The Great Mage Returns after 4000 Years – Chapter 128 – Family Extermination (4)
Translator: Seven
Editors: Ana_Banana, Yahiko
Leita watched Frey slowly descend from the sky. His indifferent face and fluctuating mana intimidated her greatly.
She felt confused.
‘What’s going on?’
Frey Blake. Her third child, who she didn’t want to admit was hers.
Her first son, Mischael, had been as expected, and her second son, Heinz, was even better than expected.
Therefore, Leita had high hopes for her third son, Frey.
Maybe, he’d have a talent that was even better than Heinz, and if not Heinz, at least a talent equal to that of her first son, Mischael.
But from the start, Frey, a child born from a Wizard Family, had a lower mana sensitivity than children born to commoners.
This fact had become an intolerable disgrace for Leita.
Frey was suspected to be an illegitimate child, which naturally led people to mock her behind her back.
Naturally, there wasn’t anyone foolish enough to do so to her face, but the fact that such rumors were in circulation in the first place humiliated her greatly.
So she stopped caring for him.
When Mischael vented his anger at him, when Isaka didn’t treat him like a person, not to mention a child, and even when their servants mistreated him.
To call him an eyesore would be an understatement.
Even the sight of Frey wandering around the mansion annoyed her, which is why she agreed to send him to the academy.
After that, she intended to stick him in some unassuming magic tower and leave him there so he would not cause any trouble for their family.
Then, Frey suddenly became stronger and returned.
When he’d easily overpowered Mischael and displayed a different side to himself, Leita had finally accepted him as her child.
But now, she began to doubt.
Was this child… really hers?
Taht.
As Frey landed on the ground, his eyes turned towards Leita.
In fact, he had only just noticed her presence. This was because he’d been completely focused on the Demigod.
When their eyes met, Leita spoke in a cold tone, ignoring the unknown fear that had crept into her heart.
“You did it quite splendidly.”
“…”
“I can’t believe you managed to turn Heinz traitor… What exactly did you tell him?”
Both Leita and Isaka appeared to trust Heinz greatly.
Frey shook his head.
“Heinz was never on your side from the beginning.”
“Nonsense.”
“You can keep thinking that.”
“Hmph.”
Leita snorted coldly.
Then the man beside her spoke.
“Is this the guy? The one Leyrin considered an enemy?”
“That’s right, Mr. Apep.”
Disappointment filled Apep’s gaze.
“Hmm. Just a Wizard.”
The Wizards were the ones who had opposed the Demigods the most over the years.
He didn’t know why. But he guessed that it had something to do with the incompatibility between mana and divine power.
Yet strangely, Magic Warriors didn’t seem to be that opposed.
Nevertheless, their conflict had been going on for thousands of years.
Thanks to this, the number of Wizards that Apep had killed personally had long reached tens of thousands.
Naturally, he was very familiar with the way Wizards fought. In fact, he didn’t consider it threatening at all.
In the first place, Apep wasn’t the type who was very interested in fighting.
However, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed after hurrying to Leyrin’s assistance only to find a single Wizard.
‘It seems Leyrin was weakened by a lot.’
As one of the strongest Demigods in existence, she had actually felt threatened by a single human.
This was something that Apep never thought possible… well, it didn’t matter anyway. He’d just kill this guy and be done with it.
Just as Apep stopped thinking about that and prepared to use his power, Leita spoke.
“I’ll assist you.”
“Don’t interfere.”
“Huh? But…”
“Do you need me to say it again?”
Leita hurriedly lowered her head when she saw Apep’s annoyed expression.
“Ah, I understand.”
Frey’s eyes shined slightly.
A Demigod, who could basically be called a lump of pride, would never accept help to kill a single human.
Instead, there was even a high possibility that a Demigod would reject help even at a critical moment.
Of course, this wasn’t always certain, but Apep had already drawn the line.
No one could interfere.
So naturally, a 1:1 match had been established by the Demigod.
Frey couldn’t help but feel fortunate. After all, Leita was not as easy to handle as Isaka was.
Fighting them together would be too much for him.
‘The power of darkness.’
As with all Demigods, one could never imagine what kind of fighting style they would display after hearing their simple power.
In particular, Apep’s power was quite abstract, similar to Nozdog’s power of ‘death’.
