Chapter 63 : Chapter 63
Chapter 63: The Great Magician (2)
They.
Of course, one of them was the man called father.
“Not 'he' but 'they'? 'They'?”
That plural form, Simurtr could not understand. It meant there was another figure on par with his father.
“How did you know about me… Ah. No. Of course you’d know.”
The Phantasmal Ability user who escaped from Huit must have told them.
But they want me? The fourth son of Mectera, but the blood does not flow in him.
“Why me?”
He was not of a precious bloodline. He didn't know his biological father, and his mother Anna was a commoner. The reason people around him hailed him as a genius was thanks to the memories of his past life, not because of his innate lineage.
Which meant he had no quality that would appeal to those who abducted the bloodlines of Hero Families to force experiments.
“They were eaten, weren't they?”
An excellent bloodline, talent, body, lifespan.
From that perspective, he was a person the Kua Holy Order would have no reason to covet.
“They were eaten, Kua was. By the Black Tower.”
Simurtr reached a single conclusion.
Not bloodline or talent, but ability. The person's current body and achievements. It wasn't the Kua who took an interest in such things. It was the black magicians, obsessed with collection.
“The bastard who calls himself my father ate them. He got rid of the Founder and is playing house.”
There was no reason to stop the experiments. He would take the fruits of Kua's labor for free and continue them.
The point that they could be created by following the bloodlines of Hero Families would be a very attractive research even for those who were not black magicians.
“How dare you!”
Whoosh! With the Great Magician's shout, demonic energy grazed his cheek. Simurtr, who had turned his head but failed to dodge completely, licked the blood flowing from his cheek.
A massive demonic energy. In the shape of a sword, it had bloomed from the Death Knight's sword. Indeed. As expected, that Death Knight was a formidable opponent that was hard to guarantee victory against.
He didn't know who the original owner of the body was... but if it had possessed its ego, he would have had to be prepared to die here.
Then does that Great Magician have a way to return the Death Knight's ego?
‘Of course, he does.’
They are a race that cherishes Death Knights. It's better to return the ego than to lose it. It wouldn't listen to orders, but by doing so, the Death Knight would regain its prime.
...In that case, I must prevent that from happening.
The option of inducing carelessness was already a lost cause. The guy had been meticulous from the start, and now he had become even more serious. It was because he had found a new target in Simurtr.
“Why. Because I insulted your father?”
Excitement, or rather, anger.
So that the Great Magician's awareness does not reach the Death Knight. So that he forgets the option of returning its ego.
“...I will only cut off your limbs.”
This meant he was very angry.
Black magicians were a race that made bets on the number of wounds on a corpse. A limbless corpse meant the greatest disgrace. The fact that they could be reattached later was not considered.
‘The poison?’
It wasn't leaking. The number of chimeras and black magicians had decreased significantly due to the Black Hemisphere. The guy seemed to have judged that the poison was not very effective.
Whoosh! Simurtr took a deep breath and spread his body wide. The curses that had been binding him loosened with the expelled mana.
‘Mass-produced liches.’
The black magicians who must have been his disciples.
Was it worth exchanging the hidden Phantasmal Ability with them? No. Simurtr decided to move himself. 3rd Star. The mana that had raced through the circuit three times exploded.
He accelerated and disappeared, then suddenly appeared in front of them. His feet had stopped, but his upper body did not lose speed and shot forward.
Just as the sword was about to cut off the liches' necks all at once, Simurtr corrected the sword's trajectory. He forcibly lifted what was trying to move horizontally upwards.
A roar like a siege weapon striking a castle gate. Simurtr unconsciously recalled the battlefields of his past life. Piiing. A ringing echoed in his ears. Frowning, he looked ahead.
A black greatsword. So crude as to be called a sword, it was forcibly pressing down on Simurtr's sword and crushing the lich's skull.
‘Ignorant bastard.’
He couldn't compete in terms of raw strength. Simurtr bent his knees deeply and pulled out the sword that was about to strike his own head. Forcibly shaking his stiff hand, he turned half a circle backwards.
He was pushed back again. The sword containing the mana of the 3rd Star was blocked by the Death Knight's gauntlet. By how much? Realizing it, he clicked his tongue without thinking.
The gauntlet was slightly dented. Durability was one thing, but it meant a powerful demonic energy was protecting its entire body.
Simurtr lifted his foot and kicked the guy's torso. Naturally creating distance, a white aura rose towards the Death Knight, which had lost its center of gravity.
