It scattered in an instant. Unfortunately, however, that blow was only the beginning……
“You had an experience like this five hundred years ago too, didn’t you?”
Along with the cold voice, something began hammering at his entire body without pause. They were Magic Missiles beyond counting. Magic Missiles were a beginner-level spell, yet these possessed unbelievable power and speed so great that even he could not perceive them. They battered Gedenhyde’s body so relentlessly that he could not get his bearings at all. Especially around his joints.
Papapapapapapak.
Poor Gedenhyde could not continue a single thought under the ceaseless barrage of Magic Missiles pummeling his whole body. His body was left with no choice but to convulse intermittently beneath the endless rain of Magic Missiles. In such a situation, casting magic was, quite literally, nothing more than wishful thinking……
Watching the sight, Damon smiled with satisfaction and began drawing a magic circle around Gedenhyde.
“With just two attacks, I was able to determine the range in which you could evade. From the moment you saw me and did not flee, you had no chance.”
As he flicked his finger, the ground around Gedenhyde, who was being beaten senseless, was gouged into long furrows. Unlike the magic circle Gedenhyde had tried to draw, this was one whose effects lasted for a very long time. It was a magic circle that continuously supplied mana to the Magic Missiles pummeling Gedenhyde, allowing their effect to persist.
Having completed the magic circle in a brief moment, Damon poured mana into it. Befitting a master of the 9th Circle, the mana that gathered in an instant filled the circle to the brim. Finishing his work, Damon shot a sharp glare at Gedenhyde, who looked as though he were dancing.
“If I followed my heart, I would tear you to shreds. But if I did that, that fellow Verkis would surely notice, and it pains me that I cannot. Sorry, but endure like that for half a day. By then, I expect I will have achieved my purpose……”
But Gedenhyde could not even dream of answering. No, to be precise, he was in no state to even hear Damon’s words. Trapped within the magic circle, Gedenhyde continued to be struck by Magic Missile attacks. Until the magic circle’s power ran out, he would probably be unable to escape a state in which he could not even think. Damon set up a barrier around the magic circle to conceal all traces, then turned on his heel.
“Still, I do feel a little better.”
Thinking about it, this truly had to be called a tremendous development. To think he had reduced Gedenhyde, whom he had not been able to touch even a hair of in the past, to that state through pure magical skill……
However, considering the time and effort he had invested to accomplish this, it was only reasonable. Though even with this level of skill, he still would not dare face a dragon.
“But after I obtain Neidelhark’s sealing sphere, the story will change.”
Murmuring softly, Damon bent down and picked up the sack Gedenhyde had dropped, along with the Leherte Saber. After completing all his preparations, Damon stood atop the magic circle. It was the spatial movement magic circle Gedenhyde had set up. Though all the bone powder that formed the magic circle had scattered, the coordinates were clearly engraved in Damon’s mind. When he raised his hand, the scattered bone powder gathered and once again formed the shape of a magic circle.
“Well then, shall I go take a look at the dragons’ treasure?”
A flash of light flared, and his body vanished without a trace in an instant. The bone powder forming the magic circle scattered at the same time, leaving behind only Gedenhyde, whose body continued to jerk without end. Of course, thanks to the barrier, no one would sense his presence.
The place where Damon appeared was the southernmost reaches of Truvenia, far from Verkis’s lair. The Elmarino Mountains there were where the lair of the Green Dragon Zicreight was located. Damon, having appeared, flinched for a moment. Someone was waiting for him.
‘These creatures?’
At the place to which he had warped, a large magic circle had been installed. Around it, three or four Twin-Head Ogres stood guard with clubs raised. They seemed to be guardians guarding Zicreight’s lair. Also, the stone statues standing on all sides were undoubtedly Stone Golems. Soon, a goblin approached him. The distinctive shrill voice of a goblin burst from its wide-slit mouth.
“Have you come from the Pelusia Mountains?”
Recalling that Verkis’s lair was located in the Pelusia Mountains, Damon nodded without delay.
“I have.”
“But you are not the one who usually comes……”
Without changing his expression in the slightest, Damon calmly told a lie. In a situation like this, it was truly fortunate that a lich had no expression.
