The Mage’s Nemesis Has Reincarnated - Chapter 109

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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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The Natural Enemy of Mages Has Been Reincarnated – Episode 109
Near Elbroad Territory lay Yellow Spring Valley.
The treacherous terrain could claim a careless step, and the legend that no one who ventured there had ever returned alive had earned it its ominous name.
Yet such a reputation made it an ideal place to hide something.
Click!
“The preparations are complete.”
Having finished installing Arcnium, Esca gazed up at his creation with satisfaction.
The colossal ring-shaped device, easily five meters in diameter, was his masterpiece—second only to his mana gun in the pride he felt for it.
“The craftsmanship isn’t quite at eighty percent completion, but this is more than sufficient for a single use.”
Now that preparations were done, all that remained was to summon Azrahil and end him.
Esca tapped the communication device and sent word, providing the location.
“Azrahil, would you be willing to meet me at Yellow Spring Valley?”
-The place next to Elbroad Territory?
“That’s correct.”
-Fine. I’ll head there.
Esca’s smile deepened as the communication ended.
He would arrive soon.
Unaware of the trap awaiting him.
“Only Baluduk knows about the device here. Even one of the 12 Pioneers couldn’t escape it.”
Smiling, Esca carefully secured the controller in his pocket and settled into a suitable vantage point.
Then he waited for his prey—the one who would secure his rise to power.
Shortly after, his prey appeared sooner than anticipated.
“What a place this is. Truly ideal for a quiet meeting.”
As Azrahil approached, Esca’s heart began to race.
Knowing the moment of reckoning was at hand, he could barely speak through the tension.
Azrahil, by contrast, carried himself with remarkable composure.
“Esca? Why do you seem so tense?”
“Oh, no. But what did you wish to discuss?”
“You speak first.”
“I will….”
Esca suddenly withdrew the controller from his pocket.
“I’m going to kill you.”
The moment those words left his lips, he pressed the button.
Roooooaaaaarrr—
The colossal ring-shaped device hidden behind the gorge roared to life.
Azrahil’s expression shifted to shock.
Esca, meanwhile, wore a smile of pure elation.
“Hahahaha! It’s over, Azrahil! How pathetic you look, unable to do anything!”
“…What have you done?”
“I’ve activated a device that seals mana in your vicinity while simultaneously amplifying gravity. That’s why you can’t move an inch. Naturally, you won’t be able to cast magic either!”
Azrahil furrowed his brow, unable to conceal his mounting panic.
The amplified gravity left him utterly immobilized.
Meanwhile, Esca, standing beyond the field’s perimeter, moved with casual ease.
“Why… why are you doing this….”
“Why? Did you think the Forerunners wouldn’t learn of your treachery?”
“You didn’t… surely you didn’t tell the Forerunners!”
“Of course I did. I told them everything.”
“I asked you not to reveal what I was planning!”
Esca snorted derisively.
“Why would I listen to you?”
“Didn’t you say you were on my side!”
“Ha, you’re more naive than you look. Believing empty words like that.”
Esca radiated supreme confidence.
He savored the moment as one might observe an insect trapped on flypaper.
His composure stemmed from knowing the device’s duration was considerable.
“I never imagined one of the 12 Pioneers could be captured so easily. Whoever designed this—the performance is absolutely exquisite.”
“Esca! Just this once, let it slide! Release me now, and if you follow me, I’ll guarantee you the seat among the 12 Pioneers you’ve always wanted!”
“Kekeke, I’ve already been guaranteed that. Baluduk promised me a Pioneer seat if I bring him your head.”
“What?”
Fear flickered across Azrahil’s widened eyes.
“D-did Baluduk actually come here?”
“If Baluduk had come, would I have needed this device? I’d have disposed of you in an instant.”
“Then… you’re here alone?”
“Obviously. Baluduk has no time to waste on someone like you. I’m more than sufficient. Do you really underestimate me that much?”
Esca’s expression darkened with wounded pride as he moved toward the rocks.
“Someone of your rank wouldn’t know—I’ve secretly killed Nox Venomayer as well.”
What he retrieved from the crevice was his magnum opus: a mana gun.
Click-
He hefted the bazooka-sized weapon onto his shoulder, aiming it directly at Azrahil.
“Let me show you just how terrifying I am.”
Boom-!
The deafening blast consumed Azrahil in an instant.
There was no time to react.
Only to watch helplessly as the mass of mana hurtled toward him.
Flash-!
The Soul Burst embedded in the projectile detonated, and Esca bared his teeth in a grin.
A direct hit from a mana gun capable of sniping from five hundred meters away—at point-blank range.
There was no way survival was possible. He was certain of it.
Until he saw Azrahil standing completely unharmed.
Clank- Hisssss-
Spent cartridges clattered to the ground, wisps of smoke curling into the air, but Esca had no mind to spare for such details.
Azrahil—who should have died foaming at the mouth like Nox—stared back at him with an expression of perfect calm, as if nothing had happened.
“I suppose I should stop with the smoke screen now. Since I’ve been attacked, it’ll dissipate soon anyway.”
“What… what is this? I saw the shot land directly….”
“The hit was true enough. However.”
Azrahil—no, Zeke McLafflin—reverted to his true form.
His body rippled and distorted.
“What?!”
“I’m not a mage, so the spell had no effect on me.”
Soul Burst was a ninth-circle spell that incinerated all the mana within a body.
It was poison to mages, but to Zeke McLafflin, who possessed no Circle, it was utterly harmless.
It had merely been blinding.
But what truly shocked Esca was the realization that his opponent had never been Azrahil at all.
“You… you’re Zeke McLafflin?”
“Ah, so all your investigations into how to kill me have paid off—you recognize my face after all?”
“How did you assume Azrahil’s form…!”
“I happen to be rather gifted at such things. Convincing, wasn’t it?”
Esca’s shock transcended mere bewilderment; his mouth hung open in disbelief.
All this time, he had not been facing the real Azrahil, but Zeke McLafflin masquerading as him.
He had been thoroughly deceived, yet he had no time to indulge in anger.
Not when Zeke moved with such ease within the gravity field’s domain.
“How… how are you moving like that? The gravity should have increased fivefold…?”
“This?”
Zeke flexed his limbs experimentally before turning his gaze back to Esca.
“Even with enhanced gravity, it’s manageable.”
“What?”
Zeke’s words were fact.
His body felt heavier, certainly, but that did not impede his movement.
With a Strength stat approaching four thousand, one could resist even fivefold gravity with relative ease.
“You shouldn’t be able to use aura either… how are you….”
“Ah, so that device blocks aura as well as mana? Then even the Five Lords would struggle to move freely, wouldn’t they? All that terrifying strength comes from aura, after all.”
Which meant Zeke was moving purely on the strength of his physical body.
The moment Esca grasped this truth, he looked at his opponent as one might regard a monster.
“D-don’t come closer! Stay back!”
The mana gun clicked as he aimed it again, and Zeke’s lips curved into a smirk.
“What are you doing? You already know that won’t work on me.”
“You’re supposed to be a mage… how is this possible… how is this not affecting you….”
“I’m sorry, but I can use magic even without a Circle. Watch.”
Even within the gravity field’s domain, Zeke summoned flames to life in his palm.
Fire danced across his skin, defiant and alive.
Whoosh!
Esca’s eyes widened in shock.
It was a natural reaction—he’d believed he’d completely severed my mana flow.
“How is this…?”
“Beats me. I don’t know how it’s possible either.”
I said that, but truthfully, I knew exactly why.
It was all thanks to the System’s power.
“Well then, shall we finish our conversation?”
“Y-you bastard! Do you know who I am?!”
In an instant, Esca’s robes billowed with magical force.
Mana circulating through nine mana rings transformed into violent magical power.
Esca was a 9-Circle Archmage before he was anything else.
It seemed he intended to demonstrate the formidable strength he’d cultivated as a master of the craft.
But.
“You picked the wrong opponent.”
At my will, the mana in the surrounding area was absorbed.
The mana Esca had gathered was no exception.
“Wh-what?”
I was growing tired of hearing my opponent spout such vacant remarks every single time.
“Your mana won’t gather, does it? Do you understand what that means?”
“W-what in the hell are you—”
“It means you’re finished, you bastard.”
My fist connected with Esca’s face.

