21st Century Archmage

Craaaaaaaash!

Boooom!

“Gah!”

An ear-splitting explosion rocked me back to my senses, just in time to notice the shards of rock whistling towards me.

“Shield!”

I unconsciously shouted Shield.

‘Fuck!! I don’t have mana!’

For a moment, I thought I didn’t have any mana.

Ziiiiiiiiing!

Craaaaaaaash!

“…..!!”

But to my momentary shock, a blue shield glowing with cold energy appeared to block the flying shards. Even after repelling stones the size of watermelons, the shield stood firm.

Whirr, whirr.

And then, I felt the vibrations of the mana core at my waist.

‘T-The 4th Circle?’

I could feel that my mana, which had completely disappeared since coming to this underground chamber, had recovered all the way to the 4th Circle.

“Huhuhu. Move! How dare a mere protective guardian play tricks before the staff of the mighty Tarkania-nim!”

“Let’s melt her down. Kukuku.”

“You should have read the mood and disappeared after your master’s death, did you really think you were a dragon just because you were given a tiny piece of dragon heart? Huhuhu.”

‘Holy! That woman is—!’

It was the golden-haired, golden-eyed beauty who ended up making me run like a crazy mustang. She was floating within the huge stone building, radiating bloodthirst, directing it towards the people at the center of the building.

‘Lass!’

The unawakened dragonia, Lokoroïa, was trembling in front of the black mages. In her shaking hand was a 1-meter-long black mana staff. On one end of the staff, a crystal ball the size of a volleyball was exuding an enormous amount of yin-attribute mana, and perhaps because of the distorted mana, all the mana in the surroundings were whirling around like a maelstrom.

‘Those bastards!’

Three black animals in human skin were standing behind the girl and laughing ominously. They weren’t even liches, but the faces visible from the peeled-back robes were skeletally gaunt.

“Lokoroïa, what are you doing? Quickly kill that protective guardian. With the magic staff of Tarkania-nim in your hands, you can crush that bitch instantly. Quickly give the order, my cute little child…”

The tall, skeletal black mage’s insidious voice made goosebumps stand up all over my body.

“Nghh…”

The girl appeared to be resisting the mage’s intent, her face twisting in pain as her bare upper body recoiled. It looked like she was fighting back against something with all her strength.

“Huhuhu. Give up. You’re not even awakened yet, so do you really think you could escape the Tear of Restraint? Just listen to us, obediently, like you’ve done so far. That’s a good girl.”

The black mage used a bony hand to stroke Lokoroïa’s white body as if coaxing and soothing. It was disgusting. The revolting actions of beasts that had cast away their humanity nauseated me.

“ O’ Guardian, you who suffered for thousands of years to protect the relic of Tarkania-nim, you may now rest in peace, thank you for your hard work. Think of it as an honor to die by the staff of your creator. Kukuku.”

The black mages sneered at the golden-eyed woman as she shook with rage. However, the woman, the guardian, said nothing and simply remained floating in the air, glaring murderously at the black mages. It seemed she could not approach the relic of Tarkania or attack it.

Just then, the guardian turned her piercing gaze from the black mages to me.

‘Mm…’

Her eyes contained unfathomable sadness. Her golden eyes, which had lacked all emotion when facing me earlier, were now giving off intense sorrow, sorrow that was filled with agony so intense that it could kill. Just meeting that gaze made my heart ache.

“!!”

“W-Why are you here?!!!”

Only then did the black mages notice me.

“Oh, do you know me? I’ve never seen you skullheads before, though?”

Feigning indifference, I mocked the black mages.

“Youuu! How dare you step foot in here!”

“Pray tell, just what kind of place can get you fellows so agitated? You damned fuckers, you’re so stick thin that even the ants will find nothing to eat once you’re in the coffin.”

The most maddening thing in the world was facing someone who could curse you with a smile. Besides, due to the influence of black magic, the black mages had lived destructive, impulsive lives, so they easily went red with rage at my provocation.

“Die! Dark Spear!”

“Blade Fire!”

In the next moment, black magic came hurtling towards me.

‘They’re 5th Circle mages!’

I provoked them in order to check their magic abilities. I only had 4th Circle mana at the moment, but because I had possessed mana quantity approaching the 7th Circle before coming here, I could tell their level just by looking at how they cast, as well as the reaction of the mana around them.

Fwiiiiiiing!

Fwoooosh!

However, finding out their levels didn’t do anything about the magic coming to rip me apart, the two spells filled with the characteristic single-mindedness of black magic.

“Huyup!!!!”

For a knight, speed was relative to mana quantity. But I had great physical reflexes, and survived Master’s outrageous magic training, so I was able to dodge the magic by throwing my body to the side.

Baaaam!

Boooooooom!

