Chapter 262

Chapter 262 – How to Catch a Monster

Aster’s body lunged forward toward the pair of elderly mages like a predator closing in on its quarry. The two old mages discharged their spells with piercing shouts, completely devoid of pause.

Pew-pew, pew-pew-pew-pew!

In critical scenarios, any magic user naturally relies on their most habituated magic. Frequently, such magic is rather lacking in strength—yet the sorcery unleashed by these two Seven Mages upended that standard logic, crashing down with catastrophic violence.

Kwoooo—!

A tempest of blazing fire tore through the area. Scorching heat capable of vaporizing everything cloaked the Tower Lord. All the while, Coxen scanned the vicinity with his acutely sharpened perceptions.

An enemy capable of materializing anywhere at any second was incredibly difficult to manage. Having already observed the Tower Lord’s spatial manipulation, this was simply mandatory alertness on Coxen’s part.

Yet.

Boom!

“……!”

The Tower Lord charged straight out of the fiery tempest. His velocity had not waned in the slightest. Beholding that oncoming shape, a freezing sensation gripped Coxen’s mind.

Death.

An idea once highly familiar, though it had eventually come to feel distant. Even if it crept closer with every passing sunrise, he had assumed it wasn’t meant for today…

‘…I am going to perish.’

Stunningly, Coxen perceived his own demise. Much like a youth paralyzed before a rushing wagon, all cognitive processes ground to a halt.

Right at that instant.

“Snap out of it, you idiot!”

Thwack!

Zaipo shoved Coxen aside with raw physical power, simultaneously sweeping his remaining hand to draw forth and coordinate mana. A spell that would necessitate dozens of verbal incantations from a standard magic user took form in under a second.

A slender barrier shot up from the earth. Yet its durability was incomparably more resilient and dense than the city wall he had materialized earlier.

Zaipo harbored no doubt that this magic could obstruct anything. Even a transcendent mage would fail to shatter it in a single strike.

Yet.

Swish!

The Tower Lord glided right through the barrier. He did not fracture it. Like an ethereal phantom devoid of physical matter, he glided straight through and took up a position right before the pair. Naturally, he had not literally passed through it. Just as he had scaled the city wall in an eyeblink, he had bypassed space itself.

“……!”

Faced with the approaching reach, Zaipo glanced at Coxen. However, his partner, with whom he had coordinated countless times across various battlegrounds, was far too aged to react to the abrupt shift.

Following a rapid calculation, Zaipo recognized he must manage this by himself and attempted to spring away from the position. Or rather, he endeavored to.

Crunch, cruuunch!

Left, right, behind. Barriers erupted on three flanks.

With his paths of retreat cut off in an instant, Zaipo contorted his frame in sheer alarm.

Crash!

The Tower Lord’s fist swept past his hair by a mere millimeter.

‘What… what in the world.’

The sheer air pressure alone made his vision spin. What would have happened if that fist had connected directly? Shaking away the tremor running down his spine, Zaipo refocused.

This was no moment to be paralyzed by shock. Left, right, behind—all escape was sealed. Evading by passing through the Tower Lord was…

Just as that realization formed.

Grab.

“…Guh!”

The Tower Lord’s fingers gripped tightly around Zaipo’s neck. His field of vision spun erratically, and then a knee came driving upward toward his face!

Crack!

He intersected his forearms in an X-shape to defend, but the savage impact vibrated through his skull.

Was this the conclusion?

His internal mana whirled violently to construct a counter-spell, but no matter his mental arithmetic, it could never outpace the Tower Lord’s fist.

Yet what rescued him from the jaws of destruction was Coxen.

Boom!

The Tower Lord faltered from an impact at his back and stumbled forward. Zaipo would have been pinned beneath him, but Coxen seized his collar and leapt backward, establishing distance between them.

“You…”

“Apologies. I am acting as a hindrance now.”

Zaipo shook his head in response to Coxen’s admission. They had nearly perished because Coxen’s focus had fractured, but that fleeting error was irrelevant now.

“You perceived it as well, correct?”

“…Yes, it does not appear to be an adversary we cannot manage. However…”

Coxen’s voice drifted off. At the terminus of his vision stood the Tower Lord, pulling himself unsteadily to his feet. In that very instant, he expelled a torrent of blood.

As dark blood drenched the soil, Coxen flatly stated what he had realized.

“He replicated your magic.”

“…Yes, frighteningly well.”

The barriers that had sealed his retreat were unnervingly identical to Zaipo’s sorcery. Right down to the mana structure and the composition of the stone forming the barriers.

This epiphany brought severe ramifications for the pair.

It signified that any magic they displayed could turn into the weapon that trapped them.

“Heh heh… from what place did this abomination even emerge?”

“We must finish him here. There is no alternative.”

“That would be best.”

Their initial intent had been capture. Yet the Tower Lord’s capabilities reached beyond what they could contain, forcing them to focus entirely on staying alive.

Now, having verified his lethality, they recognized they must eliminate him by any means.

Their own existences were secondary, but allowing the Tower Lord to survive would present an immense obstacle for the Decullan Family down the line.

“Prepare yourself.”

“…Understood.”

