novelraw Chapter 121 : Chapter 121
Chapter 121 : Chapter 121
Chapter 121. Archmage
Roderick was horrified.
He tumbled off the throne.
Had the carpet on the hall floor not been soft, he likely would have been seriously injured.
“Kh… uugh.”
Fallen, Roderick clutched his waist and groaned in pain.
Mapheltan let out a snort of laughter.
He slowly descended the steps of the throne.
“Roderick, I’ll ask again. What was so amusing?”
There was no trace of a smile left on Roderick’s face.
Frozen in place, he dragged himself backward across the floor on his rear.
“A-A demon! A demon has appeared! Is no one out there?!”
Mapheltan clicked his tongue. Thick miasma rose from his hand and coiled around Roderick.
The black smoke sealed off Roderick’s airways.
He could no longer speak.
All he could do was choke as though he were on the verge of death.
Mapheltan approached and said,
“Mortal, if you do something foolish one more time, I will cut off your breath for good.”
The capital was crawling with high-ranking priests, holy knights, and elite knights.
If discovered, Mapheltan would face serious trouble.
To avoid such risk, the king’s mouth had to be shut first.
Roderick began to scratch at his neck violently, convulsing.
His eyes became bloodshot.
He was dying of suffocation.
Just as he was about to lose his breath entirely, Mapheltan withdrew the miasma.
Black smoke spewed from Roderick’s mouth.
“Kh… huugh!”
Collapsed on the floor, he coughed up the rest of the bile.
He writhed in intense pain.
Mapheltan spoke in a chilling tone.
“Etch my warning into your memory.”
Roderick, his eyes bloodshot, glared at Mapheltan.
“…Demon, what are you? Are you a servant of Muel?”
At the mention of Muel, Mapheltan’s expression twisted.
‘The king mentioned Muel earlier too.’
It was far too soon for Muel to appear.
That being wasn’t summoned until well into the latter part of the original story.
And yet the king had uttered Muel’s name not once, but twice.
— Ahahahahaha! All that arrogance, and look at you now! You’ll be offered as a sacrifice to Muel!
That was exactly what Roderick had said to Ilea.
And just now, he had asked Mapheltan if he served Muel.
To Mapheltan, the situation was deeply puzzling.
He furrowed his brow.
“Muel. Where did you hear that name?”
Roderick, still sprawled on the floor, gave a twisted grin.
“I made a pact with Muel. No matter who or what you are, you have no right to treat me with such disrespect.”
Muel was a high-ranking archdemon, one of the top-tier entities of the lower realms.
No demon on earth could harm a contractor of Muel.
The authority of a numbered archdemon held tremendous sway among demonkind.
Of course, there were exceptions.
If it was an Apostle of the End, there was no need to care about an archdemon’s authority.
Mapheltan let out a chuckle.
“Roderick, it seems you still have no idea who I am.”
The appearance of the Thirteenth Apostle of the End, Mapheltan, was already widely known.
Reports about him had naturally reached the royal family, but Roderick had failed to connect the information with the figure standing before him.
After all, it was difficult for him to even imagine an Apostle being inside the royal palace.
With a slightly tense face, Roderick spoke.
“…And who are you?”
Mapheltan made an awkward face and replied,
“Well, I don’t mean to boast, but I’m the Thirteenth Apostle of the End. Someone far beyond comparison with the likes of Muel.”
Roderick narrowed his eyes.
Only now did Mapheltan’s appearance register fully.
The pitch-black exoskeleton covering his body, massive wings, two white horns sprouting from his forehead, and eyes red as blood—everything matched the reports describing the demon.
Roderick was shaken to the core.
His jaw dropped, and his pupils trembled.
The demon before him was an Apostle.
“H-How could an Apostle be in the palace…?”
The path to the royal palace was layered with countless anti-demon defense systems.
The stronger and darker the miasma, the more aggressively the system would respond.
There was no way it could have failed to detect the immense presence of an Apostle.
Mapheltan snorted.
“Did you really think such a flimsy structure could stop me? If you truly believed that, then you’re deluded beyond saving.”
By using his Authority, Chimya, the defense systems were utterly ineffective against Mapheltan.
Roderick’s eyes began to roll again.
He seemed to be trying to communicate with someone.
When it failed, he cursed under his breath.
“D-Damn it!”
Mapheltan clicked his tongue.
“If you’re thinking of calling on your little handler, forget it. That one’s too busy dealing with the witch.”
Ilea had voluntarily been kidnapped.
By now, she was probably interrogating her kidnapper instead.
Roderick bit his lip.
“T-The witch… What is she? What do you want from me?!”
Mapheltan grabbed the king’s throat and lifted him into the air.
Roderick thrashed in midair.
Mapheltan spoke indifferently.
“You just need to provide me with information. Tell me everything you know about Muel.”
Now that the name Muel had been uttered, the priority had shifted.
Mapheltan had to hear everything related to Muel.
The appearance of the archdemon Muel was a variable capable of overturning the entire narrative.
Mapheltan tightened his grip on Roderick’s throat.
He was pressing him to speak.
With great effort, Roderick’s mouth opened.
