Chapter 372
Episode 112: Why They’re Searching for Temar’s Tomb (Part 4)
“Gah! Aaaah! Damn you, my wings— it hurts! My whole body feels like it’s on fire! I’ll kill you! I swear I will!”
Mila lay sprawled on the ground, screaming and cursing Valeria with every ounce of fury she had left.
The scorching heat from the electric chains still lingered on the floor, and Mila was enduring the searing pain of her entire body being burned.
As the screams continued, Valeria leaned against a tree, catching her breath after confirming that Mila was trapped and couldn’t escape.
Bodies were strewn everywhere.
Every single mage from the Three Towers who had ventured into the Wantaramo Forest had met their end—crushed utterly by a girl who was barely seventeen years old.
No one would believe it. Even Jin, who had witnessed Valeria in her previous life and had seen this battle firsthand, was left dumbfounded.
“I knew my master was a monster, but I never imagined she’d be this formidable at seventeen. No wonder she’s never been caught.”
Of course, Valeria’s raw magical power was nowhere near that of twenty mages from the Three Towers combined.
Drew Malaga and his subordinates were by no means weak.
Yet, the overwhelming victory was solely due to the unparalleled genius and unpredictability of the mage named Valeria Hister.
Just as it had always been in her past life.
Jin felt, once again, as if he had glimpsed a new horizon of magic through his master.
“When I first met her in my previous life, I can’t believe I was so reckless. Thinking back, it’s dizzying.”
A chill ran down Jin’s spine as a sudden memory flashed before him: Valeria, during their intense training days, had burned her entire body with electric magic to teach him.
Shhhk…
Valeria pulled a tightly rolled cigarette from her pocket and lit it.
She wasn’t planning to smoke it herself. Instead, she exhaled the smoke from her mouth and placed the cigarette gently on the ground amid the battlefield littered with dead mages.
It was a cigarette in honor of the Gray Owl Mercenary Corps.
For a long moment, Valeria stared blankly at the cigarette’s glowing tip.
The grim scene—Valeria quietly watching the cigarette’s flame, the horrific corpses scattered around, and Mila still writhing and screaming in agony—created a chaotic, unsettling atmosphere.
The Maen judged that Valeria was vulnerable.
Indeed, after helping create the passage for the Myoin tribe and exhausting nearly all her magical energy in the recent fight, she was nearly spent.
Shwaaak!
The Maen lunged at Valeria simultaneously. Their curved swords, glowing with aura, descended toward her.
Of course, none of their strikes landed. Though her physical abilities had improved dramatically since becoming human, Jin was far too quick to be caught off guard.
Bradamante’s blade clashed with two curved swords, sparks flying.
Jin used his scissors once more, but the Maen, as if learning from experience, turned their backs to each other and deflected the scissors, retreating to both sides.
“We mustn’t disturb the memorial.”
Swish!
Bradamante traced a graceful arc, slicing through the chest of the Maen who had been Rick Helter.
If he were human, it would have been a fatal wound, but the injury rapidly healed.
Jin glanced at the spot where the last Maen had fallen after his scissor strike.
As Valeria had predicted, the dead Maen had already oxidized, leaving only a blackened mark before vanishing completely.
“I’ll have to control my power carefully. If I want to leave evidence without overdoing it.”
Because of their regeneration, capturing them alive seemed impossible. Moreover, the Maen were only weaker than Jin, but no ordinary restraints could hold them.
“Regeneration, physical enhancement, oxidation to prevent information leaks, and rationality. That’s about it? Oh, and one more—combat power equalization.”
Rick Helter.
When human, he was a squad leader, far more skilled than his subordinates.
But after becoming a Maen, there was no difference between him and the others. Whether a regular guard or Rick, they all had the same level of combat ability.
That fact was significant.
“The Maen transformation magic might not be limited to the guards. It could be used on any skilled warrior—or even ordinary people—to create Maen with this level of power…”
If Jin hadn’t killed three of the six guards mid-transformation, he wouldn’t have been able to handle them so easily.
“If this magic can be applied to civilians, and Biment commands tens of thousands of Maen, the balance of world power could be completely overturned.”
Jin had already witnessed something similar in his past life.
He had seen Ziphl, using the sacred artifact ‘Mirror’ of Colon, mass-produce seven-star mages, solidifying his monopoly on power.
“I need to preserve the Maen bodies as evidence and conduct thorough research. The Maen transformation magic is probably incomplete, which is why mass production isn’t possible yet.”
Ka-ga-gang!
Bradamante’s blade traced faster arcs.
As Jin increased his speed, the Maen were forced to retreat, focusing solely on defense.
Even though they had become stronger as Maen, the gap was simply too wide.
By sheer luck, even if their curved swords grazed Jin, they couldn’t pierce his spiritual armor to inflict fatal wounds.
“Judging by how they respond to the scissors, they do have learning ability, but they seem to have no memories from their human lives.”
If the Maen retained memories from their time as guards, they wouldn’t have sacrificed their own arms to stab Jin’s throat.