Black magic exploded at the place where I had just been standing. Black flames and sparks radiated outwards, burning everything in a 5-meter radius into a crisp.

‘Sigh, so frustrating! You guys can’t even measure up to a single fist of mine!’

If I could just recover my 6th Circle, these guys would be a joke.

‘Huh?’

Surprisingly, yin-attribute mana was still swiftly accumulating in my body with every breath I took.

Whirr, whirr, whirr.

‘If this goes on, soon… the 5th Circle!’

Thanks to the Staff of Tarkania, yin-attribute mana was filling the building to the brim. What I needed right now was time.

“Wait a moment, sirs! Please just listen to my words a bit before deciding to kill me or not!”

After I evaded their first volley, all three of them were about to fire again, and they would all be 5th Circle black magic spells. Such spells were too powerful for me to completely dodge right now.

“Huhu, a dead man sure has a lot to say.”

“If you kill me, you guys will also fall into danger!”

“How laughable. As long as the Staff of Despair of the mighty Tarkania-nim, the 9th Circle black mage, is in our hands, there’s not a single bastard who can do a thing to us. Huhuhu.”

‘W-WHAT?! 9th CIRCLE BLACK MAGE?!!!!’

I would be more inclined to believe that an orc would eat grass. That a human reached the 9th Circle, and was black mage at that, was something I had never heard of in my life. Even the Golden-Eyed Reaper Aidal, my Master, who was called the strongest mage in human history, could not surpass the 8th Circle. Despite the dangerous situation, I couldn’t snap out of the shocking blow.

‘So the human limit isn’t the 8th Circle, huh…’

Master always told me this: achieve his dream of the 9th Circle, something he could not achieve, in his stead.

“The Golden-Eyed Reaper Aidal is my master! It’s possible that he might Warp here at any time!!!!!”

I sold out my master while raising my left arm, where Master Aidal’s dimensional travel bracelet lay at my wrist. Not a single person had discovered the secrets of this bracelet yet, but if these guys were really mages, they would definitely be able to tell that it was something extraordinary.

“!! The Golden-Eyed Reaper, Aidal!”

“Urghh… That bastard is still alive?!”

The black mages fell for it, plain and simple. Their unhealthy-looking faces turned black at the mere mention of Aidal. They may have acquired a relic from a 9th Circle mage, but it didn’t mean they could immediately rise to the 9th Circle with that alone. Moreover, Master was well-known for his incredible notoriety among the mages.

Also, Master had told me that the mages he despised the most were black mages, the wicked servants of evil who nurtured their magic abilities through all manners of evil deeds. He boasted that he had Fire Ball’d hundreds of black mages tightly holed up in underground hiding spots with his own two hands. Back then, I didn’t believe him, but after coming to Kallian, I found out that everything Master said was the truth.

“R-Ridiculous! Aidal died from the unified attack of the continent’s magic towers.”

“Hey now, do you really believe that? According to Master, those guys kneeled and begged him to live a quiet life, and Master was just laying low in order to go into training for the 9th Circle.”

“T-The 9th Circle—!!”

The three black mages’ faces turned from black to white again. It made me clap internally with awe for Master, a man who had terrorized the continent to the point that these black mages, who were second to none in viciousness, would go white with fear.

“This bracelet is proof that I am Master’s disciple. Not long ago, he put all of the world’s magic knowledge into this bracelet and gave it to me.”

Whirrrrrrrrr.

I couldn’t activate the bracelet, but I was able to manipulate mana to make it sparkle.

“Argh…”

“Aidal…”

I could tell from the rapidly changing expressions on their faces that my bid to buy time was successful.

‘Master, thank you!’

Up until now, thanking Master for his grace had no practical use, so I had pushed all gratitude to the side. But right now, my gratitude towards him was finally seeing the light of day.

“GAAAAH! KILL HIM! Lokoroïa! Kill that boy!”

“Avenge our master! Hurry and kill that bastard, whose master burned all our brethren to death!!!!”

“It’s your turn to suffer! I hope you enjoy the savory taste of death by fire!!!!!”

“Geh!”

In a completely unexpected reversal, it turned out that the black mages never feared Master, but hated him.

The lass, who had been resisting their words up until now, looked towards me, her violet eyes flashing.

“Luparaia!”

Pointing the Staff of Despair towards me, she uttered the activation phrase.

Fwaaaaaaa!

‘No!’

At that moment, I saw it—a net of darkness raging forward to swallow me whole.

Not only was there nowhere to flee, but my body was frozen in place by the overwhelming magic power being cast at me. Like an orc quailing before an ogre, fear had sunk its jaws into my soul and flesh, freezing them solid.

All I could do was watch the darkness swallow me up.

