Chapter 45
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: The Mage's Baptism
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“These bastards… they’re really testing my patience.”
His fury boiling over as he watched the group chat casually amongst themselves, Omar glared and stomped forward, closing the distance.
Just as the approaching man's forehead began to sizzle and melt, Strabo let out a savage roar and charged forward.
Graaah!
Not to be outdone, Kyle and Igor also charged toward the heavyset woman with the murderous glare.
“What are you staring at, pig?”
“Merciful Mother—”
Luon watched them clash for a moment before immediately turning toward the mansion’s main entrance.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
Omar, who had since transformed into a lion-headed monster, bristled his blade-like mane and tried to block Luon. He was incredibly fast, but before he could, the vines covering the mansion's wall shot out like whips and coiled tightly around his wrist.
“Gah! You pathetic little druid…”
BAM!
Before Omar could finish his sentence, he was struck by the fiercely charging Strabo and sent flying.
“You’re fighting me!”
Shouting in a voice laced with a beastly growl, Strabo charged again at Omar, who was now tumbling helplessly across the ground.
Having reached the mansion's entrance, Luon kicked the door open and stepped inside.
*Is it telling me to hurry?*
The holy sword, emitting a faint rosy glow, throbbed more violently than ever. Its pulse seemed to say:
Your real enemy is elsewhere.
That was the real reason Luon had readily left the fight outside to his companions. Of course, it was a decision made possible only by his trust in them.
Using the pulsing holy sword as his guide, Luon ran. He was prepared to mercilessly cut down anyone who stood in his way, but no one blocked his path within the spacious mansion.
Soon reaching the end of a narrow hallway, he pulled the doorknob without hesitation.
Luon, who was prepared to face whatever might leap out, was instead greeted by a soft voice.
“You’ve arrived?”
A middle-aged man, his sideburns beginning to gray, smiled and continued.
“You’ve been in Bern for less than a day, and you’re already here… You truly are a relentless man.”
Instead of answering, Luon drew a dagger and hurled it with all his strength.
Just as the dagger, thrown with incredible speed, was about to bury itself in the man's forehead, it vanished into thin air.
But Luon, with his superhuman eyesight, didn't miss the fact that the dagger hadn't vanished, but had rotted away at an incredible speed.
As proof, a fine dust—all that remained of the dagger—scattered fleetingly in the air.
It was a chilling sight, but Luon's assessment was simple.
*A mage, just as I suspected.*
The middle-aged man chuckled.
“Not one for pleasantries, are you?”
“I don’t think we have anything to talk about.”
At the blunt reply, the middle-aged man slowly rose to his feet. His posture was impressively straight, belying his age.
The man took off his glasses, placed them on the table, and spoke.
“My name is Pasianu Onflik. I've been an audience member, watching your journey from afar. I played a little prank on you before, though I wonder if you remember.”
Having said that, he made a ‘pop’ sound with his mouth.
Recalling the corpse that had exploded at the inn, Luon let out a faint sigh and lowered his stance. Then he spoke.
“Not interested.”
He immediately kicked off the floor, reached Pasianu in the blink of an eye, and brought his holy sword down.
Wary of his opponent's ability to instantly corrode the dagger, Luon had already activated the holy sword's protective barrier.
Thanks to that, he avoided having his head smashed in.
KABOOM!
Pushed back by a tremendous force, Luon crashed into the wall twice as fast as he had charged.
As he slid down the wall, small embers rushed toward his face.
Instinctively sensing the ominous power contained within them, Luon raised his holy sword and poured his divine power into it.
The next moment, the embers flashed brightly and exploded. With a deafening roar, Luon's body was slammed into the wall once more.
BOOOOM!
The chain reaction of explosions from dozens of embers finally shattered the thick wall completely.
Thrown out into the hallway by the aftermath of the powerful spell, Luon immediately regained his balance and got to his feet.
As a sharp ringing pierced his ears, he irritably picked at his ear and spoke.
“You really know how to make a scene, don’t you? Guess you’re not worried about drawing a crowd.”
Pasianu gave Luon a gentle smile.
“No need to worry. I've taken measures to ensure no sound escapes the mansion. I've also overlaid a perception-distorting wave, so nothing will look amiss from the outside. Nothing beats magic for deceiving the eyes of ordinary people. Wouldn't you agree?”
Ignoring him, Luon charged forward.
Considering the magic his opponent had just displayed, he couldn't risk standing idly at a distance, not knowing what might happen next.
An invisible force flew at him again. But this time, Luon didn't just take it.
Tearing up the floorboards as he moved, he swung his holy sword at the formless force, creating a gap that he threw himself through.
Ignoring the roar of impact behind him, Luon ran on and swung his holy sword at Pasianu.
As the holy sword, scattering a faint glow, neared Pasianu, its tip came to an abrupt halt as if blocked by something, and dark red sparks flew into the air.
He didn't need to check to know it was the same power that had turned his dagger to dust.
