章節 16: Chapter 175
Every time he exhaled, Jin felt his mouth drying, as if his breath was filled with sand.
Every day, he walked. Every night, he shivered alone in the piercing cold. Whenever he woke up, he found that his blanket turned very dry and brittle.
One time, he got stung by a scorpion that was never named. Every creature in the Great Mythra Desert had deadly venom. If he hadn't obtained the Thousand-Poison Antidote, his journey would have been far more dangerous.
Jin ate the scorpion to conserve his food. Every bug or two-headed snake with black scales that he saw, he immediately consumed it.
Was it because he swallowed too much sand? The creatures he cooked lazily with his magic smelled and tasted horrible, but he didn't feel it at all.
Crunch, crunch.
The snake got minced between his now-thin cheeks. He let the venom be a substitute for water, and he thanked Yona once more.
Then, four days passed since the first mirage.
He would have never known how much time had passed if the sun and moon didn't set. That was the harsh reality of the Great Desert; everywhere and anywhere he went, it looked the same.
'There really is no one in this desert…'
That was the most agonizing part.
He had never had such a lonely moment in his life. About ten days had passed since he left Tikan, but the time in the desert passed at a completely different pace than in the real world.
Another week passed.
No snake or scorpion appeared. Jin trekked and trudged through the desert in complete solitude. It would be better if he talked to himself, but his water canteen seemed to have bottomed out. Entertaining himself was not an option either.
And for him, things couldn't get any worse.
December 11th, 1796. There was no other perfect statement to describe the Great Mythra Desert.
'My food that I rationed… is all gone?'
As soon as he woke up, he could only scream. However, only a shallow shout came out of his dry throat.
The food he conserved in the bag he hugged as he slept was all gone. All other items remained as it was, but just his consumables had disappeared—not a single jerky or grain left behind.
He shoved his head into the bag, and even the smell disappeared. As if the food was never there.
'Hah.'
He began to curse. He threw his empty canteen across the sand and swore at the sky.
'Why are you doing this to me, do you wanna fight?!'
His voice didn't even leave an echo. It just scattered into the emptiness of the desert.
He had to keep walking.
The only thing waiting for him was the sweet release of death if he just complained. Even if it was unfair, he couldn't let that stop him.
Even the strongest warriors couldn't survive without food or water. Jin was using his transcending grit to move forward, but it was only because he had no other choice.
A day passed, and the yellow didn't return.
Two days passed, and his frail body began to tremble. Surviving the desert without food or water for two days straight had to be a miracle.
For four days, there were no ponds or oases, no creatures to eat.
Thump…
He took a bad step and fell to the ground. All strength left his ankles and calves.
In his open mouth, a handful of sand slid in. His mouth was so dry, no sand stuck to his tongue.
He only tripped once, but he felt the exhaustion rapidly spreading through his bones. The desire to sleep forever overtook his brain like a tsunami.
Resisting the urge was not an easy feat. Especially in a hopeless situation.
'Shit, it's just one trip. I only tripped once…!'
Ptoo!
He grimaced and spat out the sand. He stood up. He felt dizzy at the sunlight reflected by the sand. His weak legs didn't feel like they were his own.
Then, he saw a hand holding a canteen.
Someone showed up right next to Jin and handed it to him. Obviously, there was no person like that in the desert.
'A mirage!'
Whether it was a mirage or a real person, it was important that he or she walked up without any footsteps and offered the canteen. If it were a sword inside of a water bottle, he would have died on the spot.
Shing!
He hit the canteen with the pommel of his sword and fully unsheathed Bradamante. Without even confirming the person's face, he turned quickly and oriented himself behind them, holding his sword at their neck.
Thump.
Before the canteen even hit the ground, Jin held the opponent's lifeline.
His speed was like that of a bullet. His body reacted so quickly, he didn't even understand how it had enough strength to move as fast.
The owner of the canteen didn't flinch despite having a sword close to their neck. Then, Jin realized it was a woman in a robe.
The woman held a staff in the opposite hand. A staff made of silver pine—an item he had seen many times before.
The woman's red hair was also familiar.
Jin's eyes widened. In his memory, there was only one person with magnificent crimson hair and a silver pine staff.
"Valeria…?"
"Can you move your sword if you aren't really going to kill me?"
Jin slowly lowered the sword near her throat.
She sighed and turned around, welcoming Jin with the face that he longed to see greatly.
Valeria Hister.
It was her who taught Jin the secrets of magic.
"How…?"
No, it wasn't 'how'.
She was a mirage. Jin saw a 26-year-old Valeria. Just how she looked when Jin left her in his past life.