I squeezed my eyes shut, and countless faces swept through my mind. Aramis, the woman who prayed tirelessly for me every day, the elf Narmias, who sang of simple love, my loyal right hand, Derval, my knights, my parents, and Master…

It was said that when confronted with death, your life flashed past your eyes.

‘Ah…’

One last sigh stopped at my frozen throat, the final cry of a living being.

Poooooow!

I heard the sound of flesh and bones being crushed.

“Gah…!”

And with it, a groan of agony.

But I felt no pain, and my lips were still. My eyes flashed open.

A breath of shock burst out of me.

‘T-The guardian!’

The guardian had flown over to me at some point and used her body to block the unavoidable, deadly net of darkness.

Her golden eyes were trembling. Though she could not speak, her eyes were unmistakably telling me.

Help the girl over there.

Kill the wicked black mages.

And protect her sacred land.

Whiiiirrrrr.

At the same time, I felt an electrifying response from my mana core—it had recovered to the 5th Circle. Needless to say, my mana core was bigger than the cores of other mages and held mana close to the 6th Circle.

She was melting. The guardian’s body was disappearing within the huge net of darkness, like a boulder melted by lava.

“URAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

A cry of rage blasted from my lungs.

Flash!

Mana blazed out of me like an active volcano.

She was smiling.

The protective guardian who used her life to protect me without hesitation… Her golden eyes were smiling.

* * *

“URAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“…..?”

That was 9th Circle magic, something no living being could evade.

Lokoroïa hadn’t awakened yet, but she was a dragonia who could tap into the staff’s power. Controlled by the Tear of Restraint, Lokoroïa was forced to surrender to their demand. She used the power of darkness sleeping within the Staff of Despair.

But events unfolded in an unexpected manner. The Guardian of Tarkania, who had been unable to do a single thing, used her body to protect the Lord of Nerman, the disciple of Aidal.

The black mages stood in a daze, stunned by the guardian’s unimaginable decision. A chilling scream knocked them back to their senses.

Flash.

“Ahh!”

And then, they saw it—black eyes gleaming with bone-chilling bloodthirst, racing towards them.

Their bodies were frozen. Lokoroïa had collapsed after using power she could not handle and was no longer of any use. They had to use their own magic to handle him, but they were terrified out of their wits from the first taste of vicious bloodthirst in their lives.

Bam!

“KYAAAK!”

Crunch!

“AGGHH!”

Crack!

“GAH!”

The fragile bodies of the black mages crumpled under the destructive force of his fists and legs. The mage struck by his fist had his face half-crushed, the one kicked at the waist was broken into two, and the last one, who took an elbow to the back, collapsed with a crushed spine.

The bodies of the black mages knew only magic training and were fundamentally weak. Moreover, their bodily performance was greatly decreased as a side effect of black magic. A single blow from an enraged, mana-charged soul was enough to bring them to the verge of death.

The black mages’ bony bodies clattered to the ground.

“Say hi to the devil for me… oh, and tell him that Kyre sent you.”

Cold, ruthless words entered the black mages’ ears as their consciousness began to fade.

“Fire!”

Then, they heard a spell chant.

Fwoooooosh.

They felt heat encapsulating their bodies. If they were still fully conscious, they would have felt incredible pain, but the shock had cut off their pain receptors.

They began to burn brightly within the blazing flames.

Unable to carry out one last evil act, their bones and flesh blazed, leaving only aggrieved bitterness…

* * *

There was nothing.

There was nothing left of the nameless guardian who had protected me with her body, as if she had never existed in the first place.

Fwoooooosh.

Even meagre flesh was fuel for the flames, and the black mages burned very well. That they had died before they could commit more sins was a blessing from the gods.

“Urgh… Aghhhhh…”

Just then, I heard a woman’s scream of pain.

‘Mana addiction!’

Still clenching the Staff of Despair, which seemed glued to her hand, Lokoroïa was convulsing with pain, suffering the price for using yin-attribute mana she could not handle. If she was left like this, her body would explode from the mana.

Whiiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrr.

The Staff of Despair exuded an incredible amount of yin-attribute mana.

The cursed staff made by a 9th Circle black mage tempted me, whispering that I should hurry and grab it, that it wanted to become one with me.

I stretched out my right hand and grabbed the staff. And with my left, I pulled Lokoroïa’s body into my embrace.

Magic knowledge surfaced to my thoughts—the best way to treat a mage suffering from mana addiction was to share the mana between two people. And it was said that the best method to do that was by mouth-to-mouth.

Bzzzztttttt.

My right hand burned with an electrifying sensation from the staff.

“Hng!”

In my arms, Lokoroïa flailed as moist lips pressed against mine. Struggling desperately to live, her slippery tongue opened and invaded my lips.

Without me realizing it, two trails of tears flowed down my cheeks.

Just like that, yet another day passed.

If someone asked me if I had done my best, I would answer them like this:

I loved today… to the point of death…