* * *
Humans often grow stronger in moments of crisis.
They draw upon power they never knew they possessed, and through such trials, they escape adversity and ascend to greater heights.
Esca had once harbored such thoughts about his own talents.
He believed his gifts had blossomed through hardship.
An orphan abandoned by his own parents, he had suddenly awakened to magic and risen to become a 9th Circle Archmage—there was no other explanation for it but talent itself.
Perhaps that was why he had struggled so desperately to advance further.
His admiration and obsession with the 12 Pioneers might have stemmed from this very reason.
But.
Crack!
Thud!
He had come to understand with absolute certainty that the magical prowess he once boasted meant nothing before this man.
He felt viscerally that the notion of growing stronger in crisis was nothing but a lie.
Even after attempting it countless times while being beaten, his mana refused to gather.
“Hurts, doesn’t it? That’s what you get for helping the 12 Pioneers. In a way, you brought this upon yourself. Reap what you sow. You understand, right?”
“Ugh….”
I couldn’t even remember how many times I’d been struck.
My eyes held nothing but terror toward Zeke McLafflin.
“P-please, ask whatever you wish. L-let’s talk… just talk.”
“Now you’re being cooperative? You should have acted this way from the start.”
‘Damn it, did you even give me the chance? You didn’t even let me speak!’
For a moment I nearly cried out, but I forced myself to hold back.
Even if the 12 Pioneers appeared right now, I’d be helpless before this man.
“Why didn’t Baluduk come? Was he really too busy?”
“Yes… he said I should handle this alone as he had other matters.”
It was a respectful answer, but Zeke McLafflin’s expression showed displeasure.
[The target you are currently observing is speaking the ‘truth’.]
Zeke McLafflin had been hoping Baluduk would come.
“I wish it had been a lie… but it seems it’s true. Ah, what a shame. If Baluduk had come too, I could have captured both of you.”
“….”
In this world, was there another man who would treat Baluduk, the Shadow Hand and second in rank, so casually?
I shook my head in utter exasperation.
“What are you doing? Why are you shaking your head?”
“Huh? Oh, no, it’s nothing.”
Zeke McLafflin leaned his face in close with a grave expression.
“Get your head straight. I’m not joking around.”
“Y-yes.”
“From now on, I’ll be asking the questions. If there’s even a hint of a lie in your answers… you understand?”
“Of course, of course.”
As the ominous atmosphere settled in, I cowered completely.
Satisfied with the sight before me, I posed my first question.
“Here comes the first question.”
“Yes.”

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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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