The Mage’s Nemesis Has Reincarnated - Chapter 158
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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 158
Ten minutes before Lillis Lin’s assault.
Pyreo and Ilena, confined within the magical carriage, sighed as they gazed upon the restraints that bound them.
“Damn it, if I could just break free from these, we could escape.”
“You won’t be able to. These restraints are forged from Arcnium, the stone called the divine ore. Even a legendary dragon couldn’t budge them.”
“A dragon could break free through sheer strength. And there’s also draconic power, isn’t there?”
“You have hidden power too—mana. Why can’t you use that to escape?”
Pyreo shook his head in despair.
“I can’t. Even now, in this very moment, the Descendant of God is blocking my mana. My spells won’t activate at all.”
“Then think of another way. Are you planning to just let yourself be dragged to the Holy Empire?”
“Why are you putting all the thinking on me? Why don’t you come up with some brilliant idea yourself, Ilena?”
“How dare you talk back to your superior?”
“In a situation like this, does rank even matter? We need to focus on escaping first.”
“Stop complaining. I hate this situation just as much as you do.”
The two, who had been bickering, soon fell into contemplation.
Yet no matter how hard they racked their brains, no solution emerged.
All they could do was lament and worry.
“We’ve been given two chances and failed both times. If we do manage to escape, we’ll be killed by Baluduk when we return.”
“Who doesn’t know that? Regardless, we need to escape first.”
“That’s true. But perhaps we won’t need to make the effort.”
“What do you mean?”
“Someone might come to rescue us without us having to escape on our own.”
“You think Baluduk sent someone to rescue us?”
“Of course. He wouldn’t want us going to the Holy Empire.”
While Pyreo harbored such optimistic thoughts, Ilena remained skeptical.
“Wouldn’t he be more likely to have us eliminated instead?”
“Surely not. The Forerunners are already few in number—would he really send an assassin just to dispose of us?”
“I suppose not.”
If we wait, someone will come to rescue us.
Clinging to such faith, they dreamed of hope for escape.
Crackle, crackle, crackle!
Sparks surged into the magical carriage, then coalesced into the form of a person.
“What?!”
“L-Lillis Lin?”
“Just as expected, you’re here.”
Lillis Lin, the Forerunner of Lightning.
She had suddenly materialized inside the carriage.
There was no doubt—she had come to rescue them.
“Lillis Lin! You’ve come to save us!”
“Thank you! Please, free us at once!”
The two men showed relief, but Lillis Lin’s expression remained cold.
“What are you saying? You’re failed defects.”
“Pardon?”
“Lillis… ma’am?”
“I don’t have time. Die quickly.”
With those final words, a brilliant flash of light erupted from within the magical carriage.
* * *
Crackle, crackle, crackle!
Boom, boom, boom, crash!
“What… what was that sound?”
Archbishop Raber and Saint Prisciel Christenson jumped in alarm.
A deafening roar as if an explosion had occurred somewhere.
Turning toward the source of the sound, I saw the half-destroyed magical carriage engulfed in flames.
Zeke McLafflin rushed over with a tense expression.
“Archbishop, be careful. We’re under attack!”
“What? Who is it?”
“I’m not certain, but please don’t stray from my side. I’ll cast a protective barrier for you.”
Zeke immediately cast the Earth’s Protection skill on the Archbishop.
Seeing the barrier envelop him, Raber felt somewhat reassured.
He recalled the explanation that it would block any single attack.
“Someone’s emerging from the wreckage.”
From among the clattering debris emerged a woman.
Or rather, something with a woman’s face, sparking with electricity.
“Is… is that person the attacker?”
The Archbishop and the others stared at the assailant with wary eyes.
Meanwhile, the attacker Lillis Lin wore an expression of regret.
‘Damn it. He’s already protecting the Archbishop?’
Seeing the Archbishop standing beside Zeke, Lillis Lin instantly realized the situation.
Assassinating the Archbishop, her secondary objective, was now impossible.
‘I suppose I’ll have to settle for killing those two defects.’
In the end, Lillis Lin chose to flee.
The group could only watch helplessly as she vanished with lightning speed.
