Chapter 41
Chapter 41
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Breaking the Mana Barrier
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Damian plummeted toward the inverted sky.
“Ugh...!”
The gravity pressing down on his entire body drew an involuntary groan from his lips.
It wasn’t an illusion or hallucination. It was a force that upended the laws of physics, possible only because this was a space entirely under Ezekiel’s control.
The situation was utterly disadvantageous for Damian. Being trapped in a barrier cast by a mage of Ezekiel’s caliber was reason enough to admit defeat.
Still, he couldn’t keep falling forever. Black smoke rose from Damian’s body, and the necromantic familiar—Xenon—appeared.
Damian used the familiar’s magic to anchor himself in midair.
Xenon was a necromancer, but he had studied at the magic tower, however briefly. Naturally, he could cast flight magic and other spells as well.
“What are you doing right now?”
“I told you. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Ezekiel flicked his hand downward. The air around Damian vibrated, and even stronger gravity pulled him down.
He could resist through the necromantic familiar—Xenon—but that wouldn’t solve the root problem.
Ezekiel wanted to see his skills. Whatever the reason, if that’s what he wanted, Damian would show him.
Whoosh. Damian’s right hand ignited, and a massive green fireball hurtled toward Ezekiel.
Whew. Ezekiel showed no sign of panic. He let out a light whistle and traced a circle with both hands.
A fierce wind spun in its wake, scattering the hellfire without resistance.
But the force crushing Damian vanished. With some breathing room, he prepared his next attack.
Just then, heat haze shimmered around Ezekiel’s body.
“Nice and toasty. Now it’s my turn.”
Ezekiel raised his index finger, and a tiny glowing orb formed atop it.
It was minuscule compared to Damian’s hellfire.
And that was the problem. It meant the mana Ezekiel had just exuded was condensed into a single point.
The green flames vanished from Damian’s hand, replaced by stone scales forming on both palms. He spread them out, creating a spherical barrier.
Crack-crack-crack!! The barrier shuddered from the immense impact. Cracks formed in places, but it successfully blocked Ezekiel’s attack.
“Urk!”
However, separate from the barrier holding its shape, Damian’s vision spun, and blood trickled from his mouth.
The glowing orb didn’t stop at colliding with the stone scales—it burrowed through, ultimately harming Damian himself.
Thud-thud-thud. The shock caused the stone scale barrier to crumble.
The inverted ground reentered his view. Ezekiel, still gazing down from below, grinned.
“Ah, sorry. I’ll be more careful with my power.”
Hellfire rose from Damian’s hand again. This time, he spread it wide instead of focusing it.
A wave of flames to obscure Ezekiel’s vision.
“Whoa, that startled me! So the rumors about your sword skills are true.”
Damian circled behind Ezekiel and swung his sword.
Boom! The flaming blade clashed with the mana barrier.
The mages Damian had faced before couldn’t withstand the dual forces—their barriers shattered, sending them reeling.
But this time, Damian was the one pushed back.
The backlash dispelled the familiar’s summoning. He wasn’t yet adept enough at black magic like this.
He fell downward. In this state, any attack from Ezekiel would leave him defenseless.
Snap. But Ezekiel didn’t press the advantage. With a flick of his fingers, the sky and earth returned to normal.
“You probably fight better like this.”
Damian had sensed it from the moment he was trapped in the barrier. Exchanges with Ezekiel were possible solely due to his consideration.
It wasn’t carelessness like the foes he’d beaten before.
Ezekiel objectively assessed Damian’s level and responded in kind.
They hadn’t spent much time together.
Thus, while Damian didn’t know Ezekiel’s full power, crushing him like a bug would be effortless.
His explosive growth since regression was real, but the continent was teeming with those still above him.
And they weren’t standing still.
Every day, they forged themselves fiercer than the day before to surpass yesterday’s self.
Michael and Rubia.
Empire’s Greatest Swordsman and Archmage.
To surpass them, he couldn’t afford to rest on his current growth rate.
The battle with Ezekiel gave Damian a fresh lesson. Though Ezekiel surely hadn’t intended it.
“Let’s do this. See if you can break this mana barrier—or if you’ll collapse on your own. Use magic, sword, whatever the hell you want.”
Ezekiel spread his arms wide, declaring he’d only maintain the mana barrier and do nothing else.
“You still won’t explain why you started this?”
“If you wanna live here forever, keep asking that.”
Grinding his teeth, Damian gripped his sword tighter. A vein bulged at his temple.
Past or present, he was impossible to reason with. Even when teaching Damian magic, his eccentricity lived up to his moniker.
What Damian felt wasn’t just anger—it was irritation. Then and now, he wanted to punch that smug face.
