The AI Archmage - Chapter 15

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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AI Archmage Episode 15

Silence descended upon the workshop.

Everyone’s gaze was focused on one place.

On the magic that Sion had casually manifested, Fire Lance.

“Wh-what.”

With a trembling voice, Bash stared at Sion’s magic.

“Why, why is the magic working?”

“That’s what I’d like to know.”

Sion shrugged his shoulders as he continued speaking.

“How can I use magic, this is quite something.”

“Th-this…”

It wasn’t just the bandits surrounding the three who were shocked.

Lumia and Serentia, who had come with Sion, were the same.

“N-no, how…”

And before Lumia could voice that question, Bash kindly shouted out.

“Impossible!”

“What is?”

“Th-this… this is the power of the Magic Slayer! The power of that cursed criminal who hunted countless high-ranking mages…!”

“So I’ve heard.”

Sion answered Bash’s words nonchalantly.

Naturally, he too knew of Roteus.

The Magic Slayer, Roteus.

However, not much was known in detail about that Roteus.

Whether he was a mage, and if he was a mage, what level of mage he was.

Only one fact was known about him.

That he ‘hunted’ mages.

It wasn’t simply that he only dealt with weak mages.

Roteus hunted indiscriminately, even high-ranking mages of 6th Circle and above.

Eventually, the Council, sensing the gravity of the situation, issued an extermination order and barely managed to kill him.

Naturally, everything that Roteus had used became forbidden.

But even so, some of it would secretly circulate in the black market.

The power that Bash had confidently displayed was probably obtained through such channels.

The reason Sion could remain unfazed despite this was simple.

[Well, it’s thanks to me.]

Akasha subtly boasted.

[As a super high-performance artificial intelligence and the strongest magic tool in history with potential beyond ancient artifacts, I, Akasha, was able to reverse-calculate the mana wavelength of that bandit’s magic tool.]

‘…’

Sion chuckled.

She truly was a creature faithful to self-promotion.

But pride is pride, and facts are facts.

‘Well done.’

The Magic Killer’s Artifact had definitely worked.

However, Akasha is an artificial intelligence that continuously grows through self-‘learning’.

Akasha had quickly learned about that Magic Killer’s Artifact and devised a countermeasure for it.

Sion said with a sly smile.

“Must be a defective product.”

‘Is he indirectly saying that our level of magic is defective?’

Lumia and Serentia, who had been quietly listening, unconsciously thought that.

Considering what kind of person Sion is, the scary fact is that it’s not entirely baseless speculation.

“N-no. Y-you’re just bluffing right now. Y-yes! That’s right! That must have been just some plausible illusion or something!”

Bash’s words weren’t entirely absurd.

There weren’t no means to use magic in this situation.

“R-right. You used a Magic Scroll, didn’t you? Since you’re supposedly mages of the Magic Tower, you could have scrolls with you!”

When Bash shouted that, the surrounding bandits nodded, apparently finding it plausible.

“C-certainly…”

If you think about it carefully, there’s no way it would be possible to use normal magic without incantations.

Unless you’re a 7th or 8th Circle mage.

Bash knew best that even Lumia, the Blue Tower Master, wasn’t at that level.

Of course, he hadn’t seen them use a scroll, but they must have pulled some special trick.

That’s the only way it makes sense.

Combat is about momentum.

And giving time to mages is tantamount to suicide.

Bash urgently shouted.

“You bastards, what are you cowering for! Obviously they used a scroll! We have way more numbers! Attack!”

Attacks using Magic Scrolls have limitations.

Because Magic Scrolls are extremely expensive.

Unless you’re a noble or wealthy merchant, Magic Scrolls are beyond your dreams.

Moreover, there’s no way the declining Blue Tower would have a large supply of such expensive scrolls.

‘It’s definitely a bluff!’

Bash glared at his subordinates with conviction.

The bandits moved urgently at those words.

Because Bash’s words made sense.

“Think what you want.”

Sion chuckled and threw the Flame Spear he was holding toward the bandits.

Whoooosh!

“Ahhhhhhh!”

The bandits who took direct hits burst into flames and screamed.

“…Huh?”

Looking at their thoroughly roasted comrades, the bandits’ expressions hardened.

But Bash shouted.

“That bastard used magic! He probably doesn’t have many scrolls left now! There’s no way he has another magic scroll of that level anyway!”

“Is, is that so?”

“You bastards! Or are you just going to die? If we just catch those guys and sell them off, our fortunes will change!”

At those words, the bandits’ eyes wavered.

They were already sick and tired of this kind of life where they never knew when they might die.

With that thought, the bandits rushed at Sion with greedy faces.

At that moment.

“【Bind】.”

Freeze.

In that instant, the charging bandits all stopped in unison.

“Huh? Why, why can’t my body…?”

“W-wait, it’s, it’s fine. He said there are hardly any scrolls left…”

The bandits forced smiles and tried to mock Sion.

They thought he really had almost no magic scrolls left.

However.

“【Illusion】, 【Slow】, 【Blind】…”

Magic poured forth once again.

Following illusion magic, came spells that slowed the body and blocked vision.

The bandits affected by these had nothing they could do.

With the endless stream of magic pouring down, the bandits began to have doubts.

‘Are those… really scrolls?’

And finally, one bandit provided an answer to that doubt.

“H-he doesn’t have any scrolls!”

“…?!”

He wasn’t using scrolls.

That meant Sion was casting magic purely through his own abilities.

And with ‘chantless casting’ at that.

Following that cry and the barrage of magic that poured forth, the bandits had no choice but to acknowledge it.

The fact that their opponent was using magic.

Then confusion spread among the bandits.

“Ch-chantless magic?”

“Th-that’s different from what you said! You said we just had to catch and sell off a neutralized mage!”

