The Mage’s Nemesis Has Reincarnated - Chapter 187

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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 187
“Z-Zeus! Zeki! Why are there Lich Dragons behind you…?”
“Surely you two didn’t…?”
“I-I’m so sorry. Sob…”
Zeus, who had led the way, trembled with guilt while Zeki was too consumed by the pain of his broken arm to respond.
Witnessing this, the villagers instantly grasped the situation.
No fool could fail to notice their betrayal in circumstances like these.
Yet I couldn’t bring myself to blame them either.
‘They had no choice. Life is precious, after all.’
Still, I, Village Chief Eden, couldn’t hide my bitterness.
What had been my original purpose in controlling the villagers?
Wasn’t it to prevent precisely this worst-case scenario?
‘But in the end, it’s come to this.’
I had thought controlling fifty people would be simple, yet I failed spectacularly.
The rigid discipline and oppression had instead invited disaster upon us.
“Karcaiden. It’s been a long time. Has it been a hundred years?”
“Carjephilos.”
We had clashed once, a century ago.
‘Back then, I fought to buy time while evacuating the villagers. But now…’
I see no such opportunity.
They were holding hostages this time, unlike before.
“See this arm?”
“Aaaah!”
“Zeki!”
Carjephilos, who had been dragging Zeki’s broken arm, continued with a sinister grin.
“If you don’t want to see his other arm broken as well, I suggest you don’t run.”
“…Must you truly shed blood for this?”
Hatred blazed in the eyes of the elder dragon Karcaiden.
“Why must you go this far to enslave us? Carjephilos!”
“What are you talking about? Enslave? I have no such intention.”
“Then? Is your purpose to kill us all?”
“No.”
Carjephilos, the leader of the Lich Dragon Council, let out a derisive laugh.
“I originally planned to enslave you, but I’ve changed my mind. I have a proposal for you.”
“A…proposal?”
Become Lich Dragons like us. If everyone here undergoes the Lichification process without issue, not a single dragon need shed blood.”
I clenched my teeth in fury.
How could that possibly be called a proposal? It was coercion.
“And if we refuse?”
“Then you’ll see the blood you so despise. I suspect it will be the blood of these two wretches first.”
Carjephilos gently stroked the trembling children.
Watching Zeus and Zeki quiver in fear, my resolve wavered.
‘Sigh… What am I to do? I cannot possibly flee with everyone in this situation.’
If I steeled myself, I could escape immediately.
They number twenty-five; we number fifty.
With twice their numbers, surely some would survive if we fled with all our strength?
But I cannot save everyone.
Least of all Zeus and Zeki, who are trembling in terror right now.
‘I cannot sacrifice the villagers and flee. Then… must I fight?’
If I sacrifice myself, I might at least minimize the damage.
I must provoke combat as before and buy time for the villagers to escape.
That is the best option available to me now.
Yet there is no guarantee the fleeing villagers won’t be recaptured.
Among them, there was no leader capable of rebuilding the village anew.
‘The greatest problem is that I cannot prevent the children from being sacrificed.’
Whether we flee or stand and fight, the damage remains the same.
Given how relentlessly they have pursued us, they will never let us slip away.
Of course, it was not as though other options did not exist.
‘Lichification still remains as a choice.’
If I were to become a Lich as they proposed?
I could preserve my life.
But could such a being, stripped of reason, truly still be called me?
Would I not simply become a walking corpse, unable to remember my former life?
‘Absolutely not. I cannot become a Lich under any circumstances.’
Weighing all options, only one choice remained.
I would sacrifice myself to save the rest of the villagers.
With such thoughts, I waited for the right moment.
Crackle—
“Hmm?”
The sound of footsteps crushing undergrowth reached my ears.
At first, I dismissed it as the noise of some animal.
But the moment I identified the presence—
“Ah.”
I let out a sound without thinking.
A familiar man’s face had come into view.
‘Cardiplian?’
Years ago.
I had encountered Cardiplian by chance.
Since he had been a slave at the time, I could not reveal the village’s location to him.
Should he betray us, we would have to relocate our home once more, like migratory birds.
‘But how did you find this place? How did you even know?’
My curiosity was answered quickly enough.
Since he was a slave of the Lich Dragon Council, it was obvious he’d come with them.
His presence here was nothing unusual.
However, contrary to my expectations, it seemed to be quite unusual for the Lich Dragons.
“What are you?”
“Were there more Resistance Forces?”
“Wait. Isn’t this one a slave dragon? I remember seeing him when reinforcements came from the Southern Continent before.”
“How did a slave dragon who should be on the Southern Continent make it all the way to the Eastern Continent?”
I could tell from the murmuring alone.
They hadn’t anticipated Cardiplian’s arrival either.
Nor the presence of the human behind him.
“What is that?”
“I don’t sense any draconic power at all?”
“Could it be… human?”
The human, Zeke McLafflin, smirked as he watched the Lich Dragons whisper about him.
“Found you. Garbage lizards.”