“She got away…”
“Incredibly fast…”
Zeke, muttering with frustration, suddenly remembered something and moved into action.
The others, belatedly realizing what he meant, cried out and rushed forward as well.
“Right, the prisoners!”
As Zeke cleared away the wreckage of the destroyed magical carriage, he quickly discovered two corpses.
Pyreo McLaurin and Ilena Yates.
“What happened to the prisoners?”
“As you can see, they’re dead….”
Archbishop Raber and the Saint, who had arrived belatedly, let out sighs tinged with regret.
“I had intended for them to receive proper punishment from the Holy Empire. To think it would come to this….”
“We couldn’t even determine the Forerunners’ objective….”
“It appears they sent that assassin to destroy evidence.”
“Yes. Given the use of lightning magic, it must be the Lightning Forerunner ranked fourth.”
“Sigh, this situation has completely fallen apart.”
Archbishop Raber gazed at the wreckage with hollow eyes.
Like a dog chasing chickens, only to stare at the roof.
Thanks to Zeke, we had saved our lives, but we had lost the information.
“What should we do with the bodies?”
“Leave them as they are. They’re not worth burying.”
“We’ve only wasted a magical carriage for nothing.”
No one mourned the prisoners’ deaths.
There was only regret that we couldn’t obtain more information.
Among them, Carbollearos was the most regretful.
He was also angry.
The two Forerunners he had finally captured had died meaninglessly.
“Zeke. How did this happen? You told us to trust you?”
I had been relying solely on Zeke’s bold claims, yet the lead had been severed.
I should have at least tried torture.
“Couldn’t you have stopped it with your mana-blocking ability? Prevented that electricity-spewing Forerunner from escaping?”
“I could have stopped it.”
Zeke didn’t deny it.
He added something shocking.
“Actually, I let him go on purpose.”
“What? Why would you do such a thing?”
As Carbollearos demanded an explanation with wide eyes, Zeke answered with an unbothered expression.
“By letting him go, I can track the higher-ups next.”
“Ah.”
“Since I saw his face, I can figure out where he went.”
The function of the gloves I’m currently wearing: [Earthen Tracking].
With this, I can determine the Lightning Forerunner’s location.
“And regarding the two Forerunners who were imprisoned—they didn’t die.”
“What?”
“To be precise, you could say they were already dead?”
“What are you talking about? Explain yourself clearly.”
“Not here. Come with me for a moment.”
Zeke glanced around cautiously and moved to a different location.
Carbollearos followed along with a bewildered expression, still fuming.
“What are you doing? I want an explanation for what happened earlier.”
“Well, you see….”
Once I confirmed no one was nearby, I chanted the skill.
“I mean I’m alive as an undead. Tablette de l’Impôt de Navres.”
With a gesture, two undead appeared from thin air, kneeling before me.
Carbollearos was startled only after confirming their faces.
“These… these two!”
“Yeah. Pyreo and Ilena. They’ve become intelligent undead.”
“We greet you, Master.”
“We greet you, Master.”
The way both of them bowed toward me was unmistakably that of summoned servants.
Seeing them speak suggested that they truly had become intelligent undead.
“You can extract information from them. There’s no need to go through the trouble of torture.”
“When did you turn them into undead? I never saw you kill them.”
“Of course I killed them where no one could see.”
“Don’t tell me you killed them while you were inside the magical carriage talking with them?”
As I nodded, a sigh escaped Carbollearos’s lips.
“So they were already undead before the attack!”
“Right. The corpses you saw earlier were my undead summons.”
Having killed them early and turned them into undead, I gave my summons a single command.
To converse as if they weren’t undead.
After that, Pyreo and Ilena exchanged dialogue inside the magical carriage as if they were alive.
In the meantime, the Forerunner of Lightning attacked, and he fell for the deception perfectly.
‘He probably thinks I cleanly murdered them.’
But what Lillis Lin killed were already my undead summons.
Since she attacked corpses that were already dead, they couldn’t die again.
Carbollearos marveled upon grasping this fact.
“You really pulled one over on them. You protected your information and even laid the groundwork to track their superiors!”
“First, I’ll finish the escort mission, then we can track down the Forerunners of Lightning.”
