Memoirs of a Wicked Magician - Chapter 135

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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 135
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Crack-crash-bang!
A blinding flash of lightning suddenly struck down behind Liriope’s back.
When she turned her head, she saw smoke rising from the black Guardian Stone that had been struck by the bolt.
“Liriope, let’s head back for now! The rain’s been getting worse since earlier!”
“Y-yes, that’s right, Liriope. How about we come back once the rain lets up?”
Rumble, bang!
“Eek!”
Milena screamed at the sound of thunder that seemed to split the sky itself.
The downpour that had originated in the Contaminated Sacred Ground and blanketed the entire Western Continent was pouring down relentlessly since earlier.
She’d thought the blizzard that had raged during the Flood Period would stop once it turned to rain, but that was a premature hope. The Abnormal Climate born from the tangled excess of Contamination Toxin and Mana now brought lightning strikes raining down from the heavens without cease.
Liriope knew this rain would not stop easily. This Flood Period was counted among the most severe in history precisely because of this unexpected, brutal downpour.
In Liriope’s memory, this rain had poured down for nearly two months, stopping and starting as if to mock the people.
Even great 8th-Rank Mages had no way to counter it.
The mages scrambled in every direction trying to minimize damage, but blocking the relentless, wide-ranging rain was simply impossible from the start.
So when this Abnormal Climate phenomenon finally stopped before the time reversal, the land tainted by Contamination Toxin had grown exponentially compared to before the Flood Period.
Now, as the rain intensified further, the mages had to abandon their search and purification work and evacuate the Contaminated Sacred Ground.
Liriope called Cassel and Milena closer, then deployed a Spatial Transposition Magic Circle.
“You two go on ahead and check whether there are any more missing people or Magical Artifacts at the Magic Tower. I’ll search a bit longer and be back soon.”
“What? But……!”
Cassel’s dumbfounded voice and Milena’s flustered face vanished into the light.
Liriope continued her search alone.
Looking at the condition of Cassel and Milena, their Mana was nearly depleted, and Liriope’s wasn’t much better.
Moreover, Liriope had always despised rainy days like this.
Especially now, with Caliona absent, her nerves couldn’t help but be drawn taut with tension.
She thought the highest probability was that Caliona had been swept away by a Magical Artifact and entered the Ancient Ruins, but she still couldn’t be certain.
After the Flood Period, the Contaminated Sacred Ground’s geography had changed, forming forests and swamps that hadn’t existed before, with cracks in the ground and plants gathered in abnormal clusters that made it a labyrinth.
So it was possible she could be trapped somewhere, unable to move an inch. The mere possibility of that was enough to keep Liriope from leaving this place.
From the Magical Artifact Assessment conducted at the Southern Magic Tower, the results showed no signs of a living person’s Mana within it, which made her heart even more anxious.
“Still, since she’s the daughter of Dalia, surely the Northern Magic Tower Master will take good care of her?”
A suddenly recalled voice made Liriope clench her teeth.
“Though I only saw from afar, Dalia and Seraphina seemed to have the bond of true sisters…….”
Crack-crash-bang!
At that moment, a thunderous explosion struck and the ground split open.
It happened because the ground had been weakened by the Flood Period, the sudden rain was pouring down, and lightning was striking all the while.
Her concentration had wavered, so her reaction came a moment too late.
Liriope fell into the pitch-black chasm like the gaping jaws of a demon.
She soon regained her senses and tried to lift her body with Mana, but at that instant, something burst out from the darkness and coiled around her ankle.
Her body was dragged downward, and her back and arms were scraped raw against the rough surface of the split crevice.
Looking down, she saw something lurking in the darkness wielding dozens of tentacle-like arms threateningly, trying to devour Liriope.
She severed one arm binding her ankle with Magic, but it immediately split into two thin arms that strangled her leg even more fiercely.
Splurt!
But the very next instant, for some reason, the body of the contaminated creature below suddenly burst apart violently.
