episode_0108

KWAANG!!

Acel’s body, sent flying by Zervil’s attack, is driven deep into the hill. His upper body is pinned in the deeply gouged ground, and blood drips steadily from his crushed ankle.

“……”

A transparent, bright red liquid flows from his bowed head. It was vitreous fluid and blood that leaked out as his eyeball burst. As he forced open his completely

crushed left eye, sticky clumps pattered down below. Staring blankly at the sight, Acel let out a dry chuckle.

Just one blow. And he was hit by physical technique, not magic. Despite using every defensive spell and even adding layers of shields, his fist, in a tattered state, crushed Acel’s eye and shook his head.

Is that… really possible?

“……Cough.”

As he opened his mouth, blood flowed out. His shaken head could no longer function properly, and his consciousness flickered on and off.

The Archmage Acel recently fought against, Ermina. Her attacks were unusually strong, but not to this extent. Being hit just once wasn’t dangerous enough to blur his consciousness and break his body.

Literally, the level is different. To the point where he wondered if fighting him was truly possible.

“……Spit.”

Spitting out the jet-black iris that had flowed into his mouth, Acel raised his head.

Beyond his blurry vision, the figure of Zervil, directly hit by lightning, came into view. The arm hit by Acel’s magic was already damaged beyond function, but he didn’t care, swinging his arm to swat away Ena’s lightning.

With Ena’s magic falling onto his already injured body, his body was melting in real time.

But the speed of regeneration was faster than the speed of destruction. It was natural, as it was lightning caused by a magical phenomenon contained within an innate manifestation, not the spellcaster’s own magic. Probably, no spell more advanced than that would manifest.

“……Whew.”

Breathing out a blood-scented breath, he raises his body from the buried hill. He must have been hit in the head, but the muscles all over his body creak as if broken.

His spine must be slightly cracked, as his nerves aren’t responding. He tried to move his arm, but his leg and eyelids moved instead. It must be due to a concussion from Zervil’s mana simultaneously with the peripheral nerves being contaminated from the optic nerves.

It was obvious that leaving it as it was would hinder the battle. So Acel moved his body by arbitrarily adjusting the electrical signals throughout his body. As a result, the force of the lightning emanating from his body intensified further.

Mages should avoid directly injecting mana into their bodies as much as possible.

Because the body is so sensitive to mana, if done incorrectly, muscles can become addicted to mana, making it impossible to return to a normal state. The addicted area would probably melt loosely like water, resulting in physical loss.

But he was not in a position to be picky now. He had to move his body somehow.

Closing his empty left eye, he activates his magic eye with his intact right eye. Perhaps because it’s a magic eye directly connected to the brain, just activating it caused a headache like an awl scraping his head.

He ignored it.

He raises his mana and causes resonance with Ena’s magic. Acel forced down the surge of blood welling up and opened his mouth.

“Are you watching, Master?”

No answer came back. But bright white lightning extended gently around Acel. Acel stirred them with his hand and let out a faint chuckle.

“In the end, I’m getting help like this again. It seems nothing has changed compared to before. I am still young and immature, and it seems impossible to grow without Master’s help.”

So.

“Please come back quickly. Didn’t we say we’d go see the sea together?”

Rumble!!

As soon as Acel spoke, the sky instantly turned bright white. Along with that, Zervil, realizing Acel had awakened, grinned broadly and turned his head.

“Let’s go again!”

He raises his morale and manifests a spell. Acel absorbs Ena’s mana floating in the air into his own and wiped the blood from his mouth.

[Black Tremor Ghost Rampage]

Crackle!!

Black lightning shot out rapidly from Acel’s feet. A massive slaughter magic covering all directions. Zervil plunged his hand deep into his chest, pulled out his flesh and blood, and swung them.

[Mors]

The swung flesh and blood gathered together to form a rounded placenta. Zervil shoved the umbilical cord dangling at its end into his own throat and received the lightning with the placenta.

Gulp…!

The lightning absorbed by the placenta travels through the umbilical cord and enters Zervil’s mana organ.

The crazy spell, Mors, that forcibly absorbs others’ magic and uses it as its own power source.

“……Huh?”

But this time, the result was different. Acel’s mana that invaded his mana organ, instead of mixing with Zervil’s mana, caused a massive repulsion and exploded.

KWAaaaaaang!!

Instantly, a storm of lightning surged from his neck and swept through the area. It was the result created by Acel’s dominant mana and Ena’s violent mana resonating.

“Haha!”

Zervil’s body, swept away by the storm, was torn into five pieces and flew through the air. But contrary to becoming limp, the dissected body parts began to charge fiercely towards Acel, as if each possessed a will of its own.

“……You lunatic!”

Acel was horrified by the grotesque appearance and slammed the ground hard.

[Lightning Thread]

Hundreds of strands of lightning compressed high-voltage current bloomed like a spider web. Zervil’s arm entered through the gaps, his leg was cut off, and his upper body was split into two. But his head was intact.

