The AI Archmage - Chapter 76

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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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AI Grand Mage Episode 76

“Gasp! Wheeze—”
The middle-aged man caught his breath in ragged gasps, his eyes darting frantically around.
“The—the golem?”
“It’s not in sight!”
“I see.”
Only then did the middle-aged man allow himself to relax, drawing in a steadying breath.
‘What in the gods’ names is going on?!’
He couldn’t maintain his composure. The Blue Tower he knew—he was certain of it—had no golem like that.
Moreover, magic itself had become unusable. It was as though he had been denied permission to draw upon mana at all.
“How many are left?”
“Approximately fifteen, sir. As for the ten who haven’t escaped that location… they appear to have been taken by the golem.”
“Damn it all!”
His teeth grinding together, the middle-aged man drove his fist into a tree.
‘How did it come to this? I brought an entire Assassination Squad, only to be driven into this corner!’
That aberration had to be eliminated with certainty. Only then would the Family’s future remain unblemished.
But there was more.
It was a being with an extraordinarily high probability of becoming a catastrophe.
A seed of evil that, despite whatever minor sacrifices were required, absolutely had to be destroyed.
Yet the realization of what was right always came with trials.
And this moment was no exception.
“…What will you do, Deputy Head?”
“We continue forward.”
The middle-aged man spoke with quiet resolve. Bloodshot eyes blazing, he staggered to his feet.
“I never expected everything to go smoothly. But I have a duty. The duty to sever with my own hands the seed of evil that was sown by the Main House…!”
“Deputy Head…”
“Besides, we already saw that the exit is blocked by that golem from before. We have no choice.”
His words were true.
The assassins understood the situation.
But there was a problem.
“Deputy Head, however—mana won’t respond. If we cannot use magic, then concealment also—”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Fortunately, tracking itself was still possible.
Not through magic, but through the weapon fragment embedded in that hybrid’s body.
“The distance between us and that hybrid is not great. There is still a chance. Moreover—”
Even without magic, it mattered little.
“We possess the Magic Killer Weapon, do we not?”
“With that, certainly—”
At those words, the assassin nodded. Magic Killer Weapons had spread quite widely.
But among them existed what was called a “Named” weapon—something special.
The Magic Killer Weapon the middle-aged man carried was one of those select few.
The Twelfth Blade: Aldebaran.
With cold eyes, the middle-aged man unwrapped the cloth that had been binding the blade tightly.
In that instant, the sword blazed brilliantly beneath the night sky, revealing its true form.
“…With Aldebaran’s power, I can easily kill that hybrid.”
The invention of a madman who had struggled endlessly to slay not merely mages, but “magic” itself.
And the moment Aldebaran settled into his grip, the middle-aged man felt an immense power surge through his palm from the blade.
“Heh… hehehehe…”
A thin smile crossed his lips as his eyes gleamed.
Now, holding Aldebaran in hand, the middle-aged man could understand.
Why the Council had designated Magic Killers as “Forbidden.”
And why, despite that, they commanded such astronomical prices on the black market.
“Today, that hybrid dies!”
With those words, the middle-aged man moved forward.
And then, right in front of him—
Crash!
A golem suddenly fell.
“…What?”
The middle-aged man and the assassin froze for a moment. Why on earth would a golem be falling from the sky?
There was no way the golem had used teleportation magic or anything like that.
“Why is the golem suddenly…?”
But that was only the beginning. Soon golems began raining down from the sky like hail.
Shriek!
Through the thick clouds of dust, the golem’s eyes glinted as it fixed its gaze on the middle-aged man and the assassin.
The middle-aged man looked at the golem, then let out a derisive snort.
“Ha! Well, this works out. Testing Aldebaran’s power here isn’t such a bad idea!”
The moment he finished speaking, the middle-aged man swung Aldebaran toward the golem.
And then.
Clang!
“…what?”
It bounced off without leaving so much as a scratch.
This was something the middle-aged man hadn’t anticipated, and he froze in place.
‘What is this?’
This shouldn’t be possible.
This was the Magic Killer weapon he’d purchased for an exorbitant price at the black market.
It was even the twelfth blade, a forbidden sword that should give certain advantage against mages, so…?
“No, wait, with this blade, the golem should shatter to pieces the moment it touches it….”
Shriek!
But the golem, as if telling him to stop spouting nonsense, flashed its eyes and raised its arm high.
And the middle-aged man….
“Damn it!”
He bolted away.
Back toward where that ‘mongrel’ was.

