Chapter 37

“Hey, did it just say Weapon Depot?”

Yuria was shocked.

“It… talks?”

Monggu was shocked too.

I urgently pulled the two who were standing there dumbfounded.

“Just get inside!”

I practically threw them inside. An ancient relic site from an unknown era.

Drawn into this mysterious place, the two looked around with wide eyes. But… there’s nothing to see right now.

“A white… room?”

Yuria muttered.

Beyond the blue barrier, we were faced with a pure white space. I initially thought the same – a spotless white room without a trace of imperfection… that’s how it seemed at first.

But that’s not it. This isn’t a ‘room’ of pure white.

It’s just… an intensely bright light filling the space from all directions. The light continues to grow stronger.

“Ugh! It hurts!”

Yuria covered her eyes with her hands. Yes. The light was intensifying in real time until it was physically painful to look at.

I grabbed Monggu and Yuria by the hands and ran forward.

‘Damn… until the very end…!’

My heart pounded wildly. The whispering of magical powers kept echoing in my ears.

<Loading complete.>

<Preparing to fire.>

<Ten.>

<Nine.>

<Eight.>

…

This light seemed to be of the same kind as the flash we saw earlier.

If I’m not mistaken, this is a countdown, and my instincts were sounding a frantic alarm that we needed to get out of here before it reaches zero.

No matter how far I ran, the space filled with light showed no signs of ending, and I kept increasing my speed.

“Urgh…!”

“Ugh!”

Yuria and Monggu, their arms gripped by me, were practically airborne as I dragged them along. They suppressed groans as their pulled arms were likely being strained. But there’s no helping it. I pushed my speed even higher.

<Two.>

<One.>

‘Just a little faster!’

Whoosh!

Crash!

Suddenly it turned dark before my eyes. I tumbled across the floor, and Yuria and Monggu also rolled away somewhere.

I quickly rubbed my eyes, but couldn’t see anything in the darkness. It wasn’t because the room was dark.

After leaving the excessively bright room, the afterimage remained on my retinas.

Despite being under normal lighting, it felt like I was in a pitch-black place with nothing visible.

<Fire.>

Whoooom-!

At that moment, a strange vibration shook the entire space.

“Ah….”

A deflated sigh escaped my lips.

The afterimage that had prevented me from seeing anything was filled again with a brilliant white light.

Beyond the blue barrier, the white space completely transformed, and the magical powers that had been lined up as if in a theatrical performance scattered in all directions, screaming incomprehensibly.

The blue barrier beyond was bleached white, and a thunderous explosion that seemed to shake the heavens echoed.

Then, it became remarkably quiet.

Total destruction.

The end of everything in the Guardian’s Forest and all it contained…

“…We survived.”

I slumped to the floor.

We survived, but I didn’t feel happy.

Of course not.

+ – + – +

Magic and covenants are inseparable.

Covenants aren’t just a means to gather magical power.

Circle mages took it a step further and used the power of the covenant itself.

Covenants made with a Circle influence the world. When a Circle mage fulfills all their covenants, at some point those covenants begin to function as a kind of law, a self-fulfilling prophecy.

For instance, the ancient mage Trimacos left an eternal covenant after keeping one hundred covenants.

-Whoever uses fire magic in the Saharan Plains shall be able to use the very same fire magic that I used. This is a covenant I make in the name of Trimacos.

The Saharan Plains encompasses the Green River Crossroad, Red Tree Crossroad, Blade Beak Plains, and Guardian’s Graveyard, among other vast regions that Sena School Nomad had traveled through.

At its center stands the city of Trimacos, built by the mage Trimacos.

Circle mages in this region often borrowed the ancient mage Trimacos’s magic to use powerful magic with less burden and higher success rates.

Add a few magical techniques discovered after Trimacos, and they could cast particularly powerful spells.

[Grrrr……]

The Trimacos Basin is a depression adjacent to Trimacos City, also called the backyard of Trimacos City.

The Calamity of Night – five orcs stood in the middle of the basin.

It wasn’t just orcs. Surrounding them, a maze of brick walls that didn’t blend with the landscape spread out, occasionally shifting with a rumbling sound.

This was the ‘Calamity of the Labyrinth-Trimacos Brick Road,’ a calamity that appears suddenly and traps travelers.

It was so notorious that 80 percent of disappearances near Trimacos City were attributed to this ‘Brick Road.’

The appearance of calamities that would normally cause everyone to flee in panic. But rather than running away, over a hundred people were busy surrounding the calamities. They weren’t surprised by the concentration of calamities in one place.

After all, they had lured these calamities here themselves.

“Whew… are the preparations complete?”

