Chapter 49
Chapter 49
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: Comrades' Return
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“Me, you say……?”
In the end, I ended up mumbling like an idiot in a daze without realizing it.
Was this even possible?
Lin had never left any descendants, but was this what a doppelganger was? No, it wasn’t just similar—it was exactly the same.
“I’m telling you, I hate fighting strong opponents. It’s no fun. It’s just exhausting.”
“……?”
“Crushing weaklings under my heel is the most fun.”
Was it the confusion making my breathing ragged that became my downfall?
In the midst of that chilling confusion, a sharp crack rang out as a joint snapped.
Libeni had twisted her own left pinky finger in an unnatural direction, and in that instant, Rain’s body instinctively shifted into combat mode, concentrating mana.
‘Sacrifice of the flesh……!’
Black magic amplified its power several times over by offering the pain of the body as a sacrifice to the Abyss. In simple terms, it drew out supernatural power through self-harm.
A creepy, ominous energy rapidly gathered in her grasp.
First, read the runes with Bell Sidias, repel it perfectly, then open the mental image…… That was when Libeni flashed a sinister smile.
“Showy mages like you are the easiest to kill this way.”
And the direction she thrust her hand toward…… My hair stood on end with chill.
Not me.
It was Hirpien’s group, who were withdrawing from the battlefield. At the same time, the yin energy gathered in her hand sparked with black lightning, surging toward the target in the form of a massive serpent.
‘Damn it…….’
I had forgotten. Just how卑鄙 black mages could be.
In that instant, my eyes beyond the barrier flashed blood-red, the light of interpreting providence through mathematics completely dyeing my vision.
┏ 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 ┓
ㆍ The spell formation consists of three pentagrams.
ㆍ The runes used are a combination of incantation-type Altigma and taboo-type Orvios, ratio 3:7.
ㆍ Size 521 Axel, range 337 Gimite.
┗ 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 ┛
That much power?
Ways to block it…… In that eternal instant, countless thoughts clashed in my mind like a debate.
Erasing it with Bell Quirius would be most reliable, but that risked my brain being corrupted by the poison.
‘But spells with enough power to block that start from 4-star magic…….’
Even if I cast as fast as possible now, it would be about 2-3 seconds slower. Better to open the mental image now and kill this guy for sure.
- This is an investment in connections.
That voice pierced deep into my mind, tearing through my thoughts. And another familiar voice.
- Lin, helping someone is never one-way.
The death star scattering silver-white light in my pupils reconfigured into the Seven Mansions. Ripples spread through the realm of providence.
- Someday.
The irrational power that severed the very array of providence constituting matter, phenomena, and supernatural abilities in this world, rendering it meaningless—Bell Quirius interfered with the world line.
- The day will come when you get back what Lin shared.
The ultimate power warped the form of the poison gas. As if sucked into an invisible dimension, it was pulled in all directions, then scattered into countless particles the next moment.
“U, ugh……!”
I had no memory. Of how I reverse-calculated and verified it without being consumed by the Abyss.
When I came to, blood streamed from both eyes, and the lump of breath hanging from my jaw burst out violently.
“My spell…… Huh?”
Libeni stared in bewilderment at the phenomenon she’d never seen before, and Rain didn’t miss that opening, kicking off the ground to close the distance.
He deflected the fireball Rain first fired with black magic, split the urgently raised staff in two with his scythe, then extended the blade long, deeply slashing from the side to the collarbone.
“See? Trying to protect someone leaves you wide open. How easy is that?”
Rain sprayed blood as he flew back far.
A coldness beyond words, nothing but pain, spread from the cut across his entire body, choking his breath.
Breathe, I need to breathe…… In the agony like countless worms wriggling through his veins and airways, his vision turned blue.
‘Hit by dark poison…….’
It was a familiar sensation of death.
Thoughts wouldn’t form into thoughts, and even the simple act of rising felt clumsy and sluggish, like in a dream.
Libeni sat by his head, grinning as if she loved seeing Rain writhe on the ground in agony.