The pair retrieved restoration drafts from their garments, consumed them, and locked their gaze onto the Tower Lord. He remained unbalanced, barely supporting his own weight—nonetheless, they dared not launch an reckless strike, aware he was not one to succumb to basic ploys.

As the two solidified their determination.

“Cough, ptui.”

The Tower Lord straightened up, shoulders dropping, and spat dense blood onto the earth. Between his lowered head and cascading hair, only his eyes gleamed with wild intensity.

Met with that stare, Zaipo and Coxen instinctively gulped.

Was this the sensation of prey encountering its ultimate predator? They desired to run if it were possible. Yet they could not. And they must not.

As the two stood before this entity they could not oppose.

Step, rustle…

A collective group advanced from beneath the ridge.

They were the Decullan mages.

“Heh, heh heh. It appears this won’t be the place of our demise after all.”

“Quite so. I assumed they would arrive only after we had expired, given their sluggishness. Fortunately not.”

Two Seven Mages.

Two magic legions.

A military power capable of dismantling most aristocratic estates overnight. …Yet why?

Regardless of their statements, a vulnerability denser than before weighed upon Zaipo and Coxen’s expressions.

It was entirely expected.

No mortal could remain untroubled in front of an abomination.

The precise second the Decullan mages integrated into the fray, the engagement entered a fresh state.

“As is evident, the circumstances have diverged from the strategy. Implement anti-mage maneuvers.”

Upon Zaipo’s direction, the commanders guided their units.

“All personnel, preserve the line.”

“Guard the two masters.”

As the pair of magic legions aligned themselves and triggered synchronized incantations, the ambient mana began to contort weirdly. Mana Field. Only the Decullan mages, conditioned across extensive durations to acclimate, could move unhindered through this peculiar current.

Significantly more potent than clumsy physical engagement, the initial move came from Coxen.

Whoooosh…

A fierce gale tore across the landscape. The terrain, scarred by conflict, vibrated under the violent currents. Dirt swirled up, vegetation tore free and drifted—yet the Tower Lord merely rocked within the gale, discharging blood.

He appeared on the brink of falling, but Coxen refused to slacken his focus and channeled the subsequent invocation.

Pop! Pop-pop!

It initiated with minor embers. Tiny, resembling flint strikes. Yet their quantity multiplied drastically.

Fwoosh! Pop! Crackle, fwoosh-pop-fwoosh!

Multitudes of embers swarmed through the atmosphere like a cloud of glowing insects… The transformation manifested once they occupied every path.

Roooar—

Grave heat blanketed the entire space like an overflowing surge.

“Grk.”

“Maintain focus!”

Even the Decullan mages let out strained noises beneath the terrifying heat as the blazes swirled alongside the gale, gathering intensity.

Then, at a specific juncture.

Tsssh!

The gale abruptly condensed toward a solitary point. Inevitably, that point was… the Tower Lord.

“Grooo, ugh.”

Coxen pressed his fists together, eyes bloodshot, channeling his entire focus. Properly executing magic within the Mana Field was highly challenging, even for a practitioner of his stature.

‘Now… conclude this.’

He purposed to grasp the opening and sever his life force permanently. Normalizing to the Mana Field in a brief span was virtually unattainable—yet the Tower Lord was an anomalous abomination.

As the fiery vortex enclosing the Tower Lord structured into a orb and compressed, Zaipo advanced at that exact moment.

“Impatient.”

He uttered the words, yet Zaipo possessed no desire to squander this opening either. Concentrating his awareness, he coordinated the ambient mana. Fragments of earth formed vividly in his mind. Shingle and stones swirling within the fiery vortex felt tangible. And once the mana organization finalized.

Fwoosh, crackle-crackle…!

The circulating debris consumed mana and honed into sharp edges. Each transformed into a miniature blade tearing at flesh. Yet Zaipo did not halt there—he triggered explosions within the glass-like fragments instantaneously.

Pew-pew-pew-pew-pew!

Microscopic slivers, concealed from sight, rushed toward the Tower Lord through the windstorm.

It likely would not claim his life. Yet it could inflict substantial harm. An opening created because the Tower Lord had failed to synchronize with the Mana Field.

The true containment would follow this magic.

It lacked the violence of the earlier confrontation. Not frantic, not desperate. Yet Zaipo and Coxen concentrated with greater vigilance than ever before.

This was the manner by which mortals subdued abominations.

……Throughout it all.

“……”

Aster shielded his frame with a trembling ward, swaying along with the gale’s path. He proved unable to check the rising blood and discharged it repeatedly.

He recognized it as well.

The manner by which he survived this sorcery would dictate the engagement’s outcome.

Consequently, even amid the ward-rattling concussions, his gaze flickered intensely as he awaited his moment.

It had turned into a contest of resolve.

Both the pair of Seven Mages and Aster were draining every scrap of their power to the absolute boundary.

And the wyvern coasted weakly near Aster, shifting its wings basicly. Its gaze tracked the two Seven Mages and Decullan mages past the fiery vortex.

[Human, human……]

……Why humans.

Droplets rolled from the wyvern’s vision at its own absolute futility, incapable of altering a thing.