“There was an attack by treasure hunters not long ago. In the process of repelling them, Gedenhyde suffered serious injuries and is currently undergoing treatment. Therefore, I have taken charge of this mission.”
“Ah, is that so? Understood.”
The goblin turned around without showing any particular sign of suspicion.
“Please follow me.”
It was more than he could have wished for, so Damon immediately followed. In truth, Damon’s position was such that he had to reach Zicreight even if he had to defeat every last one of them. If Gedenhyde were released from the magic circle, his fervent desire would surely scatter like foam at once……
Zicreight’s lair was not as heavily guarded as he had expected. Compared to Verkis’s lair, that is. It seemed likely that this was because the master of the lair was awake, and because even if he were killed, the treasure could not be seized. Guided by the goblin, Damon carefully observed the lair’s security.
‘For now, the guardians are centered around ogres and trolls. Stone Golems are visible here and there as well.’
Since he might have to break out of this place in a short time if he achieved his goal, he paid particular attention to the formation of the defensive line. Of course, medium-sized monsters such as ogres posed no particular problem to him.
Even back when he had been a beginner mage of the 3rd Circle, medium-sized monsters had never been his match. Now that he had become a grand mage of the 9th Circle, dealing with them would be child’s play. The problem was the Stone Golems deployed here and there. There was no way a golem would have pressure points, and since they also possessed considerable resistance to magic, it would be difficult to bring down a Stone Golem with ordinary spells.
‘When I leave, it seems I’ll have to force my way through with Haste. The problem is whether Zicreight will be deceived by me……’
Of course, until now, he had perfectly fooled Gedenhyde’s eyes. Even up to the moment he was struck down, Gedenhyde had not doubted Damon’s level of magic. But that did not mean Zicreight would be fooled as well. He was a full-grown dragon who had reached the rank of a wyrm, and in that case, he had to be regarded without question as a master of the 10th Circle.
‘Deceiving him will probably be impossible.’
Once he had made that decision, he quietly released the concealment magic he had been maintaining. He had been wrapping himself in this spell, which hid one’s presence to a certain degree, but there was no longer any need for it. Concealing himself any further would instead arouse Zicreight’s suspicion.
Thus, Damon entered the entrance of the lair in his true form for the first time in a while. The gazes of the passing guardians gathered on him, but Damon’s demeanor was utterly calm. His confident conduct made him look every inch an envoy of Verkis. Gedenhyde, who had visited this place until now, had also always entered while behaving with extreme arrogance.
Thinking that he would now be meeting a dragon, Damon could not help but feel tense, and he secretly clenched his fist. If he had followed his instincts, he would have swallowed his saliva, but after becoming a lich, even that was no longer possible. So he walked after the guide toward Zicreight’s quarters, his chest tight with tension.
“An envoy of Verkis’s guardian has arrived with the treasure……”
“That is correct. However, it is not the one who usually comes. Today, someone else has come. Strangely, he appeared to be of a higher level than Gedenhyde—someone presumed to be a master of the 9th Circle. What shall we do?”
“A higher magical level than Gedenhyde? Strange. There is no reason Lord Verkis, who is in slumber, would have changed the leader of his guardians…… Very well. I shall meet him.”
“Understood.”
After waiting briefly at the doorway, Damon was soon guided into Zicreight’s quarters. Though he tried not to be, he could not help but feel tense.
After passing through a corridor lined endlessly with stone statues presumed to be Stone Golems, a brilliantly decorated door blocked his way. It was such a splendid door that he wondered whether it might be made entirely of gold. Grumbling to himself that dragons truly did love gold, Damon stepped inside as the door opened. In truth, Verkis’s lair had also been completely covered in gold, so it was not exactly an unfamiliar sight.
Once he entered, the interior came clearly into view. It was narrower than expected. No—strictly speaking, it could be considered enormously spacious, but it felt that way because something immense filled the inside. As soon as he entered, the door closed, and a rumbling voice was transmitted into his head.
—Are you the one who has brought treasure from Lord Verkis’s lair?
