Chapter 231 – Mado (1)
High-tier elemental magic includes spells that take the form of animals.
It is not simply a mimicry of their shape. It reproduces the unpredictable movements they possess. Such spells unfolded before Verden’s eyes.
Kwaang! Kwaang!
An ice falcon flew in and self-destructed.
Enduring the cold and pressing forward, a net of lightning spread wide. He tore it apart with <Earth Claw> and advanced one more step.
‘This time, a snake.’
A lava serpent, with the earth as its body, and blazing flames as its soul.
A spell born from fire and earth, radiating overwhelming coercion, rushed forward with its jaws wide open.
Verden’s thoughts accelerated.
The focus he had been maintaining all along was close to unraveling, yet he held it with sheer willpower. Standing at the brink of death, he felt his mind and body becoming one.
<Outburst>
He detonated the condensed wind.
Verden withstood the shock and controlled his flight. Brushing past the serpent, he charged straight at the Administrator. Twisting his whole body, he drove greater destructive power into the tip of Orient.
Jjeoeoeong!
It was blocked by the staff.
And the Administrator’s mana barrier was already in a state where regeneration was possible.
It didn’t matter.
The distance had been closed, all he had to do now was cling on. He could not give the Administrator a chance to cast powerful magic.
Unleashing his full combat sense, Verden became a storm.
He relentlessly assaulted the Administrator, mixing Orient’s shockwaves with elemental magic in irregular patterns. As the damage repeated again and again, the barrier distorted faintly.
It was proof that his strikes were working.
The Administrator, locking staff against staff with Verden, spoke.
“You seem confident in close combat. To break my barrier, you risked your life pushing through magic. Indeed, with your senses and judgment, that would be an effective tactic.”
“……?!”
Teoeong!
With a sudden trick, Verden’s posture collapsed.
“But it seems the documents you read on the Demon King lacked detail. They all said the Demon King has no weaknesses, whether in magic duels or otherwise. Even in close combat.”
The Administrator advanced.
The white staff painted afterimages in the air. Blinding feints and solid strikes blended together, impossible to predict.
Not even <Body Unseal> could keep up with that speed. The Administrator had also enhanced his physical abilities with imbue magic.
His tier was higher than Verden’s.
In just three exchanges—
The first he endured, but in the second, Orient was knocked away.
On the third, even the reinforced automatic mana barrier was shattered. Despite its enhanced durability, it was useless before the Administrator.
And the fourth strike—
Ujijik!
The staff slammed into his abdomen.
It felt as though his organs were not merely torn but pulverized. Hurled far away, Verden squeezed out mana.
He twisted mid-air, using flight to absorb the fall.
“Keurgh…!”
Thududuk.
Blood gushed from within.
Even the frozen-over wounds burst open and bled anew. This was beyond the level a Recovery Bracelet could heal.
Verden’s knees buckled as he braced against the floor.
‘The Demon King, in close combat…’
And at a level incomparably beyond his own.
He had never heard of such a thing. But then again, there was almost no reason for the Demon King to show close combat.
Most would be dead long before reaching him, slain by his magic.
‘So things don’t go as expected after all.’
Treating his injuries, he rose again.
The Administrator observed him loftily. The distance had grown wide again.
Verden inhaled deeply, forcing his exhausted senses awake.
He pressed forward through the magic with desperation. His body ragged and torn, but he did not stop, until he reached striking distance.
“Reckless.”
The staff swung again.
Its target, once more, was his abdomen. But Verden did not evade. With <Weight Boots> he increased his mass and lowered his stance.
At the moment of impact, he seized the staff, dispersing the shock through his entire body.
This time, he did not fly away.
Enduring the full force of the blow, Verden groaned deeply. It felt like his ribs had broken.
The Administrator looked down on him.
“You would give up your flesh to take my bones? With that broken body, how do you intend to take my bones?”
There was no need to rush, he would show soon enough.
His Mystic Eye flickered.
From overuse, bloody tears streamed down. Gray mana gathered in his hand.
‘That star magic, is it?’
The Administrator tensed, wary of some unknown spell.
