Demon-Hunting Genius Mage

Chapter 30

***

SCREEEEEEE-!

The piercing ringing in my ears was so intense, that my head felt like it would explode.

Through it, I vaguely made out my surroundings.

"E-Elder!"

"How... how could this..."

The Aldeon Elders screamed in horror as they realized Dercion had been sucked into the rift.

"What the hell is that...?"

"A demon...? That\'s supposed to be a demon...?"

The guard unit that had just arrived descended into panic.

"Ah... ahh..."

Even my fellow mages stood there pale-faced, their mouths opening and closing uselessly.

Not a single person maintained their composure.

Including me.

\'...Baal, of all things.\'

I can say with certainty that none of the crises I faced in [Demon Fantasy] could compare to this.

Of course not - this was like encountering the final boss right at the start of the game.

I\'d never experienced something like this. No, I hadn\'t even imagined that it was possible.

If this were a game, I would have quit the moment I saw those eyes.

But cruel reality offered me no such escape.

\'...I have to do something!\'

The one silver lining was that thanks to the ‘Immunity to fear’ effect from [The Former Master of Swordsmanship] unlike the others, I could still think clearly.

Which meant I had to be the one to act.

And so.

Crack

I had to move.

If not now, there would be no way to stop this catastrophe.

I held onto my senses and carefully lifted the [Holy Staff].

Even with Baal\'s appearance, what I needed to do hadn\'t changed.

\'Close the rift.\'

Whoosh!

I lightly swung my staff to check how much mana I had left.

Fortunately, most of the mana I\'d spent summoning the Gate Keeper had recovered.

I squeezed all of that and gave it my attribute.

The attribute I chose was...

\'Light.\'

The light attribute - currently my most powerful.

Whoooosh-!

The sphere of compressed mana emitted a brilliant radiance.

Perhaps because I was using all my strength, but the light seemed even more dazzling than before.

But this wasn\'t enough.

The magic I needed to manifest had to rival the power of the Gatekeeper\'s [Sword of the Dead].

There was a way.

\'Shape manipulation.\'

With the [Holy Staff], I was currently a quasi-4th Circle mage.

And from the 4th Circle onwards, you could do more than just throw spheres or shoot lasers, you could give mana physical form.

That\'s why I\'d been carefully studying Roan\'s magic all this time.

I figured it would come in handy someday.

Though I hadn\'t expected that day to be today.

Whooom!

"...What\'s that?"

Roan who had been frozen in place muttered those words.

He recognized it too.

That this light formation I\'d shaped was identical in design to his ice spear.

"Borrowing this for a moment."

My reason for creating a spear was simple.

Roan\'s signature ice spear technique seemed quite efficient and more importantly...

Crack!

This counted as a \'blade weapon.\'

-300% proficiency boost for all bladed weapons.

As I grasped the spear of light.

Suddenly, I heard a \'crack-crack\' sound near my wrist.

Yes, even in this worst-case scenario...

\'...At least luck\'s on my side.\'

[You have fully absorbed the Holy Oil Bracelet.]

[Holy Power stat increases by \'5\'.]

Swoosh!

Although it was a bit immature because it was my first time, I was able to imbue the spear with holy power.

There was no reason to hesitate any longer.

I\'d poured everything I possibly could into it.

I pulled back the spear and tensed my muscles.

My entire body screamed in pain, but I refused to stop.

Only one thought occupied my mind.

\'Throw it.\'

Creak, crack!

My lower body found its balance, my waist created tension and my arms loaded power.

Perfect form and motion, as natural as someone who\'d thrown spears their entire life.

Whoosh! Shhhhhk!

The spear of light left my hand, drawing a straight line through the air.

Faster than anything I\'d ever seen.

More powerful than any magic I\'d ever witnessed.

BOOM!

The pressure alone cracked the ground as it struck the rift dead center.

Then.

Crack, crack!

The rift began spewing unstable mana.

I\'d succeeded in destroying it.

Crack-crack-crack!

The rift began to collapse bit by bit.

"..."

