Chapter 166.
"This should be enough." I inserted the magic stone into the core of my magic wand and cast the magic. "Magic Circles 7, 8, 9, open!"
My magic wand transferred the enormous surge of mana from the magic stone to the circles I had activated. All three of them were recharged in an instant, shooting out magic chains that began to cover the turtle's whole body.
"How, how did you-!" William and the magicians were surprised and stopped attacking, staring blankly at the magic chains that moved according to my will.
A magic circle basically worked like a program. Because these had been created hastily to deal with the great demon, their encryption was awful and it wasn’t difficult to gain control of them. So, the real reason for William and the magicians’ surprise was probably that, according to common sense, it was impossible to provide energy to all of those huge magic circles at once.
Sometimes, however, common sense could easily betray those who blindly believed in it.
"Kaoooo!” As it was tied up again, the turtle began to wail and struggle.
Hearing the cries of the great demon, William regained his senses and began to blindly fire ice magic toward the turtle's head, yelling, "Glacial Spear!"
I also flew up to the turtle's head and cast a spell, selecting an attribute that wouldn't interfere with William's magic. "Lady of the Wind!" As I recited the incantation, awls of wind poured down onto the turtle's head like a rainstorm.
The turtle tried as hard as it could to dodge. As it struggled, it released a mana storm from all over its body and broke my magic chains.
As she saw the turtle break free, Orphina shouted, "Hey! Can you tie it again?"
"The cooldown time isn’t over yet!"
"Cool-what?” she asked.
"The mana isn’t fully charged yet!" I replied.
The turtle raised its head toward me and began to accumulate mana in its mouth. "It’s coming. Avoid it!" I cried.
Orphina quickly spun in the air and left. Immediately after, the turtle spat out a mass of mana, and I barely managed to avoid it. The ball of mana hit the mountain behind me and exploded.
KWAAANG-!
At the site of the explosion, the mountain disappeared and became a huge crater. In terms of power, it made World Reversal look cute. I probably would have said farewell to this life if I had made a ruckus trying to capture it in the middle of rescuing Dane Walker.
Well, World Reversal hadn’t been designed as a combat skill in the first place.
William shouted as Orphina and I looked at the scene in a panic, "Get a hold of yourself! It’s coming again!
"Crazy! It can fire multiple times in a row?!” I exclaimed as I flew away in the opposite direction from Warrant. The turtle consecutively spit balls of mana in my direction.
KWAAANG-!
KWAAANG-!
KWAAANG-!
Over and over, craters formed in the beautiful scenery behind me.
What did I do wrong for this turtle to keep aiming only at me? I thought. Then again, there was that time it had tried to activate a monstrous skill like that, but I’d blown the mana up in its mouth.
So mean! Clearly, I had to use my full power too.
"There is only one trajectory. Seven spearheads fix the future in place. One outcome will follow."
The mana stones in my magic wand quickly revolved, consuming the mana of the magic stone from the ruins.
"One death amid countless possibilities!"
As it likely felt something off about my mana, the turtle kept spitting mana balls at me.
"Cursed thorn spear, Gáe Bulg!"
Red light flashed as I fired my spell in response to the turtle’s mana shots. The red light spear penetrated a ball of mana and embedded itself directly into the turtle's body.
KWAANG-!
The red spear blew a large hole in the turtle's huge body and penetrated through its thick skin, causing its blood to burst out like a geyser.
“KAOOOO!” The turtle screamed painfully, but that was all. It seemed too much to ask for my spell to penetrate its heart, even though it was the spell I knew with the best penetrating power.
The turtle stomped in pain and the Black Water Buffalo Knights, who were atop its body, struggled with all their might to avoid falling.
Just then, Uncle Bloody jumped high into the sky and threw an aura blade toward the back of the turtle's head. At the same time, William, who had constantly been attacking from afar, made a huge block of ice to keep its head from moving and avoiding the aura blade.
The turtle was struck by the aura, bleeding from the back of the head once again. In response, it began to gather mana in its mouth again. This time, it wasn’t one concentrated mass.
"Run away!"I cried.
William felt something was off and quickly escaped, but it was impossible for Uncle Bloody, who was still in the air.
"Enlightenment! Air Kick!” Uncle Bloody tried to avoid it by creating a foothold with mana, but it didn’t seem as though he could get out of its attack range. I had no choice but to grab him and fly high into the sky.
A wide mana wave spewed from the turtle’s mouth and directly annihilated some of the Red Dragon Knights, who had been attacking it from the air. Compared to the ball of mana, it was significantly weaker, but its power was still crazy. In addition, it wasn’ easy to avoid due to its wide range.
Uncle Bloody murmured, swallowing dry saliva, “Uaa, I almost died.”
“Can’t you get a hold of yourself?” I shot back. If something had gone wrong, I would have been caught up in it too. The reason I hadn't run away was because I’d been afraid he would do something like this. Stupid uncle!
Uncle Bloody smiled awkwardly at my nagging. "Aha, I don't know who you are, but thank you."
"I’m letting go." I dropped him in midair. My uncle just kicked the air as if it were solid ground, landing safely.
"How dare you!" As she saw her subordinates die without a trace, Orphina’s eyes shot wide open and she rushed towards the turtle. The turtle opened its mana-filled mouth as it aimed at Orphina.