Was it because he couldn't take the strenuous days in the desert anymore?
The loneliness and depression that he suppressed for the past two weeks as well as his yearning were all about to burst out.
"It's the same as when I gave my hand to you three years ago. That day, you were on the ground as well. Just like back then, you aimed your sword at me. Though, your skills weren't as sharp."
That was Jin in the Garden of Swords three years ago.
However, that was not the case for Valeria. In her memory, Jin just got exiled and started roaming the land like a loser.
"Valeria… No, Master. Are you the second mirage?"
"I guess so."
"What's this…? Are you aware that you're a mirage?"
"Yeah, I am. Well, the real me who's going to turn 15 soon doesn't, though."
"Then what I have to do is…"
"To kill me and go along."
It was cruel.
The first thought in Jin's mind. Jin felt it.
The mirages of the Great Desert weren't born from magic or an ability. The mirages until now were all real people who existed deep within Jin's heart.
In his heart and memories were the people who were important to him. Hence, when he killed the Tona Twins, he felt like he really killed his own siblings.
And now, he could only feel like he really met his own master.
"I… didn't want to reunite with you this way. It would have been better if we met in a better way."
"Don't do this, Master. Why does it have to be you?"
Valeria picked up the canteen from the ground and threw it to Jin.
"Drink up. If you fight me in that condition, you'll die on my first cast."
"Is there no other way?"
"You know what's best. Don't deny it. I heard you were reborn and got so much stronger. Your concentration is also much better than the apprentice that I remember. Don't sound like such a pussy."
Thump.
The canteen fell to Jin's feet. With quivering hands, he picked it up.
He walked the living hell of a desert for many days, and the water he had been searching for was now right in front of him.
However, he didn't want to drink from it. If he drank it, then afterwards…
'I'll have to kill her.'
Killing her was incomparable to killing the Tona Twins.
If it weren't for her, Jin would have never gotten a second chance at life. He would have died alone after regretting his 25 miserable years in the Runcandel Clan and roaming the streets like a wild dog.
Because she lent her hand, even when Jin smacked her hand away and wielded his sword. Because she came back to save him.
Jin could exist today.
"You've gotten a lot more disrespectful, my apprentice."
Noticing Jin's hesitation, Valeria raised her staff. She cast Mana Release, and a deep-blue mana whirlpool appeared at the tip of her silver pine staff.
"7-star magic. You're not thinking that you can defeat me with only that, are you? Drink, Jin Runcandel. I'm also your inner voice. I'm sure you're ready to fight me."
Click…
He opened the canteen. One more moment of indecisiveness, and she would throw a barrage of spells at him. In Jin's memories, Valeria Hister was more sword-like than any other warrior.
He then made up his mind. About the love and the hate. The connecting and the severing. The fighting and the fleeing.
"What am I to you?"
"My most valuable, one-and-only apprentice. So all you need to do is to not disappoint me."
"Would you have really done this?"
"I would have shown you more love than this. I would have hugged you by now. Maybe even kissed you on the forehead."
"That doesn't help the situation at all."
"Then stop asking. Kill me and move along. There's one more, you know? Another mirage is waiting for you."
Glug, glug!
Jin chugged the water. However, unlike normal water, it filled Jin with energy.
"You can use any trick up your sleeve. Swordsmanship, spiritual energy. Bring whatever you want to the table."
Was the Master in his memory that strong? Enough to pour everything into this battle?
He couldn't make a decision quickly. However, he was certain of one thing: the mana gathered in Valeria's staff was stronger than he remembered.
"I will regret it if I take you down with my sword. You were everything for my magic, and forever more."
"Well, I remember the best part about your looks not matching your recklessness."
Pzzzt!
Valeria's mana immediately took the form of electricity. The spell that instantly cooked Jin during his apprentice days.
"And that recklessness got me in trouble every day."
Flash!
Before he could even finish talking, five bolts of lightning fell from the sky. So fast that Jin could barely react.
Flaming with mana, Valeria's staff was already prepared to release another spell.
章節 17: Chapter 176
Lightning rained everywhere.
Whenever a lightning bolt struck the ground, an ear-splitting explosion occurred. The power of a spell around 7-star to 8-star, but Jin didn't know of its name.
It was the same with the second spell. The lightning gathered and spiraled around the tip of the staff and turned into a spear. The spear then flashed towards Jin.
Valeria Hister, Jin's master in magic. The lone descendant of the Hister Clan.
The level of her magic was beyond comprehension.
Her mastery of the art was immaculate. She enjoyed using modifications of her magic, utilizing different spells in her own style.
Flash!