Damon, who had been looking at the enormous green mass filling the chamber, was startled by those words and lowered his head. From the upper part of the green mass, two streaks of intense light pierced the darkness and poured down upon him. He had known from the moment he entered that it was the Green Dragon.
“That is correct, O Great One. I have come under Lord Verkis’s command to store the newly acquired treasured sword and valuables in the magical treasury, Incresia.”
—Where has the one who came last time gone, that you have come instead?
With his head bowed, Damon explained the circumstances. Of course, if Gedenhyde—who was trapped in the magic circle and being endlessly pummeled by Magic Missiles—heard it, even a ghost would have wept.
“There was a rather large-scale intrusion by humans not long ago. Gedenhyde suffered serious injuries in the process and is currently receiving treatment. In addition, it was an extremely fierce battle in which fifteen lich guardians sustained damage close to annihilation.”
—How surprising. To think humans still possessed such strength……
“They were treasure hunters who had crossed over from Arcadia.”
Zicreight remained silent for a moment. He was already well aware that Verkis’s lair was guarded entirely by guardians composed of liches. Powerful lich guardians that even he found difficult to imagine creating. The envoy before him was also, without a doubt, a lich. Zicreight, who had reached mastery of the 10th Circle, saw through Damon’s attainment with precision.
—A master of the 9th Circle. How astonishing. To think there was a lich more powerful than Gedenhyde……
Damon merely kept his head bowed in silence. In a situation like this, speaking too much was strictly forbidden. Since even the smallest slip of the tongue might invite misunderstanding, he quietly maintained his silence and waited until Zicreight spoke to him. Meanwhile, he covertly examined the security inside the chamber. Aside from ten or so statues that appeared to be golems, there was only Zicreight.
‘Well, dragons are living beings of incomparable power all on their own……’
In the current situation, facing Zicreight would by no means be a wise judgment. No matter how much of a 9th Circle master he was, he could never imagine defeating a dragon in a head-on fight. A little while later, the dragon opened his mouth.
—Then take out the treasures.
“Understood.”
Damon set down the sack he had been carrying on his back. The treasured sword, Leherte Saber, as well. Zicreight, watching the Leherte Saber, let out an exclamation.
—An outstanding treasured sword rarely seen in recent times. Is it the sword said to symbolize the Rozengart Imperial House of Icarot?
“That is correct.”
Aside from that, Zicreight hurled several more questions at him. Judging by the situation, it seemed some suspicion remained. But for Damon, who had originally been one of Verkis’s guardians, they were not difficult to answer.
There was not a single thing of that kind. At the sight of Damon answering without the slightest hesitation,
Zikreite erased all the doubts he had been harboring.
“Good. I will see to it that the treasures are stored in the magic vault, so you may leave now.”
“Understood. However…”
Damon, who had risen as though he would turn and leave at any moment, suddenly looked back at Zikreite.
A strange light appeared in Zikreite’s eyes. In truth, there should never have been any business between him and a lich under Belkis’s command,
so he could not help but feel wary. Considering every possibility,
Zikreite quietly drew up his mana and fixed the lich with a piercing stare.
“What is it?”
“I… have one request to make.”
“A request?”
A look of suspicion settled in Zikreite’s large eyes. A request… Did Belkis’s guardian envoy have some request to make of him? He nodded as though amused.
“Tell me what this request is.”
Turning back around, Damon lowered his head and began to state his business.
“I know this is exceedingly rude, but I have no other means, so I beg you to understand with your boundless generosity. In truth, about a hundred years ago, I happened to discover a single sheet of paper on which a spell art from another world had been written.”
“A spell art from another world?”
“Yes. It is an art left behind by a being who crossed over from another world through dimensional travel, but perhaps because my intellect is lacking, even after immersing myself in its study for more than a hundred years, I have been unable to decipher even a fraction of its meaning. Though I am in the body of a lich, I too am a mage who pursues magic. That is why, in my desire to unravel the secret of this art by any means, I have dared to make such an impolite request.”
As Zikreite silently listened to Damon, curiosity flashed in his eyes. He, too, was a great mage of the Tenth Circle, and it would have been a lie to say he had no interest in otherworldly arts.
“What sort of art is it?”
