novelraw Chapter 179 : Chapter 179
Chapter 179 : Chapter 179
Chapter 179: King (2)
BOOM—!
A meteorite the size of a pupil struck the ground, leaving a massive crater.
It was a scene as if a real meteorite had fallen.
It was magic that had touched Ellen’s glabella, but Ellen wasn't there.
Because a jet-black shadow suddenly appeared, swallowed Ellen, and disappeared.
It is familiar magic.
But I didn't expect to see it in the North.
And right in the middle of the Boundary.
Harad chuckled hollowly as he removed the fingers digging into his chest.
Something like ink was bubbling like a hot spring on the ground.
“I didn't expect this.”
It wasn't ink, but a shadow.
A gaunt man rose from within it.
It was the Mage he met with Wimar.
Also the Mage whose heart was stolen by Ellen.
“Cursed Jis.”
“Yeah.”
When Harad recognized him, Jis smiled sheepishly.
“Are you okay?”
“Compared to others.”
Harad was still in better condition compared to Balbebron and Ellen.
“Will you kill me?”
Jis glanced around cautiously.
“Hmm? Ah.”
Come to think of it, Ellen had warned Jis.
That she would kill him if she saw him again.
“She won't. That would be shameless.”
“Yeah.”
Jis smiled as if relieved.
The shadow wriggling on the ground spat Ellen out.
“How did you come?”
“With this.”
Jis pointed at his shadow.
Manifestation. That very secretive Origin seemed not to have been detected even by Manoa’s Dream.
“Not that.”
“I followed you.”
From the Empire.
Harad laughed hollowly. A persistent fellow.
“Me?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you come to kill me?”
“Then I wouldn't have saved her.”
“That's true. I owe you.”
Ellen was safe. Like Kandenkel, a single line of blood flowed from her glabella.
Her body was much messier, but Harad only saw her face.
“……I'm sorry.”
It was a terribly miserable expression.
“No. It couldn't be helped. I was fooled too.”
To think he was toying with us.
Harad looked at Kandenkel grinning in the distance and clicked his tongue.
He was a nastier fellow than thought.
‘Different Origin, different magic.’
The method of Manifestation was decisive.
Giant.
It is a Manifestation unheard of in the past life.
Kandenkel of the past life stood in the sky as if reigning, dropping bunches of meteorites larger than mansions.
‘Seems like a completely different Mage.’
The Origin changed as if he were a different person.
Must be the effect of the Embers.
‘Different personality too.’
In the past life, he was a Mage who gave no leeway.
But that Kandenkel toyed with us, even allowing distance.
Even now, he is enjoying the reaction without thinking of finishing it.
It must mean he is confident it's okay.
‘He must be conscious too.’
Shadow.
Jis was a Mage unknown to Kandenkel.
And a fellow 5th Rank capable of implementing Manifestation.
Kandenkel has no choice but to be conscious of him.
Just as he did to Ellen and Balbebron earlier, he must be probing Jis for now.
“It's fucked up.”
Ellen was defeated.
It was extremely unpleasant, but at the same time a welcome fucked-up situation.
“Failure.”
“…….”
Ellen lowered her head.
Try until you know. Harad had said that earlier. She found out everything, and failed.
“Don't blame yourself. It couldn't be helped.”
He is not a fake like Avery Aquins.
Kandenkel was a real big shot.
No matter how great Innate Strength is…… Ellen, who hasn't realized her essence, cannot cut him.
“Ellen, you did enough.”
“……I can do more.”
“No. You can't.”
Harad shook his head firmly.
To him who regressed, there is an obligation to adjust the firing line. Ellen’s firing line is up to here.
“Ellen, this is it.”
“Harad.”
“Stop.”
“…….”
Harad looked down at Ellen quietly.
Ellen stared at that face intently, then bit her lip. It was a more miserable expression than when she was toyed with by Kandenkel.
It wasn't time to soothe her.
Harad looked at Jis and pointed at Kandenkel.
“Possible? That thing?”
“Can't do it.”
Jis was a Mage who seemed clumsy yet cool-headed.
“I'm lacking.”
“Origin? Magic power?”
“Both.”
Jis seemed to have finished estimating long ago.
Harad agreed. He didn't know exactly what kind of shadow Jis’s Origin was, but meteorite is indeed an extraordinary Origin.
“I brought this.”
At that moment, Jis grabbed and opened the shadow spread on the ground like opening a bag.
-BEEP!
The Fireball was inside.
“Quiet.”
Harad pushed the guy trying to pop out back into the shadow.
Kandenkel is cautious and arrogantly vicious.
He had to use that temper as economically as possible.
Inside the shadow was Balbebron, who had become a rag.
And next to him was the Shrine.
The window of the Shrine was open.
Harad’s eyes looking at the Embers inside momentarily went hazy and returned.
“You brought the whole thing.”
Jis’s shadow was versatile.
It seemed capable of storing not only life but also structures or magic.
“Close it for now, since it's that bastard's goal.”
Instantly, the shadow soared like a wall.
It absorbed the swarm of meteorites Kandenkel shot and rippled. Jis coughed.
“Not using it?”
“Not using it.”
Even though I brought it all the way here.
Jis muttered.
“Running away?”
“No.”
Must kill him here.
“Can't last long.”
“I know.”
Meteorites started raining down.
Thinking is over, and he intends to probe by touching directly.
Jis was handling the meteorites through the shadow.
I felt it already, but he was an excellent Mage.
However, as he said, he cannot last long.
Just receiving has its limits.
“Then use it?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Jis asked as if frustrated.
“It would be easy if used.”
“Not that it might be possible?”
Indeed, a sharp fellow.
