The AI Archmage - Chapter 28
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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 28
“C-Come out! You bandits!”
Lumia cried out.
Actually, it didn’t seem like she really cried out, but let’s just go with that.
Kwaaaaang!
Lumia even went through the trouble of memorizing cumbersome incantations as she unleashed magic wildly.
4th Circle Magic unfolded from Lumia’s hands as if it were natural, devastating the surroundings.
Of course, there were no traces of people in this place.
And from a short distance away, Sion and Barean watched this while evaluating her acting skills.
“Her acting is a bit awkward, isn’t it?”
“She’s originally not good at anything except magic, so it can’t be helped.”
“True.”
Sion immediately agreed with Barean’s words.
Lumia certainly had that kind of aspect to her.
You could call it a characteristic of mages with excessive talent.
It’s not for nothing that archmages are known for having eccentric personalities.
Belusian was like that too.
Anyway, Lumia was roaring fiercely at the world like a savage kitten.
“Come ouuuuuut!”
“Oh, she’s getting some emotion into it?”
“I know what that is. She’s gradually developing different emotions. How should I put it. She’s projecting emotions she has toward another person.”
“My goodness. It seems she has quite a lot of pent-up emotions toward some very wicked person.”
“Mm, that’s… right.”
Barean answered Sion’s words with a subtle voice.
He looked at Lumia for a moment, then asked Sion.
“But will this really fool them? No matter what, the bandits shouldn’t be stupid enough to fall for that girl’s act and show themselves.”
“It doesn’t matter if they’re not fooled. But they will be fooled.”
“Why?”
“Because they’re desperate too.”
Sion continued with a confident voice.
“Just because they pressured you with a relaxed attitude doesn’t mean they actually have room to spare.”
“…Mm.”
“Rather, conversely, it could mean their situation is bad enough that they need to find another ‘revenue model’ like you, senior.”
This place is the frontier.
So what does that mean?
It means there aren’t many people, and targets for plunder are limited.
On the other hand, there are many threatening monsters.
There’s no way safe zones that avoid bandit groups would exist.
Monsters and wild beasts don’t distinguish between bandits and villagers.
In the end, they too must be living day by day, constantly exposed to threats.
“Moreover, seeing that they used a familiar, there’s a mage among them. There probably aren’t many, at most two? Perhaps the leader himself might be a mage.”
“…Hmm.”
“If that’s the case, he would naturally know the value of a high-ranking mage. And he’d also know that the possibility of capturing a high-ranking mage alive isn’t entirely impossible.”
It’s a kind of gamble.
But if successful, it’s definitely a gamble that could yield great profit.
They might be able to stop this tiresome banditry and enjoy a luxurious life.
In that case?
“If I were the leader, I would do it.”
“….”
“Besides, a 4th Circle mage is half-baked. Being half-baked makes them easily swept up in this kind of ‘gamble.'”
At Sion’s logical words, Barean nodded his head.
“How do you know so well?”
“Well, there are many of that type. I just calculated probabilities in my head and compiled statistics.”
“It doesn’t seem like something you can say so easily though….”
Barean decided to feel rather than understand for now.
To be honest, there were more than a few parts that weren’t easy to understand.
While they were having such a serious conversation, Lumia, who had naturally immersed herself in her role, suddenly started running around.
“Haha, you won’t come out, will you?”
She was so immersed in her role that you could even feel venom in her eyes.
“Great nature, please hear my call….”
“…Huh?”
“Huh?”
Sion and Barean, who had been quietly listening, tilted their heads.
There was nothing strange about reciting an incantation.
But something seemed a bit….
“That’s 6th Circle magic, isn’t it?”
“That’s right.”
“Shouldn’t we stop her? Even if it’s Lumia, if she forcibly uses 6th Circle magic….”
“Ah, it’s fine.”
Sion grinned.
“The Tower Master had a good idea. Well, her acting may be awkward, but she’s someone whose mind works well.”
“Ah.”
At Sion’s words, Barean also seemed to understand the situation and nodded.
And a moment later.
Rustle.
Signs of people began to be felt from all directions. A number that appeared to be at least dozens.
Their purpose was singular.
The 6th Circle mage who appeared to be causing a rampage without rhyme or reason, Lumia Kabala.
“Now’s the time.”
Sion chuckled softly and moved.
* * *
“What a catch!”
Edan couldn’t help but laugh at the situation he had just confirmed through his familiar.
“I was wondering what bastard destroyed my familiar, but it was such a young thing. Heh, must be a genius.”
“Leader, what do you mean…?”
“It seems a high-ranking mage who doesn’t know the ways of the world has gotten involved. The type who has no real combat experience and only studied magic in a small room.”
“A, a high-ranking mage?!”
Kalto, the vice-leader of the Brotherhood, was shocked.
A high-ranking mage! That would mean at least 6th Circle level!
“Are you insane?! Let’s run, boss! What kind of nerve do we have to pick a fight with a high-ranking mage…!”
“Hey, you bastard. I told you to call me by the nicer title of ‘leader’ instead of ‘boss,’ didn’t I?”
“That’s not the issue right now! We’re going to die! You know how powerful 6th Circle magic is…!”
“It is powerful.”
Edan grinned wickedly.
“But even that powerful magic only works if you can actually cast it, right?”