“I do not know. After a hundred years of study, I have barely managed to translate it.
Aside from the fact that it activates by converting mana into some unknown kind of energy, nothing…”
Having finished speaking, Damon lowered his head as though too ashamed to show his face. Watching him,
the curiosity in Zikreite’s eyes grew stronger and stronger. In the end, he could not restrain himself and opened his mouth.
“Take it out and let me see what sort of art it is.”
“Understood. In truth, it would be proper to ask my master, Lord Belkis, but he is currently asleep.”
After saying this, Damon carefully slipped one hand into his robes. Thinking that the foul-tempered
Belkis would never tolerate being awakened no matter how otherworldly the art was,
Zikreite watched the lich with intense curiosity.
A moment later, a sheet of paper came out in the lich’s hand. At a glance, it was easy to tell that it had been written by hand.
Damon respectfully placed it on the floor. Then he withdrew three or four steps
and waited for an order.
“This is it.”
“Is that so?”
Zikreite lightly waved his hand. Then the paper rose as if it had grown wings
and flew straight toward him. As Zikreite looked down at the paper,
his eyes were filled with extreme anticipation.
“Hmm. So this is the otherworldly art?”
“That is correct.”
Zikreite stared fixedly at the paper. Written upon it were formulas of unfathomable complexity.
They bore some resemblance to magical formulas, but in terms of their development process and method of application,
they were completely different. Even after only a brief scan, Zikreite realized that deciphering them
would by no means be easy.
“Amazing. To think such an art existed… At a glance, it seems to be the kind that acts upon the mind,
but I cannot grasp its principles at all. It is quite different from magic, yet in its own way, it appears to be an art of considerable perfection.”
“I humbly ask for your help. With my rigid mind, I fear that even if I were to study it for another thousand years,
deciphering it would be difficult…”
Thinking that was understandable, Zikreite looked over the formulas on the paper once more.
But even though he was a dragon, he could not easily grasp their essence. At that fact, Zikreite
could not hide his astonishment. To think there existed a magical formula that he, who had already reached mastery of the Tenth Circle, could not decipher…
Stung by stubborn pride, Zikreite adjusted his grip on the paper.
“It seems I will have to cast the formula directly.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a vortex of mana began to whirl around him. Angered by the fact that he could not decipher it,
Zikreite had decided to personally attempt the formula exactly as written.
‘That’s it!’
Seeing this, a look of anticipation rose on Damon’s face. But because his head was bowed,
Zikreite did not notice it.
In truth, the formula written on the paper was a masterpiece Damon had created after a hundred years of painstaking effort.
It could be called a modified version of the soul-capturing art known as the Ghost-Spirit Soul-Controlling Art. Judging that he could not face a dragon with magic,
Damon had chosen this method, and most of what was written on the paper was based on the highest-level black arts of the Cult.
Originally, he had intended to use it against Belkis, but in the end, he had no choice but to unfold it against Zikreite.
The Ghost-Spirit Soul-Controlling Art (鬼靈制魂術). This was a unique secret art of the Cult, a soul-capturing technique that had long been an object of terror
to the martial artists of the White Path. It was an art that directly manipulated a human soul and made the victim absolutely unable to disobey the caster’s commands;
one who fell under it could never escape, like a fly caught in a spider’s web. Moreover, the most terrifying aspect of this art
was that even an absolute master whose inner power reached the heavens could be ensnared by it. That was because
the art used the opponent’s inner power against them.
Ordinarily, those with high inner power did not easily fall prey to black arts. But once the Ghost-Spirit Soul-Controlling Art
was developed to a certain level, from that point on it absorbed the opponent’s inner power and completed the restraint on its own.
The more the victim poured out internal force to resist, the faster their mind and soul were subdued.
Thus, one afflicted by the Ghost-Spirit Soul-Controlling Art would do everything the caster ordered for a set period of time.
If commanded, they would not hesitate to deal a killing blow even to their own blood kin,
and they would divulge without reserve anything that lay within their heart. It could be called a truly dreadful art.