In Frey experience, these kinds of powers had many applications, but knowing that didn’t give him any real advantage.
It was accurate to say that every Demigod was a completely independent individual. This was because their appearance, size, habits, abilities and fighting styles were completely different from the others.
In the past, he and his teammates had fought against a Demigod and won, but when they used the same tactic in the next fight, they were almost annihilated.
Wizards, on the other hand, were different.
Even if the spells they used might be slightly different, it was impossible for them to escape the classic Wizard combat method.
This was simply because that was proven to be the most efficient and powerful method.
‘That’s why it’s important.’
The other abilities he’d learned as Frey would show their usefulness in cases like this.
In fights between Warriors or Knights, the weaker one was usually the one to move first. This was because they couldn’t withstand their opponent’s pressure and were forced to make the first move.
But for Wizard fights, it was different.
For them, it was the speed of their chanting and casting that were the most important.
So Frey was the first to show his hand.
He stomped his right foot down heavily.
Crack!
Instantly, an awl made of ice shot out of the ground towards Apep.
Apep’s eyebrows furrowed when he saw that.
‘Motion Magic.’
It was a technique that used movement to unleash spells, rather than casting or chanting words.
Frey’s usual manifestation by swinging his arms was also a form of motion magic.
Theoretically, this was a technique that could be used by 6 star Wizards and higher, but it was rarely used because of its inefficiency.
However, Frey’s motion magic was different.
Be it in terms of power or speed.
‘Better than I expected.’
Apep smiled coldly and raised his right hand, darkness hanging from the tip of his fingers like a curtain.
At the same time, the places that had been previously dark seemed to have become a bit brighter.
Frey was momentarily speechless. It might’ve sounded strange from a Wizard, but what Apep had just done was truly magical.
“…”
Crack.
The ice awl shattered without leaving even a scratch on the dark curtain hanging from Apep’s hand.
‘What is it?’
The darkness hanging from Apep’s hand looked like a black streak of paint hanging in the air.
Paht.
This time, he slowly lifted his left hand.
The darkness then broke apart like drops of water and moved forward.
‘That’s dangerous.’
Frey’s instincts sounded an alarm in his head.
Although he had the lightning barrier surrounding him, he was certain that it wouldn’t be able to block those dark droplets.
Instead, Frey used one of the spells stored in the Great Sage’s Staff.
Solid Barrier.
Papapat.
The black water-like droplets clung to the whitish barrier.
Crackle.
And in an instant, the barrier became covered with cracks.
At first, Frey thought the barrier caused physical damage, but that wasn’t the case.
The black drops were actually corroding the barrier, and the cracks were formed from those corroded parts.
If he did not do something, the barrier would be destroyed in no time.
“Lava Blast.”
Boom boom boom!
Lava Blast shot from Frey’s fingers and shot towards Apep with vicious momentum.
But Apep didn’t move. Instead, he once again lifted his right arm.
Ssssk.
And once again, a curtain of darkness hung from his fingers and blocked the Lava Blast.
It was perfect.
He couldn’t even scratch Apep’s body, not to mention inflict actual wounds.
Frey’s expression hardened.
‘He can block 7 star spells easily.’
They were the same spells that had done damage to the Demigod, Hydra, even though she had been weakened at that time.
Crackle.
In the meantime, his barrier was still being destroyed.
First, he needed to increase the distance.
Frey used Blink to move backwards, and Apep didn’t pursue him.
He just slowly lifted his left hand once again, and it was the black droplets that followed Frey.
Swoosh.
The droplets moved at a surprisingly fast speed. Moreover, they were so dark that he was unable to see them clearly, and there was a large number of them.
Frey couldn’t avoid them unless he blocked them with a barrier or kept using teleportation. He would probably need to have physical ability similar to Ivan or Snow in order to avoid them.
In other words, it was impossible for him.
Frey used Blink continuously.
His mana wasn’t a problem. Even at this rate, he could continue doing it for another three days and nights.
However, it didn’t make sense to just avoid it constantly.
When dawn came, two more Demigods would arrive.
“Haha.”
Frey stopped with a laugh.
He actually had a time limit in a fight with a Demigod.
‘But I have no choice.’
First of all, he needed to figure out just how much defense that dark curtain had.