“W-well, that’s true, but…”
“Don’t worry. If it’s a high-ranking mage who knows nothing but magic, there are plenty of ways to deal with them.”
With that, Edan reached for an orb that was placed on the table.
A strange light was flowing through that orb.
“Leader, is that the power you received from them? Don’t tell me your confidence right now is because of that thing?”
“Watch carefully.”
Edan looked at Kalto with a confident expression and said.
“Today we will capture a high-ranking mage alive and soar to new heights. This should be more than enough to fulfill our contract conditions.”
And the moment he grasped the orb in his hand.
Kiiing!
Black light seeping from the orb enveloped Edan’s body.
Blood vessels bulged as Edan laughed maniacally for a while.
Incomparably powerful force began surging through his entire body.
“Kahahaha!”
Edan roared with eyes full of ambition.
* * *
“Keheheh…”
The bandits instantly surrounded Lumia.
Normally, she should have used some magic here to turn the bandits into ash, but unfortunately, 6th Circle incantations were damn long.
Unlike Barean in his prime, Lumia was only at the level of having just reached 6th Circle.
The bandits snickered as they watched her.
“Capture her alive, right?”
“Looking at her appearance, she seems to have market value too. How convenient.”
The bandits approached with sinister smiles.
“Hey, mage. Just surrender quietly. As long as you don’t resist, we won’t do anything rough.”
“…Great earth of… Ah, it’s getting hard to even speak now! Sion!”
Just then, Lumia suddenly shouted.
“When are you coming! At this point, continuing the incantation is torture! I can’t even complete it anyway!”
“What are you saying right now…”
“【Fire Field】.”
Before those words could even finish, fire magic suddenly manifested.
Whoosh!
A feast of flames swept across the area.
The bandits surrounding Lumia couldn’t avoid the fire.
“Ah, aaaahhh!”
“Fi, fire! My body is on fire…!”
Sion walked through the struggling bandits with flames on their bodies, arriving in front of Lumia with an indifferent expression.
“Are you alright?”
“Ah, yes, I’m fine, but…”
Lumia glanced to the side and said.
“Over there, senior doesn’t look fine though?”
“Why?”
Sion turned his head toward Barean with a puzzled look.
Barean stood there with his eyes wide open.
“What, what the…”
“Didn’t you explain?”
When Lumia tilted her head and asked, Sion responded with an expression as if asking what obvious thing she was talking about.
“Was there a need to mention it first?”
“Ah, that’s true.”
“W, wait a moment…”
Barean covered his face and became lost in thought for a moment.
And not long after.
“Good. Let’s go.”
“Don’t you need an explanation?”
“We don’t have time for that, and I’ve already finished classifying your type in my mind.”
“Classification?”
“Yes.”
Barean answered in a short voice.
“Something not to be understood.”
“…”
“Let’s go. I’ve made a compromise with my sanity to not be surprised by whatever you do from now on.”
Barean began moving as if that was truly enough for him.
Sion and Lumia, who had been looking at each other for a moment, soon nodded their heads.
“He’s quite a unique person.”
“As much as you, Sion?”
They stopped their trivial conversation and moved quickly.
In this plan, it would be meaningless unless they wiped out the entire bandit group.
[I’ve confirmed the location of the bandit group’s leader from that recent movement. It doesn’t seem to be very far. Shall I guide you?]
‘Do that.’
At that moment, light flickered in Sion’s vision and a path appeared.
[I will activate the Navigator Function.]
“I’ve identified the location where the bandit group’s leader is. Let’s go.”
“No, how already… No, I accept it. I’ve accepted it.”
Barean, who had quickly made a compromise with his sanity, followed Sion.
Lumia’s action from earlier wasn’t simply to burn the bandit group.
It was to identify the enemy’s position.
What route did the bandit group take to move and appear? By knowing that, it would become possible to calculate the location of the bandit group’s base as well.
So they were about to head straight to where the leader was.
But then.
“…Sion, wait a moment.”
“What’s the matter?”
“The bandits we just burned. Um… they’re moving?”
At those words, Sion’s expression hardened as he turned his head.
The place where the bandits he had burned to death had been.
The corpses that had become piles of ash there…
Twitch.
Were rising to their feet.
The three mages present quickly recognized this phenomenon.
“Don’t tell me…”
“Dark Magic.”
Barean spoke its identity with a heavy expression.
If corpses were moving in that manner, there was only one answer.
Cursed magic.
The power to move corpses, curse, and destroy life.
“Don’t tell me the Brotherhood’s leader…”
“Was a dark mage.”
Barean received Lumia’s words with a heavy voice.
“…It seems the situation has become serious. This means we ‘must’ annihilate the Edan Brotherhood.”
“I understand.”
“However, dealing with a dark mage isn’t an easy task. Unless we catch the source, the corpses will keep rising endlessly, so how should we handle this…”
“…”
Sion began thinking rapidly.
Not only the bandits’ corpses, but there was also the possibility of moving the bodies buried in this vicinity.
Then how should he respond in this situation?
In a time-pressed situation like now, what methods were there to definitively annihilate those things?
But then.
[Human, this AI has currently detected an external virus.]
Akasha spoke to Sion.
[Shall I begin removing the virus, Necromancy, now?]
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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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