However, just as a shield exists wherever there is a spear, the Central Plains did not entirely lack methods
to resist the Ghost-Spirit Soul-Controlling Art. The sects that opposed the Cult—mostly renowned orthodox sects—
also suffered tremendous losses to this art at first. Because of that, they had to devote themselves to breaking it,
and thanks to those efforts, the Ghost-Spirit Soul-Controlling Art soon lost its status as invincible.
Masters who were not subdued by the Ghost-Spirit Soul-Controlling Art began appearing one after another. In addition, there was the condition that
to deploy this art, the target had to be completely overpowered first, and so afterward,
it was not used all that widely.
Still, because there was no art more effective than the Ghost-Spirit Soul-Controlling Art for making captured enemy leaders open their mouths,
it was used from time to time. Damon, too, had cast the Ghost-Spirit Soul-Controlling Art several times
for the interrogation of prisoners. And now, that art of the Cult with such origins was about to be deployed in Truvenia,
transformed into magic.
‘The Ghost-Spirit Soul-Controlling Art is an art utterly different in form from brainwashing magic. Since he has never experienced it,
there is certainly a chance he will fall for it, even if he is a dragon.’
Damon watched Zikreite as he read through the formula on the paper, his body tense. Even after reading it once,
there was no change at all in Zikreite’s person. That was only natural, for the Ghost-Spirit Soul-Controlling Art
was an art that took some time before its effects appeared, and because it had been converted into magic,
even Damon could not guarantee how effective it would be. In the worst case, it might not take hold at all,
so Damon held his breath and waited for a reaction.
A hint of disappointment crossed Zikreite’s face after he tried executing the formula with a small amount of mana.
He had pushed a little mana into it as a test, but there was no sign that the magic would actually manifest.
“Is it because there isn’t enough mana?”
The contents of the formula were more than enough to stir his interest. First, it was a form that gathered mana,
converted it into another type of energy, and then manifested it, and the method also was not one of rearrangement.
For a dragon, who could be called a born mage, it was an irresistibly tempting thing.
“It should be seen not as rearrangement, but almost as synthesis.”
After casting it lightly, Zikreite was able to determine several things.
First, the formula written on the paper showed traces of considerable effort by the lich.
The language and basic approach were no different from those of magic. However, the truly important framework
of the art itself had not changed in the slightest. Because of that, he could not guess at all
what would happen if the magic manifested.
“I cannot stand this.”
Zikreite was seized by the desire to execute the art through Dragon Tongue Magic (龍言魔法).
It was a temptation he truly could not resist. Zikreite’s gaze came to rest on the back
of the lich kneeling prostrate before him.
‘Surely this fellow hasn’t tried some trick?’
But he did not remain suspicious for long. First, although he did not know what kind of art this was,
at the very least, it did not seem likely to be dangerous to him, a dragon. Also, the other party was a lich whose mind
had already been subdued by Belkis. Therefore, it had to be assumed that under no circumstances could he do anything
that would harm a dragon. In the end, Zikreite made up his mind.
‘Fine. Something like this cannot harm me.’
Drawing in a deep breath, Zikreite gathered as much mana as he could. A terrifying vortex of mana
began to revolve around him as its axis. It was the very moment when a dragon’s Dragon Tongue Magic was about to reveal its power.
‘It’s done.’
A triumphant smile flashed across Damon’s face. But he forcibly erased any sign of it.
This was the most important moment for him. His hope of escaping the dragon’s grasp, plotting revenge,
and, along with that, rescuing Daphne, depended solely on this. Holding his breath,
he watched what Zikreite did.
Perhaps because he was a master of the Tenth Circle, the amount of mana Zikreite gathered despite the short span of time
was truly vast. His enormous green body was saturated with mana and glowing blue.
In that state, Zikreite began to cast the otherworldly art. His eyes shone
with anticipation for the result that would soon manifest.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa.
At last, the otherworldly art manifested. A dense gray energy, somehow giving off a sinister feeling,
rose thickly and enveloped Zikreite’s body.
“Kahahaha! Success!”
Zikreite smiled in satisfaction and eagerly awaited the result of the magic that would soon come to pass.
Pride in having overcome even an art of another world streamed from his face. But it was almost at the same moment
that he sensed something was strange.