He kept his eyes on Verden, but the presence was felt behind him.
‘…Behind?’
He turned his head.
By Remote Retrieval, Orient was flying back to Verden, its tip bearing the Milky Way. And in that instant, Verden closed the distance and seized the Administrator’s arm.
“You drew this close so I cannot properly form a barrier, did you?”
Correct.
Verden’s innate resistance to mana.
As long as he held on, the barrier could not fully protect the Administrator’s body. Even transcendent mana could not penetrate Verden.
At that moment—
Comet, Rarenia.
The torrent of the Milky Way engulfed them both.
Verden was blown away, and the Administrator raised his staff to block head-on. The immense force pushed him back, but that was all.
No real damage.
“Such bone-carving effort. Yet, for a so-called decisive spell, it falls short. You would have been better off using that falling star…”
The Administrator stopped speaking.
A dark cluster of stars shimmered on his body. At the same time, the flow of mana began to slip out of his control.
The traces of stars.
The torrent of the comet ran against the flow.
“…Impossible.”
The Administrator felt a chill.
At the end of his gaze stood Verden. He raised Orient into the air, and from its golden jewel, an aurora burst forth.
<Domain of Aurora>
Greatly increased casting speed of elemental magic, and greatly enhanced elemental resistance.
The flow of mana smoothed. A stark contrast to the Administrator’s faltering control.
Verden soared skyward, flames in one hand, lightning in the other.
He drew his breath, meeting the Administrator’s eyes below.
“Now, it is my turn.”
Two attributes merged into one.
And then, the elemental bombardment toward the Administrator began.
***
Magic rampaged indiscriminately.
He unleashed the strongest spells he knew without hesitation. The Administrator was completely obscured, yet he did not stop.
Mana drained rapidly.
‘It has to end here.’
This was the perfect opportunity.
He had to use everything at his disposal.
Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwa-gwagwang!
The floor burned in flames.
From the frozen ceiling, countless icicles rained down. As the two clashed, steam erupted, and a gravitational vortex overturned the area.
Warm lower air, cold upper air, unstable atmosphere.
The conditions aligned, and thunderclouds formed.
Though artificial, and far from nature’s power, it was enough for a stage. Soon, as <Domain of Aurora> ended, he recalled Orient.
<Elementalization>
Attribute, lightning.
Thunder rumbled around his body.
<Kangroe>
A colossal bolt of lightning merged into the clouds.
Splitting into thousands, he controlled them with <Raelyeong>. Gravity compression was required here, but it could not be used while in elementalized state.
‘But there is a substitute.’
He once again invoked <Raelyeong>, layering it, and gathered lightning with all his might. Moments later, at the heart of the thunderstorm, a luminous mass formed.
He forcibly dragged it downward.
<Ruin>
The luminous mass pierced through the atmosphere and fell.
At the instant it struck the ground—
────!
A silent flash consumed the space.
A colossal blue pillar surged upward, erasing the stormclouds, and reached the ceiling. Soon after, the pillar dissipated.
Where the searing heat and light vanished, smoke and silence settled.
“Haa, haa…”
Verden gasped for breath.
Agonizing pain throbbed in his head. Blood streamed from burst vessels in his eyes, and the reckless use of mana worsened his injuries. It had truly been a strike of his full power.
Even maintaining flight was difficult, so he descended. Wiping away the blood that welled at his lips with his hand.
‘No presence…’
The Administrator’s mana was completely gone.
Did that mean he was dead? Even so, Verden did not ease his vigilance, watching the situation closely.
And then—
“That was most impressive.”
“…!!”
From the clearing black smoke, the Administrator emerged.
He, too, was battered and broken. Traces of Verden’s spells landing again and again remained clearly.
And yet, he still lived.
‘So the power wasn’t enough…!’
“A spell that disturbs the flow of mana—such a thing was indeed astonishing. That, too, must have been negligence unique to the Demon King. It took me time to regain control. And the spells that followed, certainly worthy of being called secret measures. Yet, insufficient.”
Restored to his composure, the Administrator approached.
Verden tried to react, but the backlash of excessive magic still held him down. In the blink of an eye, the Administrator was upon him, hand pressed against his body.
