This chapter is told from the enemy’s point of view.
In the deepest part of the Almana dungeon, there was a door.
And standing in front of it was Rains, a first-class mage, ready to intercept the ‘hero’.
He was called Puppet Mage due to his skill with enslavement magic, and his weapons were the twelve chimera lines-up with him.
(…Just in time to test the works given to me by Mister Cradle.)
Rains’ cheeks rose as he grinned at the majesty of the chimera.
But these were not just simple chimera. They were the strongest lifeforms, created by the fourth seat of the twelve sages, the sage of life Cradle Destar.
Lion, dragon, tiger, bird, bat, snake…
Their bodies were a collection of the strengths of all sorts of monsters.
Excellent physical abilities, sharp senses, skin as strong as steel, wings to soar through the sky, deadly poison in fangs and claws, red hot flame breath, eyes that paralyzed others with their gaze, rapid regeneration…
A party of high ranking adventurers would barely be able to defeat just one.
(…Marvelous.)
Perfect lifeforms.
A ‘hero’ felt very unimportant as Rains looked at the power of these chimera.
Rains had a grudge against this ‘hero’ too. The monsters that stampeded the previous day were all cultivated and enslaved by him.
He felt humiliated when he saw them destroyed in a second, and taken by adventurers as mere monster materials.
Revenge played a part in his desire to defeat this ‘hero’.
(Kukuku… Damned ‘hero’… I will take you apart, and rebuild you as a loyal slave of mine.)
Rains chuckled, and prepared to fight said ‘hero’, who he thought would be a lot weaker after getting this far, and had no hope of winning.
Still, he was not careless.
Many rings of magic energy appeared all over his body.
A symbol of control, these rings were a perfect shape for his magic energy.
“Six boost (Physical Strengthening Ⅵ), Six Sense (Five Sense Strengthening Ⅵ), Six Hide (Concealment strengthening Ⅵ), Six Recovery (Healing magic strengthening Ⅵ), Six Link (Thought Sharing Ⅵ), Six Barrier (Magic barrier Ⅵ)…”
Many level six spells appeared from Rains’ staff, as he strengthened himself and his chimera, and set up a light wall of magic.
This was already the power of a fortress with an army, but lastly…
“Six Slave (Forced Servitude Ⅵ).”
He prepared a ritual to enslave the approaching ‘hero’, and left it on stand-by.
Normally, even skilled mages would quickly run out of magic energy if they left such a spell completed and on stand-by. This was a fighting style only possible for someone like Rains, whose capacity for holding magic energy was among the best in all mankind.
(Now everything is ready for my victory…)
Rains was very intelligent, and simulated in his head various different ways his battle with the ‘hero’ could go.
No matter how he looked at it, it always ended the same way, with his victory.
(Ahh… Even a so-called hero is nothing much.)
If this was a fair duel, the result might have been different.
But in a real, no holds barred battle, the result was decided before it even began. Now he only thought about crushing his opponent.
(Now, come at me any way you like, ‘hero’.)
Rains chuckled.
A ‘hero’ showed up to this place, but in the end, a second would be all it would take to…
“…Eh?”
He heard crackling, and all of a sudden a pale blue flash of lightning ripped apart the air right in front of his eyes.
But it wasn’t lightning.
Before he knew it, a hooded boy stood in front of him.
He ignored the chimera completely and suddenly appeared right in front of Rains.
(…H-hero!?)
Rains was taken aback, but then leapt into action.
(C-chimera!)
He telepathically sent instructions to the chimera, but there was no response.
He thought for a moment that his Link magic was not working, but that wasn’t it.
“Wha!?”
The giant bodies of the chimera began to grow increasingly emaciated, before crumbling away behind the boy.
All that was left were piles of rotten meat.
(M-Mister cradle’s strongest chimera…!?)
They were destroyed in a second.
That was when Rains finally realized. The boy didn’t ignore the chimera, their battle was simply over already.
(S-strange… Isn’t this strange!?)