Thunk!
A curved sword struck Jin’s spiritual armor and bounced off.
In that moment of imbalance, Bradamante sliced through the Maen’s waist.
The blade, wrapped in spiritual energy, silently cut through flesh and organs.
Jin felt the dull snap of the spine through the sword.
He raised his blade again, cleaving the Maen’s body in two.
Though the torso split into several pieces, the twitching flesh suggested it still had regenerative potential.
But instead of regenerating, the Maen chose oxidation.
This was a clear sign of the Maen creator’s will: to leave no evidence behind.
Only one Maen remained—Rick Helter’s.
He, too, planned to fight until the end before oxidizing.
Fwoosh…!
Suddenly, Bradamante’s blade was engulfed in blue flames.
The power of Tess—Blue Flame—imbued the sword.
The Maen’s sword noticeably slowed.
They were crushed under the weight of “Pressure,” unable to move properly.
Even at full strength, they couldn’t match Jin, so oxidation was their only option.
Though only his arms had been severed, the Maen already showed signs of oxidizing—his body turning to ash like the others.
Normally, oxidation happened very quickly.
But the power of Pressure was slowing not only the Maen’s movements but also their disappearance.
“Valeria, now!”
Jin closed the distance in a flash, cutting off the Maen’s arms as he shouted.
He gave the signal before finishing the Maen, just as Valeria had instructed, so she could use magic to preserve evidence.
Despite Pressure slowing oxidation, the Maen’s torso visibly shrank with each passing second.
Prrrk!
From behind, a stream of magic infused with freezing energy shot forward.
When the magic touched the Maen’s body, a rapid seal of ice magic formed with a crackling sound.
Fortunately,
The magical seal completed faster than the oxidation could finish.
The seal, now resting on the ground with a dull thud, was spherical.
Inside were only the Maen’s head and chest.
The two arms Jin had severed earlier and the rest of the body had already oxidized, scattering into the air.
“That was close. If we’d been any slower, we’d have lost it.”
Jin wiped his forehead as he looked down at the magical seal.
Valeria approached and nodded.
“If it weren’t for the Blue Flame in your sword, it would have been even more precarious. We might have only sealed half the head.”
“Well, good work. Now all that’s left is to visit the tomb before reinforcements arrive.”
For a moment, the two stood silently, gazing at the seal containing the Maen’s head and chest.
“Jin Runcandel.”
“Yeah?”
“You told the Maen not to disturb my memorial. Why was that?”
“Seeing her light a cigarette she doesn’t even smoke and place it down, what else could it be but a memorial? You also spoke of those crushed by Drew and the brothers who were killed.”
In truth, Jin knew from his past life memories that Valeria’s actions were a form of mourning, but this answer wasn’t strange.
“I see.”
“Yeah.”
“And you didn’t seem very surprised when I used my sword.”
“Some mages train their bodies and weapon skills. Your dagger technique is quite advanced—almost a shame you can’t infuse it with aura.”
“This is the first time I’ve revealed my real name, and you just called me Valeria so naturally a moment ago.”
Jin barely suppressed the urge to flinch.
“Is that strange? I don’t know what you’re trying to say.”
Valeria shrugged.
“Well, no big deal. I was just curious why.”
“Revealing my real name while you’re listening means I trust you that much. I liked that, so I tried calling you by it.”
Valeria looked Jin squarely in the eyes.
He didn’t look away but waited quietly for her next words.
“Gahhh! Aaaah!”
But before she could answer, Mila’s screams echoed again from the ground.
“…First, we need to ask the king of the fairy descendants what to do with that.”
“I agree, Valeria Hister.”
Meanwhile, at the edge of the Wantaramo Forest.
Two wizards were anxiously searching for the horses they had ridden in on.
They were mages from the Three Towers who had come to Wantaramo Forest alongside Drew Malaga.
Their original mission had been to track Jin, but Drew had ordered them to report back to the Ziphl family headquarters as soon as possible.
Apparently, there was a ‘record mage’ somewhere in Wantaramo Forest.
“A record mage… this is going to cause quite a stir.”
“Just reporting this will guarantee a promotion. Maybe even raise our library access level…”
Thud!
One of the mages collapsed forward before finishing his sentence.
“Hey, you! What’s wrong? Are you—?!”
The other mage couldn’t even finish his words.
A long, slender poison needle had pierced straight through the first mage’s throat from somewhere unknown. Neither of them realized they had been assassinated until their last breath.
“Hmm, hmm—.”
A woman humming cheerfully stood just two steps behind them.
With a lively gesture, she rifled through the dead mages’ belongings. Among their things, she found a letter addressed to her beloved youngest sibling and smiled brightly.
“My youngest really is a bit of a scatterbrain sometimes. Heh heh.”
It was Yona.
After pocketing the letter, she added with a grin,
“I was wondering how to spend my vacation, but maybe I’ll just kill anyone who comes looking for the little brat.”