<Arcane: Impact>
Shockwaves tore through the outside and inside of his body.
The Mage’s Regret was shattered, the Robe of the Wanderer ripped apart. Slammed against the wall, Verden spat blood and collapsed.
His vision blurred, on the verge of breaking.
His body would not respond. He tried to rise, only to fall back, his back hitting the floor. The Administrator advanced toward him once more.
At that moment, light glimmered beneath his feet.
Dexar’s Jewel, received from Geltone. The magic circle stored within it wrapped around the Administrator.
Bohemirn Magic Tower.
One of Balrog Bessias’s sealing arrays, <Yusu,幽囚>.
The Administrator looked upon the array’s structure.
“A seal of considerable refinement. To think, in that fleeting moment, you intended to bind me within a magic circle. Such obsession, it borders on reverence. Yet, this can only buy time.”
His hand touched the array.
Mana twisted, and the seal slowly began to unravel.
In that gap, Verden tried to rise again, but the Administrator shook his head.
“To continue this magic battle is impossible. Even if you rise again, it will be the same. I still have the mana to kill you with ease.”
The Administrator’s presence was far diminished from the beginning.
But he was still a transcendent, and even if Verden gave his all, he still had the power to kill. Having experienced it once already, the same tactic would not work twice.
“Keurgh, keurgh! I, can still…”
“Give it up. Strength does not scale with age, but with talent and effort. Yet you are too early. Had you challenged me ten years later, I would not have regretted it…”
Regret? Never.
Verden did not regret. Not even now, collapsed and broken. Drawing breath, he forced strength once more into his muscles.
The Administrator’s voice sank heavy.
“Young mage, why do you rise so, even now? Why, when you would cast aside your life like dust—what is it you must achieve?”
It was not what he wanted to achieve.
It was what he must achieve.
Verden, trembling, raised his right arm.
Was it from the blood he had lost, or because he had never before been cornered by an enemy of such a higher tier? His mind cleared utterly, yet within it surged wrath and hatred.
Not some petty anguish, but the truth within his heart.
‘…Revenge.’
He wanted to destroy the Bohemirn Magic Tower, which had given him a life of nightmares.
He wanted to tear apart the mages who had used his powerless self.
He wanted to kill the tower master who trampled upon his pure love and pursuit of magic.
He wanted them to know.
What pain was.
What despair was.
With the magic of one they deemed nothing but a test subject.
He could not fall here.
Until his revenge was fulfilled, he swore he would not die.
Verden clenched his teeth.
“You gave your all.
“……”
“But you are already at your limit.”
…Limit?
Veins bulged on Verden’s forehead.
“Don’t, make me laugh…!”
No one in this world could confine him with the word “limit”. Not the Demon King, not even the goddess Luas.
His mind was clear, his mana not yet spent.
The Administrator was indeed stronger than he expected, but it was no matter. Before him stood not a perfect transcendent, even if he wielded the Demon King’s magic and Mado.
Compared to a perfected tower master, he was lacking. In the end, merely a stepping stone upon the path of vengeance.
He was ready to trample.
Verden clenched the hand he had stretched toward the sky.
And then—
“…!”
The tattered leather sleeve fell away.
From his exposed arm, the magic circle of Defying the Heavens glowed. Strangely, stronger mana flowed through it than ever before.
Despite his exhaustion, despite the mana he had spent, it flickered, calling to Verden. Telling him he still had a hidden trump card.
Verden’s gaze sharpened.
Ah.
‘…So that’s what it was.’
Yes. Now he understood.
The meaning of the mana flowing through the magic circle of Defying the Heavens. What the changes in his body signified.
It was not only Verden’s will that was prepared.
He raised his remaining left arm.
As the seal array crumbled, the Administrator thought, for a moment, that perhaps he had chosen to surrender—but he was wrong.
On the lips of the mage who once shattered his own limits, a smile of expectation curled. Twisting his wrist, he aimed his palm at himself.
“Body Unseal.”
The magic circle flared with light.
Mana circuits forcibly expanded.
Verden’s second Defying the Heavens began.
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