Chapter 191

The Back-Alley Mage’s Return – Chapter 191

CHAPTER 191. Have I… Come to Hell?

As if under a spell, Chenbi permanently seared the image of the person standing ahead into his memory.

Meanwhile, Aster glanced toward Mycelln—whose face was visibly drained of color—and tossed out a question.

“Senior, how much time can you buy?”

“…Not much. A minute at the absolute max.”

“Good enough.”

With that, Aster leaped forward. Zap, crackle— a protective barrier ignited, enveloping his form like a flawlessly tailored suit.

Yet the blaze before them truly deserved its title as the Calamity Fire.

The robust defensive field shuddered violently under the assault, screeching in protest, and with every flicker, searing waves penetrated the barrier.

They were, in truth, maddening embers. They lacked the corrupting nature of the Demonic Energy from the Demon Realm that sought to foul mana itself, but Infernal’s blaze possessed the unique traits to destabilize a person’s core energy.

Piercing through that terrifying inferno, Aster finally brought Infernal into close range. Granted, “close range” wasn’t entirely accurate—a gap of several meters remained—but it was a distance he could eliminate in a single surge.

However, instead of springing forward, Aster deliberately reduced his momentum. Drawing any closer posed too much danger even for someone of his caliber. This wretched Infernal’s Calamity Fire raged so viciously that Aster himself would find it daunting to withstand.

Conversely, what quickened was the internal pulse of his core—or rather, the rapid revolution of his circle.

As the circle spun, his core began to rotate in perfect synchronicity. Simultaneously, a wave of energy rippled outward as his expanded sensory domain blanketed the area.

Having slowed his pace, Aster now stood perfectly motionless.

His spatial perception reached its absolute peak, imprinting every detail of his surroundings directly into his consciousness.

Splatter…!

Right then, a single bead of blood dripped from the tip of his pointed index finger, pointing a clear path forward.

Under normal circumstances, it would have instantly vaporized in the heat, but the crimson drop instead split. From one to two, from two to four. By the time it had replicated tenfold—

Resembling a mini galaxy, the ruby droplets scattered across the space, absorbing the ambient mana. After a moment passed—

Aster’s eyelids gently lowered, obscuring his vision. Then, as he raised them once more with the same deliberate slow motion—

Fwoosh—!

Infernal’s massive form, constantly regenerating its wounds while fueling the blaze, came into sharp focus. Mirrored in Aster’s ash-colored eyes, Infernal looked identical to a damned soul enduring the Calamity Fire of purgatory.

A brief moment later, the eyes of Aster—who had been fixed on that vision—began to radiate an uncanny glow.

Clack, chhh, chhhhh. Clackclackclackclack!

A bizarre, rapid-fire clicking sound echoed repeatedly. The erratic noise grew tighter and more frequent, eventually overwhelming the senses like the frantic buzzing of an insect swarm.

In that exact instant—

One after another, the crimson droplets vanished.

The moment he successfully materialized the final ruby droplet inside Infernal’s physical frame, Aster quietly shut his eyes.

Did the relocation work?

‘…Success.’

Under ordinary conditions, executing this would have been a massive challenge even for Aster.

But he succeeded because Demian, Chenbi, and Mycelln had pushed Infernal to its absolute limits.

Immediately following that, Aster triggered the ignition of the rubies.

The initial impact was subtle.

Thump, pit-pat. Pitter-patter—

A snapping noise, reminiscent of early raindrops hitting the ground. But the volume intensified rapidly, and shortly after—

Crcka, crackle!

Fissures originating from deep within ripped through to the outer layer. Like a retaining wall suffering a catastrophic breach, Infernal’s structure began to disintegrate at an alarming rate.

As a brilliant radiance erupted from those expanding, jagged fissures—

Boom—!

Unable to contain the internal pressure, Infernal’s physical vessel shattered into countless tiny shards, spraying across the chamber. Now, replacing the dying embers, the rock fragments that once constituted Infernal dominated the entire area.

Moments later, clatter— finely crushed stone rained down heavily.

