The Mage’s Nemesis Has Reincarnated - Chapter 110

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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 110
“What is that device you created? Explain it in detail.”
“That’s a device Baluduk instructed me to make… As you’ve experienced firsthand, it amplifies gravity within a certain radius by five times while blocking mana and aura. It uses Arcnium as its base material, and the more Arcnium you add, the greater the gravitational power and range become.”
“So adding more material increases its power? That’s an incredible contraption.”
Though I spoke without much thought, Esca seemed to take it as praise and puffed up slightly.
“What were you planning to use it for?”
“I don’t know either. You can glare at me all you want, but I truly don’t know.”
I stared at Esca for a moment, but seeing the sincerity in his eyes, I relented.
“Tell me everything you know about the 12 Pioneers.”
“E-everything?”
“Why? You seem to know quite a lot about them.”
“….”
Having once aspired to a Forerunner’s seat, he clearly possessed considerable information.
“We have time, so take your time explaining.”
“Hmm… where should I start… ah.”
Once Esca began, he started divulging information about the Forerunners one detail at a time.
As I listened to the information for a while, I filtered out only the credible details and organized them in my mind.
1. The Forerunners access a virtual space called the Luminous Portalsphere remotely to conduct meetings.
2. Only Forerunners who have directly learned the corresponding ritual can enter that space.
3. The Forerunners consist of nine males and three females.
4. The Forerunners are distributed evenly across each kingdom: Albitz, Brahm, Ber, Byso, Decan, and others.
5. Among the higher-ranking Forerunners, only Baluduk is known to Esca.
6. In Byso, besides Zakar Patrick, there is a Forerunner of earth named Terion.
7. All Forerunners are at the 9th Circle, having reached the pinnacle in their respective attributes.
8. Baluduk is the only elderly Forerunner.
9. There’s no particular way to know where the Forerunners are located.
While it seemed like I’d obtained considerable information, the truly valuable substance was missing.
“There’s nothing here to work with, nothing. You really don’t know anything else?”
“I-I truly don’t know anything more. How could I, someone who isn’t even a Forerunner, possibly know beyond this?”
“Are you talking back to me?”
“N-no, of course not.”
As I growled, Esca naturally lowered his gaze.
“Tell me about the Mados Religion.”
“The Mados Religion? Isn’t it a religion that worships Mados, the god of darkness and destruction?”
“I already know that. What I’m curious about is why Azrahil is creating hallucinogens to cultivate followers.”
“Hallucinogens?”
Esca’s eyes widened as he questioned me.
He clearly had no knowledge of this.
“Sigh, never mind then. What about the relationship between the Forerunners and dragons?”
“Dragons? Why suddenly bring up dragons….”
He knew nothing of that either.
“If you don’t produce useful information soon, I’ll blow your head clean off.”
“….”
“Think carefully before you speak. Dredge up memories from both your conscious and subconscious mind. Do you understand?”
“…Yes.”
Tension crept back across Esca Robins’s face.
“Those bastards conducted live human experiments at the Magic Tower using Gregor Fontaine as their figurehead. Do you know anything about that?”
The look in my eyes made it clear: answer, or die.
Fortunately, useful information began to spill from Esca Robins’s lips.
“W-well, I don’t know all the details, but I’ve heard they conducted various kinds of experiments.”
“Be specific. What kind?”
“Ah, there were so many I can’t remember them all, but I recall research on light reflection, creating soldiers without pain using hallucinogens, and things like that. They mostly captured commoners and used them for torture and drug testing.”
“Hmm.”
A faint smile of satisfaction crossed my face.
This was genuinely useful information.
“How do you know so much about this?”
“Ah, well… I actually conducted some live human experiments myself for a brief period….”
He glanced nervously at me as he spoke, guilt weighing on his conscience.
As expected, my expression twisted into a scowl.
“So you’re just as much of a piece of trash as any aspiring Forerunner would be.”
“….”
“What kind of experiments did you conduct?”
“Most of them were related to developing mana bullets. We needed to test whether they would work properly against mages….”
“Oh, that thing?”
I glanced at the massive sniper rifle lying haphazardly off to one side.
“Why would you bother making something so useless?”
“U-useless? But this weapon killed Nox Venomayer, the Poison Pioneer, in a single shot!”
“So you were that sniper from back then?”
“Ah…?”
Esca Robins’s eyes widened in belated realization.
“A year ago, some bastard fired a spell called Soul Burst from a distance, and Nox died foaming at the mouth. I was furious that I’d let him slip away right before my eyes, but it was you who killed him.”
“I-I’m sorry. I was only following Baluduk’s orders….”
“From now on, you’ll follow my orders instead.”
With that, I opened a pocket dimension and retrieved something to hand to him.
“What is…?”
Esca Robins accepted the parchment and golden pen with a bewildered expression.
“You’re going to make a contract with me using that.”
“A contract…?”
“Think of it as something similar to a mana oath.”
Truthfully, I would have preferred to kill Esca Robins and resurrect him as undead to make him my servant.
That way, I could ensure his absolute loyalty while extracting whatever information I desired.
But.
‘There’s no guarantee he’ll become an undead with intelligence.’
Zakar Patrick and the Dark Lord were exceptions—Esca Robins might turn out differently.
He could simply resurrect as a mindless undead, shambling and incoherent.
Rather than risk that uncertainty, it would be far safer to bind him through an ancient covenant, just as I had done with Peter McLafflin and Mary.