The Death Knight does not dodge. The thick demonic energy rising from the greatsword collides. It's a dull sword. Experiencing the impenetrable armor, Simurtr thinks. The sword path is crude and simple.
It cannot follow the white sword. If he aims for the knee, it just takes the hit and thrusts its greatsword. If Simurtr narrowly dodges the greatsword, the guy just endures, trusting in its demonic energy and durability.
“Hmph.”
Simurtr gave an ambiguous smile.
Swordplay is always good. It's joyful. Even more so if the opponent is another swordsman.
But now? It's fun and not fun at the same time. The guy's abilities surpass Simurtr's. But he's clearly within reach.
The reason for that stems from the guy's vacant ego. The Death Knight suddenly closed the distance. That footwork. Fast, but still predictable.
A wide-open chest, an arm extended to the sky, a sword. The foolish spell-slinger only knows that swinging is swordsmanship.
Creak. His body slowly starts to scream. How long had they been fighting? That's how much he was struggling with the Death Knight's output.
Pagna. Simurtr once again poured mana into his now empty heart. Now, only one line of leeway remained. One more 4th Star rotation. If he was prepared, two.
The filled mana rotates the circuit again. 2nd Star. Looking at the greatsword with its truly predictable trajectory, Simurtr lowered his output.
It was a being without an ego. His embarrassing swordplay, in contrast to his physical abilities, was the choice and command of the Great Magician, who was a layman. And the Great Magician had seen all the clashes so far right before his eyes.
‘Point of contact.’
The moment they touched. The same roar as before did not sound. It wasn't a clash, but a smooth contact.
The white sword and the black greatsword stick together. A point of contact was made.
Origin. A feat that even Dujeu of the Sword Tower had not mastered. Simurtr's mana captured the demonic energy.
He understands the Death Knight's demonic energy and the Great Magician's way of operating it, and seizes control. He forcibly controls the demonic energy.
The steadfast demonic energy in the greatsword suddenly juts out here and there. Spikes rising like those of a sea urchin targeted the surrounding liches. Skulls were penetrated, and bodies with scattered pieces of flesh remaining were pierced.
The ones aimed at the Death Knight soon broke, but Simurtr grinned. It was as if oil had been poured on something creaking. His body felt much lighter. He had succeeded in reducing the number of the most annoying liches considerably.
“How?”
The Great Magician mutters from not too far away. Hearing that, Simurtr distanced himself from the Death Knight.
Kaak! The surviving chimeras charge. The Great Magician's head becomes complicated. It might be a magician's unique curiosity about the intricacies of Origin, or it might be to recover the mass-produced liches.
‘Now.’
There's no reason to fight. A chimera's long claw tears Simurtr's shoulder. The Death Knight's greatsword, thrust from the front, pierces his solar plexus.
“Huh?”
The Great Magician let out a bewildered groan.
He had no intention of killing him. It was an attack ordered with the assumption that he would block or dodge. But the shoulder hit by the chimera's claw fell to the floor. It was said to be the solar plexus, but the greatsword had split Simurtr's torso in half.
“Stop.”
At the Great Magician's command, the chimeras backed away. The Death Knight planted the sword he had pulled out into the floor and solemnly took his stance.
Splurt. Blood gushed from the cross-section of the shoulder. The line that divided the torso split open. Simurtr, whose legs gave out, knelt down and his head hit the ground.
“He’s dead?”
The Great Magician's pupils shook noticeably. His thoughts spun quickly and chaotically.
The destruction of the facility, the test subjects that must have been lost, the deaths of the Black Tower magicians, the death of the white Sword Master that father desired most. Then the responsibility for all of this, the punishment...
When his thoughts reached a terrible conclusion. A wave of mana suddenly occurred near the Great Magician. A white phenomenon color. At the same time, the kneeling Simurtr turns into smoke.
“You're alive!”
The Great Magician let out a cry of joy. At the same time, the defense formulas that had been dormant around him unfold.
4th Star. A white sword aura filled with all his power.
It was just about to touch the Great Magician's body.
“Damn it.”
Too late. Simurtr, who was swinging his sword, knew it instinctively. The curse was one step faster than the sword stopping.
The defense formula, activated a moment too late, enveloped the sword as it activated. The sword and the aura were caught in between.
Simurtr instinctively retrieved his mana. Leaving only a little, what had been sword aura turned into mana and traced back up the circuit to settle in his heart.
