I Picked up the Demon King - Chapter 43

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 43

A magic circle emitting grayish-white light. It was a magic circle I had never seen before in my life.

And Melissa couldn’t interpret that magic circle at all.

For her, who had lived longer than her appearance suggested and had once researched all kinds of magic as an executive of the Green Magic Tower, this was astonishing.

But what was even more surprising was the formation process of that magic circle.

There are various factors that determine the performance of a completed magic circle. Among mages, the three most important factors were commonly called the three elements of magic circles.

The first was size. Generally, the larger a magic circle was, the more powerful force it could unleash. This was because of the amount of mana it could contain. This was why accessory-type artifacts like necklaces and rings were traded at high prices. The magic circle drawn beneath Jude’s feet was of ordinary size—neither large nor small.

The second was precision. How accurate the form of the magic circle was, and whether there were any incorrect parts. Sometimes magic wouldn’t activate at all, or conversely, it would cause great harm to the caster. However, since Melissa couldn’t interpret the magic circle, she couldn’t judge its precision.

The last was materials. While it couldn’t be helped in urgent situations, magic circles couldn’t display their full power without using materials that held mana well. The most frequently used was molten gold, which was one of the main reasons mages received patronage from nobles and wealthy merchants. But…

‘Drawing a magic circle with mana? Just how much mana manipulation ability does he have…?’

If one drew a magic circle using mana, it would produce far superior effects compared to using other materials. When encountering countless papers daily at the Magic Tower, there were of course those who made such claims.

Of course, Melissa had always rejected those papers.

It was obviously an impossible story to realize. Unless it was a dragon from legends, human mana manipulation ability couldn’t possibly accomplish such work.

Moreover, to do such a thing with mana, which was known to be several times more difficult to handle than regular mana.

If the Magic Tower mages found out, he would immediately be captured and subjected to all kinds of human experiments. Honestly, even Melissa couldn’t be confident she wouldn’t have done the same if not for the current situation.

Melissa, who had been looking down to interpret the magic circle for a moment, frowned at the repeated vibrations.

Even if she tried to study it separately later, its complexity exceeded the level of ordinary high-tier magic. No one could memorize something like this at a glance.

“Hah… That bastard Sevian…”

Melissa looked at Sevian, who was bursting into maniacal laughter at the trees while fighting the tree giant. Since this kid’s master was Sevian, naturally it must have been him who taught this magic. He must have spent months, or perhaps years, carefully teaching it.

Melissa’s expression, which had been flushed with excitement from discovering new magic, became complicated.

* * *

Absorbing others’ souls and receiving their memories and emotions along with them was something I had experienced several times already.

Though I was used to it now, hadn’t I briefly lost consciousness from the shock at first?

But even considering that, the current situation was strange.

-What’s a Magic Tower? It’s where mages gather to research magic… What? What’s a mage? Hah, really.

The image of a woman scratching the back of her head with a speechless expression. Then beautiful fireworks unfolding from her fingertips. Exclamations flowing from young Master’s mouth as his eyes widened.

-Then, we’re going together. Got it?

The memories and emotions gained from absorbing souls were powerful but not clear. Only in the early days when I wasn’t used to it did my identity waver briefly; now I could let them pass by like a passing breeze.

But the memories that continued each time I absorbed fragments were more vivid than anyone’s I had experienced so far.

It was absurd. What I was dealing with now were just fragments after all.

Fragments so small that if my ability to perceive souls hadn’t been enhanced, I would have regarded them as mere grains of sand, or perhaps not even noticed them. Hundreds of fragment pieces were scattering and falling each time Master and the tree giant collided.

I couldn’t even guess how many fragments had been created so far, and even that was surely only a portion compared to what remained in Master’s body.

‘Such mere fragments are transmitting memories and emotions this vivid?’

-Tsk. It’s resonance between souls. Unexpected. You’re being affected more than necessary.

However, the movement of my hand reaching toward the fragments grew faster and faster.

-A, a mage? My son couldn’t possibly be…

-It’s not exactly a situation I’m pleased with, but thanks to this, we should be able to reach our target faster than expected.

I saw the image of a middle-aged woman answering with a trembling voice. Her face showed faint fear.

-…Don’t get hurt, and stay healthy.

-That’s enough now. Stop. …Why aren’t you stopping?

A man spoke while stroking my head. His voice was gruff and his hands rough, but I felt warmth.

-This is a wind-creating magic circle. Even with almost no mana, you can use it, so you too… It’s difficult? Of course it is. This is magic after all!

-You mustn’t be too influenced by a single soul. If you’re not careful, you’ll become assimilated!

I felt both the anticipation when first learning magic and the sense of achievement after successfully manifesting it after staying up for several nights.

And after that, continuously… the memories continued.

As I absorbed more fragments, the order became increasingly jumbled, but thanks to the vivid emotions, it wasn’t difficult to understand which moment each memory belonged to.