As the rocky downpour cascaded, Aster turned around and directed his attention toward Chenbi and Mycelln.

The duo hadn’t witnessed the actual sequence due to the obscuring flames, but utter bewilderment washed over their faces.

One looked as though they had encountered a phantom, while the other looked as if they had just viewed a holy event. Either way, the sentiment was identical: complete disbelief.

Regardless, observing their stunned expressions, Aster offered a slight smirk to the dazed pair and remarked,

“Right then….”

Aster abruptly bolted. Heaving Demian onto his shoulder, he dashed toward the breach he had created upon entry and bellowed at the top of his lungs.

“Run for it—!”

“…?”

“…?”

A slight knot formed between Mycelln’s eyebrows. Chenbi tilted his head in confusion. Beneath the chaos, Aster roared again,

“Hurry up—!”

Right at that second, a subtle snapping sound echoed behind them.

Pop, snap, crackle!

A stone chunk levitated. The scattered remnants of Infernal littering the floor began migrating back toward a central point as though pulled by a powerful current.

The instant Chenbi registered what was occurring—

“Up!”

Mycelln was already in mid-sprint, hauling Chenbi over his shoulder.

The exit Aster had cleared proved far too tight for Mycelln’s frame. Consequently, he was forced to advance while awkwardly ducking his torso, a strained grunt slipping from his lips against his will.

Fortunately, the path wasn’t overly extended.

“This place is….”

Emerging from the tight corridor, Mycelln found himself staring into a chamber crammed with various literary volumes.

A archive? The notion flashed briefly, though the layout resembled an office space more than anything else.

As he scanned the environment, Aster’s instructions cut through his thoughts.

“Drop Chenbi over there and take a seat.”

“What just occurred back there?”

Mycelln carefully placed Chenbi onto an open patch of flooring and inquired. The situation simply made no sense to him.

He had been entirely convinced their lives were forfeit….

“Fortune smiled on us, I suppose.”

“Fortune…?”

“Something like that.”

Aster cast a look toward Chenbi—who had slipped into unconsciousness—before carrying on with his thoughts.

‘Fortune.’

True. There wasn’t a better description for it.

When he was initially trapped in Infernal’s grip, he genuinely believed his time was up. The intense heat was problematic enough, but the sheer physical pressure—it was absurdly high.

He intended to reposition using Blink, but he still lacked the fine control required to execute the maneuver while sustaining a stable defensive shield.

Furthermore, he had already sustained internal trauma from the intense heat, compounding the difficulty.

Even so, refusing to perish without a fight, he accepted the hazard and initiated Blink, narrowly breaking free…

The realization left him incredibly irritated.

‘You miserable piece of trash….’

Thus, he engaged.

Internal trauma? A real fight demands moving past internal trauma. Naturally, it proved incredibly helpful that he carried Lortel’s specialized recovery solution secured inside a dimensional storage unit reinforced with protective wards.

Granted, due to that intense heat, those protections—everything—had been neutralized. …Still, the dimensional pocket itself survived intact, which was a saving grace.

Regardless, he battled on.

But… the opponent was absurdly resilient.

He managed to best it once, right? He somehow severed its skull, and then—what the hell—it suddenly unleashed a wave of fire and reformed completely.

‘Are you out of your mind?’

What kind of monster operates like that?

Granted, the reconstituted Infernal didn’t possess the same terrifying suppression as before. If the initial clash was a desperate struggle on the absolute brink of doom, the subsequent phase was more akin to, “Well, death remains a possibility,” during the exchange.

Eventually, he shattered its skull a second time…

‘That was the moment I figured it out.’

This entity possesses no true death condition.

By the time the internal recap reached that conclusion—

“What exactly… are you?”

“Why ask? Do I resemble a classified asset produced by some prominent family?”

“If you aren’t… no, never mind. That isn’t the primary issue right now. So you withdrew? Then why didn’t you head toward this exit initially?”

“What do you think the reason is?”

“…Ah.”

Mycelln quickly grasped the rationale behind Aster’s decision to stay separated.

He had deliberately isolated himself to draw any potential tracking away from them.

Even so.

