they resist!"
"Waaaaah!!!"
The wyvern riders readied their javelins.
The wyverns flapped their wings, adjusting speed to let their riders aim steadily.
'Damn it all!'
Rood ground his teeth.
Once those javelins rained down, someone would die, and the formation would crumble. The monsters wouldn't miss that gap.
In less than ten seconds, he envisioned the worst: the army torn apart by wyverns.
"Defend!"
"Tighten ranks! Tighten ranks!"
Not just Rood—everyone knew.
This attack was unstoppable.
They were just holding on because there was no other choice.
Trembling with fear and despair, they steeled themselves.
And in that instant.
"Keeak?!"
"Uwak!?"
"Wh-what? What's going on?!"
"Huh?"
Fear and despair vanished, replaced by confusion and hope.
Chaos erupted.
Not on the walls.
In the sky.
"Kyaaaah!"
"What are you doing? Get steady! The formation's breaking!"
"Chief! It's—!"
"The wyverns aren't listening!"
"What?!"
-Wobble
"Eek?!"
"Wh-what the hell?"
"Why are they acting like that?"
The Horse Demon Tribe were masters of horses, but the Steel Scale Tribe were masters of wyverns.
Rood had fought the Steel Scale Tribe dozens of times.
He'd never once seen them lose control of their wyverns.
Which made the scene before his eyes utterly surreal.
Wyverns flailing in midair, riders yanking reins in panic and bellowing.
He wondered if he was dreaming.
"What the hell is this?! How is this happening!!!"
Kudan panicked.
One or two, maybe—but all the wyverns defying control? This was unprecedented.
"Keeek!"
"Damn it, calm down! Why are you going berserk like... Huh?!"
As Kudan soothed his own mount amid curses, something caught his eye.
Wings flapping nonstop. More precisely, the wing membranes.
Holes punctured through them.
Kudan's eyes bulged.
"What is this?!"
Not just one or two holes.
Worse, right before his eyes, they were growing larger.
Like paper burning away at the edges!
As the holes widened, controlling the wyverns grew harder.
"When the hell... No way!?"
Kudan whipped his head around.
He spotted the mage near the Northern Archduke's bloodline—his target.
Their eyes met. The mage grinned and raised a thumbs-up fist.
Then flicked the thumb downward. Sparks of rage ignited in Kudan's eyes.
"You son of a bitch!!!"
Only then did Kudan realize.
The imps' self-destructs weren't aimed at downing the wyverns from the start.
Their true target: the wyvern wing membranes!
Tiny wounds invisible at first, but fatal over time—like a deadly poison!
"No! Maintain altitude...!"
"Damn it!!!"
"Keeaaieek!!!"
Kudan tried to order a retreat, but it was too late.
With wings shredded to rags, the wyverns didn't dive—they plummeted.
Riders yanked reins and thrashed, but it was futile.
A falling beast has no wings.
The massive, wingless bodies spun wildly, crashing toward the ground.
Roars slicing the sky turned to screams.
"Uwaaaaaah!!!"
-Kwaaang!
The wyverns smashed not into the walls, but into Kazan's streets.
A wyvern crash—something no one had ever witnessed.
As stunned onlookers stared, one man's back filled their view.
The archmage glaring at the fallen wyverns and barbarians in the streets had eyes as cold as a hunter sizing up trapped prey.
'Lunatic Flame's gotten even stronger. Perfect effect.'
Daniel gazed at the blue embers flickering at his fingertips.
The flames slowly died down.
Just like the imps that had detonated on his command moments ago.
'What do they say in times like this? Words become seeds? Or speak of the tiger and it appears?'
Daniel chuckled softly.
"Doesn't matter. The trap's set."
His icy hunter's gaze fixed on the prey.
"You should've dodged."
As expected, the enemy had zero experience with great magic battles.
Otherwise, they never would've charged headlong at the demon wielding Lunatic Flame like that.
"I'm not the type to get slapped in Jongno and weep in the Han River."
Daniel declared in a chilling voice.
"Come get some, you bastards."
Lunatic Flame.
This wasn't mere black magic.
It was a revolutionary spell that reshaped black mage history.
A product of vengeance.
The public image of black mages was thug-like bosses commanding demons.
But when black mages first appeared, it was the opposite.
Black mages were slaves.
And their masters? Demons.
Demon contracts were always one-sided.
Demons lured black mages, exploited them, mocked them, scorned them, betrayed them.
Breaking contracts often meant devouring the mage.
In this era of humiliation, one black mage arose.
His name is lost to records. But the spell he created after grueling effort changed black mage history forever.
Lunatic Flame.
A spell that unilaterally severed the contract from the black mage's side, driving the demon's mana into a frenzy of flames.
The demon's power exploded, but lasted only 13 seconds. When it ended, death awaited.
Forcing demons into berserk suicide amid hellish agony—the ultimate mad spell.
After its invention, demons and black mages were no longer master and servant.
An equal relationship, balanced by terror, was born.
Thus, Lunatic Flame was a monumental spell in black mage history.
Yet among black mages, it's taboo, rarely used.
Why?
Simple: it permanently severs the contract with the target demon.
Contracts with powerful demons rely on luck.
But once made, that demon's power becomes the black mage's foundation for ascension.
Lunatic Flame obliterates it all in one go—a suicidal spell.
No sane black mage would sacrifice their growth ladder.
Yes. Any sane black mage.
"Why not use it? Just use it."
The unorthodox black mage Daniel was the exception.
"Yeah. Permanent severance. Contract another lesser demon and done."
His contracted demon: the imp. A lesser demon summonable and contractable anytime he wished.
So weak any black mage could contract one—but that's why they didn't.
Thus, no qualms using them as ammunition. Easily replenishable.
To Daniel, Lunatic Flame wasn't a last resort.
Just a trump card to deploy at the perfect moment.
Like now.
-Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
"Idiots."
As imps ensnared by Lunatic Flame collided with wyverns and burst, Daniel smirked.
Lunatic Flame traded life for explosive power, elevating an imp to mid-tier demon level for 13 seconds.
Meaning, for those 13 seconds, imps could wield dark magic unique to mid-tier demons.
Dark magic that drained life, corroding flesh with excruciating pain.
That's why even wyvern hides and membranes impervious to blades were shredded.
-Kuuuung!!!
"Keeaaah!!"
The ground quaked as smoke billowed.
Beasts crashing onto nearby roofs collapsed buildings, shrieking in agony.
Daniel leaped from the wall, gazing at the chaotic streets.
Flying toward the scene on flight magic, his expression was utterly ruthless.
"Take down the mounts, then the generals. Textbooks call it."
To Kazan's people, he was a mage in ability but knight in spirit.
Now, he drew his final trump card.
"Dark Flame Rain. This'll end it."
⟨ Dark Flame Rain ⟩