The lightning spear shattered Jin's magic barrier. Before the sharp, shattering sound could reach his ears, blood dripped from his ear lobe.
The spear skimmed his ear. Even the strongest warrior with the fastest blade couldn't make such a fast strike.
Jin frantically cast another shield and gritted his teeth.
'She's really going to kill me.'
In his past life, he sparred her over five hundred times.
Jin had over five hundred losses, and not a single time did Valeria try to kill him.
"Dodging well, my apprentice."
Shiiieeek!
The spear that Jin dodged turned around. As it charged towards his back, Valeria shot another spear at a slight delay.
The timing made it so that dodging both was almost impossible.
After barely dodging the first, Jin instantly dropped to the floor. Simultaneously, Valeria conjured and shot a third spear.
When Jin cast his first spell, five spears were already flying around.
Valeria gathered all of the spears in front of her.
Jin could no longer gawk at her limitless power. He took a battle stance and eyed her.
"Now you want to fight. It's your last chance. Grab your sword."
Valeria pointed to Bradamante, stuck upside down in the sand.
Jin's hand slowly moved towards its handle. However, before he could touch it, he shook his head and refused to grab it.
"I can't."
"You're too stubborn. You'll die."
"We can only find out about that after the fight. And Valeria, I will play your way."
Valeria smiled. Then, her eyes narrowed.
"My way, you say. We'll see, my apprentice."
The five spears moved, each angled in different directions. And from Jin's left hand, an Overload Vortex emerged with a screech.
"I see you have a new master? Well, it would have been a waste of talent if I weren't there. But Kidard Hall was the best you could find?"
His only master, and her only apprentice. They always called each other that. No other grand magician could become Jin's master, and no other genius could become Valeria's apprentice.
Knowing that, Valeria carefully selected and intentionally used vocabulary that was brutal for Jin. All to take him down a little more easily. To make his heart and emotions waver just a bit to find an opening.
That was how Valeria 'played'. If she planned on killing someone, she would never discriminate between different methods—even the petty ones.
However, the moment she first bet her life and the moment she let him grab his sword were all in kindness and love for her apprentice.
Screeeeeeeeech…!
The mana from the lightning spears slowly got sucked into the vortex.
Absorbing Valeria's magic was hard. If he wanted to induce a mana overflow within her through her strong Mana Release, the only answer was Heavenly Defiance.
'I have to buy time until I can cast Heavenly Defiance.'
Valeria probably already knew Jin's plan, so he also started thinking ahead.
'She won't last long with five spears, so she'll probably only keep one or two and the rest are probably fakes.'
Jin had to rely on identifying which spear was fake.
Shiiiiiing, shiiieeek! Shwwwwwick!
While dodging what he can, he altered the course of more accurate projectiles with his vortex. With the pulling force of the vortex, he made small deviations in the course of the trajectory which gave him room to dodge.
At the same time, he multicasted to prepare Heavenly Defiance. In three minutes, he could cast the spell at about seventy percent of its power.
Of course, Valeria wouldn't only throw lightning spears.
Despite the multiple lightning spears, it was all just one spell. And just like Jin, Valeria was a multicaster.
Pssshhh!
Valeria stuck her staff into the sand, and a magic circle appeared. One that enclosed her and Jin who was busy dodging all of the spears.
Fwoooom!
An eerie sound echoed through the battlefield. Valeria's lips moved quickly, and the magic circle turned blood red.
Within the magic circle, chains of fire emerged. Flaming chains akin to massive snakes gathered around Jin to swallow him whole.
Beyond his vision hazed by the fire, the spears continued to fly around. One of the spears skimmed by Jin's neck. If it weren't for the Overload Vortex, it would have pierced through his throat.
"Keuph!"
A burning heat traveled throughout his entire body, the burning sensation stifling him.
Dodging the chains of fire that were closing in was impossible. A force field would only delay his death by a few seconds.
As he thought of his next move, one chain grabbed him by the ankle. He held his breath to not lose focus the moment the scorching pain reached his brain.
Thankfully, Jin recalled his Overload Vortex and opened the summoning gate.
Fwooooosh!
A blue flame cut through the surroundings like a blade.
Caw!
A blue phoenix emerged from the summoning gate with a majestic cry.
Valeria's eyes shook.
"And you got Tess?"
Blue and red flames mixed together. Tess stomped on the chains tied to Jin's ankle and disintegrated them. Jin fell to his knees and regained his breath.
His ankle bones were exposed. However, there was no time to heal. The flaming chains were no longer a problem, but the lightning spears continued to charge towards him and Tess.
'One more minute.'
If he held on for a little longer, his ultimate spell would be complete. He only had one chance. However, within that one minute, if he didn't find the real lightning spears, it would be impossible.