The excitement when first arriving at the Magic Tower, the satisfaction when achieving good research results, the pride when being recognized faster than seniors who had entered the tower earlier…

Honestly, I was quite surprised. I had no idea that Master had grown up as a mage in a Magic Tower.

I had always thought Master was a Dark Mage from birth. Though when I think about it, that obviously couldn’t have been the case.

-Sto…!

‘It’s fine.’

Even while feeling strange sentiments, I didn’t stop absorbing the fragments, and the memories continued as well. The voices of the Demon Lord and Melissa, and the trembling of the ground, felt increasingly distant.

Viewing Master’s memories was important. I needed to know why Master had changed like this.

Most of them were happy memories. Master was achieving outstanding results within the tower and was recognized as a mage.

Of course, there weren’t only happy memories. There was quite a bit of scheming and ostracism from peers who envied Master’s abilities. However, Master overcame them through tremendous effort and outstanding skill.

I couldn’t… understand.

I couldn’t understand why Master had become a Dark Mage.

When I first met Master, I felt endlessly grateful and thought he was cool, so I believed Dark Mages were also great beings.

But after spending several years since then, I could feel how much fear and hatred Dark Mages received from people. No matter how I thought about it, it wasn’t a career path that a promising talent from the Magic Tower would choose.

-Are you alright?

I opened my closed eyes. Light continued to pour out from the magic circle, but I couldn’t bring any more of Master’s soul fragments. I had absorbed all the scattered fragments.

The collision between the Tree Giant and Master continued, but no more soul fragments fell off.

I would have to hear the rest of the memories directly from Master.

The battle situation was clearly disadvantageous for the elves. The Tree Giant they summoned was powerful, but it couldn’t defeat Master who moved with the life force of hundreds and thousands of soldiers. The scene of countless tree branches piercing through the Tree Giant’s body looked like hundreds of millions of thread snakes devouring flesh.

The Tree Giant made no screams, only cracking sounds, but it was gradually slowing down, and the tree serpents Master summoned seemed to absorb that power and became more active. The elves continued shooting arrows, but they didn’t work on Master.

“Ahahaha! Submit. Worship me! I, I am your god!”

At this rate, it was obvious the elves would lose. They seemed to know this too, as they appeared to be gradually trying to escape with their characteristically quick movements.

I sighed and raised my hand.

-Answer… Hmm?

I slowly moved my left hand. My pinky finger completely touched my palm, and my ring finger was slightly lifted. My middle finger was slightly bent but my index finger was completely straight. My thumb pointed in the opposite direction from my middle finger, symbolizing a spark just beginning to ignite.

I tightly clenched my right hand. But I formed a distorted sphere shape so that fingers didn’t touch other fingers, and fingers didn’t touch palm at all. My hand trembled from the force applied, but it didn’t matter. What it symbolized was the condensation of power.

The Six Arms magic that had been mostly destroyed by the Red Magic Tower mages’ attacks. I gathered the remaining bone fragments still connected to my back and deployed them. One completely lost, five each of different lengths. It was a grotesque form, but because of that, what it symbolized was an unpredictable explosion.

“Explosion.”

The hand seals considerably reduced mana consumption, but even so, substantial mana drained out at once. Immediately after, a small explosion occurred in front of Master who had been fighting the Tree Giant with a smile.

I thought I had done it accurately, but perhaps there was an error in the calculation method. The power was clearly weak compared to the mana consumed.

Even so, it was unexpected that it couldn’t inflict even the slightest damage. It might mean that Master had now completely departed from being human.

-Did you learn that together with that cumbersome thing?

“No.”

Master at the Magic Tower was always immersed in research without much interaction with others. Learning magic itself was incomparable great happiness for Master.

Thanks to that, I too could absorb a large amount of magical theories I hadn’t been able to learn before. Though they weren’t properly organized in my head yet, I could barely use a few spells.

Explosion was one of them. Master’s memories alone were a bit insufficient. But the memory of directly experiencing it in battle with the Red Magic Tower mages before losing consciousness was added.

-…?

The pressure felt from my mana core. But at the same time, the mana existing in the atmosphere was sucked into the mana core and converted to mana. The Demon Lord’s method was correct. If I hadn’t trained to increase mana recovery speed, wouldn’t I have been bedridden for days after using it just two or three times?

However, there was no time to leisurely feel impressed.

-Move.

I was planning to move even without the Demon Lord’s warning. As I quickly threw my body and leaped to the side, tree serpents belatedly struck down where I had been.

Master’s gaze, which had been focused on fighting the Tree Giant, was now directed at me.

-You’ve drawn that thing’s attention.

“Don’t call Master in such a way.”

-…Move as I say. First, the angle of your left ring finger is wrong.

Following the Demon Lord’s instruction, I formed the hand seals again and ran toward Master.

-Even considering the current recovery speed, you can use that at most… five times in this battle. You must finish within that.

“Explosion.”

A pillar formed by hundreds of bundled branches exploded from the middle. Following the Demon Lord’s advice, the power became clearly stronger. Thanks to that I avoided the attack, but only four chances remained.

Within that, I defeat Master.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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