Chapter 124

It seemed she had “combined” the Dragon Heart with her Circle.

‘Similar to how Iron Blood flows in my veins… but on a much higher level.’

The object she’d combined with was none other than the heart of an S-grade Night Calamity dragon. Moreover, while Iron Blood merely resided within my bloodstream, his Dragon Heart was completely fused with her Circle.

‘How is this possible?’

Gulp.

Ah, I’m salivating involuntarily.

I had “evolved” Iron Blood using my magical power. That’s how Iron Blood was able to establish itself in my blood vessels. There was no rejection because we shared the same magical power. So had this little Saint also “evolved” the Dragon Heart with her own magical power? But how?

The direction of “evolution” is random. Even I, with [Simulation], couldn’t deliberately determine the direction of evolution. How on earth could one mix a Dragon Heart into something as sensitive as a Circle?

Of course, it’s possible this was all coincidental. Perhaps she happened to obtain a Dragon Heart and somehow it accidentally merged with her Circle… a novel-like stroke of luck.

But what made me kick aside such assumptions was her fighting style.

It wasn’t just the Circle.

She had combined it with her body too.

The Twin Fang Blade imbued with <God-Slaying Lightning> drew a brilliant white ink painting.

She responded by pulling off her left hand ring and blocking the Twin Fang Blade with her bare forearm.

Can you believe it?

Her robe burst open, revealing a pale white forearm with a single trickle of blood. But that was it. She wasn’t even a Ki-blood magic practitioner, yet she blocked a Twin Fang Blade imbued with <God-Slaying Lightning> with just her forearm, suffering nothing more than a paper cut!

Red scales flashed across her impacted arm before disappearing.

The ring had been a kind of seal. The moment she removed it, the mana constituting Beatrice’s left arm completely changed, and magical power flowed from deep within her bones. She had been using the ring to seal this power—too powerful to be mixed with a human body. A substance that could easily block <God-Slaying Lightning>, which had dealt significant damage even to an A+ grade calamity vampire lord.

“What is that? Dragon bone and blood? Did you combine that too? With your body?”

She kept her mouth shut, but as we fought, the answer became increasingly clear.

[Magic Eye-<Interference>!]

When I paralyzed her using Yuria’s Gift, she moved her shadow to counter me.

Yes… she had combined something with her shadow too.

This time it wasn’t a dragon. Countless calamities had been combined with her shadow.

Sometimes her shadow struck me like a Night Calamity-Ogre, sometimes it became a swamp calamity to bind my feet. At times, it became a poison calamity targeting my respiratory system.

This little girl who kept pulling out new powers… was like a magician endlessly drawing cards.

Truly fantastic…

“What’s your Gift? Is it related to ‘Combination’?”

While threatening her with my Twin Fang Blade,

[Fatal Wound!]

[Spatial Leap!]

[Telekinesis!]

I kept asking questions as I surpassed Beatrice’s attacks using replicated Gifts. I licked my increasingly dry lips. Somehow, Beatrice seemed disgusted and attacked more fiercely.

“Sh-shut up! Don’t come closer!”

She spewed fire from her shadow and tried to petrify me with a Basilisk’s gaze. I couldn’t help but admire her. Wow… how can she have such a variety of techniques?

[Cheeild!]

I summoned a beam shield to block the fire and

[Sooooo-wing!]

Used <Sowing> that I’d learned from Hedric to bloom plants. The interesting thing was that these plants absorbed surrounding phenomena and adopted them as their own traits. The green plants that sprouted around me absorbed the Basilisk’s petrifying power. Thus, <Sowing> unexpectedly became the ultimate dispel spell. Well, not entirely, but still.

“Aaaagh! How many spells do you know?! You pervert!”

Beatrice screamed.

‘That’s not true? I don’t know that many spells. And why am I a pervert?’

I kept my rebuttal to myself.

Instead, I continued asking questions aloud. I was curious. Desperately so.

