The Primordial Incantation

It was magical power as deep and dark as the ocean depths.

All warriors gazed beyond the horizon.

Compressed to its extreme, the magical power was visible to everyone, it seemed.

They saw it too and trembled just like me.

The compressed magical power formed some kind of shape, but no matter how hard I looked, it wasn’t clear. That dark blue thing seeped into my eyes like the sun, as if blinding me.

“What is that……”

I couldn’t finish my sentence. When I came to my senses, the dark blue magical power had already become a tidal wave sweeping over us. The mana released simultaneously by over 100,000 warriors, the breakwater they wove with it…… collapsed hopelessly like the rotting flesh of a zombie. Any reason I had while trying to understand what was happening flew away, leaving only suffocating flailing.

Up became down, left became right, and with no exit, it was just an eternity of torment.

‘!!!’

It was agony, but I couldn’t feel it. No part of me hurt. Was this a higher-dimensional pain beyond human comprehension? I don’t know why screams were coming out, but…… my feeble mind drowned in a wail of despair.

Crack!

My combat suit, vibrating as if about to break, resisted the magical power. It struggled desperately to push away the magical power swirling all around. But the magical power easily penetrated the combat suit, burrowing into my body and licking at my soul.

My Circle remained silent. Only the feeble magical power (that tiny amount) circulating through my 1-star blood channels boiled and resisted before fading away.

Everything was violated.

Just 10 seconds?

A mere 10 seconds of nightmare nullified my entire life. I cursed the day I was born.

Gulp. Gulp.

Blood kept rising in my throat. It rose until it filled my mouth, then flowed back into my esophagus and windpipe. I was drowning in my own blood.

Boil…

The remnants of my magical power in my blood channels bubbled intermittently like taking a final breath. That sensation was the only evidence I was still alive.

‘Please… please…’

I begged, not even knowing what I was begging for.

Swish-

In the final moment,

I thought I heard the vast magical power scraping against the ground.

Then silence descended.

My feeble magical power that had barely survived rolled around in my blood channels. That sensation brought me back to consciousness.

‘…Am I alive?’

Thud!

Thump!

In the scene that barely registered in my vision, 100,000 warriors collapsed like scarecrows, one after another.

It seemed like we had been swept away by the tidal wave and scattered hundreds of kilometers, but in reality, we had been standing in place the whole time.

They collapsed one by one from where they stood, and in the end, I was the only one left standing.

After sweeping through, the faintly remaining magical power slowly flowed behind me, gathering again in the distance. “It” that had violated 100,000 warriors in one breath was taking form behind my back.

‘Don’t turn around.’

My instinct screamed.

‘Don’t turn around!’

I muttered with my face contorted by tears.

“Don’t… be… ridiculous.”

I had to look. To see what had happened. What “that thing” was. What events had occurred in ancient times!

‘Don’t turn around!’

My feet froze as I began to turn, my body trembled as I started to face backward, and my head stopped with a jerk as it began to turn.

But I finally managed to turn around.

When I managed to turn around with my jaw trembling, there was already nothing there.

Thump.

I collapsed to my knees,

“Haa… haa…”

gasping for breath.

It felt like I had used a lifetime’s worth of courage just to turn around. There was nothing where I had looked, but… that actually seemed fortunate.

Looking around, the 100,000 warriors were… all dead.

Their collapsed bodies looked exactly like the ancient corpses we’d found at the relic site.

Inside their helmets, there were stark bloodstains around their mouths and noses, but otherwise their limbs were pristine. Full-body suits that repelled magical power.

‘Ah… so that’s what it was…’

I suddenly understood. Why the combat suits repelled magical power.

That had been their purpose from the beginning.

They needed anti-magic (抗魔力) properties to somehow resist this absurd attack called Deus’s Strike.

…Looking at this devastation, it seemed pointless anyway.

I crawled along the ground to examine the warriors’ bodies.

The mana patterns clinging to the surface of their combat suits were grotesquely altered. They hadn’t looked like this before Deus’s Strike.

The original mana patterns that symbolized the combat suits had been complex but beautifully ordered.

But now the complex and hideous patterns… were unlike what appeared in virtual reality, and instead resembled the mana patterns we found on the ancient corpses in the real world.

“What is this? Why are these traces left behind?”

