Demon-Hunting Genius Mage

Chapter 26

***

"Hurry."

Dercion urged me to try light magic.

I felt like I could faint at any moment, but I was just as curious.

For now, I had decided to put rest aside and check if I had obtained a legendary trait.

"...Light."

Swish.

Light blooming above my index finger.

The moment I first saw it, I only felt one emotion.

\'...It\'s beautiful.\'

Perhaps due to the influence of the [Prodigy of Magic] trait, my magic had always been more spectacular than others.

But the light before my eyes now was beyond such a simple description.

Just looking at it made my heart swell... this light.

Yes, this was literally \'light\'.

"Ohh... T-This is!"

Dercion exclaimed in a trembling voice, seemingly feeling a similar emotion to mine.

No, he seemed even more moved than me, who had actually produced it.

Judging by Dercion\'s reddening eyes.

It wasn\'t strange. He was someone who had dedicated his entire life to this light.

"...Ahem."

Belatedly realizing his state, Dercion turned away. From the sound of his breathing, it seemed like he was suppressing his emotions.

Once he appeared to have calmed down somewhat, he abruptly started walking forward.

Dercion opened the door and spoke quietly without even looking back.

"...Rest for a while. I\'ll be back soon. Feel free to use this room if you want to sleep."

"...Yes."

With those words, Dercion left the room.

Left alone, I first laid down on the sofa in the corner.

My head was in a whirl. I needed to organize my thoughts.

\'So this is...\'

Swish.

Still unable to believe it, I cast the light magic again while lying down. However, the light rotating elegantly above my head was the same as before.

Beautiful and noble.

"Damn..."

Now that I was alone, the emotions I had been suppressing welled up. I felt like I might burst into tears if I loosened up even a little.

And for good reason, because I had just obtained a legendary trait.

If it had been just any legendary trait, I wouldn\'t have been this emotional.

This was a light-related trait, which I had intended to make my main attribute. And it was one of those rare \'growth-type\' traits.

A growth-type trait means exactly what it sounds like - it can grow.

It can grow up to one rank higher, with common rank growing to rare, rare to heroic, and heroic to legendary.

Which means...

\'...Mythic tier.\'

I had essentially obtained another Mythic tier trait.

On par with [Prodigy of Magic].

Of course, growth doesn\'t happen easily.

Each growth-type trait has different growth conditions.

In the case of the trait obtained from [Essence of Light], one would need to hunt an enormous number of demons or defeat a demon corps commander to grow the trait.

But who cares about that? This alone had already surpassed the level I had planned for.

My original plan was to obtain a Heroic tier trait with [Essence of Light] and grow it to legendary rank.

Two Mythic tier traits... I had never even imagined such a thing.

"Ha... Haha."

Before this, I just putting up a facade of being strong. Now I\'m finally starting to feel real hope.

I had been so determined to defeat Baal and return to my original world... but only now.

“… … I really don’t know what I’m doing.”

I decided to admit what needed to be admitted.

Honestly, I hadn\'t expected that I would defeat Baal.

I had just been deceiving myself all this time for self-rationalization.

Me, an ordinary young man from Earth, defeating the supreme commander of the demon army? There\'s no way that could be possible.

That was my true feeling.

"YEAH BABY..."

It was pathetic. The fact that I, who always showed a confident face in front of everyone, was actually more of a coward than anyone else.

That I was a weak person who only deceived myself.

But humans are animals that continuously grow. It\'s because of constant development that humans have become the apex predators of the modern world.

In that sense.

"...Let\'s give it a try."

I vowed not to be like that anymore. I made a sincere resolution to defeat him.

It wasn\'t based on emotion alone. If I could raise to my peak and solidify my foundation based on these two Mythic tier traits... there was definitely a possibility.

Now, defeating Baal and the wish to return to my original world. It meant these weren\'t just empty words anymore.

Clearly recognizing this fact, I forced myself to sleep.

Because the moment I open my eyes would be the first step.

My real struggle in this godforsaken world I had fallen into was about to begin.

***

"Mmm."

"Are you awake?"

When I woke up, Dercion was sitting on the sofa opposite me.

It seems he had been waiting for me to wake up, which made me feel rather uncomfortable.

"...How long did I sleep?"

"Probably over 2 hours."

"I see."

I didn\'t sleep that long considering how tired I was.

I wonder if the party was over by now?

"Then I\'ll be going now."

I was about to leave, as I couldn\'t stay here any longer.

Suddenly, Dercion grabbed my wrist.

"You can\'t leave yet."

"Huh?"

As I looked at him with a puzzled face, he spoke as if it were obvious.

"You haven\'t seen the true light yet, have you?"

True light? Wasn\'t that over when I obtained the legendary trait?

"Come now. The elders are waiting for you."

"Why are they waiting for me? Where are we going?"

"You\'ll see when we get there."

I had no idea what he was trying to do, but due to his forceful attitude, I had no choice but to follow.

Climbing the stairs that changed in real-time, we arrived at the top floor of the magic tower.

It was a place entirely covered in stone, and they had put quite a bit of effort into space expansion magic, as it was as spacious as the first floor lobby where the evaluation was held.

However, it was an empty space with no clue as to its purpose.

"Why are we..."

Just as I was about to ask.

"Ugh."

A strange smell invaded my nostrils.

It was a pungent odor that made me frown involuntarily and felt like it might numb my sense of smell.

\'...What is this smell?\'

Since I started noticing it as soon as we came up here, the source must be here too. I immediately looked for the source, but?

There was nothing particularly noticeable. Only a peculiar pattern drawn on the floor caught my eye.

As if entranced, I scrutinized that pattern.

It was of enormous size, large enough to completely cover the floor and runic characters densely filling the border.