* * *
Carjephilos found the current situation perplexing.
‘What are these fools doing?’
Just as he was in the middle of intimidating the Resistance Forces, these new arrivals suddenly appeared.
‘One is a slave dragon, another is a dragon I’ve never seen before. And the last one is… a human?’
What business did two dragons and a human have appearing here?
Whatever it was, it was an unwelcome situation.
Hadn’t that human just insulted them, calling them garbage lizards?
‘Unless my ears deceived me.’
Cargast stepped forward, his eyes blazing, as if to confirm he’d heard correctly.
“What did you just say? You pathetic insect of a human.”
“So you admit you’ve been doing garbage work? Looks like you understood and came out on your own?”
“Ha… what is this.”
Cargast’s expression turned dumbfounded at the absurdity.
This must be what it felt like when a mosquito buzzed about fearlessly without knowing its place.
A human he could obliterate with a mere handful of mana was acting recklessly without any sense of proportion—it was utterly ridiculous.
“Enough. Just die.”
Cargast, finding no further value in conversation, channeled his mana.
He intended to burst the human’s head open in an instant with the crushing pressure of his power.
He didn’t know it wouldn’t work.
“…!?”
“What are you doing? Why aren’t you killing him?”
“What, what is this?”
“What’s wrong, Cargast?”
“This… this shouldn’t be happening…?”
“I’m asking what’s wrong!”
Carjephilos raised his voice in frustration.
Cargast continued to speak nonsense, his face still disbelieving.
“M-my mana… I can’t manifest it.”
“What?”
“Huh? M-me too.”
“Me as well…”
“Y-you’re serious?”
“W-why is this happening?”
As if they had coordinated it, everyone spoke in unison—their mana simply wouldn’t generate.
Rather than ask further questions, Carjephilos decided to attempt manifesting his own mana.
‘Hmm?’
I gathered the mana, but it scattered and vanished somewhere.
The same result, no matter how many times I tried.
I truly could not manifest magic.
‘What is happening? My mana simply… disappeared?’
Like limbs that had moved my entire life suddenly breaking down.
Why was such a thing occurring?
And so suddenly, at that.
Then a human’s smirking visage entered my vision.
In that moment, information that had flickered through my mind suddenly crystallized.
It was a warning Clifford had given.
-Approximately fifty of our kin in the Conference Hall have all been slain.
-What do you mean?
-It is because of that human who calls himself a descendant of gods. That creature possesses the power to kill even immortal beings. Furthermore, with the extraordinary ability to absorb mana and demonic energy, he completely neutralizes his opponents.
When I first heard it, I dismissed it as a tasteless joke.
‘C-could it be… that human I was warned to be careful of…?’
I swallowed hard and stared at the human.
The descendant of gods who had allegedly slain dozens of my kin stood right before me.
‘If Clifford’s words are true, demonic energy won’t work either.’
To confirm, I cautiously attempted to draw up demonic energy, and sure enough—
Just like my mana, it wouldn’t gather and simply dissipated.
‘It’s certain. That descendant of gods is definitely the one!’
An existence that could block both mana and demonic energy.
I had sneered at Clifford back then, but the situation was different now.
I was experiencing it directly, facing it head-on.
‘This is dire. If this continues… there’s nothing we can do…’
There is nothing.
Truly nothing.

* * *
While Carjephilos was burning with anxiety inside.
There was someone who considered this a serious matter in a different sense.
The Village Chief, Eden, was that person.
‘Why is that man picking a pointless fight…!’
He couldn’t be provoking someone without knowing who they were.
If he knew they were the immortal Lich Dragon, he couldn’t possibly be so reckless as to start trouble.
‘But why do their expressions look like that?’
The Lich Dragons that Eden could see all wore bewildered faces.
Each of them bore an expression of distress, as if they had encountered some troublesome situation.
Carjephilos, who served as their leader, was no exception.
‘Has something happened?’
I heard them say something, but the murmuring prevented me from catching the details.
In any case, if they wanted to escape, now was the opportunity.
‘I’m sorry, but I cannot save that man…’
Whether I escaped or not, once I had fallen out of the Lich Dragon’s favor, the chances of survival were zero.
At the very least, it would be wiser for us to seize the chance and flee.
‘Forgive me for not being able to save you.’
Eden, who was silently offering condolences, gave Hanson a meaningful look.
“Hanson.”
“Ah… are you truly going to do this?”
As Eden nodded, Hanson’s expression became resolute.
Hanson immediately understood the meaning: while the Village Chief, now bait, bought time by fighting the Lich Dragons, he was to flee with the villagers.
Through their shared experiences, they had learned to understand each other at a glance.
‘I’ll count to three, so be ready.’
‘Yes.’
‘One… two…’
They conversed through eye contact, counting silently to three.
Crack-!
‘Three… huh?’
The sound of a skull shattering rang out, and something flew through the air.
Thud-!
What crashed at their feet was the Lich Dragon called Cargast.
Bewildered by the sudden turn of events, Eden turned his head and saw a man loosening his fists.
“You’re Lich Dragons, right? If you are, get up and resurrect yourselves. Quickly.”
Before his words even finished, Cargast, whose head had been shattered to pieces, stood up cleanly restored.
The magical essence latent within his soul had automatically repaired his physical form.
“So you’re awake. Definitely a Lich Dragon.”
“Hah… I was struck by a human?”
Cargast rose to his feet, his expression dazed and bewildered.
The severing of magic and mana was secondary—having his skull shattered by a single punch was something he found utterly intolerable.
Regardless, Zeke withdrew the feather blade from his subspace.
He needed to dispatch the Lich Dragons quickly and move toward where his family awaited.
“You should save your shock for later. All of you will fall before me.”
“A wretched insect spouting such nonsense…”
In that instant, Cargast’s body split cleanly in two.
Eden could not help but gasp in horror.
It had happened in the blink of an eye—he hadn’t even perceived the moment Zeke moved.
“One down.”
Zeke smiled and burst forward like lightning once more.

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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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