If I could uncover the secret of Beatrice’s “combination,” I might be able to combine Ari and Iron Blood at will. No, I could “evolve” and combine many more things. It would be a major step toward my dream of creating a “magical exoskeleton.”

I couldn’t miss such an opportunity.

“Now I see it’s not just ‘combination.’ You can control calamities too, right? I thought that was your Gift… but to both ‘combine’ and ‘control’… what exactly is it? How can you do this? Don’t tell me you have two Gifts?”

“Sh-shut up! Aaagh! Sister Kaisel! Help me…! Huh? Sister Kaisel’s arm…?”

“See? Resistance is futile. Give up and come with me.”

“Don’t be… ridiculous!”

My goodness.

The more Beatrice resisted, the more unbearably curious I became. It’s like when you’re so hungry that your stomach actually hurts… that’s exactly how I felt. My impatience grew.

‘Damn, why is this kid so strong? I can’t subdue her properly!’

As my frustration mounted, my eyes burned feverishly and saliva kept dripping from my mouth.

Swallowing repeatedly, I asked. No, I begged.

“Tell me. Please. Hm? No, you don’t have to. Just stay still for a moment. Let me look. Your Circle. Let me see your Circle.”

“Eee, eeeek!”

Beatrice suddenly screamed like a child.

Eventually,

“I’m… I’m scared…”

The Saint of Ragnarok, one of the most terrifying entities in the Tower of Covenant.

She said she was scared of me.

* * *

‘I’m speechless. Is this… is this what hell is like…?’

At that moment,

The leader of the Cloud Valley Research Nomad, Aint, was shaking his chin.

He had become a 4th Circle mage at forty, abandoning a comfortable life to become a field researcher. Everywhere he went, cruel calamities abounded, and people suffered. Still, he never gave up, fighting and researching until the end, overcoming what he thought were the “worst” situations many times. That’s what he had believed until now.

‘I was naive.’

This is what “worst” truly meant.

Woong!

Brrrr!

His ears were filled with the sound of wailing guardian charms.

‘So this is what happens when there are too many calamities.’

Woong! Woong! from the mage beside him, Whiiiing! Whiiiing! from the mage flying yonder. The sound of a thousand guardian charms wailing in unison was a nightmare itself.

‘Will we make it back alive? Ah… this is terrible…’

Having been positioned at the very front line, the entire nomad was now isolated amid calamities. Judging by the singing still audible from the rear, the overall formation seemed to be holding… but this place was a living hell. Somehow feeling like this situation was all his fault, Aint’s chest felt heavy.

Seven members standing in a circle, backs pressed together, trembling…

‘What are we supposed to do…?’

“Huh? Huh? Leader! The guardian charm! The guardian charm!”

The nomad’s youngest member, 2nd Circle mage Hojin, screamed. Looking back, Aint saw his guardian charm turning black from the edges and melting away.

“Corrosion calamity!”

“Leader! Leader! What should I…?”

Aint pulled the panicking Hojin to the center of the formation.

“It’s okay! You stay there! Everyone increase your guardian charm output!”

“Yes!”

The members each took out mana coins and mana bills from their pockets to feed their guardian charms. The more money that turned to dust with a psshhh sound, the safer they would be, if only slightly.

‘How pathetic.’

They weren’t fighting. As soon as they became isolated, the order came: ‘Deploy personal barriers and stand by. Avoid using spells other than guardian charms if possible!’

It was a reasonable order.

Using magic raises aggro. In other words, spells should only be used when their effects outweigh the increased aggro. Otherwise, using spells results in a net loss.

And the isolated Aint nomad, unable to participate in the multi-control spell, had no way to cast spells with such good efficiency. So, maintaining barriers and hiding like the dead… was beneficial both for Aint’s nomad and for the entire ‘Great Cataclysm Emergency Committee.’

But…

‘Cowering like mice in the middle of the battlefield’—this miserable task was proving too difficult… Aint felt like he might cry.