The ‘hero’ should have run out of magic energy by this point.
There was no way Rains’ calculations were wrong.
There was no way he could still have enough for such strong spells.
(A-anyway, I have to counter…!)
Rains thought quickly, in less than a second before moving.
He already had an enslavement technique ready to use. That combined with the magic barrier meant he should be able to act first.
It was with this thought in his mind that Rains tried to activate his technique…
“…Ah?”
It was gone.
The magic circle that should be active around them was completely gone.
“W-whaaa!?”
Rains couldn’t understand what happened. It was all too fast for him to process.
And then, the boy thrust his hand against the magic barrier.
“…Eek!?”
Rains’ shoulders trembled.
(C-c-calm down…! That’s right, I still have the magic barrier.)
That was the whole reason why the ‘hero’ didn’t go after Rains right away.
(It’s a level six magic barrier, it can’t be broken so easily…!)
This barrier should protect him against all sorts of magic and physical attacks.
Only high-powered spells fired continuously could hope to break it.
No matter how fast this ‘hero’ was, no matter how much strange magic he used…
(As long as he can’t break through this barrier, I can still win…!)
But this thought didn’t last long.
“‘Time, Advance’.”
The boy chanted quietly enough that Rains couldn’t hear.
And immediately after…
“Guooh…!?”
Rains’ magic energy was sucked into the magic barrier at an incredible speed.
All of a sudden, the amount of magic energy he was using to maintain the barrier skyrocketed.
(W-what is happening…!?)
He felt exhausted, like he had been using magic for a very long time.
Cracks started appearing on the magic barrier.
(Is it going to disappear!? N-no, but…)
Without the magic barrier, he couldn’t deal with the ‘hero’s’ strange magic.
His next move wasn’t ready yet either, so without the magic barrier, he would be frozen just like all the other mages.
But as he thought about what to do for just a second, Rains’ immense magic energy was being sucked dry.
With a sound of glass shattering, the magic barrier was smashed into pieces.
“Gu…”
Rains felt dizzy, as he suffered from magic energy deficiency for the first time in a long time, and dropped to his knees.
(…Five seconds… Only five seconds!)
Only five seconds passed since the boy appeared, and in this very short amount of time, all of his spells had been broken and he had been rendered completely powerless.
He lost his magic energy and his enslaved monsters, and had no way to fight anymore.
Rains never expected this result.
“S-strange… Isn’t this strange!?”
Rains yelled like a petulant child.
“You shouldn’t have any magic energy left! My calculations couldn’t have been wrong! You should have no magic energy!”
He yelled while glaring at the boy.
“…Ah…”
The boy silently looked down at him beneath the hood.
Their eyes probably only met for a moment, but the boy’s cold stare pierced through Rains and left him speechless.
“Gather.”
The boy whispered.
Rains’ magic energy that had been released all around them gathered in the palm of the boy’s hand.
The immense magic energy was being released from the boy’s body in the form of lightning, along with bloodlust.
(I-I see… He takes magic energy externally and…!)
Rains was surprised.
According to current magic theory, it was impossible to utilize magic energy from outside of one’s body, but if such a thing was possible, it would explain why the ‘hero’ never ran out of magic energy. Still… Understanding this just deepened his despair.
(C-calculate… Calculate… How do I get out of…!?)
Rains simulated in his head even more different ways his battle with the ‘hero’ could go.
No matter how he looked at it, it always ended the same way, with his defeat.
(No, no, no, no…! Did I make a mistake…!?)
Was it assuming this monster was human?
Was it trying to measure this monster using current magic theory?
…He didn’t understand, but he knew they shouldn’t have made an enemy out of this monster.
That much he knew.
“…”
The golden eyes of the boy floating in the darkness began to shine with a pattern that resembled a clock.
A technique he had never seen before was being formulated right before his very eyes.
Rains didn’t feel fear anymore, but one thought kept coming and going.
(…This base is finished.)
It was the last thought that went through Rains’ mind before he lost consciousness.
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