episode_0110

KWA-AAAAAAANG-!!!

A roar loud enough to deafen sweeps through everything. The already shattered mountains are further pulverized, and flames and lightning erupt from all sides. Each time lightning with overwhelming energy strikes somewhere, that part is cleanly annihilated as if it had never existed in the first place.

The light intensity is so strong it’s difficult to even open one’s eyes. Enough that one could tell what was happening in this area even from afar.

“ASEEEEEEL!!”

Zervil, taking dozens, hundreds of lightning strikes directly on his body, forcibly regenerated his vaporized mouth and shouted.

“Inherent Property, you’ve awakened it, right?!!”

Asel didn’t answer. Instead, he looked up at the sky and violently coughed up blood.

Zervil was right. Asel had awakened his Inherent Property.

It was a problem that didn’t need to be thought about so seriously from the start. He had just lacked the intuition, but once he got the inspiration, awakening it wasn’t difficult. Merely imagining the desired outcome and grasping it was enough.

The Extreme Magic Asel had just unleashed was the proof.

Extreme Magic, originally permitted only to those who had achieved the 8th Tier and awakened their Mental Image. Asel succeeded in bringing it into reality through Ena’s absorbed magic and talent, and his newly awakened Inherent Property.

‘If even one thing had gone slightly wrong, I would have been the one lying defeated. The moment the magic failed to activate properly, my body would have burst like a balloon.’

But that didn’t happen, the Extreme Magic activated, and Asel stood here intact. The biggest factor contributing to that outcome was, naturally, his Inherent Property.

‘Domination and Affinity…… Hmm.’

The moment death approached. The Inherent Property, Domination, directly created and chosen based on the inspiration he gained while absorbing the Archmage’s magic and fighting the Archmage.

The tyrant’s magic, capable not only of forcibly seizing ownership of a contacted target’s magic but also somehow manifesting desired magic.

And another Inherent Property, Affinity, completely opposite to Domination. A benevolent magic sensitive to the magic existing in this world, or loved by spiritual beings or nature.

Thanks to awakening two Inherent Properties with completely different natures simultaneously, Asel was able to manifest the unpermitted Extreme Magic here. Although several conditions were attached, the result turned out as expected. This was enough.

But Asel, despite stepping into the realm of the impossible, didn’t rejoice. It was because there was still work to be done. He somehow squeezed out his almost depleted magic, manipulated the electrical signals in his body, and walked step by step towards Zervil.

KWA-AAAAAAANG!!!

Even while doing so, the lightning continued to fall. The black-blue Thunder Heaven, pouring down lightning like rain, would exist forever unless Asel withdrew it. It was a feat possible because it was magic that interfered with phenomena, similar to Ena’s Extreme Magic.

“Zervil.”

The echoing roar fortunately didn’t bother Asel much.

He knelt down beside Zervil, who was prostrate on the ground and continuously being struck by lightning.

“As you said, I awakened my Inherent Property. And in a few seconds from now, your body will be destroyed.”

“Hmm…… Just as you say. It was getting hard to bear anyway.”

Zervil’s condition was perfectly fine despite being struck hundreds of times by lightning that would vaporize an ordinary mage with just one hit. Perhaps right now, if he truly intended to counterattack, there would be no means to stop him.

But Asel, while wary of him, didn’t particularly step back.

Because there was something he needed to confirm.

“It’s time to keep your promise. Where is Master?”

“……Just a moment. But didn’t this end too easily?”

“What?”

“No, isn’t it? The scenario I wanted was you, on the verge of death, miraculously awakening your Inherent Property and ascending to the 7th Tier! Proving your power by desperately fighting me with your Inherent Property at the forefront… What is this? You just went, ‘Hmm, I should awaken it now!’ suddenly awakened, and are using Extreme Magic. It’s utterly preposterous. Are you perhaps on your second life?”

“You’re spouting nonsense.”

Asel grabbed his neck, which kept turning to ash and regenerating, and forcibly crushed it. Zervil made a squawk and his head rolled away.

“Ah, don’t take off my head! It’s surprisingly dizzying!”

“Shut up and tell me where Master is, and what happened. Fulfill your promise.”

“Ah, this is annoying.”

Zervil muttered, scratching his severed head with his remaining hand. Asel’s face twisted sharply.

“You son of a bitch.”

“Ugh. The drug effect is starting to wear off. My cognitive abilities are gradually deteriorating. I need someone to supply drugs to my main body, but everyone has been dispatched to the academy… Ah! My head, my head is getting stupid!”

“Tell me before that!”

Asel couldn’t hold back and yelled. Blood surged from his mouth from the recoil, but it wasn’t a big problem for Asel, who had blocked his pain.

“Hmm. GaeByeok-nim’s current situation, you say.”

Fortunately, Zervil seemed to have regained his senses, turning his head slightly towards Asel and grinning.

“I don’t know the exact location myself. It’s probably a small palace near the Magic Kingdom, but I’m not sure. The problem is the enemies GaeByeok-nim must face.”

“……Enemies?”

“Yes. One of them is someone you know. Virshia.”

“……What?”

Asel’s face slightly hardened because of the familiar name of a bad relationship. Whether he reacted or not, Zervil continued speaking.

