Memoirs of a Wicked Magician - Chapter 80

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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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Episode 80
‘But still… seeing that she’s already taken on the role of guiding new members in just one year, it seems she’s adapted to life in the Magic Tower far better than I expected.’
I’d been surprised when I heard she’d already reached the twentieth floor, but this achievement surpassed even that.
What made it especially remarkable was that she could exchange words with Stella, who enjoyed Cameron’s favoritism, right in front of him.
To be honest, until now I’d worried that Caliona, who’d entered the Inner Estate first on her own, might be suffering harassment from people like Stella.
But judging from what I saw today, that concern seemed unnecessary.
[Liriope, you said this outer area is Zone Seven of the Corrupted Sacred Ground, right? When will we be able to reach the heart of it?]
That was when Ode, whose attention had seemed divided elsewhere up until now, suddenly spoke to me.
‘We’ll probably have to break through the fiftieth floor of the Magic Tower to reach the heart.’
[Is that so? Then we can make it by next year?]
‘Next year? But I heard you broke through the fiftieth floor nearly two and a half years ago—the fastest time of any mage from the Outer Estate?’
I answered as if bewildered.
But Ode pushed back as if I were the one saying something strange.
[That too is being generous with the timeline, considering the circumstances. Honestly, if you weren’t so concerned about standing out too much, you could break through the fiftieth floor right now.]
At those words, I grew flustered.
‘I could break through the fiftieth floor right now?’
It was a realm I could scarcely have dreamed of in my former life, so even hearing it from Ode, I couldn’t quite grasp it.
[That supervisor—Cameron, wasn’t it?—was sporting four pairs of wings, wasn’t he? Doesn’t that put him near the fiftieth floor level?]
‘That’s true…’
[You’ve already effortlessly broken through that supervisor’s Mana suppression. So why can’t you reach the fiftieth floor?]
When he put it that way, it made sense.
Ordinarily, reaching even the fiftieth floor of the Magic Tower represented a considerable achievement for a mage.
As everyone knew, most mages reached their limits at around two pairs of wings.
[Don’t think by ordinary standards. In the past year, through bone-grinding effort, you’ve undergone three rounds of Mana Core Reinforcement, and now you can draw five layers of Layered Magic Circles. As my student and an inheritor of true magical legacy, have more confidence in yourself!]
I blinked in surprise for a moment before trying to calm an unusually excited Ode.
‘I understand, Ode. I won’t talk weak like that. And though I know why you’re suddenly in such a hurry, for now, please settle down.’
Ode had wanted to reach the heart of the Corrupted Sacred Ground since last year.
The reason was that he wished to find traces of the life he’d left behind before being sealed in the Black Forest—when he was still alive.
‘If it’s necessary, I’ll try to reach the fiftieth floor as quickly as possible for your sake. Besides, even if that doesn’t work out, we can always slip into the heart of the Corrupted Sacred Ground quietly.’
Only then did Ode settle down.
I turned my gaze toward the gray forest visible beyond the field and the wall beyond it.
Now called the Corrupted Sacred Ground, this was the land of death that had covered the entire west.
Looking at it, I recalled what Ode had told me at our first meeting.
[The last mage of the western twilight. My final contractee.]
Countless stories I’d heard from him over the past year while staying in the Outer Estate came flooding back one after another.
[Do you know why I slumbered in the deepest part of the Black Forest within that land of death which you call the ‘Corrupted Sacred Ground’?]
[Poor child. The torrent of years has washed away even your great bloodline.]
My gaze drifted, following the gray haze that shimmered like heat waves in empty space, moving sideways as if cutting through water.
“Junior? You’ve been distracted all this time. Are you having trouble with the search?”
That was when Stella’s smiling face suddenly appeared beside me.
Before I could react otherwise, she smiled even wider and added:
“Let me help you!”
Immediately after, she hurled something brass-colored directly beneath my feet.
Whoosh!
And within the scattering light, Stella cried out urgently:
“No! I told you clearly that it’s dangerous to carelessly touch Magical Artifacts! Everyone, get back!”
[This creature finally walks right into the trap herself. Better that she doesn’t realize her own eyes brought her doom.]
Ode’s sympathetic voice brushed against my eardrums.
Of course, his sympathy was directed at Stella and her pathetic scheming.
“Everyone, get down!”
Children nearby who’d been caught in the light cried out in panic.
Almost simultaneously, Caliona’s sharp voice rang out, and immediately a dull cutting sound tore through the light.
I felt someone urgently pulling me and faltered.
Soon after, we were swallowed into the erupting light.
* * *
In that moment, Velkius’s eyes twitched as they opened in the darkness.
The Mana-crafted butterfly he’d left attached to Liriope had just sent him a signal.
‘Of all times.’
Velkius honed the intense bloodlust coursing through him into a sharp edge and unleashed magic upon the encroaching shadows.
He was currently at the boundary between Zones Five and Six at the heart of the Corrupted Sacred Ground.
Black masses squirmed thickly across the barrier wall blocking his path forward.
Even though it was midday, not night, the surroundings were entirely shrouded in darkness.
For days now, Velkius had been killing shadows within this place, setting erosion aside.
As if somehow that ceaseless torment—this storm of anguish that filled his mind and threatened to pierce through like a drill—would finally cease.
But like the writhing black abominations before him that died and yet would not die, these sickly emotions remained stubbornly clinging to every corner of his body.
Velkius severed the parts of his body that had begun to merge with the shadows, then immediately restored the damaged areas while exhaling a breath as cold as frost.
Of course, the purpose behind his prolonged stay in the Corrupted Sacred Ground was not mere slaughter.
The core that lay at the very center of the Corrupted Sacred Ground.
Velkius had to reach it before anyone else.
To end this vicious cycle with his own hands first.
Boom-boom-crash!
A Magic Circle blazing with radiant light once more washed over the area like a great tidal wave.
Afterward, the shadows clinging to Velkius burst forth all at once, expelling black ichor.
Yet still the flood of creatures came without end, and soon Velkius was surrounded by a black wave once more.
But the reason he could not go to Liriope right now was not because of this.
His keen gaze turned toward the Black Raven flying high in the sky above.
Under the watchful gaze of that watcher, Velkius felt both irritation and rage.
To go to Liriope beneath that thing’s surveillance was like holding out his treasure to a thief and begging them to steal it.
A black butterfly once more darted through the shadows into his line of sight.
Velkius clenched his teeth.

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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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