I don’t know why, but… I needed to find out something.

I slowly reached out to touch a warrior’s corpse.

Bang!

And lightning struck inside my head.

The mana that had settled on the warrior’s corpse instantly invaded through my fingertips and engulfed me.

‘Damn… it…’

I feel sick.

Bleeding from my eyes, nose, mouth, and ears… I collapsed and died on the spot.

This was my first death in basic training.

And then…

[Absorbed 1080 damage (target: 200). You have cleared Stage 5. You have graduated from basic training.]

Despite being dead, the completion message appeared.

As if dying had been the expected outcome of the mission.

+ – + – +

“You were right not to touch those ancient corpses… You could have died if you did.”

That was Yuria’s reaction after hearing my story.

She shuddered, and beads of dirt fell from her hair.

Currently, Yuria had cleared Stage 3 of basic training and was stuck on Stage 4, but in the process, the cheat-like nature of her Gift [Mystic Eye] had been revealed.

[Mystic Eye] grants the user transcendent perception and kinesthetic abilities.

Thanks to this, she was able to instantly analyze and escape from the Labyrinth Calamity in Stage 2 and the Marsh Calamity in Stage 3.

An ability that was the natural enemy of trap-type calamities.

Also, in Stage 3, she fought an orc one-on-one. She used only a hook gun.

She perfectly copied the movements of Sergeant Bear from the video we’d seen. She used the orc’s “Charge” against it, strangling it to death before it could even activate “Iron Body.”

A mana user defeating an orc single-handedly?

Impossible.

Even I couldn’t do it as a mana user despite having [Simulation].

Even after running ten simulations, I wouldn’t be confident in perfectly imitating Sergeant Bear’s techniques. Yet she did it without practice, in one try.

An incredible achievement. The virtual reality limited how much magical power could be gathered… in real life, she would have formed a 1st Circle instantly.

But the overpowered [Mystic Eye] ability hit a wall at Stage 4. A ten-person team had to fight harpies and ogres. Both C+ rank. If attacks couldn’t penetrate at all, even [Mystic Eye] was useless.

So she immediately abandoned basic training and started physical enhancement training.

The physical enhancement training was somewhat crude. The transparent liquid filling the barracks became extremely heavy and sticky around her, or created rapid currents, and she just had to endure it to train her body. However, this utilized the pink powder we had initially discovered as food. Eating that tasteless stuff and undergoing physical enhancement training caused cells to mutate, granting physical abilities beyond the species’ limits.

Apparently, the process involved extreme pain… but Yuria completed the first stage of physical enhancement training without a single groan.

Having just finished the painful physical enhancement training and dripping with sweat, she wore a disgusted expression after hearing about Stage 5.

“There are all sorts of things out there, huh? To think you could die just from the leftover curse… How did you even survive initially? That’s impressive. Everyone else died, right? Maybe it’s because you’re a 2nd Circle mage…”

That was my question too. The terrifying Deus’s Strike. Why hadn’t I died? Because I was a mage?

I’ve come to a conclusion now.

“I’ve thought about it, and it has nothing to do with Circles. I survived because of blood channel magic.”

“Blood channel magic? Circles weren’t necessary?”

I nodded.

“Yeah. The Circle just existed in my chest area. It didn’t even react when hostile magical power invaded. But the magical power dissolved in my blood channels did resist. Thanks to that, I think I was able to survive a little longer.”

“Blood channel magic can…?”

Her voice was dubious.

Understandably so. The doctrine that Circle magic was superior to blood channel magic was what we’d been taught since childhood.

So I saw blood channel magic in a new light this time too. I had only intended to use it temporarily to boost my immediate combat power…

“Yeah. In fact.”

I paused for a moment before continuing.

“That Deus’s Strike thing. I still don’t know exactly what it was, but… if it was magic, then it was blood channel magic.”

“Blood channel magic?”

Yuria’s eyes widened. I nodded with confidence.

“Yes, according to my classification. Circle magic uses magical power indirectly. A Circle made of magical power creates special mana patterns to manifest magic. My Gift and Teacher Sena’s Gift work similarly. In contrast, blood channel magic uses magical power directly. Magical power spread through blood channels allows the body to transcend limitations once more, and the magical power shot outward has powerful destructive force on its own. By that standard, ‘Deus’s Strike’ is blood channel magic. It’s a method where magical power directly overwhelms you.”

