Memoirs of a Wicked Magician - Chapter 84

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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 84
The thick bundles of plant matter crawling through the corridor like tentacles were truly revolting.
What made it worse was their tremendous speed and force—the ends of the vines were studded with bizarre suction cups.
But the most horrifying part was that they seemed to grow larger and multiply in number each time they were struck by magic, as if feeding on mana itself.
To completely erase that hideous thing, she would need to find and destroy the main body—but with children to protect, neither Caliona nor Stella had time for such a search.
Liriope surveyed her surroundings, calculating her moment to act.
[Ugh… what’s this? Suddenly breaking out in hives, and I feel like I’m going to be sick.]
‘Ode?’
Just then, a familiar voice echoed suddenly in her mind.
‘Where have you been all this time?’
[What are you talking about? Where would I have gone?]
But Ode didn’t seem to notice that they’d been unable to communicate for a while.
[Hmm? Now that I think about it, I don’t have any memory after that fake woman tried her pathetic tricks on you in the Corrupted Sanctuary.]
But as Liriope began to explain, Ode seemed to sense something amiss and started sifting through his memories.
[That woman is still alive with all her limbs intact, so it hasn’t been long. But why did my consciousness cut out in the middle? What happened during that time?]
Liriope gave him a brief account of everything that had happened. Stella had activated a Magical Artifact and entered the Ancient Ruin, and now they were moving to find the core. Ode seemed to understand at last.
[Ah, I see. I must have lost consciousness for a moment when we suddenly entered an Isolated Space mixed with multiple types of magic. And this place doesn’t suit my nature, so the side effects got worse.]
Liriope felt a mix of bewilderment and curiosity at those words.
‘Doesn’t suit your nature? What do you mean? Do you know where this is? Have you been here before?’
Ode, who had been carefully surveying the surroundings, shook his head at her question.
[The interior structure and atmosphere seem vaguely familiar, but unfortunately nothing springs to mind right now. It’s just that these annoying Light Attribute Magic spells fluttering around like winged insects are irritating me so much I’m breaking out all over.]
Indeed, Ode had seemed increasingly uncomfortable ever since.
He was even pushing Liriope to hurry.
[From the mana flow, the main body of those tentacle bundles seems to be on the Lower Level. Why are you still dawdling? Let’s finish that thing quickly and get out!]
Liriope was slightly startled and turned his own question back at him.
‘The creature’s body is on the Lower Level?’
[Yes, there seem to be two individuals total. Stop hesitating and move faster!]
‘The Ruined Relic has such strange mana flow that I’m a bit confused. So Ode, can you tell me exactly where the core of the relic is right now?’
But Ode’s reaction to her question was suddenly irritating.
[Ho. What’s this—you weren’t deliberately leaving that disgusting thing alone, you just couldn’t destroy it? And the reason you’ve been dawdling in here is that you couldn’t find the exit? Ha ha, this is rich. I thought I’d been teaching you well all this time, but you still have a long way to go, my student.]
Having had few opportunities to tease Liriope lately, Ode seemed delighted to have stumbled upon this chance.
He looked positively gleeful at finally finding an occasion to provoke her in this annoying way.
Liriope felt a slight flare of indignation and shot back.
‘No, it’s just been so long since I entered a Ruined Relic. It’s my first time since the Time Reversal. Back when I had less mana, it was actually fine, but now that I’m more sensitive to mana, it’s disorienting and dizzying.’
But Ode continued to laugh infuriatingly at her explanation, deliberately exasperating her.
Still, he eventually did tell her the answer—to follow the golden thread of light among the several strands of magical light.
Liriope tried to relay the information she’d received from Ode to Caliona.
“The path ahead is disappearing! There’s a corridor connecting to the right—run that way!”
But while Caliona defended the rear against the attacks, Stella, who had been breaking through at the front, suddenly cried out urgently.
Indeed, just as she said, the corridor stretching ahead began to collapse suddenly. Beneath it yawned what looked like an endless abyss, black as pitch.
They changed direction and ran to the right where the corridor continued.
“Everyone, it’s this way!”
“Everyone, get inside that room!”
Then Stella found a room that looked safe, and Caliona agreed to take shelter there for the moment.
[That woman again, always throwing her life away. You’d think she’d learn that antagonizing me only hurts herself.]
That was when Ode muttered in an exasperated tone.
Liriope also felt a faint sense of dissonance from ahead and narrowed her eyes slightly.
“Hurry and come inside!”
Liriope moved hurriedly, pretending to know nothing as she followed the urgent voices.
Bang!
And moments later, the door that had swallowed the children closed with a heavy sound.
* * *
Screech!
The moment the door behind her closed, Liriope reflexively deployed a Defensive Barrier Magic and deflected the incoming attack.
“Peter?”
The Cutting Magic that missed sheared through the Chandelier overhead, sending it crashing down.
As crystal shards scattered in all directions, a Flash of light and oppressive heat surged forward at the same time.
Liriope blocked that as well while surveying the children attacking her.
Like Peter, who had cast the first spell, Nina and Vincent also wore vacant, unfocused expressions. The other children beside them were the same.
Liriope’s eyes registered a flicker of surprise.
‘What is this? Could it be Mind Control Magic?’
[It certainly appears so.]
‘But how? The special magic I know Stella excels in isn’t the mental type.’
Moreover, she couldn’t believe that Stella, still of the Lowest Tier, would be skilled enough in such difficult magic.
But before she could investigate further, all of them attacked her indiscriminately with a barrage of magic, as if controlled by something.
As Liriope dodged and blocked those spells, Ode spoke to her.
[Watch your back!]
Crunch-crack!
The corner of the door suddenly crumpled and the hinges tore free, and a green vine pushed its way through the gap.
But that wasn’t what Ode had warned her about.
A much larger surge of mana was felt from beside the door.
When Liriope looked up, her vision filled with Caliona, her eyes unfocused, drawing a Magic Circle.
Her sharp, wave-like attack surged not toward the bundle of plants forcing its way through the door crack, but straight at Liriope.
Liriope’s unwavering violet eyes stared fixedly at the magic hurtling toward her.
Even knowing that destructive power was rushing at her to shatter her, Liriope neither evaded nor looked away.
‘Ah, now I understand.’
This wasn’t Mind Control Magic at all.
Come to think of it, Ode had said it only ‘appeared’ to be mental magic, not that it actually was.
At the moment of realization, a small, hollow laugh from Ode echoed like a hallucination in her mind.
Boom!
For the first time, Liriope poured strong mana into her Defensive Barrier Magic and mercilessly reversed the magic hurtling toward her.
Whoosh!
But instead of striking Caliona’s body, it collided with another force, dissipating in mid-air with a sharp gust of wind.
“My, so it’s true that the only magic you know is Purification Magic and Defensive Barrier Magic.”
The children who had been attacking Liriope suddenly collapsed like puppets with their strings cut. Behind them, Stella walked out leisurely.
Liriope met Stella’s beautiful face, which wore an incongruously gentle smile, with an icy, expressionless gaze.
In the sealed room, only two conscious figures stood upright: Liriope and Stella.
“Oh, but was my greeting a bit harsh? Don’t be so stern.”
Stella whispered softly again, as if trying to ease the tension.
“I simply wanted to have a little talk, just the two of us. So there’s no need to be so tense.”

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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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