The moment Luon, determined to slice his opponent in half along with that power, put strength into his arm…
As if waiting for that moment, Pasianu thrust his palm toward Luon's face. Sensing the ominous power swirling within it, Luon quickly snapped his head to the side. A dark red bolt of lightning grazed his earlobe and blew a large hole in the ceiling.
As Luon's stance momentarily faltered, Pasianu's hands shot toward him. The movements were swift and precise, as if he had predicted this exact situation.
Unlike other mages, who could only fling spells from a distance, Pasianu's movements were like those of a warrior accustomed to close-quarters combat.
By the time Luon quickly corrected his posture, his opponent's palms were already nearly upon him.
Luon, a complete layman when it came to magic, couldn't tell what kind of power was gathering in his opponent's hands.
So he moved as his instincts told him to.
With a one-handed swing of his holy sword, Luon cut down an incoming fireball, then shot his other arm out with incredible speed and seized Pasianu's hand.
“What?”
The moment Pasianu's eyes widened, a brilliant light erupted from Luon's fist, which was clenched around the man's hand.
The magic, having lost its target point, exploded, instantly engulfing both men's arms and bodies.
Luon didn't miss the fact that in the aftermath, the power covering Pasianu's body momentarily vanished.
Barely stopping himself from being thrown back, he put strength into his toes, then threw his head back and slammed it forward.
His forehead shot forward like a cannonball and crashed into Pasianu's face.
“Gah!”
A spray of crimson blood accompanied the short scream, splattering across Luon's face. But he didn't stop. He yanked hard on the arm holding Pasianu's hand and slammed his forehead into the man's face again, this time vividly feeling the sensation of teeth shattering.
Normally, after pressing an opponent this hard, he wouldn't have to worry about a counterattack, but Luon released the man's hand and quickly retreated.
CRACKLE!
His prediction was correct. Seeing red lightning strike repeatedly where he had just been standing, Luon spat bloody saliva onto the floor and spoke.
“Impressive, being able to cast spells in that state.”
Pasianu slowly straightened his head, which had been bent back, and slowly opened his mouth.
“My thoughts exactly. I never imagined someone would be mad enough to thrust their own flesh into a spell just before it's cast. And to think you're still in one piece… I knew your body was extraordinary, but the extent of it is terrifying.”
As he spoke, Pasianu's face was a complete wreck. Not only had one of his eyeballs burst, but his nose was also flattened, and every time he opened his mouth, broken teeth clattered to the floor.
Furthermore, his left arm, caught in his own magic, was charred black and seemed to be barely holding its shape.
But despite his half-dead appearance, Pasianu's aura was as menacing as ever.
Luon immediately readjusted his grip on the holy sword.
He looked relatively fine in comparison, but in truth, his condition wasn't great either.
Pasianu's spells must have carried a mind-corroding curse, as certain phrases were once again churning through his head, just like before.
Stab! Slash! Tear! Rend!
That wasn't all.
As a price for taking the full brunt of the explosion just now, every joint in his body ached, and his bloodied left hand, in particular, could barely form a fist.
*It's been a while.*
For someone who had grown accustomed to fighting with the upper hand, the mage before him was the first worthy enemy he had faced in a long time.
Amidst the skin-prickling tension, where the slightest gap or a moment's carelessness could mean death, Luon found himself unknowingly curling his lips into a smile.
As if in response to that savage smile, Pasianu's forehead began to sizzle and melt.
At the same time, Luon shattered the floorboards under his feet and charged forward with all his might.
As he closed the distance in an instant, Pasianu spread his arms wide and shouted loudly.
“Behold!”
At that moment, Pasianu shouted loudly and spread his arms wide.
Then, a torrent of crimson darkness erupted from his body with explosive force, descending upon Luon's head like a vast shroud.
Luon immediately drew upon his divine power to activate the holy sword's barrier. But before the surging darkness, the barrier wavered unsteadily before shattering with a futile clang.
In an instant, the darkness engulfed Luon.
The darkness began to force its way into his eyes, nose, and mouth. As his vision narrowed and his breath caught, Luon thrashed his body violently to shake off the clinging shadows.
But despite his terrifying strength, the formless darkness began to constrict his body even more tightly, like glue.
It wasn't some simple spell that merely immobilized the body.
The deeper the darkness seeped into his body, the more Luon felt an unknown, immense power shaking his very core.
The symbol of Belducias appeared on Pasianu's forehead as he spoke in a chilling voice that sounded like sizzling metal.
“This is a baptism. A glorious process that sheds the shell of a weak mortal and fills you with the King's power. Do not be afraid.”
Even as his consciousness began to fade, Luon could clearly hear Pasianu's words.
*This son of a bitch?*
Realizing the man's plan to forcibly make him a servant of Belducias, he mustered every ounce of his strength to focus his mind.
Luon's sharply honed superhuman senses and his innate divine power mixed together and began to flood his body with explosive force.
And in that moment.
Luon felt it.
The title engraved deep within him, [Demon Adversary], was transforming into [Demon Judge].