The force that had been squeezing her ankle so tightly vanished in an instant.
Suddenly the flow of the air shifted, and a massive shadow fell across her back.
Even though thick rain already made everything dark, she felt the light around her vanish in an instant as though an eclipse had suddenly occurred.
“Are you in your right mind?”
A sharp, youthful voice cut through the damp, cold air and pierced her eardrums.
“Wandering around the Contaminated Sacred Ground alone right after a Flood Period—that’s basically saying you want to die.”
A Blue-Black Cloak fluttered before her eyes. At the same time, a firm arm appearing from nowhere wrapped around her waist and pulled her upward.
“If your Mana’s nearly gone and you’re wounded, shouldn’t you have returned to the Magic Tower immediately instead of doing this?”
Liriope noticed a Spatial Transposition Magic Circle beginning to form around them both and twisted her body.
Feeling her strong resistance, her rescuer hesitated for a moment, and Liriope wrenched herself free from the body pressing against hers.
The feet of both of them touched the ground as they escaped the crevice.
Shatter!
At that instant, a Guardian Stone standing not far away shattered as if it had exploded.
The fragments didn’t strike her directly because of the Protective Barrier, but a rough wave of wind swept across Liriope’s skin as it passed.
Liriope stared at Belkiers before her.
The boy’s handsome face with its naturally low temperature, and a body that appeared flawless and perfect as always.
Belkiers certainly looked the same as he always did to Liriope. Yet she keenly noticed that something about him was clearly different from usual.
The moment Belkiers appeared, the air had grown heavier and more oppressive, and the Guardian Stone that shattered as if overloaded proved it.
Most tellingly, he had wrapped his entire body in Recognition Interference Magic as though trying to hide something from Liriope.
“What are you doing right now?”
Liriope asked coldly.
“Appearing out of nowhere acting like nothing happened—what’s that about?”
At that, Belkiers’ eyes lowered.
“Nothing…….”
Liriope’s face hardened at the quiet words that flowed from his lips.
“happened.”
She looked at Belkiers as though she couldn’t believe it.
Meanwhile, he faced her with an expressionless face.
The memory of the banquet held before the Flood Period remained vivid in Liriope’s mind. Because of that, she couldn’t believe his attitude now.
If Liriope had possessed greater peace of mind in that moment, she might have noticed the emotion suppressed within Belkiers’ frozen face.
She might have recognized the anger and self-loathing burning in his pupils as he looked at her, the anxiety and agitation lingering at his lips.
Had she done so, she might have understood that Belkiers’ words were not a warning forcing her into silence or shameless stubbornness, but something closer to an entreaty or desperate plea.
But in this moment, Liriope knew none of that.
She kept her lips firmly shut and stared at his face without blinking even once.
She had believed this boy would be different from the other mages of Belegot who followed Seraphina, but now the thought struck her that it might have been nothing but her own arrogant delusion.
He had at minimum condoned—at maximum participated in—the impossible events that unfolded at the Magic Tower, had conspired with those who hid secrets to allow the manipulation of her memory.
And now he…….
offered her not a single word of excuse regarding that matter.
Liriope found that fact unbearably disappointing and infuriating.
And on top of that, the fact that she could no longer even discern the true identity of the boy before her made it all the more difficult to bear.
The black silhouette she had seen in the darkness that day at the banquet seemed to flicker behind Belkiers’ back even now.
In the next instant, Mana erupted as violently as Liriope’s emotions, lashing out at Belkiers.
The Recognition Interference Magic enveloping Belkiers’ entire body wavered.
The force that tried to break through and the force that defended collided, scattering light and sound like lightning and thunder from the sky.
“Liriope.”
To her frustration, Liriope could not overcome Belkiers.
He suppressed her Mana, then looked into her eyes and spoke firmly.
“Your sister has come back.”
At those words, Liriope’s body went rigid.
“So return to the Magic Tower.”

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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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