“It is a fire more valuable to this village.”
* * *
Manoa.
That Witch’s Manifestation controlled the space called the forest.
Harad couldn't know the maintenance time.
But it would be quite long.
That isn't Manoa’s capability.
It is the influence of the Embers. That fire was maintaining Manoa’s Manifestation.
‘Like Manoa.’
It's not that I haven't thought of such an idea.
But it is impossible.
Because Harad and Manoa are different.
Only fire becomes one.
Those words of Herbis heard at the Watchtower penetrate the Red Tower.
It would be the same for Origins related to the concept of fire.
The Embers are not just fire.
They are fire left by the Sun sometime in the past.
And Harad’s Origin was the Sun.
To use the Embers…… Harad intuitively sensed he wouldn't be able to control himself.
The Embers cannot be used.
If touched, he will end up absorbing them.
……I don't want to do that.
If it were the past life, he would have rightfully absorbed them, but not now.
Not for Balbebron and Alena.
Not because Ellen liked this village.
I want to preserve the Embers.
That was purely Harad’s greed.
If it's a variable, it's a variable.
Greed has arisen.
I wish the North, and furthermore the continent, becomes like this village.
I wish Mages become part of the world.
I wish the snowman made by Duke and Shura was freewheeling. Even if not Cassion, I wish Kubel would no longer be scared.
Having developed such greed, how can I abandon this village?
If so, it was greed I shouldn't have had.
It is a village that gave inspiration. That starting point shouldn't disappear.
Killing one 5th Rank and coveting the continent.
Which one is more difficult is self-evident.
So is what must be done.
Greed has just arisen, I have no intention of straying from the path.
Kandenkel must be killed now.
That was the obligation of the regressed Harad.
‘If I kill him now, I can be greedy.’
Then greed is merely a by-product arising between those obligations.
“Protect it well.”
Harad pointed at Ellen and the shadow.
The villagers will be protected by Manoa.
“Huh?”
“This is called the Moon’s Crystal Ball.”
“Oh.”
“It's for my recovery.”
40% of the Moon’s magic power remained.
“Understood.”
Jis put the Moon’s Crystal Ball into the shadow with curious eyes.
“Protect Harad too.”
Jis opened the shadow.
Meaning for him to enter. Harad shook his head.
“Exclude me.”
“Why?”
“I don't die easily.”
The Sun and its Divine Beast are close to eternal.
Unless killed by someone, they don't die.
‘Like Enverque.’
Harad recalled the unique vitality he felt from the Sun and the past aftereffects.
Come to think of it, the lifespan was tough.
That too must be the power of the Origin called the Sun.
‘Like Elaine too.’
Birds of a feather, I guess.
Harad laughed softly.
“Harad.”
Ellen spoke. It was an unfortunate moment.
Harad looked down at that face and smiled more deeply.
“Watch closely, Ellen. Since it is what you were so curious about.”
* * *
If the gap is large.
Battle between Mages is not that vague.
The vagueness called magic power makes the conclusion banal.
The theory of Origin superiority applies only when the stages are similar.
If the enemy projected, this side must project too, and if manifested, must manifest accordingly.
Only by achieving that minimum standard does the vagueness called Origin show its true worth.
Until then, Origin is just talent.
Someday it will achieve greatness, but before that, it can be sufficiently trampled.
That is why in the Otherworld, there is a truth that a Mage cannot surpass a rank higher than themselves.
Strictly speaking, Harad has never broken that truth head-on.
Against Ios, he implemented projection; against Psina, he aimed for the vessel, not her Origin; and against Avery Aquins, he borrowed Ellen’s power.
He has only bypassed it through the cheat called regression so far.
This time too……
“A Mage is a window.”
Projection is part of the Origin escaping through that window. The Otherworld expresses it as only the shadow of the Origin escaping.
Manifestation is the Origin escaping completely.
A mere shadow and the Origin.
There is that much gap between 4th Rank and 5th Rank.
He didn't introduce himself to Manoa as a 4th Rank like a 5th Rank very occasionally for no reason.
There might be a 3rd Rank like a 4th Rank, but a 4th Rank like a 5th Rank is close to impossible.
Just putting that as one problem.
If asked whether he can solve the problem or not…… Harad can solve it.
Because it is a problem he has already solved.
“There is an elephant inside the house. The door is far too small. How will you take it out?”
Since there is no pen to write the answer, I just write with blood.
“The answer is tearing it down. The wall, like this.”
Harad thrust his hand into his own chest.
An act he would have done earlier if not for Jis.
Burning fingers melted the chest and dug in. Broke the ribs, and pulled out the heart. Something with blood vessels dangling was pulled out in front of the chest.
THUMP! The heart taken out into the world beat violently. That small thing, this much. To Ellen, it was the mystery of life. And suicide.
But to a Mage, it was a mystery regarding the vagueness achieved by the Mage named Harad.
Because the allowed vagueness differs depending on the Origin and the vessel.
Harad’s fingers digging into the heart spread left and right. RIP. A large hole was torn in the heart.
“Are you crazy……?”
Jis’s eyes widened.
In the distance, the giant flinched.
“Ignorant……!”
Kandenkel intuitively sensed it passed through the window.
A meteorite was shot toward Harad’s heart.
Harad smiled fishily.
“If you toyed with us, you should bear the consequences.”
A stream of blood clinging to the end of that voice poured like a waterfall toward the heart.
The heart soaked in blood poured out more blood from the torn hole. THUMP! The beat shook the world. The giant meteorite shot toward Harad burned away like a small shooting star.
Seeing that phenomenon, Kandenkel unwittingly raised his head and recited.
“……Manifestation.”
The sun was being colored.