[Kraaaaa!]
Tess's wings violently flapped, forcing powerful winds in all directions. However, it wasn't even close to the phoenix's true strength due to Jin's lack of mana.
The hydration from Valeria's water helped him recover a bit, but he didn't recover fully. The desert just destroyed his body overall, and he poured in the rest of his mana into preparing Heavenly Defiance. Summoning Tess was scraping up the rest of his energy.
Thunk…!
One spear penetrated Tess's chest. Valeria had immediately realized that it couldn't use its full strength, so she had changed targets.
Thunk! Thunk!
Three spears pierced through the phoenix's chest. Jin was dripping in sweat just to complete his spell.
Tess screeched, then limped to stand between Jin and Valeria.
An apology from the Lord of Flames.
'That was enough.'
Before the last two spears could pierce Tess, the cast on Heavenly Defiance finally completed.
Tess immediately became a small ball of flame before flying into the dimensional portal, and the broken chains of fire shattered on the floor.
Kaaaaang!
In the clear skies, the massive mana disk floated up and filled it. The overload magic filled the entire area, and the lightning spears slowly lost their form.
A stream of blood dribbled out between Valeria's lips. Heavenly Defiance messed with her mana pool.
Jin also threw up a clump of blood. Bending over, a black blotch of blood splattered on the ground. He quickly examined his surroundings.
The early stages of mana overflow began.
However, the lightning spears remained hovering in the air.
'She's still a monster. Just like I remember…'
No other 8-star in the world could mimic her ability.
In a short amount of time, she cast five lightning spears and a flame spell. She should be barely preventing herself from losing all her mana. If she lost concentration for only one moment, she would succumb to overflow.
However, Valeria worked through Heavenly Defiance. She held onto her mana tightly. In fact, she had been waiting for the spell to be cast.
"Mana overflow is only for those who can't control their own mana."
She spat blood into the sand then recovered her stability. The fading lightning spears regained their color and flew around her.
"I assume you got something else in stock? There's no way it can just end like this."
Jin didn't answer. He looked up and met her eyes.
Valeria slowly walked towards him.
"No, I lost. I have nothing else I can do."
"Liar."
"I want to see you up close one last time."
Jin slowly limped towards her.
Every step he took, blood dropped from his ear and soaked the scorching sand.
Thump.
Thump.
"Stop. If you come any closer, I'll use my spears. You definitely prepared something."
"When have I ever lied to you?"
"...Did I anticipate too much?"
"Am I not enough for a 16-year-old?"
"That prevented you from growing. You could definitely get stronger. Now stop. I will use my spears."
There were only ten steps between them.
'One more step.'
As he walked, he identified which lightning spears were real. Heavenly Defiance was cast solely for that reason.
'The top left one.'
It was the only one that didn't flicker.
'If I charge in, then all five will shoot towards me. But only that one will remain. Her mana has probably emptied out by now as well.'
Just dodging two would be half of them. He would block two of the other three. As for the last one, it would chase him until the end.
He had to catch it.
Was it possible with the current state of his leg? With his ankle that was ripped apart?
Thinking about those things was pointless. If he couldn't do it, the only result was death.
The moment Jin lifted his other leg…
"What are you doing?"
Valeria's eyes became alert, and she swung her staff violently. As the spears shot towards Jin, he threw his body towards her with a short jump.
The first spear missed. The instant it missed, it disappeared into thin air.
The second spear hit him square on the back.
Had he not obtained the Black Light Cuirass, he would have died then and there.
Clang!
The spear hit the armor, the impact causing Jin to spit blood. Valeria didn't expect this. The second spear disappeared as well.
Dodging his tackle, Valeria carefully aimed the spears to prepare for Jin's next attack.
"It seems you're out of mana. Seeing that the spears are dying out."
Valeria continued her onslaught.
However, beyond his expectations, the third spear was the real one. The fourth and fifth quickly followed.
The remaining spears flew towards Jin, and he activated Myulta's Rune. The real spear that had been flying towards his head deflected off his helm. The other spears went for his thighs.
Five steps left between them. Jin just fell to his knees. The lightning spears that should have pierced and damaged his thighs disappeared. The only spear left was the real one, just as Jin predicted.
Before his head could fall to the ground, he pushed his body up with all his might. He had to close the remaining gap between them.
"Hmph!"
Valeria backed off and whipped her staff around. Following its movement, the lightning spear flew towards Jin's back.
In the air, Jin had no way of dodging it.
Instead, he revealed a blackened dagger that had been waiting in his sleeve.
Using all his might, he threw it towards her throat.
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