* * *

[Come to think of it, the Magic Killer weapon wouldn’t be very effective against Magic Engineering, would it?]
“Exactly. If it were an ordinary alchemy golem, it would’ve crumbled to dust the moment the blade touched it.”
The reason Sion had sent a non-combat golem to face the assassins was simple enough.
The golems of the Blue Tower were pure creations of Magic Engineering.
And assassins, by nature, were strong when facing mages, but without that condition, they became tremendously vulnerable.
By that logic, the golem itself was nothing short of an iron wall to the assassins—sheer, unbreakable opposition.
Especially to assassins who could no longer use magic.
Synchronized with the golem, Sion threw a one-two punch into empty air.
In that same instant, the golem mirrored the stance and launched an identical one-two combination at the assassins.
“Aaaaaagh!”
“No, no, insane! What kind of golem moves like this?!”
The assassins shrieked and scrambled to dodge the golem’s fists.
But the middle-aged man leading the charge was remarkably quick.
“I fight for my mission…!”
[You speak of mission?]
Watching the middle-aged man cry out with such solemnity, Akasha spoke.
And Sion spoke too.
“There’s no point assigning meaning to a dog barking, Akasha.”
[Ah, yes, understood.]
Akasha nodded and turned to watch Sion, who was beating the assassins mercilessly.
It looked like he was simply pummeling them mindlessly, but that wasn’t the case at all.
Sion was systematically herding the assassins toward a specific location.
How much time had passed like this?
“Kuh, urgh…!”
Most of the assassins lay sprawled on the ground beneath the golem’s iron fists.
Sion immediately used Akasha to retrieve the assassins scattered across the ground.
He also ensured that any attempted suicide among them was thoroughly prevented.
It was only possible because there were enough golems.
Now only three or four assassins remained, plus the middle-aged man who seemed to be the ringleader.
“Hmm.”
Suspended in mid-air by Levitation Magic, Sion kept his gaze fixed on the unfolding scene, his attention narrowing toward the middle-aged man.
And a moment later.
“That hair color and eye shade……. Is she from the Minelios Family?”
[Hmm?]
Akasha answered Sion’s murmur at once.
[The Minelios Family — if we’re talking about those who handle Shadow Magic, then that reddish-brown hair and black eyes would certainly be their trademark, wouldn’t they?]
“That’s right, it’s their trademark. Their Bloodline Magic is so pitch-black that people often mistook it for Black Magic.”
[Ah, then it makes sense that they’d command an Assassination Squad. After all, the family specialized in concealment from the beginning.]
“Exactly. But I don’t recall the Minelios Family being the sort to act this recklessly…….”
Of course, the information Sion remembered about the Minelios Family came from at least twenty years ago.
It was entirely possible that things had changed considerably since then.
But if what he remembered hadn’t shifted too drastically…….
“Could it be the independent action of one family member?”
[Pardon?]
“No, I’m not certain, but I have a scenario forming in my mind.”
[Then lay it out clearly.]
“Because I’m not certain.”
[I’m asking you to speak.]
“I don’t speak about things I’m not certain of.”
[This is maddening, truly.]
Akasha found this stubborn refusal exasperating, but she kept her eyes fixed on the unfolding situation regardless.
The assassins took their hits, stumbled, bled from their noses, and yet kept running with desperate determination toward their destination, drawing closer with each passing moment.
[The end draws near.]
“Indeed it does.”
At this point, they’d arrive on their own without any further guidance, so there was no need to follow them further.
He’d already kept just the right number alive for his plan.
Sion used magic to head straight toward where Nerin was.
She stood in silence.
Sion waited for the Minelios assassin to arrive, keeping his presence perfectly still.
And moments later.
“Huff, ah…….”
A middle-aged man who had finally tracked Nerin’s location appeared before her.
“At last I’ve found you, wretch!”
“…….”
Nerin simply looked at the middle-aged man in silence.
Her expression was filled with incomprehension and doubt.
“You, even if you fled to the Blue Tower, it ends like this. That seed of evil you carry……. It must be eradicated!”
“…….”
Nerin remained silent still, merely watching the middle-aged man with cold eyes.
And after a moment, she spoke.
“Why…… do you torment me so?”
“Because the blood you carry is filthy!”
“You tried to eliminate me using an Assassination Squad for such a trivial reason?”
“Yes.”
“But…… why?”
Nerin’s voice trembled as she voiced her bewilderment.
“In the process, innocent lives from the Blue Tower might be sacrificed. You didn’t care about that?”
“Even if I had to sacrifice dozens, hundreds of such lives, you must still die!”
The middle-aged man’s eyes blazed with bloodshot fury as he pressed on.
“What does it matter if a few die in this fallen Magic Tower anyway!”
“……Ha.”
With each word the middle-aged man spoke, Nerin’s expression grew progressively colder.
And shortly after, she spoke in a voice far lower than before.
“So you invaded my Tower and caused all this simply for such a reason.”
“Ha, let’s see how long you can maintain that proud attitude. If not for that Golem, my Aldebaran would reduce your worthless life to nothing……!”
“Enough!”
Nerin’s voice rang out sharply as her foot struck the ground lightly.
In that instant, Nerin’s form began to shimmer like a mirage.
And then.
“Wh, what…….”
The Blue Tower Master Lumia appeared where Nerin had been standing a moment before.
The middle-aged man stared with widened eyes, then spoke.
“Fire, illusion… Magic?”
“A Magic Killer weapon… not even a simple counterfeit, and if it’s the twelfth blade, the Council would never let something like that slide so easily.”
Lumia fixed the middle-aged man with a cold stare.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t notice you meeting with Nerin, such a valued member of my Tower?”
“W-wait, you couldn’t mean that everything you just said…”
“Oh, yes—I recorded it. The Main Tower has quite a few useful Magic Tools at its disposal. Excellent evidence, really. Proof that you all attempted to assassinate me, the Blue Tower Master, using a Magic Killer weapon.”
“…!”
Only then did the middle-aged man grasp the full weight of those words.
From beginning to end, he and his confederates had been dancing in the palm of the Blue Tower’s hand.
And in that moment—
‘Did it work?’
Lumia’s cold sweat dripped silently as her eyes flicked toward Sion.
Had it… gone well?
And to that question—
Snap!
Sion answered with a quiet thumbs-up.

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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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