“What’s the status of the other two?”

Having been far too disoriented to evaluate their internal injuries earlier, Mycelln questioned Aster.

“Their status? Ah.”

While keeping the conversation going, Aster had been gripping their wrists to evaluate the physiological states of both Demian and Chenbi. Hearing Mycelln’s inquiry, he gave a casual shrug.

“Demian simply appears to have overtaxed his system. Chenbi, however… yeah. This one will likely require a professional evaluation.”

“…Is the damage severe?”

“Hard to classify it strictly as severe. He isn’t on the verge of passing away, but we will need to observe him closely to understand the full extent.”

“I see….”

Mycelln’s features turned somber. Stepping away from the conversation, Aster looked down at Demian and Chenbi.

‘Ts, fools.’

If you perish, you perish—what do you actually accomplish by throwing your lives away like that?

Even if you can’t simply shrug it off and say, “Well, he’s gone,” you can still view it as an unavoidable catastrophe and walk away.

‘Did anyone ask you to hunt down vengeance? Honestly….’

His evaluation of Chenbi was particularly critical. From Aster’s perspective, Chenbi had behaved the most foolishly.

“Tsk.”

Clicking his tongue softly, Aster retrieved a pair of medicinal vials from his dimensional storage unit and administered them to Chenbi and Demian in turn.

He did so gently, ensuring their breathing passages remained clear.

Those represented the final two supplies he had obtained from Lortel.

It wasn’t long before Demian’s eyelids fluttered open.

As his obscured vision adjusted and an unfamiliar overhead structure materialized, Demian blinked, piecing together his recollections.

‘Why am I….’

The sequence of events returned piece by piece. Right—he held a crystal-clear memory of driving his strike straight into Infernal’s torso as his final action.

It was an attack executed with the absolute maximum of his capabilities, and the impact had struck the target precisely where intended.

As his train of thought reached that conclusion—

“……”

Demian quietly shut his eyes against a reality he had briefly overlooked.

Vengeance… correct. Retribution was settled. But what, precisely, was supposed to alter as a consequence of that?

Those who perished did not reappear, and instead, only the drive known as vengeance—which had consumed his grief—had vanished entirely.

The unburned remnants of his feelings settled heavy in his torso like snow accumulating in the dead of night, and the weight of those emotions caused his throat to tighten in a sudden wave.

“…Companion.”

A word that slipped past his lips quietly before he could check it.

Just as he was on the verge of letting those buried feelings spill over from that single utterance, a voice reached his ears right then.

“What are you shouting for?”

The distinct voice forced Demian to clamp down on the rising emotional wave.

“Go enjoy yourself over in that corner.”

“What is there to enjoy in a place like this?”

“…Have you descended to the underworld or something?”

“If so, does that mean you kicked the bucket too?”

“…?”

What was happening? This felt entirely too tangible to be a mere trick of the mind. Recognizing the inconsistency, Demian forced his eyes open.

Very quickly, Demian comprehended the reality.

“…Companion?”

His gaze wavered unsteadily. Like ripples disturbing a placid pond, the trembling expanded, and his voice rapidly grew thick with moisture.

“Companion, truly—are you honestly my companion? You survived…?”

A torrent of feelings rushed upward. As if unable to process the sight, Demian stared at Mycelln, who was positioned opposite Aster.

Mycelln offered a pleased smile and gave a nod. Or rather—he intended to nod.

If not for Aster’s abrupt intervention.

“Has it not occurred to you that you might be the one who didn’t survive?”

“What?”

“Hah?”

A brief interval of silence followed.

As irritation flickered across Mycelln’s face, Demian—having finally registered the actual dynamic—asked in a shaky tone.

“I… have I actually arrived in hell?”

Aster pondered the situation.

‘Demian’s Psychological Realignment, Part One.’

Hell? The netherworld?

While that thought occupied his mind—

“Honestly, I am incredibly relieved.”

Beholding that radiant, smiling expression, even Aster found himself unable to maintain his mask this time.

‘…Part One.’

…And with that, another 24 hours inside the historical remnants drifted by.