The Son-In-Law of the Magician Is a Transcendent Sword Master - Chapter 87

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 87

The moment I opened my eyes, I plunged the treasured sword into my side.

No matter how much I avoided vital points, stabbing a blade into one’s own body isn’t something ordinary courage can accomplish.

Intense pain spread along with a burning sensation.

However, the pain didn’t last long.

—Whooom.

The silver pendant hanging on my chest, Hrunir’s Heart.

The three torch-shaped gems embedded in its center began emitting red light all at once.

As the light from Hrunir’s Heart gently enveloped my body, the pain subsided. Following that, an exhilarating sensation surged through my entire body.

One of the seven divine relics, befitting the Empire’s greatest artifact, its effect was overwhelming.

Hrunir’s Heart uses the user’s wounds as fuel to dramatically enhance physical abilities and magical protection.

Crack!

Just like how I had shaken off Malik’s mental interference right now.

“…This can’t be!”

Malik was shocked.

However, Hrunir’s Heart wasn’t invincible either. Having just deflected one spell, one of the three torches had gone out.

Two uses remaining.

“More than enough.”

I twisted my lips and charged at Malik.

He panicked and tried to summon illusions to deflect my attack, but my naked eye clearly captured his true form.

I also saw the eight threads connected around Malik’s body. The threads were connected to the Garden Center, to the Mana Vein. It seemed these threads were the umbilical cord supplying mana to Malik.

Slash!

I swung Barisada and cut three of the invisible threads connected to Malik’s body.

“Kneel before me!”

Malik raged and cast magic. Purple light from illusion magic pierced through my body.

Flicker!

The second torch went out.

However, I had also swung Barisada and cut three more threads connected to Malik’s body.

“Stop! This is my power!”

“How is that your power? It’s a half-baked realm obtained by pathetically relying on the Mana Vein.”

“Aaaaah!”

Malik let out a painful scream and fell to his knees.

He squeezed out his last strength. A tremendous torrent of power struck my body. Since mental interference didn’t work, he intended to pour out all the mana drawn from the Mana Vein.

“Die! I’ll crush you until not even bone dust remains!”

I swung Ecla to cast spectral magic while simultaneously drawing rune characters in the air.

Algiz (ᛉ).

A rune character I could use after reaching the 6th Rank.

Its meaning is divine protection.

When Algiz was layered onto the purple barrier created by spectral magic, the tsunami of mana split like a miracle from scripture.

Of course, I couldn’t block everything. At the last moment, the barrier shattered and the tsunami struck my body.

Flicker.

The last torch of Hrunir’s Heart went out.

It was fine. I had already approached right in front of Malik.

“This is the end.”

I finally swung Barisada and cut the last two remaining threads connected to the top of his head.

Clang—!

With a bursting sound like invisible glass breaking, the surging mana of the vein instantly calmed.

“…Ah, aah…”

Now Malik was no longer connected to the Mana Vein.

His expression became dazed, perhaps due to the overwhelming sense of powerlessness.

“Pathetic bastard.”

Malik continued casting brainwashing magic with a pale complexion, but there was no need to resist.

Now that his mana supply wasn’t infinite, Malik was merely a 6th Rank beginner mage like me.

Even without Hrunir’s Heart, his mental interference couldn’t affect me.

Finally approaching right in front of Malik, I plunged Benheim’s treasured sword into his thigh and twisted it. Just as Malik was about to scream, I struck his throat with my left hand.

“Did you enjoy playing king?”

“…”

“Now it’s time to wake up from the dream, Malik.”

I raised Benheim’s treasured sword high.

And without hesitation, I plunged it into his solar plexus.

* * *

I think it was a difficult life.

Before being Emeric Eleison’s son, Malik was the next Mage Tower Lord, and before being the next Mage Tower Lord, he was a great mage’s disciple.

‘Son, I have great expectations for you.’

His father Emeric Eleison had repeatedly said this since childhood.

Those words were always chains that strangled Malik’s breath.

‘How lucky. Being born with Emeric’s bloodline and getting the next tower lord position for free.’

‘His talent is terrible compared to the Tower Lord though.’

