Memoirs of a Wicked Magician - Chapter 68

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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 68
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At that moment, in the Thorned Forest at the boundary between Zone 5 and Zone 6 in the heart of the Contaminated Holy Ground.
A strange resonance rang out through the forest that lay silent, having swallowed light and time.
Though called a forest for convenience, what covered the area was trees blackened and crystallized in patches as if some blight had descended upon them, and there was not a single leaf hanging overhead.
Strange-shaped trees grew across the damp, dark green moss-covered ground, forming vast groves that twisted and tangled chaotically with thorny branches reaching out in all directions.
“P-please… save me……”
Velkius stood beside a massive black Guardian Stone pillar that rose high like a lightning rod in the center of it all.
Black mist churned in a steady circle, expanding and contracting as if the heart of a living creature were beating.
Within it, a deep blue cloak embroidered with five pairs of wings swayed like waves.
“I-I was wrong. I’m sorry for deceiving you, Velkius…… I just… I wanted to live! So please, just this once, look the other way. Won’t you?”
Golden eyes tinged with both boredom and coldness gazed down quietly at the hand gripping his ankle.
A boy with reddish-purple hair tied high and deep green eyes was leaking black fluid from the right side of his body, begging him pathetically.
“Ugh, look at that thing dripping snot.”
“Isn’t that blood, not snot? Either way, it’s disgusting enough.”
Other boys around them were watching the scene with keen interest.
All of them had wrapped their lower faces with black cloth inscribed with Auxiliary Magic Circles to filter the acrid air of the Contaminated Holy Ground’s heart. So only half their faces were visible.
For that reason, the extreme contempt and revulsion glinting in the boys’ eyes stood out all the more sharply.
“This is exactly why I hate group tests. We almost got ambushed from behind because of some worthless idiot while we were here to purify the Guardian Stone.”
They were all boys bearing the name of Belegoat, and strictly speaking, they could be called sworn brothers. Among them, Evangellin unleashed sharp criticism on the boy cowering before him.
“The fact that you must have known your condition wasn’t normal all along, yet shamelessly played innocent this whole time—it really infuriates me.”
He often hurled cutting remarks at those who fell short of his standards, but today his anger was justified.
The heart of the Contaminated Holy Ground was a place even those bearing the Belegoat name had to approach with great caution, and through arduous effort, they had finally come to stand on the brink of entering Zone 5.
But because of this boy who had insidiously concealed his own corruption, they had nearly all been thrown into danger while Shadow Hunting just moments before.
Flutter.
Just as everyone waited for the boy’s judgment, a single butterfly suddenly fluttered through the black mist.
Light returned to Velkius’s golden eyes at the sight of it.
His lips, which had been drawn in a cold, straight line, curved ever so slightly into a gentle arc.
To Velkius, there was a person whose mere image in his mind could paint his otherwise colorless days with vibrant hues.
Velkius decided to end this troublesome situation in order to meet his only girl.
He looked down at the boy gripping his ankle once more and opened his mouth.
“Very well. I think you’ve had more than enough chances, but if you still can’t give up, try once more. That’s your last one.”
“Ahhhhh…!”
In the next instant, the right leg of the boy with reddish-purple hair was severed below the shin.
This time, too, no blood flowed. Instead, a black mass oozed from the severed surface and writhed grotesquely, gradually swelling in size.
“There’s nothing more to see here.”
“I agree.”
The other boys’ reactions were equally cold.
“One minute. If you can’t regenerate by then, it’s over.”
Upon hearing Velkius’s sentence, the boy began desperately trying to reconstruct his body.
But it was useless. His scattered Mana flailed weakly against the black mist swirling around him and soon crumbled to nothing.
Velkius’s head tilted slightly as he watched.
“Strange. You said you wanted to live, so why aren’t you using Body Regeneration?”
The cruel, blade-like voice from above caused the deep green eyes seized by despair and terror to waver aimlessly.
“Look.”
Even as he stared at Velkius with such desperation, Velkius’s face remained utterly devoid of warmth.
“You’re defective.”
After the merciless final judgment, a powerful Mana Storm swept through the black mist.
Inside the pitch-black vortex, now so thick that one could scarcely see an inch ahead, a sharp sound reminiscent of a scream echoed forth.
But it was soon swallowed by the heavy resonance of the black pillar and disappeared without a trace.
The waves trembling violently around and within the Guardian Stone were violent enough to pulverize soft flesh with ease, yet not a single person among them was swept up like small fry.
Just as dark clouds scatter after rain, the thick black mist was soon sucked into the Guardian Stone and vanished.
“Hmph, we just wasted time because of garbage.”
“Ah, well, it was entertaining enough. So we’re done with our duties now, right? Shall we head back to the Magic Tower?”
The boys, sensing it was time to disperse, gathered slowly.
The boy with reddish-purple hair had vanished in an instant as though he had evaporated, but they all behaved as though such a person had never been present at all.
Velkius pulled down the black cloth that had been covering his nose and mouth as he stared off into some point in the void.
“I have somewhere to stop by, so you all go ahead.”
“Huh? Velkius, you’re not heading straight back?”
The boys around him wore bewildered expressions.
“Where are you going? We’ve been running Purification Magic day and night for days—aren’t you exhausted?”
There was no reply.
Velkius drew a Spatial Transfer Magic Circle without so much as glancing at the boys chattering beside him.
His selfish attitude was so familiar that those around him simply accepted it and asked no further questions.
With Evangellin’s suspicious gaze fixed to his back, Velkius headed toward the basement of the Inner Estate where Liriope was.
* * *
Creak.
Liriope, who had fallen into light sleep, opened her eyes again at the small sound of the bed settling.
Following that, a faint fragrance she had grown accustomed to pricked her senses.
The moment she recognized that distinct presence, Liriope’s body, which had been turned sideways toward the wall, flinched ever so slightly.
[Tsk, hasn’t seen me for a day and he comes scurrying back again. Liriope, just ignore this thieving cat and sleep.]
At Ode’s caustic remark, Liriope found herself more awake instead.
But before she could even turn her head, something suddenly rained down onto her body.
Then a sweet fragrance drove out the night air and blanketed the bed like soft cotton candy.
As she turned her gaze sideways, Liriope saw the figure of a boy perched on the edge of the bed where she lay.
He was showering her with magical petals.
“……What is this?”
At Liriope’s question, Velkius tilted his face slightly to the side.
“There was a flower I’d never seen before in the zone I visited today.”
He continued, as if asking whether she disliked it, watching her.
“So I wanted to show you too, so I brought some. Don’t you like it?”
[This wretch, pulling his tricks again……]
A small grumbling sound rang in her mind, accompanied by a squeezing tone.

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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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