“But Zeke, there’s something I don’t understand. How did you have the foresight to kill the Forerunners in advance and turn them into undead?”
“Because it seemed like they wouldn’t back down. I predicted they’d send another assassin to murder us.”
“Is that so? But wasn’t that too much of a gamble? What if you killed them for nothing and they didn’t become intelligent undead?”
“I knew it wouldn’t fail. That’s why I killed them without hesitation.”
I didn’t tell Carbollearos, but a Quest had actually appeared.
The Main Quest I’d been waiting for.
And all the necessary information was contained within that Quest.
【Main Quest: Kill the two imprisoned Forerunners!】
└In one hour, Lillis Lin, the Forerunner of Lightning, will appear to murder the imprisoned Forerunners.
└Pre-emptively kill Pyreo McLaurin and Ilena Yates to turn them into intelligent undead and deceive Lillis Lin into believing her mission succeeded.
【Conditions】
└Turn Pyreo and Ilena into undead within 1 hour time limit
└Deceive Lillis Lin
【Rewards】
└Acquire Skill ‘Form of Fire’
└Acquire Skill ‘Form of Water’
└Acquire Item ‘Ring of Fire’
└Acquire Item ‘Ring of Water’
* * *
Two figures made contact in the illusory space.
It was Lillis Lin and Baluduk.
“Baluduk. It’s done.”
“Already? That was fast.”
A smile bloomed at the corners of Baluduk’s mouth, but it was premature to celebrate just yet.
When Lillis Lin said it was done, she meant only the first objective.
“I couldn’t kill the Archbishop.”
“The Divine Descendant?”
“Couldn’t kill them either.”
“So you only dealt with Pyreo and Ilena?”
“Yes. Wasn’t that the priority?”
“It was, but…”
Still, it fell short of his expectations.
He had believed someone of Lillis Lin’s caliber could have eliminated the Archbishop as well.
“I suppose it can’t be helped. Did you confirm the bodies?”
“I used Lightning Burst right before their eyes and incinerated them along with the carriage. There’s nothing left to see.”
“You should have confirmed it anyway.”
“Where was there time for that? I barely escaped after killing them.”
If Zeke had used Mana Severance as Lillis Lin described, escape might have been impossible.
Baluduk, understanding this point well, nodded in acknowledgment.
“Fair enough. You’ve done well.”
“What about the Archbishop? You said we couldn’t kill them.”
“That can’t be helped. As long as the Divine Descendant is protecting them, there’s no way to kill the Archbishop.”
No clear plan came to mind, and Baluduk himself felt frustrated.
“For now, the best course is to contact Seire and report the situation, then wait for the Divine Descendant to be dealt with. The Archbishop is a matter for later.”
“I see. So my work is finished then?”
“No. There’s still more for you to do.”
At those words, Lillis Lin’s brow furrowed noticeably.
“…What is it.”
“Go to the Decan Kingdom.”
“Huh?”
Why would Decan Kingdom suddenly come up?
The reason became clear soon enough.
“Go and find the McLafflin Family.”
“McLafflin? You mean that Prestigious Magic Family among the three greatest in the Decan Kingdom?”
“Precisely. That is the family of Zeke McLafflin, the descendant of a god.”
“Surely… you’re not ordering me to kill them?”
“No. We mustn’t kill them without purpose.”
“Then?”
“Abduct them. We need to use them as leverage against that wretch Zeke. Well, we don’t need all of them—feel free to kill a few as examples.”
“Ah… so you intend to take his family hostage?”
“Exactly. Even Dantalian couldn’t handle a god’s descendant. So I must prepare for the possibility that Seire might fail.”
Now that I’ve confirmed Zeke is a god’s descendant and gathered all his personal information, I have no choice but to exploit his family.
Whether it will work remains to be seen.
“If he has any attachment to his family, coercion should prove effective.”
“An excellent strategy. I’ll move immediately.”
“Good.”
As Lillis Lin vanished, a faint smile spread across Baluduk’s lips.
‘Zeke McLafflin. Let’s see if you can still rampage so freely when your family’s lives hang in the balance.’
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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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