“Cr-crazy…”

In an instant, the workshop filled with screams.

Among them were some who fell into panic and tried to open the only entrance they had locked themselves and flee.

However.

“【Fire Arrow】.”

“Aaaahhh!”

But the moment he tried to touch the handle, his throat was pierced by Sion’s Fire Arrow and he collapsed.

The moment the bandit trying to escape collapsed, the workshop was once again filled with silence.

The magic Sion had just used was nothing short of an answer to their speculation.

“If you locked it, it should stay locked. It’s not fair if you only open and close it when it’s convenient for you.”

“H-how…”

Bash trembled as he muttered.

‘C-crazy, chantless casting?’

Bash wasn’t a mage, but he had some knowledge about magic.

Being able to rapidly cast magic of that level chantlessly led to only one conclusion.

The boy before his eyes was a ‘high-ranking mage’ who only appeared young.

A high-ranking mage of at least the 7th Circle, of which there weren’t many across the entire continent.

‘Damn, this wasn’t part of the plan!’

Bash inwardly ground his teeth and slowly stepped backward.

“M-Master Mage, there seems to have been some misunderstanding. We really had no intention of harming you…”

“【Bind】, 【Silence】.”

Before he could even finish speaking, Bash’s entire body was bound and his mouth sealed by Sion’s magic.

Bash could only roll his eyes around as he watched Sion’s expression.

‘He’s not ordinary…’

Bash immediately realized Sion’s true nature.

That his opponent was accustomed to killing.

Which meant his opponent wouldn’t hesitate to massacre all of them.

Sion quietly looked at Bash, who lay there like a caterpillar, then muttered in a low voice.

“There’s no need to keep them all alive.”

“…!”

There’s no need to keep them all alive.

The bandits who quickly grasped the meaning of those words immediately shouted.

“I-I know everything! I can tell you everything, so please spare me!”

“N-no, I know more than that bastard! Master Mage, I’ll be more useful!”

The workshop instantly became a scene of self-promotion.

Lumia and Serentia could only mutter in bewilderment at the absurd spectacle.

“W-what is this…”

When they first heard about the ‘Magic Killer,’ they thought it was the end.

It was that notorious an item.

The Council hadn’t branded it as forbidden and tried to eradicate it for no reason.

But to think he could dispel even that.

They had seen so many impossible things that they thought nothing could surprise them anymore.

“S-sister, what could he really be?”

“I wonder…”

Serentia could only scratch her head.

After all, both of them were mages who had grown up being called geniuses.

Being unable to grasp their opponent’s talent to this extent… was truly an unfamiliar experience.

“Noisy.”

Sion spoke irritably and lightly flicked his finger.

At that moment, the entire area was once again filled with silence.

It wasn’t that the bandits had voluntarily shut their mouths.

“…!”

All the bandits’ voices had literally disappeared.

And Sion quietly scanned the bandits once.

‘These bastards trying to rob a decent Magic Tower in a place like this don’t need to be forgiven.’

Even when he was Altair, such types had always existed.

Before Altair had unified all the workshops across the Continent and managed them systematically, there were quite a few malicious workshops.

They were called workshops, but there were even cases where bandits operated them.

Sion was the very person who had brought down the hammer on such things and raised the moral standards of workshops.

However, it was worth giving them a chance.

“Anyone here who knows the 3rd Circle Magic Scroll Crafting Method, raise your hand. I’ll spare that bastard.”

“…!”

Then, one of the bandits quietly raised his hand and looked at Sion with pitiful eyes.

Sion released the magic that had been blocking his mouth.

“Speak.”

“You just need to craft a scroll with that 3rd Circle Magic, don’t you… Kyaaaaaaak!”

Whoosh!

The bandit turned to ash and bid farewell to this world.

3rd Circle Magic Scroll crafting was knowledge that any craftsman from a proper workshop should naturally possess.

Not knowing it meant he had no connection to workshops whatsoever, and was just a bandit after money.

In the end, no one raised their hand.

Sion snorted and raised his hand.

“You bastards are better off dead.”

Sion was more ruthless than anyone toward those who defiled the meaning of workshops.

Especially toward criminals who committed the atrocity of hunting humans using workshops.

That’s when it happened.

“…!”

One of the bandits desperately twisted his body and raised his hand.

Sion released his mouth.

“Speak.”

“T-to contain 3rd Circle magic in a scroll, you first need Mana Crystal Powder as a medium to hold mana! Y-you mix the powder with a Fusion Agent that preserves the form of mana…!”

“You do know it.”

Sion nodded after hearing that much.

At those words, the bandit spoke with desperate eyes.

“T-then I am….”

“Die.”

“No, why the hell… Kyaaak!”

With those words, as Sion lightly flicked his finger, the bandit was instantly engulfed in flames and turned to ash.

Sion looked coldly at the spot where the bandit had been and spoke.

“A bastard who’s learned enough to know better, using it for banditry? That makes you even more guilty, so you deserve to die.”

“…Didn’t you say you’d spare those who talked?”

When Lumia quietly asked, Sion chuckled and said.

“That was obviously just wordplay.”

“Ah.”

“Just as beasts that taste blood are put down, humans who’ve tasted banditry are the same. There’s no one who only does this once. Even if I spared them, they’d just keep repeating it.”

There was no reason to let them live.

“【Fire Field】.”

Sion, as if that was enough, lightly flicked his finger to activate the magic.

At that moment, crimson flames heated up the entire workshop.

“Aaaaaaahhh!”

In an instant, the bandits died, leaving only ash behind.

Now there was only one Black Fox survivor left in the workshop.

Sion asked the survivor with cold eyes.

“You seem to have quite a lot of information to give me. Don’t you?”

“…!”

At those words, Bash frantically nodded his head repeatedly.

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