If he had just dug in a little more, just about a finger's length, he could have taken his neck.
Simurtr clicked his tongue and exploded the remaining mana. The sword mixed with aura shattered into fragments and shot forward.
Using the recoil of the explosion, he created a large distance. He imbued the remaining hilt with mana and hit the head of the pursuing Death Knight.
Clang! The Death Knight's head snapped back. Yet, its speed did not decrease. He tried to manifest his Phantasmal Ability, but something welled up inside him.
Two 4th Stars. The recoil from that attempt. Simurtr spat out a gush of blood. The Death Knight's ghastly blue eyes were covered in blood.
But the opponent was not human. The Death Knight's vision may have been covered, but the vision of the Great Magician giving the orders was vast.
Kwaang! Simurtr's body was slammed into the wall. Simurtr protected his chest, which had caved in from the gauntlet's blow, while trying to grasp the situation.
Five. He had flown through five walls just now. He stopped after hitting the sixth wall. He succeeded in landing on his feet without falling over.
‘The heart?’
No. He allowed his right chest. He reached his hand back and pounded his back with his fist.
The rib bone that had been digging into his lung came out. He hit it hard again, moving it slightly forward.
Gack. He vomited the blood he had gathered in his mouth onto the floor. Looking at the puddle, he saw pieces of internal organs scattered here and there. Simurtr raised his head again.
Death Knight? No. Chimeras were rushing through the collapsed wall as if it were a path. He opened his subspace and took out a spare sword.
‘Elixir… no, no.’
Not yet. His body could still move.
An elixir was to be taken when the body could no longer function. The policy from his past life, from the battlefield, made Simurtr act that way.
The path was one, and it was narrow. It was a path created as he flew. Simurtr shot a sword ki towards the hole in the wall. The forehead of the chimera that was just passing through the hole caved in.
“Damn it.”
They were chimeras created with an emphasis on their hide, serving as the Great Magician's shield. A mere 2nd Star sword ki couldn't pierce them.
3rd Star? That should be enough to pierce through. Simurtr thought, looking at the chimera with its caved-in and crushed brain.
“Stop.”
Bang. Another hole appeared in the wall. It was larger than the one Simurtr had made.
The Death Knight that made the hole entered first, and the Great Magician followed behind him into the room.
“Stop it. I will not cut off your limbs.”
The Great Magician's tone was gentle.
Why? It meant he thought he had his prey cornered. Simurtr was thinking about his Phantasmal Ability. It was something he had tried so hard to hide, and although he had been discovered and failed, he had to create distance with it for now.
‘No.’
The Phantasmal Ability of the Star-Breaking Style is so realistic it can even deceive the phantasm user. The Great Magician before had also been deceived by that illusion.
But... being deceived and being caught are separate issues. With the Great Magician's mana. With the demonic energy the Death Knight had shown so far.
‘I'll be caught.’
A means to grasp an illusion.
Sword aura. Or better quality, overwhelming mana.
The former refers to a swordsman, the latter to a Great Magician.
Having already used his Phantasmal Ability, the Great Magician would now be prepared to counter illusions. He couldn't even use it as an escape tool anymore.
A 4th Star illusion might work, but he had already used it twice. He couldn't use the last bit he could squeeze out to escape.
‘You want me to run from here?’
Ptui. Simurtr spat out the piece of internal organ rolling around in his mouth. What nonsense.
He had once realized his own weakness, but this was a separate issue.
Run away from an enemy? Maybe before a fight, but in the middle of one? Because it seemed like he couldn't win after trying? He'd rather die.
In Simurtr's mind, the notions of traitors and revenge had long since disappeared. If a life-or-death situation arose, he didn't think about what came after. A belief he had held since his past life.
My beloved Exa.
His master's words echoed in his head.
‘Do as your instincts tell you, but finish the fight you started. Even if you run, the result will be the same. This master will kill you.’
All the beliefs he held were his master's.
Simurtr looked forward with eyes whose capillaries had all burst. The Great Magician, the Death Knight, the group of chimeras in front, the stubbornly surviving mass-produced liches.
‘We all die together?’
The longer he dragged it on, the more disadvantageous it became. As long as he was breathing, he would live. He even had an elixir.
‘Yeah, damn it. The one who's going to live will live.’
Star-Breaking Style 5th Star.
In fact, it was a state he had already half-reached. Wasn't it a path he had already walked in his past life?
If forced, it wasn't impossible. But if he did, his mana circuit and his body would both be torn to shreds.