“How’s it feel? Knowing you’ll die in five minutes? Thrilling? Unjust? How’s it feel knowing everything you’ve built up so hard crumbles in minutes?”
If I could just complete the Juyeo Soge Daeban barrier now, before it was too late…… Would I have enough mana? Could I calculate the equations?
Desperately turning my head, suddenly exhaustion hit me. What’s the point of reviving? What’s the point of being reborn as someone else in another future?
There was nothing there. Back to being alone with nothing again. Just as I tried to let it all go, a memory flashed by.
- Wait for Lin, Fride said. Pipi waited.
In that instant, I vomited blood violently, pouring the last handful of strength into my fist, screaming as I tried to raise my upper body.
If I give up here now, Pipi will be alone…… That foolish girl who never gave up on me and kept waiting……
Libeni narrowed her eyes in annoyance, looking down at Rain desperately resisting death.
‘Watching strong guys beg for their lives as they die is fun entertainment.’
This one’s no fun at all. Better just kill him now. Yeah, that’ll feel better…… It was then, as she raised her scythe.
Shrieeeek───!
A streak of light crossing space with a sharp whoosh suddenly changed trajectory toward one spot.
If Libeni hadn’t leaped aside, the five fire arrows now embedded in the ground would have pierced her body.
“Hmm, mana of flame……?”
Infusing arrows with this much mana—no, mana with attributes—proved a first-rate archer.
The moment he warily eyed the direction the arrows came from, boom, the rear outer wall shattered, debris flying wildly everywhere.
Then, from the dust of the collapse, a black-iron brute burst out with heavy thuds.
“What?!”
Libeni irritably raised her scythe, only for another volley of fire arrows to rain down.
Such firing speed with that accuracy…… Undeniably a master archer.
In that gap, the brute hoisted the fallen Rain over his shoulder and fled through the opposite wall.
“Those bastards…… Milrec, what are you doing!”
Then, the darkness draped over the outer wall bubbled up, and a man in a dark blue robe stepped out.
He held a head dripping blood from the left hand, waving it as proof before Libeni could snap.
“As ordered, I was handling the Five Phantom Shadows. Killed two. This woman’s the one I just took out.”
Even as an immense powerhouse, Libeni hated fighting other powerhouses. Her joy was massacring the weak.
So while she toyed with the weak, dealing with the strong was always Milrec’s job.
“Shut up! Shut up shut up shut up! If you’d done your job right, these Five Phantom Shadows or rat bastards wouldn’t be ruining my hunt!”
Libeni whined, pounding Milrec’s chest with her fist like a hammer, and Milrec sighed, shaking his head.
“Rat bastards?”
At that moment, shadows swirled like a storm on the southwest rooftop, soon forming a single shape.
And another, then another.
All were experts moving without a sound, covered in countless daggers. The Thieves’ Guild’s Five Phantom Shadows.
“What are these small fries?”
“‘Jil’ and ‘Rung’ fell to these?”
The girlish demeanor she’d shown Milrec vanished, Libeni’s cold eyes lifting to them as she clicked her tongue.
“Three of them. You really killed two, Milrec?”
“Why would I lie about something like this?”
“Strange. Then what were those earlier?”
* * *
‘The world, the world is shaking…… What is it…….’
In the shaking that felt like his head would shatter, Rain barely lifted his eyelids.
His viewpoint was quite high.
The sensation against his abdominal wound was cold iron. Black iron that ominously absorbed all light.
Opposite him on that black iron, someone else was slung over, who waved happily as Rain’s gaze met theirs.
“It’s me, Brother Rain!”
Chubby face with a kind smile…… For some reason, the moment that voice reached him, his eyes rapidly welled up.
“If you’re wondering why I’m carrying you like this, it’s because my running’s pretty slow. Ahem. As you can see, my belly fat makes me wobble.”
Then, the archer nimbly traversing the rooftops landed gracefully beside the brute, freaking out upon seeing Rain.
“No way, who’s this?! I saved some dying idiot out of pity, and it’s that crazy kid chasing natural encounters in the labyrinth?!”