“Aang.”

His head, rolling on the ground, suddenly bounced up and swelled like a balloon right in front of Acel. Immediately after, it caused a massive explosion, completely vaporizing the area.

“Cough!”

Overwhelming power, enough to shatter dozens of shields. A spell that can only be used by Zervil, who has modified his own body into a corpse, offering himself as a sacrifice.

Despite activating his magic eye, a completely different situation unfolded compared to against Ermina. At that time, he even defended against her high-level magic once, but Zervil’s magic, upon direct hit, forcibly deactivated his magic eye.

It was natural. It’s a magic eye that can be nullified just by the low-level magic Ena used, so there was no way it could withstand Zervil’s high-level magic.

Still, the damage was reduced. If not, his body would have already been split in two.

Acel, confirming that the hand he extended to reduce damage right before the explosion was left tattered with only bones remaining, boldly cut off his wrist.

He cauterizes the gushing blood with fire. And then, drawing out as much mana threads as possible, he wove them to form a prosthetic arm.

A prosthetic arm made of mana that moved as if it had been Acel’s body from the start. Acel immediately formed hand seals and gasped for breath roughly.

“Whew… Whew…!”

Sap flows out onto his forehead, torn while rolling from the explosion. Stinging pain, phantom limb pain, and tingling pain from the broken ankle rose up, sharpening his brain. Thanks to it, his mind was sharper than ever.

“Wow. What is that?”

Zervil, who had somehow recovered his whole body, made a curious expression looking at Acel’s prosthetic arm.

“Did you make a prosthetic arm by drawing out mana threads right here? That’s absurd. To do something like that, your mana manipulation ability would have to be great enough to be compared to a pure-line Archmage.”

“……”

“Handling several elemental magic systems, and also having considerable pure mana manipulation ability…”

Zervil stroked his blood-soaked lip corner and smiled brightly.

“Indeed, you are the best. Among the mages I’ve seen, your talent is truly paramount.”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

“Not at all. Don’t mention itㅡ”

[Mana Resonance]

[Nature Resonance]

[Spell Maximization]

[Multiple Stacking]

[Growth Quake]

[Falling Thunder]

Flash!

The moment Zervil was about to continue speaking, a brilliant light flashed above his head.

The moment he realized was already too late. This time, he tilted his head with a somewhat serious expression.

“Uh. This is a bit dangerousㅡ”

Before he could finish speaking, lightning mixed half-and-half with Acel’s and Ena’s mana fell. An overwhelming amount of light bloomed, enough to make the world flicker momentarily, and lightning that turned the entire area around Zervil into ashes swept through the space.

Sound arrived after the light had passed once.

KWAaaaaang-!!

A roar loud enough to burst eardrums reached the sky. As if responding to that sound, Ena’s trace reacted, and another bolt of falling thunder, condensing hundreds of lightning strands, fell upon Zervil.

“……Cough.”

On the spot swept by two bolts of lightning like that. Zervil, who had taken damage not only to his body but also his consciousness, knelt on the ground and coughed up a mouthful of blood.

“……Haha.”

He let out a dry laugh and looked up at Acel.

Optic nerves writhe within the burnt-out, empty eye sockets.

“You, didn’t you say you were 6th Tier?”

“……”

“But why is your magic’s power like this? It’s so strong that most 7th Tiers can’t even show their name card, isn’t it? Even with Lord Gae Byeok’s help, this shouldn’t be happening. It’s a direct denial of common sense.”

“……Are YOU saying that?”

Acel let out an empty laugh, recalling the feeling from fighting Birshia.

“Should someone who doesn’t die even when their limbs are blown off still be called human?”

“Don’t call me human. I’m not particularly attached to such things.”

Zervil lightly dismissed Acel’s words and swept back his blood-soaked hair. At that moment, the residual current in his body completely annihilated the raised arm along with the shoulder.

“Hmm….”

Looking at the arm that had turned to ash and scattered, Zervil wore an awkward expression.

“Lord Ena’s magic is truly strange. Curiously, the parts hit by their magic don’t regenerate. Ah… wait a moment. Is this not Lord Ena’s fault?”

“……”

“Hmm… Ah, right. It’s not purely Lord Ena’s fault, but a reaction happening because it’s mixed with your mana. Even if you’ve learned magic of the same system, it shouldn’t be able to mix this harmoniously. It seems you two are soulmates, after all. If you two have a child, an unprecedented mage might be born in history.”

“Stop the unbecoming chatter.”

Acel exhaled slowly and wiped the fluid from his face.

“There are 5 minutes left.”

“Oh my, you were counting that? That’s quite helpful. I had forgotten.”

Zervil chuckled and sprang to his feet.

His body was not normal. Both eyes were gone, and one arm was entirely gone. Organs were spilling out from the wound in his side, and his body was repeatedly stiffening and relaxing, perhaps because his heart was stopping intermittently.