He had held back because he knew he would be on the verge of death.
Simurtr slowly exhaled. As he inhaled again, he sucked up the remaining blood in his mouth and swallowed.
The remaining mana moves all at once. Slowly, the mana rotates slowly.
The rotation that would normally have ended with the evocation of the image had now barely completed one turn.
“Stop it.”
It wasn't to spare his body to slightly increase the chances of survival. The battlefield was a place that gave death to the half-hearted. It was to lower the failure rate of the 5th Star as much as possible.
“I will not touch you. I will even treat you.”
Two rotations. Simurtr looked at the chattering Great Magician. He was quite pale. The guy might be guessing what he was trying to do.
That guy wants to keep me alive. He wants to show me to his father.
“Father will not harm you either.”
Three rotations. No, that's not it. He's not worried about my life, he's worried about this place.
“Get out of here.”
…The Great Magician, restless and stomping his feet. The Death Knight, who had extinguished the demonic energy that had been burning all over his body. The chimeras, who had crossed the wall but couldn't properly set foot in the room.
‘Why?’
Clunk. Simurtr inadvertently stopped the rotation. This place, this room. Simurtr scanned his surroundings.
A huge bed, three desks surrounding a single chair in a U-shape, shelves full of books, research materials, reports, Gerehk Adre. The name inscribed at the bottom of each page.
“Gerehk Adre.”
“……”
The Great Magician does not deny it.
The Great Magician's, Gerehk Adre's bedroom, and.
An office where the research of the Black Tower, the fruits of the Kua, and the materials and reports to be sent to his father were gathered.
“Why is it here?”
Why is the Great Magician's room only on the 2nd floor?
No matter how ruined the Black Tower was.
Simurtr slowly moved his gaze.
The wall. The one he had used to go from the 1st to the 2nd floor was on the opposite wall, visible when sitting in the office chair.
…The movement formula that allows one to go from the 2nd to the 3rd floor.
Proof that the exiled Black Tower was operational up to at least the 3rd floor.
“What have you got stashed up there?”
Since he had decided to see it through to the end, he might as well destroy everything the Black Tower and the Kua had achieved. That's right.
The corners of his mouth lifted unconsciously, and the moment his eyes met those of the Great Magician Gerehk Adre.
What had been gathered expands greatly. 3rd Star of the Star-Breaking Style. The sword ki became a sharp wind. It tears not only the desk but also everything piled on top of it to shreds.
Whoosh! Simurtr, pierced by the Death Knight's suddenly thrown spear, turns into smoke.
The white phenomenon color appears beyond the desk. The first hand to take shape touched the wall.
“Block him!”
The Death Knight crushed the ground and jumped over the desk in an instant. Demonic energy blazed in its gauntlet.
...It cut through empty air.
***
He thought it would work.
So he induced carelessness with his Phantasmal Ability and created an opening.
But he failed.
No matter how experienced he was, he couldn't break through the Great Magician's mana with the 4th Star of the Star-Breaking Style.
It might have been possible if he were a swordsman, but the Great Magician's defense formula is always active. At his current mana level, it was a wall he could not overcome....
“Damn it.”
Simurtr looked at the changed surroundings.
A floor higher than Gerehk Adre's residence.
That is, the 3rd floor, where something more precious than the only Great Magician of the Black Tower existed.
Kwoong! A vibration coming up from below struck the ground and shook the walls. Simurtr recalled the Death Knight that had lunged at him just before he moved.
With the Great Magician's control, he wouldn't have been able to perfectly control the guy's movements.
“He broke it.”
No matter how much mana he poured in, the formula would not activate. It meant the formula on the 2nd floor was broken.
The vibration just now must have been caused by him trying to create a hole to come up somehow.
“Serves you right.”
Simurtr chuckled and walked.
In the middle of the spacious area, there was a door.
Wheeing. Wheeing.
Something was ringing from inside his clothes. The noise grew louder as he got closer to the door.
“……”
An all too familiar signal.
The door simply existed in the middle.
A simple camouflage. For what? When he pushed it slightly, the door swayed. Without opening it, he turned around.
Light was constantly flashing from his chest.
Passing through his subspace, piercing his blood-soaked black martial arts uniform, a red light twinkled endlessly.
Simurtr laughed in disbelief.
“Look at these bastards.”
…The new model Doom Species Rift Detector obtained from Denin Korg's corpse.
It was blinking incessantly.