Hurulan, the mayor of Trimacos and the greatest mage of the Saharan Plains, a 3rd Circle powerhouse, muttered while looking east.

He stood with his left fist clenched and extended forward. Sweat dripped profusely from his clenched hand and forehead.

Grrrr……

Raaaar!

Beyond, the orcs showed hostility and struggled, but they couldn’t move from their spots as if held by an invisible force.

Wiping sweat from his forehead, Hurulan tightened his fist.

Raaaa!

The orcs howled in frustration at the constricting pain.

But Hurulan’s Gift, ‘Telekinesis,’ didn’t release the orcs.

Rumble. Rumble.

The Calamity of the Labyrinth wasn’t affected by telekinesis, but it didn’t suddenly move to attack humans either.

A totem designed to reverse movement barrier magic, attracting calamities, had been placed in the center of the maze. The Calamity of the Labyrinth was focused on this bait, unaware of the humans around it.

For two hours already. The calamities, caught by telekinesis and lured by bait, hadn’t moved from that spot.

Clop, clop, clop.

Finally, the moment Hurulan had been waiting for arrived.

“Twenty bags of pine needle powder have all been distributed to the eastern sector.”

Listening to the report from his adjutant who arrived on horseback, Hurulan nodded.

“Yes. I can see it.”

“As expected…!”

At the single word “see,” the adjutant’s eyes shone with respect.

Hurulan possessed the ‘Magical Vision’ talent, considered a mark of a first-rate mage.

He was currently observing the magical power rising like heat shimmer from all four directions. Although he couldn’t see colors and could only detect faint ripples, even this level of perception was possessed by less than 5 percent of all mages, making it an exceptional talent that the adjutant, an ordinary 2nd Circle mage, couldn’t help but admire…

“So… can we skip the inspection?”

“Yes. The mixture is appropriate. I can already see the magical powers greatly agitated.”

The adjutant’s eyes sparkled with admiration again. Mages without magical vision needed to perform separate magical inspections to verify preparations were correct. But Hurulan could confirm the state of preparation with just a glance.

“Huff… now I’ll trigger the mana cascade.”

Taking a deep breath, Hurulan kept his extended left fist in place and began chanting.

The ‘mana cascade’ was activated through a common powerful incantation used throughout the Star Continent.

“By the names of the sages inscribed in the Tower of Covenant, I speak. A thousand eyes and ten thousand hands. Remember that day. Remember that day. Reveal your true form!”

Woong wang woong!

Hurulan’s three Circles moved vigorously. Though Hurulan couldn’t see it, the gray mana spurting from his Circles spread out, forming bizarre patterns. Like an eerie abstract painting, the mana pattern met with the magical powers raging in all four directions.

Wheeee!

A strong wind swept through the basin. The agitated magical powers seemed to scream, producing even more mana patterns. One mana pattern became two, two became four, and endlessly increasing numbers of grotesque and rough lines of mana rose without end.

True to its name, mana cascaded like an avalanche, covering the world.

Hurulan couldn’t see mana, but… if Baek Jun-woo had been here, he would have been speechless with awe and fear.

Grrrr……?

The orcs sensed something and paused their struggles, shrinking their shoulders.

“Adjutant! Check the magical terrain!”

“Yes!”

The adjutant opened a leather pouch and scattered magical ingredients into the air – pine needle powder, ash from mugwort and peach branches.

Wheeee!

Materials that would normally have scattered in the wind showed strange behavior in response to the mana cascade. The green-dyed pine needle powder whirled like a tornado, the red-dyed peach branch ash fell to the ground, then gathered and rose into the air before exploding and falling again. Other colored powders floated hazily around them.

After carefully observing this, Hurulan nodded.

“Draw a strengthening array with pine needle powder around me.”

“Understood!”

While the adjutant quickly created a magical array, Hurulan closed his eyes and concentrated.

The mana cascade technique was a secret art representing first-class mages.

Triggering a mana cascade activates surrounding magical power and mana, allowing one to draw upon power normally imperceptible and uncontrollable.

The first application is efficient magical enhancement arrays, and the second is the Primordial Incantation.

Mumble mumble

Amid the faint agitation of magical power, Hurulan heard tiny voices. As if many people were talking at once – chaotic but too quiet to distinguish.

‘Focus… focus…’

After concentrating for a while, Hurulan finally caught one particularly clear tiny voice. Unlike human language, he couldn’t grasp its meaning. But at least he could hear it distinctly.

‘$##%^!’

‘#A#$??!’

<Run away!!>

‘AK$#$!’

The Primordial Incantation.

