Chapter 94

“Damn it!!”

I barely managed to get up after rolling on the ground.

“How disappointing. The Flash Mage, one of the Eleven Hatchlings… I expected more, but is this all you’ve got? Surely the other nine rookies in the Tower of Covenant aren’t this pathetic?”

“How would I know, you bastard.”

Lately, I’ve been cursing a lot. It seems like stress has been building up from constantly getting beaten by Baek Jun-woo and all sorts of calamities. I think I might even be losing hair…

This damn guy was about 171cm tall. About half a fist shorter than me. Thin build with a high-pitched voice. He was holding a spear that emitted yellow light, and like other knights, he wore a full-body suit with a helmet that hid his face. Judging by his voice, he seemed quite young.

He drooped his shoulders as if disappointed.

“I should have insisted on taking the other one…”

The place he was looking at was where Baek Jun-woo stood, having summoned dozens of ancient equipment pieces.

I couldn’t help but laugh sarcastically.

You?

That Baek Jun-woo is a fraud. He always goes around claiming to be 3rd Circle, but he shouldn’t say that.

Is he just a 3rd Circle? He’s also 3-star in Ki-blood magic, isn’t he? And that’s just the beginning. He has an insight Gift that seems like nothing less than seeing the future. Despite all that, he even mimics other people’s Gifts. It’s a complete fraud. He even claims he can see mana… which is probably why he treats magical common sense built by humanity throughout history like children’s toys.

Is that Baek Jun-woo considered easy prey just because he calls himself 3rd Circle? I lost to him too, you know?

“If you’d faced our leader, there’d be nothing left but your corpse by now.”

That’s right. You’re about my level. No, to be honest, you’re quite a bit below me.

“Oh really?”

But that response came from just below my chin.

Damn. Damn it all!

[Time Acceleration!]

Immediately, everything around me slowed down. Time flowed faster for me alone. It became at least three times faster, but… his movements were even quicker than mine.

Crash!

The shield I reflexively cast was torn like paper. I could see his spear being pulled back. No time…!

“Magic Ball!”

Ten <Magic Ball>s bounced up around me simultaneously.

Boom boom boom!

Magic Balls striking all around at invisible speeds and bouncing back created a powerful protective barrier in itself. But this time, it didn’t work either.

“This is too boring.”

His spear emitting yellow light scattered my Magic Balls as if they were nothing.

“That’s cheating!”

My throat tightened. But it’s true, isn’t it? Ancient warrior equipment has the power to disperse magic, right? This is unfair!

“Then you should bring relics too.”

I could feel him snickering even though I couldn’t see his face.

“Arrrgh!”

I scattered <Trap>s everywhere to prevent him from approaching.

Ah… this feels familiar. His spear melts through my <Trap>s as he approaches me. I think I was defeated by Baek Jun-woo like this before…

My eyes were dazzled by the yellow light of his spear coming right to my face.

I felt wronged. I was furious.

This guy is nothing special… I’m not losing because of skill but because of compatibility!

My winning strategy usually went like this: I use fast spells to make the opponent cast a shield. Then I decide the match with my trio of shield-nullifying spells. It was a strategy I had rarely lost with.

But now I face someone faster than me who doesn’t even use shields in the first place—a “knight”?

Aaargh!

I reflexively moved my Circle. Frantically weaving mana patterns.

“Lionel – mirror fallen on the cheek.”

This pattern creates a force that softly absorbs impact.

“Ramune – empty footprints boasted by blue.”

This pattern changes the direction of impact.

“Siu – that which was always hunted though no one chased.”

This pattern amplifies the output force.

I frantically waved my hands.

I assembled these three patterns according to the established formula. In Baek Jun-woo’s terms, I was fitting different mana patterns together like puzzle pieces.

But since I can’t see such things, I have to calculate everything. The angle of the enemy’s approaching attack, the distance, the expected impact, the mobility of my Circle—I have to adjust my next movement in real-time according to all these variables.

…My head feels like it’s about to explode.

But somehow I managed it.

In a short time, I combined different mana patterns to draw out a single property. Simple forces coming together to create a massive effect. This is visualization magic!

“Return! Rainbow Shield!”

Crash!