The senior disciples who were dissatisfied with Mirage Tower’s succession structure only bowed their heads on the surface, but always mocked Malik behind his back.

He knew, but pretended not to.

Because the next lord of Mirage Tower that his father wanted would be someone with a virtuous character who could embrace everyone.

As if trying to silence the disciples’ envious gazes, Emeric constantly demanded high-level achievements from Malik.

‘Is this all you can do! When I was your age, I had already far surpassed that rank! Know shame as the next tower lord!’

Strict scolding without a single word of praise. The disciples’ contemptuous gazes.

Under that pressure, Malik always acted calm.

But when he returned to his room, he would scratch his neck.

It was itchy. He felt like he would suffocate to death.

How much longer did he have to live such a stifling life?

Would it get better when his father died and he became the Mirage Tower Lord?

It was a distant future.

His father Emeric was a 7th Rank mage, with more days ahead than behind him.

Was despairing at that fact also unfilial? Was it okay to have this much complaint?

He endured each day with various thoughts.

‘Is that Emeric’s son? Tsk, he falls far short compared to his father.’

Even at last year’s Great Mage Alliance Council, the situation wasn’t different.

Other tower lords and heads of great magic families only treated Malik as Emeric’s son, a mediocre talent who fell short of expectations.

No one truly looked at the individual mage named Malik Elrayson. He was sick of that terrible indifference and comparative gazes.

Then, someone approached him.

‘Are you Malik Elrayson? Indeed, your intelligence is as outstanding as rumored.’

‘…Who?’

‘Haha. My introduction is late. I’m Damian Carius, Chief Investigator of the Mage Guild.’

That’s how Malik became acquainted with Damian Carius.

Damian was truly an excellent person.

Despite being only five years older than Malik, Damian was a great mage who had reached the 7th Rank. However, Damian never looked down on Malik. Rather, he treated him as an equal mage.

He invited Malik to exhibitions and gave him permits to enter the Royal Library, where only a select few were allowed.

‘How is it? The world of magic is truly profound. Mastering various magics is like expanding one’s mental world as a mage.’

During the five days the council was held, Malik felt fulfillment for the first time in his life.

He finally realized how joyful and welcome it was to have someone respect and treat him as an individual personality.

On the last day of the council, Damian smiled bitterly and said this:

‘Looking at you, Malik, always fills me with regret.’

‘Wh-why is that?’

‘You seem to be wearing clothes that don’t fit your body.’

Clothes that don’t fit.

Demian’s words struck a chord in Malik’s heart.

‘Your talent is far too precious to waste on merely creating illusions. You could become a greater mage than anyone else.’

Malik felt a shock as if he’d been struck in the head with a hammer.

That’s right. The position Malik currently held didn’t match his caliber. He was a being suited for greater and higher places.

The 7th-tier mage before him had acknowledged it. Had affirmed it.

Somehow, that gentle and warm voice reached deep into Malik’s heart. It felt like having an itch scratched in just the right spot.

‘Read this book. It will become the brush and paint befitting a true genius.’

Demian presented him with an old tome along with a gentle smile.

After returning to the Mirage Tower, Malik devoured the ancient book.

And he was amazed.

‘Manipulating others’ minds… black magic?’

As far as Malik knew, black magic was evil magic. Simply learning it would taint one’s mana core.

Therefore, it was a school of magic strictly forbidden under Imperial law.

However, Malik recalled Demian’s kind goodwill. The insight of the sage who alone had recognized and seen through him.

Moreover, Demian was a 7th-tier mage belonging to the Royal Court. Such a person wouldn’t have handed over this book without meaning.

Then this grimoire must be the key that would lead him to a realm befitting a great mage.

Thus Malik studied the ancient book, cutting into his sleep.

The knowledge contained in the tome completely overturned everything Malik had learned until now.

It was similar to the magic of the Mirage Tower he had learned so far, yet different.

It was radical and seductive.

At the same time, Malik felt a thrilling sense of transgression he had never experienced in his life.

Reading forbidden texts. And doing so behind his father’s back.

