In reality, the chimera created using Sergey’s corpse was still an incomplete product.
Though it had been intentionally designed to retain its intelligence, the problem was that almost none of its combat knowledge remained.
However, there was one experiment Enverman had refrained from using until now.
In the past, by chance, he had acquired the secrets of ancient alchemists.
Among them was a method for creating mutants.
The problem with this method was that it worked too well. It caused the chimera to fully regain the memories from its former life.
When that happened, it would no longer obey Enverman’s commands, and the dissonance between the body it had in life and its current body would cause a complete collapse.
I really didn’t want to use this method…
But now, with his life hanging by a thread, he had no choice but to use any means available.
“He’s up to something suspicious—kill him!”
At Tairdin’s command, the Blackguard knights charged all at once.
Meanwhile, Jun also began calculating the strongest spell he could currently muster.
[Flare].
But this was different from the ones he had used before.
The fire attribute, completely detached from the circle system, compressed only the bare minimum amount of mana and then further amplified the fire attribute.
On top of that, he entrusted the still-unfinished ancient spell to “Illusia”.
[Flare]
[Overlay]
The spell [Overlay] required intense focus during its casting.
However, the most complex calculations were handled through “Illusia” and the resulting [Flare] emitted a blinding light as it shot out from Jun’s fingertips.
The [Flare], fired at the speed of light, pierced through the chimera’s arm and continued on, boring through the shoulder of Enverman who had been hiding behind it.
“Guh?!”
Enverman coughed up blood. He hadn’t expected that Jun would manage to complete such a powerful spell so quickly.
Just as the heat from [Flare] began to spread throughout his body—
[Pathetic.]
The chimera’s hand grabbed Enverman’s head.
“Gghhh…”
However, the chimera did not crush Enverman’s head.
Instead, the burning heat that had begun to consume his body was instantly siphoned out and absorbed into the chimera’s hand.
[Hmph. Refined mana. Fire-attribute mana this pure is something you’d expect only within my inner domain.]
“…Damn it.”
Jun frowned at the sound of the chimera’s voice.
Likewise, the Blackguard knights hesitated to charge in, taken aback by the completely different aura the chimera now gave off.
“…Everyone, pull out your enchant scrolls.”
Tairdin simply ordered a full-scale magical enchantment.
The chimera—no, Sergey, now fully conscious—looked at his own body with a strange curiosity.
[So you’re the one who did this to my body?]
“Ghh… Yes, Sergey.”
[That voice… Ah, Enverman. Just the same. Looks like you used my corpse to create a chimera.]
“A body imbued with immortality.”
[Immortality, huh…]
Sergey slowly closed his eyes as he looked at his skin, now darkening.
His body, which had once reached the seventh circle, calmly accepted the reality of the situation.
Though his memories were fragmented from after his mind had been destroyed, he recalled everything that had happened to him.
[How ridiculous.]
The mage tower he had built with his life’s work had melted away like a snowman under the midsummer sun.
And he had become a monster.
At the same time, he realized that immortality meant nothing to him.
[I’ve gained immortality and lost growth.]
“Immortality means a perfected life form. For such a being, growth is meaningless.”
[Would you be quiet? Even without a soul, instinct preserved in memory still functions. I may kill you from the anger that memory brings.]
“If rational judgment is still possible, then that’s fortunate. At the very least, it means we might get out of this situation.”
As expected from two men whose minds had been twisted, even their conversation was far from ordinary.
Meanwhile, Jun realized that he couldn’t resolve this situation on his own.
“…Maya, Eleanor. Support the Blackguard Knights.”
Now that Enverman’s assassination had failed, the Blackguard could be wiped out by Sergey, who specialized in large-scale fire-attribute magic.
If that happened, the White Whale Mercenaries wouldn’t make it out either.
They currently didn’t have the capacity to handle a full-fledged level 7 threat.
[Ah, Mage. It’s been a while.]
Meanwhile, Sergey turned his gaze to Jun with an air of indifference, as if he didn’t care whether Jun was preparing or not.
[You’ve grown impressively in such a short time. I can’t help but be impressed. I think I understand now why Damian died so easily.]
“……”
Jun didn’t bother engaging in conversation with him.
Giving that thing more time would do no good.
Since Sergey hadn’t yet fully adapted to his new body, Jun had to kill him now.
[Judging by your eyes, you don’t seem to enjoy talking with me. Unfortunately for you, I’m quite happy to see you. I feel like if I rip out your heart and implant it into myself, I could finally fill the emptiness inside me with something else.]
Hearing the lunatic talk about yanking out his heart like it was a potato made Jun feel slightly dizzy.
“…Whatever the case, I’ll have to kill you right here.”
[Glad we’re on the same page.]
And that was the end of the conversation.
Sergey was the first to cast a spell.
[Volcanic Tornado]
The flame storm spell once used by Adrian who had met his end at Jun’s hands now raged in all directions.
Its power far surpassed Adrian’s version.
[Ice Break]
[Overlay]
But Jun, already prepared for large-scale fire magic, created a land of ice with “Illusia”.
In an instant, thick white steam billowed up, and through that gap, the Blackguard Knights charged toward Enverman.
However, Enverman hadn’t just awakened Sergey.
He also injected a cylinder into himself, and the explosive power contained within it burst out in a red flash.
It was a sample of Butcher Monk blood he had harvested not long ago.
Refined and processed, it had been turned into an awakening agent.
“Hrrrk!”
He took a sharp breath and moved his feet. Enverman’s figure suddenly vanished into the mist.
Just then, as the knights who had planned an ambush tried to locate him—
“He’s behind!”
“Guhhak!”