“Leader! My Light is all gone! I’ve reached the limit of increasing guardian charm output! Cough! Cough cough, hack!”

Senior member Layla, reporting, suddenly coughed up blood. Red rashes appeared on her face.

“Disease calamity…”

Someone groaned in a suppressed voice.

“It’s okay! Layla, come to the center too! I have some Light left! Use this to neutralize it for now!”

Aint rummaged through his pockets and handed over 0.1 Morning, equivalent to 100 Light. Layla fed the 100 Light to her guardian charm to activate ‘Neutralization.’ Her complexion eased. But… it was ultimately just a stopgap measure.

‘I would have preferred fighting the senior inquisitors…’

Aint thought.

The inquisitors were busy dealing with the multi-control spells from the rear and weren’t paying attention to the stragglers at the front. That’s why everyone was just holding out under their barriers. But now, he wished he could fight them instead.

The calamities gnawing at their barriers and slowly approaching were as terrible as death itself. Like a mouse caught in a sticky trap, futilely struggling before slowly perishing… that’s how he felt. Helpless and miserable.

“Just a bit more! Let’s hold on a bit longer! Once the Divine Mage defeats Ragnarok’s witch, the situation will change!”

Aint tried once more to boost morale.

‘But can that really happen?’

Doubt crept in.

‘Of course, the Divine Mage is showing remarkable performance as always, but… can we hold out until then?’

If they died, it wouldn’t be the Divine Mage’s fault, but because they who followed him were too weak and insufficient…

Were they really that pathetic?

In this dire situation, his resolve kept threatening to break.

It was at that moment that a clear voice casting a spell echoed across the battlefield.

“To put it in metaphor, <I shall shoot the sun.>”

About 18 years old? A girl with sky-blue hair that seemed to glisten with moisture.

She was different.

Until now, he had thought of her as just a talented 3rd Circle mage following the Divine Mage… but she was different.

Among other mages trembling under their barriers, she alone shone brightly.

As if unafraid of drawing aggro,

As if confident she would gain far more than what she lost from the aggro,

She cast her spell without a hint of hesitation.

And the silver spell she shot was truly…

‘Beautiful.’

The <Saíl> shown by the Divine Mage had been so high-dimensional that he couldn’t really feel anything. It was impressive, but he couldn’t understand it enough to be moved. But Yuria’s spell could be seen and felt by all the mages present. They were moved. Even the vampire lord’s piercing scream sounded like the finale of a great play.

Murmur, murmur.

The surviving crowd stirred.

Like insects drawn to light…

Toward the beautiful sky-blue light blooming in this gloomy despair, everyone unconsciously took one step, then another.

But Yuria, turning her head, wasn’t smiling. With furrowed brows, she seriously reported the situation through the communication magical device attached to her collar.

“Ambush! 90 degrees to the right from Mage of Refinement’s position. Knight Order appearing. Will be within range in 2 minutes!”

It was a dramatic change of expression.

The survivors who had been looking at Yuria with reverent expressions now grimaced like cursed undead upon hearing that the Knight Order was launching an ambush.

‘The Knight Order is ambushing us? While we’re just standing here with our barriers, unable to do anything?’

But amid that gloom, another hope emerged.

Thud!

A sturdy man dropped from the sky.

He wore a helmet that completely covered his head and a robust suit over his entire body. Mysterious metal fragments floated around the suit, occasionally flashing with green electricity.

He was a somewhat famous figure. The knight who followed the Divine Mage. The only knight who didn’t antagonize mages.

He spoke into his communication magical device.

“L-Lytol! S-Sun Rise to sweep away the c-calamities! S-survivors! When Sun Rise activates, you are p-permitted to use spells again! L-let’s break the Knight Order’s spearhead together! B-believe! W-we can win!”

Another secret weapon of the Baek Jun-woo Research Nomad, positioned to block the Knight Order’s charge.

Monggu.

‘…He doesn’t inspire much confidence.’

That was Aint’s first impression of Monggu.