Through this series of acts, his suppressed self was tasting liberation.

Naturally, he became neglectful of his existing illusion magic training.

Emeric’s sighs and scolding grew sharper by the day, but Malik paid no heed.

Someday he would perfectly master this book and show his father great achievements to gain recognition.

Malik believed this without a doubt.

However, that was merely Malik’s delusion.

‘…Malik, that magic of yours… what exactly is it.’

The regular evaluation meeting of the Mirage Tower.

In the solemn gathering where numerous mages and disciples had all assembled, Emeric publicly rebuked him.

‘Have you neglected your training by dabbling in such shallow and wicked magic! Do you truly not know how tainted your mana core has become!’

At Emeric’s roar, Malik could only stand there dazed.

‘Know shame as the next tower lord! You’re not worthy of being my son!’

The evaluation hall wrapped in silence. The mocking laughter of disciples who looked at him like a bug seemed to strike his ears.

He had worked hard to gain recognition from his father, from everyone.

This was how the reward for that effort had returned to him.

He felt betrayal and shame simultaneously.

Malik soon painted that terrible emotion with hatred.

‘That’s right, that old man doesn’t know my worth.’

Surely his father was jealous of his greatness.

‘No, he must be afraid. Afraid that I, his son, might surpass his level.’

The hatred multiplied day by day.

A few days later, Malik finally crossed the line.

‘…Die! Die, you damn father!’

He approached Emeric from behind as he was stabilizing Trion’s mana vein. Then he ambushed him while he was defenseless, controlling the torrent of mana, and strangled him.

A few minutes later, the 7th-tier great mage lay sprawled at his feet as a lump of meat.

Malik felt a thrilling pleasure.

He even felt an inexplicable sense of liberation, as if he had freed himself from the shackles that had bound him.

Though he felt somewhat unsettled, it didn’t matter.

‘Ha, hahaha…’

With the previous tower lord dead, Malik was now the next Mirage Tower Lord.

He had to prove that qualification.

Malik connected his own mana circuit to Trion’s mana vein.

Then he scattered his grace throughout all of Trion.

‘Look, Father. Now everyone looks up to me, don’t they.’

The disciples who had mocked him, the citizens who had ignored him, now they all smiled at him.

He had created a perfect world where everyone truly recognized Malik.

Or so he thought.

But now.

Everything had come to nothing.

—Thunk.

By this gray-haired man who had just driven a sword into his solar plexus.

“…Kheuk.”

In Malik’s blurred vision, cruel reality formed once again.

The beautiful garden flowers that had been blooming luxuriously were nowhere to be seen, and only the cold, damp floor of the vein touched his back.

And a colorless sword embedded in Malik’s chest.

“Ah…”

I’ve been defeated.

And miserably at that.

He had no choice but to acknowledge that fact.

Then Malik also understood that his own death had approached right before him.

In that case…

“Um… was it Reagan?”

In his confused mind.

Malik Elrayson barely moved his lips filled with blood, forcibly swallowing the clots flowing back through prayer.

“You know…”

He squeezed out his last bit of life force to ask the question he was most curious about.

“…When I was strangling my father’s neck… he could have resisted enough.”

Emeric Eleison was a 7th-tier great mage.

Even if ambushed, he could have torn someone like him apart in an instant.

“But… he didn’t.”

However, even as his neck was being strangled by Malik’s hands, Emeric withdrew his magic.

He simply looked at him with those cold eyes, wearing only a pitying expression.

Looking at his father’s corpse, Malik had laughed for a while.

He had laughed madly.

Because he couldn’t understand it at all.

“Why was that? Why… kheuk, why didn’t Father stop me…?”

That was the question Malik held until just before his death.

Reagan, who heard the question, replied with a coldly hardened expression.

“You’ll never know.”

“…I suppose, so?”

Malik smiled faintly.

It wasn’t a forced smile. Nor was it a smile created by brainwashing. This time it was truly a smile that came from the heart.

Soon Reagan’s sword was smoothly pulled out from Malik’s chest.

“Just fall now, Malik.”

With those words as the end.

Malik Elrayson had fallen.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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