Of course, the Primordial Incantation obtained artificially through a mana cascade was just a one-time use, available only while the mana cascade lasted.

‘But even a one-time use can have an effect similar to the Primordial Incantation!’

Hurulan smiled triumphantly and repeated the Primordial Incantation exactly.

“Wun away!!”

Woong!

The hair all over his body stood on end.

Internal and external magical powers reacted sensitively simultaneously.

Hurulan didn’t know what the Primordial Incantation <Run away!!> meant, so he merely imitated the sound as closely as possible. The more accurately one mimics the sound, the greater the effect… and ‘Wun away!’ was a fairly close approximation.

‘Good! Firepower will be tripled at least. Add the enhancement array, and that’s quadruple!’

“Enhancement array complete!”

Hearing his adjutant’s report, Hurulan raised his right hand high. Finally, the time had come for the finale.

“Rain down! Flames of Trimacos!”

Hurulan slashed his raised right hand downward.

Wang-!

Following the ancient mage’s covenant, his Circles moved vigorously, producing mana patterns. The world responds to the mana pattern.

From the sky, white-hot flames fell like rain.

Grraaaa!

Raaaa!

The raining flames melted the orcs.

Once attached, the flames never extinguished, and occasionally went Boom! causing massive explosions that scattered melted flesh in all directions.

With a Rumble! the Calamity of the Labyrinth also began to collapse.

Brick walls that wouldn’t crumble even under a Mana User’s full-strength blows broke and melted like straw.

Five orcs and one Calamity of the Labyrinth slowly… disappeared.

“Incredible… was that the Primordial Incantation just now? But… ‘wanway?’ What does that mean?”

The new adjutant was a talented individual who reached 2nd Circle at thirty and was correspondingly curious. Looking at him with sparkling eyes, Hurulan smiled kindly.

“Not ‘wanway,’ but ‘wun away!’ And as you’ll learn when you reach the Tower… the Primordial Incantation cannot be understood by its meaning. Historical records mention that ancient mages could understand the meaning, but… who knows if that’s true.”

“Ah… I see.”

The adjutant’s expression suggested he would have taken notes if he had a notebook.

Hurulan patted the adjutant’s shoulder while observing the perishing calamities.

There were no anomalies. The calamities melted and burned in the white flames. Their breath ceased, and they were thoroughly destroyed.

It was an impressive feat – simultaneously silencing five D-class orcs and one D+-class Calamity of the Labyrinth.

“I never thought I’d see such a sight in my lifetime….”

The adjutant was impressed again.

Finding this amusing, Hurulan engaged in conversation while gradually relaxing.

“Indeed. Even I’m experiencing something I’ve only read about in history books… It’s a curious feeling. The great calamity migration… the last record was two hundred years ago, wasn’t it?”

“Yes! It’s truly thrilling.”

After responding energetically, the adjutant shuddered slightly before asking another question with sparkling eyes.

“By the way, Mayor, do you know? Why do the high-ranked calamities, C-class and above, move to the Guardian’s Graveyard?”

The adjutant was genuinely curious. Of course, Hurulan had also wondered about this and had searched through various documents using his authority as mayor, but…

“Well… since no one has seen what the calamities do there, we can’t be sure. But… what’s certain is that calamities perish there. According to historical records, after such mass migrations, the sun rises over the Guardian’s Plains.”

“The sun, sir?”

“Yes. The sun descending to earth. After this sun passes, high-ranked calamities completely disappear from the region. A period of peace arrives.”

“Peace… the very word sounds sweet.”

“But it doesn’t last long. Calamities will appear again from somewhere. Maybe a year? During that time, we need to hunt as many low-ranked calamities as possible. This is when we must strengthen the city’s power.”

“I’ll do my utmost!”

With C-class calamities and above all gone, they could hunt D-class calamities without worry for the next year.

An opportunity that comes once every two hundred years.

Hunting calamities yields enormous magical power, and their cores or remains can be used to craft powerful magical devices.

Thus, in the coming year, the city will grow stronger, and the survival rate of nomads will increase.

Humanity will become stronger.

Hurulan and his adjutant smiled together, filled with hope and determination.

…!!!

Suddenly, a part of their vision turned white.

From the direction of the Guardian’s Graveyard, a brilliant white flash emerged.

It was so bright they couldn’t look directly at it.

Boom! Rumble-rumble…

The explosion sound that seemed to shake even the sky followed the light with a delay.

“The sun….”

The adjutant murmured.

The legendary sun that appears at the Guardian’s Graveyard and annihilates all calamities.

The adjutant trembled.

“Congratulations. The first peace period in two hundred years….”

Squinting against the bright light, Hurulan smiled warmly.