As I watched impassively, I met his gradually fading eyes within the rift.

I saw it clearly.

From the moment I threw the spear until it struck the rift... he hadn\'t blinked once.

Successfully closed the rift?

\'What a joke.\'

This wasn\'t my success.

He had \'allowed\' it.

What could he be thinking at this moment?

I bit my lip as I stared directly into those eyes.

"...We\'ll meet again."

Crash!

The rift completely collapsed, and only then did everyone sink to the ground, as if their strength had left them.

Thud!

"...Thought I was going to die."

"...Was that truly an Abyssal Evil?"

"The Elder, how did he..."

"That spear I saw, what was..."

Everyone seemed shocked by different aspects of what had happened.

That\'s when Barundel ran over with a worried expression.

"...Yuhan! Are you alright?"

"...Ah, yes, I\'m fi-"

I tried to say I was fine but couldn\'t finish the sentence.

Before I knew it, I lost my balance and started to stagger.

\'...Well, of course.\'

It made sense since I had done so much while in such an abnormal condition.

"Leave the rest to me... get some rest for now."

Barundel said as he supported me.

I wanted to refuse since there was still a mountain of work left to be done but I couldn\'t get the words out.

In Fact even my vision was spinning.

Barundel seemed to understand my inability to decide and urged me to rest.

"Excessive enthusiasm always breeds poison. You\'ve done more than enough."

"...Is that so."

...Then that\'s good.

Before I could even finish that thought, my vision went completely dark.

It had been, truly, one hell of a long day.

***

Bubble bubble-

I woke to the sound of something boiling.

The first thing I saw was the back of a man wearing an apron.

And that person was...

"Awake, are you?"

It was Barundel.

...Damn, an apron on that build.

Though it made me a bit queasy, there were more important things to discuss.

"Did everything... get resolved?"

"Fortunately, yes. The rift was closed safely, and the guards who arrived later cleaned up the remaining stragglers."

Phew, that\'s a relief.

I would\'ve been really stressed if there had been problems with the aftermath.

But anyway...

"...Where is this?"

"My home. It\'s not spacious, but comfortable enough, wouldn\'t you say?"

At Barundel\'s proud words, I looked around more carefully.

Cloth-covered wooden furniture like sofas, tables, and cabinets, their charm enhanced by yellow lighting.

An ivory rug covered the floor, and small potted plants and decorations sat on the shelves.

Add to that the mouth-watering soup aroma, and just lying here made my body feel languid.

Overall, it felt like a lived-in home.

Somehow, it also stirred up a sense of nostalgia.

"Yes, it really is. Do you live here alone?"

"Well, for now I do."

"\'For now\'?"

"I originally had a spouse. Now only photos remain."

"Ah..."

Barundel calmly changed the subject when he saw my awkward reaction.

"No need for that face. It\'s ancient history now. By the way, did you know you were out cold for three days?"

"What? Three days?"

Barundel quietly nodded.

...Damn, no wonder my body felt so refreshed.

After sleeping for 72 hours, it would be more strange if I felt tired.

"It seems your body entered forced sleep on its own."

"Forced sleep... Does this happen often?"

"Of course not. Entering forced sleep means your body was pushed to extreme limits. Far beyond our previous physical training."

"I see."

Seeing Barundel explain it this way, I must have really overdone it.

\'There weren\'t restrictions like this in the game.\'

I felt complicated.

If what I experienced wasn\'t a dream, I\'d received \'Baal\'s Gaze.\'

Meaning countless dangers laid ahead.

\'I need to get stronger.\'

I couldn\'t hold back because of restrictions like this.

"Surely there must be some way to deal with this?"

"...A solution? Just don\'t overexert yourself, isn\'t that enough?"

"I don\'t think that\'s going to work."

Reading the determination in my eyes, Barundel nodded once and sat at the table.

In his hands was the silver pot he\'d been stirring all this time.

"This seems like it\'ll be a long conversation, so let\'s talk over food. I prepared some for you too, help yourself."

"...Yes, thank you."

I ladled some of Barundel\'s mysterious soup into my mouth without a second thought.