He had plenty of time and mana left. Stomping the ground, Damian unleashed maximum-strength stone scale boulders at the mana barrier.
Clang-clang-clang!! But the result defied his expectations.
The boulders didn’t just fail to pierce—they shattered against the barrier’s superior force.
A first since mastering black magic—stone scales.
‘Normal methods won’t work.’
In terms of destructive power concentrated at a point, stone scales were currently Damian’s strongest black magic.
If even that couldn’t breach the mana barrier, hellfire or summoning the necromantic familiar—Imur—would be pointless.
Recreating the sword unity from his fight with the Mountain Elder might work, but banking on it now was mere wishful thinking.
“Take your time. I’ve got plenty.”
Ezekiel even conjured a magical chair and lounged back comfortably.
Despite his relaxed posture, the mana barrier remained rock-solid.
Damian needed more intel on the situation.
Deciding so, he summoned the eye of Decarabia, king of observers, to scrutinize the mana barrier and surroundings.
‘This guy’s insane...’
The barrier’s base unit was a rhombus—the most stable shape, minimizing mana drain.
Ezekiel’s used pentagons and hexagons. And they weren’t static—they moved constantly.
Like living armor. This structure balanced defense and sustainability.
Before, Damian had just thought him an amazing mage. But with pre-regression experience, he now grasped how overwhelming Ezekiel’s magic was.
At present, he outclassed even Rubia. Without her, the Archmage title would be his.
‘This structure... Could I apply it to stone scales?’
Naberius had said necromantic magic was influenced by black magic—necromancy.
Then the reverse—bolstering black magic with magical structures—should be possible.
Black magic—stone scales built massive boulders or barriers by stacking tiny scales.
It resembled the mana barrier’s principle. Applying Ezekiel’s method made sense.
Damian cast black magic—stone scales—but first conceptualized their form, fusing observations from black magic—gaze and his magical knowledge.
[Oh ho...]
Hagenti’s voice rang out, intrigued by the novel approach.
[My stone scales don’t need such steps, but for you humans, it’s a fine method. You truly are an entertaining one.]
Thus, a new form of stone scale sphere rested in his palm.
Pentagons and hexagons in harmony, in constant motion. Structurally reinforced.
No mana or time poured into raw intensity, so no added strain on his body.
Now to test it. Damian stomped, sending the new stone scale boulders at the mana barrier.
“Well, well...”
Ezekiel’s eyes narrowed. It looked like the previous attack at a glance, but the structure was worlds apart.
“You’ve always had a good head on you.”
Crunch-crunch-crunch!! Mana barrier versus stone scales. Similar structures, but fundamentally different powers collided.
Applying Ezekiel’s method worked. Unlike before, the boulders gnawed at the barrier bit by bit.
The issue: Damian’s stamina and mana were running low.
He’d recovered somewhat wasting time with Lucas, but his bloody battle with Xenon was just yesterday.
His breathing grew ragged. Mana neared its limit. Reinforcement or not, depleted resources meant collapse.
Thud-thud. The stone scales lost form and crumbled first.
But.
“Ow, that stings.”
The mana barrier crumbled too. A fragment grazed Ezekiel’s cheek in the aftermath.
Ezekiel hadn’t reinforced further, but Damian took satisfaction in landing a hit.
“This merits a passing grade.”
Clap-clap. Ezekiel applauded as he approached.
Damian, drained and slumped on the ground, caught the potion tossed his way.
“I gave you what you wanted. Now talk. What’s with the ingratitude? And another test?”
“You made me suffer for months, you little shit.”
A certain knight had relentlessly pursued Ezekiel, he explained.
She’d caught him and questioned him about his connection to Damian.
‘Ciel?’
Empress Abigail’s right hand, a top-tier knight who’d served her since childhood.
Ezekiel was Damian’s final magic tutor. The sudden growth spurt could reasonably be attributed to him, timing aside.
Rumors swirled about Damian’s rise, some linking to Ezekiel.
“So I came to settle things. And check just how strong you’ve gotten.”
“Why check yourself?”
Damian glared at Ezekiel while downing the potion. It was similar to the tea with Lucas.
Was his ties to the Emperor real? Did that explain seeking him out?
“I need to know your exact level before deciding whether to take you as my disciple.”
“Pardon?”
Damian furrowed his brow in disbelief.
Ezekiel spouted nonsense often, but this was beyond that.
A mentor-disciple bond between mages wasn’t simple.
It went beyond basic instruction—passing down all research achievements.
Damian and Ezekiel couldn’t have that.
He’d learned nothing from him. Damian’s power stemmed entirely from black magic and Derek’s techniques.
He wanted to retort to the absurdity, but the next words silenced him.
“Come with me to the magic tower.”