It must be thanks to the Growth Quake applied to the falling thunder doing its job effectively.

‘Growth Quake is magic that arbitrarily repeats the awakening and destruction of the target’s organs and muscles. If regeneration is truly impossible, Zervil’s combat ability is likely to have rapidly decreased now.’

A sharp dagger Acel devised himself after countless battles against strong opponents. Since it’s a spell revised to cause self-destruction regardless of the opponent’s level, it didn’t matter at all, even if Zervil’s body was a corpse.

No, rather, because it was a corpse, it was even more effective. Because organs that shouldn’t normally function are forcibly awakened, the sense of discrepancy from that would further hinder his cognitive ability.

‘The only time to force a losing move is now. I mustn’t give Zervil time to adapt to the magic.’

The remaining time until Zervil is neutralized by Ena’s interference is about 5 minutes or so. It’s not a very long time, but it’s also not insufficient time to take someone’s life. He must either hold out as long as possible, or push the offensive harder and sever his limbs.

‘The reason he’s mostly not using the spells he showed when fighting Master is probably because this isn’t his main body. The reason he’s moving mainly with physical techniques rather than spells is probablyㅡ’

“I’ve decided.”

The moment Acel was organizing his thoughts while chanting magic, Zervil swung his one remaining arm and opened his mouth.

Unconcealable joy bloomed fully on his face.

“Today. I will make you 7th Tier.”

“……What did you say?”

“The conditions are already met.”

In response to Acel’s bewildered question, Zervil slowly moved a step sideways.

“There have been quite a few cases like you in history. Geniuses with excellent mana quantity, power, and knowledge, but who strangely remain at the 6th or 7th Tier. Do you know why?”

“……”

“It’s because they were too outstanding, so there was no reason for them to define their uniqueness or embrace an innate manifestation. More precisely, they lacked a catalyst. Since they could do anything easily, there was no need to struggle or be desperate like others. Why work hard when you can just do it? Everything they touch succeeds, anything they think of is achieved. There’s no reason to roll on the floor to realize uniqueness or contemplate oneself to realize an innate manifestation.”

Acel frowned without answering. Zervil stretched his arm out to the side and spun his body around once. Ena’s mana was starting to eat away at his skin just by being present, but he didn’t care.

“Such people can achieve tier advancement just by realizing their uniqueness and innate manifestation. Would you be any different? Frankly, in my eyes, you look much stronger than mediocre 7th Tier mages.”

“……”

“If someone like you, upon realizing their uniqueness, genuinely reaches the 7th Tier… just how much stronger would they become? Would you know? Perhaps you might even be able to contend with an Archmage.”

“……What is it you want to say?”

“It’s simple.”

Zervil grinned broadly and replied like that, then suddenly plunged his hand into his chest and pulled out his cold, cooled heart.

Crackle, crackle.

The heart that repeatedly pulsed and stopped, constantly emitting lightning because it was hit by Acel’s magic.

Zervil didn’t hesitate and grabbed the heart, bursting it.

Thump!

“I will give you the catalyst you need to awaken your uniqueness.”

“……What?”

“Originally, I didn’t particularly intend to kill you, but the plan has changed.”

“……”

“Acel.”

Zervil continued speaking, blood flowing steadily from the hole in his chest.

“From now on, I will go all out without thinking about anything else. If, in that process, you fail to realize your uniqueness… you will probably have to meet Lord Gae Byeok as my soldier.”

“……Ha.”

“The time limit is about 3 minutes. No, if I forcibly bring and use the abilities of my main body, perhaps 1 minute.”

Acel gritted his teeth and began raising his mana. Zervil smiled widely seeing that sight.

“Then let’s begin! Before Lord Ena’s eyes, please proudly awaken your uniquenessㅡ”

The moment he spoke.

Screech!!

An unusual sound was heard from the sky. The two people looked up at the sky almost simultaneously, their faces hardening.

It’s disappearing.

The bright white lightning scar Ena had carved is slowly fading away. The power of the mana floating in space gradually weakened,

and then it completely vanished. Ena’s presence, which had been pressing down on his entire body, vanished like a lie.

Acel was not so foolish as to not know what that meant.

Since the mana didn’t disappear instantly, Ena is probably not dead.

But it was certain that something unusual had happened. Acel stared at Zervil with an expressionless face and opened his mouth.

“……Was that your doing?”

“……Hmm.”

Zervil scratched his head as if troubled by Acel’s question. Then, realizing the time limit had increased from 1 minute back to 3 minutes, he just laughed.

“Don’t you know? If you’re curious, neutralize me and ask!”

“You son of a bitch.”

Extremely powerful lightning, strong enough to reach the sky, erupted from Acel’s entire body.

Mana that became even more fierce due to his turbulent emotions. Zervil let out pure admiration and chuckled.

“Looks like I’ll get a new epithet today, don’t I?”