***
A strange space surrounded Yohan (Ilea).
Thousands upon thousands of books lined the shelves, along with countless experimental tools.
It looked like a study—or perhaps a laboratory.
The witch found the space itself fascinating.
Yohan looked around with sparkling eyes.
His gaze landed on a towering bookshelf.
One black book in particular caught his attention.
Yohan immediately pulled it from the shelf.
But it was impossible to check the contents.
The black book was tightly bound in chains. It was likely a Cursed Scripture.
The witch could not contain her curiosity. She was ready to break the seal.
Just as she was about to cast a spell, a voice rang out from somewhere.
“Hey! Where do you think you’re putting your filthy hands? That’s not yours.”
Yohan turned toward the voice.
A woman in a white coat was walking slowly toward him from straight ahead.
She was a pure white being.
Eyes, hair, skin, clothing—everything about her was as white as snow.
Yohan gave an awkward smile.
“Sorry. I was just so curious, I didn’t even realize…”
The woman stared at Yohan and tilted her head.
“But who are you? I definitely summoned the Watcher of the Abyss, but what I see is some mage… No, wait. Not quite a mage either. Sorry, but would you mind taking off that mask?”
She had already seen through a good part of Yohan’s identity.
Yohan let out a note of admiration.
“Amazing. That you noticed so quickly.”
He immediately dispelled the magic.
Ilea’s true form appeared.
The white-haired woman swept her eyes over Ilea’s entire figure.
“…You’re a strange little thing. Clearly an immense level of skill, but I don’t see any signs of Shedding. What exactly are you?”
Shedding referred to a state beyond aging and mortality.
Unless one had undergone Shedding, no young girl like Ilea could possibly possess such magical ability.
The white woman could roughly perceive Ilea’s magical standing.
Ilea was undoubtedly someone with power comparable to an Archmage.
Ilea smiled with her eyes.
“A mystery. Why don’t you try guessing, ma’am?”
The woman’s face twisted.
She was obviously young and beautiful.
But ma’am? The white-haired woman was offended.
“Ma’am? Are you mocking me right now?”
“Sorry. But I can… kind of see your true nature.”
The white-haired woman was an Archmage.
A Shed being—one of the few transcendents in this world.
She was a powerhouse on par with Wolfgang Eisenpelt, the Northern Guardian.
The woman let out a snort, unimpressed.
“Hmph. Cheeky little girl, thinking she’s my equal. Whatever. From now on, call me Lady Lumina. With ‘Lady’ attached. If you call me ma’am or grandma again, you’ll regret it.”
She clearly detested being seen as old.
Ilea nodded with a smile.
“Understood, Lady Lumina. Now, would you like to guess my identity?”
Lumina began inspecting Ilea closely.
She circled around, observing from every angle.
Soon, Lumina cried out,
“You… don’t tell me—you’re a Witch, aren’t you?!”
Ilea clapped her hands loudly.
“Wow, amazing. Correct.”
Lumina clicked her tongue in disbelief.
“No wonder you gave off a vibe like Rahel.”
Rahel was known as the Last Witch.
She had died well over fifty years ago.
A flicker of interest sparked in Ilea’s eyes.
“You knew Rahel?”
Lumina replied nonchalantly.
“Of course. Rahel was rather fond of me. Said I was a once-in-a-millennium genius among humans or whatever. Anyway, you must be her daughter?”
Ilea made a slightly pensive face.
“…Daughter might be a bit of a stretch, but close enough.”
“Well, witches do have their peculiar biology.”
“You seem to know quite a bit about witches.”
“I might know more than you do. Which is why I still don’t get it. Why is a witch mingling with humans? And not just anyone—but the Watcher of the Abyss?”
Ilea paused in thought.
She calculated how much she could safely disclose.
She felt she shouldn’t mention Yohan or Mapheltan just yet.
So she posed a question instead.
“Then what about you, Lady Lumina? Why are you aligned with a human king? Roderick seemed nothing more than a commoner to me.”
There was nothing about King Roderick that would interest an Archmage.
To her, Roderick was nothing but a weed.
Lumina spoke up.
“I received a prophecy from Lord Muel. That on the night of the full moon, the capital’s barrier would be lifted. If I established myself in the capital during that time, I would encounter the Lord of Ten Thousand Demons.”
A couple of months ago, the capital’s barrier had been broken.
At the full moon, a swarm of elves had invaded the capital through the cracks.
Lumina had settled in the capital that day as well.
She had known what would happen in advance thanks to Muel’s prophecy.
Ilea’s expression hardened slightly.
“If the ‘Lord of Ten Thousand Demons’ in that prophecy is…”
Lumina cut her off.
She cried out with a rapturous expression.
“Of course—it’s the Apostle of the End! The moment I meet him, I’ll transcend once more!”
To surpass the rank of Archmage required many conditions.
One of them was a contract with an Apostle.
Lumina had fulfilled nearly all other conditions, but had never made such a contract.
For centuries, there had been no Apostles in the world.
But now it was different.
The Thirteenth Apostle of the End had emerged.
The moment she entered a contract with him, Lumina would ascend to a greater state.
Her eyes sparkled brilliantly.