Perhaps there was really little time left now, his words were as fast as a machine gun.

“The other one is a lunatic called the Saint of Parasitism, who is trying to use GaeByeok-nim as a sacrifice to resurrect my master, the demon sealed in the small palace. But looking at the situation now, it seems half successful and half failed. To succeed, GaeByeok-nim would have to be cleanly killed, and that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

“…….”

“Perhaps it ended with imprisonment or having most of his power taken away. If it’s the latter, he would have managed to escape, and if it’s the former… wouldn’t Virshia and the Saint execute him after they recover? Because GaeByeok-nim must die for Virshia to seize the throne.”

“……Damn it.”

Asel muttered that, his face twisting sharply.

That what he called a family matter was somehow related to Virshia. He couldn’t have imagined it. He had speculated to some extent, but he hadn’t been certain. The price for that had come back like this. He swept his face with his one remaining hand and looked down at Zervil.

“This is accurate information, right?”

“Ugh. My body is breaking. Breaking AAAAAAH!”

“……Zervil?”

“Give me drugs! Just one, and this Zervil will become a loyal son of a bitch for you! Please!”

“…….”

Asel quietly looked down at Zervil, who had started thrashing, then let out a deep sigh and got up. At the same time, Zervil’s convulsing body swelled up roundly and then exploded with a pop.

Fortunately, the aftermath of the explosion was very small. It was to the extent that the impact didn’t reach him even though he was right next to it.

“……Huu.”

Asel wiped away the red fragment on his lips, which he couldn’t tell if it was flesh or not, and opened his mouth while gazing at the spectacle of countless lightning bolts gathering around him.

“You did well.”

As he uttered those words, the sea of lightning covering the sky disappeared like a lie. Asel felt a strange sensation at the weather, which had returned to a normal daytime, and turned his body.

Even though he had defeated the Archmage, he didn’t feel particularly good. It was true that he had achieved significant growth, but he was ultimately unhappy that he had received Zervil’s help in the process.

Furthermore, having heard news of Ena indirectly, his mind had no room to be drunk on the lingering feeling of victory. All his thoughts were filled with worry and concern for Ena.

‘The small palace in the Magic Kingdom. If I go by carriage from here, I’ll have to wait at least another month. Even if I ask the Alliance Leader for help, considering the time it takes for a messenger bird to fly, it would still take at least a few days to a few weeks.’

Either way, it was impossible to make it in time. Something could happen to Ena’s person while he waited.

Then, then what should I do? Should I send a messenger bird towards Master?

The moment Asel thought that and took a step forward.

“……!”

His body couldn’t hold its balance and simply collapsed. Asel felt sudden dizziness, anemia, and high fever and frowned.

He had only forgotten for a moment because the pain was blocked, but Asel’s body was heading towards death in real time.

He hadn’t paid attention for a moment because he had expelled the death energy corrupting his organs through the bracelet, but Asel’s body wasn’t just having problems with his organs in the first place.

Shattered eyeballs. Severed wrist. Organs that wouldn’t regenerate. Internal bleeding. Multiple fractures. Excessive bleeding, etc.

He had countless injuries that could lead to death immediately. He covered his face with his hand, forced open his increasingly blurry vision, and exhaled a long breath.

‘……If I felt the pain, I might not lose consciousness.’

A thought that suddenly occurred to him. Asel hesitated for a moment, then clenched his teeth and released the pain block.

Simultaneously, the suppressed pain erupted all at once and crushed Asel’s brain.

“……!”

Asel’s mouth fell wide open at the pain that exceeded its limit.

“KUAAAAAAAK!!!!”

His whole body felt like it was burning. His organs were as painful as if they were tearing, and whether it was shattered ankle fragments pressing on nerves, a sudden impulse to cut off his entire leg arose. Phantom pain even occurred in the cauterized wrist.

If he had been feeling it from the beginning, he might have been able to endure it, but having forcibly suppressed it and then released it all at once gave him no time to adapt.

“Heu……! Heu……!”

He first bit down hard on his shirt, lay prostrate on the ground, and panted. The death energy that had invaded his nerves was still present, so his body wouldn’t obey.

The moment he tried to move his arm, his broken ankle moved and caused terrible pain.

‘What should I do?’

He struggled in pain, trying to think of a way to survive. But… no suitable answer came to mind.

Right now, it was impossible for Asel to do anything by himself. If he had even a little magic, he might have somehow called for help from nearby, but his magic was depleted from using Extreme Magic. Magic exhaustion was gnawing away at Asel’s body.

‘……I’m going to die like this?’

His vision was gradually blurring. He clenched his teeth and tried to raise his body, but the more he did, the more his consciousness scattered. His life flashed before his eyes, and good memories emerged like a panorama. Asel let out a hollow laugh and buried his head in the nitrogen-filled dirt.

“……Fuck.”

The moment he swore, seeing no hope no matter where or how he looked.

“……! Found him!”

Far away, someone’s voice was heard from somewhere. Asel somehow moved his head to see the owner of the voice.

“Asel!”

They were priests and academy officials. Asel, as soon as he confirmed their faces, let out a dying gasp, “Ah.”

Immediately after, his consciousness, released from tension, abruptly cut off.