Memoirs of a Wicked Magician - Chapter 130

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 130
Liriope met Gary’s gaze with eyes barely open to slits.
Liriope agreed with his words.
During the Flood Period, death was commonplace, and no one bore responsibility for it. So anyone harboring intentions to harm others must surely have made peace with the prospect of their own demise.
Liriope’s mood had been bottoming out ever since the banquet, so even if something unseemly occurred while dealing with today’s unforeseen crisis, there was little to be done about it.
Liriope lifted her head again, quietly observing the black snow swirling beyond the barrier.
“My, what luck to be grouped with someone as renowned as Caliona from the 40th Floor Level.”
Meanwhile, unlike Liriope, Caliona’s team had a cheerful atmosphere.
Caliona watched Liriope’s group—which even from a distance seemed bleak in mood—with a frown before turning away.
“My mentor, Instructor Proud, also praised me generously. I’m Joseph, currently training on the 45th Floor. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Her team members all appeared to be sociable mages, though a closer look revealed they were each somewhat on edge.
After exchanging greetings with them, Caliona glanced briefly around.
Cassel, true to his uncooperative nature, was nowhere to be seen, while Milena was having an unremarkable conversation with the team members.
Seeing her behave as usual, Caliona’s chest suddenly grew heavy. Her expression turned cold as she recalled events from days past.
Evangellin, whom she’d met at the banquet. The conversation they’d shared. The strange symptoms that had manifested in her body at the time.
In truth, Caliona had not forgotten what happened during the banquet. Evangellin had not cast Memory Manipulation Magic on her alone.
Since then, her heart had never felt at ease whenever she saw Liriope.
Yet revealing the truth of that day to Liriope was something she could not possibly do.
Evangellin’s words had been right. Some things are perhaps better left unknown.
“The snow keeps falling harder…….”
Just then, someone murmured softly to themselves, gazing upward.
True to the words, the snow falling outside the Magic Tower had grown noticeably thicker than before.
Everyone was regulating their body temperature with magic against the deepening cold, yet strangely, Caliona felt no chill.
Was it the subtle tension quickening her heartbeat beyond its usual pace? Rather, heat rose from her body, and she felt warmer than before the snow had begun to fall.
As each prepared in their own way for what was to come, the Magic Circle’s preparations were completed.
They were finally transported to the Contaminated Holy Ground where the Flood Period had begun.
* * *
The beginning of the calamity was a swarm of insects.
Following in their wake came blackened fieldmice and flocks of birds that, unable to withstand the intensified force of the disaster, desperately tried to flee the holy ground.

Other contaminated creatures soon erupted from the center, pouring outward like a burst dam.
Near the Magic Tower, the snow fell gently, but within the Contaminated Holy Ground, a savage black blizzard raged fiercely.
The Guardian Stones that had been extensively maintained before the Flood Period began were now nearly useless.
In fact, several Guardian Stones, unable to withstand the Contamination Poison, had shattered, forcing the mages responsible for nearby sectors to face even greater difficulty in their defense.
Conditions were scarcely better elsewhere.
Preventing the black things from escaping the Contaminated Holy Ground, they purified endlessly—purified and purified and purified.
Yet each time the strange wave emanating from the center swept past their surroundings, the world before their eyes was once again blanketed in dense black light.
The contaminated creatures gnawed at one’s Mental Fortitude merely by being seen or heard. The black blizzard of the Flood Period inflicted even greater damage to the body than contaminated air.
For this reason, the number of combat-capable mages continued to dwindle.
Some mages with weak Mental Fortitude ceased to function sooner than expected, patients with grave injuries were transported to the Magic Tower’s Recovery Chamber, and some were even forcibly displaced after coming into contact with stray Magical Artifacts, vanishing entirely.
Urgent support requests flooded in from all directions, leaving everyone’s mind ringing with chaos.
In such circumstances, the worst thing of all was the simple fact that one could not blindly trust one’s comrades with their back.
– Ah, sorry? My mistake.
Liriope swiftly deflected Gary’s second “accident” incoming attack.
The magic that spun like a saw blade flew past Liriope and tore the contaminated beasts to shreds.
Had Liriope’s reaction been even slightly slower, parts of her body would have been severed.
His attempt was all the more malicious in that he had deliberately aimed for wounds with jagged edges that the Recovery Chamber could not fully restore.
What’s more, he had not been fulfilling his own duties, instead seizing every opportunity to attack Liriope.
Liriope warned him coldly.
– That’s not your position, is it? If you create a gap, keep your location secure.
– Besides, the ones behind me will handle whatever I miss. No need to be so rigid about it.
As Gary suggested, even if they could not perfectly intercept everything surging forward during the Flood Period from their respective positions, each and every one of them was a necessary sieve.
If gaps continued to open in this manner, the people stationed behind them would inevitably face greater danger and burden.
Sure enough, a cry of agony came from Peter, whom Liriope had deliberately sent to the rear.
But Gary laughed off Liriope’s warning and seized another opportunity, this time casting Restraint Magic not on the contaminated beasts but on her.
Liriope’s right foot was pinned to the ground, and her movement suddenly slowed.
The teeming black mass did not miss the chance and descended upon Liriope.
– Ha, see? That’s why I told you to be careful!
Gary moved to grind the entire writhing black mass to pulp.
The sharply honed magic spun like saw teeth of a gear, savagely shredding everything in its path.
Though the black blizzard obscured the view and prevented clear identification of the situation ahead, it seemed there was no possibility Liriope could survive in that chaos.
Mages killing and destroying one another within the Contaminated Holy Ground was a common occurrence.
Gary himself had nearly died at the hands of another mage in just this way, and there were several he had disposed of over the years.
Especially once one reached the 40th Floor Level, eliminating competitors was essential to secure an opportunity to curry favor with the senior mages of the upper floors.
So naturally, he felt no guilt whatsoever about what he was doing now. It was entirely the fault of whoever fell to such folly.
Crack!
“……!”
But suddenly, a black hand woven from Mana burst forth from beneath Gary’s feet.
It pierced through the floor covered in tangled contaminated plants and seized Gary’s ankle, pulling him down.
– Your words are right.
Liriope’s cold voice pierced through the blizzard and struck his eardrums.
– In the Contaminated Holy Ground, one must be cautious not only of shadows but of the living as well.
Gary attempted to destroy the hand pulling his body down with tremendous force.
But why? Though their Mana quantities seemed comparable, Liriope’s magic was incomprehensibly solid. He could not dispel it with his own strength.
– What is this……!
Gary, having spent considerable time in the Magic Tower, possessed sharp practical instincts.
The moment he realized he could not overcome Liriope’s magic, he swiftly severed the foot held in the black hand’s grip. Since it was a Prosthetic Leg he had long ago replaced with a Magic Stone, he did not hesitate.
But he could not possibly sever all his limbs.
The black hands kept erupting from the blizzard, grasping him in multiple places. One eventually seized the back of his neck roughly and pressed downward.
– Wait, stop! Stop it! Stop, ugh, aaaahhh……!
Gary, utterly immobilized by the countless black hands, felt the familiar magic approaching.
The Mana spinning harshly like saw teeth.
– Especially someone like you deserves to die more than any shadow.
Gary’s scream was buried in the black blizzard.

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