“Ugh… blood channel magic can become that powerful?”

“Yes. Your [Mystic Eye] is also blood channel magic by my criteria. When you activate [Mystic Eye], no mana patterns appear. I just see blue magical power rippling around your body, especially your eyes turning very blue. It’s a method of using magical power directly. Yet it’s quite… powerful, isn’t it?”

“Really? My Gift is blood channel magic… hmm… an interesting topic. If my Gift works that way… would I be better off learning blood channel magic than Circle magic?”

“Maybe, but don’t make assumptions too quickly. Anyway, there’s a more important issue right now.”

Sigh… I exhaled deeply and said.

“…What was it? What could possibly cast such blood channel magic?”

Even now, thinking about it makes my skin crawl.

In a world without magical power, as if consuming all the world’s magical power alone, magical power of such high density it was visible to the naked eye.

An ultimate weapon of the ancient civilization?

Or an ancient mage?

…A god?

“I have a feeling it’s a very important secret.”

“Oh, I’ve been thinking about it too.”

Yuria furrowed her brow with a serious expression.

“It might be… a dragon, an S-rank calamity.”

“Ah…”

Hearing it, the theory made sense. I recalled the power demonstrated by the C+ rank calamities, the harpy and ogre. Dragons were three full ranks higher. At that level… couldn’t they wield such terrifying magical power?

But it was also a depressing theory.

“Damn… if something like that is a calamity…”

I couldn’t finish the sentence. The magical powers were watching us.

But Yuria understood what I was going to say: ‘How could we ever defeat it…’ Yes, that was my true feeling.

Yuria stared into my eyes. Then she nodded firmly.

“We still have to try. First, continue your training and keep challenging Stage 5. You said you felt magical power gathering behind you again, right? Next time, try to survive longer and confirm what gathered behind you. If it seems like a being capable of communication, try talking to it. Better yet, make a covenant. Promise that you’ll confirm its identity with your own eyes before leaving this place. Even if it’s difficult right now, considering time acceleration, we still have 98 days left.”

Hearing this, I felt a surge of anger.

Turn around and confirm?

Try talking to it?

Easier said than done…

I’m even afraid to attempt Stage 5 again. Just thinking about it makes me dizzy. Though it was only a virtual reality encounter… my very soul feels traumatized.

I’ve already cleared Stage 5, so… do I really have to face that hell again?

But Yuria was cruel and cunning.

“Are you scared?”

With that single question, the magical powers turned their attention to me.

…Damn it.

An unfair question from the wilderness.

To the question ‘Are you scared?’ there was only one answer a mage could give. If I really didn’t want to answer, I could kill the questioner or attack them to force an apology, but…

Sigh… damn it. What nomad chief would corner the Nomad’s leader like this?

“No. I covenant. I will face it. Before leaving this place.”

I answered with clenched teeth, trying not to let my lips tremble.

As I answered, I was crying inside.

<Really? Can he do it?>

<He says he’ll face it! Is it true?>

<He really is different.>

Despite this being just a virtual reality task, the magical powers showed an incomprehensibly excessive expectation. The penalty for failure grew larger.

…I cried once more inside.

“Aaaaargh!”

In the distance, Monggu, who had died in Stage 1, woke up again. It was as if he was screaming for me.

+ – + – +

“Let’s go.”

The next day.

In the azure dawn, Han Se-hoon, the 3rd Circle mage who had descended from the Tower of Covenant, left the Talon School Caravan.

Two 2nd Circle mages, five 1st Circle mages, and twenty-one mana users followed him. Powerful enough to claim dominance over the entire Saharan Plains region, excluding Trimacos City.

Han Se-hoon had promised entry to the city for those below 1st Circle, and entry to the Tower of Covenant for those of 2nd Circle. Were they all desperate? Better forces than expected had gathered.

‘There’s a possibility.’

Han Se-hoon gazed at the plains in the distance with fierce eyes.

‘We can reach the relic in six more nights. Breakthrough of defense systems and internal exploration… at most, everything will be decided in two weeks.’

In two weeks… I’ll know my fate. Reflecting on this once more, Han Se-hoon strengthened his resolve again.