The knight who had been charging at me like lightning was thrown back by the impact. He rolled across the ground pathetically.

<Rainbow Shield> reflected his normal attack back at him with five times the force. It’s normally a spell I save as a trump card, but… I had no other choice now.

“Hah… hah…”

I’m out of breath. But that must have dealt him significant damage, right?

“Heh… that’s an interesting technique.”

Damage, my foot…

He got up with a spring in his step as if nothing had happened.

This time, I truly felt the darkness closing in.

Even deploying <Rainbow Shield> just now was half coincidence… what do I do now? How can I possibly deal with that spear that scatters all my magic?

‘Am I going to lose again?’

If I lose this time, will I really be demoted to 3rd Circle…?

Ah…

Demoted? Become 3rd Circle?

‘No. I’ll die before that.’

A cold drop of sweat ran down my spine.

My hands and tongue froze.

Unconsciously, I started flailing my hands.

“Hey, hey… wait a second.”

“Hmm?”

The knight tilted his head at my sudden gesturing.

‘Have I gone mad…? What kind of disgraceful display is this in front of an enemy?’

Where did that resolve go that I had when I decided to follow Baek Jun-woo? Like this… I’m just as pathetic as before.

No matter how much I tried to whip myself internally, thoughts like ‘I’m going to lose,’ ‘I might drop to 3rd Circle,’ ‘No… I’ll probably die’ consumed me.

I thought it was the end.

And that’s when a brilliant bow descended from the sky.

Both the knight and I reflexively looked back.

It was a bow surrounded by such a sacred radiance,

And the one holding it was Baek Jun-woo.

“Ah…”

I thought nothing about this monster could surprise me anymore…

But what kind of magic is that?

+ – + – +

Mana patterns were descending like black and white auroras. Mana existing in some higher dimension manifesting here.

‘Ah… I see.’

I understood the whole process better now. The shining bow slowly revealing itself was a divine artifact of ancient gods, something that could never be permitted to mere humans.

‘But since those gods all died, now it belongs to us who play with their corpses (magical power).’

I smiled grimly.

As I placed my hand on the bowstring, magical power rising through my Ki-blood transformed into a silver arrow nocked in place.

The ‘magical joint’ was implanted in my finger joints. That paper-thin material had melted invisibly when I placed it between my thumb and index finger. There was no foreign sensation in my hand at all, making it impossible to tell something was attached there.

But!

When moving magical power, its presence shines.

My thumb and index finger locked perfectly on the bowstring. Following the ‘magical joint,’ magical power also locked together to form a solid ring. Normally, ki flowing through Ki-blood becomes harder to control toward extremities like fingertips, but the ‘magical joint’ solved that problem completely.

Woong-

As I pulled the bowstring, the bow of light hummed. The vibration made my entire body tremble.

Whiiine-

3cm, 5cm, the more I pulled the bowstring back, the pressure increased exponentially. It felt like my fingers might tear off. Last time when facing Kasha and the lich, I couldn’t pull it further than this.

Grind-

But now, my fingers fixed with ki withstood that pressure.

7cm, then 10cm…

My arms were shaking.

“Shhh-”

I took a deep breath, and,

“Bolt.”

I forcefully wound the pulley made of magical power on my shoulder. The bowstring that wouldn’t pull further now moved smoothly.

Kiiiiing-

15cm.

Pressure overwhelmed my entire body. It wasn’t just my fingers anymore. Burst capillaries turned my vision red, and blood flowed from my nose and gums. Crunch! Crunch! Sounds erupted from my joints one after another. The ‘magical joint’ fixing ki between my thumb and index finger felt like it would tear at any moment, causing sharp pain.

[@%@#:@/!!!]

If not for Iron Blood angrily supporting and stitching my body together, I would have been torn to pieces long ago.

‘Is this… the power of upper-level mana patterns?’

But I was filled with awe rather than pain.

Just by pulling the bowstring, all the mana comprising grass, wind, sand, and sky was pulled taut along with it.

‘Since everything is connected to upper-level mana… when you move upper-level mana, the lower mana beneath it is affected.’

A sharp realization.

‘Perhaps… this is exactly…’

But there was no time to savor the insight.

“You bastaaaard!!”