As he saw the scene unfold, Bloody was surprised, but he released his martial aura at full strength and kicked the turtle's chin.
Kwaang-!
Blood burst out of the turtle’s nose this time when the mana wave it had been charging detonated again due to Uncle Bloody's kick. At the same time, the charging Orphina drove a lance into the middle of the turtle's forehead.
"You idiot! Calm down! You’ll die if you don’t!" Uncle Bloody yelled.
Orphina bit her lips as if her pride had been hurt by Uncle Bloody's criticism. Still, she couldn’t say anything because she would have died if not for Uncle Bloody.
I shouted at the two people who were dawdling near the turtle's head. "Get out of the way! I'm launching a big one!" As they heard me, Uncle Bloody and Orphina quickly got out of the way.
I poured all my mana into my magic wand and drew as much mana from the ruins’ magic stone as possible, crying, “Thunder God’s Thunderbolt!"
Billions of volts of lightning struck the lance in the turtle's forehead like a lightning rod.
I pushed my mana reservoir to the limit in order to control the residual electricity that was spreading through the surroundings, sending it back to the lance. If I hadn’t, the Black Water Buffalo Knights on the turtle's back, as well as Mac and Lancelot, would get roasted alive by the electricity.
"Uuwack!" Perhaps because I’d overexerted myself, or received internal injuries from depleting my mana, I vomited blood. I took off my helmet and wiped my bloody mouth with my sleeve. "Uah, damn, I’m gonna die.”
The turtle should be dead by now, right? Honestly, if it didn't die from this, there was no solution. Using the ruins’ magic stone, my output was several times greater than what I could normally manage.
“KAOOOOOO!”
"F**K! Are you joking!? This didn't kill you?" I exclaimed.
In terms of scale, I had focused a lightning spell that could easily wipe a city off the map directly into the lightning rod embedded in the turtle’s head.
If it had instead hit the skin of the turtle’s back and the turtle had survived, even if I couldn’t accept it, I could at least understand that it was expected for a great demon.
But this wasn't just a simple matter of it being able to take hits well. I’d just have to consider it immortal… Can it even die?
As far as I knew, the turtle was the weakest of the four great demons. But couldn’t it actually be the strongest?
How does this make sense? Are there monsters stronger than this? All kinds of complicated thoughts came to mind, but the turtle raised its head charred by lightning magic, opened its mouth, and shot balls of mana everywhere.
One of them flew right at me. I immediately tried to avoid the shot, but I couldn't gain any speed because of my drastic mana depletion.
Damn it, I’m going to get hit! I aimed my magic wand at the ball of mana to somehow try to survive, but suddenly, someone grabbed me by the back of my neck and flew upward quickly.
"Fool! Why are you confronting that?!" It was my little sister who had snatched me up and taken me out of harm’s way. Aside from not knowing why my little sister had saved me, I’d never been so happy to see her. If it weren't for my little sister, even if I didn’t die, I would have been seriously hurt.
"You, you’re Den, right?" she asked.
I was flustered by her question. "Wha, what do you mean? I'm Sol****, the great sun warrior!"
How had she known? Ah! The chirps! Damn, it had been a mistake to release the chirps, because I’d thought only Uncle Bloody was there.
Or… no, should I call it a blessing in disguise this time?
"Don't be ridiculous! What's that mask? It's hard to recognize. Why did you fill it with so much perception disruption magic? And what’s that wand that can emit such fearsome mana?!"
I realized that I’d taken off my helmet to wipe off the blood I’d thrown up. But it was a good thing I’d worn a mask inside. "I'm not the person named Den," I said, feigning ignorance.
I took out a mana recovery potion from pocket space and drank it. Thanks to the MP potion, my mana recovered quickly and I felt as if I could live again.
"That's funny. Who else is there besides Teacher-nim who can cast that kind of monstrous magic?"
"Apparently, there are people called the Four Great Madosas in this world,” I replied.
But my little sister didn't believe me. "So you're one of the four great madosas? Don’t make me laugh!"
"Then what?" I tried to worm my way out all the way to the end.
But, my little sister smirked. "You, do you know that Father is in the demon territory?”
"What?!"
Ah, I made a mistake. My little sister's words were so shocking that I stopped responding. Had he perhaps come out to capture me because I’d written that I was in the demon territory in my letter?
"See, you're Den. Why are you here?" my little sister asked
I put the helmet back on and answered, "I said in my monthly letter that I was in the demon territory.”
"You expect me to believe a lie like that? Hestia unni is worried too, so just call it quits now and come back. Eight months was enough time to play. Seeing as you’re wearing armor, did you get a position as a soldier or something?” My little sister sneakily tried to figure out where I was staying and asked leading questions.
I loosened up with a smile. "That won’t work."
"Tch!" I reassigned the chirps I had released to investigate the demons’ movements, commanding them to find my father. All of them moved from the nearby area, heading deep into the demon territory.
By now, my mana had almost fully recovered. "Shall I go to Number 3 or Number 5?”
At my question, my little sister let out a sigh of resignation and raised her magic wand. "Number 5."
"All right, let's quickly take care of that turtle first, then we can talk."
"If you run after saying that, I’ll kill you."
As expected, she was my little sister. She knew me well. If my father was in the demon territory, though, of course I needed to run.
I crossed my little sister's magic wand with mine and poured in mana.