Rain stared blankly, and the archer Rem raised a victory V-sign with his right hand.
“Rem, Sami……?”
“Yeah, good to recognize me. It’s the world-famous master archer Rem.”
“You, you guys, why……?”
Soon, the brute carrying Rain—Bart of black iron—spoke.
“We promised back then. No matter when, if you needed help, we’d come.”
“……!”
“Felt like now was that time, so I stepped up. Not unwanted meddling, right?”
Hearing those warm words, why did a single tear well up and shake?
Not from relief at escaping death’s door. Probably from a dizzying overlap in his mind with a similar memory from his hero party days.
Rain turned his head away from Rem to hide his tears, mumbling.
“It was unwanted meddling…… I was just about to wrap things up.”
“Hey hey, where’s this attitude coming from? Everyone knows—heaven, earth, even James next door knows you were at death’s door!”
“……Was just playing dead?”
The kid’s embarrassed…… Rem snickered slyly, and Sami chimed in.
“No need to be embarrassed at all, Brother! It’s just receiving the natural return favor. Truth is, we followed you from [Golden Rose] expecting this.”
“Hey you idiot, why say that!”
Indeed. The guild receptionist had told the three about Rain taking the [Leda Cable] commission……
Dangerous rumors were swirling about this [Leda Cable] black market.
Rain felt at a loss for words. So these guys followed me all the way here, worried something might happen……?
“Bart, over there looks good.”
Bart set Rain down at the spot Rem deemed safe. Sami immediately checked Rain’s wound.
“Such a foul stench—this must be the legendary dark poison…….”
Sami pinched his nose, grimacing, as Rem asked while staying vigilant.
“Sami, can you handle it?”
“Of course I learned the rite. Gotta try.”
Sami rolled up his sleeves and opened the holy book, beginning the tale of Terusia.
Dark poison eroded not just the body but the soul, curable only by clerics. Strictly speaking, not healing but atonement.
Dark poison couldn’t be perfectly purified in an instant. Clerics transferred it to their own bodies and slowly neutralized it.
It was the fragment of miracle left by Terusia, the goddess who atoned for all Abyssal corruptions consuming the world with her body, ushering the Age of Light.
The only miracle humanity could wield was Terusia’s gift of such atonement.
“Mother of Radiance, with the light of mercy you bestowed upon us before creation, soothe this pain.”
Warm light flowed from the holy book, warming Rain’s body, which had been cooling in the poison’s erosion.
- The day will come when you get back what Lin shared.
Fride had cured dark poison before, with Rista and Kies by his side…… To feel this warmth again.
“Whew, they’re catching up already. What kinda monsters are those?”
“We’ll buy as much time as we can.”
“I’ll hurry too.”
As Rem and Bart gripped their weapons seriously, a muffled voice leaked from Rain, head bowed to hide his expression.
“Bart, Rem, Sami…….”
“?”
“Just…… thanks.”
It was the boy’s hard-squeezed sincerity, the voice from the depths that the great mage, dishonest to himself and others, finally dragged out.
Bart’s group weren’t fools enough to miss the boy’s true feelings.
Bart shared a smile with Rem, then clanked over in his armor, placing a hand on Rain’s head.
“No need to say it. We’re comrades. Comrades help each other.”
“Yeah, man. Cut the uncharacteristic crap. Be your cocky kid self—whine about how late we are.”
Rain wiped his teary eyes and nodded vigorously. Then forced a grin.
“How’d you guys get here so late…… you slowpokes.”
Rem and Bart chuckled, and a smile spread on Sami’s pale lips amid his communion with the heavens.
The joy of reunion was brief; as killing intent closed in, Rain raised a finger to Rem and Bart preparing to leave.
“Ten minutes, hold out just ten minutes…….”
“Ten minutes?”
“Then I’ll come finish it for sure. Just ten minutes…….”
Rem snorted.
“We can hold an hour. Quit the bravado and recover quick. Before you chase natural encounters in the afterlife.”