Yet at the mention of a contract, Esca Robins made no effort to hide his reluctance.
His instincts clearly sensed an unfavorable bargain.
Of course, there was nothing he could do about it.
“Write it down on that parchment using the pen I gave you. Unless you’d prefer to die.”
“….”
“So which is it—prolong your life through a contract, or perish right now?”
“I-I’ll prolong it, sir.”
Esca Robins’s hand, which had been frozen in place, finally moved.
“Why isn’t any ink coming out?”
“It’s a pen that requires mana infusion.”
“Oh, really? What principle was it crafted on…?”
The man, momentarily fascinated by this ancient ballpoint pen, soon began writing on the parchment as I instructed.
“I, Esca Robins, do solemnly swear to serve Zeke McLafflin as my master for all my days. Should I break this oath, the Circle shall collapse according to the divine law of the Almighty El. Write exactly that.”
Through the process of binding these contracts, I’d come to understand that swearing to serve someone as master—as Mary had done—was far more effective than merely swearing not to betray, as Peter McLafflin had.
‘A true master-servant relationship ensures absolute obedience, making them extensions of my own will.’
This was evident when comparing Peter McLafflin’s occasional grumbling with Mary’s unwavering compliance.
Of course, for Esca Robins, this contract was far from welcome.
“It’s all written… huh?”
The words began to glow with golden light, and the ancient covenant took effect.
With it, Esca Robins’s very nature transformed.
He now regarded me as his master.
‘Slave number three has been born.’
Satisfied with myself, I decided to replicate Esca Robins’s skills as well.
After all, he was a 9-Circle mage of considerable power.
【Skill Activated: Magic Replication】
[Randomly replicating 8 spells from ‘Esca Robins’.]
[Acquired 7-Circle spell ‘Detecting’!]
[Acquired 8-Circle spell ‘Mirror Image’!]
[Acquired 8-Circle spell ‘Air Blast’!]
[Acquired 9-Circle spell ‘Dispel’!]
[Acquired 9-Circle spell ‘Mana Burn’!]
[Acquired 9-Circle spell ‘Blink’!]
[Acquired 9-Circle spell ‘Psychokinesis’!]
[Acquired 9-Circle spell ‘Soul Burst’!]
[Skill proficiency has increased by 740.]
[Proficiency remaining until 9-Star Achievement: 9,650/300,000]
‘Okay. Eight spells mastered.’
Now the question was how to utilize Esca Robins, who had become my subordinate.
Of course, I already had a plan in mind.
“Esca. We’re bound by contract now. We’re in the same boat. So don’t betray me. Unless you want to live as a cripple after your Circle collapses.”
“Understood.”
There was no trace of reluctance in Esca’s demeanor—he already recognized me as his master.
“By the way, you said you wanted to become a Forerunner, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then become one.”
“Pardon?”
“Report to Baluduk that you killed me, and become a Forerunner.”
To catch a tiger, you must enter the tiger’s den.
But before entering, it’s wise to scout the cave first—so sending Esca ahead was the better move.
In short, I was inserting my spy into the Forerunners’ ranks.
‘Once I extract all the information, I’ll lure them out one by one and kill them.’
That was my strategy.
But Esca seemed troubled.
“So… you want me to infiltrate the Forerunners, act like I’m one of them, and extract information—is that correct?”
“Yeah, exactly. Can’t you do it?”
“No, I can do it. I’ve wanted to become a Forerunner so badly. But they said I’d only get the position if I brought Azrahil’s head, not just killed him. I’m not sure if that’s possible…”
“It’s possible. Getting a head isn’t difficult.”
“Huh? How…”
“Like this.”
I used the magic I’d learned from Azrahil on a stone lying on the ground.
‘Phase Shift.’
The stone swelled into a head-like shape and began forming a distinct structure.
“What!?”
And it was a perfect replica of Azrahil’s head.
Even Esca, watching from the side, was astounded.
“This should work, right? Azrahil’s head.”
“It’s… flawless, truly.”
Esca picked up the head and examined it curiously, turning it over and touching it repeatedly.
The sight of him holding and inspecting a severed head was utterly revolting.
“It’s a signature spell of Azrahil’s—magic that restructures the very composition of matter. It should be convincing enough to fool even a 9-Circle Archmage’s eyes, right?”
“Yes, that’s… it really looks authentic. So realistic that no one would suspect it’s an illusion…”
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t an illusion.
I had genuinely restructured the matter itself.
That’s what made the deception possible.
“Of course, maintaining it indefinitely is impossible. But a few days should be more than sufficient.”
“That will do. With this, they’ll be certain that Azrahil is dead.”
“Good. Becoming a Forerunner is settled then. But are you absolutely sure Baluduk never came here? Not even once?”
I’d asked the question with the intention of backtracking the flow of mana if Baluduk had used teleportation to arrive at this place.
Esca Robins’s answer was negative.
“He wouldn’t have come. He only visited once before to verify that it was constructed properly, and since then he’s merely been issuing orders from afar.”
“I see.”
“However, his subordinate likely came here.”
“A subordinate?”
“Yes. Arcnium was also delivered by one of his subordinates.”
My eyes gleamed with interest.
If I could track down this subordinate using the backtracking skill I’d just learned, I might be able to discover Baluduk’s location.
“Tell me everything you know about this subordinate.”

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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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