Since even the 7 star spell, Lava Blast, was unable to do anything to it, he would have to resort to 8 star spells.
‘The power of darkness.’
Those black water-like droplets and curtain reminded Frey of black magic.
He didn’t think that simply because of the dark power within them. Instead, it was the strange attack and defense that almost matched it perfectly.
So Frey decided to try a simple solution.
‘It’s not mainstream, but…’
He would use white magic. (TL: yes, ‘white’ not ‘light’)
“…”
He began chanting a spell.
Woowoong.
White light began fluttering around Frey’s body. The spell hadn’t been released. He was simply chanting, but signs already began appearing.
Apep’s expression changed for the first time.
He stretched his hands out and controlled the black droplets.
“…”
Frey didn’t stop casting, and instead, he knocked his staff against the ground.
Thud!
The ground shook, and a huge earth wall was erected. It wasn’t very sturdy, but it was thick.
Apep frowned upon realising that.
‘Did he already notice the nature of my droplets?’
His droplets could eat through any obstacle, but the rate of corrosion was fixed.
This meant that the powerful barrier he’d just created and the simple wall of earth would both be corroded at the same rate.
In other words, this meant that this simple but thick wall of dirt would hold out much better than the thin barrier.
The black droplets pierced through the wall at a snail pace, and by the time Apep diverted some droplets to circle around the wall, Frey’s chanting had ended.
“…Holy Breath.”
Woowoo.
White particles poured from Frey’s mouth. Well, they were too big to be called particles.
The white particles appeared to be moving slowly, but they appeared before Apep in an instant.
The Holy Breath made contact with the dark curtain.
Boom!
There was an enormous explosion, and all the nearby buildings collapsed, unable to withstand its shockwave.
Frey was inwardly shocked. He had never expected an explosion to occur.
‘Was the explosion caused by the collision between the Holy Breath and the dark curtain?’
It was an unexpected effect, but its power was terrifying. He was certain it had to have caused some damage.
The dust cloud eventually lifted, and Apep’s figure was once again revealed.
There was now a hole in his stomach about the size of a fist. Any ordinary person would have certainly been killed by such an injury.
No, even if it was a Demigod, an injury like this was not easy to deal with.
However, Frey’s expression wasn’t happy.
This was because there had been no change to Apep’s expression at all.
He didn’t seem to be worried or agitated at all. That wasn’t all. No viscera or blood could be seen from his wound. The only thing there was darkness.
Apep rubbed his abdomen and said.
“It’s been hundreds of years since I was last injured to this extent. Indeed… you are quite skilled.”
It was then.
The surrounding darkness flowed like a mist, and it was sucked into Apep’s abdomen.
Krrk, Krrk.
There was a strange, grotesque sound, and his injury began regenerating at an astonishing rate.
It was an unbelievable sight.
Even Trolls couldn’t regenerate so quickly. In fact, such a feat was impossible unless it was an artificial lifeform created through magic engineering or a Golem that had a simple structure.
“What did you just do?”
“It’s not difficult. Especially on such a dark night.”
Frey narrowed his eyes.
At first glance, this was a power that transcended common sense, but he had managed to spot a few flaws.
Recalling that fact, he observed Apep’s surroundings.
“…the darkness around you has faded. It was the same when you created the dark droplets and the curtain.”
“Hoh. You’re quite sharp.”
Apep spoke with sincere appreciation.
He had also easily admitted that Frey’s speculations were correct.
He spoke in a carefree tone.
“You’re right. I can’t use my power recklessly. The more I use it, the more I consume the darkness around me. Of course, I consume divine power as well.”
“…”
“Are you wondering why I’m telling you this? That’s simple. It doesn’t matter if I tell you or not.”
In other words, it was because of his arrogance.
Frey forcefully suppressed his disgust and stared at Apep.
Only
“The night is particularly dark today.”
At that moment, the clouds covered the moon, making it much darker.
“My power grows stronger the darker it gets. In truth, when the sun is up, I can’t even use half of my strength, but my companions will arrive by dawn.”
Upon grasping the situation, Frey’s expression hardened.
“It is often said that it is darkest before sunrise. But there’s no way you will survive when the darkness gives way to light.”
Apep seemed to enjoy his expression while saying.
“Come, Wizard. What are you going to do?”