With Tairdin’s shout, the chest of a knight in the rear was pierced through by Enverman’s hand.
“Mmm. The Butcher Monk… I knew about it, but that mental fortitude is truly impressive.”
Before they knew it, Enverman’s eyes were streaming with red energy, radiating a ferocity akin to the Butcher Monk itself.
A portion of the power from [Blood Mountain Reincarnation], a skill that amasses strength through killing, had temporarily taken root in his body.
“Fighting this violently isn’t really my style, but there’s no helping it. Brace yourselves, everyone. I’ve made up my mind to dirty this suit today.”
Once again, his figure vanished. This time even faster than before.
However, the target he aimed for now wasn’t so easily caught off guard.
“Not so fast!”
Tairdin blocked Enverman’s attack with a mana-infused shield, and the knights used the opening to thrust their swords in.
Meanwhile, a fierce battle was unfolding on Sergey’s side as well.
A mage’s duel begins by reading the flow of each other’s mana.
Jun, who had reached the fifth circle, and Sergey of the seventh circle.
Yet Sergey had not used any magic beyond the fifth circle from the start.
No…more accurately, maybe he can’t.
A crimson fireball shot toward him with perfect aim.
Just as Jun was about to shoot it down, the fireball suddenly scattered in all directions, transforming into arrow-shaped flames that attacked him from multiple angles.
“Senior!”
Aiden extinguished half of the fire arrows with [Bash], but the remaining ones targeted Jun’s head, chest, and abdomen with deadly precision.
[Shield]
[Attribute Transformation]
[Transformed Attribute: Fire]
While ice magic was most effective for dealing damage to the enemy, fire attributes were better for defense.
That’s because pure fire energy, detached from the circle structure, overwhelms Sergey’s fire-based magic.
Still, this isn’t looking good.
Jun had already fired multiple [Ice Spears], but none had struck as cleanly as before.
Sergey too had summoned a [Firewall] to block them.
As the two of them saw through each other’s tactics, a flicker passed through Jun’s eyes.
“…Don’t be foolish.”
[Kuku. You noticed, huh?]
Surging fire-attribute mana rippled around Sergey, who had been relentlessly bombarding Jun with spells.
However, that power wasn’t created to threaten the opponent.
Using the fire-attribute mana he had spread into the environment through his previous spells, Sergey was attempting to deploy his [Mental Domain] over the area.
If he succeeded, the flow of battle would shift entirely in his favor.
In response, Jun pulled out a golem core he had prepared in advance from his dimensional bracelet.
Then—
[Detecting Target]
[Mental Type: Marionette Line]
[Enchantment: Elemental Armory]
[Attribute Enchantment: Fire]
Just as he had done against the Orc Lord in the past, Jun who was connected to the golem core immediately released the seal.
[The influence of the spell, ‘Odyssey of the Lazy Pilgrim’, is reduced by 25 percent.]
He then enhanced his mental image using ancient magic, granting it a new attribute.
[Flame Rage]
[Enchantment: Devouring Flame]
The summoned spiral fireball incinerated the fire-attribute mana Sergey had spread throughout the area.
True to its name, “Devouring Flame” greedily consumed even Sergey’s own fire-attribute mana, using it as fuel to burn even more intensely.
[……What is this!]
Even Sergey, whose soul was lost and whose reason alone remained, couldn’t help but gasp in admiration at Jun’s magic.
Despite barely a year having passed, that mage had single-handedly deepened his understanding of fire magic to this level.
[Kuhaha…!! Surely the gods must all be dead! Otherwise, there’s no way such ridiculous talent could’ve been born into this world!!]
Having lost even anger and fear, he let out a pure cry of admiration.
[Yes, I once considered this rotting body to still be a part of me. But against you, I can’t afford that kind of complacency.]
He was soulless; he couldn’t project a mental image.
So while his magic might match its former power in sheer force, its durability inevitably fell short of Jun’s.
However, it was still capable of overwhelming and consuming beyond that limit.
He would engulf his opponent before his magic could be destroyed.
Of course, there was a price to pay.
The chimera’s current body was still incomplete, and no one knew how long it would take to fully adapt.
Because of that, he had been restraining himself from using magic above the fifth circle, as it would only accelerate the collapse of his body…
[Even if I endure in this state, death is inevitable.]
As a seventh circle mage, he had no intention of dying a second time.
First, he would kill Jun here and use his heart to stop the collapse of his body.
“You bastard, always after someone else’s heart.”
Jun sensed the flow of mana gathering around the enemy and, at the same time, recalled the stolen spellbooks from the Volcatornic Magic Tower with his [Excellent Memory].
He’s preparing an insanely powerful spell…
If he allowed the enemy to cast that spell, more than half the people in this place would surely die.
He couldn’t let that happen, and so Jun’s mind raced.
Can I counter that spell head-on?
Impossible.
He might be able to somehow neutralize the destructive force of the spell, but it targeted a wide area.
There was no way Jun could block the entire range by himself.
Then should he leave it to the Blackguard to hold it off on their own?
Impossible.
Though he had used a high-level enchantment, it wouldn’t be enough on its own.
What if I convert [Volcanic Tornado] into an ice attribute and use it to cover the spell?
That too was impossible.
Fire and ice were completely opposing elements, and attempting to convert them without any preparation would mean certain death….even for Jun.
Damn it. I should’ve kept Eleanor closer.
He hadn’t accounted for this far ahead, so he couldn’t even use the [Transformation] ability of End of Sorrow.
Then there’s only one thing left…
Just one.
He manipulated his dimensional bracelet and took out a syringe.
A thin syringe filled with a small amount of swirling purple liquid.
Without hesitation, Jun plunged it into his own arm.
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