The old knight’s shout wasn’t particularly brave. In his distorted face’s desperation and explosive charge, I was reminded of a victim’s last struggle when hunted by a monster.

Green light emerged from the old knight’s beam hilt. A color I’d never seen before. Indeed… that must be 7th class equipment or thereabouts?

Zzzzziiing!

With one swing of his beam hilt, the old knight tore through ten beam shields like paper. But he grew increasingly frantic.

Swoosh!

During a brief pause in his charge, I activated my booster boots to retreat. The distance the old knight had worked so hard to close widened again.

Kiiiiing!

16cm.

‘Just a little more…’ the shining bow whispered to me.

Just a little more pull, and I could bring all enemies in my sight within range.

“Stop right noooow!!”

Boom!

As the old knight stomped his foot, the ground shattered and flew upward. Black magical power erupted from his entire body. With a whiiine! sound, five Circles that had been invisible until now clearly appeared.

The characteristic of the fifth Circle is ‘tongue.’ A sphere at the center of the Circle freely transforms, sometimes elongated, sometimes flattened, just like a human tongue.

“Not a knight… but a mage?”

Moreover… 5th Circle?

Incantations flowed from the old knight’s mouth, and his Circle wove mana patterns.

“You who were born as the lord of night, open your eyes and shatter the tyranny of the heavens.”

[Frenzy Moon]

The mana representing him changed.

Originally shaped like ginseng with five protrusions at the head… now magical power erupted from his entire body, creating a grotesquely complex form.

He draped himself in pitch-black magical power.

Boom!

Perhaps from the pressure, his helmet flew off.

‘He looks terrible.’

A face distorted like a fiend.

Two eyes flashing bright red.

Elongated fangs.

Black night magical power wrapped around him.

‘He looks more like a Night Calamity than a human.’

Grrrr!

A monstrous growl.

Ting ting ting!

The sound of his saw-toothed third Circle spinning.

The old mage with a monstrous face cast a memorized spell.

<Frenzy Soul Blade!>

The beam hilt that had been emitting green light turned pitch black.

An unpleasant beam of mixed green and black spewed forth like a geyser.

‘Ancient warrior equipment… combined with magic?’

That was all I could think.

Zzzzziiing!

‘Ugh…? What?’

My vision flashed. A ringing sound filled my ears, and an acrid, metallic smell came from my nose and mouth. My head felt like it was about to split open.

When I finally came to my senses, I saw the old mage gripping both darkness and light.

Cold droplets of blood—Iron Blood—trickled down my cheek.

[……#%$$#ㄳ@@:!……!!]

‘Ah… it was you? You blocked that Frenzy Soul Blade or whatever it was?’

Realizing I wasn’t in a position to defend against the attack, Iron Blood tore through my flesh on its own to block the old mage’s attack. Having exhausted itself completely, Iron Blood couldn’t even return to my blood vessels and just trickled down my cheek. Even in that state, it squeezed out what little strength it had left to send me irritated mental waves.

What a temper…

Alright, I get it. It’s done, I know.

I checked my targets again with blurry eyes.

In front of me, the mage pretending to be a knight. Thirty-three Knight Order minions rushing out of the lord’s castle. Three knights closely pursuing Del’s group. Bringing all of them into my sight,

<Bolt!>

I wound the pulley on my shoulder once more.

17cm.

Finally, the mana of all thirty-seven people in my sight was pulled taut following my bowstring. Like wet ink pulled to one side.

“Aaaahhhh!”

The old mage’s face contorted with despair… and I finally released the bowstring.

Without a sound,

A thin beam of light pierced the sky, leaving a silver trail.

The arrow hit no one.

But… everyone was caught.

Silver smoke rose. Like eyes melting, like dust scattering, the three knights chasing Del’s group vanished, followed by the thirty-three minions behind them, and,

“Ah… aah…”

Silver mist billowed from the body of the old mage who had been swinging his light blade with a monstrous face.

“Why…? It wasn’t hit…”

Even as his body evaporated, he was curious enough to widen his eyes. Feeling sorry for him, I answered.

“Well… I think you’ll need to research that yourself.”

“You bastard…!”

Wow… those bloodshot eyes.

Even in this moment of his death, they were filled with the greed to discover a new kind of magic.