The warmth spread down my throat.

The surprising thing was that it tasted better than expected.

It could easily rival the soups from Sector 6\'s restaurants that cost two gold coins each.

\'...Is cooking his hobby?\'

This was the kind of taste that would take years of consistent practice to achieve.

A demon hunter with cooking as a hobby. I seemed to be discovering more unexpected sides to Barundel.

He spoke after I\'d taken about three spoonfuls of soup.

"Seems it\'s to your liking?"

"Yes, this is the most proper cooking I\'ve had."

"Haha, glad to hear it. I\'m quite confident in my cooking. But anyway... mind if I ask you something?"

"Of course."

Barundel tapped the table thoughtfully before speaking.

"What\'s your goal?"

"...My goal?"

"What are you running so hard towards, I mean."

"Hmm."

A goal, huh. I\'m not sure why he\'s asking this, but my goal was clear.

To defeat Baal and return to my original world.

But I couldn\'t just blurt out something so outlandish.

"To become a hunter. One who won\'t lose to any demon."

That explanation should suffice.

It wasn\'t entirely a lie either, since I\'d need to officially become a demon hunter to achieve my real goal anyway.

"Just as I thought."

Barundel stroked his chin as if he\'d expected this answer.

He didn\'t seem particularly suspicious.

"You\'re choosing a difficult path."

"It\'s not an easy one, certainly."

"Then I should at least help you along that path."

Seemingly satisfied with my answer, Barundel continued our earlier conversation.

"The way to overcome the forced sleep restriction is simple. This too is a problem arising from insufficient physical conditioning."

"You mean more physical training will solve it?"

"That\'s right. Probably after completing the third stage, forced sleep won\'t hold you back anymore."

That was fortunate.

I needed to keep training my body consistently to achieve \'that build\' anyway.

This just meant I had another reason to train more quickly.

"Would it be possible to start this evening?"

"The training? Your body probably hasn\'t fully recovered yet... How about starting tomorrow? There\'s still much to tell you."

"Time isn\'t exactly on my side."

"Do you have some schedule?"

A schedule. Well, I suppose you could call it that.

Though it wasn\'t just my schedule.

\'About a month left, huh.\'

I\'d spent two months in Aldeon.

Which meant, if the information I\'d heard was correct, in roughly a month...

A crisis would come to Asteron.

A crisis known as the [Prophecy of the Blood Moon].

When I thought about what would happen then, there was a mountain of things I had to prepare for from now on.

After all, I\'d have to face a \'Demon army Commander.\'

A Demon army Commander was a true demon, incomparable to any demons I\'d seen so far.

"...There\'s that look again."

Of course, even such beings wouldn\'t be able to stop me.

***

Meanwhile, in the deepest, darkest part of the Demon realm.

Rumble!

The being seated on the imperial throne with his head tilted back emitted an ominous demonic energy.

He resorted to it whenever he was deep in thought.

"...!"

As his subordinates were unable to handle the pressure emanating from him, he paid no attention to their silent groans.

He continued thinking only about one human man.

\'That one...\'

A man with black hair and black eyes.

Though clearly a first encounter, something felt familiar.

‘Why was that?’

After much contemplation, an image flashed through his mind, and he finally found his answer.

\'...The eyes.\'

It must be because their eyes were similar.

Like that man from 300 years ago who\'d foolishly issued him a challenge.

Baal still... couldn\'t forget the fighting spirit in that man\'s eyes, and the black-haired man had shown the exact same look.

And that was...

"It\'s been a while."

It was a welcome change for someone who had been bored most of the days due to the curse of eternal life.

"Seems I\'ve found a new toy."

Bzzt-bzzt-bzzt!

Along with intense demonic energy, he slowly raised his hand.

Then.

Swoosh!

"..."

A being quietly rose from its place.

A being he had revived by directly injecting his demonic energy.

"The Aldeon Magic Tower Head, was it?"

Baal opened his mouth softly as he saw the being called the Tower Head in the human world.

"I hope this will be an entertaining fight."

***