In the center, as if to indicate the center, there was a shape that looked like two triangles overlapping inside a circle-.

\'...A hexagram?\'

Suddenly, I felt goosebumps and a chill down my spine.

Why on earth is there a hexagram drawn on the floor?

"Excuse me, what is this-"

"Elders. Prepare for the ritual."

Before I could finish my question, Dercion spoke first. As if they had been waiting for just those words, Aldeon\'s elders gradually revealed themselves.

Clank, clank.

They were all busy carrying something, moving very skillfully as if they had practiced many times.

\'...Those are.\'

I closely examined the objects they were carrying.

I didn\'t need to look closely. I knew as soon as I saw them.

These were the third piece of information I needed to know before leaving the magic tower.

\'Artifacts.\'

They were light attribute artifacts owned by Aldeon.

At a glance, there were dozens of artifacts ranging from low-grade to top-grade ones that couldn\'t be bought even with money.

As they were placed one by one on the floor.

That\'s when the ringing in my ears began.

Beeeeep-!

Since entering this world, there had been only one case when I heard this ringing.

When my \'instinct\', raised by the spirit engraving sent me a warning.

An extreme sense of unease surged.

I didn\'t know what it was, but one thing was certain.

That I was in as much danger now as when the silver-haired knight swung his sword at my neck.

No, judging by the intensity of the ringing, I seemed to be in even more danger now than then.

Honestly, I couldn\'t quite understand it.

\'A situation more dangerous than losing my life?\'

What could possibly be more perilous than death itself?

But there was no time to ponder.

I had to escape this place as quickly as possible.

Just as I was about to take a step, I heard it.

Thud, thud.

"For the light of Aldeon."

I saw the 7th Elder Ollie Didan saluting Dercion, along with others rubbing their eyes behind him.

"Yawn... Huh? Mr. First Place, why aren\'t you coming? What are you doing here?"

"Yuhan, is there an early morning class today?"

These were people who should have been in deep sleep after finishing their party by now.

This situation seems to be escalating... My anxiety keeps growing stronger.

"Get out! Now!"

I shouted as I started moving.

Fortunately, Dercion wasn\'t paying attention to us. He was just staring at the elders preparing something with a crazed look.

"What\'s with the sudden..."

"I said get out, quickly!"

I grabbed Rief\'s wrist and ran full speed towards the exit before things could get worse.

The others are quick-witted, so they\'ll follow without explanation.

That\'s what I thought at that moment.

[You\'re too late.]

Boom!

Along with Dercion\'s words penetrating my mind, the stone door that had been lifted fell from top to bottom.

I quickly looked for another exit, but couldn\'t even find a small window.

We were completely trapped.

"...What are you doing?"

Dercion slowly turned around at that question.

And still infusing his voice with magic, he spoke.

[...Yuhan, I\'m so proud of you. Thanks to you fully absorbing the essence, we were able to advance the plan much faster.]

Beeeep-!

The ringing in my ears grew stronger. But Dercion\'s voice pierced through even that ringing.

[Yes, you asked before. How to see the true light... I\'ll give you the answer now.]

Thump! Thump! Thump...!

My heart was racing madly. Not due to the awakening effect, but purely from anxiety.

[They say light shines brightest in darkness. Remember?]

The words he had said to me flashed through my mind.

-I was originally going to give it to you. There were just many preparatory steps to go through first.

-I received a \'revelation\'.

-It was a method that could be understood even from a fundamental perspective.

-...Aldeon is a place that seeks true light.

Rumble...

Meanwhile, a cart pulled by the elders was placed in the center of the hexagram, and with it came a stronger stench that naturally drew my gaze to the cart.

There were mages who had died during the evaluation mixed with men wearing armor engraved with Asteron\'s emblem.

All of them with flesh rotting and decaying.

I had wondered why Asteron left Aldeon alone for two months, but I was mistaken.

...They had taken action but were all killed?

"...Allen? Is that Allen...?"

"What the hell is this...?"

"Dercion, you crazy bastard!!"

The disciples\' outcry erupted.

I let it go in one ear and out the other, calmly organizing the given information.

The words he had said to me, the hexagram and the sacrifices in the cart. And the special property of \'light magic\' that grows stronger the more demons you catch.

"...Light shines brightest in darkness. So."

I seemed to understand.

What Dercion Pygma was thinking.

"You\'re going to bring forth darkness?"

He was planning to open a passage to the demon realm here at the top of the magic tower.

To see the \'true light\' they had been so obsessively fixated on.

[Hahaha! As expected of my top disciple! To already understand this profound meaning!]

Dercion laughed uproariously like a man who had shed all his flaws.

And then.

[One thing... It\'s not the darkness you\'re thinking of.]

He moved to the center of the hexagram as if levitating.

Simultaneously.

Tsss tsss tsss!

Dense mana poured out from him, and red haze rose from the sacrifices.

The hexagram absorbed it all.

\'I have to stop this.\'

That judgment lasted only a moment. Even more shocking words followed from Dercion.

[...What I\'m calling forth is the deepest darkness.]

...What?

For a moment, I forgot I had to stop this and my body froze.

Did I just hear that wrong?

"...What did you just say?"

Dercion didn\'t answer.

[O evil of the abyss! Here lies your path! The light shall judge you!]

He simply chanted a forbidden spell that should never be uttered.

Groooan-.

The heavy atmosphere weighed down on my shoulders, and intense demonic energy poured from the reddened hexagram.

Crack, crackle...!

Unable to withstand that mighty force, cracks were forming in space.

It was unbelievable.

"...Ha, haha. I knew you were crazy, but..."

I didn\'t know he was this insane.

What kind of confidence is this?

Today, when I whipped my weak self.

Dercion Pygma was now trying to manifest Baal, the supreme commander of the demon army, right here.

***